Marcus gets Carla, attends a funeral, takes his shot.
I hadn’t been able to resist Carla. The woman was the product of good genes and some of humanity’s finest work in cosmetic surgery. Leaning over the table we ate at to give me a beautiful look down that expensive dress, I could almost see her navel. I might have been able to if it hadn’t been for the fact that her eyes weren’t so damn beautiful, made even more so by the way she’d perfectly applied just enough makeup to emphasize her already naturally beautiful assets. I was horny, mad at the world, and this succubus had taken full advantage of my vulnerable state.
Insisting on checking Carla’s hotel room first didn’t kill the mood in the slightest. The pair of us waited just inside the door, and the bottle blonde took full advantage as we waited for Chloe to give us the all-clear. Her fingers grazed my chest, toying with the buttons of my shirt as she nestled her lips into my neck.
As the soon-to-be ex-wife of Hiro Tanaka gassed me up, I watched Chloe walking around the room, checking under pillows, opening doors, and more, watching the bottoms of her ass cheeks peek from under the jacket she wore. Normally, I would have felt a little bad for checking out another woman while sexually engaged with someone, but that wasn’t what this was. Carla didn’t mean anything to me… especially after contributing to the complications I now faced. She was a means to an end… a reward for a job well done. A corrupted reward, but one I would enjoy all the same. I had no feelings for Carla Tanaka, and I was convinced the feeling was mutual. Fucking me was probably nothing more than some twisted game she was playing with her old husband.
Chloe eventually left, giving me a nod that meant everything was fine and a look that I simply couldn’t read. Then she was gone, and I was left to Carla’s whims.
Carla immediately led me over to the bed, shoved me on it, and crawled between my legs to unbuckle my belt and skin my pants off. She appeared pleasantly surprised by my cock, staring at it in utter fascination for so long that it started to get uncomfortable. Then, without warning, she inhaled the entire thing, deep-throating it on the second try.
To say Carla was a good cocksucker was an understatement. Carla could do things with her mouth I didn’t know were possible. With my dick buried in her throat, she somehow managed to work the muscles surrounding my shaft, massaging it as if she had it in her hand. Then she set to work moving her head up and down my member, making choking sounds that didn’t slow her down in the slightest.
“I’m going to hell,” I groaned.
Warm, wet lips slid up my saliva-slickened shaft as Carla Tanaka pulled them off the head of my prick, sucking down a lungful of oxygen as she looked up at me with ruined makeup, framing eyes that simply radiated sex.
“You’ll be in good company then,” she gasped, her lips and chin coated in fluids as she smiled. “That’s where my mother always told me I was going.”
“Your mom?” I asked.
“I don’t want to talk about my mom,” she panted as she stood up. “Take your shirt off.”
Without waiting for my response, Carla reached for the hem of her dress, drew it over her head, and tossed it aside. In one fluid motion, she’d gone from dressed for a night out on the town to standing there in nothing but gold high heels, earrings, and a necklace.
“Holy shit!” I suddenly forgot how to undress myself as I stared back at the creature standing before me. I knew Carla was stunning, but this was next level. I’d seen some gorgeous women in the last few weeks—Danielle belonged on a dirty calendar, the Starlight girls were all incredible, Erin was a walking wet dream, Helen was stunning, and Tara was about as close to feminine perfection as I’d ever seen… not to mention all the other women I’d slept with. All of them were way out of my league.
Carla was different. I knew she had a body built for sin, but I hadn’t been prepared for how right I was. Her skin was flawlessly sunkissed. Her hips flared appealingly with gentle tan lines that showed she got just enough sun to give her peachy complexion a subtle, golden glow. She was entirely shaved between her legs, and the outer lips of her pussy were pleasingly plump. Her skin positively shined with health.
The high heels she wore sculpted her calves, thighs, and ass into perfect works of art—long, sleek, and with just enough muscle to be incredibly appealing while maintaining their femininity. It was the same for every square inch of her, really. Her arms, shoulders, abdomen, back… all were fit and tight.
Her golden complexion was complemented by her light blonde hair, cascading down one shoulder in large, soft curls. The slightly darker shading near the roots of her hair only emphasized the blonde, making it more appealing.
