More Layers: Book Two Layers Series (17 page)

“Oh my God, Jaxson.”

“I tried to fight them off.”

Lee snort-smirks.

Lex gives him her “mom” look and the smirk disappears.

She has one badass “mom” look.

I continue. “I elbowed the guy to my right and he pulled out a gun and pressed it to my temple. He said if I did that again he’d blow my head clean off.”

I look over at Lee, waiting for his snort or smirk.

He looks over at Lex and she raises a perfect brow and he looks away.

Goddamn she’s beautiful.

“I told them they could have my wallet, my watch or whatever the hell they wanted. The guy with the gun elbowed me in the ribs and told me to shut the fuck up. Then the other guy bound my hands behind my back and put a hood over my head.”

“Jesus,” Lex whispers.

“I didn’t know what they wanted. I thought maybe they meant to kidnap me. Sex trafficking or something.”

Lee laughs. “Sex trafficking. That’s a good one.”

“It could happen.”

“Would you two just stop.” She gives Lee a stern look and then turns to me.

“Go ahead.”

I give Lee an almost two-year-old triumphant grin. I happen to know what they look like and they’re annoying as hell. I look back at Lex and continue. “The cab started to move and we drove for about twenty minutes. It stopped and they pulled me out and walked me to another car and pushed me in. Once I was in the car someone took off the hood and next to me was a short, dark-haired man in Armani. He introduced himself as a friend of the Colettis’. Then the driver cleared his throat and the man in the Armani corrected himself and said Carlo Coletti. He said it like I was supposed to know the name. I told him I didn’t know any Coletti, Carlo or otherwise. He said Coletti knew who I was and then the driver interrupted again, and said James Martinson also knew who I was.”

“And you know who this Martinson is?”

“He’s Mia’s godfather.”

“Mia’s godfather?”

“Mia told me once that her godfather was a lawyer for some powerful people. I didn’t ever ask her who, or question her any further because I didn’t care.”

“The Colettis are a Brooklyn family,” Lee adds.

“A crime family, like the mob?” Lex asks.

He nods.

“He said Mr. Martinson was very close to his goddaughter and would do anything for her. His goddaughter was unhappy with her husband and suspected him of cheating on her. He informed me that said husband was putting his friends in danger—specifically Alexia Grant.”

“Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?”

Lee coughs, nods and folds his arms.

Asshole. “Because I was told not to. When I got back to New York, I asked a PI friend of mine about the Colettis. He told me they were the real deal...bad news. Over the next few weeks I received numerous texts and e-mails, reminding me what would happen to you if I didn’t keep my wife happy.”

“So this is why you wouldn’t meet with me?”

“Yes.”

“Jaxson, you shouldn’t have kept this from me and Lee.”

“I did what I thought was right. If anything were to happen to you...”

She frowns.

“When Lizbet took over Ryan and I thought it was you...well, you know what happened. I was upset and went to your office without thinking. Then, two days later I received another in-person warning. I was on my way to meet with the realtor to close the sale of my estate and was pulled over by a state trooper. I showed the officer my license and registration and he asked me to step out of the car. I thought it was an unusual request, so I was reluctant. But he was insistent. So I got out of the car and we were soon joined by another car. The officer directs me to the other car and shoves me into the back seat. In the backseat is Mia’s godfather, James Martinson.

He said he knew I had gone to see you and was very displeased.

Then he showed me pictures of you and the boys. He said he was having you and the boys followed and if I didn’t stay away from you I would pay with a life or ‘two.’“

“Fuck, Jaxson, you had no right to keep this from me.”

“Wait,” Lee says, “the plot thickens.”

“I thought, fuck this. I’m not going to let Mia run my life. I decided that I was going to tell you and Mr. U here what was going on and hope that he could keep you and the boys safe. The only thing that I needed to work out was how I was going to get custody of my baby girl after she was born. There is no way I can let her raise my girl, and I knew if I walked away I might never see her. I felt like I was exchanging her life for my sons’ lives.”

“God, I’m sorry, Jax. We’ll think of something.”

