Crushing Beauty (Harbingers of Sorrow MC): Vegas Titans Series (11 page)

Dominic hated to see any woman cry, let alone his older
sister. He clutched her head close to his chest and ran his fingers through her
hair. “It’s okay, sis. I’m not mad at you.”

“I was just afraid that all of you had been sentenced to a
lifetime in the shackles of Vegas, and I always blamed myself for you guys
ending up that way...I just assumed...I couldn't deal with that truth and found
it easier to just not know for sure. It was a cowardly move...I am a coward and
I have no other excuse...I'm sorry Dom.” She started sobbing.

“What did you do to her?” Jagger had dropped his
conversation as soon as he saw her crying.

“I really didn’t mean to.” Dominic mouthed over her sobs.

Jagger placed his hand on her back and sat next to her. “Britton,
what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“That’s an obvious lie. Talk to me.” He pulled her off of
Dominic and into his arms.

She looked at him through her tear soaked eyes and reached
up to kiss his lips. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Taking care of my family.”

“It was the least I could do.” He truly meant that, it was
true. There was nothing in the world he could give her that would make up for
leaving her broken and bloodied on that soaked pavement ten years earlier. He
had spent his entire adult life trying. He peered deep into her eyes, kissed
her forehead, and cradled her head, allowing her cries to subside.

He looked over at Dom, who nodded in agreement. The first
step in introducing her to his life was a success. Being reunited with her
brother and finding out the truth about her other siblings had hooked her. She
wouldn’t be going anywhere.

Britton asked to be alone for a short time. She needed to
process, and she couldn’t do that with everything happening around her. Jagger
accepted this and led her outside. He knew she wouldn’t be able to run if left
alone. She had no idea how long she was out during their drive to the
warehouse. He also knew she had never been to this part of Nevada.

The door opened up to a small patch of grass and looked upon
a river. The sound of the water was calming, and she instantly felt relaxed.

“Thank you. I’ll come back in when I’m ready.”

Jagger smiled at her, hoping that her thoughts wouldn’t lead
her in the wrong direction. He wanted her to love the family that he had
formed. He wanted her to be part of it all. He wanted her to see all the good
thing his life style could bring.

Britton jumped as she heard the door slam behind her. Where
was she? She didn’t recognize her surroundings at all. She walked forward,
closing in on the river ahead of her. She sat down on the bank and took off her
shoes. She allowed her feet to dangle, her toes touching the top of the water
each time it rushed forward. She wondered if every undercover operation moved
along this quickly. Were other agents just better at handling the immediate
influx of information? Why was she struggling so much to remain put together? Her
body was tired, and she felt the desire to cry again.

She hadn’t cried since her third day alone at the chimney. She
believed that she had cried all her tears for a lifetime. Nothing would ever be
that important to her again. Now, she could do nothing but cry. The emotions
that had been attacking her for the last forty-eight hours were relentless. They'd
been built up over the last ten years and were making up for lost time. Or
maybe it was just Jagger? His presence made her tears flow freely. It was
difficult to hate and love a single person so much at the same time.

Then there was Dominic. If she ordered a raid on the
warehouse, he would certainly be caught in the crosshairs. She could try to
warn him ahead of time, but she was sure his allegiance was to Jagger. Dominic
would risk his own life to save the man who'd saved his. So would everyone else
in that family. There was no way around it.

If she ordered the arrest on Jagger, Dominic would almost
certainly be going to jail too, or worse. Could she let that happen? His
affiliation with the Harbingers of Sorrow was completely her doing. Had she not
left her family and gone away to college, she could have continued to support
them, and then maybe Dominic would have ended up at a college thousands of
miles away. He would have a real job, and a real family and he wouldn’t be
risking his life every day as a gangster. Yes, his situation was entirely her
fault.

But could she call it all off? David would never agree to
that. He would take every bit of information that he could find, and put it
together. He would finish the operation on his own. No. She would have to keep
control of it. That way she could pull the strings and regulate the outcome. She
needed to get a hold of David, but wasn’t sure how. If she called him, he’d be
able to triangulate her signal and find the exact hiding spot of the motorcycle
gang. She couldn’t let that happen. The location would be revealed in time, but
not just yet.

