Dirty Money (Bad Money #2) Read online

She wore a pretty pink t-shirt and jeans, her sandals dainty. Long dark hair moved along her shoulders as the wind picked up and fuck him if he didn't feel the effects of wanting to shove her against the wall and show her who the fuck she belonged to.

  "Officer?" Kate moved to stand in front of him, squinting against the late afternoon soon.

  "Have a good time in LA, Miss Jarret?" His voice was rough and filled with anger. He hated that he couldn't keep his emotions under control, but he couldn't. He hated how much he needed the woman in front of him. It was over - why couldn't he leave it alone?

  "That's none of your concern. Why are you here, Jon?"

  "I needed to ask you a few questions concerning the two murders that happened outside of your club early Thursday morning."

  Kate glanced back at Marcus before looking back at him. "I have no clue what you're talking about."

  "Typical. You have someone gun down two young boys in the back of your club and don't bat an eye. Too many promises for depravity in LA to worry much about the clean up? Who else did you fuck? I mean, you know most whores can take on three men at a minimum and five at a max. I'm interested to hear about how many men you gave access to your body last night."

  Kate reared back and punched him, his nose lighting on fire as blood poured from it. He turned and pressed his fingers to his face as she screamed at him.

  "Fuck you, Jon. You don't know shit. You weren't there because you're too good to be there, remember? You have no clue what you left us to do. You fucking..." Marcus cut her off, clamping his hand over her mouth and moving her back as he picked her up.

  "He's not worth it, Kate. He's just upset and making shit up. Don't worry about anything. Go inside and I'll make sure he leaves." Marcus removed his hand as Kate let out a long scream, the sound chilling Jon to the bone.

  Tears raced down her pretty cheeks and he almost regretted all the things he had accused her of. The video was clear. She was fucking both Marcus and Victor. His stomach rolled again and he moved from them, bending over and throwing up again.

  "You drinking again, boss?" Marcus called to him.

  Jon glanced up and lifted his middle finger in the air. "Tell her to wait. The warrant is to take her down to the station. Bitch isn't getting away with another death on my shift."

  "She's not going with you." Marcus moved toward him as he stood and pulled his gun from the holster, lifting it to align with Marcus's face.

  "Tell her to get on the bike and you take your big ugly ass back in the club. I'll send a car for you. Two murders behind her establishment. Your fingerprints were on the gun next to the guy. You guys should have been hunted down in LA, but I didn't tell them what I knew." Jon leaned around the big guy and let his gaze lock on Kate. "Don't make this worse than it has to be. Get on the bike."

  Kate walked toward it and stood next to it, wiping at her tears. "Marcus, I'm good. Just go back inside and I'll see you downtown. Call Paul and tell him to meet us there. I have no clue about these murders."

  "I know, baby." Marcus took a step back, his glare turning back to lock on Jon. "If you hurt her I will make you suffer so far beyond anything you think you're going through right now. You better have a fucking good reason for barging in here like this and taking her downtown."

  "I don't need a reason. I have a warrant. Shut the fuck up and go back inside." Jon nodded toward the door as he began backing up until he reached the bike.

  "Put your damn gun down. Marcus isn't a threat, Jon. What the hell has gotten into you?" Kate reached for him, but he jerked from her grasp. He didn’t want her to touch him more than necessary.

  He took the helmet off the bike and shoved it at her. "Put that on and don't say a fucking word to me, whore."

  Getting on the bike, he fought back the need to throw up again. She was the only woman he had fallen in love with in the last ten years. Surely things weren't as they seemed, right?

  The image of the video rolled across his vision again and his stomach lurched. He wrapped an arm around it and closed his eyes, leaning over a little. Her hands slid around his waist, the feeling of her touching him almost too much.

  "Jon, please talk to me. This isn't you. I didn't kill anyone, and I don't understand why you keep attacking me." She pressed her forehead to his back, her breath hot on him.

  "Hold on tight." He turned on the motor and pulled the bike from the alley, not ready to lay his heart out before her again.

  She was everything he wanted in his world and yet she was turning into the monster Victor beckoned her to become. Was he supposed to step in and save her or become the larger evil in order to entice her back to his side?

  Sometimes the good guys had to move far from the light to pull the ones they love out of the darkness.

