Dark Justice (Croft Family Mob Series Book 1) (28 page)

Jesus.

He was a dead man.

When the first lady approached, he waved her away. There was no way he was even entertaining them talking to him. In fact, he tried to concentrate on what his wife was doing with her part of the investigation.

His lovely wife.

His sexy wife.

His merciful wife who would forgive him for this too.

“Want a dance?” a woman asked, staring down at him.

When Greyson looked up, he wanted to be sick. This girl couldn’t be a day over eighteen—if she was even legal.

He’d bet a good portion of his fortune that she wasn’t. She was someone’s baby, and she was dressed like a hooker. There was something so very wrong with the world.

“I can make you very happy.”

“Who’s your pimp?” he asked.

“I don’t know what you mean…” she said, sitting down. “I don’t…”

He stopped her. “Listen, I worked as a Fed. I can see a working girl a mile away. Your arms are clean, so you haven’t started shooting up, and you’re not scarred up yet. That means you’re new to the game. My suggestion is that you get out while you can.”

She laughed. “A girl has to eat.”

“A girl has to live,” he said, pulling out his wallet. He slid two one hundreds her way. “Put it away in case you ever have to get a bus ticket.”

Then he handed her a business card with a number on it. It was a card for
‘Aquarius’
. “If you want out, and you need help, call this. My friends will make sure you get home to your family.”

She didn’t get it.

“Why would you care?”

“Because you deserve better than this. What’s your name?” he asked.

“Julie.”

Yeah, she was new.

She actually gave him her real name. This girl was fresh on the streets.

Croft wanted to save her.

“Julie, if you need help, call. If you get locked up, and you need to get out so your pimp doesn’t hurt you, call. I’m serious. You’re too young to go down this road.”

He could see Dimitri and some scrawny white guy coming their way. It looked like they were about to get busy.

“Hide the money and card.”

She did what he said.

“I see you found one of my new girls,” Gerald Darden said, patting her on the head as if she was some pet he owned.

It pissed Greyson off.

“Yeah, she’s not my type, but thanks.”

Greyson even saw the distaste in Dimitri’s glare. He was thinking the same thing he was.

This was a child.

“What can I do for you gentlemen?” Gerald asked, yanking Julie out of the booth so he could have her seat.

“Hey! Take it easy on her,” Greyson stated. “You don’t put your hands on a lady.”

Gerald laughed. “They’re hardly that, Mr. Croft. They’re available pussy to the men, and sometimes women, in Vegas.”

Greyson wanted to pound his face into the floor.

He felt Dimitri place his hand on his forearm to help him stay calm.

“We need information on Sallie Mae Patton, Ayla Keith, and Glenda Mateo.”

“Who?” he asked.

Greyson pulled out his phone and scrolled to the pictures Tessa had sent him. He showed the man.

“Oh, Lily White, Sugar Pie, and Spicy Caliente. My girls lose their names at the door. Like the one who was just here—Kitty Moore.”

Greyson prayed for calm.

This man was a douchebag. If Croft lost his temper, it would mean trouble. He didn’t need the cops showing up to take him out in cuffs.

“Anyway, what happened to them? Did they mention that anyone was bothering them?” he asked.

The man actually thought about it.

Okay, that was a good sign.

“One got slapped around a bit, but that’s a normal hazard in their everyday life.”

“Which one”? Greyson asked.

“Spicy.”

“You mean Glenda Mateo.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

“Do you by any chance know who it was doing the slapping?” he asked, as he pictured all the ways he’d like to hurt the man.

“They don’t give us their full names. In fact, you’d be surprised how many Johns there are living in Las Vegas.”

Yeah, he got that.

“You know, I think I may be able to help you.”

He pulled out his phone and began flipping through. “He was a regular until Spicy was found dead. He must have moved on to a different girl. He never called back.”

“Do you have his number?”

“No, but I have where he wanted the girl sent. We like house calls. They’re safer.”

Yeah, he begged to differ on that one. He couldn’t count the dead women they’d pulled out of homes where men went crazy, cutting them up.

Serial killers loved hookers.

When they went missing, no one even cared.

“Can we have it?”

He scribbled it down on a napkin. “Here you go. Please don’t say you got it from me. It’s bad for business when a pimp gives out private information.”

His phone rang.

“Yeah, you like them young? I have a new filly. She’s got a tight ass.”

Greyson tried really hard to control his anger.

“She’s into anything.”

“We need to go,” Greyson said. “If I stay, I’m going to kill him, and that’s going to give Commissioner Raye a big present.”

Dimitri agreed.

As they headed out, he saw Julie across the bar. She looked so lost and alone. He wanted to wrap her up and bring her home with him.

Not for sex—
but for cookies, milk, and so she could do her homework.

Tears filled his eyes when he was outside. Maybe it was from the smoke, or maybe it was from the fact that she wasn’t going to last long on the street.

She was going to be eaten alive.

“Are you okay?” Dimitri asked, concern in his eyes. “You look like you’re ready to lose it.”

“I really hate this city. It makes me want to burn it to the ground. Sodom and Gomorrah had nothing on this place.”

