Dark Justice (Croft Family Mob Series Book 1) (12 page)

That hurt.

It looked like she’d been betrayed again. Had it been reversed, she would have fought for him.

That he wouldn’t…it was horrible.

“I don’t have millions or billions. If Raye heads here, I’m dead on this job. I’ll be moved to the mailroom. All I have is being a cop.”

“So, you’ve been avoiding me, simply because some dick in a higher office, who tried to bribe my husband to keep us on the same team, told you to?”

“Emma. Please.”

“No, it’s okay, Chris. I get it. Job before family. I see how it is.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out her Navigator keys. On the ring was the one to his place.

He’d given it to her in case he died in some compromising position, so she could get rid of any kink and make him look respectable.

“Here you go.”

“Emma.”

She tossed it to the desk.

“You want out? You’re out. You picked your side, Chris. What hurts the most is that we’re fighting for the people this department lets fall through the cracks. We’re fighting for a man on death row who wore the same uniform we did. He’s going to die unless my husband and I save him. Not you. Not the cops. Us. So you can judge us. I have to choose my side, and it’s always going to be with Greyson, even if I really did consider you my brother.”

He listened to her and his heart ached.

“Emma.”

She ignored him.

“Last time, I threw you out of my house. You told me, in no uncertain terms, that it wouldn’t ever happen again. If it did, you’d never be back. Well, I never saw this coming. This is your house, and it has always been that way. Now you’re tossing me out. I get it.”

“Emma.”

She cut him off again.

“Let me make this perfectly clear. I would have given you every penny I had, hired you the toughest lawyer to keep this your job, and stood by your side until the bloody end. I would have fought for you because up to this moment, where you just handed me my heart, you had my love, trust, and loyalty.”

He wanted to weep.

Chris was praying he’d still have her trust.

He just needed time.

“I am fighting for you, Emma,” he muttered.

“Really? Like when you were lying on this floor bleeding? Are you doing that kind of battle? I feel more like you’re shoving the knife into my back,” she said, refusing to cry. “I could have gotten out and left you. I didn’t. I stuck. Loyalty matters to us. They may say we’re killers, crooked, or mob, but you knew the truth, Chris. They’re clueless, but what you are is so much worse. You chose them over me. That says it all.”

He stood. “Emma.”

“No, Chris. Don’t come to my home ever again. We’re done. You were never my brother. If you were, then you wouldn’t turn on me. That’s the difference. To my heart, you were mine. I’d die before betraying you, and Greyson too. For the record, so would Dimitri. You had more than just this job. You just didn’t see it, and that’s on you, Captain.”

He felt sick.

“Now, it’s all you have. Keep the condominium, the truck, and everything else. I’m hurt enough that I’ll tell you that I hope every time you look at any of it, you think of what you lost, and the people you betrayed. You’re officially dead to me.”

With that, she walked out.

Chris could hear the squad calling her names, but she never replied. He could see them throwing balled up coffee cups at her, and wads of paper as if she was nothing, and it pissed him off.

She was honorable and didn’t deserve that—not now and not ever—and never on his watch.

He hauled ass toward the door.

“BACK TO WORK!”

Silence fell over the place.

“This isn’t a fucking zoo! We don’t fling poo like monkeys! You all have work to do unless you’re telling me all the crime in Vegas is solved!”

Chris watched her turn outside the glass, look back at him once more with tears in her eyes, and then flip him off as she walked away.

Well, that sucked.

He knew she was going to be pissed, but he’d hoped he could calm her down.

This was exactly what he didn’t want to happen. He really wished he’d replied to her text.

He’d lost his family.

No, Chris had lost it all.

Outside, he was sitting on the bumper of her vehicle. When he saw her coming, Dimitri stood. She looked about as good as he thought she would.

“Emma, honey, are you okay?” he asked, the Russian lilt out.

She wasn’t okay.

Instead, she needed a hug. “I want to be sick.”

He opened his arms, and she went into them. From across the parking lot, she could hear the hisses and boos from the cops, and Dimitri knew what had gone on inside.

It pissed him off. They had no clue what the Crofts were battling behind the scenes. They weren’t criminals, but people who deserved respect.

“I’ll break all of their legs and rip out their tongues.”

She couldn’t let him do it.

“Didn’t Chris stop them?” He had his fingers crossed.

“No. Chris opted not to be part of our lives anymore. Call off Nat. He’s lost his protective detail. I need to get home. I want to cry.”

He walked her to the door. When she got in, she didn’t say another word until she knew what she wanted to ask. A part of her didn’t know who to be angrier with over all of this.

The man inside.

Herself.

Or the men in their home.

If Dimitri was there, then he and her husband knew this was coming. They didn’t stop her from walking into it. Maybe she needed this clean break from Christopher Ford.

When Dimitri handed her a handful of tissues, she looked over at him. “Are you part of our family?” she asked

“Yes.”

“Did you kill Mace Bristol because he betrayed Greyson to the FBI?”

He didn’t answer.

“Family, Dimitri.”

“Yes, I killed him.”

She stared out the window.

“Emma.”