She stared down at me with a bright, shining smile that radiated confidence; her hands rested on her hips, and her chest was thrust out, putting emphasis on what was probably one of her best features—her breasts. They had to be double D’s, but they stood high and firm like Erin’s, suggesting their artificiality. Unlike other breasts with implants, though, I couldn’t see any signs of scarring or even the dimpling that implants often left as they fought to stay perky. It didn’t take a degree in physics to know there was no way tits that big could defy gravity so successfully without human intervention, but that was literally the only way of knowing she wasn’t completely natural.
Like Tara, her body had been sculpted to perfection, evidence that she spent all her time making sure to stay in peak condition to continue being worthy in her role as a trophy wife. Only, Carla had taken it a step further and had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to remove the slightest imperfection to the point where she seemed celestial. An angel stood before me.
I knew that comparison only went as far as looks, though. For better or worse, there was nothing angelic about Carla Tanaka's personality.
“Holy shit,” I breathed.
“You like?” Carla asked.
“Fuck,” was all I could manage.
She grinned, more than a bit of arrogance in her smile as she said, “I’ll take that as a yes.”
Approaching the bed, she placed one knee to my left, then the other on my right side so she could straddle me. Reaching down with her perfectly maintained fingers, she grabbed my shirt just above where it was still buttoned and yanked hard enough to send a few of them flying as she opened my shirt the rest of the way, exposing my chest.
“Mmm…” she moaned, her eyes heavily lidded as she stared down at me and raked her fingernails down my torso. “Oh my god, I need this.”
“How long’s it been?” I asked.
“Too long,” she moaned as she wrapped her fingers around my thick member. She placed the mushroom head against her thick pussy lips and lodged it between them. “He can’t get it up anymore… not without meds.”
“Fuck,” I moaned. Talking about Hiro’s flaccid seventy-year-old cock should have been a turn-off for me, but when an angel like Carla was holding my shaft in her hand, poised to fuck me as she told me how inadequate my enemy was… it was an aphrodisiac all on its own. I was rock hard as she hovered over me with the tip halfway embedded in her.
Carla waited about a beat, locking gazes with me just long enough to tell me with a look that she was about to fuck the ever-living shit out of me. And then she dropped her hips, and my dick disappeared inside her soaked pussy.
We both cried out simultaneously as she bottomed out on me; my cry was one long “FUUUUUUUUUCK,” while hers was a wordless, guttural scream of primal pleasure. I was barely aware of her fingernails digging into my chest as she began grinding her crotch into mine.
And then we were off to the races.
“Fuck you, Hiro!” Carla bellowed as she bounced up and down on my cock, her tits bouncing with every thrust. “Fuck you and your wrinkled worm dick, you controlling cock-sucker!”
Apparently, we were both using each other.
“Fuck, yes!” I growled through gritted teeth, gripping her hips and fucking back into her every time she dropped back down on me. She cried out again as my cock slammed in and out of her. Once it was clear we were both on the same page, I stopped caring. We both hated Hiro Tanaka, and our fornication was just as much an act of defiance as it was a way to satiate our lust for each other.
“I fucking hope you die alone, you dried up old prune—AAGGHH!” I could feel her begin to vibrate under my grasp as her eyes rolled into the back of her head. Fuck, that was fast!
“GGGGAAUGHH!” She screamed and slammed a fist into my arm as she collapsed on top of me, still violently throwing her hips against mine as she rode out her first orgasm. Her high-pitched whine next to my ear caused my eardrum to burst in itchy pain, and I had to turn my head away to keep her from doing real damage as she let out another prolonged squeal.
I didn’t need to, though; her screeching was cut off as she planted her mouth on my shoulder and sunk her teeth into my flesh. Hard. I mean, really hard.
“Augh!” I yelled and thrust much harder at her hips as I reached up and gripped her hair at the back of her head. I began pulling, and it took three attempts to yank hard enough for her to finally tear her teeth off my skin. I didn’t see blood, which surprised me a little.
“God,” Carla growled, “It’s been so long since I’ve been fucked by a real man, and this is the best you’ve got?”
My world suddenly exploded in a sea of stars as she slapped me across the face, followed by her lips crashing into mine as she shoved her tongue down my throat.
I was already pissed, and the assault put me over the edge. Wrapping an arm around her neck to keep our lips engaged, I rolled us over so I was on top and began to brutally fuck Hiro Tanaka’s wife—not ex-wife. They weren’t divorced yet. I was fucking Hiro Tanaka’s wife. Why the fuck not? He tried to fuck me, after all.
