Page 50 of C is For Corruption (Horsemen #3)
Craig
Joey was holed up in his room when I got back from dealing with the body at the safe house.
I made a quick call to let Az and Leighton know before searching for Victoria.
After everything he’d done, my skin itched at the idea she’d had to spend any time alone with him. I hoped for all our sakes she hadn’t.
I found her coming in through the back door; her brows furrowed as she held one of the prepaid smartphones from my nightstand up to her ear.
My eyes raked over her, checking for signs that she’d had to deal with Joey.
She was curled in on herself, but I couldn’t tell if that was due to whoever she was speaking to.
I noticed some discoloration in her cheek and jaw, scrapes we hadn’t seen before.
I touched my fingers to her chin, taking stock of her injuries.
I hadn’t remembered bruising from the fight with the Jackals, but I had been pretty focused on my work at the time.
“Are these from the other night?” I whispered, raising a brow.
“I’m fine,” She mouthed in response, patting my hand and waving me off as she shuffled closer to the counter.
She had a fairly distinct limp that I knew I hadn’t clocked before.
I eyed her as she moved, wondering when that had started.
If it was from the fight, I felt like I would have noticed either at the warehouse or during the night following.
I’d been rough with her, but I didn’t think I’d gotten that rough. Maybe she needed a break…
“Wait, Tiff. I’m going to put you on speaker so you can relay all this to Craig.” She said into the phone.
I arched a brow in another silent question.
The last I knew, Victoria was still too angry with Tiffany to have called her, but she also desperately needed someone who wasn’t us to talk to about everything going on.
Part of me hoped that her reaching out to the girl meant she was forgiving her for making the same call any one of us would have made in her shoes.
The day had been strange enough that her accepting Tiffany’s olive branch wasn’t making it any weirder.
“I’ll tell you later.” Victoria whispered, putting the phone on speaker and moving to lay it face up on the nearby counter. “Okay, you’re on speaker.”
“Well, as I was saying before, your Uncle Theo cornered me at the event dad was hosting. You know how he likes to shove his money in people’s faces and rub elbows with the elite.”
“Why did Theo corner you?” I asked in an attempt to redirect her to whatever it was Victoria thought I needed to hear.
“He doesn’t know about my connection with the Golden Devils. As far as anyone on the outside is aware, I’m just an airheaded party girl, but. I’m also Tory’s bestie. He thought I could get a message to you and since I’m such an idiot , he wasn’t too worried about me knowing all kinds of details.”
“Fuck’s sake, Tiff, spit it out already. We get it, you’re not as dumb as you let everyone think you are.” Victoria huffed.
“Right. Sorry. So, it looks like Hugo is mixed up in some serious shit with the Bratva.”
“Hugh? As in Victoria’s father?” I asked, not sure she wanted Tiffany to know that Hugo wasn’t actually her father.
“The one and only. Seems he was working on a federal case that should have been a slam dunk. Theo said the feds handed over a casefile that would have made any prosecutor’s career.
It ended up with a hung jury and nobody knows why, even the defense team seemed shocked their guy didn’t go down.
I couldn’t say it to Theo, but from the sounds of it, he was an acceptable loss as a fall guy, but your dad screwed something up and he walked. ”
“Can you make any sense out of this with the info she gave us about Theo meeting the Russians?” Victoria asked me.
“Either Theo’s lying or it’s not something that makes sense, Bunny.” I replied.
Tiffany snorted on the other end of the phone.
“Bunny, that’s cute. But no, Theo isn’t lying about the case.
That shit is public record; I don’t need to be a hacker to google a court case and confirm what Theo said.
” She paused as the sound of background voices came over the phone.
“Look, all I know is what Theo and Google told me, and that he wants to set up a meeting with Tory. He’s probably banking on your curiosity and crazy intense sense of justice to get you to the meet. ”
“When and where?” Victoria asked immediately.
“No, Bunny. We need to discuss this with the others before we make any decisions about meeting Theo.” I interjected.
She narrowed her eyes at me with a scowl.
“If Theo was the fucking problem he wouldn’t have gone to Tiffany to reach out.
Candy didn’t exactly seem the type to keep names to herself if it got her what she wanted, and Tiffany being a god damned gangster would have come up if Theo was the boogeyman here. Candy would have told him.”
“I’m not saying we aren’t going to take the meeting, Bunny.
I’m saying we need to discuss it as a group.
We need to think about the possibility that he is just pretending not to know about Tiffany’s involvement with the Golden Devils.
You have to admit it’s weird as hell that he told her as much as he did about your father’s Bratva case.
He could have just said your dad was in some trouble and he wanted to meet so you could discuss it.
