“Not to mention the fact that he can have anyone in one of those prisons eliminated if necessary,” I pointed out.
Sloane pulled back, looking horrified. “Holy shit.”
“This is good, Pix. Really good,” I said, giving her a squeeze.
She cupped my face in her hands. “Take him down, big guy.”
I gave her a hard kiss on the mouth and deposited her on top of her research. “Pasture!” I snapped at the hacker.
She looked up and pointed at herself. “Me?”
Sloane leaned in. “I think you mean Prairie.”
“Right. Prairie. That’s what I said. Stop what you’re doing, and give me everything you can on Rex Management and Civic Group.”
I gave Sloane’s shoulder a squeeze as I dialed Special Agent Idler.
“It’s 4:00 a.m. This better be fucking good,” she rasped.
“How soon can you put a team together to drag Hugo into the nearest cell?”
I hadn’t slept or showered in thirty-six hours, but Anthony Hugo looked worse than I did, I thought smugly as I took the chair across from him.
Gone were the slick suit and the diamond pinkie ring, and in their place, he wore a baggy orange jumpsuit that only made him look more sallow.
“You come here to gloat?” he demanded as the guard cuffed him to the table with a satisfying snap. “Because I’ll be out of here within a day. They can’t keep me.”
“Ah, but they can,” I said, leaning back on the metal chair. “I just came from Special Agent Idler’s office.”
“That bitch will be the first to go.” He sneered cagily. “Well, maybe the second after your little blond girlfriend.”
“Here’s the thing about that, Anthony. These are just the beginning of your charges. The other officers in your little Rex Management have all been arrested. Coincidentally, they’re also most of your inner circle. And they’re singing like their lives depend on it. The feds have already talked to a dozen of your crew serving sentences in your facilities, and they’ve confessed to an astonishing number of crimes, including assaults and murder. Most of them weren’t afraid of pointing the finger at who gave the orders now that you’re behind bars, especially after they were promised deals and sentence reductions.”
Anthony went even paler.
“You listen to me, you son of a fucking bitch—”
“No,” I said stonily. “It’s your turn to listen. In less than two days, I’ve dismantled every piece of your business. Everything you worked for your entire life. It’s all gone. Your assets are frozen. Your men are sitting in interrogation rooms around the city. Including the ones you had dump Felix Metzer in the Potomac. You have nothing left. Do you know why that is?”
“Fuck you.”
“Wrong answer. I took everything from you because you tried to take from me. You threatened my family. No one walks away from that.”
“I’ll get to you. And when I do, I’ll finish the job I started with that list your police chief friend was on. I’ll take out every single one of the people you love, and then I’ll make you bleed.”
I smirked. “Good luck with that.”
“You think seein’ your friend pumped full of lead and that library fire were bad? I’m just getting started. I’ll come for you personally. I got guys watching you and that FBI bitch. One call from me and you’re both dead like Metzer. No one crosses me.”
I stood up and buttoned my suit jacket. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that. That FBI bitch had your ‘guys’ arrested yesterday. Third strike for quite a few of them, which made them surprisingly cooperative. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have someplace I need to be.”
I strolled out of the room and left his snarled threats behind me.
“Tell me everything!” Sloane pounced the second I opened my front door. “Does he know he’s cooked? Did he threaten you? Did you laugh in his face? Is there surveillance footage of him freaking out that I could watch?”
She was wearing pajama pants with palm fronds on them and a tight black tank top. Her hair was damp from a shower, and her eyes were sparkling.
Something warm and bright expanded in my chest. It felt like I’d swallowed the sun.
I gripped her wrist, bent at the waist, and tossed her neatly over my shoulder.
“You two are free to go,” I said to Lina and Grace, who had been on Sloane guard duty for the last twenty-four hours.
“Woo-hoo!” Grace said.