I felt Carla’s tongue slip back into her mouth as she broke the kiss. She glared at me through streaks of ruined makeup as our noses and lips brushed each other and growled, “That’s it. Fucking take it, Marcus. TAKE IT!”
Reciprocating her abuse, I wrenched her head aside and clamped my lips and teeth on the side of her neck, sucking on her tender flesh as I sank my teeth in. I felt her slap the side of my head, and I reached up, fumbled for her wrist, and slammed it into the mattress while still slamming my cock in and out of her drenched cunt.
She screamed again and beat the side of her head against mine. I ignored both, marking her so well that it would take a hell of a lot of makeup to cover up what I was doing to her. This felt good… it was like fucking Bobbi, but different. We danced together… a dance of defiance, lust, and outrage. We were in bed together in a metaphorical sense as well as a literal one. Her husband hated both of us, and we hated him in turn. We couldn’t beat the shit out of him, so we beat the shit out of each other as we sated each other’s primal needs.
We spent the next two and a half hours fucking the shit out of each other until we both lost count of how many times Carla came. The woman was a walking G-spot, with a prominent, thick clit that set her on fire whenever I manipulated it directly. None of our moments of reprieve were tender or caring… we were two people who wanted to keep going… to continue our depraved act of defiance, but we were simply mortal with mortal needs. Then, when half-rested, we attacked each other in different ways.
I had Carla on her stomach, a fistful of her hair pulled tight as I fucked her from behind. She tried to smother me as she flooded my face with the sweet nectar from her pussy. I pounded her ass while she fought me, making me earn it while yelling at me to fuck her harder. She sat in my lap and rode me in an animalistic fury while trying to bruise my lips with her teeth and tongue.
It was well into the small hours of the morning by the time I limped out into the hallway with my jacket in hand. I wasn’t sure where Chloe had waited the entire time, but within moments, she was beside me as we slowly made our way to the elevators in complete silence.
On the way down, we exchanged glances.
“You sure that was a good idea?” Chloe asked.
I started to pull a face and immediately winced, my lips feeling like they’d been punched repeatedly.
“Might as well do the crime if I’m gonna pay for it.”
Wednesday, 9:35 am
I’m taking off tomorrow and Friday to go out of town for the weekend. Let me know if you need anything before I leave. I stared at Natalie’s text message for the third time this morning, trying to decide whether to respond. She'd mentioned working over the weekend so she could take some time off near the end of the week to go on a getaway with her rich new boyfriend.
That could’ve been me. I could’ve been the rich new boyfriend if I had acted sooner. Hell… looking back on our relationship since breaking up with her old boyfriend, I’m pretty sure Natalie would have said yes if I’d broken up with Jessica and asked her out. There had been enough cues that I’d been too blind to see at the time. Hindsight was twenty-twenty, and it stung like a bitch.
My disgust at the inability to act sooner must have been evident. “Everything okay?” Erin asked, sitting on the bench seat opposite me as we rode in the SUV to Ray's funeral.
My phone vibrated in my hand as I received another notification—a text from a new number I didn’t recognize. Hi. It’s Astrid. Want to hit a few rounds with me this afternoon, then perhaps get something to eat? Does 15:00 work for you?
“Yeah,” I said, not wanting to hash old Natalie stuff with Erin. I waved my phone, flashing the screen at my assistant. “It’s Astrid. She wants to play golf this afternoon.”
“I hear golf is pretty popular in Norway,” Erin said, looking out the window. “Not a fan?”
“Nah,” I said. “Never really understood the appeal.”
Our ride slowed considerably, and a glance from the window showed why. We were slowly passing gravestones as we traveled through the cemetery where Ray was going to be buried during a small graveside service open to only the people closest to Ray.
Apparently, he didn’t have a lot of family. His very Presbyterian parents were estranged because of his lifestyle choices, and he’d been an only child. His only family consisted of his husband and in-laws; it was nice that he’d managed to find a family that accepted him. I only wish he’d been alive longer to enjoy it to an old age.
“Are you going?”
“Yeah,” I said, still peering out the window. I spotted the freshly dug grave and a few people standing around it, preparing for the ten o’clock service. “With Roger, Kelly Maddox, Cartwright, Amber Bell, and now Hiro Tanaka out there, I need friends.”
“It’s hard to make friends if you’re fucking them all,” Erin said. I glanced at her, but she was still staring out the window.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.
