26. The Offering
Shade
I walk in through the back entrance of Andi’s restaurant. The lock there is easy to pick. I scouted the vehicles, noting Ira’s license plate and the plate of the secondary vehicle for the team. The four assholes are here. Andi. Matthias and his son, along with his bodyguards.
This is dramatic bullshit staged as some kind of damn intervention.
I follow the sound of voices to one of the back party rooms. The main speaker is Ira. I pause to listen in and figure out positioning.
“And you believe he’s a leak because?” Matthias’ voice trails off on a silky threatening tone.
“Why else are we still hounding him?” Ira snaps back. A bad call on his part. This is his first time meeting Matthias face to face and his manners are being noted down with asterisks. To Ira’s team he’s a voice on the phone or an email, not a person. They don’t have a feel for his moods like I do.
Matthias is giving them enough rope to hang themselves with. So far, Ira is going first.
“We should be focusing on Fullerton,” Brody’s tone is more respectful. “If he leaked anything it would be to his psychotic girlfriend. We take care of them and go back to business.”
“He’s not a fucking leak, how many times do I have to say it?” Felix breaks in wrathfully.
“Then he stayed with Tera out of loyalty? Shade? Get your head out of your ass,” Blaze bites back.
“Yeah, he did,” Felix’s voice rises in anger. “Wake the fuck up!”
Before a fight can break out Matthias makes a thoughtful sound. It stops them beautifully.
“Your brother is correct, Blaze. Shade isn’t a leak.”
“Then why the fuck have we been watching him?” Ira barks.
“Settle down, Ira,” Andi says in a voice filled with nerves.
She has stayed on the peripherals of Matthias’ business for the majority of her life. Out of fear and the crushed belief that there’s something good inside Matthias. Her coming to this town was supposed to be her breakaway moment. If it weren’t for the Worm, as Tera calls him, she would have been left alone. Because of him, she got sucked right back in with three boyfriends in tow.
All three of those fuckers better be in there with her.
“This is a lay our cards on the table meeting,” Cade, one of Gabriel’s guards, pipes up. I’d heard he was good at soothing tense situations. It’s a wasted effort this time.
I have a good idea how they’re positioned and I’m as ready for this bloodbath as I’m going to get.
I slide through the cracked open door and stride directly to a seat left open between one of Andi’s boyfriends and Blaze.
Gabriel’s team watches me like I’m a poltergeist about to throw shit around the room. Matthias’ eyes narrow balefully. Ira’s team looks at me like an orphan that walked in begging for food. Andi stares at me with wide eyes filled with a toxic mix of hope and dread. She and Felix are the only two people here that seem pleased at my presence.
“Shade,” Ira sneers.
I focus on Matthias alone.
“I’m busy, get on with it.”
“Don’t,” Felix hisses at me, his eyes shifting between us warily as Matthias’ anger grows.
“Gentlemen,” Matthias gives a wide, teeth-bared smile at Ira’s team. “Let me introduce you to my son , Daniels.”
Ira’s team rears back from me like I’m a poisonous snake in their midst. I’d laugh if I wasn’t pissed about this whole dramatic display. Leave it to Matthias to make a performance out of what could be a simple phone call.
“Son?” Brian looks between me and Andi in confusion. Then he looks from her light coloring to Gabriel’s darker shades to connect the dots. Same dad, different moms. “Holy shit.”
“There’s hope for one of you,” Matthias gives him a dead stare.
Andi reaches under the table to grab Brian’s leg. The less they draw attention to themselves the better.
“We’ve had Daniels in the team?” Ira stares at me blankly before disbelief starts to take over. “Bullshit.”
“Were we being watched?” Brody asks nervously, glancing around the table warily.
“I was being watched so this jackass could keep a bead on my movements apparently,” I meet Ira’s eyes without expression. His shoulders shudder at the blank look and he leans back again.
“Watch your mouth, Daniels,” Matthias grits out.
“I’m no longer in this scenario. I’ve warned you,” I remind him, turning my eyes on the biggest enemy here.
“I wanted to keep you safe,” Matthias protests with a stubborn tilt to his chin. I recognize the look. He’s fucking lying. I can tell by her expression that Andi sees it too.
“You’ve let them know who I am and that continuing to fuck with me would be unadvisable,” I look at the cast on Blaze’s arm. “That should have gone without saying but they are morons. You should take your own advice on this one, Matthias.”
“You’d make your mother a widow,” he taunts me with a raised brow. Here’s the concern I was looking for. Hidden under all the bullshit. He really does care for my mother. It’s the only thing saving his pathetic ass. He certainly doesn’t care about anyone else, his children included.
