Chapter 20
Smokehouse
L ock watched me for a few heartbeats, the gears in his head turning, before he spoke again. “No one is pleading guilty. No one is going to jail. If they end up in there, Fremont will kill them the same way he took out Trent.”
“Trent?” Keely asked.
Lockout didn’t answer her. “We’re probably closer to Fremont’s definition of a criminal than not,” he admitted, “we don’t sell drugs, guns, or any of that shit, but we’re not saints.
It’s put us in Fremont’s sights. He’s going to do anything he can to take us down.
Death is likely his ultimate goal for us all.
It’s my job to make sure that doesn’t happen.
I’m going to do whatever it takes to keep my family safe. Whatever it takes.”
Cynthia and Robert looked around the table, matching frowns marring their faces. “You can see how that’s concerning to us, since our daughter is involved in…all of this. Right?” Robert arched a brow my way.
“Fremont would have to kill every one of us to get to Dani,” I assured him.
“And yet, your…leader-”
“President,” Riptide corrected, eyes hard as he watched Robert. Gone was his appeasing nature. The time for politicking was past.
“President,” Robert amended, “is saying that John might do exactly that.”
“Just how close are you with Fremont?” Hush asked, speaking for the first time. “On a first name basis, clearly.”
“It’s not what you think,” Keely told him. “Our world is kind of a small one. First name basis doesn’t mean friendly. Quite the opposite. You can hear the venom in his voice when he says my name. He sort of hates me.” She gave Hush a satisfied grin. “Feeling’s mutual.”
We all looked over at Static. He nodded, confirming what she was saying, but otherwise kept quiet. He was only here to maybe help spot something that was missed. He knew it wasn’t his place to interject otherwise.
“I’m not going to purposely put my brothers in the line of fire by letting them plead guilty,” Lock said. “That would just split our numbers and make all of us vulnerable. If Fremont wants to come at us, he’s going to have to fight us all.”
“You make it sound like you’re gearing up for a war…” Robert said.
“Not far off,” Hellfire agreed.
Ricochet sighed. “This all started because Fremont’s assistant beat my sister and my old lady. Put them in the hospital.”
Keely’s eyes widened and Cynthia gasped. The tense set of Robert’s shoulders eased and sorrow filled his expression. That was enough for me to know that even though Dani’s father was making himself a pain in the ass right now, he cared. It went a long way toward cooling my anger with him.
“Whatever secrets Trent was holdin’ onto concerned Fremont enough to have him killed,” Hush added.
The three Bradfords looked stunned. Cynthia shook her head. “I’ve never liked John Fremont, still this is… It’s insane. And there’s no way for me to prove any of it in court.”
“We’re not trying to fight him in the courts,” Lock told her. “We’ll be doing the fighting our way. All we need you to do is keep these four out of jail so that we can do that with our full force. And keep all this shit a secret.”
“Dani. Maybe you should come to Florida while all this plays out,” Robert suggested.
“I wouldn’t recommend that,” Static spoke up. “We can’t forget about Eli in all of this.”
“He’s connected to Fremont, too?” Keely asked, horrified.
“No,” Static told her, “but he’s still trying to get Danica back.
And he doesn’t know about the baby yet. If Dani leaves the state and he finds out about the kid, he could take her to court and really fuck things up for us when we try to get her divorce granted.
Since he’s unwilling to sign, for now,” he added at my sharp look “we need to make sure that Dani does everything right. Leaving would look too much like running.”
“I’m not leaving anyway,” Dani said, giving her father a pointed look. “My place is here right now.”
“You barely know this guy, Danica,” her dad started to say.
“And that’s why I need to stay. We have to get to know each other, for the sake of our baby.” She cut him off, her no nonsense tone telling everyone here what her decision was.
God, I love seeing that.
“And you think this is a good idea?” Robert asked with a sigh. “We already left you with one dickhead who ended up mistreating you. You can see why I’m being a little over protective.”
Lockout’s hands cracked down on the heavy oak table, stopping all conversation.
“I can understand where you’re coming from, Robert,” he said in a dangerous tone of voice, “but I’m done letting you, inadvertently or not, speak badly of my men.
Smokehouse would never hurt your daughter.
He would protect her and his baby with his life.
He’s doing everything he can to keep Eli away from Dani.
Your daughter couldn’t be in a safer place than this right now.