“Don’t,” Chloe said.
Both of us looked at her. “What?” Erin asked.
“You don’t get to throw a bunch of tail in his face and then bust his chops when he bites,” my bodyguard said, staring out the other side of the window.
“I was just kidding,” Erin said.
Chloe stopped staring out the window to level a gaze at Erin. “This isn’t the time.”
Erin immediately closed her mouth and glanced away, looking a little abashed, and I felt the tension in the air turn up a few degrees. I felt bad for the part I played in getting Ray killed, but I hadn’t known him all that well. Chloe had worked with the guy for a while, so it made sense that she would be on edge.
My assistant glanced in my direction and we shared a long look. I was trying to piece together what she had meant by that comment. Had she been jealous?
Despite my confusion, I didn’t want to feed into Erin’s sudden discomfort after Chloe’s reprimand. I enjoyed seeing her get bullied by the other girls in fun ways, but when Erin looked genuinely upset, it felt like I’d just seen someone kick a puppy. I gave her a small smile, hoping it’d make her feel a little better. Still… I made a mental note to talk to her about that later.
Aware we were approaching the grave, I texted Astrid back. Hey. I haven’t played much, so don’t expect much from me, but I’ll be there. Just text me where to meet you.
I decided to keep Natalie on read.
The service was a simple, non-denominational affair, with the pastor sharing Ray’s virtues with the attendees, including me, with Erin and Chloe flanking me. Probably less than ten people from Dan’s family were present; apparently, Ray's husband also had a small tribe. In fact, between my people and those from Hannon Security—Ray’s and Chloe’s security agency—there were more non-family present. Besides Dan’s people and Hannon, it was me, Erin, Chloe, Shea, Natashya, and Emily.
Maintaining respect and stoicism during the funeral was important to me. After all, I felt partly to blame for Ray's death, even if I hadn't pulled the trigger. It was hard enough to look any of them in the eye when I was the reason he was dead, and paying proper respect to his memory felt like a good way of showing how much I cared. Unfortunately, my attention kept wandering to Emily and Natashya.
I hadn’t spoken to either of them since Monday, and Emily hadn't exactly left us on the best of terms. As tragic as Ray's loss was, and as much as I wanted to carry that burden with me, Emily was still alive. If this taught me anything, it was that none of us were promised tomorrow, and I was going to make damn sure things weren't going to stay this way between us. Repairing our relationship dominated my attention throughout the entire service.
Once it was over, I made my way over to Ray's husband, catching him as he exchanged a few low words with the officiant. I touched him on the arm as soon as they were done, grabbing his attention. “Hey, Dan. I’m sorry we haven’t met in person before today.”
I felt like a heel for not talking to him sooner. Erin had coordinated with Dan’s mother to make all the arrangements for the funeral while I’d been busy with the board meeting and the fallout from that. He had every reason in the world to be angry with me at his husband’s funeral, but all he did was give me a tearful smile as he hugged me tight. “Thank you for everything,” he sniffled. “It’s a beautiful spot… a beautiful ceremony. Ray would have been honored to have all of you here.”
He pulled away and looked me in the eyes. “He called me, you know. That afternoon, before he died, he told me you were going to help us adopt. Mr. Upton, you made my Ray so happy. I can’t thank you enough for that.”
The backs of my eyes started to sting, and I looked away, blinking rapidly and trying to pull myself together. I didn't want to break down in front of the guy whose husband died, but goddamn if Dan’s words tried their best to pull tears out of me. I caught Erin watching me with the sweetest smile on her face, and I returned it with a weak one of my own.
Once my feelings were back under control, I looked back at Dan. “I’m glad I could do that for him, then,” I said. "I still mean it. Dan, if you still want to follow through with it, just let me know. I’ll do everything in my power to help you out. You don’t have to worry about the money. It’ll be paid for.”
Dan’s face screwed up, and fresh tears started to brim at the corners of his eyes.
“I’m also happy to help out however else. Childcare… medical… education. I wish Ray could have been here with you, but I’d like to do everything in my power to make you and your family’s lives as easy as possible. He seemed like a good man, and I want to honor his sacrifice.”
“Thank you,” Ray’s husband mouthed, unable to voice the words. He pulled me in for another hug and started to openly weep. I placed a tentative hand on his back and rubbed it as I looked around at the people, most of them watching. I really didn’t want an audience for this.
