Sweet Pain (Amatucci Family #3) - Sadie Jacks Page 0,105
asked softly.
I winced as heat rushed to my cheeks. “You weren’t supposed to hear that.”
He eased forward. He braceleted my wrist with one of his hands. “She believes it though, doesn’t she?”
Over his shoulder, I could see Nik studying us. I could almost hear the questions rolling through her mind. I just hoped she didn’t think he wanted me. I shuddered mentally. Eww.
I pulled my hand away. “Yes,” I said softly. “And if you break her heart, I’ll break your dick off.” I brushed by him and cuddled against Ryker.
Turo turned, a huge smile on his face. “I doubt that. Momma wants me to have many babies.”
I winced. That probably made everything worse. “Well, since they won’t be with me, I guess it won’t matter if they’re adopted or not, huh? Momma and Papa will love any babies. Even adopted ones.”
Turo’s face screwed up in disgust as he jerked back. “Of course not with you.” He gave a full body shiver. He looked at Nik.
She hurried to look away.
I laughed even as the blow to my ego settled. That was one way to fix the problem.
“As much as I love the insight into the belly of the Amatucci family siblings, I really do have other things on my schedule,” Jerrod said with a droll tone of voice.
I winced. “Sorry. Right.” I cleared my throat. “We have evidence that my parents are involved in human trafficking. That they were personally tied to at least twenty-two victims of Ethan’s. We would like your help to take them down publicly at their gala in three days.”
Ryker snorted. “That’s one way to get the meeting started, cupcake.” He took me to his desk. Sat down in his chair, pulled me into his lap. “But she’s correct. We have the evidence, the full digital footprint. We will give it to you. We just ask that you allow us to –”
“Publicly humiliate upstanding members of our community,” Jerrod finished with his highbrows high.
“They are not upstanding members. What part of human trafficking did you not understand the first time?” I asked. I could feel the heat grow in my belly. If he thought to bulldoze me into thinking differently, then we’d made a serious error in judgment.
He held up a hand. “Let me rephrase: members who have previously shown to be upstanding. If you have evidence to prove otherwise, then I’m more than willing to charge them and prosecute them. I’m not sure blaring their atrocities as a fundraiser gala is really how to go about doing that though.”
I snorted. “Oh, I believe it is. Their public perception is part of the capital on which they trade. The idea that they’re the Chases. Above the actions of mere humans, they are of loftier positions.” I nodded. “They are, but they traded in human flesh to reach those positions. I intend to use the names and faces of their victims to shove them off that pedestal. Let their friends and allies see what bubbles and boils under the surface of their smiles and botoxed faces.”
Jerrod stared at me for a long minute. “You’re serious. You want to crash their part—”
“Nothing so crass as to crash it. We’ve all been formally invited. As we are every year,” Tali said from behind the District Attorney.
He spun to look at her.
“Did you know that each year, they do a little slideshow to highlight their foundation’s generosity? Did you know that some of the victims are such recipients?” She raised one perfectly arched eyebrow.
Jerrod shook his head. Nodded. He blew out a breath. “No, I didn’t know some of the victims were foundation recipients. Yes, I knew they did the slideshow. I’m invited to the gala every year as well.” He swallowed. “You have irrefutable proof that some of the victims were Chase Foundation scholarship recipients?”
Nik stepped forward. “Yes. Four of them. Two from three years ago, one from two years ago, one from last year.”
Jerrod’s face blanched before suffusing with color. “Which victims?”
Nik opened her laptop. Within a couple clicks, she started reading the names. I watched Jerrod’s face as each name landed.
I let out a breath. He was either a very good actor or he hadn’t known any of them. And why would he? He was the District Attorney of the posh town of New Trenadie and surrounding areas.
“What’s your evidence?”
Nico leaned forward. “The information came to us in a legal avenue. It was not disclosed previously because we only recently became aware of the…depth of the information herein.”