Chapter 6 Wes
WES
I stretched out in the passenger seat and sipped my coffee.
I was glad Skye had offered to drive, as last night had been long and sleepless, and I had too much on my mind to focus on the road.
Everything had gone smoothly when I’d dropped off Riley and Beckett.
Their home had been untouched, and there’d been no sign of anything unusual.
I hadn’t really expected it—Ri wasn’t part of my personnel file—but Ramirez shouldn’t have been able to access it to begin with, so I wasn’t taking any chances.
By the time Brooks and I had left, Leo had already set up a rotation of his people to watch the building, and I’d felt secure enough to leave them there and go home.
That didn’t mean I’d gotten rest though.
After briefing Luca, Mav and Skye, it had been a long night of work and speculation, and I had only managed a few hours of sleep until my phone rang, waking me up.
My old landlord had wanted to notify me that someone had shown up to the apartment building that I had lived in before moving into the estate and had been asking about me.
When my landlord had explained he couldn’t give out any information, the guy had left, but the whole thing had been suspicious enough to warrant a call.
“Henry,” I greeted. “This is my partner, Skye.”
Henry’s eyes widened slightly, him probably mentally trying to calculate the age difference between us, but he schooled his expression quick enough.
“Mr. Hayes.” He nodded in greeting. “I’m sorry to bother you so early, but something seemed off and . . . I wasn’t sure what else to do.”
“You did the right thing,” I assured him.
“I appreciate that you didn’t just brush it off.
” I knew most landlords would. It was one of the reasons I’d ended up renting in this building: many of the tenants had jobs that required discretion and more security, and he catered to that.
“You said you have the man on security cameras?”
Henry’s head bobbed once and then he gestured to the front desk. “Yeah. He wouldn’t give me or the doorman his name, and when I began pressing for more details, he ran, but we did get a clear image of him. Let me pull it up for you to see if you recognize him.”
“Thank you.” The three of us all crowded behind the desk as Henry pulled up the footage. I recognized him instantly. Charles Ramirez.
I glanced at Skye, confirming our suspicions.
“Is there an outside camera?” Skye asked. “So we could possibly see where he went when he left.”
Henry didn’t even blink. “Yes. Hang on . . .”
It took him a minute or two, but then we were watching Charles Ramirez leaving the building and crossing the street to a black car that was parallel parked there. It was a newer-looking sedan, and when he pulled out, we were able to get a partial on the license plate as he drove off.
“Is there any way we can get a copy of this?”
Henry hesitated, and I realized I’d have to give him more of an explanation. “There was recently a breach of security at my old place of employment, and this man is the suspect. This would be a huge help.”
He rang his hands in concern. “Should we call the cops?”
“No, that’s okay. We’ve got it handled. My job has us working closely with law enforcement,” Not exactly a lie, we do sometimes work with our contacts in law enforcement, “So I’ll update them.”
Henry watched me for a long moment before nodding and turning back to the computer. “Okay, I’ll make a copy for you. Just give me a moment, it’s not something I’ve had to do often.”
“No problem. Thank you for your help.”
With a nod to Skye, we walked back around the counter to give Henry some space.
He was already nervous about giving us the information, and I didn’t want to intimidate him further.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he called the authorities after we left.
We’d have to keep an eye on that. Skye pulled out his phone.
“I’m texting Diego the info. I know he’ll want the tapes, but maybe he can get a head start. ”
I hummed my agreement, already lost in my thoughts. “I’m not really sure why he’d run like that. Why come all the way here, track me down, and then leave?”
“Maybe something spooked him. Or maybe he wanted you to follow. He didn’t bother hiding his face, after all.”
“True . . . Well, if that’s what he wanted, he’ll get his wish. He’s coming way too close to my family and home for me to let it go now.”
Skye met my eyes. “We got your back, no matter what happens.”
Even though I already knew that, it meant a lot to me for Skye to say it. Without thinking too much about it, I reached out and cupped his cheek. “Thank you.” I hoped he could hear the sincerity in my tone.
