Blaze (The Stark Affair Book 3) Page 5
“Your reputation is important to you.”
“Yes it is. I admit, what I do is underhanded and deceitful. But it’s my money. And my hands are tied.”
He gets up and walks around the bed, staring out the window.
“There’s something else too,” he says. “I have a plan to take him down. And not just down, but locked up permanently. It’s all on a flash drive.”
I prop myself back up on the bed, looking at the back of his head and his strong back muscles while listening intently.
“So you weren’t joking about that?”
“No, in fact I’m going to tell you something that I’ve never told anyone. Which could be the end of me because you’re a cop.”
He takes a deep breath and sits on the edge of the bed. He temples his hands and stares at the floor.
“I’m going to disappear,” he says. “Nobody will be able to find me. I have the perfect escape all set up. Been working on it for two years. I call it my Self-Detonation plan. Because once I plug that flash drive into a USB port, boom! The whole world learns about what I’ve been doing, but more importantly what Jasper van der Voort and my father have been doing for years.”
“And you’ll just be gone?”
“Gone. Vanished. Just get in my Go-Fast boat and zip my way across the water. Never to be seen again. It’s all set up.”
“But you’re the great Colton Stark. The smartest guy in the room. Why can’t you just figure out a way on your own? Clear your name?”
“Well, I actually have. The only problem is that the Department of Justice won’t look kindly on what I’ve done. I’ll get prison time. Which I refuse to do because like I said on the boat, life is nothing but a series of moments. One moment spent in prison for taking money that’s rightfully mine is one moment too many.”
“So you’re going to run away? You? Big tough guy? Run away?”
“It’s not running away. It’s escape. Freedom. Justice in exposing an uber-criminal. Jasper has been funneling drugs and guns from South America for years. This will put a major dent in the criminal underworld. It will take years for them to recover. Imagine being the cop that blows this wide open. You’ll be a legend. The girl from Wynwood who took down Stark Worldwide.”
I smile.
“See, you’re thinking about it!”
“Where is this flash drive?”
“Ha! Like I’m going to tell you that.”
I blink and shake my head, trying to wrap my head around all this. Funny, his twisted logic makes sense.
But there has to be a better way!
“You could cop a deal,” I say. “Roll on van der Voort. Get immunity.”
He looks at me with a frown. “Have you seen Jasper’s bodyguard Hector? He has standing orders to kill me if anything bad happens to Jasper.”
“That guy? He’s just an old thug that looks like a big piece of rock.”
“Look him up in your database. You may be surprised. Even Max Zanik is scared of him.”
I lean up on my shoulder. “How the fuck do you know Max Zanik?”
“Because I’ve been exploring options.”
I put my hand on his chest, stroking the tattoo with the eagle talons. “Okay, so why tell me all this? Do you want me to slap cuffs on you?”
“Well yes, but not until we get to know each other a little better.” He kisses me while stroking my hand. “But the real reason I’m telling you, Detective Sergeant Sofia Martinez-Vallejos... is because I trust you. Do you trust me?”
I sit up on the edge of the bed, facing away from him. I look out at the vast collection of toy boats surrounding DiLido Island.
“I have some... issues,” I say. “I lost my ability to trust most people because there was someone I once trusted. And she died because I trusted her.”
“What happened then?”
“I lost it. I turned in my resignation, it was accepted by my commander at the time, but then Lieutenant LaTashia Washington of the Organized Crime Section stepped in and saved me. I’ve known her since I was a teenager. She got me into some ridiculous therapy and put me on a six-week leave. I wasn’t going back.”
“Did the therapy help?”
“No. I had nothing else to do for the six weeks so I bought this yellow 1970 Chevelle with black racing stripes that I had had my eye on for a while and I restored it. Better than therapy by far.”
“So what changed your mind? Why did you go back to the force?”
“Because of LaTashia. And Mike.”
“Who’s Mike?”
“My patrol partner. He showed up one day while I was working on the car. Made this big moving speech about duty and responsibility, how I’m the last person he thought would ever quit or run away, and that he needed me.”
Colton bristles at that.
“This Mike, were you and he ever together?”
“Once, only once, and it was a huge mistake. He’s married with kids. Oh God! We had put this guy away and we had a little too much to drink and we made a mistake. I made a mistake! God, can I be forgiven for one mistake? One fucking mistake!”
“Wow, sounds like there’s still something there.”
“Not on my part.”
“But on his.”
I nod.
“What’s the second thing?” he says.
“Huh?”
“You said there’s a second thing keeping you from arresting me.”
I smile. “Well, there’s this guy.”
I snuggle into him.
“Really?” he says. “What guy?”
“A guy I kind of like. Who is no criminal.”
He kisses me, then holds me for a while.
“But there’s a missing piece,” I say. “He’s up to something. He steals all this money in a good Robin-Hood kind of way, but I don’t know what he’s doing with it. If only I knew, I think I might be able to have a ‘breakthrough’ like they say and actually trust him.”
“You want to know what he’s doing with the money he steals.”
“Yes.”
“Then I guess it’s time he shows you.”
* * *
Watch for Burn: The Stark Affair Book 4, the thrilling conclusion... available December 3, 2014!
Thank you for reading. Please take a moment to write a review at the site from which you downloaded this book. I appreciate and encourage feedback!
Want to be the first to know about my future releases?
Click Here to sign up for my mailing list.
Also by Skylar Cross:
The Cage Sessions
Controlled by His Voice
Mastered by His Touch
Also by Skylar Cross, writing as Taylor Shade:
Eyes
Lips
Also by Skylar Cross, writing as Adriana Cruz:
Wanda Awakened
Devoured