Sins (Havoc of Sins #3)

Chapter 11

Simon

“Stop fidgeting,” CM hissed at me from where he sat backward on a chair to one side of the table. Unlike me, who was cuffed and had to sit facing the window. CM, or rather Kurt as I now knew him, had assured me no one watched from behind it. He had hookups everywhere. The guard eyed me from the corner of the room, and I swallowed hard and tried to sit still. I didn’t want to give him a reason to put me in the hole. “Remember,” Kurt leaned forward, “don’t look him in the eye, don’t talk back, and most importantly, if he tells you to bend over, you do it.”

“What?” My head shot back.

“Nah,” he hopped to his feet, “I’m just fucking with you. Hey.” He whistled to the guard and pointed to my cuffs. The guy glared at both of us but stepped over and reluctantly unlocked my handcuffs. “Just relax, and by this time tonight we’ll be having beers out on the Santa Monica pier.”

“Anywhere but Santa Monica,” I muttered, knowing that was neutral ground for biker gangs and that was the last thing I needed. Thanks to Kurt, I’d been able to keep tabs on Allen until he disappeared down in Mexico. He must have paid good money to disappear because he hadn’t been spotted by any of Kurt’s connections for years. The only thing he could dig up on Allen were a couple rumors he’d been posing as a priest, but it had never been confirmed. If it was true, he’d have demons to answer to someday.

“Fine. You name the place, then, and we’ll go there.”

“Deal.” The word faded off my tongue when the door opened and a red-faced, heavyset man dressed in an expensive suit and carrying a briefcase came in followed by another man. The big guy gave a tight nod to Kurt.

“How are ya, Sonny?” Kurt said to the second man, who stood back slightly.

“Been better.” He pointed with his chin at the red-faced guy. “Babysitting our inhouse lawyer, as usual.” The man dropped his briefcase loudly on the table and threw Sonny a nasty look.

“Shitty.” Kurt acted like the lawyer wasn’t even in the room until he looked at him. “I trust you looked over Simon’s case file, Cameron.”

“I did.” The lawyer sat in a chair but wouldn’t look at us as he pulled out a stack of papers and clicked a pen to expose the tip.

“Great. Then do your thing and get him out.”

The lawyer looked up at the camera in the corner and cleared his throat as he opened a file. “Name, age, and birthdate.”

“No, no,” Kurt reached for the file, “and don’t worry about them.” He jerked a thumb at the cameras. “Simon’s getting out. Just do this part since the paperwork’s completed. Oh, and he’ll be your PI.”

“PI?” He looked confused, and my stomach sank as things seemed to go south.

“Yes, Cameron, he’s a PI. He’s like a Russell Crowe in Beautiful Minds , plus, you’ll love this, you share the same distaste for bikers.”

Cameron pulled at his collar and finally looked at me. “Same distaste, how?”

“Allen.” I cleared my throat. “He set me up. It should be in the file.”

“The file’s been altered, my friend.” Kurt shook his head and shrugged. “Allen has people too.”

Great.

“Half the city of Los Angeles is looking to take Allen down.” Cameron tilted his head at Kurt. “What’s makes this guy a good fit to be my PI?”

“I’ve lived with this guy for nearly six years.” Kurt dropped his arm to the table like he was frustrated Cameron even questioned him. “It’s my job to observe, inspect, and recruit for the Potens in this hole. Besides there’s an up-and-comer in the Devil’s Reach, goes by the name Brick. I wonder what he did to get that name.” He chuckled. “Anyway, he’s real close with Allen’s son Trigger, who took over the pres seat since Allen’s MIA. Your new PI did a few jobs with this guy Brick’s brother. It could be an in.”

Kurt gave me a nod, and I pushed my glasses up my nose.

“His real name’s Matt Montgomery.” I let that sink in, but when he didn’t react, I added. “He’s been searching for his brother for years. When the time’s right, I can tell him where he is, and maybe we can use it as leverage or something.” The skin around Cameron’s eyes smoothed out and I could see he was intrigued.