I nod. “When I got home that night I went directly to my bedroom. I was going to pack a bag and leave without telling Mia. When I walked past her bedroom door I overheard her talking to someone. I soon realized that she was on the phone with Martinson. So, I stood and listened to their conversation. They talked about how he’d gotten a state trooper, who was on the Coletti payroll to pull me over. Mia got a good laugh from that one. Then she said ‘He’s as stupid as his father but it’s a shame my father had to kill his mother, too. Jaxson was a momma’s boy and that really screwed him up for a while. And that ass, Will Harris... If he’d covered things up better, that bitch wouldn’t have found him out, and I’d still be receiving my cut.’“

“Holy shit!”

“Yeah, holy shit. I was...stunned. I couldn’t believe it. Mia’s father, the late Senator Michel Stephens, had my parents killed.”

“You were right, Alexia,” Lee says.

I look between them. “Right about what?”

“Alexia told me about your parents deaths. She thought something was off.”

“Too many coincidences for me, Jaxson. Stephens warning your father, bailing him out, then your parents are killed. Later he all but blackmails you into marrying his daughter. I knew something was up, so I asked Lee to look into it.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

She raises a brow.

“Okay, kettle, black. Did you find out anything?”

“Not yet,” Lee says. “When Lizbet took over Ryan, Lex suggested that we go through your dad’s old records.”

“Did you find anything?”

Lex looks at Lee. “I had a couple of my assistants go through all your father’s files and there aren’t any files or records that show that he borrowed money from Stephens, or that he was even involved in any kind of nondisclosure or antitrust suit.”

“What? That can’t be.”

“They’re gone, vanished,” she says.

“But how could that happen? Files just don’t vanish.”

Lee clears his throat. “Now that I know the FBI is involved, I’d say they got a hold of them or Martinson.”

“The FBI?” Lex asks.

“Your little man here has been working for them.”

“Little man? Just because I don’t look like Hulk Hogan doesn’t mean I’m little. Gaywad.”

“Explain,” Lex demands.

“After I overheard Mia and Martinson’s conversation, I knew I needed to contact someone. So I contacted the DA and told him everything. The next day he calls me to his office and the FBI are there. Turns out they’ve been building a case against Martinson, the Colettis, and a list of others, including the former DA, for the past three years. It seems that the situation with Will Harris and the outside audits was just a fraction of what has been going on. You, my dear Alexia, started what is turning out to be the biggest organized crime investigation, in the state of New York.”

“I don’t know what to say, I’m stunned. What did the FBI want you to do?”

“They wanted me to try and get information from Mia about Martinson and the Colettis. I told them I was going to leave her. I was done playing her games. They told me that they knew my parent’s plane had been tampered with, but needed more information before they could link it to Stephens or anyone else. I wanted out, but I also wanted to learn what really happened to my parents. I wanted justice. So I agreed to stay with Mia and let her think she and Martinson had me by the balls.”

“Have you been able to get more out her?”

“A few names, but nothing that the FBI didn’t already know. When you told me you were pregnant, that was it, I wanted out. I told the FBI things were getting out of control and more lives were being endangered. They begged me to stick it out for a few more weeks, said they were close to making arrests. So, I agreed to stick it out for a few more weeks, but I wanted the FBI to have you and the boys looked after—followed.”

“Then you told him about the tail,” Lee says. “Jaxson knew it was the FBI that had been following you and saw a way out of this mess.”

“I’m not sure I do,” Lex says.

“I left this morning and contacted Lee and told him everything. I need to be done with Mia and her fucked-up games. I knew if Lee started looking into your tail he would find out it was the FBI.”

“I still don’t see where this is going,” Lex says.

“I contacted the FBI,” Lee says, “I told them that Jaxson was considered a Grant, and he was under my protection, and if he was involved, I was involved, and if I was involved...”

“The Grants were involved. You threatened the FBI with your position and the Grant name?”

“I wouldn’t say...I threatened them.”

“Really?” Lex says, “I would call it that.”

“I just told them that having Jaxson involved was putting you and your family at risk and I couldn’t let that happen.”

“What did they say?”

“They didn’t go for it. They told us that Jaxson was too crucial to their case and they wouldn’t let him leave Mia. I told them to meet us in a couple of hours and we’d see about it.”

