Chapter 39 Leeva
Leeva
Twelve hours later, my life is overtaken by the Wentzell family. Keifer blows into the house, followed by Ursula and her three boyfriends. Hans, the majordomo for their family and de facto grandfather, comes in last, always the steady calm of the group. I nearly burst into tears seeing them.
This is the found family I had for the past years, who have loved and accepted me—after realizing I wasn’t a gold digger after Luthor’s fortune, of course. After an emotional reunion, I update them on everything I know and the theories I have.
After I’m done, Barrett, Jacob, and Drake set up their equipment in the den on the main floor to monitor the perimeter of the grounds. Ursula is in full take-charge mode, Hans is making food, and Keifer sees to my emotional welfare.
“You doing okay, stepmother?”
He calls me that to get a rise out of me, either for me to swat him or to laugh. I do neither; only chew on my lip while I pace.
“If this is Guerilla, he had to have known where I was. But how?”
Ursula walks up to me and places her hands on my shoulders. “I take full responsibility for that because our security measures should’ve detected it, or one of our people should’ve noticed someone was watching you.”
“If this was Guerilla, the MC didn’t even know, and Digits’ system and skills are top-tier.” I don’t want her to shoulder this blame like I know she’s going to try to do.
“Which means Guerilla has upped his skill game, or he’s working with someone else with this skill level,” Barrett chimes in from the den.
That makes my unease grow, because neither option feels any better than the other.
“But why now?” Keifer asks the question I’ve been mulling over myself.
“He has to know about Hayes and me.”
Ursula studies me, tapping her upper lip with her sharp-pointed nail. “I agree. Which means we need to plan our strategy with that in mind.”
“This isn’t a corporate takeover, Urs,” Keifer bites out and rises from the chair.
Her blue eyes narrow on her brother. “I know that. But sitting around talking about our feelings isn’t going to help Leeva, now, is it?” she snaps.
Seriously, the fact that these two shared a womb and didn’t kill each other is remarkable. But there’s no stronger loyalty and sibling love than these two.
Sibling love.
The exact opposite of what Hayes and Guerilla have. What they had were battles and warfare. Always because Guerilla instigated it.
I go still.
Guerilla always struck at Hayes in underhanded ways, but he relished it when Hayes experienced the blow publicly.
When I became his old lady, it was Guerilla who insisted we go to the clubhouse when everyone would be there, and that I tell Hayes our news in front of everyone.
It was the same with how Guerilla wanted me to tell Hayes I was pregnant.
“He’s going to go after Hayes and make it public.” My eyes fly to Keifer and Ursula. “I need to stop this.”
They intercept me before I get to the door, and Ursula shouts for her guys to come. Hans is there, and he pulls me from the middle of the crowd that’s preventing me from leaving. He walks me to the island and sets me on a stool.
I don’t fight them, knowing there are too many of them. But that doesn’t mean I’ve given up.
Drake, the former leader of the Special Ops team, steps in front of me. “You running is a very stupid idea. Let us handle this.”
Jacob crosses his arms over his chest. “Help us understand Guerilla. We need to make a full profile of him.”
Fighting the urge to try and run again, I nod, thankful to have something concrete to focus on right now. “But I have no idea who his contacts would be, or who might be helping him.”
“Don’t worry about that. Once we get a better sense of the person he is and how he operates, that might give us some ideas of where to start digging.”
“Making a profile…” Keifer claps his hands and rubs them together. “Count me in.”
“Finally, something in that big genius brain of yours might come in useful,” Ursula mutters.
“Not helping, ice queen,” he retorts.
Barrett shakes his head, wrapping his arm around Ursula, and says something in her ear that changes her tune.
“Sorry, Keifer, that was uncalled for.” She looks over to me. “I’m just worried about you and feel like I failed you.”
“You can’t shoulder the blame for this, Urs.”
“She’s right,” Drake grunts, even though I can tell he’s pissed that their team missed this as well. “But it’s another check in the column that Guerilla has had help staying off the radar, since neither us, nor this Digits guy, were aware or have been able to find him over the past few years.”
“You were searching for Guerilla?”
He nods. “Luthor suspected he was still trying to find you.”
“Why?”
They all exchange a look that implies I’m clearly out of the loop on something.
“Because”—Jacob hooks his thumbs in the tactical vest he wears—“you were almost abducted a few years ago by someone who matched the description of Guerilla, AKA Harrison Cartwright.”
“What?” I gasp. Guerilla tried to kidnap me?
Ursula glares at Jacob but turns to me. “It coincided with Hayes’ discharge from the Marines and his return to the MC.”
I frown, considering this. What was Guerrilla’s motivation back then? To reclaim me, return home to the MC, and rub it in Hayes’ face? Or did he have some other sinister plan?
“The fact that none of us have been able to track him means he has some serious resources behind him,” Barrett rumbles.
“But if you suspected this, why did you allow me to come back to San Francisco alone?”
Jacob shakes his head. “Not alone. We had a team watching over you.”
“Jesus.” Then I wince, not just because someone else was watching me and I had no idea, but because that team knew I had gone to Hedon.
But Keifer pulls my attention away from worrying about that. “Let’s get started on building his profile and picking away at possible leads for who his contacts might be.”
Hans wraps his arm around me. His silver hair shines under the lights, and his eyes are kind. “I’ll make that soup you love.”
Lemon chicken rice. It was a staple my mom made growing up.
Emotions push forth as I stare around the room at the family that took me in as one of their own. “Thank you for being here.”
I didn’t realize how much I needed them to deal with this.
Keifer’s eyes shine with emotion, the most expressive of the group. “We got you, don’t worry.”
But it’s not me I’m truly worried about.
It’s Hayes and the plans Guerilla might have in store for him.