“You can find him, even after all this time?”

“Yes.”

“All right, then,” he quickly closed the file, “let’s get you out of here.”

T he smell of sweat, sewage, and human cattle jolted me out of my memory. My knees went weak as we walked through the second door to where the solitary inmates were held.

“I still can’t believe you talked me into this,” Cameron muttered as he showed his ID for the third time since we arrived. “It’s not safe.”

“Avoiding a client who’s more powerful behind bars than he is out isn’t safe,” I reminded him. “He’s been trying to call you for nearly a month. You’re lucky it’s just a call and not something else.”

Mr. Griple’s dark eyes glared at Cameron as we took our seats behind the glass. I was happy for the layer of protection, but I wasn’t stupid. I knew what kind of pull men like Griple had, and we were anything but safe.

Griple jumped right in. “So, here I am in a fuckin’ jumpsuit, and you sit there in your fancy Swiss suit looking like a fat pimp.”

“I’m working on your case?—”

He hit the glass and we both jumped. “Don’t lie to me! You promised I wouldn’t spend more than a few nights in here, that you had that fool Martin Castillo all set to take the fall. You couldn’t even make that happen!”

“I had no idea Grim Gates planned on taking him out. If I had?—"

“You’d what?” His eyes burned. “You’d send out a hit?” He laughed. “I heard what happened the last time you sent out a hit.”

“Such an ass,” Cameron muttered behind his hand, and I kicked him to warn him to be careful.

Griple’s face turned to stone, and I pressed my heels into the floor, waiting for the fire to come.

“Ten years ago, you promised my uncle would walk free. He didn’t even make it the first night in this shit hole.” He waved around. “You sold yourself to us that you were the best, that you could get anyone out, but you didn’t come through, did you?” He stabbed his finger against the glass. “Then when we came to collect, you bargained like the little weasel you are and said you had the Gateses in your pocket, that you’d earned his trust after he got sick, so the Potens sat back and waited. We provided you with what you needed to take them down along with that fucking Devil’s Reach. And you know where that got us?” Spit flew from his lips. “My nephew gets killed by that rat bastard, that’s what!”

“Sasha went too far,” Cameron interrupted, and I put a hand on his arm. This was bad.

“No, you son of a bitch!” Griple slammed his fist into the table, and I noticed one of the guards looked over, but he didn’t make a move. Again, the power of money. “ You went too far, and now it’s time for you to pay up.”

Oh, shit.

“Which daughter?”

My stomach bottomed out.

“Which daughter?” He repeated his words without so much as a blink.

“Kenna.” Cameron didn’t miss a beat as he sealed the fate of his own daughter to this monster.

“Cameron!” I blurted then flinched at my outburst as Griple looked at me. I took a deep breath and moved back as far as I could into the chair. I felt sick as he swung his attention back to Cameron.

“Firstborn, it is.” He pressed his lips together and nodded.

I couldn’t form a word as we exited the prison, and it wasn’t until I ripped open the car door that everything hit me.

“How could you do that?” I felt my anger burn a hole in my stomach. “She’s your daughter.”

“Would you rather I picked Calli?” He gave me a knowing look. “Don’t play me, boy. I know you two have been screwing around.”

“Don’t call me boy.” I gritted my teeth. I didn’t give a damn if Cameron knew about my relationship with Calli, but the word boy brought me back to my father days, and I fought to swallow down a mouthful of bile.

“Messing with Calli is damn risky, by the way, given what Calli needs to do with Knox.”

“But Kenna? You know Griple will kill her.”

He tossed his suitcase in the back seat and leaned against the roof to look at me. “She chose what side she wanted to be on.”

Who was this monster?

“How heartless can you be? You didn’t even hesitate when you chose which daughter.” I felt physically ill as a cold sweat broke out over my back.

“We all have choices, Simon. Surely you can understand that one.” He grunted as he heavily got into the car and slammed the door.