Chapter 40
ALEX
When Dante pulled up in front of a mansion in Metairie, all I could do was stare.
I knew that his family must have plenty of money; what was the point of running a criminal organization if it wasn’t lucrative, right?
But this house was unbelievably beautiful.
It made my grandparents’ enormous house seem small.
“Your uncle really lives here?”
“Yes, and at various times, some other family members stay here or temporarily live here as well. This is where Remington, Lancelot, and their younger brother, Corbin, grew up.”
“Wow.” It was so majestic it almost made me forget the reason we were there. “So Mitch is here? This is where he’s staying?”
“That’s right. And this is where I was headed the night you tried to follow me.”
“I wish Rafe hadn’t stopped me.”
Dante shook his head. “Come on in. I know Mitch will be glad to see you.”
Everything from the moment I heard Ivanov’s footsteps behind me felt surreal.
Being here, in this place, with this family, didn’t seem any more grounded in reality.
The idea that Mitch was here seemed beyond strange.
But as soon as we stepped inside, I saw Mitch seated on a beautiful white sofa between an older woman and a blond man who looked about our age.
Mitch looked like a smaller version of himself. He’d always been so big and loud and full of bluster, but he seemed shy and small now. Would he ever recover from this?
“Mitch? Are you really okay?”
“Alex.” He stood, and I rushed over to him and pulled him into a hug.
An older man stepped into the room as we held each other. “Lance just told me Ivanov got away.”
“Yes, sir,” Dante said. “We don’t know how. He was injured and should have had a dose of tranquilizer, but he ran faster than Lance and Renzo.”
“Son of a bitch. We’re going to bring him and everyone connected to his organization down.”
“Yes, sir. We are.” Dante turned to me. “Uncle Bébé, this is Alex. Alex, this is Remington’s father, and this lovely lady”—he gestured to the woman on the sofa—"is his stepmother, Marjorie.”
“She’s great,” Mitch said. “Like a real grandmother, not like mine.”
Mitch’s grandmother was as cold and impersonal as mine. Uncaring families were something we had in common.
Marjorie waved off his comment. “I’m just taking care of him the way I hope anyone would do. He’s been through a horrible experience.” I was immediately charmed by her and wondered how on earth she ended up married to a mafia boss.
“And this”—Dante indicated the young man—“is Nikolai.”
“It’s good to meet you,” he said. “Lorenzo has told me all about you.”
“I hope he said at least some good things.”
Nikolai smiled. “He did.”
I turned back to Mitch. “I’m so sorry you got mixed up in all this. I don’t even know how to apologize enough.”
“It’s not your fault,” Mitch said. “You told me the job thing was a scam.”
“I thought you’d lose money or do something like embezzling for someone, not… I’m so sorry. You would never have been a target if it wasn’t for me.”
“No,” Dante said. “It’s my fault, and I’m the one who owes you an apology.” He held out his hand to Mitch.
“Whoa. Is that a monkey?” Mitch pointed at Tony, who had been sitting quietly on Dante’s shoulder. The little monkey squeaked, jumped down, and ran to sit in Marjorie’s lap.
“That’s Tony. He belongs to Lancelot, and this is Dante,” I said, then glanced at him, wondering what else to say. He smiled and nodded, so I added, “He’s my biochem professor, and, well…” Dante took my hand.
“Sweet,” Mitch said.
“You’re not shocked?” I asked. “You don’t mind?”
Mitch shrugged. “You never seemed really interested in girls. But I also didn’t know you were interested in professors.”
Dante narrowed his eyes, and I laid a hand on his shoulder.
“It’s all right. I didn’t know I was either, and I’m not sure what’s going to happen now.”
Dante squeezed my hand tighter. “What’s going to happen now is that I am going to take care of you and protect you just like Bébé, Marjorie, and Nikolai have done for Mitch.”
“But what about your job?”
He pressed a finger against my lips. “We’ll figure it out. We don’t need to worry about that right now.”
I knew there were other, far more pressing things, but we were going to have to figure it out soon. I was supposed to be in class the next day, and so was Mitch.
“Mitch, what happened? I mean, if talking about it won’t make you feel worse. I can find out from someone else or just wait until you are ready.”
Mitch shook his head. “No, I think it helps me to talk. I went to meet up with the man who’d contacted me. I knew you were right, and the job was probably a scam, but just in case, I needed to know.”
“I get it. You were in a bad spot.”
“Yeah.” He let out a shaky breath, and I guided him to the sofa across from Marjorie and Nikolai so we could sit.
He continued. “When I got there, there were several men waiting for me. They grabbed me, tied my hands behind my back, and told me I would only survive if I didn’t fight.
