Chapter 8 #2
“Are we okay, Tori?” she asks carefully, and I sigh and look her in the eye.
I can see all the guilt and sadness she’s feeling, and I’m tempted just to cave and forgive them, but I can’t yet.
Who knows if I will ever be? So much has happened, and if the plan forming in my mind works, then there may be more shit to come that she may never forgive me for.
“I just don’t know,” I tell her honestly.
She sags and stands up, going over to sit in Colton’s lap while he continues doing his tech stuff.
I type out a message to Mickey, giving him the address, which is now burned into my mind.
Me: Meet me here tomorrow at midnight. I want to know who is in the apartment.
Me: Bring support. Take care of any resistance.
“Who are you messaging?” Xavier asks, and when I look up, he’s lost interest in the cabinet and is watching me closely.
“Mickey. Just letting him know I’m safe for now,” I lie, “and that I’m working on a plan.” I tuck the phone into my cleavage, my tight tank top holding it in place. I want to keep it with me, since Colton had to put tracking equipment on my actual phone when we were in Dad’s office earlier.
“So you are working on a plan. Care to share with us?” he asks, and I shake my head.
“I need more information first, and preferably a location for my dad, and then we can talk,” I tell him, and he frowns but seems to accept it.
“And Addison. I’m not doing anything that might put her in danger, so we need to find her too,” Vienna says, and the other three agree with her. I give them a nod of acceptance, but if all goes to plan, Addison will no longer be an issue tomorrow.
“How about we meet back here in a couple of days and discuss our next move? I should have a bit more information by then,” Colton suggests calmly.
“Are you able to loop the videos every night?” I ask him. “We don’t want to be seen coming and going if we are sneaking around.”
He frowns. “I can, but they will be monitoring your room specifically. If you can give them a show, then I can set it to loop from maybe ten thirty or eleven for a few hours. Would that work?”
“By show, you mean we need to fuck?” I ask bluntly, and he grimaces but nods.
“We can make it look like we are, Tori, by keeping the blankets over us and just simulating it,” Xavier suggests, and Tristan chuckles.
“I’d bust a nut just doing that if I got to have my hands all over her.”
Xavier hisses at him to shut up. “I’m trying to make things less awkward for Tori. I won’t force her.”
Vienna scoffs, “Not sure that would be less awkward.”
I have to agree with her and Tristan, but I need Mario to be happy and let his guard down so he will turn his attention elsewhere.
The FBI busting their drug haul in a few days will help.
Am I going to let the others get caught up in the bust?
I’m not sure at this stage. It may make things easier, especially if Mario is there as well.
I need to give him something to keep him distracted.
“I will give you the code to the safe. Will that help?” I ask, and all three of them look at me with surprise.
“You can get in?” Colton asks suspiciously. “Without Gio?”
“Yeah, I’m not sure why, but Gio lied. It doesn’t take both our handprints.” I guess my brother was still protecting the family at the end, even though he knew he fucked up beyond reason.
“That would certainly appease Mario. The weapons warehouse would be even better though,” Xavier pushes, and I purse my lips in thought.
“It’s empty at the moment, so it wouldn’t help him anyway,” I say vaguely, not ready to share that information.
I still need to be able to come and go from the house without anyone watching my movements, and that will be the only option for now.
“I’ll ask my suppliers when the next shipment is coming in. ”
“Who are your suppliers? Mario is going to want to know that and want one of us to handle it,” Tristan says, waving between himself and the other two.
I groan. “Mario is such a chauvinistic asshole. There is a certain weapons manufacturer who is on our payroll. They have their legitimate manufacturing and sales, and then they have their not so legal activities, which they hide from the authorities. I don’t ask how they do it, and they haven’t shared the information with me.
We get a shipment once a month, but this month’s has already been and gone.
We retain most of the weapons for our own use, but we do sell some of them to trusted buyers.
We vet all of them. Anyone with ties to any overseas terrorist cells are denied, but… ”
I wrinkle my nose, because the weapons supplies is one of those things I’ve never agreed with.
There is enough gun violence on the streets without us adding to it, but that seems like a silly notion for someone who carries a weapon and doesn’t hesitate to use it to have.
In my defense, innocents don’t get caught in the crossfire of my bullets.
“Homegrown militia groups, gangs, and basically anyone else is fair game.”
“A mafia family with morals.” Tristan chuckles. “Whoever would have thought? Mario was always sneering at the way the Russos operated, but you must be doing something right, because your net worth is astronomical compared to his.”
“Loyalty and American pride go a long way,” Xavier mutters.
“Giving him the safe will at least allow him to pay cash for the next drug import,” Colton says wearily, pulling off his glasses and rubbing his eyes.
“About that…” I grimace as he looks up, his tired eyes a little bloodshot. “If you want to stay out of prison, I would avoid attending the drop.”
