Sinful Love (Sinful Nights #4)(25)
“You want all that? You sure?”
“Yes,” she said emphatically, waving her hand behind her as if to gesture to the room where they’d been. “Please don’t let my momentary breakdown before scare you off.”
He held up his hands. “I assure you, you haven’t scared me off.”
“And I assure you that I desperately want all of you,” she said, choosing total directness right now. She didn’t get into the why. But the truth was she’d mostly had bedroom sex, and while it had been good, she wanted hot, dirty, thrilling sex. The kind that was spelled with the word abandon. The kind he seemed able to give her.
The waitress appeared to refill their water, breaking up the flirty, dirty moment. That was fine, because Annalise needed to return to their prior conversation. “I wanted to tell you about Sanders and Becky,” she said.
Michael nodded, a serious look in his cool blue eyes. “Talk to me. What happened?”
“She seemed off. Like something was really bothering her,” Annalise began. She hadn’t intended to tell Michael at first, and yet it seemed necessary. The more she reflected on the conversation, the more she wanted Michael to know. She’d lingered on the exchange with Becky, and the fact that her old friend had said ever since the investigation. She shared the details, adding that Sanders had missed the breakfast because of an appointment. “And Becky seemed nervous, but sad, too.”
Michael nodded, his expression now intensely focused, his jaw set. “Sad in what way?”
“She wouldn’t elaborate, and I don’t want to sound alarms. I have no idea what’s going on, but something is on her mind. And I wanted you to know.”
“I don’t know why she’d be like that. But I’ll try to see if it means anything.”
She reached across the table for his hand and clasped hers over it. He let out a breath and seemed to relax the slightest bit. She rewound to all the times they’d talked about his loss, to the letters and the phone calls from overseas. He’d shared everything with her—all his hurt, all his pain. She’d heard the man cry once or twice, and she’d comforted him from afar as best she could as he told her the horror of what happened to his family the night after she left town.
The story was shocking to her, especially since she’d seen Thomas Paige less than thirty-six hours before he was killed. She and Michael had had breakfast with him at a little diner, eating eggs and toast as they talked about their plans. He was such a good man, so committed to doing everything he could for his son, and by extension for her. She’d thanked him, hugged him, and even told him she looked forward to the day he became her father-in-law. She’d believed it then—at the time, she was so certain she’d marry Michael.
“How is everything going with the reopened investigation?” she asked, threading her fingers more tightly through his, wanting to be his anchor if he needed her, like she’d been before.
He swallowed, his shoulders rising and falling, then spoke. “They arrested one guy, the getaway driver. And they’re looking for the mastermind. T.J. Nelson. He was the guy who brokered Stefano’s hits. Apparently, he’s wanted for several murders over the years, including this one.”
She shuddered, imagining the trail of carnage the man had left behind. “Do they think your father’s death was connected to the others? I thought with your mother in prison, and the gunman’s confession, that they knew the motive.” How much more clear could it be? Dora had her husband killed for the life insurance money so she could run off with her lover.
“Yeah, I don’t think that’s changed. But the shooter had accomplices, and now it turns out the guy she was involved with is head of the whole f*cking Royal Sinners gang.”
Her jaw fell open, and her eyes widened. She knew of the gang from all her talks with Michael after the murder. She grabbed her water, taking a drink, processing this newest twist. “She was involved with the head of a street gang?”
“Turns out she was buying and selling drugs from them. That’s part of what the cops have uncovered now. She was selling drugs to a whole long list of people, including the two guys they think helped out with the killing. The shooter was her supplier, and the guy she was cheating on my dad with—well, turns out Luke wasn’t just some local piano teacher. He’s like the ‘deep undercover, appears innocent on the outside, but is really head of the street gang’ teacher.”
Shock coursed through her, spreading from her chest all the way to her fingertips, a cold, liquid sensation under her skin. “Are they arresting him, too?”
Michael rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. “That’s the thing. They know he’s head of the gang, but they have to have specific evidence to link him to a specific crime, so that’s what they’re looking for. Since all the other players were part of the Royal Sinners, they’re trying to figure out if somehow that means my dad’s murder was related to the drug trade the gang is part of. The guy who supposedly masterminded the hit, T.J., was involved in a lot of the other gang crimes.”
Annalise shook her head, taking it all in. She remembered details that had emerged during the trial—the lover, the affair, the life insurance. Michael had told her everything. Crazy that the crime might have had deeper roots. “Do you think they can find T.J.?”
“I sure hope so. I want nothing as much as I want to see all those f*ckers behind bars. Forever,” he said, his voice a low seethe, his eyes sharp as knives. “I will never forget.”