Page 87 of Fall Before Her Throne

What happened?

Before I’d been perp-walked out of the casino, I’d made Cas and Ciel promise they wouldn’t let anyone go crazy. Assuming they kept the guys together, the two of them could handle everyone until we could figure this out. Obi would call Samuel Achebe, and I was sure he’d show up any minute now.

The cool metal of the cuffs made my wrists ache as I stewed in this reality.

Fuck. We’d walked right into the trap. I should have known better. I should have had Ciel check the cameras nearby. I should have ordered our men to investigate first. I shouldn’t have taken Greco’s phone call.

The door to the interview room opened, and my two favorite Special Agents walked in. Jack Greer and Farrah Badawi.

“Hello again, Miss Vero,” Badawi said. Her dark hair was still pulled back into that severe, low bun, but this time she wore a cream blazer outfit with a burgundy undershirt that looked absolutely gorgeous against her dark skin. She slid into one of the two metal chairs on the other side of the table.

“Special Agent Badawi,” I greeted lightly. “I love your outfit.”

She smiled and gestured to my blood-spattered shirt. “Yours, too. I love that leather jacket.”

I almost continued with our polite small talk, pretending like we were just two women who had maybe met in the elevator and exchanged some compliments, but Greer snorted. With a petty laugh, he looked me up and down.

“What’s with the blood?” He plopped down in the free chair.

“Uh.” I looked down at my clothes. It had to be blood from the bouncer’s leg wound. “I’m on my period.”

Greer recoiled in disgust. “You can’t expect us to believe that.”

I shrugged. “Periods are bloody affairs, Jack. I don’t expect a man to understand.”

Badawi hid a smile while he gestured at her in disbelief. She gathered her papers and straightened them.

“Care to explain the situation in which we found you?” Greer asked, eyes narrowed.

“Not really,” I answered.

“Illegal gambling, guns…none of it looks good.”

I kept my lips shut.

Greer wiped his bottom lip with his thumb. “You’ve been standing us up. We had to come and get you.”

“If you wanted me that badly, Greer, you just had to ask,” I said. He rolled his eyes and frowned. “I’m sure my lawyer is on his way to join us. You don’t mind, do you?”

Badawi tapped the edges of a thick file folder on the table before she placed it down and opened it. She started looking through the pages. “How about we get started with some simple questions?”

“Okay, then. What am I being arrested for?”

She smiled. “We will be the ones asking the questions.”

“It’s my right to know.”

“Racketeering, to start,” Greer said, raising a hand so he could count off on his fingers. “Murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, drug smuggling, possession with intent to sell, breaking and entering, cybercrime, and illegal gambling.”

I whistled. “That is a list, isn’t it?”

That list named everything the guys and I had done for the last six months. But we hadn’t been involved in gambling until tonight. Max had run all of that.

So that meant they were trying to loop me into crimes he committed with the Family.

“It is extensive, yes,” Badawi said.

“What do you have to say about those charges?” Greer asked.