Page 26 of Deceit
“I’m looking into it. Powell was surprisingly quiet under interrogation.”
Despite my attempts to get Adrian to talk, he took his secrets to the gravewith him. It didn’t matter; I had other ways to find out the information I needed, it wouldjusttake me a little longer.
After taking Sofia home, I’d spent the rest of the day locked away in myoffice trying to dig into Powell’s background, but the cunt had gone off grid in the days after we massacred half of The Stags.I would have progressed further if my concentration hadn’t kept waning toimages of the hurt written on Sofia’s face as Rafe led her away.
“What do you know so far?”Kai grumbled, knocking back a mouthful of hisdrink.
“Not a huge amount, he went into hiding when we started slaughteringStags. The interesting thing is, he wasn’t part of The Stags when we were at war with them. You know I looked into every fucker who was associated withthatgang, and his name never came up,”I told Kai, leaning closer so he could hear me over the moans of two women who were now onstage, eating each other’s pussies.“The Stag tattoo he had on him looked new as well, I would’ve said he’d only gotten it a few weeks ago.”
“You think somehow The Stags are regrouping? A new breed of the cunts?”
“That’s one of my theories,”I replied.“Could be Powell was working aloneand was trying to save face by being Billy big-bollocks. I do have one other theorythatI’mreallyhoping isn’t the case.”
“Which is?”Kai asked, his brows furrowed.
“Powell somehow knewthatthe cartel have beef with the Bianchis, and hewas working for them.”
Kai’s lips pursed as he thought it over.“Bit of a long shot though,”heeventually said.“Thatwould be one hell of a fucking coincidence.”
“After everything that has happened in the last year, I would say anything is possible,”I replied, downing the last drop of vodka.
“True enough,”Kai replied, following my lead to drink the rest of hiswhiskey.“I’ll speak with Ernie, make sure we have enough guards in place, and they’re on full alert. I’ll get Ash to do some digging too-”
“You don’t need to ask him,”I snapped, interrupting Kai and earning myselfa murderous scowl. He didn’t like to be interrupted.“Ash hasjustgone back to his own work; he doesn’t need more shit thrown his way.”
Ash Beck was an old friend of Kai’s, and the head of a mercenaryorganization called Apollo. He and his men had helped us to deal with the Stags, but he’d gone home a few weeks ago when a contract came inthathe couldn’t ignore. Not only was Ash a lethal motherfucker, but his hacking skills rivaled mine.
“And you’ve got a wedding to prepare for,”Kai barked, using hisnon-negotiabletone.
I sighed. There was zero point in arguing with him; we’d only end uparguing, and I had enough on my plate as it was.“Fine.”
The two of us sat in a tense silence, my gaze fixed on the stage, but notreallywatching the two women now playing with double-ended dildos.
The sooner this sham of a marriage was over, the sooner I could get back tomy life.
Only, I wouldn’t ever get back to my life.
Not when there would be no way to ignore the jailbait.
Chapter 7
Sofia
“Sofe, you look stunning,”Rafe said when I stepped out of my walk-inwardrobe, having spent the last few hours being pulled around like a ragdoll by five stylists.
“Thanks,” I replied glumly.
The wedding dress felt like it was constricting my lungs, making itimpossible to breathe. Or maybe it was the unimaginable burden of dread I’d been carrying since the moment I opened my eyes this morning.
Today was the day.
In less than an hour, I was going to become Mrs. Wolfe.
Swallowing the nauseathatthreatened to erupt and cover my crisp whitedress, I met my reflection in the mirror, my eyes filled with sorrow.
Rafe was right, the dress was stunning. Strapless, the plain satin corset fittedsnugly against my breasts, the stylist having tied the ribbon at the back tight enough to squeeze my curves, but not so tightthatI couldn’t breathe.
Underneath the skirt were layers and layers of petticoats, making it puff out,and hundreds of tiny diamantes were embedded into the tulle materialthatcovered the outer layer of satin. On my feet, I wore silver sandals with a five-inch heelthatwould give me a little extra height when I stood next to Miles.
