Free Reed (Allen Securities) by Madison Stevens

back and closed the doors as quickly as they had been opened. This was not the time she wanted to explore her mommy issues. After steeling herself for what might come next, she worked her way down the page. Looked like dear old mom had been busy. Her rap sheet had nearly doubled and included far more drug charges in the recent years. It would explain the gaunt look.
    Shock rippled through her as she took in the name Tina Jones. She had heard her mother had a new boyfriend named Charlie but married? That was a surprise. Tina wasn’t one to stick around for too long. Things got hot and then cold pretty quick with most of the men she latched onto. There were many times Olivia could remember being tossed onto the street after the latest fling fizzled.
    Olivia threw the file onto the desk and stared at it with disgust. It was most everything in her life that she didn’t want anyone to know.
    As she stared, she spied another file lodged under the lasagna with her name in bold lettering once again at the top. She slid the pan off and stared at the manila front. Every fiber of her being screamed that this was going to be bad.
    Olivia opened the file, read for a moment and then snapped it shut.
    “Unfucking believable,” she said. Rage boiled in her as she shot out of the chair.
    There were just some lines you didn’t cross.
     
    ***
     
    “Cage and Mason, see if you can get a read on Neil. That little fucker has gone to ground, and I’d like to get my hands on him,” Reed said.
    “You aren’t the only one,” Cage mumbled from the back of the room.
    “It would be best if we could get ahold of him before the police do,” he said and the two nodded.
    “Liam, you make contact with Finn. With all this backdoor involvement, he’ll likely have some insight.”
    “What if we’re just adding fuel to the flame?” Liam fired back.
    “I seriously doubt your cousin isn’t aware of what is going on.” Reed eyed him fiercely. He knew this was going to be a struggle, but they needed this connection. Finn might be their only chance of getting out with what they want and not have the Russians trying to take them out.
    “Third cousin by marriage.” Liam looked away. His unease visible.
    “We need this, or I wouldn’t ask,” Reed said quietly, drawing Liam’s eyes back on him.
    With a curt nod, the discussion was over.
    “Meg, I need you to do some digging on the senator. Something isn’t adding up in all this, and I don’t like it.” Reed scratched his face. Normally everything was pretty cut and dry in these cases. Senator Carson was up to something, and if it involved this sort of crowd, it wasn’t going to end well.
    “Ryder, we need to know why the Russians got involved. That little piss-ant Neil doesn’t have pull like this unless he’s promised something good. Find out what the word is and see if you can flush out Ben. There’s only so many places someone like that could turn to.” Reed looked down at the file in front of him.
    The kid had some petty stuff listed, but this was the big leagues. Ben getting ahold of anything to do with Ted Carson was more than bizarre.
    “I’m afraid you can’t go in there,” a voice said outside the room.
    Every head turned to the door. From the small window, he could see the back of Eric’s head, his training session interrupted by whoever was at the door.
    “Reed Allen,” he could hear Olivia shouting through the door. He cringed. This was the last thing he needed. “Get out here and call off your goon, or I’m leaving right now.”
    His head snapped up in irritation. Apparently, he had let this woman dictate things too often if she thought she would decide when he was finished with a meeting. Reed pushed back his chair and stormed over to the door. He swung it wide to look around Eric and glared at the very angry woman.
    As soon as he was in her sites, she stormed around Eric and slapped something against Reed’s chest.
    “Mind telling me what this is about?”
    He