22. Gabriel
Chapter twenty-two
Gabriel
Pizza, beer, and surprises.
I’m not sure what’s in that box, but with the look on the girls’ faces and the way Noah whips his head my way, I’m not sure I want to know.
“We have a problem,” he says with a hard yet worried expression.
I gulp. “What kind of problem?”
He takes a step toward me, angling the box for me to peer in.
My insides instantly tighten, bile rising to my throat as I look at the images of the girls in the box.
Each one of them individually taken at random moments during the day.
There’s even one with Cecilia and Dante standing outside their home.
Fuck. This guy isn’t a joke.
I’m not sure what we’re dealing with, but if the contents in this box and what Ronnie said to me a week ago are anything to go by, it’s nothing good. Victor is much more dangerous than we initially thought. And now he’s coming after our women.
“I did this. This is all my fault.” Ronnie begins to cry in my arms. “I should have stayed away. I should have kept moving around like I planned on doing,” she sobs. “He’s going to go after them. He’s going to hurt them.”
“No, we won’t let that happen,” Noah tries to reassure her, but there’s no use. She’s stuck in her head right now.
She pushes against me and rushes to her room.
We quickly follow her and find her pulling out a huge bag, throwing clothes into it haphazardly, which is very unlike Ronnie.
She always keeps everything tidy. Even at the resort, she took all our clothes out of our suitcases and folded them into the dressers.
“Kitten, what are you doing?” Noah asks, stepping cautiously toward her.
“If… if I leave, he’ll follow me. He won’t come after you all. He’ll leave you alone. You’ll be safe if I’m gone.” Her voice cracks as she whimpers.
“No, baby, this isn’t the way.” Fuck being cautious.
She needs to know we’re here and that we aren’t going anywhere.
I stride over to her and grab hold of her hands, stopping her from filling the bag.
“You leaving isn’t going to solve anything.
You’ll just have to keep running forever. That’s not a life, Vixen.”
She looks into my eyes, tears tracking down her face. “I don’t know what else to do, Gabriel. I can’t let him hurt them.”
I release her hands and cup her cheeks, using my thumbs to wipe away her tears. “He won’t. I promise you, Ronnie. We won’t let him. What did we talk about last week? Don’t live in fear of him, don’t let him control you. We’ll figure it out.”
“How?”
“We’ll have to tell the others, at least the guys. It might be best if the girls don’t know, so as to not cause more panic. We’ll hire security for the time being until we can catch this guy,” Noah tells her, coming in to stroke her hair.
“And how are we supposed to catch him? He’s everywhere, and yet we don’t ever see him! And what security would accept watching people without them knowing?”
“We might have to go to the cops with this. Do you still have that detective’s number or name? He might be able to help.” She nods in response. I don’t always agree that getting the authorities involved is a good thing, but I really don’t know what else to do.
“We could ask Julian,” Aubrey says quietly, still standing by the door.
Noah and I furrow our brows as we turn to her. Who the hell is Julian?
“Who?” Noah asks.
“Julian Storm,” she clarifies. “His brother lives in front of Morgan’s. They own one of the best security services in the world. I’m sure he would know what to do in a case like this one.” She blushes slightly.
“Oh shit, I forgot about those guys,” I say, dropping my hands from Ronnie when it finally clicks who Aubrey’s talking about. The three billionaire brothers. I’m not exactly sure what they do security wise, but Morgan and Clay swear by their company.
“That’s actually a really good idea. We’ll talk to him before going to the cops with anything. See what he suggests. We’ll just have to find a time to get to him as well as tell the guys, without Morgan, Cecilia, and Emma noticing.” Noah nods as a plan forms in his head.
Veronica lets out a sigh as she sits on the corner of her bed. She looks exhausted with this whole situation. “We could try to distract them, maybe give you boys a reason to leave the house all together.”
I nod this time. “That could work. We’ll inform the guys, then sneak over to the neighbor’s house and explain the situation. Hoping he’s there.”
“Or we could just ask Shane.” Brey instantly turns red. “I mean Coach Jefferson. He’s good friends with Julian. He could probably get you in touch.”
“You really are the smartest one in our group.” Noah smirks at her, causing her to go a deeper shade. “All right, I’ll give Coach a call, but I want you two to pack your things. You’ll both be staying with us for the time being.”
Aubrey’s eyes go wide. “Oh… I don’t know if that’s necessary.”
“Of course, it is, Brey. I’m hardly ever here lately, and there’s no way you’re staying here alone. If you prefer, you can stay at your brother’s place. We can tell them a pipe broke and we’re having repairs done. You’ll keep my car so that you can get to work from there easily,” Ronnie says.
