Chapter 38
thirty-eight
LOGAN
I can’t for the life of me understand why Myles would invite someone who wants to destroy Blunts to my fucking house, even in the midst of the crisis over Fleur.
“Because he’s paying for it,” Myles says, once we’re seated in my office.
It’s a reduced group: Myles, Theo, Bravo, Ten, Sutter, Mac, and me.
Max is listening in on my earpiece. Maude and Javier rounded up half of the subbies and Doms and took them to the hospital.
Fleur’s still not awake but Cappa needs reinforcements.
They’re going until noon and then the “second shift” will go over.
I’ve suggested to Maude and Javier that they bring Cappa back here at the end of the “second shift” but Javier just shook his head sadly.
I can’t even check the app to see how Cappa’s doing. He’s not allowed his phone or monitoring band in the hospital room.
“Paying for what, exactly?” I ask, sipping a cup of tea Emily slipped into my hand as she herded us into my office.
True arrived, Emmy set up her laptop and put Livvy in her rocking swing, and they got on with what they needed to be doing.
My sweet little girl who follows her Daddy’s rules, even when her Daddy’s struggling to focus on anything other than the crisis at hand.
“For the moment, I’m paying for recon and surveillance,” Sutter says.
He’s in one of the guest chairs in front of my desk.
Theo’s in the other one. Bravo’s next to Mac on the couch.
Myles and Ten are leaning against the two doors.
“Depending on what the recon and surveillance dredges up, we’ll see what else there is to pay for. ”
I look from Sutter’s bright eyes to Myles’. Myles is looking at the floor, his hair falling around his face but I know he’s aware of my gaze.
“Who’s being surveilled?” I ask.
“The three members of the Wolfpack that Theo doesn’t have enough on to arrest,” Myles says without looking up.
How does he find out this shit? He’s not a member of Blunts.
He hasn’t been involved in any of the management committee meetings.
If I read his message right, he only got back into the country six hours ago.
Bravo’s the only person I’ve talked to about making the Wolfpack even “gone,” but Myles is arranging fucking surveillance on them?
“Do you have my house wired?” I ask.
“Yes,” Myles says easily. “And parts of the club now, too. You need to up the security in the staff areas. It was too easy for me to get upstairs once I got into the Spa for pool maintenance.”
I grind my teeth.
Sutter lifts his coffee-cup at Myles. “No one ever notices the pool man.”
Myles nods. “Logan, I’m never going to do anything with the information that would hurt the club, any of its members, or the house submissives. I’ll agree to wipe all recordings after thirty days. But things are going on there that affect the people I care about. I need eyes and ears in there.”
I could argue with him but I doubt there’s any point. Myles is going to do whatever he wants to do.
“I thought it was four members of the Wolfpack,” Sutter says, when everyone comes to the same conclusion about arguing with Myles.
“We can drop Jared Carr,” Theo says, leaning an elbow on my desk.
“He turned himself in last night after the grapevine ran red. I had a long talk with him off the record. He didn’t know what he was getting into.
Gave me some insight into how Drew approaches potential recruits.
It’s not directly relevant anymore but I’ve uploaded the recording of the interview into the cloud account Jiro set up.
Drew was using the prestige of Blunts to prop up his alpha theory, so we may need to do some damage control in the local clubs where he was recruiting. ”
There are nods all around.
“Jared’s not a problem,” Theo continues.
“The guy seems genuinely freaked out about all of it. He thought the Wolfpack was an inner circle within Blunts. That’s what Drew and Emmett told him.
They played on his desire to belong. He’s been a guest at the club on and off over the past two months.
He seemed more disturbed than turned on by a lot of what he’s seen.
He was part of the crowd during Shannie’s scene.
Drew primed them, telling them Shannie needed help to get out of her head during the scene.
He was told what to say and when to say it.
Jared’s only mistake was not checking with Ty and Hart that what Drew told him was true but how many of us would interrupt a scene, particularly a scene we’d be told was difficult for the submissive, to question what we’d been told by another master?
Ty approached Jared afterwards and criticized his behavior.
Jared immediately apologized. I confirmed that with Ty.
I think Jared’s sincere. Drew invited him back to the club for the Nursery opening.
Jared says he intended to confront Drew that night about what happened with Shannie but before he got a chance to, he witnessed the confrontation between Drew and you, Logan.
