Chapter 38
Chapter Thirty-Eight
AMbrOS
Citi stares out the window as the rain pelts the glass, hand idly running through Star’s hair, her head resting on Citi’s lap while she sleeps.
“How they doing?”
I turn at the sound of Havoc’s voice and take the mug of coffee he offers me.
“They’re right there and yet they might as well be a million miles away.”
“I know the feeling,” he says. His eyes are on Circus, who sits at another table, head in his hands, a half-empty bottle of whiskey in front of him.
“How did things unravel so fucking fast, Havoc?”
He shakes his head, his eyes drifting around the room, which is as somber as I’ve ever seen it.
“I don’t know, Ambros. I wish I did.”
“What do we do now?”
He looks at me, taking a sip of his own drink before answering. “Blade, King, and Inigo are on their way down to deal with the cave. They’ll bring Capone home.”
I nod. What else is there to do?
“Think she’ll talk to us? I know it’s a fucking shit time to ask, but I need to know—”
“If the danger has passed. I’ll ask.”
I look around and don’t notice the club girls. “Is it just the old ladies and brothers here?”
Havoc nods. “I sent the club girls to the motel for the night, and Theo has Hero upstairs in Midas’s old room. Why?”
“I think she might be more comfortable talking where she is. I doubt she’s going to want to let Star out of her sight anytime soon.”
“Alright, good point. I’ll talk to the guys quietly so that they can move a little closer. I don’t want to spook her any more than what she is.”
“Thanks.”
“Hey, Ambros.”
I turn at the sound of Nevaeh’s voice. Her face is pale and her cheeks streaked with dried tears as she holds out a mug of hot chocolate for me.
“I’ve tried to approach, but she just tenses. I don’t want to push her.”
I take the mug and hand her my coffee.
“Thank you.”
“It has a shot of Bailey’s in it. Hopefully, it will help settle her nerves a little.”
I lean over and kiss her forehead. “She’ll get through this, I promise.”
“She’s already been through too much, Ambros.”
I tip her head back, seeing fresh tears in her eyes. “She’s a survivor. She doesn’t know how to be anything else.”
She nods as I let her go and walk over to my woman. I crouch in front of her and hold the cup out for her. It takes her a second to focus, but when she does, she reaches a shaky hand for it. I wrap my hands around hers, helping her to steady it, and wait for her to take a sip before I speak again.
“Are you ready to talk? You can absolutely say no.”
She glances over her shoulder and sees Havoc and Nevaeh watching before she looks back at me. “They’re going to hate me.”
“Nobody is going to hate you, Citi, I promise.”
She takes a deep, shuddering breath before nodding. “Okay.”
“Okay,” I whisper, taking her in as I signal it’s a yes to Havoc.
Her face is so pale it’s almost translucent.
The dark circles under her eyes almost make it look like she’s been punched.
Havoc managed to get a doctor to check them both over when she refused to go to the hospital.
And though the doctor said they’d both be fine, I can’t help but fear that nothing will ever be fine again.
“Do you want to get cleaned up first?”
She shakes her head. She refused to clean up when we brought her in, nothing beyond wiping the blood from her hands and face.
Not wanting to push her while she was still in shock, I let it go.
But right now, I want nothing more than to carry her upstairs and clean every inch of her, though I know it won’t wipe away what happened.
“I wish I could take this all from you. I promised you’d be safe, and I let you down.”
“No. I knew you’d come. It’s what made me fight as hard as I did. I knew you’d come for me, and you did.”
“Not soon enough, though.” I sigh, leaning forward and pressing my lips to her forehead.
“I spent fifteen years waiting to be found the last time. This was nothing.” She tries to joke, but her words get stuck in her throat.
“Here, take another sip.”
She does just that as I sense people moving closer and see them pulling the tables and chairs out of the way and moving around so Citi can see them.
Surprisingly, everyone takes a seat on the floor, leaving just Citi and Star in an elevated position.
I realize it’s been done intentionally so she doesn’t feel small and cornered.
I take her drink from her and place it on the ground before sitting on my ass.
Circus is the only one still standing. I brace myself as he walks closer, and my alertness triggers a response in Citi.
She yanks her head around so hard it must hurt.
She whimpers when she sees him. I’m about to tell him to back off when he sits on the arm of the sofa and takes one of Citi’s hands in his.
