Alibi by Nicole Edwards

Chapter Twenty-One

“You okay?”

Travis looked up, saw Gage standing in the doorway to his home office. “Yeah. Why?”

Gage’s response was a quirk of his eyebrow.

“I’m good,” he assured the man. “I promised I would sit on the information Brantley gave us.”

“You did say that, yes.” Gage didn’t look convinced. “Doesn’t mean you have.”

Travis considered what he wanted to tell his husband. Since Gage used to be a police officer, having gone the route of undercover for a long time, he knew the man leaned more on the right side of the law. He believed in the justice system.

Travis, on the other hand, believed in taking care of your own shit. Probably had something to do with growing up in a small town. They tended to deal with their own issues, settle things between them without involving the law. Growing up, when someone wronged another, it was settled with fists, not phone calls. They didn’t call the police in to deal with their problems. Sure, the sheriff’s department had always had their own agenda, sticking their nose in where it didn’t necessarily belong, but that didn’t mean they were invited.

Gage strolled around and took a seat on the couch directly across from Travis’s desk. He propped his ankle on his knee and regarded Travis carefully.

Travis could see the curiosity in Gage’s eyes, knew he wasn’t going to leave until Travis started talking.

“Did you call him?”

Travis considered playing dumb, pretending he didn’t know who Gage was referring to. However, they were making strides in repairing their relationship, and the last thing he wanted was to cause a setback.

“Not yet.” Travis held Gage’s stare. “I was about to.”

“What’s stoppin’ you?”

“I wanted to talk to you first.”

And that was the God’s honest truth. From the moment Brantley had informed them that they had an actual location—albeit seventy-two hours old—on Juliet Prince, he’d been itching to call Max. He knew the Mafia boss would deal with the problem, make it go away once and for all without Travis ever having to get his hands dirty.

The only thing that had stopped him was the fact Gage deserved a say in what happened to the woman. After all, Kylie was Gage’s wife, too. Maybe not in the eyes of the law, no, but he was where it counted.

“Talk to me about what?”

“He can take care of her,” Travis said. “All I have to do is say the word.”

“I’m sure he will. But what’ll you be in for? We both know Adorites don’t do favors for free.”

No, they certainly did not. And though Travis had asked for a few favors from Max over the years, he’d only been called on once to return it. That particular incident had required Travis to manipulate a situation, maneuvering a person to a certain spot by using his resort as the carrot.

He had no idea what’d happened after that, nor did he care to. What Max did was his business. Whether it was legal or not was also his business.

“If it ever came down to it, can the feds tie you to him?” Gage asked.

“As an acquaintance, maybe,” Travis admitted. “But it’d be circumstantial at best.”

Gage seemed to consider that before he said, “And what is it you’re askin’ him for this time?”

Travis opted for honesty. “I want him to make her disappear. Permanently.”

Gage nodded, as though processing that information.

Travis wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but it wasn’t for Gage to slowly get to his feet and head for the door.

But what shocked him the most was when Gage turned back around and said, “Then I suggest you don’t let the task force find her. It’d be best if no one ever lays eyes on her again.” He started to pull the door shut. “I’ll just close this so you can make that call.”

When Gage left the room, Travis stared after him for a few minutes, letting his instructions sink in.

Travis should probably have worried that he didn’t have a crisis of conscience when it came to ordering a hit on Juliet Prince. And that was what it was, no matter how he wanted to pretty it up and call it a favor. He was asking one human being to eliminate another.

The question he had was who would he rather do it? Did he call Max and finalize his request, or did he take matters into his own hands? No, he’d never killed anyone, nor had he actually considered it before.

Had he played a part in having some really nasty people taken care of? Yeah. When his cousin Wolfe’s wife, Amy, had been running from a sadistic fuck who’d used his position of power to abuse and beat her, to kill her family and imprison her, Travis had called Max. And he’d never lost a moment of sleep for it.

And when his cousin Jared’s ex-wife used her own child to manipulate Jared, to punish him for absolutely no reason, Travis had stepped in. No, Sable wasn’t dead, but to this day Travis kept an eye on her, ensuring she did not come back and interfere in their lives.

Travis didn’t pretend to be a saint. Never had. Nor was he going to lose sleep over the decision he had to make now.

Taking a deep breath, Travis opened his top drawer, pulled out the burner phone he’d been sent for this specific instance, and dialed the familiar number.

“Yeah?” the gruff voice answered.

“I’m finalizin’ my request.”

“Where?”

“Port Isabel, Texas,” he stated firmly. “It’s a rush job.”

“Understood.”

When the call ended, Travis pulled the battery out of the phone. His next order of business was to destroy it as he’d been instructed.

Still sitting, he glanced at the picture of Kylie on his desk. “It’s almost done, baby. Just like I promised.”

*

Maximillian Adorite stood on the veranda overlookinghis estate.

He sipped coffee, enjoying the pleasant weather and the cool breeze. He’d been up much of the night dealing with urgent business and he was slow going today. But he didn’t mind the downtime. In fact, he enjoyed what little bit of peace he could find in a day.

When Rock stepped forward, Max passed the phone over to him. “Destroy it.”

“Consider it done.”

Since Rock, born Taye Smith, was one of his most loyal enforcers, he knew the man could be trusted to protect him, to ensure nothing would blow back on him in the end. It was because of people like Rock that Max’s family had been able to build the life they had. And it was Rock and the others in Max’s employ who he would ensure were taken care of for as long as they were loyal and true.

“Where’s my wife?” Max asked.

“She went to visit her parents, then she was gonna put in a few hours at the office. Said she’d be back by dinner.”

Max smiled. He recalled the conversation that had taken place. The one in which Courtney had done her wifely duty of inviting him to go with her to her parents’ house. They’d both known before she made the request that he would decline, yet she’d done it anyway because that was what they did.

The thing was, they were on opposite sides of the law when it came to most things. Being an Adorite meant Max’s wealth was built on shaky ground—the vast majority of it having been accumulated through what most considered illegal means—while Courtney was a Kogan and her family had dedicated their life’s work to protecting people through any means necessary.

It was true when they said opposites attract. And if he was being completely honest, having so much opposition on various things only spiced up a relationship. Max loved Courtney beyond measure and would move heaven and earth to take care of her. He knew she felt the same for him, which was why she could overlook some of his more illicit, and often unethical, activities.

But when it was possible to keep her out of it, Max did so. Which was why he was heading back into the house to a secure location where there wasn’t the risk of the feds catching anything he might say. After all, in order for him to grant a favor to Travis Walker, he had to call one in.

As had become the basis of his existence, Max worked on trading favors, and it always paid to have someone owe him.

Especially someone with a ruthless disregard for human existence.