Page 18 of C is For Corruption (Horsemen #3)
Joey
Leighton’s debrief was a nothing-burger. His psycho parents were behind his abduction, and his psycho sister saved his ass. Given our current situation, he’d have been better off as a married man. At least then , one of my so-called brothers wouldn’t have the viper’s fangs in them anymore.
“Anyway, I’d just like to reiterate that I am the only boyfriend, and I earned that place by not getting married.” Leighton continued on from whatever he’d been saying while I was lost in thought. “None of you can use that as an in, either. I’m Virgin Mary-ing it. One time only deal.”
Az shook his head, a slight smirk on his face, and Craig just stared at him like he was trying to figure out why Leighton was the way he was. I… wanted to puke.
“That’s… not how that works at all, Leighton.” Az said with a chuckle.
“That’s not how any of this works.” Craig followed up.
Leighton crossed his arms in front of his chest and frowned.
“Yes huh. It’s like dibs, I got the title first so it’s mine.
But I promise, I’m still happy to share.
” He paused and pointed at Az, “You can be the sassy booty call, and Craig is clearly the mistress. Joey is… I don’t know what Joey is, he’s confused right now and he doesn’t even have the spirit.
Maybe he can be the pity fuck until he gets his head on straight, I don’t fucking know. ”
It took every ounce of willpower to keep my mouth shut during Leighton’s diatribe, but I wasn’t in the mood to be hit again.
My nose still hurt enough from Az’s blow to make me think twice.
At this point, they’d all taken shots at me for trying to tell them what was right in front of their face.
As much as I loved seeing them laughing and having a reason to smile, considering our circumstances, I just wished it was something that wasn’t going to get them killed in the end.
And they were all too close to her to see it coming.
“If that’s all, I’ve got shit to do.” I said finally, standing from my seat.
“Aww, you don’t wanna see my new addition? I was just about to show everyone.” Leighton grinned, wiggling his brows at me.
“Pass,” I replied, knowing I didn’t want to know whatever it was.
I didn’t bother waiting to see how he responded, walking out of the office and heading straight for my room.
As soon as I stepped inside, I locked the door behind me and booted up the laptop I’d added to Phil’s supply run.
Craig may have been the tech guy, but I knew how to access the backups of everything we kept stored, and I was currently combing through every piece of evidence we’d gathered while Az was locked up.
I let out an annoyed huff. His six months in jail because of the fucking princess was something else he seemed to have forgotten about.
While I waited for everything to load up on the laptop, I turned to study the wall opposite me.
I didn’t have much on it at this point, but it was a start.
I’d managed to get the original pictures Gary had collected for us, which felt like a lifetime ago.
I’d circled the one of her with Rinaldo Marino because it felt significant that she’d managed to convince even the Jackals’ consigliere that she wasn’t the one who orchestrated his entire downfall and demise.
I’d printed out the articles from Az’s arrest and added them to the wall.
A picture of Az and my brother were up there too, both victims of her machinations in some way.
Though, really, we all were. I’d also grabbed the picture of the box Rinaldo had sent her, which had contained the heart and Tiffany’s picture as an obvious threat.
And Tiffany… her picture was next to the viper’s.
There was no way that she could have pulled it off alone, and Tiffany was clearly helping her.
Could I prove any of this? No, not with what we currently have.
But I knew. I knew we were right in the beginning, and Rich’s death was just the latest of her moves to somehow take us out from the inside.
I just had to figure out how the pieces fit together, and then I’d show my brothers how much danger they were in. She wasn’t worth all of our lives.
Shaking my head, I turned back to my desk and settled into the chair, my fingers tapping on my desk for a moment before I started on the next batch of files in the backup.
Craig had neatly organized everything, including the police report and court filings, that I was working my way through.
Victoria’s initial report had been circumstantial at best. According to the report, someone had attempted to take her during the gala fire, and she magically managed to escape their clutches with her wholly nonexistent self-defense skills.
That was when Az’s dumbass tried to help keep her from getting trampled.
Except, the way she told it to the police, he was the man trying to take her all because of his moth tattoo.
“Should have fucking let her be trampled.” I muttered to myself, moving to the next document in the file.
It was mainly legalese I’d need more time to decipher, but instead of seeing Hugo’s name on the court filing as I’d expected, it was Theodore Abrams. My brows shot to my hairline as I continued to skim the filing and moved into the court transcripts for the arraignment.
For all intents and purposes, Az had been an upstanding pillar of the community until that fucking fire, but reading the transcript, you’d have thought he was a common criminal.
I mean, he was, but they should not have known that.
We’d always been exceptionally careful at ensuring he wasn’t involved in anything that could have one of us getting caught doing.
Clearly, dear old Uncle Theo was helping her, too.
I made a mental note to look closer at the emails he’d sent Rinaldo when I got to them.
I pulled out the cheap cell phone Phil had managed to grab for me on his first run and dialed his cell. My leg jiggled impatiently as I listened to it ring.
“Pick up, pick up,” I muttered just before the call went to voicemail. “Fucking hell man, come on!”
I hung up without leaving a message and immediately called him again. He still didn’t answer. I tried several more times to no avail and was about to redial him when my phone rang.
“What?!” Phil shouted before I could say a word.
“ Excuse me ? You wanna remember who the fuck you’re talking to and try that again?” I snarled back.
“I know who the fuck you are, Joseph, but I’m kind of fucking busy trying to put out every god damned fire in your organization so you still have something left when you decide you’re done acting like a fucking child because I shouted at you.
Pardon the fuck out of me for being a little stressed and losing my shit.
” He shot back. “Now, what the fuck do you need so I can get back to fucking work you little shit.”
“If you were anyone else, you’d be ending the night with a bullet in your head.”
“Well the fuck aware. As it is, I’ll be spending the night between my therapist’s thighs if you’ll hurry the fuck up and tell me what you want? A man needs a god damned break now and then, ya know.”
I gritted my teeth for a minute before blowing out a calming breath. “I need someone on Theodore Abrams.”
“On him, or on him?”
“ On him. Any information we can find, and around the clock tail if we can swing it.”
“What are we looking for?” Phil asked.
“I’ll know it when I see it. Just… figure out how to get the shit done and have whoever you put on it report directly to me. Nobody else. And I want to know everything, even when he takes a shit. Got it?”
“Az ain’t gonna like me putting one of ours on a detail like that right now.”
“Did I ask what Az was going to think about it?” I snapped. “If I wanted Az’s opinion on this I’d ask him to take his dick out of your mouth long enough to have a chat. Now get it done. And remember, they only report to me. ”
“Jesus, Joey, I think you need to talk to my therapist. You got some real anger issues going on right now and I gotta say, they aren’t the vibe.” Phil said in a snarky tone. “Besides, we all know it’s Craig’s dick in my mouth. But if you want any pointers to help you keep Az–”
I ended the call without waiting for him to finish his ridiculous statement. He was a good man and a damn good soldier, but he sometimes forgot his place. Receiving direct orders wasn’t the fucking time for his poor attempts at humor.
“As long as he does what he’s told…” I muttered to myself, turning back to the laptop and where I’d left off in the court transcript, glad it was easier to read than the filing. Either way, it was going to be a long fucking night.