Chapter 40
Chapter
Forty
MATTEO
“ I see Wren hasn’t killed your ass yet,” Cain’s disappointed voice greets me as I enter the clubhouse.
Alessio snickers behind me. “It’s coming. I give it six months. Gio’s giving it a year. He said he sees himself in Wren and just knows she will want to toy with her victim before striking the deadly blow.”
I whip around, glaring at Alessio as the whole club bursts out laughing. “You guys seriously bet on this?”
“I’d like in on this.” Cain laughs as he slaps me on the back. “Come on. Let’s talk in my office.”
“It was too good of a bet to pass up. I like money. Especially easy money.” Gio shrugs before following Cain, leaving me just standing here, staring at their backs.
“I just like taking Gio’s money.” Alessio gives me a look that says, “What are you gonna do?” as he also shrugs. “It’s fun taking Gio’s money. Watching Wren turn your world upside down is just a bonus. ”
“We’re done with this conversation,” I grunt. “No more fucking bets on my love life.”
“Considering this is the first time I’ve ever heard you say ‘love life,’ there will definitely be more bets.” Alessio laughs as he trails off the other guys.
“Why do I keep these idiots around?” I look up at the ceiling for a moment before following them in.
Alessio, Gio, and Wiz are leaning against the back wall, with Cain taking his seat at the desk, leaving an open chair across from him for me. Cain takes his time pouring each of us a glass of whiskey and cutting cigars.
“Alright, spit it out. I want to know what you saw,” I say, taking the cigar from Cain’s extended hand. The act of smoking cigars is an art. Some use lighters, but I prefer to use old-school matches. I bring the cigar to my lips as I flip open my suit jacket, taking out a matchbook from the interior breast pocket. That smooth, satisfying sound the book makes as the match swipes across the striker relaxes my soul. Taking a long drag of the Cuban, I relax back in my seat. The first puff always hits the best. It cuts deep into your soul and soothes all in one. I’ll feel more at ease once I figure out who the fuck tried to kill me and Wren by association.
Cain taps his cigar on the edge of the ashtray, watching the chunk of ash softly land. “After finding out Wren was… your Wren,” I snicker at Cain’s obvious distaste for our relationship, “I had Wiz do some more digging.”
“Digging around where?” Gio asks as he puffs on the cigar that’s hanging from the corner of his mouth. “I pulled Christos Galanis from a few cameras on some buildings near Wren’s apartment building the day she and Matteo were shot at, but I haven’t seen him since.”
“He must have found some blind spots because Wiz hacked those same ones and could only see the ass of his car. Fucking dumbass wasn’t even smart enough to use fake plates.” Cain shakes his head as he opens the top drawer of the desk, pulling out the photos of the car and tossing them in front of me.
I take a long sip of my whiskey, grabbing a photo to quickly glance over before I pass it over to Alessio. My mind is running in a million different directions. Christos has to be the one behind trying to kill me, but why? He wouldn’t be going after Wren the way he has been if he didn’t know that she was the one who helped me. “Has he been out here at all?”
Cain takes a long drag. “Nope. At least not from what we can see from our feed. You think he’s the one who cut your brakes?”
“I feel like everything is pointing toward that. You know Wren isn’t the type to go out of her way and make friends. Have you ever seen him at DD’s?” I’ll put a bullet between this motherfucker's eyes if I find out this is all because he tried some shit with Wren, and she didn’t want it, and now he’s retaliating like the coward he is.
Cain’s eyebrows shoot up. “Are you fucking kidding me? Absolutely not. That piece of shit knows he’s not allowed in anything of ours.”
“So basically, I fucked Wren.” I hate that I dragged her into this, but I can’t bring myself to actually be sorry. As fucked up as it is, me almost dying and her getting the shit beat out of her is what kept her in my life.
“In more ways than one,” Gio snickers as he rips the photo out of Alessio’s hand.
“Ugh.” Cain makes a noise of disgust. “I do not want to fucking picture that, man. It’s bad enough I caught them in my fucking breakroom.”
“What happened in the breakroom?” Gio asks, looking all too eager to have something else to give me shit about .
Cain starts to open his mouth, but I cut him off, shooting him a glare, “Nothing.”
“Secrets don’t make friends,” Gio pouts.
“We’re not friends. If we weren’t brothers, I would have taken your ass out a long time ago.” Gio has always been a pest. A pest that loves to push every last button.
“Catch me if you can, bitch,” Gio taunts, making me roll my eyes and turn back to Cain.
“If you ever want to get out from under this dickwad, we’d love to have you in the club,” Cain joins in. The fact that Gio looks like he’s actually considering this bullshit offer is just adding fuel to the fire.
“Absolutely fucking not,” I snap. “Can we please get back to the actual issue here? I’m really fucking close to storming into Nicholas’ and shooting every single one of them if I don’t figure out what’s going on.” I watch as the joking expressions on their faces quickly morph into the rage I’m feeling.