Britton needed to find a way to convince Jagger to let her
alone for a short while. That way, she could sneak away to the FBI and catch
them up to speed on her case. Her thoughts collected and sorted, she decided to
venture back inside.

She pulled the door open, heaving at the weight. Everyone
hushed to silence as they stared in her direction.

“Britton, come here. I want you to meet someone.” Jagger
called her over, gesturing to his side.

Britton made her way toward him, wondering who else was left
to meet. “Hi, I’m Jagger’s girlfriend, Britton.” She didn’t plan on saying
‘girlfriend’, but it slipped out. Jagger clutched her tighter, obviously thrilled
with her choice of words.

“I’m Harry.” The balding, hefty man extended his hand to
hers with the introduction.

“Harry is helping us retrieve some property that was stolen
from us.”

What did that mean? Was there a rival motorcycle gang? What
could they have stolen?

“I’m sure you know we all appreciate your help.” She played
the doting, naïve girlfriend well.

“I just wanted to meet Harry in person, as I don’t care to
work with someone who I haven’t seen face to face.”

“And it’s such an honor to be part of your team. I only hope
I live up to your expectations.”

“I only hope that as well, or else…”

Tension spread over the room, and Britton could tell that
Harry had stopped breathing.

Jagger jumped back in with a thundered laugh. “I’m just
kidding. You come highly recommended, and I know you’ll live up to your
reputation. Let’s just take care of this now.”

While his threat had been cut off with a joke, Britton
wasn’t sure what his own reputation had occasioned. Harry had clearly been
taken aback. Had he heard of previous incidents where Jagger had dealt with
issues in an undesirable fashion? How many deaths was he responsible for? Had
Dominic carried any of them out? She couldn’t let her brother continue with
this line of work. She would need to get him out. Would he be open to
testifying in exchange for immunity?

Jagger could see that Britton was lost in thought. He moved
his hand into hers and squeezed.

“How are you doing?” he whispered.

“I’m okay.” She whispered back. And looking into his eyes,
she was. How was she thinking of ruining this empire that Jagger had built? How
was she considering spoiling the man he had become? The man, who built her a home,
saved her family: the man who loved her.

And yet, he was still a criminal, and her career was focused
on taking criminals down. Why was she actually considering throwing away
everything she had worked toward, and allowing him to continue to hurt people? She
squeezed his hand back. Every minute that she spent with him, she felt her pain
and hate toward him transform into comfort and love. What was she going to do?

“I have some things I need to take care of. Would you mind
if Dominic took you home?” Jagger said.

“Of course not.” While she wanted to know exactly what he
had to ‘take care of’, this was her perfect way out of his line of sight. Now
she would be able to sneak off to the FBI to talk to David.

“Thank you so much.” He bent down to kiss her, taking her
shoulders in his hands.

“Do I get to stay awake this time?”

“I can allow that.” He winked at her, and her stomach
tingled.

She said her goodbyes to everyone and hopped in the car with
her brother. They took off down the road as Britton looked back at the
warehouse. They traveled for a while, simply making small talk, catching up on
life. Britton curved her stories, the same way she had done for Jagger. She
still didn’t know where they were, but she memorized every turn they took.

“So who is David?” Dom asked her out of nowhere.

“Jagger told you about him?”

“He’s not that good at hiding his jealousy.”

“Believe me, I know that all too well.” She thought of
revealing her bruises to him, but decided against it. She didn’t want to seem
like she was a girl who couldn’t stick up for herself. She also didn't want him
picking a fight with Jagger, no matter how close they were. “He was just a
boyfriend, but it’s over now.”

“Probably better that way.”

“Yeah.” She wanted to get out of this conversation. They had
finally come to a stretch of road that looked familiar to her. Britton was sure
she could find the way back to the warehouse if deemed necessary. She still
needed more information though. “It’s quite an operation going on over there.”

Dominic hesitated, unsure of her understanding of their
dealings. “How much do you know?”

“Enough.”

“And you’re okay with it all?”

“I don’t know, Dom. Doesn’t it worry you that this is all
illegal? What happens when you get caught and thrown in jail?” She prodded,
hoping that he wouldn’t be suspicious.

“It hasn’t happened yet.”

“But you’re just running out the clock. It will happen
eventually, right?”

“What, are you going to turn us in?”

