Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
MARCO
It had been three days since my confrontation with Black, and as I walked into Alpha Omega Investigation, I felt lighter and freer than I had in weeks, hell, probably even years.
And it was all because of Gypsy. It was as if a weight I’d been carrying on my shoulders since childhood had finally lifted.
I was no longer that little boy desperate for my parents’ acceptance. I wasn’t the unruly teenager hell bent on taking my pain and anger out on the world by causing trouble at every turn. I wasn’t the man who didn’t belong anywhere.
I belonged now. I belonged with Gypsy and those kids. They were my family. The only real family I ever had. And the best one a man could ever ask for.
“Well, look at you,” Roxanne greeted with a brash grin as I pushed through the glass door. “Someone’s rather chipper this morning. Get yourself a little somethin’ somethin’ before work, huh?”
Lifting the white paper cup I’d just picked up at Muffin Top, I swigged back some coffee before replying, “Always a class act, Rox.” Moving in her direction, I deposited the coffee I’d gotten her on the ledge of her desk.
“Oh, honey. You have no idea,” she teased with a wink, grabbing her drink and taking a gulp. “So how’s the lovely Gypsy doing? Just as peppy as you, I’m guessing.”
A chuckle worked its way from my chest as I gave my head a shake. “Never change, babe.”
“Not plannin’ on it, darlin’.”
“Xander make it in yet?”
Swallowing down another glug of coffee, she nodded before answering, “Yep. Back in the control room where he always is.”
The control room of Alpha Omega was every techie’s wet dream, and, seeing as he lived his life behind a monitor, that was where Xander spent most of his time. The guy was a wiz on a computer. If there was anything you needed to know, no matter how deep it was buried, he could find it.
I started in that direction when Lincoln appeared in the doorway of his office. “Marco, You got a minute?”
Giving Roxanne a tip of my chin, I changed course and headed into Linc’s office, sitting in one of the chairs in front of his desk.
He followed after me, rounding the imposing piece of furniture and taking a seat across from me.
I was eager to get this conversation over with so I could get Xander’s help on something, but it wasn’t often Lincoln would ask for our time, so when he did, it was something important. “What’s up?”
“There’ve been some developments on Black that I wanted to make you aware of.” My back shot straight, every one of my senses going on alert.
“What developments.”
Leaning back in his chair, Lincoln kicked his feet up on his desk, the picture of relaxation in spite of the intense subject matter. “Well, it appears your... talk the other night set something off in him.”
Leaning forward, I braced my elbows on my knees and asked, “And that means?”
“That means he’s freaked. Freaked enough that he’s taken it out on Gypsy’s girl.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. “McKenna?”
“That’s the one.”
“Fuck,” I hissed, throwing myself back in the chair.
“She got word about what went down with you and Black and how you took Gypsy’s back.
She’s a smart girl, has good instincts. Had a gut feeling you were the kind of man who could do something about it, and when she saw you with Xander after your showdown the other night, she reached out, told him what she had planned. ”
I didn’t give a shit about any plan. She was Gypsy’s girl and if anything happened to her, my woman would be devastated. That was all I cared about. “Fuck her plan, Linc. We have to get her out of there.”
His easy going demeanor shifted instantly. Putting his feet back to the floor, he sat up straight and turned to face me full on. “We can’t.”
“What the fuck do you mean?” I barked. “Of course we can. Pull her out. She’s just an innocent girl, she doesn’t know what she’s gotten herself into.”
“I mean, we can’t pull her out because she doesn’t want to be pulled out.
” My vision started to burn red, and reading the meaning behind my growing temper, Lincoln quickly added, “It’s not what you think, Marco.
She’s got no loyalty to Black. She came to us ’cause she knows exactly what’s going on.
Apparently, he’s a talkative motherfucker once he’s gotten off.
He’s spilled some serious shit to this girl, and she wants to help us take him down. ”
“Lincoln, man, it’s too risky. We can’t ask her—”
“We didn’t ask. She only reached out after putting this shit into motion, and what she’s already given us is better than anything we’ve managed to dig up on this asshole in the past year and a half.