After a few moments, Dan let me go, gave me another tearful thanks, and retreated to be with his family.
“That was a good thing you did,” Chloe said, and I looked behind me to see my bodyguard watching me. Her brown eyes were much brighter than usual, and I could have sworn I saw her bottom lip tremble slightly before she sucked it between her teeth until it disappeared… likely to prevent me from seeing past a tough exterior worn so thin that it was barely more than a thin film.
“It wasn’t that great,” I said, looking back at Dan with his family. “I just wish I could give him his husband back. It's like... no matter what I do, it's just not enough. I guess some things just can’t be bought.”
Chloe and I stood in silence, watching Ray’s family and friends commiserate quietly with each other for several moments. Then, out of the blue, Chloe said, “About the other day…”
I started to look back at her, but my eyes caught the sight of Natashya and Emily approaching. Chloe immediately dropped whatever she was about to say and backed off, giving me some space. Natashya hung back as Emily closed the distance between us, speaking quietly with Erin and giving the siblings a few moments alone.
“Hey,” I said, not quite sure what to say after the way we ended things. “Thanks for coming.”
“Of course,” Emily said, giving me a small smile of sympathy. “I wanted to. He was protecting all three of us. I didn’t know him well…”
She seemed to be searching for words that she couldn’t quite find.
“None of us did,” I offered. “I didn’t know anything about him till that afternoon before he died.”
I looked down at the casket, regretting even more that I hadn’t known more about Ray before he died. He’d been a whole person with hopes, dreams, aspirations… and I felt like I’d barely scratched the surface of what he was.
My gaze lifted, and I saw a figure standing near a tree halfway across the cemetery. Something about how he stood and the brimmed hat resting on his head made me certain Henry Psalter was standing there, waiting to talk to me. Chloe had said it wasn’t good news, and somehow, even standing what felt like half a football field away, the old spook’s demeanor gave me the impression that she was right. I needed to talk to him… but I couldn’t leave things like they were with Emily.
“I don’t want to walk away from this conversation without things being okay, Em. What’s it gonna take?”
“I don’t know,” Emily said. “I’m having a hard time understanding how you can justify Bobbi after what happened to Natashya.”
“It’s not the same thing,” I said. A few days ago, I might have been saying that to convince myself as much as her, but I genuinely believed it now. I only hoped I could persuade her as easily as I'd convinced myself.
“Why?” Emily asked. Her voice was quietly insistent.
“If Natashya’s captors had opened the door and told her to leave, she would have been gone before they could change their mind. I basically did that with Bobbi, and it just pissed her off.”
Emily stared at me for a long moment. “I want to meet her,” she finally said.
I shrugged and said, “Sure. Come on—”
“Just me and her,” Emily said, cutting me off.
“Okay. When? Tomorrow?”
“Not tomorrow,” Emily said. “I have a rehearsal.”
“For what?”
“The part I had before we left for Vegas,” she said. “The other girl dropped out.” Emily looked at me carefully and said, “There was some kind of disagreement between her and the director after the theater got a new benefactor.” She stared at me expectantly for a beat, and when I didn’t immediately respond, she said, “Please tell me that wasn’t you trying to buy your way back into my good graces.”
“Would that have worked?” I asked. “Because if so, I would’ve done that.”
“You didn’t?”
“No,” I said, bewildered. “I mean, I’m probably the benefactor. I donated a lot of money to the theater—”
Emily looked confused. “Wait…”
“But that was before the party this weekend. Remember me telling the rest of the family how I wanted to help them? I didn’t get around to telling you what I wanted to do for you. That was part of it.”
“So it was you!”
“No! I didn’t talk to the director or producer or anything… not about your part! I was thinking about greasing the wheels a little for future roles, but I wouldn’t strong-arm them like that. I mean, unless you really wanted me to, maybe.”
“Okay,” Emily said carefully. “I’ll talk to the producer and see if I can get a name.”
I nodded, looking back in Psalter’s direction. He was still there, standing exactly as I’d last seen him, looking more like a monument to a long-dead denizen of the cemetery than a man. “There’s someone I need to talk to, Em. Just tell me what I need to do.”
“She has a phone, right?”
“Bobbi? I gave her one,” I said.
“Good. Give me her number. I’ll meet her for coffee or something.”
