Sinful Love (Sinful Nights #4)(62)
Luke had promised he’d leave town with her. They’d escape with the money and go to Arizona, Florida, Texas…anywhere. Start a new life with the man she adored. Be with him, her baby, and all her kids. All five of them under one roof with the man she loved madly.
It was her only choice. It would be worth it, the end result, the freedom.
Thomas walked behind her and placed a hand on her back. “Come to bed. You’re so tired these days. Get some rest.”
He kissed her hair and she shuddered, wondering again if she could go through with this.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
“The piano store?”
To say Annalise was surprised was an understatement. More like shocked, but also excited. The latter because Thomas has driven past the piano store with her once, and made a passing comment about a guy from work being an unlikely musician. But she’d never have thought it was the epicenter of the local gang that had ripped Michael’s family to pieces.
She gripped the edge of the iron latticework table in her fifth-floor flat and stared at him through the computer screen with wide eyes. “I drove past there. With your father. We drove past it one day.”
“Holy shit. What happened? Why?” he asked from the other side of the world. He was in his home, the steel counters of his kitchen framing the video screen.
“You and I went to the movies one Saturday afternoon, but before then your father had come over to play poker with Sanders and Donald. He drove me to your house. Do you remember?”
It was all so clear in her mind. It wasn’t as if she had been lingering on that particular memory for any reason, but now that he mentioned the piano shop, that day splashed to the surface of her thoughts with a particular kind of clarity.
“That’s where the Royal Sinners run the operation from,” he said in a breathless whisper.
“A piano store. That’s so clandestine,” she said, as the flutter of the French news station from a television a floor below drifted up through the late fall air. The weather was cool and crisp, and her terrace doors were open. The Eiffel Tower stood proudly a few blocks from here, and if she leaned far enough out the window, she could catch a glimpse of the flickering lights that lit it up at night.
He nodded. “My private detective found out last night. Apparently they run everything from there. Did you learn anything when you drove past it? Did my dad say anything unusual?”
She shook her head. “No. Not all. He simply noticed someone from work heading there. He didn’t give a name, but I remember he was big and broad, and incredibly tall.”
Michael’s eyes narrowed, and he hissed the name. “T.J. Must have been T.J.”
She clasped her hand over her mouth, shock coursing through her. She collected herself and said, “That was T.J.? Your father was surprised that he’d gone into the piano store. That was literally all he said about the place. It was a very fast conversation at the traffic light. But before then, we were chatting about work.”
Michael gestured for her to tell him more. “About the promotion he was looking for? He always told me he was hoping to impress the guy who ran the company. But nothing came of it. Obviously.”
“I overheard him and the others talking about ‘extra work trips’ at the game. I believe he said someone at work told him to stop asking so many questions. Then when we drove past the store, he said the guy heading into the shop had been giving him a hard time at work, but that was all.”
Michael’s jaw dropped. “That’s got to be the missing link. That must be how it’s all connected. If T.J. worked there, too, the Royal Sinners must have been operating somehow at the limo company.” He scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “We looked into his employer when the case reopened, and the cops did, too, but nothing came up as a cause for concern. Even the guy who ran the place—he was squeaky clean, and now he’s long gone. Retired in Canada. Not a single blip or issue, but hell,” he said, stopping to blow out a long stream of air. “That’s how they operate. Under the radar.”
“Yes. If they run out of a piano store and have been avoiding capture for years, they’re smart. But you’ve figured it out,” she said with a smile, because she was so damn proud of him. His work had gotten the investigation that much closer.
Michael paced in front of the screen. “Everything must have been flowing through my dad’s company, I bet. Maybe the owner didn’t even know, and it was all right under his nose. And that’s how my mother met Luke in the first place. At a work party. I found pictures. So Luke must’ve been running everything—all these illegal operations through the back of the piano shop, but it was actually being funneled through West Limos. The drugs and the guns. And my mother was a part of it, since she was involved in selling drugs. That must be why the investigation was reopened. My mother was behind it all, but there were other people who had no problem offing my dad. Jesus f*cking Christ,” he said, dragging a hand through his hair.
Annalise nodded sadly. “He said something about finding some discrepancies at work. Rides or items that were missing. Maybe they were missing because the Sinners were transporting guns or drugs, through the company and perhaps to the piano store.”
He snapped his fingers and pointed at her, his eyes lighting up with that aha moment. “You know, you’re beautiful and brilliant?”