Red Handed (23 page)

Cole's jaw tightened, but his touch remained soft as he caressed her face with the tips of his fingers. “I believe he felt he had no choice.”

Cold barbs of shock ripped through her, stealing the breath from her lungs. “Why?”

“Two weeks before your father's death, his lawyer brought him a message from an extremely dangerous organization.”

“His lawyer? That idiot?” She remembered the greasy older man well. Her hackles went up anytime they shared space. He'd refused to entertain any notion her father could be innocent and had told them there was no way to win at trial. He'd convinced her father to take the first plea deal that had passed his desk.

“He wasn't an idiot. He was just another pawn. Who, by the way, died in a car accident one week after your father's death.”

She shuddered, doubting the veracity of Cole's words, of everything she'd known for the last decade. Rage surged hot and strong. “How do you know this?”

“Because he told me when I went to visit him a day before he died. Danielle, he was the one who gave me the files to take to the FBI. It was the only way.”

“The only way for what?”

“The only way to save your family's lives.”

She put her hands on his chest, intending to push him away, but instead, her fingers curled into tight fists against the solid warmth. “I don't believe this. You're trying to tell me my father wanted to go to prison?” Her voice cracked, all the myriad of emotions whipping through her at once too overwhelming to process. “That he did it to protect us?”

“That's exactly what I'm saying.”

She'd grieved for how she'd left things between them, but this . . . this stabbed at her heart like a knife. Her throat constricted. “The last time he and I spoke, we got into an argument. I had gone behind his back and found a new attorney, one who believed my father had a shot at having his plea deal reversed if he turned over evidence on some of his clients. I thought he'd be happy about it, but he wasn't. He rebuffed any suggestion of working with the government. I was angry at him for protecting his clients—strangers—over me, and I told him I'd never forgive him.” She'd thought she'd expended every possible tear over her father's death, but she'd been wrong. “Those were my last words to him.”

Cole let her tears fall, kneading her back and shoulders. “He knew you loved him. Don't ever doubt that.”

She couldn't change the past, but she also wouldn't choose to accept it. Her father deserved justice. She'd always known that. Now Tasha deserved it as well. And the only way to get it was by learning the truth.

She rubbed her eyes and pulled back to look into Cole's eyes. “Why would he trust you with the information? Why not go to the FBI on his own?”

“Because he was being watched,” he said. “I was your father's business partner. Silent, yes, but his partner nonetheless. I had access to all the same files as your father.”

“So my father gave you information that supported the inane theory he'd embezzled from his clients and defrauded them with a Ponzi scheme in order to cover it up? That's ridiculous. Why would he implicate himself in the crimes without using the information he had on this organization as a bargaining chip?”

Cole squeezed her hand. “Your father got involved with a bad group of businessmen. When the stock market crashed in 2007, he lost most of his clients. I had introduced him to several members of Benediction, including Anthony Rinaldi. At the time, I hadn't known anything about Rinaldi other than he was a wealthy businessman. They brokered a deal, which resulted not only in your father becoming the Rinaldi crime family's investor, but their money launderer as well.”

She closed her eyes as if she could shield herself from the agonizing truth. In all these years, she'd never once believed her father could have been guilty of the crimes. “He wouldn't have done that.”

“He did. I wish to God he didn't. There's not a day that's gone by I haven't regretted playing hardball when my loan came due and for causing your father to use the mafia's money to pay it off.”

None of them were innocent. They'd all made mistakes. Could she forgive Cole for his?

“He eventually dug himself into a hole from which he couldn't escape,” Cole continued. “To try and recoup the money he embezzled from the mafia, he built a Ponzi scheme, using new clients' money to make false returns on Rinaldi's investments. One day, the numbers didn't add up, and Rinaldi figured out what your father had done. At that time, your father still owed the mob millions of dollars, so Rinaldi blackmailed him into taking on a Russian crime syndicate as a client. The Russians' money was used to pay off Rinaldi, and eventually, your father earned enough to pay back the Russians. But at some point, he couldn't stomach working for them anymore. He wanted to get out without endangering his family, so he hid the Russians' money and placed it in an offshore trust under your name on the condition you couldn't touch it until you got married or turned twenty-five. At the same time, I handed over the evidence of embezzlement of all clients but Rinaldi and the Russians to the FBI. The Russians couldn't touch you if they wanted their money.”

