Influence

Chapter 28

Tam sat on the edge of the hotel bed, staring at the maroon curtains draped across the window, insulating them from the outside world.

"We shouldn't have let him go." Jasper stood leaning against the half wall separating the bedroom from the rest of the suite. "He didn't deserve it."

He was right, but she didn't have the energy to argue. What Aiden deserved or didn't deserve was beside the point. They'd had no choice but to return dockside, watching Aiden's crew join him on his ship before returning to the hotel in a cloud of defeat.

"Do you believe him?" She kept her gaze towards the window, afraid of what she'd see if she looked in Jasper's direction. "I wouldn't blame you if you did."

"Tam..."

Her peripheral vision picked up a flash, Jasper moving towards her, not away like she'd expected. She'd tried and failed to read his silence all the way back to the hotel. Anger rose off him like steam from a dewy field. He could have been mad about Aiden, or their lack of progress in solving Goldie's murder, or about Tam and her supposed involvement in a criminal underworld she hadn't even known existed until Aiden told them about it.

Barges carried tons of products around the world every year. Some of those products were glittery and highly sought after to people like Goldie and her fans. Makeup could be packaged in so many creative ways. And that's where Aiden's people came in. Things could be hidden in crates of rouge and tubs of foundation—things that ruined lives. Things that gave people insatiable desires. Goldie traded in insatiable desires for beauty and luxury. It wasn't outlandish for Aiden's bosses to believe she could be repackaged and used to traffic both legitimate and illegitimate vices.

Tam shifted as Jasper's weight tilted her in his direction. She used her last bit of courage to face him. The anger she expected seemed vacant from his expression, but something else almost as bad was there. Anguish. "They set me up, Jasper."

"I'm aware."

"Are you?"

"Think about it this way. Aiden and whoever the fuck he works for, did they really have to tell Goldie at all that they were going to use her cosmetics line to smuggle massive amounts of fentanyl and God knows what else into the country? They could have kept her in the dark."

"According to Aiden, she had no knowledge of what they were smuggling. He told her they were going to move counterfeit products along with her line. He claims I'm the only one who knew what they were really doing."

"Which we already know is bullshit."

"That's what I don't get." She said. "You believed I was a liar from day one. What if I'm lying to you about this now?"

"I called you a liar. I didn't say you were good at it. Besides, I also knew from day one that you were being sucked into Goldie's world for unscrupulous reasons. I tried to warn you, but you never listened."

"It's hard to listen to someone who hates you."

"I didn't... I never hated you, Tam. You made me feel frustrated and conflicted and all sorts of things, but never hate. I wanted you to quit. Get away from there. But I couldn't convince you. I did a shit job of it and I failed. I couldn't save her, and I couldn't save you."

"I'm still alive. I haven't died or been arrested."

"In the last few days, you've been interrogated, assaulted, and had a gun held to your head."

"You saved me in two out of three of those examples. Can you not be so fucking hard on yourself?"

"I don't know any other way to be."