Britton tried to hide her nervous laughter. “Of course not,
but I’m sure they have files and evidence against you.”

“Jagger is really careful.”

“Dom, is there nothing else you could do?”

“There’s nothing else I want to do. I’m good at this.”

“What is ‘this’?”

“I’m Jagger’s second in command. I’m important to the
Harbingers. I see to the day to day operations while he takes care of the big
picture.”

She didn’t want to hear that. How could he be the second in
command? He was so young. Then again, they were all young. Every person in that
room couldn’t have been any older than their mid twenties. It was just a bunch
of kids playing house.

Dominic continued. “Brit, I just work in the office. I don’t
actually do anything you might be thinking I do.”

Her tension eased with that knowledge. It would make it
easier to keep him from jail time if he simply worked in the office, and there
was no blood on his hands, metaphoric or literal.

“I just wish…”

“What do you wish? I had a different life? Our parents
didn’t abandon us? You didn’t abandon us? I wasn’t forced into a life of crime so
our ten-year-old sister didn’t starve to death?” He was getting agitated. “Brit,
I’ve been doing things my way for eight years. You can’t come in here now and
pretend you have any say in what I do with my life.”

She had lost the battle. “You’re right. I’m so sorry.”

Dominic pulled into her driveway, and Britton quickly hopped
out.

“Do you want me to stay with you?”

“No. I have some errands to run. Thank you for driving me
home.”

“Anytime.” He paused. “Hey… it’s good to have you back sis.”

“You too, Dom.”

She waved at him as he left, and quickly hopped into her
car. She sped out of her driveway and headed directly for the FBI. She wasn’t
sure what she was going to say to David, but she knew she needed to talk to
him. She needed to work things out, and let him know she was making progress. She
would leave out that she knew the exact location of the warehouse and that her
brother was involved. Maybe she would warn him of the operation that Harry was
heading up, and promise to uncover the details. That would at least throw him
off Jagger’s direct trail for a little bit.

She pulled up to the building and took a deep breath before
turning off the engine. Britton had decided to let David know that she would
have to go dark for a time, allowing her to fall deeper into Jagger’s crime
syndicate. She knew that would also give her more time to decide how to proceed
with her case, and who should be targeted.

She stepped out of the elevator and only acknowledged a few
agents as she made her way into David’s office. She ran in, just as he was
hanging up the phone.

“Britton, you’re okay.” David sighed as he saw her.

“Hi.” She was winded; she hadn’t realized that she'd been
holding her breath.

“What happened?”

“Nothing.”

“This doesn’t look like nothing.”

She caught her breath. “No, everything is fine, I just
wanted to tell you that I was at their warehouse today.”

“You’re a genius. I’ll put in a request for a warrant. Where
is it?”

She stopped, weighing the options. “I don’t know. I was
knocked out.”

“He hurt you?” David was angry.

“No, I mean I was blindfolded.” She needed to get her
stories straight.

“Well, which was it?”

“He sedated me on the way there and blindfolded me on the
way back.” She needed to stop talking. She was going to end up getting herself
in trouble.

“How far away was it?”

“I don’t know, I was still woozy from being sedated.”

“Britton, what is going on?” He knew she was hiding
something. What could it be?

“I wanted to tell you that I’m in. I’m totally in. He trusts
me. But I need to go dark for a bit. I was able to steal away today, but I
don’t think the opportunity will come up again.”

David hated this proposal. He didn’t like the idea of her
going silent for a few hours, let alone however much time she was requesting
now.

“You promise you’re all right?”

“Yes.”

“You can handle this on your own?”

“Absolutely.”

“Okay, I’ll allow it, but I think we can end this sooner
than you think. I just got off the phone with the DEA. ”

“What?” Her body tensed up. Were they coming in from a
different angle?

“They intercepted a shipment of cocaine that they are pretty
sure belongs to the Harbingers of Sorrow. It’s on its way here now. One of
their agents is here to talk to us. Let’s go.”

Britton rose out of her chair and followed closely behind
David. Another agent was leading a man with a DEA jacket into the conference
room. He was balding and a little on the bigger side. He turned to shake hands
with the agent, and Britton got a glimpse of his face. It was Hank, the man she
had met at Jagger’s warehouse. He was DEA.