“Sorry, boss.” Gio straightens against the wall as he takes a drag of his cigar. “You know you’re stuck with me for life. I’m a ride-or-die motherfucker.”
“We’re literally blood, Gio. It wouldn’t matter if you were a ride-or-die or not,” I sigh. “Why would Christos want to cut my brakes?”
“You’re the head of the Adduci family. That title alone comes with an automatic target on your back. You know that,” Cain answers as Gio and Alessio grunt in agreement. “The Greeks targeting you doesn’t really raise any red flags for me. Nicholas has always been a power-hungry bastard. Wanting territory that he knows he doesn’t have the manpower to control. I’ve told my brothers from day one that it’s going to be his downfall.”
“I remember when he went after the Russians. Got his shit rocked. Even though I fucking hate them both, I was impressed by the amount of blood I saw on the ground,” Gio says, a dreamy look taking over his face at the memory. There’s something seriously fucking wrong with him. We’re all a little bloodthirsty. You have to be if you’re in this life. But Gio takes everything to a whole new level.
“That was some shit.” Cain leans back in his chair, scratching his beard in thought. “How did he know you were even out our way? The clubhouse is on the outskirts of Ravenna Heights. No one comes out here unless they’re either leaving the city or coming to us.”
“I have no clue. I’ve been trying to rack my brain around it for months.”
“You ever figure out what Wren was doing running way out here?” Alessio asks. “It seems weird when she can just run around the city.”
“She runs out to the clubhouse and back sometimes. Or she did.” Cain’s eyes slide to mine. “One of the guys is usually around and tails her back. Most people know she works for us and is off-limits. At least, I thought so.” Cain’s eyes grow dark. “If you get your hands on him first, I want a piece. No one fucks with the Dirty Devils.”
Gio lets out a low growl. “Get in line.”
“If there’s anything left by the time I’m done, you guys can have at it.” As much as Cain’s reputation precedes him, I’m not sure he’s a match for Gio. Cain is a scary motherfucker, but Gio is a borderline sociopath. “How far out do your cameras go?”
“Just around our compound, mine and Evan’s house, and the lane that connects. I think one of them may get a small view down the road, but that’s it.”
“That’s all?” Alessio snorts. “It sounds like this place is stacked.”
“Wiz likes to install cameras when he’s bored.” Cain smirks. “Kind of works out in our favor .
“Except this time. Wren told me that when she was waiting for Alessio, someone in an older black town car drove by slowly but didn’t stop.” And that doesn’t sit right with me. If I came upon any sort of accident where there was only a woman and a man on the scene, I wouldn’t just drive by slowly to scope it out. I’d get out and try to fucking help.
Cain’s hand pauses, bringing the cigar back up to his mouth. “You think he was out here waiting for it to happen?”
“That’s exactly what I think.”
“Who all knew you were coming out here?”
“Just my men and yours.” I don’t think any of them would rat on me, but… Rob’s behavior today has me questioning things. He’s been part of the crew for almost a decade now, and I’ve never seen him let his guard down. I didn’t even think the word ‘relax’ was in the guy's vocabulary.
A tense silence settles over us as we think it over the rest of the cigars.
“What aren’t you saying?” Alessio asks, looking directly at me.
All eyes are on me as I contemplate how I want to tell them. I know Gio is going to want to storm out of here and cut his balls off, but that’s not what I need right now. Rob was already sweating in his seat when I confronted him last night. I kind of want him to think I just gave him a slap on the wrist.
“Rob is the reason Wren was able to get out last night.”
“What the fuck?” Alessio and Gio ask at the same time.
“I have a feeling this conversation calls for a little more.” Cain pulls the cork out of the bottle of whiskey. The pop echoes throughout the room, cutting through the tension that has set in. He tops both of our glasses off, raising an eyebrow in waiting at Alessio and Gio, with the fifth paused in the air.
“Fill it up,” Gio grunts as he outstretches his hand that holds the glass. Cain is barely done pouring before Gio rips the glass away and throws the whole thing back. “Okay, I’m ready. Hit me with it.”
My eyes are glued to Gio’s fists, clenching and unclenching. This isn’t going to go over well. Any sort of slacking on the job Gio views as disloyal. Don’t get me wrong, I do too, but only to a certain extent. Gio takes it to a whole new level.
“Wren wanted to go get more of her stuff. Rob told her no because, obviously, we were already in the process of moving her out. Rob claims he forgot to set the alarms when they came inside for the night. And on top of that, he was watching a baseball game and not really paying attention to what Wren was doing around the house.” I obviously don’t want him watching her in our bedroom, but keeping an eye on her as she moves throughout the house isn’t too much to fucking ask for.
“He forgot?” Alessio asks in disbelief. “What the fuck do you mean he forgot? His job is to guard her. Step one of that would be to set the fucking alarms.”
“I’ll kill him,” Gio says, his aggression rising.
“You think he didn’t set it on purpose, don’t you?” Cain asks, ignoring Gio.
“I don’t know, but we’re going to find out.” And if I’m right, I’m going to fucking kill him.