East Bound by Nana Malone (big ebook reader txt) 📕

a real low point. All day, when I’d been feeling kind to myself, I told myself it had been because of the copious amounts of wine I'd consumed.

But tonight, I was taking my life back. Okay fine, I was at least getting out so I wouldn’t repeat the night before. Also, I still had to fix the whole Amelia was going after the London Lords thing. I might be well ticked off with him, but I knew that Amelia was barking up the wrong tree. And I was the reason she’d noticed the tree in the first place.

I had to give it to Amelia. She was thorough. Always had been. It's what made her a good agent. She might not be flashy or quick with the quips, but the one thing she had going for her was her sheer tenacity.

Since East wasn't taking my calls and I wasn't allowed to see him, as if I’d been wiped from his party invitation list, I didn't really have any choice. If he wouldn't talk to me, I had to try and fix things with Amelia. I had to try and do something.

I headed back to Amelia's secret flat, and I could see all of her connections. I knew what she was trying to do, and she wasn't far off. She was smart. It was well thought out. She had every note I'd ever mentioned with some other connections maybe I hadn't made. But the number one connection at the center of it all was Bram Van Linsted, the man I'd put away for corruption, embezzlement, and fraud. I had also put away his father for human trafficking, along with several of his associates.

I hadn't been able to link Bram to the human trafficking, but there was no way the father had that kind of business going on that his son didn't know about. The funny thing was I hadn't even been looking for them. I'd been after jewel thieves. But I had run across these breadcrumbs and hadn't been able to leave them alone, and I'd been derailed. But as I studied the suspect board, I wondered if I'd been derailed on purpose.

You were. But still, you caught a human trafficker. A ring of them. Is that bad?

It wasn't. East had told me everything, and my instincts told me he was telling the truth. They had derailed me but for a reason. And it was a reason I could get behind. From the research I had done on Tobias Varma, he had died in a mysterious accident. It was tragic, really. So young. So full of hope. A scholar, winning all kinds of academic awards and achievements. An athlete who’d been in several charity runs and an Iron Man before he was nineteen. And then just like that, he was gone because of a sudden heart attack, which led me to believe that East was right. It had been covered up. And if everything about the London Lords he told me was true, and I had a feeling it was, then Amelia was on the verge of finding out everything about them. That organization, the secret society known as the Elite, had covered it up. So the London Lords had a good reason for going after a man like Bram Van Linsted.

I heard the key rattling in the lock, and I turned to face Amelia. In her hands, she had bags of take-aways and wine. "Hey, you're here. I'm glad. When you texted me, I figured I'd feed us so we could go over the evidence."

I studied her dark cocoa skin and her vibrant dark eyes, and she had that look about her. The one where she had a fish on a hook with no plans to let it go. But I still had to try, because Amelia was no fool, and I had given my word to try and protect East.

Even if he's cut you out of his life?

Whether he was speaking to me or not, I'd still given him my word. "Hey yourself. Let me help you."

I grabbed the take-aways and could smell the fresh dumplings inside. My stomach chose that moment to roar.

"I see you're hungry." She studied me. "Let me guess, you've been staring at this while trying to piece it together, and you didn't have time to eat?"

"Well, not exactly."

"So, what do you think? I mean, you were kind of quiet before, but the key piece is speaking to Bram Van Linsted. I'm sure he's got an ax to grind."

I swallowed hard. "You think he’ll have something for us?"

"I do. I mean, this is it. He's the piece. He, of course, is asking for the moon. His freedom. The fraud charges are clearly substantiated, he will do time. But I might be able to get him a reduced sentence. Better accommodations even."

I stared at her. "Absolutely not, Amelia."

"Well, it may just depend on what he gives us. We have him on corruption. Embezzlement, sure. We know he’ll do some time, but we can get that greatly reduced. But whatever information he'll give us, if he'll lead us to bigger crimes, which you know they're involved with, we might get his sentence reduced."

"You forget, we also put away his father for human trafficking. We're not going to let any Van Linsted out."

"We couldn’t make a case against the younger one."

"Yeah, but just because we didn't make a case doesn't mean he didn't know."

Amelia's brow furrowed. "Look, I know that you and East Hale have a thing, but never once have I ever seen you let any emotion get in the way of doing your job. Hell, you're worse than I am. Remember that bloke from three years ago? The Chutney case?"

I groaned as I opened up the moo shu pork and the scent of ginger hit my nose. "God, he really was stupid good looking."

"I know. And the way he eyed you and up and down and flirted with you, I mean... From the body language alone, you