“Okay, yeah. I already have a room at his place anyway,” Aubrey agrees.
“Good, everything is set now. Let’s go, ladies. Go pack some things so that we can get out of here. We’re already late for Burkley’s,” I announce with a clap of my hands as Noah walks out of the room with his phone to his ear.
Aubrey rushes over to her room as Ronnie stands from the bed slowly, chewing on her lip. “Are you sure this is going to work?”
“We’ll make it work, baby. I promise we’ll keep you safe. All of you.” I cradle the back of her head with one hand and pull her in as she circles my waist with her arms.
“It’s done. They’ll all be in front of Clay’s place. He said it’s something that will take time to discuss. And since we don’t want to raise any suspicions with the girls, he thinks it’s best if they come over to ‘celebrate’ with us,” Noah says as he comes back into the room.
“We’ll say we bumped into them on our way back and offered them to come over for dinner. But you’ll have to try and keep the wives away from the men while we discuss. Think you can do that, Kitten?” he asks Ronnie.
She nods. “Yeah, I think I can manage that.”
“Good. Are you done getting your stuff?” She looks at the bag that hasn’t been touched since I pulled her away from it.
“Umm, no. Just let me grab a few more things.” She rushes off to her closet and brings out a stack of heels. Jesus, women and their shoes.
I chuckle and head toward the door. “I’ll go check on Aubrey, see if she needs any help.”
“I’M GETTING MARRIED!” Emma bursts through the door at Burkley’s house literally seconds after we stepped in with her arms thrown in the air as she squeals with excitement.
The sound of barstools scratching against the floor rings out seconds before Morgan and Cecilia come running over to her and demand to see the ring.
Aubrey and Ronnie quickly take Emma into their arms, their high-pitched screams nearly bursting all our eardrums. Ford wears the proudest smile I’ve ever seen on his face as he listens to the girls fawning over the engagement ring, then shakes his head with a chuckle.
“About time!” I clap him on the back.
“Congrats, man.” Noah does the same.
He beams. “Thanks, guys.”
We leave the girls behind and join Silas and Clay in the kitchen as Clay comes to Greyson, taking him in for a man hug. “I’m happy for you, bro. And glad to see she seems a little better.” He steps back and nods toward Em as the girls slowly make their way over.
“Thank you. And yeah, for now. I just don’t know how long this happy state will last with the funeral coming up in two weeks.” Greyson shrugs and looks at his future wife with a sad smile.
Silas pushes Clay aside and takes Greyson into a big hug, slapping his back a few times until Grey winces. “Welcome to married life, brother. Where your balls are no longer your own.”
We all laugh as the girls finally join us once more, then congratulate Emma as well. She radiates with joy and excitement, bouncing up and down as she throws herself into her fiancé’s arms. “I love you so much, Wolf. I can’t wait to marry you.”
“Soon.” He grins at her before sealing their mouths together for a passionate kiss.
After a few seconds of smooching, Em pulls away quickly. Her eyes widen as she stares up at Greyson. “Uh-oh…” She suddenly pushes off him and rushes to the sink, bending her head in and emptying her guts down the drain.
We all stare with wide eyes at what is unraveling before us. She turns on the tap once she’s done, wiping her hands and mouth quickly before rinsing out the sink, then turns to face us with horror-filled eyes.
“This is normal, right? Being too excited can make you sick, right?... Right?!” Her gaze bounces over all of us.
“Well, yes, technically it can. But I’ve seen you excited many times, and that’s never happened.” Aubrey smiles sympathetically at Emma.
Emma’s eyes suddenly fill with rage as her head whips toward Greyson. “WOLF!!!” she shrieks. “You knocked me up, didn’t you?!”
He sucks in his lips, trying his hardest not to laugh. “I’m… sorry?” Unable to contain himself, he folds in half and cracks up, wiping the tears from his eyes.
“This isn’t funny!” Em stomps her foot on the ground like an angry child. “We agreed to wait, Wolf. Gracie just turned one barely three months ago! This isn’t waiting!!” she whines. “This is all your fault!”
“My fault? I’m not the one who forgot her pills when we left for vacation.” He raises a brow.
“YOU DISTRACTED ME WITH SEX!” she shouts. “That’s why I forgot them!”
Greyson walks up to her, his hands falling to her waist. “You’re right, I’m sorry. We did agree to wait, but a baby isn’t the end of the world, Bunny.”
“But I’ll look fat in my wedding dress.” Emma pouts, looking up at him with tears in her eyes.