She’s determined, brother. Believe me, I tried talkin’ her out of this when Xander brought her to me yesterday, but if we don’t take her back, she’s gonna do it on her own and probably get herself killed in the process. ”
“Goddamn it,” I grunted, scrubbing at my face, the two-days’ worth of stubble on my jaw scraping across my palms. Inhaling deeply, I counted to ten in an attempt to calm my agitation. And when that didn’t work, I counted to twenty. “So what have we found out?” I asked once I had myself in check.
“Well, first, we learned that Black bought the club so he could use the private rooms to deal his shit. Since everything went down with Christian Fanning getting locked up and his other dealer being killed in a shootout with the cops, he decided he needed to change up his distribution methods. Thing is, it worked so well, he got greedy, started forcin’ some of the girls into sellin’ crystal while giving free hand jobs by way of threats.
They’re pissed off and scared. They’re dancers, not whores and dealers.
They don’t like the direction shit’s goin’, so when McKenna made her approach, they were all too happy to join up in taking that prick down. ”
“So that’s what you meant when you said she’d already put things into motion,” I said on a sigh.
“Ten girls all willin’ to talk,” Lincoln confirmed. She came here to make sure they had someone lookin’ out for them the way you looked out for Gypsy. Her words, not mine. She was worried going to the cops before she put that in place would leave them all swingin’ in the wind.”
“So I guess you’ve already got everything set.
” It wasn’t a question. Lincoln Sheppard took care of his own, and he considered the people in this town his own.
But there was no mistaking the admiration in his voice when he spoke of Gypsy’s friend McKenna.
What she’d done, to him, was courageous, and if she and her girls needed help doing the right thing, he was damn well going to give it to them.
“Already spoke with Hayes and Trick. Right now’s about getting any information we can while keeping those women safe.
Xander’s workin’ the inside with another security guard by the name of Bruce.
” I didn’t know Bruce personally, but I’d heard Gypsy talk about him.
From what I gathered from her, he was a good guy.
And if Xander trusted him enough to partner up, I knew he could take care of himself.
“Bruce is on McKenna. Cord’s back on full duty so him, Hunter, Bryce and West are covering the others.
Know it goes without sayin’, but I’m gonna say it anyway.
You keep your eyes open. That son of a bitch already has your woman in his sites, and with the noose tightening, we don’t know what he’s capable of. ”
“Believe me. You don’t need to worry about that. Xander’s my next stop. I’ll get a GPS tracker from him to give Gypsy if you don’t mind.”
“Don’t mind at all. You take whatever you need to keep her safe.” he answered without hesitation. “My gut’s tellin’ me shit’s about to go down. We need to brace. When the time comes to make our move, we do it fast and with surgical precision so Black has no chance of staunching the bleeding.”
A slow, wicked smile pulled at my lips as a matching one took over Lincoln’s face. “I like the sound of that.”
With that conversation out of the way, I left the office shortly after and went in search of Xander. As I suspected, he was sitting in front of a massive bank of monitors, his fingers flying over the keyboard at lightning speed.
“What’s up, man,” he greeted, flicking his gaze to me before returning it to the screens. “You talk to Linc already?”
“Yeah. Just got done with him. Need you to hook me up with a GPS tracker for Gypsy.”
“You got it.”
Grabbing a chair from one of the other stations, I wheeled it over and sat beside him. “And I have a favor to ask if you’ve got time.”
The clacking of the keyboard stopped when he spun the chair to face me. “Whaddaya got?”
Pulling a slip of paper from my pocket, I extended it between my middle and index fingers. “Need you to run a couple names for me.”
He took the paper and opened it, reading what I’d scrawled across it before giving me a funny look. “This for real?”
“Abso-fucking-lutely.”
Reading the bitterness in my voice, a nefarious grin tilted his lips. “And what exactly am I looking for?”
“Anything and everything that’ll help me take those fucker’s down,” I answered. “It’s got the slightest bit of dirt on it, I wanna know. You get me?”
“I get you. If it’s there, I’ll dig it up. But I got another question.”
“And that is?”
“I find them and everything else you’re wanting, what then?”
“Let me worry about that.”
He paused, eyeing me for a beat. “Well, all right, my man. I’m all over it.”
I nodded my appreciation. “Thanks.”
“No need to thank me, brother. Now how about we get you set with that tracker?”
Gypsy looked up from the stove, her face splitting with an exquisite smile the moment I walked through the front door later that evening.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to seeing that first thing after getting home from a long day at work. I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to. Because then I might take all that beauty for granted, and I never wanted that to happen.