Before he could respond, Henry was back and clearing his throat, a flash drive in his hand.
“Here you go, Mr. Hayes.” His gaze flashed away from mine, his unease obvious. “If you’re, um, doing something less than legal with this, I’d—”
I took the flash drive. “I promise you’ll be left completely out of it.”
Henry’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he nodded. “Okay. Okay. That’s good. Well, best of luck with everything.”
Skye barely hid his smile as we thanked the man again and left, understanding a dismissal when we heard it.
“Found him!” Diego slammed his hand on the desk in triumph as he stood, his chair rolling a few feet behind him.
In an instant, we were all alert. This morning, after we’d annoyed him all day yesterday, Diego had moved into the conference room to stop us from constantly crowding in his office.
We tried to hover in shifts, but currently Brooks, Skye, and I were all present.
Maverick was making us dinner, and Luca had just left to work to check in on some of the other Castellano businesses.
He was mostly a figure head at this point, but he still dropped in occasionally to make sure everything was running smoothly.
“You found him? Where?”
“North Carolina. The Outer Banks of all places. I took the liberty of tracing his family’s phones.
He finally contacted his wife. He was vague but gave her enough of a location for me to narrow it down.
Then he logged into two separate banking apps using the public Wi-Fi at Starbucks.
I was able to use the timestamp for that to check the CCTV cameras and saw him enter a car, a different one than he was driving here.
It’s a rental, but it was registered to a Mateo Ramirez, which is Charles’s son’s name.
There’s a local address listed on the paperwork.
” Because of course Diego had managed to find the paperwork.
“It’s a little bungalow. I can’t be sure he’s there, but it’s a start. ”
“It’s more than a start. It’s fucking genius, D!” Brooks all but shouted, bouncing up from the chair he had been rocking back and forth in.
Diego rolled his eyes. “I wouldn’t go that far.”
“I would,” I told him, dragging my chair close enough so that we were almost touching. “I don’t know how I ever survived without you. You’re amazing.”
Diego’s cheeks flushed and he brushed me off.
“I’m guessing you’re going to go there?” he asked.
“Could be a trap,” Skye inputted.
“It’s possible. I’m buying into your theory that he wants me to chase him. I don’t know why, but like I said earlier, I can’t ignore it. So yeah. I’m going to go. I’ll go talk to Luca about the plan.”
Diego grunted in response before sitting back down. “I’ll get everything set up for you to travel. Plane?”
“Yes, please, angel.” No point in wasting time.
Skye stood, stretching, his bright pink shirt lifting to show his shredded abs. “I’ll get your documents and weapons.”
Brooks hopped up on his toes. “Want me to pack for you?” He sounded hopeful.
“Thank you, sweetheart. That would be helpful. And thanks, Skye. I would prepare for Luc too, as I’m sure he’s going to want to come.”
“Got it,” Skye answered before wrapping an arm around Brooks. “C’mon, sunshine, let’s go pack for our men that are about to walk into a trap.”
“Seriously, dude? Can you not?”
The two of them continued to smack-talk until I could no longer hear them. I turned to Diego, who was focused on the screens in front of him.
“Are you okay, angel?” I didn’t have to elaborate. He knew what I was asking. I’d just gotten back and I was leaving again. Hopefully not for long, but there were a lot of unknowns in this.
Diego’s eyes flickered toward me before he went back to his work. “Yeah. I’ll miss you, and I’ll worry. But I get why you’re leaving, and I won’t be alone.”
“Never, angel. I love you,” I reminded him. My fingers twitched, desperate to touch, but I didn’t know if it would be welcome. I stilled my hand.
Diego finally pulled away from his monitors, turning in his chair to look at me.
His hand trembled a little, but his gaze was steady as he put his in mine. My heart fluttered.
“Go talk to Luca. I’ll get everything ready for you.” He smiled softly, caring. “I’ll be here when you get back.”