The Fighter's Block (48 page)

“Oh God,” she moaned
. “Van!”

“There’s my girl. Come for me, baby.”

He reached between them and smoothed
a
thumb over her clit. She reacted instantly as he continued to drive into her. He loved how she screamed into his mouth
and gripped him tightly
.

When the
sounds
naturally
lessened and she was breathing heavily, he kissed her for another minute until he turned her over. He loved being in this position as
he held her breasts and
his cock slid into her again. She
clenched
him tight
ly
and he groaned from the
ecstasy
of her cream
welcoming him another time. She arched back and kissed him, tongue delving deep, teeth nipping his lip.

He was a goner by then and let
it
go.

Cole paced to the wall and back, recycling the information in his head. For an uneducated little shit, Quincy sure knew how to cover his own ass. There was no evidence th
at could charge him with any crime, and he claimed to have never seen any stolen jewelry.

Cole returned to where Sam was sitting on the couch.
“So you think we should make him piss his pants a little?” he smiled.

Sam lightly chuckled. “I think you know the answer to that. I’m tactic number one, you’re tactic number two…”

Cole barely nodded. “I
gotta
figure this shit out first. I mean do you think he killed Brian?”

With a sigh Sam replied, “My instinct is to say no. His history shows that he can be bribed and bought, but to kill someone?”

“
What
about the deal he made with the devil
? It pretty much fucked up his life. His friends want nothing to do with him. He was enticed with
ten
thousand dollars to ruin an innocent girl’s life.”

“He didn’t know what was going down, though.”

Cole didn’t want to respond. His anger had to do with his feelings for Dani and he didn’t want Sam to catch on to that.

“And he really did seem…very upset over the whole thing. He wouldn’t go into details—just told me to leave him the fuck alone—but I could tell he regretted it. Brian Thompson gave him a deal he couldn’t resist. Pay off some gambling debts. Quincy honestly didn’t know what he was going to do to Dani.”

Cole shook his head. He didn’t care about Quincy’s conscience.
“Keep tailing
him
.
I’m going to follow this money trail with the parents and
then
figure out what the fuck that Andy character is up to.”

“You want me to keep on the pawn shops?”

“Yes. Let me know if any of those pieces turn up.
Try Atlanta too, just in case Thompson really did make a trip there. And search through the email correspondence
,
as well. See if you find something that I missed.
”

Cole left Sam’s motel room and climbed into his car. He needed to talk to Dani about one more thing but he was going to put it off. Jack had taken Van straight home and Cole had to force certain images out of his head, knowing full well how they must be spending their reunion together.

He took a deep breath and focused on the paper in his hands.
It was an address that he was hesitant to visit but he had no choice. He punched it into his GPS and headed north.

Dominic Martin sat down in his plush leather chair and exhaled a breath of air. With a glass of wine in his hand he opened a portfolio of work to look over. It was only a minute later when a knock was at his door. He had no idea who it could be. He wasn’t expecting anyone and Thomas
hadn’t give
n
him any forewarning
.

He set his wine on the end table and made his way to the door. Looking through the peephole didn’t award him an answer; he had no idea who
the man
was.

It was better not to answer, and instead, he picked up the phone to call security just in case.

There was another knock at the door but this time it was followed by a voice. “Mr. Martin, I suggest you answer the door. I know you’re home and this has to do with your daughter.”

Dominic’s heart froze. Danielle? Or was it something to do with Jaime or Fontaine. No, it had to be Danielle. She was the only one wrapped up in shady business right now.

“Who are you?” he asked at the door.

“My name is Cole and I’m a private investigator. I have some information that I’d like to go over with you before I take it to the authorities. I figured you’d like to talk about it first.”

“What information?”

Cole paused. “The money you’ve been paying out for the past year. I know all about it.”

Dominic swallowed. How could he know? Clarence promised him that it was impossible to track.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he finally answered. “Go away or I’ll call security.”

“Fine with me, but I’ll be seeing Dani tonight and she’s waiting for some answers. I guess I’ll let you talk to her about it.”

He turned around and left, leaving Dominic with panic in his chest. The door flew open as Cole was about to get
on the elevator.

“Wait,” Dominic
called
.

The elevator doors opened but Cole didn’t get on. “I’m not here to mess around, Mr. Martin. This shit has gone on long enough.”

Dominic sighed and felt he had no choice but to motion him inside. “I presume you have a weapon on you?” he asked as Cole entered the penthouse.

“Yes, but I’m not removing it. If you don’t feel safe with me then I’d say you’re pretty much fucked. After the people you’ve been dealing with, hopefully you trust someone that’s willing to help dig
you
out of the mess you’re in.”

With a nod of acknowledgement, Dominic didn’t answer. He only motioned him to a spot on the couch, so Cole sat.

“I’m just going to start talking and you can corr
ect a few things if you need to,” Cole told him.
“
Based on everything I’ve done to help Van and Dani, I’ve come across
some
things that took a little time to figure out. For one, I know that you paid Brian Thompson a sum of money last year with the intent of…
lemme
guess here…reuniting her with her parents? Convince her to get back into modeling? I don’t really know, but I know for a fact that you paid him to do
something
.”