That’s all I would have said even if I thought Tiffany was just a dumbass ditz. ”
“Hey!” Tiffany sounded offended on the other end of the call before taking a breath. “He’s right though, Tory. He didn’t have any reason to tell me that stuff.”
“I thought you wanted to be my friend again, Tiff. You’re supposed to side with me on this shit.” Victoria snapped.
“I am on your side, babe. The side that keeps your ass alive.” Tiffany retorted.
“If you weren’t too trusting for your own damned good, you would have figured me out the second I got myself into the mess with Helen.
If you’d questioned me even a little, I’d have cracked in a second.
We wouldn’t be here because you would have known and I’d have made sure you had the tools to keep yourself safe long before your harem of horny horsemen arrived on the scene.
No offense, baldie, still love your cooking babes. ”
“Well, if we don’t end up having to take you out too, I’m happy to do a brunch when all of this is over.” I chuckled, shaking my head.
“Yaasss, bitch. We need brunch and mimosas.” Tiffany cheered. “Listen, I’ve got to go. Talk to your harem about this meeting. Seriously, Tory. Don’t just up and run off to meet Theo. If they decide it’s worth the risk, you can call Theo for the deets.”
“That sounds like Bitch Barbie,” Leighton called as he strolled into the room. “Are we friends with her again?”
“Yes,” Tiffany said.
“No.” Victoria snarked at the same moment. “She’s not agreeing with me so fuck that bitch.”
“Aaaanyway, love you too bitch. Crazy Eyes, Baldie, Az-hole if you’re there too. Seriously, gotta run. Tootles!” Tiffany’s voice pitched high on the last word before the call disconnected.
“Ok, but for real, are we friends with her again?” Leighton asked, his brows dipped in confusion as he looked at Victoria for an answer.
“Maybe? I don’t know. I’m still so fucking mad at her, but it was nice to just talk to my friend for a little while.”
“About that…” I turned and motioned for everyone to move to the dining table and take a seat. “Theo wants a meeting with Victoria.”
When Victoria sat, I turned her chair and knelt to push the leg of her pants up above her knee. I gave them a quick recap of the phone call as I inspected her knee, finding it swollen and with the same discoloring on her cheek and jaw.
“What’s wrong?” Az said, leaning over as he took his seat, Leighton mimicking his motion from the other side of the table.
“She’s got a limp, and bruising I don’t remember seeing before so I wanted to check her out.” I said, testing her range of motion and pressing gently on the swelling.
“It’s about the right time frame for bruises to really start showing up after her and Leighton’s hunt,” Az replied, rubbing his chin thoughtfully before turning to Leighton. “You didn’t mention her taking a tumble or anything to injure the knee, though.”
“Because she didn’t. Not when she was with me at least.” Leighton replied, his eyes narrowed on Victoria as if he could pluck out all her secrets that way.
“Well…” She dragged out the word, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. “I mean, between Az and Craig, the Jackals weren’t the only people who’ve been man-handling me recently. So…"
“I feel left out. This is so unfair.” Leighton whined, tilting his head back dramatically. “I want to man-handle you, Ma Petit . I deserve it after today. I was a good boy and felt feelings. ” His eyes widened dramatically. “ Feelings, Ma Petit!”
“Leighton… you do realize that when you’re protective, or angry, or happily getting on everyone’s nerves, that those are feelings, right?” I said, rolling my eyes with a grin.
“My eyes leaked , Craig! Stop trying to steal my damned thunder!” Leighton raised his voice, pointing his finger at me.
“See, that right there, that’s an emotion .” Az chuckling.
“Fucking traitors!” Leighton yelled, moving around the table and scooping Victoria up and over his shoulder before I could stop him. “Let’s show these assholes how they should have responded to my emotional growth, Ma Petit!”
He took off, bounding from the kitchen toward the stairs, Victoria’s laughter trailing after him.
“Should we interfere or let him be?” Az smirked.
“I mean… we should at least make sure her leg is supported properly, right?” I grinned. “It’s the only responsible thing to do, really.”
“Right. Responsible.” Az chuckled, standing from his chair. “Gotta be responsible. Though, I guess we’ll have to see who gets there first to decide who gets that job.”
I rubbed the back of my neck and hobbled around the side of the table. “I mean, I’m still pretty uncomfortable from having to squat down like that.”
“That’s fair—” Az started before I pushed him back into his chair and sped out of the kitchen as fast as I could put distance between us. “Oh, you mother fucker !” Az shouted, laughter in his voice.
I can’t say I’d ever imagined racing Az to a foursome, but it felt right in the moment. After everything we’d been through recently, we all needed the moment of levity it brought. I just wished Joey would get his head straight before it was too late.