“No drinks,” I said. “Coffee or food only. She’s had a drug problem. The last thing she needs—”
“I know,” Emily said. She’d suffered a drug problem that probably rivaled anything Bobbi had experienced, so when she said she knew…
“Okay. I’ll text it to you.”
Emily gave me a small smile. “Good. I hope you’re right.” She hugged herself and looked back at Natashya, who was still talking to Erin as they watched us. “Goodbye, Marcus. I’ll talk to you soon.”
I watched as Erin and Natashya exchanged hugs and kisses before the dancer and my sister departed, walking across the cemetery toward wherever they were parked. Erin stepped beside me, and we watched as the two ladies left. About a hundred feet away, a lone figure appeared from behind a large stone statue of a young woman and followed the pair. Alarm bells started going off in my head.
“He’s one of ours,” Chloe said, stepping beside me.
“Oh good,” I said, relieved. “I don’t think I’ve seen him before.”
“He’s new,” she said.
“What’s his name?”
“Jonathan.”
After giving a few rounds of hugs and handshakes to funeral attendees—including a long hug from Shea—I crossed the cemetery toward the lone figure still standing under the tree. Chloe silently trailed behind me while Erin stayed with the funeral party to handle any loose ends.
“Mr. Upton,” Henry Psalter said as I crossed under the shade of the tree he stood under.
“Mr. Psalter,” I said back.
“How was the funeral?” he asked.
“It was sad. One of the saddest I’ve been to.”
“That’s because you bear some measure of the responsibility for this one,” he said.
It was true, but it stung, and the words made me stop mid-stride as they hit me between the eyes. It was the first time someone else said out loud what I’d been thinking.
“I know,” I replied, annoyed.
“Make no mistake,” he said, pulling one hand out of his pocket and raising it in a placating gesture. “I’m not suggesting you're to blame. I'm simply pointing out that our actions have consequences, and powerful men’s actions have powerful consequences.”
“Is this why you're here?” I asked. “To find some unique way of telling me that with great power comes great responsibility?”
“Not at all,” Henry said. “I’m no Ben Parker.”
“Then can we get to the point? I’m not in the mood.”
“Amber Bell was most definitely in Alexandria, Virginia,” he said.
“Huh?” The sudden change in subject required me a moment to catch up. “Oh… wait… what?”
“The weekend that you were kidnapped, Amber Bell was in Alexandria giving a presentation to some of Brantwood’s shareholders of a company not affiliated with you. I have hotel reservations. Her credit cards were used at two restaurants and a coffee shop two blocks from the convention center where she performed the presentation. Brantwood posted the presentation online for members who weren’t present for the live event. I’ve even acquired CCTV footage of her pulling cash from an ATM near a hot dog stand that didn’t accept credit cards. So much of her time and activity is accounted for that there’s no possible way Amber Bell could have been in Alexandria and still be in Vegas during the times you and Miss Tanner specified. Whoever you saw, it wasn’t Amber Bell.”
“Fake news,” I said.
“I’m afraid it isn’t.”
Turning to look at the funeral attendees in the distance, I sighed in frustration, ran my fingers through my hair, and glared back at Henry. I stared at him in silence for several long moments. Then simply shouted, “FUCK!”
Neither of them reacted to my sudden outburst.
“I swear to god, that woman in the meeting was at that fucking warehouse! Chloe!” I said, looking at her, “You were there! You saw her!”
Chloe shook her head. “Too many bullets. By the time it was over, she slipped away with the other man.”
She was talking about the man who wanted to kill me.
“Fuck!” I spat and kicked at the ground, launching a small tuft of grass into the air.
“Now that I’ve delivered the bad news,” Psalter said, “Here’s the good news. I’m ninety percent certain that Roger VanCamp was in Vegas the same weekend you were kidnapped.”
“What?” I asked, looking up at him. The memory of my would-be killer's voice was fuzzy in my mind. I’d taken quite a few blows to the head, after all. Still… I kept having the nagging sensation that his voice was familiar, and Roger’s presence had been agitating me since I got back. I’d just assumed it was because of Helen, but…
Psalter continued, “He never used any cash, and there’s no record of him flying out there, but I couldn’t find any record of his travel to the UAE, which is where he claimed to be. That doesn’t mean he didn’t go… it just means that he flew privately and that the flight plan was either scrubbed from the records or was falsified. My contact with INTERPOL says there was no record of passport usage either.”
“So, he was in the States,” I concluded.