Her father may have committed the crimes, but he'd loved his family and done his best to protect them. It was up to her to do the same. “Now that you know the truth of why I'm here, how do we get Tasha back? The kidnapper—Rinaldi—said he'd kill Tasha if I told anyone or contacted the police. If he discovers—”

A knock interrupted her.

Cole rose from the couch. “That should be the doctor.”

“Doctor?” she asked, confused. “I thought you said you were okay.”

Logan, Gracie, and Adrian walked in with a man wearing a white doctor's coat.

“The club is completely empty, and we sent the trainees to bed with word that you were recovering nicely,” Gracie said, dropping onto the couch.

Adrian kept going, heading toward the back of the apartment to what Danielle guessed would be the bedrooms.

Cole shook the doctor's hand. “Agent Miller, thank you for getting here so quickly.”

Agent? Did that mean he was FBI?

The man smiled. “Logan contacted me yesterday and filled me in on the case. When he called thirty minutes ago to share some new developments, I was intrigued. Never been asked to dress up as a physician for a case.”

Cole gestured for Agent Miller to take a seat on the couch. “We needed a way to get you into the house without raising Rinaldi's suspicions. No doubt he's got his people watching. He's already managed to bug parts of my home.” Cole took his spot beside her. “I appreciate your agreement to look the other way as to Benediction.”

“I grew up with Logan. Believe me, I'm not interested in his or anyone's consensual sex life,” Agent Miller said. “Besides, everyone in the Detroit FBI office has been looking to nail Rinaldi for years.”

Cole slid his arm around her. “If you contact Agent Davis in the Phoenix office tomorrow, he'll provide you some details that didn't make it into James Walker's file, including his connection to the Rinaldi crime family.”

Agent Miller looked at her. “You must be Danielle. It's your mother who's been kidnapped?”

“Stepmother,” she clarified. “Please, if Rinaldi learns I've gotten the FBI involved, he'll kill her.”

The FBI agent frowned, shaking his head. “I know Rinaldi. He doesn't believe in leaving any loose ends.”

Her stomach dropped. “You think he'll kill Tasha no matter what I do?”

“If he hasn't already, then yes, I think he'll kill Tasha.” He paused. “But I also believe he'll go after you.”

Cole tugged her closer. “Then she needs more protection. I'll set something up for her.”

“I've got a different idea,” Agent Miller said. “Rinaldi has been groomed to take control of his family's crime syndicate since before he could walk. He knows when he's being tailed, and he knows how to shake one. We believe he's responsible for the disappearance of several young women who have gone missing. Their bodies have never been found.”

She shivered at the thought that the man who'd possibly murdered several women had kidnapped her stepmother. “Then how do you know he's involved?”

“Rumors from a couple rival associates of his,” Agent Miller explained. “A couple of the girls had been part of a kinky dating agency he owns. He pretends to pair up sexually like-minded people, but usually he takes the clients' money and sets them up with prostitutes who can't say no to whatever kink the clients want. The problem is since they're runaways and junkies, no one reported these girls as missing. And we can't figure out where he's taking them.” He leaned toward her. “But you can.”

Cole shot to his feet. “No way in hell are you using Danielle as bait.”

Agent Miller rose from the couch and put up his hands. “Hear me out. She'll wear a wire and a GPS. Logan filled me in on some of the specifics of what Rinaldi was looking for. Once Danielle gives him the account information, he'll think he's won. And he'll be looking to tie up those loose ends. I think he'll kidnap Danielle and bring her back to wherever he's been taking the other girls. Danielle could help us finally put this guy away for good.”

Cole shook his head. “You'll have to find another way—”

“I'll do it,” she said, standing and ignoring the concern in Cole's eyes. “What do you need me to do?”