I still tried to free myself, but they drugged me, and the next thing I knew, I woke up in a place that looked like a hotel room, but there were bars on the windows.
I was locked in. I called out and kept rattling the door until finally someone came and told me to shut up and be quiet.
I heard men joking about how they wanted to…
to fuck me. But they had to wait their turn. ”
Tears gathered in his eyes, and I wrapped an arm around him. “I’m so sorry.”
Lorenzo and Lancelot entered the room, but they stayed quietly by the door as Mitch kept telling his story.
“Then some men broke in. They killed the ones who’d kidnapped me and told me they were there to rescue me. I didn’t know who they were. I didn’t know anything. But it turned out it was Marjorie and Bébé’s nephews.”
“Rafe, Ambrose, and Dax?” Dante looked at his uncle.
Bébé nodded.
“They made sure I wasn’t hurt and that I’d been given food and water.
They were worried I was in shock, so they wrapped me up in insulating blankets and monitored my pulse while they brought me here.
I’ve been here since then. They told me you would come, but you were helping catch the man responsible for all of this, but I guess he got away. ”
“We will find him,” Bébé said. I promise you that. “Ambrose, Dax, and Rafe are trying to learn more now. They should be here soon.”
“Where’s Remington?” Dante asked.
“He’s with Corbin, tying up some more loose ends.” I assumed that was code for something much more sinister, but I didn’t ask.
By the time Dante had introduced Mitch to Lancelot and Lorenzo and Tony had gotten treats from several family members, Rafe, Ambrose, and Dax arrived.
Dante joined me and Mitch on the sofa, and Bébé sat down with his wife and put an arm around her. The others found seats as well, and Bébé indicated Ambrose should debrief us.
“They had Mitch stashed at some sort of compound out in the bayou. There were some high-level men stationed out there. We don’t know whether they were only there to watch Mitch or if they were waiting for a big meeting, but we got rid of them.
The rest of his top people have been taken out by Remington and Corbin.
They’ve made hits over the course of the last few days. ”
I glanced at Dante, and he smiled. Could I really believe they were closing in on Ivanov, even though he’d escaped tonight?
Emilio has managed to freeze all of Ivanov’s accounts that we’re aware of. We’re closing him down. He’s going to get increasingly desperate. He will show himself again.”
“Emilio is the best hacker I’ve ever met,” Dante whispered to me.
Ambrose glanced toward his uncle. “Do you want to take it from there?”
Bébé nodded. “An anonymous tip has gone to federal authorities. So law enforcement will be moving in on Ivanov as well.”
Dante scowled. “We need to be the ones to take.”
“I understand how you feel. I believe we can work it out for him to end up in our hands, no matter who captures him first.”
“What kind of connections do you have?” I asked, then immediately clapped a hand over my mouth. “Never mind. I don’t want to know.”
Bébé chuckled. “If you need something done in this town, our family can manage it. I think that’s enough detail.” I nodded, and Mitch did too.
“So what do we do now?” Lorenzo asked.
“For now, we wait and watch our backs. You should be suspicious of anything that seems off. If your gut tells you something’s wrong, believe it and contact Remington.”
“I don’t like this,” Dante said, reaching for my hand and twining his fingers with mine.
“None of us do,” Ambrose said. “We’re going to move on this as quickly as we can.”
“What do we do for now?” I asked. “I have classes, and I can’t just hide.”
Dante pulled me to him. “We’re both going to take a leave of absence from the university. That will put off the decision about how to handle our relationship and give us some time to conduct our search while you stay close to me.”
“What about Mitch?”
“I’m going to stay here for the rest of the semester,” he said.
Babe said, “My wife and I have enjoyed having someone younger in the house, and we’ve offered Mitch a full scholarship to finish out the rest of his education. In exchange, he’s agreed not to mention anything about what happened today or what he may know of our family.”
I glanced at Mitch. “Are you okay with that?”
He smiled. “Hell yes. Why would I say anything when I get to live here and then go to school for free? It’s a great deal. I love it here.”
There wouldn’t be any frat parties or sorority girls wandering around the Theriots’ mansion, but I had a feeling that might be good for Mitch. He might thrive in a different atmosphere.
My heart fluttered at the thought of Dante describing what we had as a relationship.
That still didn’t mean he meant for this to be long-term, but I remembered what he said to me about how he had fallen for me.
I glanced over him. Was there a chance this could be something more, something permanent?
He smiled at me, and I felt my body relax. “I should take Alex home. He’s had a hell of a day. For the record, he’s never going to be bait again.”
“I expected nothing less,” Remington said.
As Dante and I said our goodbyes, I hugged more people than I ever had at once in my life. Eventually, we freed ourselves and began the drive back to the city.