“I don’t have any relationships in Vegas,” Psalter said, “But I used discretionary spending to acquire a phone recording from a taxi company.”
He held up what looked like a phone, opened an audio player app, and hit play. The three of us stood there in silence as we listened to the recording of a man telling someone to hold on before asking someone else where they wanted to go. A different, more faint voice responded, but since I knew what I was looking for, I identified it as Roger’s… or someone who sounded an awful lot like him. Like every other time, hearing him speak raised my hackles, and now that I had another possible reason for that, it made so much more sense. It also made much more sense why Helen backed off after the party. She must have known her husband had played a part in almost getting me killed, or at the very least suspected it.
Nothing had changed, though. Amber had been there, and Henry Psalter’s proof didn’t do a damn thing to convince me otherwise. However, there wasn’t anything I could do about it at the moment. Without any evidence of her crime or knowledge of who she was, going after her would have been pointless at best and deadly at worst.
Roger, though… he was a different story. I was fairly certain I knew everything he was capable of—he had some dirt on me and was using that to keep Helen in check. He’d been using Ashlee as a distraction and to keep tabs on me. He was jealous and petty but had also demanded to be the one to kill me, which made him dangerous and capable of things most people weren’t. He was also influential, well-connected, and knew the law.
He just had two problems—I had more money than him, and his wife liked fucking me.
“Fuck Roger VanCamp,” I said.
“Marcus?” Chloe asked.
“What would you like to do, Mr. Upton?” Psalter said.
“I think I need to have a talk with Karl Yunger and William Price. If they want to continue our relationship, then they should reconsider having a partner who’s responsible for kidnapping and beating me.”
“I don’t think he engineered the kidnapping,” Chloe said.
“Doesn’t matter,” I snapped. “The guy pissed on me.”
“He has some powerful friends out there that we don’t know about,” my bodyguard pointed out.
“He has Helen,” I countered. I turned my attention back to Psalter and said, “Henry, I want you on a full-time retainer. I’m your only client now. Can you make that happen?”
Henry removed his glasses and cleaned them with his shirt as he considered. “I’m expensive,” he finally said.
“I can afford it.”
“I suppose you can,” he said as he finished his glasses and replaced them on his face. “I have no commitments I can’t bring to a sudden end if that’s what you’d like. What are you thinking?”
“Not sure, yet,” I said. “I want to talk to Yunger and Price first, but what are my options?”
“A man with your resources… your imagination is the limit.”
“You mean I could make Roger disappear?” I asked.
“If that’s what you wanted,” Psalter confirmed.
That would certainly solve a lot of problems. The man couldn’t talk if no one could find him. That also meant Ashlee would lose his protection, allowing me to finally get whatever answers she held. Helen would be free. God… it was all so neat and tidy.
“I should warn you,” Psalter said. “If Amber has any ties to the kidnapping that we haven’t unearthed, that means she has some sort of arrangement with VanCamp. If he goes missing, you’re the likely suspect. Not only that but she is also connected to Kelly Maddox.”
“Hiro Tanaka and Kelly have some kind of understanding. Your relationship with Tanaka has soured after everything that transpired on Monday. If you engage in a battle with Bell and Maddox, it’s even more reason for Tanaka to come after you.”
I considered that, remembering Chandler’s warnings regarding Hiro. “What can you tell me about Tanaka?”
“He has ties to Big Energy and Big Pharma. He’s friends with the Desai family. He’s influential with multiple governments and has ties to several of the world’s largest criminal organizations. Everything from the Taliban and ACP to the Solntsevskaya Bratva and Yamaguchi-gumi.”
“Jesus,” I said, unfamiliar with almost all those organizations, but based on the context, I got the idea. Hiro Tanaka’s influence was far-reaching in legal and illegal networks, and all I had was a fat wallet, a security force, and a retired spook. Maybe that was enough. Perhaps I could buy off some of Hiro's more unscrupulous associates.
“Indeed,” Psalter confirmed, and then he hesitated. “May I be frank, Marcus?”
“Please,” I said, noting that he’d used my first name.
“I’m happy to work for you full-time, but you must realize this is a highly dangerous game. The people you’re engaging with are the tip of a dark, dangerous iceberg. You should know what you’re getting yourself into before proceeding. You could simply wipe your hands of everything, go into hiding, and spend the remainder of your days on a remote island beach with a bevy of beautiful women and the choicest foods.”
