Page 154 of Dance of Devils

Laying hands on Brooklyn, terrorizing her and manipulating her is already more than enough for me to want to put this piece of shit through a woodchipper while he’s still alive. But when I see what Freya’s dug up, my blood boils even hotter.

Freya's an expert at searching both known andunknownthings about people—even if they’re sealed court documents. For instance, part of what she’s found are James’ numerous arrests—and apileof dropped charges—going back to when he was a juvenile: assault, sexual battery,moreassault, sexual assault, rape, another rape, restraining orders from three different women, another assault charge coupled with a drunk and disorderly, and yet another sexual assault to top it all off.

I glare death at the screen. Somehow, he beat all the charges—probably a mix of his uncle pulling strings with the police union, and some greased palms here and there. I’m also guessing intimidation played a substantial part in it.

In three of his assault cases, the accusers dropped charges.Allhis rape arrests are the same.

I seethe.

James’ “lucky streak” has officiallyended.

Because it’s not just the “known” that Freya digs up. She finds all theunknownstuff that peoplereallydon't want to come to light. Every dirty secret. Every vice. Every sin.

James’ sins areplentiful.

Rape and assault don’t appear to be enough to slake the vile hunger in that motherfucker. James has a thing for girls.

And I do meangirls.

Based on his web history, his forays into the dark web, and the trove of files on his hard drive, Brooklyn’s actually on theolderside for him.

…By aboutten fucking years.

Fury and bile churn in my stomach before I close the file and shut the laptop.

I knowexactlyhow to deal with James now.

My smug satisfaction as I plan exactly what I’m going to do to him is, sadly, cut short when my phone rings.

That said, a call from Taylor Crown right now could be very good news.

“Ms. Crown,” I smile.

Technically, she's “Mrs. Krylov” these days. But given that Crown and Black is one of if notthemost prestigious law firm in New York, taking the name of her husband—a notorious and ruthless Bratva kingpin—could be bad for business.

“I hope this call means things have transitioned smoothly?”

It took all ofoneconversation with Diego Padilla, Brooklyn’s stepfather’s lawyer, to decide I didn’t trust him further than I could throw him. For what Brooklyn has been shelling out for him, he should not only have had Derrickoutof prison with all charges dropped by now, but should also be suing the justice department for wrongful prosecution. Yet somehow, despite the considerable money Brooklyn has paid him for various “experts”, the case is going nowhere.

Which I why I called in the big guns, reached out to Crown and Black—who’ve done legal work for me before—and hired Taylor to take over.

Taylor exhales. “There’s a small speedbump, Kir.”

I scowl. “Padilla? If he’s dragging on handing over the case, get a number from him to fuck off, and I’ll pay it.”

“It’s not Padilla,” she says slowly. “It’s Derrick Wagner.”

Shit.

“He’s okay, right?” I growl. Not that I give a fuck about the man, butBrooklyndoes, and if something’s happened to him in prison, it’s going to destroy her.

“I'm afraid I don’t have an answer to that,” Taylor says. “But I can tell you what he’snot, which isa prison inmate.”

My jaw tightens. “Excuse me?”

“Derrick Wagner is not incarcerated anywhere in New York or any other jurisdiction within the United States.”

I frown. “They released him?”