Dimitri understood. Every day, he thought the same thing. It was why he tried to help as many people as he could. It was balancing out the scales.

Or so he hoped.

Greyson pulled his phone out of his pocket and made a call. He waited for his brother to answer.

“Yo, Grey, what’s up?”

“I texted you earlier about a property that I needed information about.”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

Greyson continued, “I need you do something for me.”

“What?”

“Shut the business inside it down. I don’t care if you have to buy a health inspector and have him write up a bunch of bullshit charges. I want it closed. Then I want a new rule across the board about our businesses.”

“Uh, okay. Are you okay?”

“No, I’m not okay. I just watched a child being sent out to a man to get him off. I’m sickened by it, this city, and the fact I feel like I can’t do anything to stop it. We aren’t pandering to sex in Vegas anymore. No more renting to strip clubs.”

Dimitri was surprised. Strip clubs in Las Vegas were a big money maker. Then again, the Crofts didn’t need the money. Truthfully, he wasn’t shocked that his friend was pulling the plug. He’d never seen Greyson this pissed.

“Okay, I’ll work on it. It may take some time. I can’t just call
‘buy an inspector bribery service’
and have one delivered.”

He took a deep breath.

“Thank you.”

“Are you sure about the strip club part?” Dante asked.

“Yes. I don’t want to lose sleep at night worrying about a child turning tricks, out of a strip club, in a building I own.”

“Okay, Grey. I’ll handle it. If their lease is up, I’ll just boot them from the location.”

“Yeah, and when they’re gone?”

“Yeah?”

“Put in a puppy or kitty daycare. Maybe that will wash the nastiness away.”

Dante laughed.

His brother was calming down.

“See you tonight, and make sure you get Emma something really pretty—especially if you were cozying up to strippers.”

“Yeah, tell me about it.”

He hung up.

“Are you going to be okay?” Dimitri asked. “You look like you’re going to have a stroke.”

He just might.

“I’ll be okay. I just feel helpless. I feel like there goes one more person who fell through the cracks right before my eyes.”

“You gave her money and a card, right?”

“Yeah, but we all know how much that’s going to help. She’s going to use it to cover the money she didn’t make tonight, and she’s going to hand it over to her pimp. The card? She’ll toss it.”

He got them to the ride, ignoring the media. When they got in, Dimitri knew what would make him feel better.

He pushed the buttons on the navigational screen.

Emma’s voice and smile soothed the savage beast. Immediately, Greyson relaxed, as he listened to Emma talking about that night’s party.

“Let’s go shopping.”

“You’re going to buy her jewelry, aren’t you?”

He laughed.

“Am I that predictable?”

“Yeah, you really are.”

Then Greyson Croft would have to shake it up.

Big time
.

 
                        
* * *
  G r e y s o n   C r o f t   * * *

LVPD

Commissioner’s Office

To say that he was worried would be an understatement. Jeffrey Raye was in panic mode. He’d said some pretty inflammatory things to Christopher Ford, and now he had to worry about that too.

The mayor was on his ass, ordering him to clean up this mess. The media was having a field day with it. The Crofts were being touted as some dark entity, policing the streets in their own way, and he hated it.

He was the law in Vegas—not the fucking Crofts.

Something had to be done, or as the mayor had threatened, his ass was going to be out of a job. Raye didn’t want that to happen, so he was going to have to take matters into his own hands.

He made a call.

There was someone he knew who would be more than happy to help him. He owed him a favor. They’d worked together a long time ago on the East Coast, and he was a tough, no nonsense cop. He’d worked the streets in a city known for its murder.

It was the perfect choice.

“Hello?”

“Thomas Christ?”

“Is this Jeffrey Raye, you old dog?” he asked, laughing.

“Yes, it’s me.”

“What are you up to, man? I haven’t heard anything from you for a long time.”

Well, there was a reason for that. He’d distanced himself from the man in order to progress in his career. Thomas Christ was bat shit insane and dangerous.

“Are you still in law enforcement?”

“Yes, why?”

“Have you ever been to Las Vegas?” he asked.

“I’ve been there a couple times. I love that city. It’s so much fun—all the gambling, sexy women, and booze. It’s like a man cave out in the open.”

Yeah, that’s what he was hoping the man would say.

“Want a job?”

“Doing what exactly? My days of bad choices are something I like to keep on the DL. I’m trying to change my image.”

Even Better.

“I have a captain position, and I can get you into it if you’re interested. It’s the head of the homicide division. They need someone who isn’t afraid to…think outside the box.”

He laughed. “Are you kidding? I’d love it. How are you going to pull it off?”

He told him.

“I’m in. I’d love to have some fun in Vegas. I’d love to burn that place up with some excitement.”

“I figured. Get to Vegas by next week, and I’ll start working on getting you on the team.”

“What do you want in exchange?” Thomas asked, a little paranoid. “What’s it going to cost?”

Oh, he was still on the ball.

He knew tit for tat was going to be part of their arrangement.

“I just need some pains in my ass handled, and you can do that while sitting pretty in the homicide division.”

He laughed.

“You need muscle behind the badge?”

Commissioner Raye was pleased. “Yes, exactly. That’s what I really need.”