a moment, I wasn’t sure I’d heard him correctly. Was he actually going to tell me? I quickly scrambled away as he released my arm, then went to sit on the bed that we’d just fucked on. His eyes heated when I crossed my legs so that I didn’t flash anybody since he still had my panties. Twisted asshole.
“Stop giving her bedroom eyes and spit it out,” Luis said with a chuckle before pulling up Rogue’s desk chair and straddling it, resting his arms on the back.
“You know Mr. Taylor’s clients, right? I mean, your father works with him, so I’m sure you’re aware that they aren’t the best people,” Rogue said, and my eyes sliced to Godfrey. He was staring at the ground, but he had his hands balled into fists at his sides. I ran over my memory, thinking about everything I’d ever learned about the Taylor’s law firm. I remembered that client list Daddy was looking for the other day with Johnny Jack’s name on it.
“Yeah, I know Godfrey’s father’s clients. Everyone knows his clients. He makes it so that guilty criminals walk.” It was an oversimplification, but efficiently got the point across.
“And how do you think he does that?” Rogue asked. I looked up at the ceiling while crossing my arms over my chest, trying to think of all that I’d learned from eavesdropping on Daddy. “He pays off judges. Finds loopholes. The usual shady lawyer shit?”
“Sure, sometimes. But you ever wonder how evidence always just… disappears? Or loses its validity?” Rogue countered.
“Well, yeah, but it’s not like I’m privy to that sort of insider information. Daddy still thinks I play with dolls. He’s not going to be sharing that information any time soon.” I rolled my eyes to emphasize how annoyingly sexist I found him to be.
“Well,” Rogue began, looking at the others. “We...make the evidence disappear.”
I blinked in disbelief. “You…wait. What?”
This time, it was Godfrey that stepped up and answered. “We started doing it a few years ago. My father said it was helping the family business,” he said bitterly. “It was easy enough at first. He would just give us a storage unit and we’d go shred shit. Most of the time, it was bank statements and contracts. Money laundering shit. Nothing major. The jobs he had us do were easy money, and by doing them, I got him off my back.”
I squinted at his choice of words. I’d always had my suspicions about Mr. Taylor and Godfrey’s relationship, but now I wondered even more. That was incredibly illegal. And to have his own son involved? That seemed downright dangerous. “So, what does that have to do with me?”
“We had one clean up job that we just couldn’t do,” Bonham said. I turned to look at him and my stomach dropped when I saw his dark green eyes. He was practically shaking with anger as he spoke. “Seven months ago, when we got to the storage unit, it was full of photos, of...of girls. Tied up. Gagged. Some of them...dead.”
The blood drained from my face. “What?”
“We couldn’t do it,” Luis explained with the shake of his head. “We couldn’t destroy that shit. Not something like that. But we couldn’t bring the evidence to the police, either. Not only would they arrest us for tampering with evidence, but it would ruin Godfrey’s family. Mr. Taylor would go to prison. We could go to prison. And then the gang doing all of this fucked up shit would still find a way to get away with it. That’s what happens in this world.”
“So what happened with the photos?” I asked, trying to wrap my head around everything.
“We’re not telling you. The less you know, the safer you are,” Rogue interrupted before anyone else could answer my question. Visions of being tortured into spilling information filtered through my mind.
“That guy at the train tracks said his name was Dean O’Banion. What did he want with me?”
“They must have finally figured out that we took it,” Godfrey answered grimly. “Honestly, I’m surprised it’s taken them this long.” He appeared unaffected as he spoke, but I saw the way his chest was heaving with barely constrained anger and hints of fear.
“And what did your father say about you stealing the evidence?” I asked.
Godfrey looked away. “He didn’t know.”
I rubbed my forehead, trying to sort through everything.
“We pushed you away right after we stole the evidence, because we knew that if they found out, you’d be in danger. We knew