“Just get me home.”

Chapter Six

Terrace Glen

When they pulled into the driveway, and the gates behind them had swung shut, she wanted to toss everything in her gut. It was a violent brew, making her ill. So much had changed, and she’d never seen it coming.

That nearly took her to her knees.

As she hopped out, she didn’t look at him.

It freaked Dimitri out.

As of that moment, his fate was in her hands. He’d just broken the cardinal rule of a killer. He’d admitted his crime, to her, an ex-cop. He had to be losing his edge.

Or his mind.

Emma was pissed and now she could make or break him. Heading toward the house, she turned and pointed at him. “Give me a second, and then I’ll need to see you inside. I want to speak to Greyson first.”

Dimitri saw it coming.

This was the beginning of the end.

It looked like their stint as family was about to come screeching to a halt. Everything, from that moment on, was about to change.

Now he was the one feeling sick.

Still…

He didn’t regret telling her the truth. She deserved it, and he’d stand by that. What he had to do now was hope for the best.

Truth be told, he felt worse for Kat and Nat. He wanted to mourn what his sisters, and he, had just lost. This had been the best thing in their lives, and he’d destroyed it out of protecting his friend. Truth be told, he couldn’t let Mace Bristol hurt them.

He loved them.

In fact, he loved them more than his own life.

Dimitri watched the door swing shut, and he took a seat, pulled out his silver cigarette case, and lit up. His hands were shaking, and he couldn’t remember the last time he was this scared.

Yeah, he could.

It was the day he’d killed his father.

He’d killed that day for love too. Only, he didn’t regret ending that bastard’s life.

This he regretted, and always would.

For the rest of his life.

Emma found him inside working at the dining room table. When she walked in, he began talking about the case.

“Curtis pulled lots of information on the five dead women. We can start working this backward to see what we get.”

“It’s going to have to wait.”

He glanced over.

Yeah, he was a nervous wreck.

Allowing Emma to go to see Chris was a disaster in the making, and it appeared, from the look on her face, that the shit was hitting the fan.

This was bad.

Real bad.

“Did you know that Dimitri killed Mace Bristol after he was going to rat you out to the FBI and the police?”

Well, he didn’t think she’d start there. Greyson figured they’d be working up to it.

Boy!

Had he been wrong.

“Emma.”

“Answer me, Greyson!”

He closed his eyes.

While he wanted to lie, Greyson knew that they had a rule in their marriage. She’d lied once.

He threatened to divorce her.

It had been a huge mess.

“If you lie to me, I’ll lose all respect for you, Greyson, so keep that in mind.”

“If I tell you the truth, I risk that too.”

“So…you knew our head of security, a man we’ve moved into our home, killed my partner on the force, and you didn’t think to tell me?”

“I confronted Dimitri. I had heard rumors, and I put two and two together, Emma. He once told me that he didn’t shoot people. His preferred way to take out a target was to cut their throat.”

She stared at him.

“I can’t believe you knew.”

“Emma.”

“Go get him and meet me in the family room. We’re going to have a discussion.”

She walked out.

Well, shit.

This was bad.

Emma, while tough, never threw down demands before. She was pretty much easy going…until now.

Greyson had that sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Still…

He did what she asked.

When he found Dimitri, he was smoking on the front steps. “She wants to see us both.”

He didn’t speak.

Instead, he crushed out the cigarette and followed Greyson inside. Dimitri knew his time was just about up, and he hated it. If he could go back, he wouldn’t have slashed Mace Bristol’s throat.

He would have made him disappear.

The desert would have had one more victim to feed its wildlife. He didn’t regret killing him for betraying them. He regretted leaving a trail.

He was getting sloppy.

That had to end.

In the family room, they found her drinking. Considering it was early in the day, that couldn’t be a good thing. When she turned, they could see the anger.

No.

It was more like rage.

“How dare the both of you do this?”

They didn’t say a word.

She pointed at her husband. “We have one rule in our marriage, and you opted to break it. We don’t keep secrets in our family. No matter what, we tell each other the truth. Wasn’t that your big rule?”

“It was.”

“When I broke it, you yelled at me, told me to get away from you, and then the next time, you put a hole in our wall.”

Yeah, he’d lost it.

He was waiting for his wife to do the same, and he knew he deserved it.

She faced Dimitri. “You killed my partner.”

“I did.”

“Why?” she asked. She knew what Chris had told her, but she needed to hear it from him. She wanted it straight from the man himself. “If you lie, I swear to God, Dimitri…”

She let the threat hang there.

“I have a source on the police payroll. He was there to keep an eye on you when Marianna was alive. If something happened, or he went at you there, I’d know.”

She was fine with that.

It didn’t shock her.

“He came to me with some surprising news. Mace had filed a police report, accusing Greyson of murder. I had to handle it.”

“By handle it, you went into his home and killed him?”

“Yes.”

If she was wearing a wire, he was dead. There was no way he wouldn’t get the death sentence, in Nevada, for killing a cop—no a Fed.

“This makes my head want to explode.”

They could see that.

“May I show you something?”

“Yes.”

