Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 67757 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 339(@200wpm)___ 271(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67757 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 339(@200wpm)___ 271(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
She says, “What’s in this for you? Because I know you’re not helping me out of the goodness of your heart?”
She’s ready to make a deal with the proverbial devil to take down a dirty cop because she’s as strait-laced as she seems.
“Nothing.”
Stiles laughs. “I was born at night, Ace, not last night.” She leans forward, her eyes narrowed to slits. “Is this a truce? A partnership? Because I can get down with either of those for a common interest like taking down a corrupt cop.”
She stands, resting her palms on the table, fire burning in her eyes.
Coco arrives, barking his fool fucking head off. He stops at Stiles’ feet and yaps like she stole his favorite pillow.
“Guard dog?” She laughs and shoots Coco a smug smile.
“Don’t piss off the dog,” I warn her, but it’s too late. “Or he’ll piss all over you.”
Coco lifts one leg and pisses all over her black heels.
“Son of a bitch!”
Dix and Banger get a good laugh at the agent’s expense while the rest of us at least attempt to keep our smiles back.
“Good boy,” Banger mumbles and feeds Coco a strip of bacon.
Ace stands and moves Agent Stiles away from the piss.
“This is an act of goodwill for the future,” he tells her honestly. “We’re working on our own plans, so it’s up to you, Agent Stiles, to get to the LTC before we do.”
Before Stiles can plead her case, Dix steps up beside Ace. “Save your breath, Fed. We can’t work with you because it will kill Valentina, and I won’t let that happen. Period.”
She nods as if she understands. “And Aria Morgan? Where does she fit into all this?”
“We don’t know,” Ace says easily. “She’s safe right now, and we’ll make sure she stays that way.”
Stiles nods and holds up the folder. “All right. I’ll be in touch, or you will,” she says and leaves the clubhouse.
“Is it just me, or does it feel like we need to hose the place down after a visit with the feds?” Banger shakes his head, gaze still on the door where Agent Stiles exited.
Coop offers up a half-smile, but he turns to Dix. Something is on his mind. “I know you want to keep Valentina safe, but we can’t make big MC decisions based solely on your wife.”
Dix balls his hands into fists, and I step between them. “You wouldn’t say that if it was Kelsey.”
He growls angrily, “I don’t fucking have to because she was brought into things without us having to vote on it.” None of us can blame him for his fierce tone after what the Iron Kings did to her. “My point still stands.”
“Yeah, and what the fuck is your point, Coop?”
“My point,” he growls and steps closer, his chest bumping up against the arm I’m using to keep the brothers separated, “is that you don’t want Valentina to make a simple fucking phone call. You don’t want us working with the feds, and it’s only because of her. She had to pick a side, and by marrying you, she’s picked her side. Maybe it’s time for her to prove it.”
Dix lunges forward, and Ace grabs him and pulls him back. “Where the fuck is this coming from?”
“We are at a fucking standstill, man,” Coop groans, looking around the room. “Valentina is the easiest route to get those fucking coordinates, and you’re acting like a little bitch about it. If you won’t let the Feds help us take out LTC, then it’s time for your girl to prove where her loyalty lies.”
Ace steps between them. “Enough!” he shouts, a pissed-off expression bouncing between Coop and Dix. “We don’t have time for you girls to fight. We have enough assholes trying to take us out. Coop, back off.”
“Damn right,” Dix crows.
Ace turns to him. “Talk to Valentina. Ask her to reach out.” Dix is furious, but Ace is already moving on, his attention fixed on Wild Man.
“You know where Geoffrey Morgan is yet?”
My ears perk up at Ace’s question, but Wild Man shakes his head.
“Nope. Gia and I have been doing everything possible to find him, but it’s definitely an off-books meeting. They don’t have him listed as being in any federal building under his known name or his birth name. Sorry.”
Shit. That’s the last news I want to deliver to Aria, but I won’t lie to her. After all the lies she’s lived through, she deserves the truth.
And I’m the lucky motherfucker who gets to tell her.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Aria
Lucky bursts into the room. “We’re going out.” His statement startles me out of my pep talk to get myself out of the room to search for food.
“Out?”
I frown as if the word is foreign to me.
“Where? Why?”
This isn’t the time for a field trip, not when a man tried to kill me less than twenty-four hours ago.