  He made that mistake with Adam. He wasn't going to make it with Kate.

  Time to fight for her.

  Whether she wanted it or not.

  EPILOGUE

  Marcus

  "Sorry son of a bitch," Marcus yelled loudly into the empty hall. He slammed the back door to the club and pressed his head against the cool metal, trying to figure out the most painful way to kill Jon. The mother fucker had overstepped his last boundary line.

  Marcus understood the need to question them both over the murders, but show up in a cop car and do official police business in a professional matter. The first thing that was going down was Jon's facade at work. He was going to make sure that the station and every news media crew knew what a fake the bastard was. His past had something in it. Marcus was going to find it and exploit it. He would sing his tune across every television newscast that wanted it. It was a fucking scandal and Jon had just welcomed retribution to land at his feet.

  "I'm going to kill him."

  Standing up fully, Marcus lifted his arms in the air and let out a long cry before walking back to Kate's office. He needed to call Jeffery and tell the poor boy that he would have to manage the club for another night. With the promise of a police escort coming to take him back downtown to the station, Marcus wanted to make sure that the club was taken care of.

  He stopped cold as he moved into the office, Kate's chair taken by a ghost from the past.

  "Marcus. My favorite thug. How are you, boy?"

  "Billy." Marcus swallowed and crossed his arms over his chest. Where was his fucking gun? In the front of the club. His eyes moved around the room quickly, not worried a bit about being conspicuous. This bastard would be on him in a heartbeat if he wanted to.

  "No need to look for a weapon. I'm only here to talk business. Take a seat." Billy nodded to the seat in front of the desk. The old drug lord hadn't aged well. His dark hair was littered with strands of gray and greasy as hell. He was in his late forties, but after living through a few years in the slammer he looked closer to sixty. It was his brilliantly green eyes that were the most haunting part of him. It felt as if he were staring into the center of you, seeing everything you didn't want him to.

  "I don't remember you being a man who liked to talk much." Marcus took a seat and leaned back, crossing his feet at the ankles and trying to appear a little more relaxed than he was.

  Thank God Kate had gone with Jon downtown. Seemed that the cop’s timing was perfect whether he knew it or not. The need to kill the emotional bastard died down. It was quickly replaced by fear. Marcus had a slim chance of getting out of the room unscathed. Billy loved pain and blood, but death was his favorite punishment by far. It was final - no more chances for you.

  Billy chuckled. "It's been what? Five years? Six?"

  "Something like that."

  "So that punk ass rich boy got me put away and then decided to take over my syndicate and you pussies just fell in the ranks behind him. It's almost comical." Billy pressed his thumb between his front teeth, his eyes darkening slightly.

  "We had no fucking clue Seth was a cop, Billy. He might have been a punk ass, but he was smart as hell. We just figured that out recently when a new drug lord showed up. We never made the co
nnection that he was the one that brought you down."

  "A new man on the block, hm? He took over my ring I assume?"

  "He did." Marcus shrugged, not giving two shits about throwing Victor under the bus. There was no damn way he was giving Kate up.

  "Interesting. I heard something else."

  Billy's gaze shifted toward the door and Marcus started to turn, but Billy lifted his hand and shook his head. "No. It's just one of my boys that remained loyal. You remember Reni?"

  Marcus's shoulder stiffened as the barrel of a gun pressed to the side of his neck.

  "I sure do. Mean mother fucker." Marcus kept his disposition steady as best as possible.

  "There's no one I know who's capable of being viler than you." Billy chuckled and stood, stretching before leaning over and pressing his hands to the desk.

  "Where is my woman, Marcus?"

  "I don't know, Billy. She hasn't been around much in the last few weeks."

  The gun moved from his neck and smacked into the side of his face. Pain laced his right eye as blood welled up and spilled over from the cut beside his eye.

  "Don't lie to me. I'm going to find her, so make this easier on you and on her."

  "I'll help you look, but I don't know where Kate is."

  Billy shrugged his shoulders and glanced up at Reni. "Guess he's not one of us anymore."

  "I am," Marcus muttered as the gun smacked into him again. He moved to stand as the gun went off. There wasn't time to assess the damage as the world began to fade.

  The only thing he could hope for was that Jon would man up. These guys weren't interested in love or anything within the softer realm of emotion. All they wanted was fame, power and hard money.

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