“Not when his assets and accounts are frozen.”
“Really?” I question in surprise.
“Uh huh. Anton’s empire is going down and there’s nothing he can do about it from the confines of his cell,” he grins. “Now, are you two finished with your little ‘girly’ moment or are you going to come and wash your own damn cars? Because God knows I fucking love you both but I’m not washing all of them myself. Besides, Aiden is a cool dude, but when it comes to cars…”
Tully groans and looks out the window. “I don’t want to go out there.”
Noah scoffs. “Why? Did you turn into a pussy during the last ten minutes?”
Tully flies off her bed. “Fuck you,” she says in a show of defiance, storming past Noah and right out her bedroom door just to prove her point. Tully Cage is no pussy, but she had no reason to worry anyway. Spencer’s not going to ask her about the kiss unless she brings it up. He didn’t use to, but he respects what she’s feeling and he’ll do just about anything to make sure he holds onto what little hope he has.
“You know what I don’t understand?” I murmur as Noah takes my hand and leads me back outside. “Where did all those boxes of evidence come from? That clothing store was way too small to fit all of that inside it.”
Noah grins as though he enjoys that I’m not in on the big secret. “Anton’s warehouse is underground. There’s a door in the fitting rooms that looks like it leads to a storage closet, but it’s actually stairs that lead down into his warehouse. It’s massive, probably runs as far as the grocery store and back towards the gas station.”
“Well, shit. That’s huge.”
“Yep. Everything is in there. Guns. Drugs. Money. He’s going down and no expensive lawyer is going to stop it.”
My head spins as we walk back out into the mid-afternoon sun. Noah’s phone rings, drawing my attention. He pulls it out with an irritated groan, always hating being disrupted when he’s having his special ‘Noah and Camaro’ time.
“What’s up?” he says into the phone, leading me over towards his car before reaching for the hose. He pauses for a slight moment before a seriousness comes over him. “Fuck. Yeah, ok. I’ll be there in a second.”
I gape at him. “What’s going on? What’s wrong?”
Noah digs for his keys in his pocket, pulling them out a second later as he shakes his head in disbelief. “The fucking warehouse just went up in flames. I guess someone is trying to cover their tracks.”
“I guess I’m not surprised.”
Noah leans in and presses a quick kiss to my lips and within the blink of an eye, he’s gone, careening down the street with desperation to save as much as that shit as possible. Though, something tells me it’s already too late. The cops raided that place good and well, even the evening news showed they were still there until the late hours of the night, hauling boxes upon boxes of evidence out of there. I doubt there’s anything left in there to burn.
Anton can try, but he’s not getting out of this one. He’s a goner and he knows it.
Chapter 17
I walk into Castle Rock Maximum Security Penitentiary for Men and my blood runs cold as I join the line of visitors. It’s one thing visiting my mother a few miles down the street at the facility for women but visiting my father…this is seriously insane.
I don’t know what I was thinking coming here. Maybe I needed some answers and to set the record straight or maybe I just needed to see him behind bars to make sure everything I’ve been hearing on the news was true.
Hearing news reporter after news reporter talking about it day in and day out is one thing, but actually seeing it with my own eyes and knowing that Noah and I are finally free from Anton’s hold is something I couldn’t pass up.
Noah would probably kill me if he knew I was here without him. I had the same fight with him after visiting my mother for the first time and he finally came around. After visiting her with me and seeing that it’s really not as bad as he thought it was, he’s now fine when I go by myself, but this…I have a feeling is going to take a little more than the ‘I’m a big girl, I can take care of myself’ speech. He’s going to lose his mind and probably won’t be talking to me for a few days. But it’s worth it to get this closure.
I’m hoping that once I walk out of these doors after visiting my father, it’s the last time I’ll ever see him again. I mean, I’m more than happy to go stand at trial and be a character witness if it comes down to that, but something tells me they have more than enough evidence to bother dragging little old me into it.