“Who do you work for?” This came from River; he had obviously caught on to what I was doing.
Mitch shuddered and glared between us and Derek. “I’ll never tell you their name. I’d rather deal with Derek than them.”
Derek cocked his head and real annoyance flashed over his face, like he didn’t care for the idea of someone being scarier than him. I wanted to shake my head, tell Mitch it wasn’t about who was more terrifying.
“Who are they, Mitch?” Derek crouched in front of him and his mouth curled in distaste. He held the gun in his hand but this time didn’t point it at his cousin. “Tell me, and I’ll make your death painless.”
“Go fuck yourself, Derek.” Mitch spat, and I winced when a glob of blood landed on Derek’s cheek.
The guard raced forward and then landed a solid blow to Mitch’s right cheek. Mitch collapsed to the floor again and let out a long groan. Derek rubbed his arm over his cheek and rolled his shoulders. He turned to us, and I stood, River following me.
“I assure you that I had nothing to do with this sex slavery. Make sure to tell King that. Also let him know that I will deal with Mitchell myself. You can leave.”
I shook my head and stepped forward, closer to him, and the guard flexed his shoulders in warning. “We need more than that. We need Brickton and this little bastard that tricked River.”
“You’ll get them,” he said calmly, eyes glowing with dark intent. “I’ll send you the proof you need to arrest both of them, cop. Now leave before I make you.”
I didn’t want to go, I needed more than his word, but River tugged on my suit jacket and I knew I had no choice. These were men River knew more about than I did. He stood and snatched his phone off Derek’s desk, and I grabbed the bag of money. We left the office down the narrow stairs we’d come up. When we reached the second floor of the gambling again, River turned to me and leaned in closer.
“Derek’s a man of his word. He’ll give us something that can be used as evidence, either for the police or for King.”
“And what about the people higher than Mitch? What about them?”
River snorted and shoved his glasses farther up his nose. “Trust me, King’ll find them.”
“They deserve justice. Killing them would be the easy way out.”
“I don’t think so.” The look in River’s eyes told me I didn’t want to know the things he did. “Come on, Sir. Let’s get out of here.”
The idea of leaving left me uneasy, knowing that Mitch was probably getting the beatdown of his life, but I’d come here knowing something like this could happen.Fuck. I hated being in between, spending my life as a cop and dating the lawyer who worked with criminals, but I cared about River too much to do anything else but handle it. I didn’t want to give him up, and I highly doubted he’d get rid of his clients.
When we were outside in the nice, cool autumn air, I took a deep breath in and leaned against the brick wall farther down the alley, away from the bouncers and the entrance to the establishment. River stopped and cuddled up against me, burying his face into my shoulder. I curled my arms around him, breathing in his crisp cologne that made mewant.
“What’s wrong, Sir?” he asked, and there was a soft, affectionate tone to his voice, like he cared.
“I hate that it feels like we’ve gotten nowhere. Every time we find a piece of information, someone else wants to handle it. Everything we do relies on other people.”
“Isn’t that life?” River tilted his head back and kissed me across the lips. My eyes slipped closed and I reveled in the taste of his minty flavor, which made me think he’d brushed his teeth while he’d been in the shower before we came. “Do you trust me?”
“Of course I do, Lamb.” I brushed at a piece of his hair, swiping it off his forehead, and laid a kiss on his skin there.
“Then trust me about King. You don’t have to like him, Sir, but he’ll get the job done. Men around here respect King, and Derek is one of those men. He’ll give up evidence of Brickton and Jason’s involvement in the ring, and you and Slater can put them behind bars.”
“And you can stop worrying about Brickton using those photos.” I cupped his cheek, the warmth of his skin sending a comforting zing through me.
River shrugged. “Part of me thinks Brickton doesn’t have them. If he did he’d have used them by now. He’s that kind of fucker. Maybe Jason’s trying to squeeze more money out of him.”
“You think maybe Mitch had them and was trying to get him to pay more?”
“It makes sense.” He sighed and placed his head against my shoulder. A woman walked past us, and I didn’t miss the way she drunkenly let out an “aww” as she headed toward the door of the casino.
“Until we find who’s really behind this, more men and women and children will be taken.”
“I know, but King and Sapphira will work fast. Especially the Harlots.” He squeezed my middle and stepped back, and then he stared down himself and tugged at the lapels on his suit coat, adjusting them. He let out an irritated little growl and took the coat off entirely, shook it out, and then put it back on again.
“Did I mess up your suit?” I chuckled.
“If you’re going to wear one it should be immaculate. I hate those guys who walk around in crinkled suits. It’s a sign of unprofessionalism.” He eyed my suit and the way my tie had been loosened, and I raised my eyebrows at him.
