Page 51 of Inside the Maelstrom: Part Two
Otto rubbed a hand across his face. “That came later. We were looking for blackmail material at first. Just something that we could hold over him so he’d leave Drix alone. The shit that went on in that house… There was no shortage of that kind of material. So we bugged his office with the best surveillance equipment money could buy, things that were tiny. We mirrored his emails. We put cameras in his office and den, also in the basement where things were more awful.”
I gave him a tight smile, squeezing his thigh. “Yeah, some of the footage we’ve seen… It will haunt me, you know? But that came after.”
“After what?”
“We learned he took out a loan from a businessman with connections to a crime syndicate to fund his political campaign, and then used federal funds to pay it back. Among other things.”
Evan’s jaw tightened. He didn’t know any of this stuff, because we’d purposefully kept him out of it.
“We handed what we knew to the FBI, but they didn’t have enough to really make it stick. We showed them the depraved shit he was doing to the prostitutes and maids in the basement, but they said it wasn’t enough. If we wanted him to go away, we had to have him as fucking screwed to the wall as possible.”
“So you suffered through it for anothersix years?” Evan’s voice was disapproving, but I saw the empathy in his eyes.
“It wasn’t bad. We went off to college on the West Coast. I only came home a couple of times a year. Survivable.” I looked at Aviva, pulling her closer to me until she was on my lap. “It’s done now. They have enough information to put him away for years. Fraud, embezzlement, bribery, racketeering, theft, and that’s not including the other heinous shit he did and will probably be charged with. He won’t be a problem for a really fucking long time.”
“Are you sure?”
I kissed her cheeks, then her eyelids, and then finally her lips. “I’m sure, Viva.”
Now we just needed to wrap up this shit with Nemo, and then we could go home. I kissed her neck, before scraping her earlobe between my teeth. She moaned, and Evan cleared his throat before standing up.
“I appreciate the bonding moment, but I might head to bed.” He stopped in front of me, tilting Viva’s head back until she was looking up at him. “Goodnight, Chaos.” He kissed her lips softly, saluted the rest of us, and left.
“You know, we haven’t had a good orgy in ages.” I picked her up and laid her on the bed, covering her body, and she wrapped her legs around my waist, holding me close. “What do you guys say?” Otto was in—he’d never say no to having us both at once, though he seemed to enjoy one-on-one time too.
Sampson just raised his eyebrows. “Keep your mouth away from my dick, Hendrick Kenley, and I’m in. I want to make love to my fiancée, but your war wound means you get to hog her for the entire night, so I’m willing to share.”
I grinned at him over my shoulder. “I think you protest way too much about our dicks crossing, Sam. I think secretly, you might actually want a ride on the Drix Express.”
I didn’t get to hear his comeback, because Viva grabbed my face and kissed me, her body rolling up to press even tighter against mine.
“I have a ticket for the Drix Express, so if the train could leave now…?” she teased, and I laughed. God, she was perfect for us.
Chapter26
Aviva
Next time Hendrick suggested an orgy, I’d have to remember to bring an ice pack or something, because people were going to think I walked with a limp when I got off this ferry. Sampson just grinned, sliding his hand up my thigh and whispering lewd as hell shit in my ear.
The ferry ride to Stromboli wasn’t overly long, and I sipped my coffee and thanked Neptune that I didn’t get seasick. We’d hired a car and driven across from Palermo to Messina in the early hours to catch the ferry, and honestly, of all the beautiful places I’d seen on this quest for Nemo, the Mediterranean Sea might just top them all. The water was the bluest I’ve ever seen. I could see why Nemo would be drawn to it. There was something peaceful about the harbor waters, and something all-encompassing about the vast blue line of the horizon.
I sat between Evan and Sampson. “Do you think he’ll be there?”
Sampson shrugged. “I’ve stopped trying to predict what this guy will do.”
Me too, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that this wasn’t the end. Or that it was the end, but not the end I wanted. Because I’d made a decision last night, surrounded by the warm bodies of my lovers.
This would be enough. No more chasing. No more clues and books and fruitless searching.
The ferry was one of those hydrofoils that looked a little like a futuristic spacecraft, but it handled the slightly rough seas with ease. We stopped at several little islands on the trip, and for a moment, the insanity of our lives was lost to the beauty of the sea around us.
After an hour and a half, we finally docked on Stromboli. The sand on the beaches was completely black, a stark contrast to the white-washed buildings. Towering behind the squat cube-style buildings of the town was the smoking pinnacle of Mount Stromboli.
“Wow,” Otto whispered beside me, and I echoed the sentiment. The place was visually impressive, if somewhat lost in time.
We stood on the dock and looked around. “I don’t think Stromboli has a bookstore, so where do we look first?” Hendrick asked, and he seemed more unburdened than I’d ever seen him. Hell, I’d always thought he was effervescent, but I hadn’t realized how many shadows clung to him due to his father. Now, he was like a beautiful god in the warm Italian sunshine.
I chewed my lower lip as nerves overcame me again. Fuck, this could be it. Or maybe we could be entirely wrong, and he’d never come to Stromboli.