“Hey, babe. Hope you like chicken enchiladas, ’cause that’s what I’m making.”
The scent of spices filled the air, making my stomach rumble. Holly hit me with all the full force her little six-year-old body could muster. “Marco, guess what!”
Grinning down at her, I brushed my palm over the top of her head. “What, preciosa?”
“We drawed family pictures in class today, and mine came out the best!”
“Drew, doodlebug,” Gypsy corrected. “You drew family pictures.”
She gave her oldest sister a look full of attitude. “That’s what I said.” When she turned back to me, she did a little girl eye roll, and I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing before she brightened back up. “You wanna see it?”
“Of course I do, baby girl.” She skipped off, and I headed into the living room to greet the rest of the kids before moving into the kitchen. Coming up behind Gypsy, I wrapped my arms around her and burrowed my face in her hair as I spoke against her lips. “Smells fantastic, girasol.”
She giggled as her body shivered. “Me or the food?”
“Both,” I returned on a grin.
Wiping her hands on a dishtowel, she turned, forcing me to lift my head so she could wrap her arms around my neck and meet my gaze. “You have a good day?”
“Better now.” I kept hold of her with one arm while I reached into my back pocket to pull out the tracker I’d gotten from Xander. “I got this for you today.”
“Oh, uh...” She reached up and took it, her expression full of curiosity. “What is it?”
“GPS tracker. I want you to keep it in your purse. See this little light right here?” I pointed to the little green dot.
“If it’s green it’s good to go. If it turns red it needs to be charged.
I’ll get you the charger for it. Always keep it on and check it every few days to make sure the light stays green. ”
Her lips parted and closed and parted again before her forehead puckered with a deep frown. “And... why do you want me to put a GPS tracker in my purse?”
Pulling in a deep breath, I told her what I found out earlier today, choosing to leave out some of the details that would only upset her.
If she knew what McKenna was doing, she’d try and jump into the fray and I couldn’t risk that.
“I don’t want you to worry, but things with Black are heating up.
Odds are nothing’s ever gonna happen, but you think you could do it for me anyway? ”
Her expression grew worried and her hold on my neck tightened. “Is everything all right?”
“It’s fine, Gypsy. I promise.” She didn’t look convinced, so I gave her a squeeze. “You trust me?”
“You know I do,” she answered without missing a beat.
“Then you trust me to protect you? Just like I promised I would?” She hesitated for a few moments, then answered by breaking from my hold, moving to her purse on the counter, and slipping the tracker inside.
“Thank you, baby,” I whispered when she returned to me and resumed her previous position, arms looped around my neck.
“Like I said, I trust you.” Lifting on her tiptoes, she planted a quick kiss on my lips and spun back around to finish dinner just as Holly came barreling back into the kitchen.
“Look, Marco, look!”
I took the sheet of pink construction paper she was waving around and squatted to get down to her level. “Wow, honey. This is great!” I enthused as I looked at all the brightly colored squiggles on the sheet, trying to make them out.
“See? It’s the whole family,” she stated, pointing out each figure. “That’s me, and that’s Sunny and Ray and Rhodes and Raleigh. And there’s Odette, and that’s Gypsy!”
I pointed at the last squiggle on the page. “And who’s that?”
She looked up at me with those big beautiful eyes, so full of innocence and love. “That’s you, silly! See? I made you bigger than everyone else ’cause superheroes are always big and strong.”
A lump formed in my throat so large it was a struggle to breath. “I love that, baby girl. But I’m not a superhero. I’m just a regular man.”
She shook her head emphatically and grinned. “Nuh-uh. You’re a superhero ’cause you keep us all safe and that’s what superheroes do.”
When I cast my gaze up to Gypsy, she was smiling down with pride-filled, watery eyes. She’d seen the picture already, and I could tell just by looking at her she felt the exact same way. I had to clear my throat in order to speak. “I love you, Holly. You know that?”
She giggled happily. “Yeah, I know. You love all of us. And we love you. That’s what makes us a family.”
And with that bombshell, she snatched the picture back and skipped over to the fridge, sticking it beneath one of the many magnates that littered the front, then took off to join her brothers and sister in the living room.
“Hey, superhero,” Gypsy whispered as I rose to my full height, “How about you help me finish dinner?”
Christ, but I loved my family.