Chapter 24
CHAPTER 24
MEREDITH
T he villa appeared through the trees after over an hour on the road, leaving the city behind us, its stone facade a stark contrast to Sofia's modern mansion. Gray was already waiting outside, pacing.
He rushed down the stairs to the car, hugging me as I stepped out.
"You okay?" He pulled back, glancing over me and nodding at Sof.
"I'm fine."
"You're not, we both know that. We've had quite a day, haven't we?" He offered me that warm, brotherly smile that always made things better.
"You have no idea," I muttered as we headed inside.
"Actually, Roman told me. You planning to jet off to Mexico yet?" he joked, but I could see the unease in his eyes. His fear of actually losing me.
"I'm not that quick to run. So what's going on?" I asked as we moved through the villa, dropping the quick reassurance but not wanting to address it any further.
The villa was definitely a safe-house, sparsely decorated with no homely feel. At least it was furnished and pristine.
"The blackmailer called again," Gray said as soon as he sunk onto the couch, although he was glancing at the windows. "Upped his demands, made more threats." He ran a hand through his disheveled hair. "Then we learned a rival family is making moves against us. Just what we need on top of that."
So my call to Andrew had pushed him to up his demands. Great, that was entirely my fault. I shot Sof a look, but she was frowning at Gray.
"Which family?" Sofia's voice was sharp.
"Not the Savocas," Roman assured her as he joined us in the living area. "The Malatestas." He turned to focus on Gray. "The perimeter is secure, we've got a team out there, and security feeds are all up and running well."
"Thank you." Gray nodded, and Roman strode back outside while I moved to sit by my brother. Whatever my issues were with him, we'd get through it. Right now, he needed me, and considering all he'd done for me, even if it was hard to accept, I owed him some comfort.
Sofia's perfectly shaped brows drew together. "Why? I thought they had an alliance with the Donati family."
"Not anymore." Gray's jaw ticked, and he glanced at me beside him, the edge of his mouth curving slightly. "Cosimo Malatesta was found dead in a dumpster outside Leo's building. They're blaming us."
"Jesus," Sofia whispered, sinking into a leather armchair opposite us. "This is about to get ugly, isn't it?"
"Probably."
"This reeks of a frame job," Sofia stated. "It's too obvious. If Leo were to kill someone, why dump them at his own business building?" She shot me an apologetic look, but I was beyond that. I knew the kind of man Leo was, and I'd come to terms with it to some degree. Whether or not I was going to choose to accept it fully was another story.
"Agreed." Gray clasped his hands before him. "It's sloppy, but the Malatestas..." He shook his head. "Half the family wants a meeting, to handle this diplomatically. The other half is chomping at the bit for war."
"But why target Meredith?" Sofia leaned forward. "She's not involved in any of this. I'm assuming that's why we're here, right? They're the ones who are going after her?"
Gray's expression darkened. "Yes, we've now learned it's them making the threat on her. Our intel says someone witnessed Leo being protective over Meredith at a club. They're wanting to use her as leverage."
"Oh god." Sofia cringed. "Our night out. Fuck, I'm sorry, Mer."
The memory of Leo pulling that handsy guy off me, the way he'd watched over me all night – it hadn't just been protective, it had been possessive. And now that protection had painted a target on my back.
Wonderful.
"This villa is secure, we'll be safe here while Leo and his people get to the bottom of this mess," Gray assured us, but something in his voice seemed off. "One of our best safe-houses, away from the city."
I pursed my lips, unable to shake the feeling that we were missing something important. The timing of everything – Sullivan's blackmail, the Malatesta death, the threats – it felt too coordinated to be coincidence.
"I think…" Sof looked pointedly at me, and I knew what she was thinking.
We both knew the identity of the blackmailer, and with this shift, Gray needed to know. He needed to know the one wanting money wasn't a huge threat, at least, we didn't think he was. Although we could be wrong.
"Gray, I know the blackmailer. I didn't at first, but then I remembered," I said, and he turned to me like I'd just slapped him.
"Why didn't you say something? When did you remember?" he asked, his voice harsher than I imagined he'd planned. Considering everything going on, I didn't blame him. It was something I should've shared as soon as we'd been in the car with Roman in all honesty.
"When I went to your new place and saw my medical records," I stated, and he softened.
"Those files, I'm sorry, Mer."
"It's fine, just another part of my life I probably needed to remember or relearn in order to move past. But It's Andrew Sullivan, Dad's old partner with AA Finances." I waved off his pained expression. The files were the least of our concerns right now.
"Really? That guy?" His tone was incredulous.
