I snort. “You’re fucking joking, right? You’re the least trustworthy person I know.”
“Then you’ve been hanging around the wrong people.” He rubs his thumb along my lower lip.
Mom flinches, but I warn her with my eyes. Now that we’ve got him talking, we don’t want him to stop.
“I’m one of the most loyal people you could meet—as long as you don’t betray me.” His eyes are like poisonous laser beams as he stabs his gaze in Saint and Galen’s direction. His hostility toward Theo and Caz isn’t as severe, because they’re not blood, but there’s no doubt whatever punishment he has in mind is for all of us.
“Maybe if you’d told me about the files, I would’ve admitted I had them,” I bluster.
“Then I would’ve had to tell you everything, and you’d done nothing to earn my trust.”
“I killed the commissioner for you.”
“You did, but I know there was some ulterior motive. And we’ll get to the bottom of that before the night is done.”
Alisha moans on our other side, blinking as she falls in and out of consciousness.
Sinner grabs one of her bare breasts, squeezing hard. “Worthless junkie whore.”
I want to snatch his hand back, but he’s got a gun pressed to the most precious part of my body, and I’m taking no chances. “Tell me what was on those Homeland files, and I’ll tell you about the commissioner,” I lie.
“We were hired by Homeland Security to retrieve those files. A disgruntled employee had stolen them. Apparently, he was planning on releasing them to the public and he had to be stopped.” Sinner has the undivided attention of every person in the room, and it’s obvious that even the board members weren’t fully aware of the situation.
Of course, Sinner is lapping up the attention, grinning as he continues explaining. “The files contained details of a terrorist plot against the US. The terrorists were stopped when they were on US soil, and Homeland ensured nothing was leaked to the public because they didn’t want anyone to discover that a US-owned private company was the one to supply them with weapons and artillery.”
“Why the fuck would Homeland hire you to stop one of their own?” Saint spits out.
“They wanted this done off the record, with no trace back to them, because the head of Homeland and the head of VERO are both on the board of the private company who sold the weapons to terrorists.”
“Oh my God.” The words slip from my mouth. “This is so fucked up.”
Sinner barks out a laugh. “For once, we agree on something.”
“How did my father end up with those files?” I wonder if he knew what was on them. If that’s why he hid them. Why he didn’t tell anyone. And fuck. Does Diesel know about his boss? Is this what’s happening here? Is he trying to protect him? My mind churns with endless possibilities.
“We were supposed to hand over the files after we stole them, but I didn’t trust Randall not to screw us over. The deal was we would have protection for life. That any and all future charges would be buried. We would be free to build our empire with police protection and support at the highest level, but I only had his word for it. My plan was to hold the files ransom until the deal was put in writing.” He slams his bottle down on the table. “Then Trey fucking Westbrook stole them from us, and everything turned to shit.”
“Who’s Randall?” Galen asks.
“The head of VERO,” Sinner confirms.
My brows pucker. “I thought you said you were hired by Homeland?”
“We were, but it was via Randall, because VERO does this kind of shit for the government and private corporations all the time. Randall was the one who reached out to me.”
“What happened after my dad stole the files?”
“We didn’t know who had taken them although, after Homeland had Trey murdered, I suspected it was him.”
“That’s why you wanted me back,” Mom says. “So you could find those files before Homeland did.”
Sinner nods, smirking. “Making you pay for leaving me was an added bonus.”
“I fucking hate you,” Mom snaps.
He slaps her, and I’m losing control of the tenuous hold on my emotions. “Not as much as I hate you.” He rips the front of her dress, exposing the swells of her breasts to the carnivores in the room.
I’ve no doubt, when story time is over, he fully intends on starting the orgy part of the night. I’ve zero plans to participate, and hell will freeze over before I let them touch Mom or Alisha or any of those girls trapped underneath this room.
“Anyway, the gloves were off when we failed to deliver the files,” Sinner continues, needing little encouragement now.
The psycho loves the sound of his own voice, and he loves the adoring attention from the captive audience.
“Randall went apeshit. A couple of our shipments were seized by the authorities in a clear warning, and I knew it was only a matter of time before they found something to pin on us, so we needed leverage.”
“Daphne Leydon,” I say, and he nods.
“How exactly does the commissioner fit into all this?” Saint asks.
“The commissioner was Randall’s lackey, and he also owned shares in VERO. When we failed to show up with the Homeland files, Randall sent the commissioner after us. We had to stop him, so kidnapping his wife was a no-brainer. That she was also the niece of the US president was the cherry on top. We knew that would keep them at bay. The plan was to hold on to her until the files were recovered and we had our deal in writing. But we enjoyed her time in captivity a little too much.”
Sinner grins, and a chorus of hoots and hollers rips across the room, making me feel ill.
“Her death was accidental.” Sinner shrugs. “But it helped serve a purpose. Daphne had blurted a ton of helpful shit before her untimely passing, and Randall knew if we were taken in for her death that it would all come out so they couldn’t do anything to us.”
Now I get why everyone has been searching for the recording showing Daphne being murdered. VERO wants to use it to keep The Sainthood in line and The Sainthood wants to use it to force VERO to give them a deal. However, without the evidence, VERO has the upper hand now they have the Homeland files back in their possession.
Thanks to us.
That was an epic fuckup on my part.
One I’m now regretting.
But I can’t change the past—we are where we are.
My mind continues processing all we’ve learned. It’s better for VERO if they don’t find the Leydon evidence, hence why that smarmy fuck reacted like that at the meeting on Wednesday. Getting Sinner to confess to the murder serves their ends much better. I doubt Randall plans on putting Sinner away. I’m betting his plan all along has been to bust in here and kill them all so everything dies with them. Then he has the audio and camera feeds confirming the truth.
Motherfucking asshole.
I doubt he plans to let any of us out of here alive.
Except Randall didn’t plan for Sinner spilling his guts.
Why has he? Does he know they’re outside? Or that we’re recording everything?
Fear prickles the back of my neck as I realize we’re way more in the dark than we knew. Another troubling thought enters my mind. Diesel is listening to all this, and we have more than enough now to put his boss and The Sainthood away, so why the fuck haven’t they busted their way in here?