Page 54 of Devious Roses

“Some interesting information has come into my possession. I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting what I learned. I’ve always known you were as much of a sleaze ball as the others, but seeing he evidence for myself is sobering. Tell me, DA. Did you think you’d be able to silence Sasha Newton forever?”

He pants, struggling against Stitches’s hold. “Are those screen shots of text messages? From a drug-addicted prostitute?! HA!”

“Don’t be rude,” Stitches growls, choking him some more.

“You mean a sex abuse victim from the trafficking ring you participated in.” I walk over to where Stitches has Polk restrained and shove the phone into his face, forcing him to stare at the evidence. “You’ve intentionally silenced Sasha Newton and sought to discredit and besmirch her at every turn. You’re thefatherof her child. I wonder how the public would feel about these latest developments. Do you think you’ll fare better than Bernstein? How about we find out?”

“Wait!” he blurts out. “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about! It’s… it’s not what it looks like.”

“It’s exactly what it looks like. I’m not playing games with you, DA. I’m well aware you have attempted to do to me what you’ve done to Sasha Newton—you’ve intentionally sought out ways to tarnish my reputation and harm my husband. I don’t know what your motives are, but something tells me you’re not the genius behind the sabotage. You’re merely the puppet.”

Loathing oozes from the scowl he aims at me. “I am no one’s puppet.”

“Yeah, sure,” I answer, unconvinced. “Tell whoever you’re working for—whoever’s got you in their back pocket—that it’s over. You will leave Sasha Newton alone. You will pay her a handsome settlement to make up for the mental, physical, and emotional distress that has been done to her. Most importantly, you will drop the charges against my husbandimmediately.”

“Do you think I’m a magician? I can’t just magically drop murder charges!”

I take another step closer and grip him by the chin, letting my nails dig into his skin. “You will find a way. Or I will make your life a living hell,” I say in a dangerous tone that would make Salvatore proud. It’s as if I’ve taken on the spirit of a mafia boss myself. In a way, I have.

Polk jerks his head out of my grasp. “I’ll… I’ll see what I can do about the charges. But that whore… that whore isn’t getting a dime out of me!”

“Stitches.”

“My pleasure.”

Stitches knees Polk in the gut and then slams his elbow into his nose. Polk tips over with a howl of pain, his fall reminiscent of a tree chopped down by a lumberjack. All seventy-eight inches of him hits the ground with the same sort of quake.

But Stitches isn’t done. He kicks him a couple times in the ribs, and then the crotch for good measure. By the time he stops, Polk’s curled up in the fetal position, begging for mercy.

“You have seventy-two hours, DA,” I say. “You don’t make good on my demands, I will release this info to the public and ruin you. Clock starts now.”

We leave Polk gasping for air on the floor. He doesn’t utter a word, but he does glare at us as we walk out—I know because I can feel the daggers from behind my back.

“You really think he’s working for somebody?” Stitches asks in the elevator.

I nod. “He’s taking direction fromsomeone. It makes no sense for him to suddenly go after Salvatore the way he has. Polk is a puppet in the way that Bernstein was. That Flynn was. He doesn’t operate on his own. He’s doing somebody’s bidding.”

“You don’t think it was Lucius, do you? Maybe he gave Polk orders before Psycho killed him?”

“Something tells me, for once, this wasn’t him.”

The elevator doors roll open and we start for the car. Stitches answers his phone as it goes off. I think nothing of it until he curses up a storm.

“Damn. Shit. Fuck!”

I stop at his side, puzzled. “Everything alright?”

“FUCK!” he shouts again once he’s hung up.

“You’re scaring me.”

“You should be,” he says, rubbing a hand to his face. “Phi, that was the jail.”

My panic is immediate, beating painfully in my chest. “Oh my god… please don’t tell me… he’s not… they didn’t hurt him?”

He shakes his head. “More like the other way around. Psycho… he stabbed a guy.”

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