Page 17 of Merciless Obsession (The Bloodline #2)

EZRA

“ M r. Carnes, you told the detectives on the evening of June twenty-ninth, twenty twenty-two that you were entering your place of business and were hit in the back of the head, and when you came to you were tied to a chair in the middle of your living room, correct?”

The witness on the stand nodded.

“Speak out loud, Mr. Carnes,” the judge stated.

Mr. Carnes leaned forward and spoke into the mic. “Yes, that’s correct.”

“And then you told the detectives that you were beaten and threatened if you didn’t go forward with the sale of the lot your family’s restaurant was on, correct?”

“Yes.”

“The prosecution would like you to direct your attention to the screen. Shown is Exhibit B. Pictures of the witness’s face and body after the assault in question.”

Murmurs broke out around us.

“The witness exhibited a fractured jawbone, three broken ribs, required stitches across his left jaw, and two broken fingers.”

Mr. Carson cleared his throat and shifted in his seat.

“Mr. Carnes. The man who caused these injuries to you. Do you see him in this courtroom here today?”

Mr. Carnes was quiet for a moment. His eyes shifted to where me and Felix were sitting. My arms rested calmly on the table next to me.

“Mr. Carnes?” the prosecution called out.

“Answer the question, Mr. Carnes.”

“No I don’t recall, Your Honor.”

The DA’s jaw ticked. He turned, walking back to his table and picking up a folder.

“Mr. Carnes, please remember you are under oath. Do you not recall telling detectives that Felix Benson was known for coming around and intimidating business owners in the area to sell to their properties? You also said when you denied selling, even after the beating, your restaurant was burned down.”

“I don’t recall.”

“Mr. Carnes, again, you are under oath.”

“I know that.”

“So please tell the court what you told the detectives.”

“The night you speak of, my vision was unclear due to the hits in the head. The detectives led me to believe it was Mr. Benson when they came and questioned me.”

“Mr. Carnes.”

I spoke up. “Objection, Your Honor. The DA is badgering his own witness. He says he doesn’t recall.”

“Sustained. Mr. Carnes, are you sure you do not recall the night in session.”

“Yes, Your Honor. That whole evening is blurry.”

“The witness has clearly been threatened by Felix and his guys to change his original statement, Your Honor.”

“Objection.”

“Sustained. The jury will disregard that last statement. Counselor, move on.”

The DA pushed out a deep breath. “Is it true you told the same detectives that the other business owners who chose to sell only did so because they feared for their lives due to Felix Benson’s influence and continued threats?”

“Objection, hearsay.”

“Sustained. The jury will disregard. Watch it, Counselor.” She gave him a warning look.

One corner of my mouth lifted as I leaned back in my seat.

The morning continued with the judge calling for a recess after my counter questioning.

The beginning of this trial wasn’t going how the DA wanted, which didn’t mean an automatic win, but it did give me a chance to take charge and sway the jury to our side.

If the DA thought this was an easy win for them, then they were mistaken.

I was about to give him the fight of his life with a smile on my face.

____

“I will say you’re worth all the money you’re charging,” Wise said, bringing his glass to his mouth.

I grinned. “And trust me, your brother isn’t making my job easy either.” My eyes locked on the dancer on stage. We were currently at my brother’s club The District, upstairs where the strip club was located. We sat in one of the round booths, close to the main stage.

Wise shook his head. “He’s always been hardheaded. If him going to jail didn’t threaten my business, I’d let him fall on his ass.” His jaw clenched.

I lowered my glass on the table and turned to face Wise.

“I told you this already, if you don’t cut Felix loose or get him under control you’ll be the next one I’ll be defending.

Your brother is sloppy, flashy, and too impulsive.

He thinks he’s above the law and not in a good way.

He might be good at whatever he does for you, but he’s still got a lot to learn with being discreet or he’ll become your downfall. ”

Wise kept his eyes on the stage. He had built his fortune on gambling, both legal and illegal.

He ran the largest casino in the area and also an exclusive underground gambling ring meant for high rollers.

