Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 122074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
Ashton’s entire body relaxed. An entire shudder went through him, and I tipped even more into him from the sudden shift. “So that’s it. It’s done.”
“I told you I’d see you on the other side. Ashton, I’m letting you know that they’ve appointed me in his place.”
Ashton lifted his head back up from the seat rest. He was nodding at the phone. “You’re taking over?”
“I will be leaving the New York City Police Department.”
Ashton snorted. “You gave Jess such shit for choosing Trace. How is you choosing family over your career any different?”
Jake sighed. “The bigger irony not lost on me is that it’s you giving me that statement. Your last free information from me: my cousin is not going to go down lightly. This is a warning. Be prepared because I’m sure he’ll still try to throw a Hail Mary.”
“Jake.”
“What?”
“Who were your cousin’s backers?”
The detective didn’t answer, not right away. “Honestly? I’m not sure. They only worked with him, but who would find it too threatening when there’s a shooting in a public hospital?”
“Someone big. Public.”
“Yes.”
“Someone legal.” Ashton’s jaw clenched. “You have a theory?”
“I do, and if I’m right, we’re all lucky that they pulled out.” Jake ended the call on his end before we could say anything.
A slight smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. Both his hands settled on my legs.
“Does that mean what I think it means?”
He nodded, the slight smile forming to a real smile. “It’s over. The war is over, but I still want you to look through the photographs Mauricio sent.”
I nodded. “I will. It’s not over until he’s gone gone.”
“It’s mostly over. Jake won’t push to come into the city like Nicolai was doing. That was Jake saying he’s heading back to Maine and focusing there, and that’s even if he keeps with the family business. Knowing Detective Worthing how I do, I’d bet he’ll go in, say he’s with the program, but he’ll end them from the inside. He’ll make that family go legal.”
“He was on the pay from you?”
Ashton nodded. “He was, but Jake walked the line. He never totally stepped over. I was aware of what he was doing. He gave me information that would help me against our enemies, against guys who did worse things than my family did. He picked the lesser of the two evils, and he knew that I knew what he was doing. It was an unspoken thing between us.”
I was starting to see that.
“Jake’s the reason Justin worked for us.”
I frowned.
Ashton wasn’t really saying that to me. It felt like he was saying it just to say it. “I knew another one of their cousins, Vivianna. She made a call one night. Asked if I’d give her cousin a job. She was doing a reach out, trying to see me. But it was Jake’s call if his brother was hired as a bartender, and considering I had him on the payroll, I needed to know the parameters for this hiring. He said yes. He said it wouldn’t look right to his colleagues if his brother had an option to work at Katya and not take the job so . . .” He looked at me, a haunted expression in there. “In a way, because of Jake, because of their other cousin, because of me, we’re the reasons Kelly is dead.”
“Ashton.”
His phone began to ring once again, and seeing it was Trace, he put it on speaker right away. “Hello, brother.” His voice was hoarse.
Trace asked, “Are you guys okay?”
Ashton didn’t answer that, instead asking, “You have your woman?”
“I do, but uh, that’s not why I’m calling.”
Jess’s voice came on next, saying, “We’re getting married!”
I gasped, taking the phone from Ashton. “What? When? Where? How did this happen?”
“Today. Just now.” Jess sounded happy. “We got the news that my mom has cancer. Then we were almost taken, and who knows what would’ve happened. Now, in a weird way, my mom has to go into hiding with us, and it feels right. What Molly did is what Kelly would do. No matter the guns blazing, Kelly always wanted her happily ever after. She would ignore everyone’s warnings and follow her gut. I’m doing this for Kelly. I’m done waiting. I want to get married. Now.”
“Now?” Ashton leaned forward, blinking some of the ghosts away.
“Or as soon as we can. Do you know of a place that would be safe?”
Ashton and I shared a look. A part of me was gleeful, but the other part was worried. The bad guy was out there, the real bad guy, and my gut knew.
He was still coming.
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
ASHTON
“Thanks for letting us do it all here.”
I was fixing Trace’s tie as he was doing his cuff links. He was talking about my family’s compound, and I grunted, stepping back. “It’s the least I can do. The Worthing family stepped back and pushed Nicolai out, but he’s still out there. This place seemed the obvious choice so we’re all safe while being ridiculous and having a wedding.”