Free Stop at Nothing by Kate Serine

I was going through everything I could find on Whitmore, I came across deleted emails between him and my brother-in-law.”
    Abby still couldn’t believe Whitmore was such an egotistical jerk that he actually sent all of his shady correspondence through his work email account. What a moron. Clearly, he figured that being the cofounder’s son, he was immune from the firm’s technology policy. Oh, how wrong he’d been… As far as she was concerned, he might as well have posted all his criminal activity updates on Facebook.
    â€œWhat was your brother-in-law’s relationship to Whitmore?” Kyle asked. “I mean, why would he need to be getting dirty with this guy? Curtis’s company has private security operations all over the world. Hell, my brother Joe came across some of his guys in Afghanistan when he was there.”
    Abby swallowed. “The company has been plagued by a whole slew of financial issues. Curtis used to go on about it after he got a few cocktails in him. As of about four years ago, Tartarus was on the verge of going under.”
    â€œSo what changed?” Kyle asked as he turned into her neighborhood.
    She sighed, trying to tamp down her humiliation at having to admit the truth. “He and Whitmore went into business together.”
    Kyle finally reached her driveway, pulling his car up to the garage door and turning off the engine before he asked, “Doing what?”
    For a moment, Abby sat staring through the windshield, shame weighing down her tongue and making it difficult to speak the words. But then Kyle reached over and reclaimed her hand, giving her fingers a squeeze. “Abbs?”
    When she turned to meet his gaze, his expression was so filled with concern that it caused her throat to tighten. But she answered, “Human trafficking.”
    Kyle’s grasp went slack. “What?”
    Now that she was getting the truth off her chest, the words came tumbling out. “Whitmore gave Curtis the funds to set up the first few facilities in Central and South America, Asia, a couple in Eastern Europe as well. Within a year, Curtis had made back the money plus enough to pull Tartarus back from the brink. Another year and they were raking it in hand over fist.”
    Kyle dragged a hand down his face. “Jesus.”
    â€œI know, right?” she replied. “I had no idea that human trafficking was so prevalent. I mean, these are women and girls being forced into the sex trade, domestic servitude… And in one of the email trades between Whitmore and Curtis there’s mention of a client list.”
    This made Kyle’s spine stiffen. “You have the list?”
    She shook her head. “I haven’t found that yet, but reading between the lines, some seriously big names stand to lose everything if it comes out that they’ve been ordering underage virgins for their carnal enjoyment.”
    Kyle ran a hand through his silky black hair, that stubborn cowlick just over his left brow making a thick lock fall over his forehead. Abby instinctively lifted her free hand to brush the hair away, but then let her hand drop back into her lap, hoping he hadn’t noticed. Luckily, he seemed preoccupied with his own thoughts.
    â€œYou think they’re blackmailing their client list,” Kyle announced after a moment.
    Abby nodded. “I think there could be an awful lot of people who have a grudge against my brother-in-law. I’d planned to step out of it and give everything to the feds to sort out, but then…”
    â€œBut then everything happened with Emma,” he finished for her. When she nodded, he gave her the charming grin that turned her insides into molten lava. “Well, lucky you, you have a fed sitting right here.”
    She grinned a little in spite of herself. “Thanks, but I don’t want to involve you any more than I already have. It’s too dangerous.”
    His expression instantly became