The buy-in alone was twenty-five thousand dollars and you had to bet the minimum of ten thousand.

A lot rode on Wise’s business, it wasn’t just organized crime members who played, doctors, lawyers, high profile people, politicians and law officials also joined sometimes.

“Trust me, once his case is over, I’m cutting him off.”

“You think that’ll help?”

“Either that or he gets sent down south to stay with our uncle. I’ve worked too hard to get where I am and I can’t keep cleaning up his shit. He’s not a kid anymore. It’s time for him to grow the hell up and get his shit together.”

Wise was around Nazai’s age, but from what I knew about him, his parents were both imprisoned when he was nineteen and his brother was ten. Wise had taken over guardianship after their grandma who was raising Felix passed away a couple years later.

Wise pulled his phone out and scanned the screen. “Duty calls.” He stood. “It’s been a minute since you came through The Den. You should slide through soon.” The Den was where he held his underground gambling.

“Fuck no. The last time I stepped foot in that damn place I lost damn near a hundred grand.”

Wise laughed. “At least no one can ever call you a quitter.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m not an idiot either.” I waved him off.

He chuckled again. “If you change your mind, let me know. I’ll send you what you need to get in.”

I nodded and stood. The District was live like most nights.

Nazai’s club was often maxed to capacity.

The girls upstairs always were well sought out and could make the strongest man fold when it came to their seduction game.

It was one of my favorite places to come to de-stress after court.

It was full of attractive women and they always gave a show that had you wanting more.

Leaving the table I was at, I walked across the room until I got to Nazai’s private section. He was around here somewhere making sure the club was running smoothly. Out of all my brothers I was the one who spent the most time here.

“River, my brother. When did you get back?” I slapped hands with River.

River was my brother’s best friend and like an adoptive brother to us all. His dad worked for our dad. When his parents were killed, my parents took River in. He owned a high-profile security firm and worked as an enforcer when Nazai needed extra muscle on jobs before he took over The Bloodline.

“Late last night.” I took a seat next to him.

He had a job out of town, it happened with him from time to time.

“I heard you been showing your ass around here.”

Grinning, I brought my glass to my mouth. “What makes you say that?”

River gave me a knowing look. “Kidnapping, holding the girl hostage, stalking.”

I tittered. “Looks like my big brother’s been running his mouth a bit too much.”

“It’s my job to know if there’s any potential threats to you guys.”

“Trust me, my Bumblebee is a lot of things, but a threat to me isn’t one of them.”

Digging into my pocket, I pulled out two phones. The first one was mine, which I tossed on my lap. I unlocked the other one.

“Ezra.” Lifting my head, I gave him my attention again.

River’s face grew serious. He looked around then back at me. “Do I need to be worried?”

“I don’t get what you mean.” The phone in my hand vibrated.

I glanced down at the screen. It was a text message from Inaya to Ziora. While I had her phone, I had a guy I knew clone it for me. Whatever messages or notifications she got on her phone I would get too.

“You know what I mean, Ezra. Do I need to be on standby?”

“Everything’s good. This is different than before.”

I scrolled up through the messages between Ziora and Inaya since she had her phone back. It’d been three days since I released her, but that didn’t mean I left her alone. Ziora had been locked in her house since then.

“Okay. I just don’t want you to go off the deep end again.”

“That was a long time ago and a different situation.”

“A’right I’ll let it go.” He stood. “Your brother needs me, I’ll see you later.”

I nodded and kept going through the texts. Seemed like Ziora planned on going to speak with a girl’s family she was recently sent information about. Apparently, this wasn’t anything new for her. She often went to speak to the victims’ families after hearing about their daughters going missing.

“Hey Ezra, long time no see.” I glanced up. Star, one of my favorite dancers here, was standing in front of me in nothing but a bright pink G-string and silver pasties on her nipples.

“Star.” I licked my lips and ran my eyes over her body. Normally seeing her would indicate a fun night for me. Nazai didn’t allow sex in his clubs, but sometimes I would dip off with Star. It had been a minute since the two of us did anything close to that though.