Adrian handed her a square sterling silver box decorated with sapphires. “This was your mother's.”

Her heart ached, and a tear escaped her eye. In his grief after Danielle's mother died, her father had given everything that had belonged to her to charity. Danielle had grown up with no more than a few photographs of the woman she'd never gotten to meet.

She didn't understand why her father hadn't given this to her years ago or why he'd hidden the bank account information in it, then given it to Cole, but at the moment, it didn't matter.

She unclasped her necklace and clutched the locket in her hand. The tip of the key shaped locket fit perfectly into the lock of the box. She heard a click and flipped open the top. Inside was a folded document. She took it out, unfolded it, and read. Just as Rinaldi and Cole had said, her father had left fifty million dollars for her.

Blood money.

She didn't want it. Then again, she doubted her father actually intended for her to keep it. This was an insurance policy. Too bad it had expired the moment she'd turned twenty-five.

She looked at Agent Miller. “Now what?”

“How are you supposed to contact Rinaldi?” he asked.

“I'm supposed to call him.”

The agent pulled a phone from his pocket. “What's your cell number?” As she gave it to him, he punched the numbers into his phone. “I've programmed my cell to make it look like it's coming from your phone.” He handed his cell to her. “Call him.”

Cole soothingly rubbed the back of her neck as she dialed. After one ring, Rinaldi answered. “You have it?”

“I do.” Trembling, she read off the account number.

“Now inside your locket is the password,” Rinaldi informed her. “What is it?”

She didn't have to open the locket to check. She knew the inscription by heart. It was her parents' names and anniversary. “James and Jessica 2-21-85.” She grabbed Cole's hand. “When will you release Tasha?”

“As soon as I've got the money safely in my account. See you soon, Danielle,” Rinaldi said in a way that made it sound like a threat.

When the call went dead, she returned the phone to Agent Miller. Her body began shaking violently, and her legs buckled. Cole caught her before she hit the floor, swept her up into his arms as if she weighed nothing, and carried her back to the couch. Once settled, she took a few steadying breaths and addressed Agent Miller. “Now what do I do?”

“We'll try and trace the wire,” he said. “Unfortunately, there are procedures we have to follow. Because it's overseas, it's a time-consuming process, but we'll do our best. We want to nail him just as much as you. I'll swing by tomorrow and get you wired. You don't want to make it too easy for him to nab you, but this place is like Fort Knox.”

Logan whispered something to Adrian, then got up from the couch and nodded once to Cole before walking out the door.

“Tomorrow night, Danielle and I have an invitation to meet friends for drinks,” Gracie said. “It would get her out in the open, but we could have Adrian come so it appears as though he's watching out for us. Would that work?”

That's right. She'd forgotten Kate had issued her an invitation.

Sitting beside her, Cole turned her to face him and caressed her cheek. “Danielle, we'll find another way—”

“You heard Agent Miller.” She took Cole's hand and interlaced their fingers. “They've already tried and failed. If there's any chance that Tasha is alive, I have to do this.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

A
FTER
G
RACIE AND
Adrian left with Agent Miller, Danielle rested her head on Cole's shoulder. She curled her hand around his thick biceps, marveling at the steely strength beneath his satiny skin. “Why do you have all those pictures of me?”

He brushed his hand down her hair, re-creating the intimacy she'd worried she'd lost earlier tonight by drugging him. “When your father died, I took it upon myself to hire someone to watch over you. If they got to him, what would keep them from coming after you? My only hope was they had no idea where the money had gone or who had access to it.” He kissed the top of her head. “But that has nothing to do with why I kept the photos or why I spent hours staring at them.”

She looked up at him, her lips parting in invitation. “Why, Cole?”

He swept her up into his lap and grasped the nape of her neck. “Because I've wanted you since the moment I saw you on the stairs of your home all those years ago when you were seventeen. I kept your photos because it was the only way I could have a piece of you.” Sadness shone from his eyes. “I understand if you never forgive me for getting your father mixed up with Rinaldi.”