Dimitri went to the security screen, put in the date of Mace’s phone call, and he let it play.

It was his call to Ethan Blackhawk.

They all watched.

“If it had stopped there, I wouldn’t have moved on him. The Feds who came here let it go. They didn’t want to punish Greyson, and I believed he was in the clear. Then the informant contacted me.”

Emma listened.

“I did what I had to do to protect my family. If it had been Katerina or Natasha, I would have done the same. I know you don’t respect me for what I did, but I did it for the right reasons.”

She was aware.

“I’m pissed,” she said.

Yeah, that was clear.

Emma paced.

The men watched.

When she stopped, she pointed at Dimitri. “If you ever hide anything from me, anything at all, I’m going to get mean.”

He stared at her.

What shocked him even more was when she approached him. Emma hugged him, wrapping her arms around his waist as she placed her head on his shoulder.

He stared at Greyson.

The man smiled.

The storm was over. This was the beauty of his wife. She forgave and loved with her whole heart.

Dimitri included.

“Today, I confronted a man I called brother, and he betrayed me to the cops. He didn’t think twice about throwing me to the wolves or turning his back on the family. What you did, while stupid, dangerous, and insane, you did for us—that I can’t be angry about.”

He didn’t know what to say, so he simply let her hug him. This emotion always caught him off guard.

It confused him.

“I love you, Dimitri, and I love Kat and Nat. Thank you for having my husband’s back. I’m glad you’re part of our family.”

She couldn’t have shocked him more if she’d tried.

“I’m not being kicked out of the family or tossed into jail?” he asked, still a little wary.

Emma looked up at him. “Of course not. I would have hurt Mace, too, had I known. I wouldn’t have killed him because that’s just wrong on so many levels, but I would have kicked his ass big time. I take my family and loyalty very seriously.”

Yes, he could see that.

She set him free.

Then she turned on both of them.

“I swear to God, if either of you ever pull something like this again, lying to keep me out of the loop, you’ll both be hurt beyond your wildest dreams.”

Greyson grinned.

“Stop smiling. You’re grounded.”

He stared at her. “Really, Emma?”

“Lying to your wife gets you five to ten in the no sex penitentiary.”

His mouth opened. “I sincerely hope you’re kidding.”

She crossed her arms and glared at him.

“Or not.”

Then she pointed at Dimitri. “You don’t have to hide things in this family. We’re not going to throw you out because of it. Despite your past, we don’t turn on our own. You stood up for us and that’s the most admirable thing anyone can do. Vegas believes we’re a bunch of criminals.”

That’s when the dam broke.

They both knew it was coming.

Emma’s face went from fury to misery in seconds.

“Chris turned his back on me. He’s chosen his career over our family, and he’s not coming back. I want the codes on the gate changed, and I don’t want to ever see him again.”

She wiped her eyes.

Greyson immediately went to her. “What happened?” he asked.

She told them everything.

Both men listened.

When she was done, she was sobbing. “I loved him, and he hurt me. I’m not sure I’ll get over that. I lost another brother. I have another hole in my heart.”

Dimitri hated seeing a woman cry. He couldn’t help but feel horrible for her. “I’ll be your brother,” he offered out of the blue. What made him do it?

No clue.

He wanted to stop her from crying. At that point, he would have done anything, including kill Chris.

In fact…

She sniffled. “I’d like that,” Emma said, hugging him again. “And no you may not kill Chris.”

It was like she had read his mind.

“Uh, okay,” he said.

Greyson stared at the man being hugged by his wife. He was glad they’d survived this one. It had the potential to bury them all, and they’d gotten through mostly unscathed.

‘Thank you,’
he mouthed behind her back to Dimitri. He appreciated the man filling that role for Emma.  

They didn’t have to thank him. He wanted to feel like he was part of this unit. It was something he’d never had before.

He craved it.

“Are you sure you don’t you want me to kill him?” Dimitri asked. “This time, I’ll take him to the desert.”

Emma gasped and stared at him like he’d lost his mind.

“NO! Dimitri! You can’t kill people when they make you upset.”

He stared at her. “Oh, then I’ve done some horrible things,” he offered. “I may have made a few mistakes. I think somewhere between ten and fifty.”

She stared into his aqua eyes and saw the amusement. “I don’t think we should discuss that. Let’s leave it in the past. Going forward, we don’t kill people...unless…no! We don’t kill people.”

He grinned. “I think I can adhere to that.”

“Great.”

While Emma had let them off easy, Greyson wasn’t letting Chris off for this one. Yeah, hell no. He’d turned on them and that meant a little talk.

“I’ll take Chris’s possession to his condo later. I’d like to drop them off.”

Yeah, and then drop him off his balcony.

“Oh, I’m free to join you.”

“Greyson. Dimitri. You can’t do anything else that’s going to draw attention to us. If you do…”

Yeah, they were aware.

“I’ll behave,” Greyson offered.

Dimitri said nothing.

“What about you?” Emma asked, blowing her nose.

“You just told me not to lie. If I tell you I’ll behave, that’s probably a lie. He hurt my family. That makes me angry.”