Chapter 33
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
GOOSE
“You want to do what?” Bullet asks on a hiss.
My lips twitch into a smirk. “I want Goffredo to get arrested, sent to prison. I want Hogg to take care of his ass there. It takes it off me, takes it off the club. Nobody will know we called in the hit, but at the same time, we called in the goddamn hit.”
“You don’t think Lorenzo will suspect?” Bullet asks.
I shrug a shoulder. I know this is a half-baked plan at best, but this is what I want. It’s the only way I can see that we can get Goffredo taken care of without being blamed for it. And we won’t be at war.
The Front Mob Family will be happy, and we'll keep our contract with them until we can get our security company fully up and running. This job pays our bills, and I don’t want to piss off Lorenzo by killing his kid.
“He might suspect it, but he’ll never be able to prove it, and Lorenzo is smart enough to know not to ask questions he doesn’t want the answers to.”
“How do we get him not only arrested but convicted?”
“There are a few ways. Either he gets caught at work, or Cidney makes a complete statement to the cops. Piggy said all Cidney officially reported was that there was a man, but she didn’t see his face.”
“And she can change that?” Bullet asks, raising a brow.
I shrug a shoulder, but thinking about it makes me feel sick. I don’t want her to have to relive that moment over and over again when she not only repeats it to Piggy but also to lawyers and a jury.
“I’d like to use option A if possible, catching him doing something illegal and locking his ass up for that. I don’t want Cidney to have to go through making a statement. I also know it would put a big fucking target on our backs. There would be no way to deny our involvement.”
“Agreed,” Bullet states. “We’re doing a protection run at the end of the week. You think he’ll be on that?”
“Lorenzo is scared shitless right now. He knows he has to give that fucker up to us to punish.”
“If we ask him to be on that run, it’s a direct link,” he points out the obvious.
Sinking my teeth into the inside of my cheek, I grab some of the skin and roll it a few times as I try to think about what the hell is going on here. I know the endgame. I just have to figure out how to make it happen.
And I’m going to. I’m going to figure it out. Even if it takes me days of brainstorming. Opening my mouth, I start to say that exact thing to Bullet when he clears his throat and stands from behind his desk.
He walks over to the window, and I watch as he looks out at the clubhouse grounds. He rocks back on his feet, gripping his hands behind his back. I start to speak, though I have no fucking clue what I’m going to say.
Thankfully, I don’t have to say anything because the office door opens, taking my attention from Bullet. Turning my head, I watch as Maverick walks into the room. He doesn’t say anything immediately. Instead, he dips his chin in a single nod.
“Let’s nail this fuck to the wall,” Maverick grinds out.
“How?” Bullet and I ask simultaneously.
“I was being a nosy fuck,” Maverick begins. “I wasn’t eavesdropping on purpose, but when I heard your voice… I couldn’t help it.”
My lips twitch. I’m not sure what to say about that, but Maverick is my brother, and I’m just as nosy as he is, so I’m not surprised he eavesdropped. I’m glad he has. It gives Bullet and me a second opinion on our half-baked plan.
“I like the concept. It’s a great fucking plan. Makes us come off clean… ish.”
“Ish is right,” Bullet grunts.
I start to open my mouth to ask Maverick what the fuck he’s thinking when he clears his throat and begins to speak.
“I may have done a little more research on Goffredo Hagerty, and I think I can get this handled without having the club involved and the Mob family suspicious.”
“How?” I demand.
His lips twitch into a smirk. “Well, we know that guy is a bastard. But what you guys probably don’t know is that he’s a bastard who loves paying for lap dances and extras at the most expensive and elite strip club in town.
He basically has his own room. He’s there so often and always given the VIP treatment, even if they all hate him there. ”
“Do they?” I ask. “Hate him, that is.”
“With a fucking passion,” Maverick grinds out.
“So what do we do? A setup?”
Maverick grins. “Already halfway there. We get Piggy to set up a sting with Raleigh PD, promise the club they won’t be in any trouble as long as they play along. Easy fucking peasy, and it’s not on us.”
“You think Piggy could get that kind of pull in the city?” Bullet asks.
“I think he’s respected as fuck, and he tells them they’re trying to catch this guy, they’ll work with him,” Maverick says.
I have a feeling he’s right. Piggy might be part of our club.
He may help us out a little bit, but he is a good cop and loves his job.
Nobody would even think twice about helping him catch a fucking pervert, especially if he said that he assaulted Cidney, but they can’t prove it was him. It’s just a little white lie.
“This is perfect,” I say. “Leave it to my smart fucking brother,” I state.
He rolls his eyes to the ceiling, his lips twitching into a smirk.