“You came here for some fun?” She batted her lashes and tucked her bottom lip into her mouth with a sultry look in her eyes.

Before I finally got my hands on Ziora I would have taken her off on her offer.

Too bad for Star my attention had been stolen and never given back.

The only woman who could wake The Prince up now was the freckle-faced brainiac across town.

“Not tonight ,Star.”

She poked her bottom lip out. “You sure?” She slid down on my lap and wrapped her arms around my neck. Her hand ran down the front of my chest. Her full breasts pressed into me. I waited to see if my dick would react, but nothing.

“I’m sure, sweetheart.” My attention went back to the phone.

Inaya was telling Ziora to not go talk to the girl’s family alone, but Ziora assured her she would be fine.

“How about a dance then?”

“What?”

“A dance? Let me dance for you?”

“Yeah okay, sure.”

The weight of Star’s body lifted off me.

I clicked out of the text and went to Ziora’s emails.

According to my guy, anything encrypted that came over would still be encrypted unless I had the information needed to decrypt them.

Her main email was accessible but her blogger account was what I couldn’t get into.

Anything connected to Shadows of Silver Stone was locked up tight.

I planned on having Emmet take a run at it, but according to him, he had other things to handle at the moment.

I wasn’t sure what was so important he couldn’t help his favorite brother out, but it didn’t matter. I still had access to my Bumblebee and that’s all that mattered.

“Ezra!” My name being called out gained my attention, causing me to look up.

“Yeah?”

Star scoffed and placed her hands on her wide hips, sticking one out to the side. “You weren’t even paying me any attention.”

I blinked a couple times. I had forgotten she was even dancing for me.

Instead of explaining to her that only one person would have my undivided attention, I set my glass down, went into my pocket, and pulled out whatever cash I had.

“Here, take this.” I stood and pushed it toward her.

The frown on her face quickly switched and the corners of her mouth lifted.

Heading out of the section, I was stopped by Nazai.

“You leaving?”

I nodded. “Yeah, got some stuff to handle.”

“Don’t go and do some bullshit, Ez,” he said, grabbing me. “You’ve been acting irrationally since Ziora came into the picture.”

One corner of my mouth hiked up. “Don’t worry, big brother.”

He narrowed his eyes. “I sent River to grab our next target. He’s taking him to The Barn, so be available.”

“Say less, big bro.” I gave him a salute, tapped his back, and continued out of the club. It was going on twelve o’clock, to me that was still early.

____

Me

I wish it were The Prince you had in your mouth right now instead of that sucker.

I hit send and smiled to myself as I watched Ziora’s eyes narrow as she read my text. She walked to the window of her bedroom and looked down at the street, scanning it.

Bumblebee

Don’t tell me you’re back to stalking me.

You call it stalking, but I call it keeping track of my toy.

I’m not an object and I don’t belong to you.

You keep thinking that.

Laying my phone on the windowsill I lifted my camera and focused it. I had a direct view of Ziora’s windows. She had a large window in front that she kept open most of the time unless she was going to sleep, then the panels closed.

While I had her at my house, I saw her neighbors across the street were selling their townhouse.

I knew eventually Ziora would go back home and I wanted to still be close to her.

I went to them with a cash offer, waiting no time to take residence once they were cleared out.

The houses were similar in layout. Standing in the master bedroom that mirrored hers, I smiled, knowing I could keep eyes on her even when she was at home.

I hit the button to capture her picture before readjusting the focus to zoom in and take another picture.

I picked the phone up and sent a quick text to her then went back to snapping photos.

By the way, Bumblebee, yellow looks good on you. But next time I would prefer you in red.

My phone vibrated on the sill, I glanced at the screen.

Fuck you, you psycho.

I grinned.

“That mouth, it’s surely a stinger.” I laughed.

Lowering the camera, I watched as Ziora moved away from the window but didn’t close her panels, still giving me access to her.

River’s words from earlier played in my head for a moment, but I shook them away.

This wasn’t like that time. Nothing about it would end up like before because the simple fact was, Ziora wasn’t her.