Hearts and Aces (Kelsey's Burden Series Book 7) Kaylie Hunter (books to read this summer TXT) 📖

choked on her drink, leaning forward and coughing after it went down the wrong way. Donovan beat on her back a few times while laughing.

“That fucker,” Maggie said. “I can’t believe he did that.”

“Sent me an expensive bottle of booze?”

Maggie coughed again as she shook her head. “The shipping company you sold him is being monitored by the Feds. Mickey and Lisa’s brother Phillip are the prime suspects for the increase in high-end black-market merchandise coming into the U.S. from Spain, France, and Italy.”

“So much for them going legit,” I said, grinning at my glass of cognac. “Feds closing in on them?”

“Hell, no. Mickey and Phillip are way smarter than the team trying to nail them.”

“Tick-tock,” Tyler said, reminding me to stay on task.

“Thank you, Tyler,” I said, turning back to Bones. “When did the marriage fall apart?”

“After they returned to the States. Grady came back first to arrange their housing. Sebrina came back a month or two later and played house for a bit, but then she took off and started her DEA career. Grady started the security company with Donovan, taking point on the cases, while Donovan ran the business side of the company.”

“They stayed married for another six months or so,” Donovan said. “It wasn’t until Grady went to pay her a surprise visit in California that he came back saying they were getting a divorce. I got the impression that Sebrina cheated on him.”

“Oh, she cheated all right,” Bones said. “With Grady’s brother Mitch.”

“Wait—” I paused him while trying to imagine the scenario where Mitch would sleep with Grady’s wife. “Nope. This doesn’t make sense. Explain.”

“Can’t. Whenever I brought it up to Grady, he’d say it was water under the bridge. If I asked Mitch, he’d rant that Sebrina was a duplicitous bitch. Never got the full story out of either of them.”

“Grady just forgave Mitch?”

“I guess,” Bones said, shrugging. “Grady seems fine with Mitch when he’s around. Maybe a bit distant, but most men would’ve beat the hell out of their brother for sleeping with their wife.”

 “Let me ask this… Did Mitch actually know Sebrina? Had he ever met her as Grady’s wife?”

“I don’t know,” Bones admitted.

“We didn’t spend much time with Mitch,” Donovan said. “He was stationed at a base camp for most of his tour, whereas we moved around a lot.”

“You’re thinking Sebrina purposely set Mitch up, aren’t you?” Maggie asked me.

“She likes drama. Earlier today, she was in her element watching the showdown between Grady and me. She could’ve tracked Mitch down and given him a fake name, hoping Grady would discover them.”

“But if Grady was surprising her, how would she know he’d be there?” Katie asked.

“She worked counterintelligence. She was capable of manipulating situations, but she also might’ve planned to keep the affair going until the eventual day when Grady walked through the door. It would be more suspenseful for her that way.”

Donovan and Bones looked at each other. They’d known Sebrina for years and would know if she was capable of something so deceitful.

“Yeah, I can see it,” Bones said.

“Damn. Me too,” Donovan agreed.

Bridget’s phone chirped, and she read the screen. “Kemp needs my help at Headquarters accessing one of the background apps. I’ll be back in five.”

“I’ll escort you,” Bones said.

“I don’t need a bodyguard.”

Wild Card looked over at her with a raised eyebrow. “Are you forgetting you were kidnapped yesterday?”

“Oh,” Bridget said, giggling. “It was so much fun, I actually did forget.”

I turned my attention to Tech. “Well, partner, what have you been working on?”

“Miguel’s American companies,” Tech said as he continued to type. “I’ve got six so far, ranging from a small bakery to a global health food manufacturing company.”

“I’m sick of baked goods, but the health food company is a maybe. What else you got?”

“A retail mall.”

“Pass.”

“A trucking company.”

“Interesting. It’s likely to be tangled with their illegal business, though, so pass.”

“A pharmaceutical company.”

“Again, interesting, but pass.”

“Last on the list… a textile mill.”

“Ooh. I like fabrics. Give me everything you’ve got so far. Where’s it located?”

“Texas.”

“Bonus. Start printing. I need to run home and get my son ready for bed.” I pointed to Maggie and Donovan. “Don’t drink all my booze while I’m gone.”

Wild Card stood, planning to follow.

“Oh, no you don’t. Since you were the one who had the bright idea to give the prisoner’s ex-lax, it’s your turn to empty the buckets.”

“What prisoners?” Maggie asked.

“Pretend you didn’t hear that,” Nightcrawler said, before turning to Wild Card. “Lisa set aside food for them. I’ll meet you over there.”

Wild Card watched Nightcrawler leave through the tunnel and then looked back at me. “You seriously expect me to dump their shit?”

“Yup. There're gloves under the kitchen sink.”

“You should’ve left them for the rats,” he mumbled as he walked into the tunnel that led to Alex’s.

I looked over at Donovan.

“Yeah,” Donovan said as he stood and followed Wild Card. “I’ll make sure the prisoners are still breathing when he’s done.”

Katie snickered, going over to get another beer from Donovan’s basement refrigerator. Maggie refilled her glass of cognac. Tech was still typing on his laptop. I nodded to Tyler before taking the tunnel back to the main house.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Thirty minutes later, I shared a pillow with Nicholas as he read Treasure Island to me. I started to drift off until he shook my arm.

“Mom, you missed the best part!” Nicholas said.

“I’m sorry. I only missed a minute of it,” I said, rolling to my side so I could watch him. “It’s a good book, isn’t it?”

“The cover still sucks,” Nicholas said, grinning.

“I’m thinking kids shouldn’t say the word sucks, but I can’t remember why. I’m a terrible mother.”

Nicholas giggled, handing