Page 101 of After All The Wreckage

“Who’s in charge, Shawn? Who’s giving the orders?” Walden just stared at the carpet until Rory shoved the stun gun back at him. “Who?!”

“The Lovatos.”

Rory went perfectly still, and something crossed her face I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen before—fear. Shit… if Rory was afraid…

“You mean the Lovato Cartel?” she asked, the tone breathy from shock.

Walden barely nodded.

“Why would the Lovatos care about your cloud seeding company?” Her brows scrunched in concentration before realization made her eyes widen. “That’s where you’re getting the money. You’re laundering money through your company for the Lovatos. That’s why West is a silent partner.”

Walden didn’t say anything.

“Are you talking about a drug cartel?” I asked Rory.

“They started as a drug cartel, but they’ve got their hands in everything. Guns. Identity schemes. Price gouging. Investment fraud. You name it, they’ve done it.”

“And they’re trying to put their puppet into the White House?” I asked.

Rory shrugged. “I’m sure they have more politicians than Dunn in their pocket along with moles in every law enforcement agency in the country. It’s how they’ve been a step ahead of anyone trying to bring them down.”

Rory paced the room, coming to a stop again in front of Walden. “Which warehouse is yours? The list you printed off. Which one were you going to buy?”

“I didn’t. They decided at the last minute they were going to do it through another avenue.”

“Is that where Demi Palmer is being held?”

His eyes genuinely looked surprised. “Held? You act as if she’s been kidnapped. She’s Dunn’s mistress.”

My stomach rolled.

“Dunn doesn’t need a mistress. He’s single,” Rory said.

“You think he wants to be associated with a woman who can’t stay put and abandons her family?” Walden shook his head.“He keeps everything about her quiet so he doesn’t get dragged over the coals when he talks about how family values are the cornerstone of our society.”

“Where is she?” Rory demanded.

Walden shook his head again. “You keep acting like I’m someone in the know, and I keep telling you I’m just a pawn on their chessboard. Dunn, he’s just a pawn too, but he likes to pretend he’s their king. The carefully guarded piece that will win the game for them. And hell, maybe he is, but the real power is with the Lovatos.”

“I’m calling someone I know at the FBI. They’ll come and get you. You tell them what you told me, and they’ll probably get you a deal with witness protection.”

Rory whipped out her phone, and Walden said, “You make that call, and I’m dead.”

“You cooperate and tell the truth, and they’ll make sure you’re safe.”

Walden shook his head. “You truly have no clue. You really are just a little girl playing in a league you can’t possibly understand.”

“I’m trying to save your life, asshole, and Demi’s and mine along with it.”

“You want vengeance for your mom, and that’s blinding you to the truth. You’re over your head so deep you’re going to get yourself and anyone around you killed.”

As he said the words, he glanced at me, and I could tell by the flicker of worry that crossed her face that he’d hit home. She wouldn’t want to put me and my siblings in danger, but the way I saw it, Demi had already put us on the Lovatos’ radar.

“If Demi is with Dunn and Dunn is with this cartel, they already know everything about us, Rory. They already know they can get to Demi through us. What happened with Monte…” I shook my head.

This was so much more than just Dunn trying to get himself into a senate seat by using Demi’s and Monte’s psychic abilities. Maybe Demi had threatened to walk and they’d decided Monte was good leverage. Maybe she’d just decided to flit away again on her light feet, but they needed her so they’d kept her.

I headed for the door, suddenly desperate to get back to my family. To be a physical shield to whatever might come after them. Rory was on my heels. “Gage?”