Gabriel’s cold expression turns to Matthias as his guards tense up.
“Evilyn will be taken care of regardless,” he informs his father in a tone that drips ice.
I’m surprised about the backup. Mom won someone over to her side. That figures. And makes me a little jealous. He’s seen more of my mom than I have in a long time.
He notices my narrowed eyes and turns that frosted face to me.
“I mean it,” he says in a less frigid tone.
Considering he lost his biological mother early on I shouldn’t be this pissed at him. He’s latching onto a sweet woman who probably squeezes his cheeks and sets him up on a million dates.
“How many women has she set you up with?” I ask with a smirk.
He blinks and his eyes slide away from me. “A concerning amount.”
“Tell her no,” I suggest with a vicious smile.
Ace, standing behind his chair, nudges Gabriel’s shoulder with a laugh. “It’s a trap, Gabe. Nobody wants a pissed off Mama on their hands.”
“Enough,” Matthias retakes control with a glare at us both. “Evilyn isn’t anyone else’s concern anymore.”
“That’s real subtle and bullshit,” I tell him, turning that smile in his direction for the first time. It makes the grin worse when he pales a little. “Mom has been in contact with me since I left your pet assassin project. I even texted to let her know about this meeting. You didn’t tell her what your special emergency was about? Her own son? For shame.”
“Shut the fuck up, Shade,” Blaze tells me, his eyes wide with shock.
When Andi’s boyfriends don’t look surprised at the reveal of his business, Matthias' anger turns on her next.
“Andrea-”
“Is leaving,” I interrupt, leaning on the table to ensure he pays attention. “She has nothing to do with any of this. She’s the smart one. She got out long before I ever considered it. Good job, sis.”
“Thanks, Evan,” she says nervously.
She’s starting to stand when the doors burst open, revealing Melissa. She levels a submachine gun at the table with a bright smile. Andi drops back into her seat, face paling dramatically.
“I wasn’t invited? What’s the occasion?”
“I found a leak,” Jake, another of Gabriel’s guards, turns to Matthias with a happy grin.
“I didn’t think there was one,” Cade eyes her with a sneer.
“You’ve gotta be kiddin’ me,” Ace mutters, looking disgusted. “What’s your fuckin’ problem?”
“Melissa?” Brody turns around in his seat, bewildered.
“Megan actually,” she winks at him. “You wouldn’t know me. But Shade does.”
I raise a brow, unimpressed with the tight leather outfit, her idiotic high heels, or her smug tone. I shift my body to keep more coverage on Andi.
“Don’t you?” She pouts and bats her lashes at me.
“Nope,” I answer blandly.
My answer enrages her. Her hand on the weapon is no longer steady.
Fucking amateurs. Me too for letting her slip past me despite all the alarms she set off coming into the group.
“You killed my husband.”
“I need a name,” I sigh in frustration. “I’ve killed a lot of scumbags that considered themselves husbands.”
“He wasn’t a scumbag! His name was Antony William Shriver!”
I mull it around as she stares, getting madder the longer it takes.
“2007,” I nod. “Male, twenty-one. Girlfriend that likes to cheat. No wife. Pedophile. I remember now.”
My bland recitation of facts goes unnoticed after I say pedophile. Melissa screams at the top of her lungs, “He wasn’t a pedophile.”
Andi leans past me, leaving herself vulnerable to shout back, “They never move without proof! Never! ”
I raise a brow, getting Melissa’s attention back on me as I speak again. “You cleaned up some since then. Out of curiosity, did you get the vows postmortem?”
“You motherfucker,” she aims the weapon at me without hesitation.
“How did you figure out who he was?” Ira looks from her to me suspiciously.
The weapon moves to Ira.
“I’m not a moron like the four of you,” she snaps.
I let out a soft hiss of breath and shake my head at Ira. “Burn.”
“Who spoke to you about Daniels?” Matthias gives me a cold look of censure. The fact that he’s treating this like I’m misbehaving at dinner proves how fucked up we all are.
“A dead man,” she says with a wide smile.
“Nice,” Jake smiles around the table. “All cleaned up without lifting a finger.”
“If she isn’t lying,” Cade glares at him.
“Shut the fuck up!” She screams, the gun moving all over the place now.
Gabrial’s team is ramping up. Ace doesn’t bother with weapons and he doesn’t mind getting shot. Mikael’s hand is hidden behind his body without being obvious as he pulls a gun. I don’t notice any movement from Jake but Cade looks like he’s gun ready under the table with her in his sights. He has a clear shot with Ira twisted to watch her.
I draw her attention back to me to create an opening.