“On the other hand,” he continued, “If you pursue this course of action, there is a very real possibility that you and others around you will end up dead… or worse.”
“What’s worse than death?” I asked.
“The intrigue, carnage, and chaos you're considering engaging in can tarnish the soul, Marcus. In pursuing one’s enemies, it’s easy to lose sight of who you are. I can think of little worse than becoming the very thing you hate.”
He was right. I could just take my people and leave. I couldn’t run out of money if I lived five lifetimes, let alone one. Living on a beach or a mountain somewhere, eating good food, and having orgies with beautiful women for the rest of my life sounded amazing… and it was a very real option.
“Just… stay by the phone,” I told Henry. “I’ll let you know if I need anything.”
“Very well,” he said. “I stand ready to slip the dogs of war.”
Wednesday, 12:30 pm
After leaving Psalter behind, I needed a distraction, so I chose the worst one possible. Trudging back toward the dwindling group of funeral-goers, I read Natalie’s text message for the fourth time. Then, the fifth, and the more I read it, the more it bothered me.
Thanks to the board meeting, the fallout with Emily, and Carla Tanaka, I didn’t have a chance to give Natalie all that much thought in the last few days. The text she sent this morning opened the floodgates of emotions I still had for her, and a huge part of me wanted to just… try with her. I didn’t know what that meant for me and Danni, but that was a bridge I needed to cross when I came to it. Natalie was leaving today. I had a deadline.
I told Jon to drive to the Dunbar building.
When Erin asked where we were going, I redirected the conversation by asking her to schedule a meeting with Price and Yunger, making sure they left Roger off the invite. Erin could tell I was in a mood because she kept herself busy while I stared out the window and stewed over Natalie leaving.
This is dumb. This is dumb. This is dumb. This is fucking dumb…
I hesitated outside the door and checked my phone one last time, looking through pictures of Danni. Fuck, she was gorgeous, with her dark raven hair, pale skin, green eyes… that fucking gorgeous, sweet smile…
I recalled all the times I’d been with Danni—dousing her with champagne, taking her ass, participating in a six-person orgy. Our first time together was with Helen and Erin in the house I purchased a few hours later. She was cool, sexy, slutty, classy, and a pure soul who wanted to date me while letting me fuck other women. She was literally the perfect girlfriend.
So, why the fuck was I standing outside Natalie’s office door?
I didn’t have any guarantees with her that I did with Danielle. I didn’t know how Natalie would feel about me fucking other women; there was a chance she might be okay with it, given how she knew about Bobbi, but there were no hard guarantees. Sure, she was gorgeous, with that caramel skin, generous mouth, plush lips, dark eyes, and large breasts. We were great together, and there was undoubtedly chemistry between us.
But she’d found someone else.
“Fuck,” I breathed, glaring at the doorknob I held in my hand. I had enough to worry about without making trouble with Natalie and her boyfriend.
But I had to know, right? I had to try. For my own fucking sanity.
I glanced back down at the picture of Danni that she’d sent me on Monday. How would she feel knowing I was on the verge of throwing a Hail Mary to try to make something happen with Natalie? She was the one girl Danni asked me to keep off limits.
Go home, invite Danni over, fuck her brains out—possibly joined by Erin, and forget about Natalie. Or… walk in there and ask her to stay with you. Just choose something, Marcus.
The decision was taken from me when the door opened, and Natalie stared at me, eyes wide in utter shock.
“Marcus! What’re you doing here?”
With my decision paralysis no longer part of the equation, I swallowed and said, “I was hoping to catch you before you left. Can we talk for a few minutes?”
“Um… sure. I was just about to go grab some lunch. Do you want to come with?”
I shook my head and said, “This will only take a few minutes.”
She stepped aside, giving me the space to walk into her office, and closed the door behind me. “Is everything okay?”
I huffed, ran my fingers through my hair, and decided to throw it all out there instead of trying to work up to it. “No. Everything isn’t okay.”
All the trouble with Hiro, Roger, Maddox, the kidnapping… I wanted to tell her about all of it… to tell her what kind of stress I was under. She’d been a wonderful friend and confidant for so long, and I felt like I really could have used it right about now. That could have been all this visit was about if that’s what I chose, or I could confess that I still wanted her.
Then I looked back at her and wanted to kiss her all over again. My decision was made for me.