“What? Why?” Xavier demands sharply. “Mario will insist one of us be there to facilitate the buy.”
“Make him go,” I tell him, thinking quickly. That would at least get him out of our hair for a while. “The feds are going to be there and will scoop him up.”
There’s stunned silence. “When did you get time to let the feds know and how?” Tristan shakes his head in disbelief.
“When you went to the bathroom at the courthouse, right?” Vienna says flatly, and I wince.
“Yeah.”
“Have you had dealings with those agents prior to today?” Xavier is glaring at me, but before I can answer, Colton chuckles.
“Right, you didn’t have a mole who told you about Lorenzo being busted, you were directly responsible.”
“I hate exploitation of women or people in general.” I shrug, and Vienna scoffs, unamused.
“You run whores and strippers,” she points out dryly.
“All of our whores and strippers are paid well and want to be there. None of them are forced to do what they do, and that is the difference between me and Lorenzo. Every one of those women at the warehouse were there under duress, including the FBI agent’s sister.
I accidentally scooped him up, thinking he was a cartel member invading my turf.
When I got around to interrogating him, well, we came to an agreement.
I wouldn’t kill him, and he wouldn’t turn me in if I helped find his sister. ”
“Seems fair,” Colton remarks.
“And I won’t have meth, fentanyl, or heroine on our streets. Too many overdoses draw attention, attention we don’t want.”
“Smart.” Tristan nods.
“Mario is going to know it was you. He will get Colton to go through your phone and find the messages,” Xavier warns me.
I look at Colton who sighs. “I can make sure he doesn’t find it.
Don’t use it to message anyone else though.
I won’t be able to hide everything,” he warns.
“Anything else you want to share with us?” He crosses his arms, and I think he’s trying to look intimidating, but he’s mostly naked, and his muscles ripple.
I wipe the corner of my mouth to make sure I’m not drooling.
Hell, I’m only human, and he is fucking hot.
“Not at the moment,” I hedge, and he heaves out a sigh.
“Fine, but we are on your side, I promise. We should get back to bed. I don’t want to risk us getting caught. Should we meet back here tomorrow and talk again?”
I think about what I need to do tomorrow and shake my head. “No, let’s make it the day after. That will give Colton time to do some digging.”
“Okay, sounds reasonable,” he agrees, and I move to the cupboard to close it, but before I do, I go to grab one of the guns, but a hand on my wrist stops me. I glare at the man on the other end of the hand.
“Tori, just let us protect you for now. If Mario sees you with a weapon, he will have a fit and insist on you being locked up. I promise you will be safe with us.”
I scoff. “Have I been safe up until now? Look at what happened a couple of weeks ago. You were in the car with me, and we were still ambushed,” I argue.
He winces. “Mario didn’t know we were in the car that day. He never would have ordered the attack if he had known.”
Now it’s my turn to be skeptical. “Did you ever think that maybe he already knew about Gio and Casey and the baby, and he was trying to get rid of all of us? With that baby, he wouldn’t have needed any of us anymore.”
Xavier visibly flinches, and when I look at the other three, it’s obvious none of them had even considered that.
I chuckle darkly. “By getting rid of Casey and Gio, I did you a favor. I ensured your place in his succession. You can thank me later.”
Vienna just shakes her head and turns her back on me. Yeah, I’m not sure either of us are going to be able to move past what we’ve both had to do to protect ourselves.
We’re at an impasse, but I comply. It’s not like there aren’t little hidey-holes all over the house where I can access a weapon or two, and I don’t think they know about those.
I haven’t told them, Penny didn’t know about them, and I doubt Gio would have said anything.
He was a lot of things, but he wanted us to be safe in our own home.
After locking the cabinet, I follow the others out into the library.
It takes a moment for my eyes to adjust to the near darkness, but I quietly point out the book that opens the safe room to the others.
Tristan smirks at the title but stays silent.
We move quickly and quietly back to our rooms. Colton stops at our door and waits for us, whispering in our ears that he’s going to turn the cameras back on and to be mindful of our words before following the other two, who have already entered their room without a backward glance.
Even as Xavier inaudibly closes the door behind him, neither of us talk.
We just climb into bed and roll over with our backs to one another.
It’s even more awkward now, but I don’t have it in me to care.
I’m fucking wiped. I just need to get a few hours of sleep before I have to deal with whatever hell is waiting for me tomorrow.
As I close my eyes and try to force everything out of my mind, I slide my foot over and rest it against his calf.
I feel him flinch slightly, but he doesn’t move away.
In fact, he moves his legs slightly closer to me, so I don’t have to stretch so far.
I miss Sage so much, and I’m going to be selfish and take a small measure of comfort from the man in my bed, even if I don’t know if he is my ally or my enemy, and he’s going to let me.