“Lee called Lizbet.”

“Now Gram’s involved? What the hell, Lee? Are you fucking nuts?”

“I had no choice, she’s the only one I know with enough power and connections to get Jaxson and now, me, out of this mess. Jaxson and I met with her and told her everything. She was furious of course, and ripped us a new one for getting involved and putting her family in danger, but she agreed to help.”

“She was mad at me, not Lee. She said she would contact you and that we will all meet and discuss things on Monday. I don’t think I have a job anymore.”

“You’ll be lucky to have balls after Monday,” Lex comments.

“It’s funny you should say that because she said something similar. I was hoping for your help with that one. I thought you could convince her that I needed them to give her more grandchildren.”

She frowns.

I’m going to be doing some major ass kissing.

“What about Martinson and the Colettis? What are they going to do, now that you left Mia?”

“Don’t know? Lizbet called us an hour ago and said she’d taken care of everything. They won’t be bothering us anymore.”

“Who did she talk to?”

“I don’t know.”

“And she’s not telling,” Lee adds.

“What have you two gotten her into?”

Lee laughs. “She was mad as hell, but she was eating it up. The old girl lives for this kind of shit.”

“Old girl. I’m not the only one that’s going to lose his balls,” I tell him.

“I would never say that in front of her.”

“The woman has ways of finding these things out,” Lex adds.

I nod my agreement.

Lee gives us a nervous smile.

“What about the baby, Jax?”

“I don’t know, Lex. I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens. Lizbet said I would be allowed to go with her to the doctor and talk to her about the baby, but I was never to meet with her without one of Lee’s team present.”

Lee clears his throat. “She said she’d e-mail you and me about the changes that will have to be made involving security.”

She looks at Lee. “I don’t like the way that sounds.”

He shrugs.

She sits back into the sofa and bites her lower lip. She’s thinking—and it can’t be good.

“So, tell me, Jaxson. What was all that crap about roller coasters, batshit crazy, no scruples, puppets and strings?”

“I was mad as hell that you’d kept me from my sons, and you do drive me batshit crazy, and our relationship is a roller coaster. But I love roller coasters and I love you. I didn’t mean any of the other shit. The FBI told me I needed to keep you out of the picture as much as possible, so I lied. I expected you to get mad and throw me out. I didn’t expect you to cry and tell me you were pregnant.”

She frowns and starts to rub the back of her neck. God, she looks exhausted.

“I’m sorry, babe; for everything.”

She sighs. “So you think you can move right in? Right back into my life, just like that?”

Lee stands. “That’s my cue. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

* * *

Alexia

“No, babe. I haven’t been fucking her. We’ve had separate bedrooms.”

“She was okay with this?”

“No.”

“She’s not going to let you go without a fight. And the FBI isn’t going to be any help because they don’t want to risk their investigation.”

“I expect a big fight. But with you in my corner, I know I’ll win. Now come to bed.”

I walk to the bed, pull back the cover and tuck myself next to him. “I’ve always been in your corner. I just haven’t been in the same ring, or even the same gym.”

He runs his finger down my cheek and cups my chin. “We’re in the same gym now. And I promise you that I’m not going to join another one—ever.”

“What if the membership goes up and you find yourself...weighed down?”

“Baby, go ahead and weigh me down.”

I roll on top of him. “How does that feel?”

“That’s a start.”

“I’ve always wanted the fairy tale but never believed in it. Never thought I was worthy. Never thought I would be ‘that girl’—the one that gets the guy that she wants.”

“Well, you’re stuck with me, babe. I’m the only ‘prince charming’ in this story; the only one that’s going to live in your castle.”

“I’ll let you be my prince if you promise me something.”

“I’m not going to like this something, am I?”

“Just promise me.”

He sighs. “Okay, I promise.”

“My castle is your castle. Everything that is mine is yours.”

“Are you asking me to marry you, Ms. Grant?”

“You’re already married.”

“Don’t remind me.”

“I’m serious, Jaxson. I know you and your manly pride. It’s not going to be yours, or mine, or hers, or his. It will be ours, or it will be no ones.”