Byron’s face turned gray as he stared at the phone. “What is this?”
The recording continued to play, right through Warner’s threat to the woman.
“Where did you get that?” Byron asked, eyes wide, sweat beading on his forehead.
Was he surprised that they’d found him out, or shocked because he hadn’t known?
“After the first time her requests were ignored, Kerry recorded all of her conversations with your boss,” Emma said. “This one is from the day before she died.”
“But…” Byron swallowed hard. “She OD’d.”
Emma’s face remained impassive. “How naïve do you think we are, Mr. Chin?” She retrieved the cell phone and tucked it into her purse. “Or am I supposed to believe that you’re the naïve one?”
Byron’s face darkened and his brown eyes narrowed at her. “Who the hell are you?”
“That’s irrelevant,” Jason said, pulling the attention back to him. “And you still haven’t answered my question.”
“I don’t have to answer to you at all.” He puffed up, stony mask firmly reaffixed on his face.
“Considering that someone tried to kill us yesterday, shortly after Viktor was shot,” Jason said, “I think you do.”
Byron gaped at him. “You think I’d have my own brother murdered? I know you’ve always been jealous of my success, but accusing me of attempted fratricide is desperate, even for you, JJ.” He scowled. “You planning to run to Mom and Dad with this crazy theory? You really think this will make them love you more?”
Fuck me. His brother was proof that no one could hurt you like family. He offered no concern for Jason’s health or safety, just well aimed poison darts. Jason stood and shoved all of their ugly history deep down inside, gathering every last shred of calm he possessed. “And yet you haven’t given me a single straight answer, Byron. Not one.” A vise clamped down on his heart at the thought of what Byron’s guilt would do to his parents. “I came here because the evidence is damning, but as much of an asshole as you are, I had to give you the benefit of the doubt.”
“That’s not me on the recording,” Byron snapped, also rising to his feet, fingers tapping anxiously against the palm of his hand.
“No, but it’s your boss.” Jason had met Warner during a meeting in LA before coming to Lucerne, and his distinctive deep voice was unmistakable on the call, even over speakerphone. “You’re his right-hand man. According to the witnesses, you’re heavily involved in everything. The women, the drugs, the payoffs.” He placed his hands on the table and leaned in, watching the subtle shifts in his brother’s expression. “Look, I know it’s easy to get sucked in, and hard to get out. He probably has something on you to keep you in line, right?”
“Fuck off,” Byron growled. But fear had flickered across the man’s face.
Jason’s heart sank like a stone. “Help us take him down. If not for yourself, for Ava. You really want to raise her around a man like that? She’s almost old enough to be Warner’s type.”
Byron’s face darkened and his jaw muscle twitched. Without saying a word, he stubbed out his cigarette on the tabletop and flicked it onto the grass before stalking off.
But it didn’t matter. Jason had his answer.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
WOW. EMMA WASN’T particularly close with her sister, but there was no animosity there. They simply had very different, very busy lives. The hostility between Jason and Byron, though? That was next-level.
“You okay?” she asked, trying to keep up with Jason’s long strides as she placed a discreet earbud into her right ear.
His jaw was tight, hands flexing repetitively as they walked toward the far end of the parking lot where Todd waited behind the wheel of a rented black SUV. “Fine.”
Yeah, right.She let it go for the moment.
Within minutes, they were on the highway, the car silent but for the engine noise. Todd kept glancing in the rearview mirror, presumably to check for a tail, but also eyeing his friend with a furrowed brow.
“I’m fine,” Jason practically growled from the backseat, where he’d asked to sit alone.
“Okay. Good.” Todd said, his voice careful and even, the embodiment of innocence. “You definitely look fine.”
“Asshole,” Jason muttered without any real heat. The car was silent for a minute and then he let out a long sigh. “Byron’s neck-deep in this thing, guys.”
Emma ignored the urge to look over her shoulder. It was probably easier for him to talk when everyone had their eyes averted.
“He may not be issuing kill orders,” Jason added, “but he’s not innocent either. I don’t know how I thought he could be. He’s too close to Warner not to know at least some of it.”