Dominic looked at him hard. How in the hell would he know that?

Cole continued. “Didn’t really work out like planned, I guess, since Dani dumped his sorry abusive ass and moved on. I’m sure you were okay with that once you found out what he did, but once you realized he was still trying to get her back, you had to change the game plan. You paid him to leave her alone?”

There wasn’t an answer at first but Cole could tell
it would be
‘
yes.
’
However, he waited until it came out of the man’s mouth.

Dominic took a breath of air and slowly released it. “You don’t understand how talented my daughter is. If she hadn’t ruined her career by—”

“I’m not interested in your opinions, sir. I want facts only.”

“Very well. Yes, someone recommended Brian. I did meet with him and I liked him. I thought Danielle would like him and I felt hopeful that he could help me out. In fact, he guaranteed he could. Without her knowing, I made it possible for him to meet her. I had no idea he was such a bastard, though. If I’d known he was going to hurt my daughter I wouldn’t have encouraged it.”

“So you ran a plan by him… One that consisted of getting close to Dani, somehow get her talking to you again, get back into modeling… Yes?”

Dominic slowly nodded. “I love my daughter. When she quit the industry… I couldn’t understand it. I just thought she needed some time to re-evaluate her life. I thought she would miss what she had.”

“But she didn’t.”

He slowly shook his head. “Apparently not.”

“And this asshole that you matched your daughter with turned into a
n obsessed
control freak and look what’s happened.”

“You don’t think I’m upset over that? Of course I am! I only wanted a good life for her!”

“She has a good life. She’s happy with Van, but now there is a whole shitload of questions that need to be answered. This case needs to be wrapped up so Dani can move on. She’s experienced some horrific things because of your choices, Mr. Martin. I don’t even think you
know
what she’s been through.”

The way he spoke startled him, and Dominic studied Cole carefully. “What do you mean by that? He was stalking her. She got a restraining order. Is there more?”

“It’s not my place to tell, but I’ll tell you this. You’ll never come close to making it up to her. With that said, I suggest you start spilling your guts so I can close this up and get the hell out of town. If you want to give Dani what
ever it is
you can, then this is where you start.”

After a very long pause, Dominic relented. He shook his head, unsure of what his honesty was going to do in the long run. But this had gone on for far too long and it was time to be over.

“Brian ended up blackmailing me,” he began. “I offered to pay him to leave Danielle alone and he accepted the cash. But when I found out he was still harassing
her,
I didn’t know what to do. I paid him one more time—to leave town—and I thought he did. Then he ended up dead. I’m not going to lie and say it’s
sad since
the bastard deserved it. And before you say it, no, I didn’t have anything to do with his murder.”

“Not even a feeler for someone else that could help you out?”

“You mean pay a hit man? God, no,” he scoffed. “But I got the feeling that he was working more than just me.”

“He was blackmailing others?”

“I’m sure of it. He had someone at that fight club on his payroll too.”

“Are you talking about Quincy?”

“I don’t know any names. But I know this because… Well, because I’m being blackmailed again.”

Cole raised an eyebrow. “By who?”

“His brother.”

“Whose brother?”

“Brian’s.”

Cole scoffed with disbelief. “Andy? Are you serious?”

“Am I serious?
Yes
, I’m serious. He had some video
of Danielle—some kind of sex video,” he added quietly, ashamed that he’d be threatened with such a thing. “He wanted money to keep it quiet.”

“He threatened
to publicize it?”

“On the I
nternet. He told me he’d dump the file for twenty grand.”

“Twenty? How much have you paid Brian?”

“Ten the first time. Another ten when I wanted him to leave her alone. I offered him twenty to leave town but he wanted fifty. I gave him half up front and told him he’d get the other half when I had proof that he’d left town. He moved to Atlanta, I thought.”

“He moved two blocks from Dani.”

Dominic looked down at his hands. “I didn’t know when it was going to stop. When he ended up dead… I was relieved. Someone did the world a great favor.”

“And you were willing to let that someone be Van, whether he did it or not.”

His
eyes flashed with anger. “F
or all I knew he
did
do it! My daughter marries some prizefighter that I barely know? How am I supposed feel comfortable with the type of man he is.”

“Try getting to know him first,” Cole said impatiently. Jesus, if these people would get a clue… “Anyways, tell me about Andy. Brian was murdered; Andy took over his sinister position in life?”

“Pretty much,” he scoffed. “He did all ki
nds of things for his brother before, b
ut
now
there’s someone else he works with, someone else from the gym.”

“You’re talking about Quincy again?”

“I have no idea. I just know that Brian had someone from there doing dirty work for him. I know this because Andy mentioned it, too. He said something like, ‘When I hear back from my source…’ And from a couple of other things he said it sounded like another fighter from the gym.”

“Andy is blackmailing this person too?”

“I don’t
know if he’s blackmailing him or if they’re
in
it
together
.”

Cole thought in silence. He’d had reason to believe someone from the gym broke into Van’s locker and stole a pair of his running shoes. It made
sense
that it could have been Quincy the day he came to get his stuff.
Quincy swore up and down that it wasn’t him
, and he also swore that he didn’t have anything to do with Van’s arrest or the evidence against Van.