You take her to Florida and Eli will follow you.
He hasn’t escalated to violence, yet, but odds are he will once Dani refuses to go with him. ”
“You saying I can’t protect my family from someone like him?” Robert snapped.
“That’s what you’re saying about me,” I growled.
“Robert. Static is right,” Cynthia said, using Static’s road name as a form of respect. “If Dani leaves now it’s only going to hurt her in the fight against Eli.” She looked over at her daughter. “I have a friend who can help. She’s one of the best divorce attorneys in town.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
That took the wind out of his sails. He sighed. “You’re right.” He scrubbed a hand through his hair. “Fine. She stays here.” He didn’t look happy about it, but at least he was agreeing.
Dani didn’t bother to point out that she’d already said she was, but I could tell she wanted to.
It was irritating her that we were all sitting around discussing her actions without asking her.
It amused me that I already knew her well enough to read her annoyance.
Most of the time she was decent at hiding her emotions.
Except when she was pissed at me. Then she exploded and went off the rails.
The fact that I enjoyed when she did was probably crazy, but I wasn’t exactly normal.
I grinned as I thought about her chucking the pregnancy test at me.
“What?” she whispered.
I didn’t get a chance to respond because her mom started speaking.
“We don’t have long to come up with a defense.
After discussing it,” she said, giving Lockout an acknowledging look, “I agree that we can’t plead guilty.
Maybe I can argue emotional distress. Knox just found out his girlfriend is pregnant, but her cheating, abusive husband won’t sign the divorce papers despite her doing her due diligence to disentangle herself from him. ”
“We don’t want Eli to know she’s pregnant, though,” Ricochet pointed out. “That will make it harder to get the divorce.”
“If it keeps them out of jail,” Static replied, “it’s our best option. We’ll deal with whatever fallout comes later.”
“The judge might be willing to give a lighter sentence. More a slap on the wrist than actual jail time if it goes that way,” Keely added.
“I can try to argue that this case is below the attention of the DA. That, combined with your military backgrounds… I think it’s our only shot.”
“Isn’t that still pleading guilty?” Seek asked, finally speaking up. “I can’t have my fiancé going to jail right before I give birth.” Her eyes darkened. “It’ll be a bad day for everyone if that happens.”
“I’m trying to get the case thrown out. I don’t want there to be a trial or sentencing at all,” Cynthia admitted, her lips twitching with humor at Seek’s threat.
“Or I’d take Fremont settling as long as we like the terms. I already spoke to the judge.
His calendar is jam packed; he wants this off his docket.
That might work in our favor if I can make the case that this was a by-product of out of control emotions and then cast suspicion on why Fremont is taking such an interest. Freemont won’t want a judge to notice the connection between his deceased assistant and the fact that he beat your sister and girlfriend,” she said the last part looking at Ricochet.
Lock glanced over at Static. The men shared a look before Static nodded. Lockout sighed. “I don’t like leaving it up in the air like this, but if that’s all we can do, let’s go with it.”
The rest of the meeting passed quickly and before long we were back outside.
Only this time it was just me, Dani, and her family.
Lock had given me a questioning look as I’d left with them.
All I had to do was say the word and he’d be on my heels.
I didn’t need him to defend me to Dani’s parents any more than he already had.
The fact that he was willing to meant more than I could say.
“I’m so sorry, Smoke,” Dani started. Her dad interrupted her before she could finish.
“I can apologize for myself, Danica,” he told her with a sardonic grin.
“Look, this is all a bit crazy. And we lived years with my wife, and now daughter, defending criminals. Nothing like this has ever hit so close to home. I’m a little on edge.
I’m sorry if I took that out on you, or your family. ”
“I appreciate that,” I told him, shaking the hand he held out. “I just need you to realize that I’ll take care of her.”
“For how long?” he asked with a raise of his brow.
That stopped me cold. How were fathers able to take one look at a guy and sum him up so quickly? How did he know I wasn’t the sticking around kind? It didn’t matter. He knew. “Long enough.”
He looked over his shoulder to where the women had stepped away at the beginning of his apology. “She’s been through enough. If you hurt her-”
“I already told you-”
“I mean emotionally, jackass,” he said, cutting me off after I interrupted him. “If you hurt her, we’re going to have a problem.”
We stared at each other for a few tense moments. “Understood.”