Page 29 of Free to Judge

“Fine. But nothing will change my mind.” I hear the resignation even as I seethe.

“I’m sending a car to get you.”

“Like hell you are!” I retort, voice raw with defiance and fury. But there’s no one on the line any longer.

My father disconnects, assuming his will is stronger than mine.

I swear to myself if I didn’t want answers, I wouldn’t go based on his beck and call, but I do want answers.

No, I need them.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Sitting across from Caleb,Keene, and Liam, once Keene’s office is locked down, feels like I’m poised on the edge of a knife. One wrong move either way and the edge can cause your death. In this case, we’re dealing with something so powerful the fallout could be catastrophic to all of us—leaving these three men cast adrift from their loved ones.

The kind of world we’re trying to protect their loved ones from isn’t just from bad men who come up and steal candy from kids in strollers. No, we’re talking about a world where women vanish to places that leave them lost in an unknown hell. That’s only slightly worse than the alternative, which is what I came here to tell them about—a farm located not too far from here where members of the Tiberis and Byrnes have mercilessly dolled out retribution for daring to cross them.

The kind of retribution that leaves a woman headless.

So, it’s no surprise Keene checked us all for listening devices. Right now, he trusts no one. He’s terrified of what could happen to his family as a result of the information I’m about to share with him. Hell, he even made me drop trou to ensure my dick piercings have been checked for listening devices.

As I adjust my slacks, he gives me a rueful grin. “Sorry. I can’t take too many precautions.”

“I don’t blame you. Still, I think I’d remember if someone got near my cock lately.”

“You think you’d remember.” Liam mocks me. As a former agent himself, I appreciate that we have that bond between us. He knows the training I went through and although my name was bandied about as a traitor, he had Hudson do their own digging. I’m grateful for their intervention, even if the weight of what I have to share with them presses down on my chest like a sledgehammer. “It’s not good,” I preface. Then I tell them about the files.

The women.

The slaughterhouse on the farm owned by an associate on the outskirts of Schenectady.

The airstrip near Albany.

It’s then I drop the bomb. “He didn’t go deep enough for me to confirm it entirely, but there are links to other locations.”

“Where?” Keene’s voice is rough even as Caleb asks, “Who?”

This is the first time I hesitate. When I explain the details I was able to gather after I slipped the key logger onto Sal’s computer, their muscles tighten with the urge to go after these men outside the law.

Caleb’s eyes are stormy as he weighs every brutal possibility. “And Kalie?”

This is where my own stomach churns. “They want to make an example of her.”

Keene surges to his feet and grabs my shirt front. “You did nothing to divert their attention, you bastard.”

“Fuck you and fuck that, Keene!” I shove him back.

Liam pipes up, “Dec did everything possible to demonstrate he was in control of the situation. Even going so far as to have her arrested.”

Caleb’s eyes gleam. “But he didn’t go through with it.”

A cold wash of awareness hits me. “They have someone at the station.”

Keene snarls, whether in frustration they hadn’t figured it out before now or in ingrained parental defense, I don’t know. Before I can speak, Caleb does. “Thanks for the intel.”

“So, that’s it? You’re just going to take what I told you and sit on it?” I shout.

Keene snaps his head up, leveling his piercing green stare at me. “No. Now we do something with it. There’s nothing for you to concern yourself with.”