Tears run down her face, but she doesn’t make a sound, the silent heartbreak making me feel like she’s taken a knife to my gut.
“We don’t have to do this now,” Havoc says softly, shuffling closer, Nevaeh following suit.
“I…” She shakes her head. “I have to get it out. I just don’t know how.”
“You just start from the beginning. We’ve got you,” Circus tells her as her eyes slip closed.
“We finished tutoring early. C…Capone said I’m doing well.” She blows out a shaky breath as I wrap one of my hands around her calf so she can feel me here with her.
“He talked me into going to the diner. He had a crush on the waitress there, and by the time we were done, she finally agreed to go out with him.” She looks up at me with devastation in her eyes. “I have to tell her. He wouldn’t want her to think he stood her up. He really liked her.”
I draw circles on her skin with my thumb. “We’ll tell her. We’ll go together.”
She nods her head rapidly. “Okay.”
She takes a second to compose herself. “We went our separate ways at the diner. Capone to fetch Star, and me to go to therapy. I wanted to run some errands first, so Con said he’d take me, which he did. When I got to therapy, I was a few minutes early.”
She huffs out a dry laugh and shakes her head. “I should have realized. I’m so fucking stupid.”
“Hey, stop it. You’re not dumb.”
She looks at me and swallows. “Two women were arguing when I went in, about there being no elevator. She had a double stroller and couldn’t get up the stairs without it.
I just kept out of their way and went up to my appointment, never once questioning how my wheelchair-bound therapist got upstairs. ”
It takes a few moments for the penny to drop. When it does, people start cursing. Havoc pulls out his phone and hits a button before spinning it around for Citi to see. “Is this your therapist?”
Citi nods.
“That’s—”
“I know who he is.”
We all settle down again as she takes a few deep breaths. My mind is still reeling from the fact that I sent my woman off to this fucking maniac once a week, oblivious to the danger she was in.
“I passed Pig on the stars. He said a few choice words, leaving me feeling rattled. I assumed he had the same therapist as me. Like I said, stupid.
“The session went fine to start with. But I think Pig put me on edge, and I was more combative than usual. Some of the things Michael was saying just ticked me off. I must have rattled him because he slipped. When I told him I’d gotten sad news that Lil had died, he called her Lilac.
I was stupid. I called him on it. I didn’t think.
His wheelchair made me feel safe…and then he stood up.
He told me nobody called her Lilac but him.
He must have hit me because the next thing I know, I wake up in a cave with him there, just watching me.
I didn’t realize he had Capone and Star there at first. Not until he got a phone call.
I’m guessing that was Pig, but I don’t know for sure.
Whatever he said to him pissed him off. He—”
She starts shaking, so Havoc changes tactics. “How did you get out of your cuffs?”
“I was never cuffed. Michael knew I wouldn’t leave Star behind, and he’d shackled her to Capone.”
“Do you know how they got there?”
“Pig. He knew where Star went to school and where we usually parked. Capone put drinks for them both in the car, and when he went to collect Star from her classroom, Pig slipped something into it to knock them both out. He must have brought them to the cave, probably before I even bumped into him at therapy.”
She shakes her head and drifts off a little, staring into space.
“He saved her, you know. Whatever Pig said to Michael on the phone set him off. He was going to keep me and send Star back in pieces to teach you a lesson. He would trade me for Lil, and that was it. Star was the punishment. He didn’t believe Lil was dead.
I couldn’t make him understand. And then after the phone call, he flipped.
He shot at Star twice and left. I thought she was dead.
It was so fucking dark I didn’t know Capone was even there until I realized he’d wrapped himself around her. ”
Circus tugs her head to his chest when she starts crying, his eyes damp with emotion. We all sit and wait it out as she cries a river for a man who sacrificed himself for the little girl who came to mean so much to all of us.
When she has her crying under control, I hand her a tissue from the box Amity throws my way.
“I tried to stop the bleeding, but there was too much. He told me to run, but I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. He told me about a knife in his boot, and I found it. And then I went out of the cave to see if I could figure out where we were, but I didn’t want to go too far.”
She glances down at Star. “When I came back, she was singing to him. He was smiling, but I knew he was gone.”
“He died doing exactly what he would have wanted to, protecting you both,” Circus says, his voice hoarse.
“I know. He told me. And then…” She looks around, unsure.
“No judgment here, Citi. Tell us your truth,” Probe tells her softly.
