Page 42 of Revenge & Truth

“I also wanted to tell you that I’m sorry,” Jace said as he traced his finger around the rim of the glass. “The other morning, I shouldn’t have told you about talking with Brax and how I felt you while you were in bed with Ryker. If I’m being honest, I panicked, thinking if you patched things up with him, it meant you didn’t want anyone else. In a poorly misplaced act of desperation, I kept pressing you about all the polyamory stuff when I should have simply talked to you. I’d like to do this over dinner, just you and me, with none of the others barging in.”

Resting my hand over his, stopping the movement, he looked at me. “I think it’s a fantastic idea and exactly what we need. Braxton and I have had numerous conversations about what being together looks like, but before anything can move forward between any of us. I need to hear what your needs and wants are.”

Jace took my hand in his and raised it to his lips. “You have no idea how perfect and amazing you are, do you?” He pressed a kiss to my knuckles and smiled. “Does six work for you?”

“Hmm… I might need to check in with my boss about that first,” I mentioned.

“Oh, don’t worry, Boykov is coming with us,” Jace teased without missing a beat.

With a scoff, I shoved his shoulder and headed back to the table. “Better be someplace where I can dress up. Your girl needs an excuse to go all out,” I said over my shoulder and followed it up with a wink like Ivy does.

“Anything you want, babe, I’ll make it happen,” Jace promised with a shit-eating grin.

Oh, the others are going to be so pissed at him for thinking of this move first.

I chuckled to myself as I stood behind Hound to look over his shoulder. It seems Ivy did more than what I asked, giving additional information on the security system, additions to the house that hadn’t been noted on the blueprints, and the location plus the make and model of the safe.

“How does she get them to give up this kind of information?” Hound asked, sitting back in his chair, looking like a pouting child who’s had his favorite toy stolen. “All of this was done old-school with cash transactions and limited paper trails. This asshole didn’t even get these projects zoned or filed for the permits.”

“Benefits of being a judge, I guess,” I reasoned. “Pull up the safe again.”

“Dual key lock with added digital code for redundancy,” Hound pointed out. “The fucker is big. It would take up the whole closet he’s got tucked away down there. I’m sure most people would assume it’s the water heater or something behind the door because who in their right mind has a safe that big in their home?”

“So we know Judge Rupp has one of the keys. Did Ivy happen to mention who has the other?”

Hound muttered something under his breath and flipped to a picture of Harvey pulling out his keys to unlock one of his clubs. A key was circled along with the word ‘safe’ written, plus an arrow pointing at it just in case we hadn’t put the pieces together.

“I’m telling you there’s no way she could gather all this information in one night, Luna,” Hound pointed out. “Either she was already working on this, or she’s working with him, and this is her double-cross to get out of a bind. Whichever it is, I don’t like it.”

Grasping Hound’s chin, I turned him to look at me. “You don’t have to like it, and I want you to double-check what she gives us. But at the end of the day, all you need to do is trust me when I tell you we’re using this information. Can you do that, or do I need to put you on the sidelines until this is over?”

“No, Mistress, I’ll follow your orders,” Hound answered.

“Thank you, and if you find something to back up your suspicions, I expect you to tell me instantly,” I added, then kissed him lightly on the lips. “You still sure you want to mix business and pleasure?”

“Luna, that was never a question. It will always be yes,” he responded with all the confidence I’ve learned to expect from him.

Releasing him, I turned back to the picture of Harvey. “This gala is getting more and more interesting. I’ll have to make sure I give a hefty donation in thanks for all the help it will be to me and so many other women.”

After spending most of the afternoon working on how best to do this job now we had all the information, I called it a night.

“Liu, you’re seeing Luca early tomorrow, correct?” I asked, needing to feel confident on this since so much depended on getting the gun in time.

He nodded, collecting the last of the files he’d been going over on Luca’s case. “Yes, I’ll arrive right as visiting hours start. Once I have the location of the gun, I’ll head straight there.”

“Once he has the gun in hand, I’ll meet up with him and get it over to my contact in the evidence room. He’ll make sure it looks like it’s been processed along with creating and deleting a file for it off their system,” Jace shared, then gestured his head toward Hound. “Once that’s done, the hacking wizard will make it look as if the file was created and deleted in a manner that appeared like it was found on the scene and covered up.”

I sighed in relief and combed my fingers through my hair, trying to ignore the building tension headache. “Well, I’m not sure we can be any more prepared for things than we are. I’ll be shopping with Ivy in the afternoon, so the meetings I had then will be moved to the morning.”

“Already done,” Liu interjected. “I hope you don’t mind, but I thought Braxton might be a welcome stand-in for me since I’ll be at the prison.”

Swiveling my chair, I looked at the man in question. “You okay with that?”

“Ah… My Queen, how can you think I’d turn down a chance to be of service to you? When Liu suggested it, I was more than happy to say yes,” Braxton assured me. “Most of the meetings are with people I know, making it easy to offer my help if you want or need it.”

With a clap of my hands, the matter was settled. “Done deal. After breakfast, you’ll be stuck with me until I head out with Ivy.”

“About that,” Ryker said, making me groan because I knew that tone. “Don’t fight me on this, Astin. I happen to agree with Hound that there is something more going on with Ivy than she’s leading us to believe. Boykov will be with you, but I’d appreciate it if you also took Thad too.”