Page 99 of A Dirty Business
“You should be scared. You fucked with the wrong cop.”
She inhaled sharply. “How do you know about that?” Her voice went shrill. “And why do you care about her?!”
Jesus Christ. Itwasher.
I pulled out my burner, sending a text to Ashton.
Me:It was her.
He replied back right away.
Ashton:Word is out to correct what Remmi did. My contacts say they’ll spread it out, but some damage is done. Will have to spin this somehow to protect Jess. You want me to handle your sister?
Me:No. I got her.
Ashton:Don’t murder your own blood.
I pointedly did not respond to that one, barking into the phone, “Tell me where the fuck you are! Now, Remmi!”
She cried out, half screaming, “Okay, okay! I’m at your club.”
“You’re where?”
“At Katya. I’m here to threaten her. Doesn’t she work tonight?”
It was the following Tuesday, but that meant Remmi was guessing, and it also meant that Anthony was not being cooperative with her. “Is Anthony there?”
“He just went into the hallway to take a call. I think it was Ashton.”
“You stay put.”
Her voice came out trembling. “Why am I scared right now? She’s a cop. She shouldn’t be working here anyways. What did I do wrong here?”
“Stay put, shut up, and don’t do anything stupid. You got me?”
“Yeah.” She was sobbing, her voice hiccuping. “Trace, what did I do wrong, though? I don’t know what I did wrong.”
I swallowed a curse because fuck me for not making sure she’d been handled the right way before. Switching to my burner, I dialed Ashton.
He answered after the first ring. “She’s at Katya.”
“I just got off the phone with her. What did you tell her when she saw Jess at Katya the first time?”
“I drove her to the airport, put her on a plane for Vegas, and told her to forget that woman ever existed. I told her not to mess with Jess, and if she did, she’d be messing with family matters.”
“She say anything back? You used Jess’s name?”
“I didn’t use Jess’s name. That’d be throwing gasoline on the fire, and no, Remmi got quiet. She started crying, but she got on the plane. Iwatchedher get on the plane, and I watched the plane take off.”
“Which meant she flew to Vegas, pissed and stewing, and probably turned around and got on a plane right back here.”
“Yeah,” he ground out. “I thought I handled it. Remmi is—”
“She’s my sister. I should’ve handled her, not you.”
“We handle each other’s families for the other all the time. Sometimes Remmi listens to me when she won’t hear you. We both know that. Your sister is just unpredictable. Who could’ve guessed she’d do something this extreme?”
“Find my father. Her going after Jess in the first place is suspect. If she’d been stewing about Jess’s mother since our mother died, we would’ve heard about it.”
