Influence

Chapter 27

Jasper stepped forward so he was evenly placed next to her. "Don't gaslight us. Tam and I both know it was you."

"I don't really," Tam whispered.

"Me?" Aiden waved his gun at the floor. "If you two are here to play private eye and that's what you came up with, consider finding another career. I was nowhere near her penthouse the night she died. I've never even been inside her building. Do you realized what I lost because of her death?"

"Why?" Tam asked. "You aren't Lucre. You only contracted with them. Your slice of the pie couldn't have been that substantial."

"No?" Aiden used his gun-free hand to gesture to the luxury cabin with its first-class amenities and décor. "Look around. That girl made me millions. And there were millions more to come."

"But how?" Jasper stepped forward, then stopped as Aiden lifted his gun as though he were an outlaw about to shoot from his hip. "What did you get my stepsister involved in?"

"We were at the beginning of something great. She would have gotten everything she ever wanted. We all would have."

"Was it you?" Tam asked. "Was Goldie seeing you? Did she spend that night and day with you in the Maldives?"

"I was with her in the Maldives. We spent time together, sure. There was nothing sexual between us, though. Not for lack of trying on my part. She definitely was a fine piece of ass."

Jasper's muscles tensed, the urge to kill resurfacing.

Tam placed her hand on his chest. "You're saying it was purely business between you?"

"I'm saying I didn't kill her or fuck her."

"Maybe not," Jasper growled, "but you fucked her over."

"No, she fucked me over when she died. And you too, you fucked me over too!" He poised his gun again.

"You aren't making any sense," Jasper said. "We haven't done anything to you. You're the one who attacked Tam and tried to murder her. And as for Goldie, it's not like she threw herself off her balcony. Are you seriously blaming a victim for her own murder?"

"I didn't try to kill Tam," Aiden said, ignoring Jasper's question. "I swear, I was just trying to scare her. I didn't want her to tell the cops anything."

"There's nothing to tell. I don't know anything."

His quizzical grin returned. "Right. But you don't understand the people I work for, they're pretty pissed when I told them about what happened when I attacked you in the alley."

"Maybe they're slightly less shitty than you are, then."

"No, they're way shittier. They're pissed at the way I did it, that I wasn't more careful and that I drew attention. It was sloppy. If you think it wasn't their idea to rough you up, you don't understand who you're dealing with."

"That's the point," Jasper said. "We don't realized who we're dealing with, other than the rich asshole standing in front of us."

"I'm the rich asshole? How supremely hypocritical of you, Jasper DeAngelis. As if you haven't already benefited from Goldie's life. From the choices she made, including the one she made with me."

"I earned my money on the up and up."

"You believe anything about Goldie's world is on the up and up? I'm a bridge too far for your sense of moral superiority, maybe, but let's face it. You've compromised your integrity more times than you can count to stay in her good graces. And why? She signed your paychecks and there were too many zeroes in them to say no."

Jasper had to end this guy. Blood pumped through him, screaming for him to move, to take his hands and press them around his neck. To squeeze and squeeze. "I loved her. I would have done anything for her. My integrity has always been rooted in that fact."

Aiden took a deep breath, lowering his gun again. "If the two of you don't get off my boat soon, someone is going to end up dead, and as lowly as your opinion is of me, I don't want that to happen. I'm being hunted." He glanced at Tam. "You know what that's like, don't you?"

"Thanks to you, I do."

"No, not thanks to me. You're the number one suspect and I'm still not sure you aren't the one who killed Goldie."

"Funny," Tam said, "I feel the same about you."

"Her death ruined everything for me! My crew will be back any moment and as soon as we can, we set sail. If I don't get the fuck out of here, I'm screwed."

"We can only hope. The cops will catch up with you eventually."

"It's not the cops I'm afraid of. It's people way worse than them. I may have... I may have bought Knot Yours using some of the money that wasn't quite mine."

"Jesus, you're biting the hand that feeds you?"

"She wasn't supposed to die! There was a lot more money headed our way, and I would have given them everything I owed and then some. But now..."

"Okay, this is the part where I ask you one final time. And if you want us off your luxurious dick stroker, you'll tell us the truth. What shady business are you involved in?"

Aiden chuckled. "Why do you even need me to tell you. Your girlfriend there... she already knows."

_____

Well, well, well... there's a lot to unpack in this little chapter. Do you believe Aiden's claim that he didn't kill Goldie? Just what sort of shady business do you think Aiden is involved in, and was Goldie wrapped up in it too? And perhaps most importantly, does Tam know about it?

Can't wait to hear what you think!