King of Tides (The Immortal Iron Brothers #3)

Chapter 8

The Veil is Lifted

Two weeks later …

I lift an arm and give my pit a sniff. I know I’m being ridiculous, but I would rather have taken a shower for tonight. Too bad for me, something is going on with the water pressure. I’ll have to call maintenance in the morning.

I stand in the mirror, looking myself over. I have on makeup and I’m wearing a dress. I bite my lip, wondering if I’m doing too much with the red lipstick.

I don’t normally dress up like this, but I want to look nice when I meet my sisters for the first time. Since this is sort of like a bachelorette party, I went with this little black number, it’s flirty and cute.

It stops midthigh and pours over my curves with the right amount of everything. The sleeves are sheer and puff just a bit. The patent leather pumps on my feet are the right touch to pull it all together.

“Look at you, Billy. Maybe you’ll run into Ardan on the way back in,” I say and wink at my reflection.

I haven’t been able to get that man off my mind. After that vision in the bathtub, I was sure I was hallucinating when he came up behind me in the hall. I have never been so turned on by anyone.

That body and his face. Good Lord, he said I smelled good, but that man smells divine—like the ocean mixed with a clean breeze. I could sit and allow him to talk in my ear for hours and probably would come from that alone.

The way his voice rumbles like the roar of the ocean rushing does something to me. I clench my thighs and chide myself for getting lost in my thoughts of him again.

Yelp, these panties are ruined. I’ll be changing them before I leave. I roll my eyes and turn to pull a new pair from the drawer. My phone rings as I get the new pair in my hand.

I glance at my phone on top of the dresser and see it’s Carson. My heart begins to race. This is it.

“Hello,” I say into the phone as I answer.

“Hey, I’m sorry, Billy. We did catch him in the act. I mean … we had him. Everything was going as you said it would. Then … fuck ,” he roars into the line.

“Car, what happened? Are you all right?”

“I’m fine, but none of this makes sense. One minute, we had him with the vic. The next, all our surveillance and comms failed. I’m talking about total blackout,” he says in frustration.

“Is she safe? Is she still alive?”

“Yeah, she is, but Candido got away and she’s not talking. Billy, I swear there was another woman there. Then puff she was gone.”

“What? Did she escape with Candido?” I breathe as I knit my brows in confusion.

“No. I called in some pretty big favors for this. I look crazy as fuck right now.”

“So they’re shutting it down?”

He sighs. “No, lucky for me, the rest of the team saw what I saw and had the same questions. The FBI wants to continue looking into Ricci.”

“That’s good, right? That’s what I wanted.”

“Yeah, Billy, but how do I explain the things you told me?”

Oh shit. I groan. Carson had trusted my word when I asked for the favor. I had been so sure Candido would be caught red-handed, so I didn’t think that far ahead.

“Shit, Carson. Let me cancel my plans. I’m on my way. I’ve got you.”

“You better. I’m looking at losing my job if I don’t come up with some answers tonight.”

“I promise I’m coming. Hold tight.”

I hang up and dial Lee. She was the one to suggest we all meet. I’m disappointed I’m not going to make it, but I can’t let Carson go down for helping me. I’ll figure something out to help him.

I have to.