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CHAPTER NINETEEN

“When a sinister person means to be your enemy, they start by trying to become your friend.”

~ William Blake

Saros

The lower part of my house was used for a few things. For instance, after Benny was shot, this was where he was brought to. There was a state-of-the-art medical facility in this huge space. This was also a great place to hold meetings if you wanted to guarantee no one could hear you, since it was soundproofed. The other thing about this floor was the fact that it had a cage, shackles, and everything else one might need to hold and…interrogate an individual.

Brandi was currently in the cage and shackled to the wall. As I approached, she wouldn’t meet my eyes, and that was fine.

Gino brought a chair over. I removed my jacket, and Cosmo took it. I sat and unbuttoned my cuffs.

“We’ll start off easy, Brandi.” I rolled up one sleeve and then the other, slowly. “You’ve worked for me for five years. Came in off the streets, according to Cosmo, asked for a job. You served for a year but showed interest in bartending. Linx taught you everything he knew before he left The Vine to manage one of my other clubs. You were a quick study, customers love you. Am I right so far?”

She didn’t respond. That was fine.

“Personally, Brandi, I thought you were loyal. Fuck knows I paid you a lot. But you slipped up. Where do you think that happened?”

She still didn’t speak, so I jerked my head at the cage and Benny opened it up. Riley and Cosmo entered with him.

“What are you doing?” Brandi asked as they unlocked the shackles and dragged her out.

I got up and followed them to the wall. The wall could be mistaken for a Saint Andrew’s Cross, but no pleasure came from the way I used it.

“You’re going to answer my questions, Brandi.”

The four men got her locked in with a lot of cursing. Once she was secured, I moved in front of her.

“Now, I’ll ask you again. What do you think happened?”

“Is this about whatever that brat told you upstairs?”

Oh, she wasn’t very bright. “No.” I pursed my lips. “That’s not where it went wrong. Care to guess again?”

“Sir, I don’t know what he told you, but he’s a liar. I knew it when I saw him at The Vine. I’m trying to protect you.”

I guffawed. “Protect me?” I looked at Mike. “Did you hear that?”

He shrugged but didn’t say anything, so I walked over to where someone had put her bag, unzipped it, and pulled out her cell phone.

“See, Ramsey clearly had very little use for you. He used your name freely. And yes, Em told me that, and before you decide to say he’s a liar, let me stop you.” I waggled her cell at her. “This is your phone, right?”

“Yeah.”

“After I heard the accusations about you, I had a tracker embedded in it.”

Her expression fell, and her tanned complexion turned ashen. “Sir.”

“That’s the face. Right there, Brandi. Why so scared if you did nothing wrong?”

“I can explain.”

I moved to the chair, dragged it closer to the cross, and sat. “By all means, please do. I’m dying to hear.”

“I was approached. I saw it as an opportunity to maybe get inside information for you about Ramsey Brookes.” She swallowed, and sweat began to glisten on her face and soak under her armpits.

“Why would you do something like that? I have relationships in place. How would it have looked to Ramsey if he thought I put a fox in the hen house?” I used an old phrase my aunt liked to say, and it always delighted me when old-fashioned commentary tripped people up.

“I wanted to get ahead.”

“Of what?”

“I wanted to be more than a bartender.”

I rolled my eyes and faced Cosmo. “Did Brandi ever ask for a promotion or raise?”

“No, Boss.”

“Interesting.” I slammed her phone on the ground, and it cracked but didn’t shatter. “Try again, but know that I’m getting tired.”

“It’s…it’s the truth.”

“Mike, explain to Brandi what you found out.”

“Sure thing.” Mike stepped forward and picked up her cell phone from the floor. “Where your sim card is, was where the tracer was put in. I call it a tracer, but it’s so much more. It tracks your movement, like GPS, but it also accesses your camera and records conversations. It’s state-of-the-art. So, on the phone or off, it’s recording and streaming right to my computer.”

He shrugged, pulled out the tracer, and dropped the phone.

“So where you went, what you said, who you were with. I mean, Boss, you want me to tell her what we already know?”

I tilted my head and narrowed my gaze at a visibly shaking Brandi. “Show her instead.”

He grabbed the tablet he’d brought and started hitting a bunch of buttons, which from what I could tell, linked right to the tracer that was connected to her phone. Then he moved beside her, placing the tablet in her face, volume at full blast.

“Oh, Daddy, yes, you fuck me so good.”

“You like that, baby girl?”

“So much, yes.”

We listened, and I never took my eyes off her face as she watched and listened to what her phone picked up. It wasn’t just the fact that she’d been fucking Ramsey, it was what had happened afterward.

“When can we be together?”

“Soon, baby, soon. I just gotta take care of Saros Tancredi, get that fucking piece of shit, Em, under my roof, and figure out what to do with Shyla.”

“Let me help.”

“You have. You’ve been giving me valuable information this last year, babe.”

“Saros won’t be easy to take down, Rams. He’s got power, people, money. That son of a bitch is soaking up everyone’s worth like a sponge. Believe me, I’ve thought about slipping him something in his drink a time or two.”

We listened as the two of them laughed about that. Brandi appeared nauseated as she watched the screen.

“I have to go to the stupid fucking family dinner thing Saros likes us all to attend. If Em’s there, I’ll find him. Maybe I can persuade him to leave with me, bring him to you.”

“You’d do that for me, baby?”

“I’d do anything for you. I love you, Ramsey.”

“Mmm, yeah, you do. Open your legs and show me that pus ? —”

“Okay, that’s enough,” I said, and Mike ended it.

Brandi didn’t say anything. I let her have a moment—I was sure that was embarrassing for her, but I didn’t give a flying fuck about it. She’d forfeited her right to privacy or respect the second she’d decided to go against me, hurt Em, and dismantle everything I’d built.

“You going to keep going on about how you were trying to climb the ladder? Because by the looks of that, the only thing you were climbing was Ramsey.”

I stood and held out my hand. Benny placed a knife in my palm, and I advanced on Brandi.

“You made your choices, made your bed, blah blah blah…now I’m going to return you to Ramsey, baby girl , don’t fret. But there’s a catch.” I slid the point of the knife along the side of her neck. “It’s going to be in pieces.”

“Wait, please. I have information. I can be useful.”

“What makes you believe I would trust anything you said?”

“You can look it up, once you know.”

I didn’t step away, I kept the blade pressed to her skin. “Go ahead.”

“I can tell you about Em, his name’s November.”

“I knew that.”

“But…” She swallowed, her body quivering with fear. “His parents, I can tell you who they are.”

That did make me step away and glare into her eyes.

“Tell me.”

It didn’t matter what she said. While she might believe she’d be walking out of here, she was wrong. I’d get what I needed and follow through on my promise to return her to Ramsey to put her back together again.