When he heard the full extent of the claims against the Wolfpack, the guy was beside himself. ”
“He know where Drew is?” Ten grunts.
Theo shakes his head. “But I’ve uploaded all known addresses not just for him but also his family into the cloud.”
“Drew’s missing?” I ask. This is news to me.
Theo nods. “I had uniforms go around to all known Wolfpack members and give them a friendly scare. If they’re going to lawyer-up, I want to know now.
Emmett did but he’s fucked. His lawyer’s already talking with the district attorney about a plea if Emmett testifies against his fellow wolves.
Uniforms staked out Drew’s condo overnight.
He didn’t come home. No car in the parking space.
Quick canvass of the neighbors—no one’s seen him in days. ”
“He was at breakfast the morning after the Opening,” Ten says.
Theo twists around in his chair to look at Ten. “Did you see him leave?”
Ten shakes his head. “I didn’t notice. I only remember him being there because he stopped by the table to talk with Fleur and Zuki while I was in the buffet line. I think he scheduled a scene with Zuki.”
“Fuck.” Theo whips out his phone. “Pick up, pick up,” he whispers as it rings. When a female voice answers, his face relaxes. “All okay?”
Whatever he hears reassures him.
“Did you have a scene scheduled with Drew this week?” Theo asks into the phone. “Good, good. No, if he or Emmett call you, don’t answer. Call me.”
Theo listens for a moment. “Yeah, that’s fine. Did you hear Drew schedule a scene with Fleur at breakfast the other morning?” There’s a pause while he listens. “Did she say anything else?”
He squeezes his eyes closed as he listens to her answer. “Thanks, Zuk. No, she’s not awake yet. I’m sure you’ll hear about it before I do, knowing the subbie network. Yeah, yeah, me, too. See you tomorrow, okay? If you need anything before then, call me.”
After he says goodbye and hangs up, he rubs a hand over his face.
“Zuki’s safe. She canceled her scene with Drew as soon as Chess’ email circulated saying that Drew and Emmett were no longer members.
She wasn’t a fan of the man. She heard Drew try to schedule a scene with Fleur outside the club.
Fleur refused. She said she was off the clock and going home after breakfast because she had commissions to work on. ”
“He knew she’d be leaving the club,” I point out.
Theo nods. “It’s not proof but—”
“It’s proof enough for me,” Ten says. “Anything else? I’m going to start with known addresses.”
Theo shakes his head. “I’ll start an database search for his plate as a person of interest but until I have enough evidence for a warrant, my resources are limited.”
Ten nods. “You can reach me on the burner. No other contact.”
Theo sighs. “Don’t do anything if you find him. Surveillance, right?”
Ten grunts.
“Ten, right?” Theo presses.
Ten grunts again, turns, and walks out. The front door slams a minute later.
We all look at each other. Except Myles, who seems fascinated by the pattern of my office rug.
“What’s the price for a hit?” Sutter asks after the silence stretches.
Bravo starts shaking his head.
“That’s not on the table,” Myles says. “Detective D’Andrea has a badge. Logan and Mac have licenses. Bravo and Henry take government contracts. None of you are killing anyone.”
It takes me a moment to hear what he’s said. I narrow my eyes at him.
Myles lifts his head and meets my gaze for a moment. His eyes are more lupine than anything Drew’s “Wolfpack” could have imagined.
They might fancy themselves hunters but there’s a real hunter among us and it’s not any of them.
“Did he just say what I think he said?” Max asks in my ear.
“Yes,” I murmur. “We need to have a word with him.”
“Uh-huh,” Max agrees.
The meeting breaks up slowly. Mac collects Livvy and Bren and heads out to open his daycare.
I offer Theo our bed since he looks like he’s about to fall over but he says he’d rather sleep in his own bed.
When he declines, Myles takes me up on the offer and trudges upstairs to sleep.
Bravo asks if Yummy can stay the day with us before leaving to coordinate surveillance of the other two Wolfpack members with Henry.
Leaving me in my office staring at Sutter.
He leans back in his chair, crossing his long legs in front of him.
He’s wearing business clothes today: a tailored suit, crisp white button-down, and a red tie.
He should be heading into a marketing meeting for probiotic yogurt or something, not sitting in my office asking the price of a contract on a man’s life.
“You don’t like me very much, do you?” he asks after enduring my scrutiny for a minute.