Page 56 of Risky Taste
Logan and Sebastian crowd in closer, all four of us confused before Ed tells us to turn the page. I do but it’s just more names. It takes me entirely too long to pick up the connection. I flip between the pages, realizing how many of the people share last names.
“Noah, that first page is people currently in the military, many different branches, all of the people Kurt has fucked with since this started five years ago.”
There’s at least 60 names, maybe more on this paper.
“The page below it and subsequent pages are filled with everyone who worked on his parents’ case. Officers, superiors, witnesses. All of them. Kurt’s been busy. He tracked them down, found their children, and made them suffer a fate they didn’t deserve.”
“But,” I stop, chewing my bottom lip, even more horrified than I was a few seconds ago. “His parents are guilty, right? Declan mentioned a few days ago that Kurt had said something along the lines if they actually did the things they had been charged with.” I’m hoping upon hoping that Kurt didn’t go on a vendetta that actually has some merit. I need him to be the villain in my head and in my life as terrible as that sounds.
Ed leans back a little, nodding. “Yes, his parents are guilty. Strangely enough, they did something very similar to Kurt. A little more unhinged and a lot more dangerous, stuff that involved paying people for their silence and having reports fudged to edit out failures, create promotions for people who didn’t deserve them, and strip others of their rank altogether. Where Kurt was just doling out what he thought was vengeance, his parents were actually orchestrating the playing field. The integrity of the system was damaged and every little piece they touched had to be reinvestigated. It was a shit show. I don’t know everything that happened, some of those records are sealed and I’m sure that the records in Kurt’s case will also be sealed.”
This is a lot of information all at once. Knowing why and what Kurt did helps a little bit but now I’m just more confused. Then again, he must have been so off his rocker to think that his parents were innocent, that I was the reason they were jailed, and even more so that the only way to right the wrongs was to construct his own payback.
There’s just one last thing that doesn’t make sense. “The one newspaper clipping I saw mentioned that Kurt might have been part of whatever his parents were doing.”
“Nothing I found supported that claim. I think it was just an overzealous journalist, trying to make something out of nothing. What Idoknow is that Kurt isn’t getting out anytime soon.Heath, either, for trying to kill you and then also everything found in his office. Seems he was a little light on the truth.”
I stare at the pages a little longer, something still not sitting right with me. For one thing, my men are eerily quiet. The other thing is that this just all feels too easy,again.“How do you know all this? And yes, I know it’s your job to get all the facts of the case so if you had to present them–I’m not entirely sure what a lawyer does but this is alotof information.”
Ed grins, gesturing towards Logan and Sebastian. “Because I had help. They have more connections than I do, especially Logan. They gave me information and I double checked it to make sure that it was true. I’d have used Declan but he seemed like he was enjoying tearing apart a certain room upstairs.”
That sets us all into laughter as I lean back against Declan. “Are you done in that room, yet?”
“I’ve been done. It’s my way of destressing. Your bedroom and the office is packed up. I just took a few breaks in between.” He brushes his lips against my cheek, his chuckle rumbling through his chest. “It’s good to know I’m not going to jail, though. Too pretty for that.”
Ed cuts in. “You’ll have an ankle monitor until your probation is over and yes, I made sure you’d be okay in Handelbrook. Staying out of trouble is your best bet, all four of you. And until you get the all clear, you won’t have much contact with the base, your superiors, or any missions overseas. This, I might have used a few connections to get all things you’ll hear in the next day or two when you’re called in to be debriefed. And that, I believe, is it.” He blows out a quick breath, offering me a small smile. “Not easy by any means but definitely nearing the end of the tunnel.”
I look between my three guys, realizing how much more involved they’ve been over the past week while they’ve allowed me to decompress in my own way. Distracting me with softkisses and memories of my childhood have afforded me a way to deal with all of this shit. And they’ve been helping me get closure, one day at a time. I’m not sure where I’d be without them.
“So, when do we get to move?” I ask, not caring if it’s not the right time.
Sebastian laughs, pushing to his feet. “Ed called earlier, said that after we’re all debriefed on our current positions and Declan gets his new jewelry piece, we’re good to go. So… three days? Give or take.”
My eyes widen as I let out a little whoop and then immediately regret it, falling back against Declan’s chest. “I’m hoping in three days, I’m all healed. This is bullshit.”
Logan squeezes my thigh. “Bunny, take it easy. We’ve got all the time in the world.”
“Yeah, we do. Don’t we?”