“It was like he was beside me, looking down on his body. He refused to let me give up. He knew what I had to do and that I couldn’t do it alone. He made me brave.”
She sobs as I move in closer, reaching up to cup her face. “You were already so fucking brave, angel. He was just reminding you.” I can hear others crying behind me, but I keep my focus on my girl.
“I had to get Star out. Had to keep her safe, but she was still shackled to Capone. I…cut—”
“Shhh… It’s okay, we know.” Circus soothes her.
“I got so sick, but he wouldn’t let me give up.
And then she was free. But then Pig turned up, and it was all for nothing.
I tried to keep his focus on me, making him angry so he wouldn’t go searching for Star.
I just needed to give you guys time to get to me.
But then he told me he was going to rape Star, and I lost it.
I don’t really remember what happened next. ”
She dips her head and looks at me. “Then there was you, and I knew we were safe. You came,” she whispers.
“I will always come for you. Always,” I tell her fiercely.
She takes a shuddering breath before looking up at Havoc again. “He wanted me to tell you that it was an honor to be a part of the Ravens. He said he would do it again—that ‘there was no scenario, in any lifetime, where he wouldn’t put himself between a bullet and Star.’”
She presses her fingers to her lips, barely holding it together. “He died a hero, and I will never forget what he did for me. For us.”
“Just be happy. That’s what he would want,” Circus says before getting to his feet. “I’ll be back. I just need a minute.”
He walks away as Midas gets up and follows him. “I’ve got him.”
I take the spot Circus vacated, leaving space for Havoc to move in closer.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t save him.”
“No. That’s not on you, little sister. You do not take the blame for this. I need to ask you something else. Did Michael mention anyone else? I find it curious that his PI wasn’t in the thick of things.”
She shakes her head. “Only Pig. Michael planted him here so he could get information on the MC. Pig, owed him a favor.”
“Prospects don’t know shit,” G grunts out.
“As he pointed out, he might not have had access to your secrets, but he had access to your women and kids. He knew where we were and how to get to us.”
“Shit,” G curses, running his fingers through his hair.
“He did say something, though, which confused me. He said he was surprised when he found me and Star at the house instead of Kruger.”
“He thought Kruger lived there because that’s what was implied, and that property is in his—”
“No, I know all this. It was what he said afterward. He said the first time he was at the house, he should have realized that Star and I lived there, not Kruger. He remembered the picture on the fridge, the children’s books on the bookshelf, but he was too focused on Kruger to see the truth.”
Havoc blinks, then frowns. “But he didn’t come to the house then. It was his PI.”
“That’s just it, Kruger. I don’t think there is a PI. I don’t think there ever was. I think the PI is Michael, like he was my therapist.”
“Like he was the guy in the park,” Legs murmurs.
I look at her, stunned, before turning to Kruger. “Is that possible? I mean, we know now that Jack, Sam, and Michael are the same guy. Why not James too?”
I see Kruger thinking back to their interactions.
“Bulky coat, stooped frame, some prosthetics to change the shape of his nose and face? Yeah, it’s possible.
And the note he left in the car with Star.
It said, ‘Have you found my wife yet? Find Lilac and return her to me.’ Fuck me, this guy has been playing us for fools all along.
” He jumps up and pulls out his cell, hits a couple of buttons, and holds it to his ear.
“Nathan? Yeah, I know. I’ve got a lot of shit going down.
I need you to do me a favor. That new software?
” He nods at whatever Nathan says. “I need you to run Jack Davis and Sam Davenport against James Taylor. Yeah, that’s the guy.
This is a top priority, okay? I need this done ASAP. Call me back when you have something.”
He hangs up and looks at Havoc. “He’ll get back to us when he has something, but it fits.”
“Yeah. Shame we didn’t figure it out fucking sooner.”
I tune them out and focus back on Citi. “It’s time to get you both cleaned up now, Citi.”
She looks down at her bloody clothes and nods. “I know.” She tugs at the T-shirt, her eyes pleading with mine to understand. “But this is all we have left of Capone.”
“No, baby. We have Star. You’ll never forget Capone because every time you look at her, you’ll think of the man who saved her.”
I fold my arms around her as she cries, taking in everyone’s devastated faces. Capone was a good man. A hit like this is a hard one to heal from. But heal we will because it’s the only way we’ll be able to avenge him.