“I want that little fuck to pay for what he did, in every goddamn way possible. But like you, I don’t want the club to go to war.
We have too much collateral here. Too much at stake.
Our women, our children. They’d target us and bring us to our knees far too easily. ”
He’s right, of course. Just the thought of anything else happening to Cidney makes me feel completely and totally out of control.
“I can agree with that. This makes our hands look clean. We’ll set up a date and time to get Goffredo from Lorenzo, but it’ll be fake as fuck. He’ll be in jail before that date arrives, and soon enough, prison,” Bullet says.
“And then it’ll be Hogg’s turn to play,” I say.
“And play he will,” Maverick states.
CIDNEY
I don’t ask who is going to stay with me or what is going to happen tomorrow. I can’t expect someone to stay at my side every day just because I’m scared. I want to, but I can’t. Lainey lets out a heavy sigh as she opens the front door.
Posey stands as soon as the door opens, and I can’t help but wonder if she’s relieved to be able to leave. Sure, we had some good moments today, but we also had some stressful ones. I feel like we’re in a good place. I don’t hate her, not that I did. But the anger I feel has subsided.
I also realize that as I heal from this attack from Goffredo, I’m going to experience bouts of anger, but I want to make sure that it’s directed at the right people. Otherwise, I’m the one who looks like an asshole, and I refuse to embarrass myself like that.
My anger shouldn’t have been directed at Posey.
Even though I still feel as if she could have helped this situation between Justin, me, and Goose, she’s not required to, so I can’t hate her for staying out of it. Given the choice, I might have stayed out of it, too. It’s a lot of drama.
I’m still very much angry at Justin, though. I think about calling my aunt Mae to complain about him, but then I shake that thought away because if I called her, I would have to explain what happened to me, and I don’t want my aunt and uncle to know a fucking thing. So that’s out.
“I am exhausted. You’d think for the end of the season, I wouldn’t be busy, but I was slammed today,” Lainey announces.
I wish I could have helped her, but I chanced a glance at my reflection, and she’s right. I do not need to be anywhere near her bakery until I can cover up my bruising. Right now, I look like I went through exactly what I went through.
“I didn’t know what time you’d be back. I would have had dinner ready,” I say, feeling bad for not having something for her to eat after a long day.
Lainey raises her hand, waving it around. “Pfft,” she says, making a noise with her mouth. “I legit could eat some ice cream and drink some wine and call it dinner.”
Sticking my bottom lip out, I shrug a shoulder. “That sounds amazing,” I murmur.
“Let’s do it. We don’t have anywhere to be tonight, and Goose is watching the place, so we’re safe.”
“Is he?” I ask.
She hums as she moves around in the kitchen. I can hear the bowls and spoons clank around, then glasses, and finally, the freezer opens and closes.
“You know he is. I gave him a little wave and everything, I think it’s sweet.”
She’s right. It is sweet, but at the same time, it’s pointless. Justin has made his stance clear, and Goose has made his as well. It doesn’t matter what I want. It only matters what they decide, and that pisses me off.
Lainey walks into the living room, hands me a bowl and a wineglass, then goes back to the kitchen to get her own and sinks down in the chair near me. She brings her feet into the chair, sitting cross-legged with her ice cream in front of her, and I do the same.
“How was your day with Posey?” she asks, though her voice sounds a bit timid, as if she’s actually afraid to hear the answer, or maybe she thinks I’m going to get upset.
“It was good. We talked a bit about everything, but I have to remember that I can’t take my anger with Justin out on her.”
Lainey dips her spoon into her bowl, then lifts it to her lips, but doesn’t take a bite immediately. Instead, I watch as she lowers her spoon back down to her bowl. She inhales a long breath, holding it for a moment before she lets it out slowly.
“I know these guys can be whole assholes, but I can see how you would want Posey’s help. Just like someone might want my help with Piggy.”
“But could you talk Piggy into changing his mind about anything?” I ask.
“Never.”
“Yeah, figured as much. I want to be just as pissed at her as I am at him, but I can’t be. This is on Justin. And maybe the club, too, because some of their rules are stupid as hell.”
“Amen to that,” Lainey snaps.
We spend the rest of the evening watching that period drama about Queen Charlotte and King George. Lainey heads to bed after a couple episodes, and I lie on the sofa in silence, staring at the ceiling.
For hours, I think, wondering to myself if I’ll ever be the same person I was before I was attacked. I don’t think I will. I feel like when something that traumatic happens to you, it changes who you are and the trajectory of your life. I feel different, not just in body, but in mind and soul, too.
Maybe it’s time I talk to Justin.