"He's bankrupt, lost his wife and business, pretty much homeless too now," Sof added. "I looked him up when Mer told me. We didn't want to tell anyone in case he was handled… aggressively. He's just a desperate lowlife from the look of things. Death probably isn't what he deserves, and we know that's probably the Donati way of handling it." She used Leo's family name rather than saying him directly, although from what she'd said, Leo was the one heading the branch of the Donati family in Ironstone.
"Right, that's understandable, but still, it's information I could've used as soon as you knew. I'll get onto it. That man was always good with computers, so makes sense if Dad had his security feeds set up to go to an offline server he could access as well. He'd know to cover his tracks too if he saw the video and wanted to protect himself, it was a time when even our own guys were still learning tech. Sullivan was always ahead of the game there." Gray was up and pacing now, his phone in hand. "How it looks might not be what it truly is, I know that better than most, but I'll find out the truth and we'll get this whole matter sorted. I'll make sure it's handled the right way too," he added, giving me a knowing look. It was his way of saying Leo would find out, but Gray would make sure he didn't go bury the desperate man. They'd handle it in a civil way if possible, which I was grateful for.
He headed down the hall as he made a call, and I sighed and curled into the arm of the couch as Sof watched me.
"Well, guess we're stuck here until they get this sorted. Wonder if they have any board games?" she mused as she glanced around.
She was right, until we had the all clear, our lives were on hold for a while.
Was I ever going to catch a break?
Sofia's laughter echoed down the hall as she rushed to the bathroom, leaving Gray and me alone with our scattered playing cards. The silence felt heavy between us.
"I'm sorry," Gray said suddenly, staring at the cards in his hands. "For hiding everything from you. I know what you must think of me now, because of what I did. The blood on my hands."
We'd been using Sof and games to mask the issue between us, a distraction while we could. But now she was gone, and it was time to face what was eating at us both.
I pursed my lips, studying my brother's profile. The last rays of the sunset streaming through the window caught the silver threading through his hair – when had that appeared?
"I understand why you did it," I said softly. "But Gray... did you know? About the beatings, before that night?"
"God, no." He set his cards on the table as he turned to me, his hand resting on my arm. "Mer, if I'd known, I would have taken you away from there. We would have run, hidden, anything to keep you safe."
The fierce protectiveness in his voice made me smile. Some things never changed. I knew he was telling the truth, it was written all over his face.
My big brother, so ready to protect me even if it meant running away. Maybe I should've told him all those years ago. Would anything have changed? Would my father still have found himself a bloody pulp on the garage floor at Leo's feet?
"After seeing my medical records, remembering more..." I covered his hand with mine. "I don't think badly of you for what happened. And I know you haven't killed since then."
He nodded slowly, a weak smile crossing his lips as he looked down at my hand on his. "The sight of blood used to send me into panic attacks after that night. Leo..." He swallowed hard. "Leo helped me through it, but he also moved me into a different position with their family. Made me the face of the legitimate businesses."
"Why did you get involved with the Donatis in the first place?"
"At first? I felt like I owed them. They protected us both, covered up what we did." He leaned back, glancing towards the hall. "But then I realized they were the lesser evil in this world. They have morals, beliefs. Sure, they deal in weapons, drugs, the usual stuff, but compared to some families? They actually care about civilian casualties."
"And now?"
"Most of my business dealings are legitimate. Leo helped me start clean companies alongside the... other ventures." His lips twisted. "Plus, the Donatis offer protection. Turns out Dad had made enemies trying to play different crime families against each other. Put a target on his kids' backs. I'm just grateful he was an only child – at least our grandparents were gone by then."
I absorbed this information, pieces of our past realigning themselves in my mind. "So Dad was really involved in this world, more so than just assisting the Donatis with finance stuff?"
"Deeper than any of us knew." Gray's voice was low, tired. "He just wasn't very good at it."
I thought about Leo, about how naturally he moved through this dangerous world. How composed he was when bullets were flying, something he'd passed onto my brother.
"There's more you want to know," Gray said, reading my expression like he always could.
"I guess, but I don't even know what. It's all been so much to take in, my memories, the truth." I sighed heavily as I tightened my grip on his hand and held his gaze. "But I love you, Gray. I'm still coming to terms with what you did, but I know it's not something I'll hold against you. If it helps, I'll even say I forgive you, but truthfully, I know there's nothing to forgive. You protected me, saved me. If it weren't for what you both did, I might not be here today."
His expression softened, and it looked as if I had indeed lifted a great weight off his shoulders as he pulled me into a hug.
"You have no idea how much I actually needed that," he whispered, and I held onto him tight, my eyes welling at the way his voice cracked.
My big brother, always so strong, always there for me. He was still only human, and he loved me. That was all that mattered, nothing else.
Sofia's returning footsteps broke us apart, but he was smiling gently at me, and I returned it.
We were going to be fine.
Now I just had to sort things out in regards to Leo.