Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
T here were a few things on Kaine’s mind when he woke on Saturday morning.
First and foremost was his mate. He was popping up on her today, and he looked forward to that.
Lucky would give him shit about it, but she had no idea how much he loved when she got an attitude with him.
Her mouth was slick and he liked that shit a lot.
The second thing on his mind was the call he got from Detective St. Claire late last night.
He’d already restarted his investigation and just from the way the cop was talking, the interference in his grandfather’s case had to be coming from someone as powerful as he was in town.
Saint told him within two hours of him searching through his grandfather’s associates, his chief had been notified.
That narrowed the list substantially, and none of the names on that possible list was reassuring.
He added a call to the chief of police to his list of tasks that needed to be completed today.
He had already called the captain of the station once he got off the phone with Saint.
He’d woken that jackass up and made sure he understood that if someone else interfered, he was going to pay him a visit.
Putting it out of his mind for now, Kaine went through his morning routine quickly.
He wasn’t sure what time Lucky’s family event was, but he wanted to be sure he caught her before she left her house.
According to her security, she hadn’t left the apartment yet, but still, he hustled.
Packing a light bag and throwing on some casual clothes, he texted Griff to be ready with the car downstairs.
His steps slowed when he noticed his siblings standing at the bottom of the stairs, bags at their feet.
He frowned. “What’s going on?”
“You said that you were going to Eastfield to visit your mate’s family,” Easy answered, lifting his weekend duffle.
“What that got to do with y’all? And how did y’all know what time I was leaving?”
Eve smiled. “When Easy told me the plans yesterday, I made the pilot alert me of your departure time.”
Kaine growled. “And how did you know I would take the chopper?”
Ezekial sucked his teeth and headed toward the door.
“Wait, I didn’t say y’all could join me,” he tried a final time.
“I just assumed it was a family gathering. We are family,” Eve said, motioning between her and their triplet.
Kaine sighed. “Y’all don’t want to wait and meet her here?”
“For what reason?” Easy said, holding the door open for their sister.
“Are we overdressed?” Eve asked, looking him up and down.
He looked down at the jeans he was wearing and then at the wide-legged linen pants and matching halter top his sister had on.
“It’s a kickback. You look fine.” Still, he attempted to lift the neckline of the top she wore.
Eve batted at his hands. “Easy didn’t tell me what we were doing, so I tried for casual.”
Kaine could only shake his head as he followed his siblings from the house because they completely ignored his protests. He got in the back seat of the SUV with them.
Easy stretched out in the third row and closed his eyes. “Where we staying, Evie?”
“I’m looking now,” his sister said, scrolling on her phone. “I think we have a place in Eastfield, but it’s downtown, business district. Where does our new sister live?”
Kaine studied his siblings and debated answering.
“She live on the South side,” Griff told them from the front as he pulled onto the road outside of their gates. “Mulberry Estates area.”
He wiped a hand down his face and swallowed a growl. This was happening whether he liked it or not. What could he even say since he himself was intruding on his mate’s family time without her approval? Eve smirked at him and typed in the address on her phone.
She hummed a few moments later. “There’s a hotel closer than the condo the company has there, so I’ll book that instead.”
“Need I remind both of you that you weren’t invited?” he said dryly.
“Kaine bought the building she lives in,” Griff’s ol’ helpful ass told them.
“Of course he did,” Easy chuckled from the back.
Kaine sucked his teeth. “Her security stays in that condo, it’s not a bed and breakfast for uninvited guests.”
“Fine.” Eve pouted and continued what she was doing. She lowered her phone ten minutes later. “Should you give your mate a heads-up that we’re coming with you?”
Now, he could tell his siblings that he also wasn’t invited, but since he didn’t want to hear their shit, he ignored Evie and turned toward the window.
“Are you pouting, big brother?” Eve teased.
“Both of you are annoying,” he muttered.
He controlled an assassins’ guild, changed the outcome of whole companies at the snap of his fingers, but dealing with his siblings for less than thirty minutes and already he was reverting to childhood behaviors.
Everyone in the car busted out laughing and Kaine hid his smile, not wanting to encourage the foolishness.
For a moment, he debated whether or not to warn his mate.
But if he told her that his siblings were on the way, then he would have to admit that he was as well, and Lucky hadn’t invited him to her family’s kickback.
She’d instead tried to act like he wouldn’t see her this weekend.
That was unacceptable to both man and animal, so that was dead.
His tiger wasn’t having it. The sooner Lucky realized that they were in this together, the sooner he could leave his mark on her.
By the time they pulled into the jetport where the helicopter was running and waiting, Kaine had resigned himself to the fact that his siblings would be with him all weekend and got excited.
Ezekial had been right in that it had been a while since they’d spent fun time together.
Yes, they came together for work, but they were passing ships when they were home.
Less than an hour later, Griff was pulling their SUV into the parking garage of Lucky’s building.
“Please don’t embarrass me,” he warned his siblings before he opened his door.
“You don’t embarrass us,” Eve said back as Griff let her out of the car.
He scoffed. “I like your nerve.”
Ezekial grabbed his sister’s bag. “Yeah, he finna embarrass us, Evie.”
Kaine shook his head as they rode the elevator to his mate’s floor.
His tiger moved through his body in excitement.
When the doors opened, his cat could pick out Lucky’s scent, and for a moment he worried that he’d missed her, but when he knocked on the door, his security answered, their guns down at their sides, alert as always.
“My mate?”
“Went out earlier to the grocery store down the street, but she’s home now,” Hakeem provided.
Kaine’s phone rang as they entered. He looked down and rolled his eyes. “I need to take this,” he informed his siblings, leading them into the security apartment.
Walking toward the back and out onto the balcony, Kaine answered the call. “Yeah, Perretti?
“Kaine.” Perretti sighed as though aggravated. Benjamin was another of his grandfather’s associates and on Kaine’s shortlist of other Aces. He just hadn’t figured out which.
“What’s happened?”
“What happened to the ice cream parlor?”
Ah, that answered that then. He mentally checked off the Ace of Diamonds position. He’d suspected it when he saw who the grandson was, but this call confirmed it.
Kaine frowned, expecting some type of emergency. “It was compromised.”
Benjamin grunted. “You didn’t think to tell me that my grandson was involved?”
“I’m in charge of this shit, Perretti, why should I be running anything by you?”
The elder shifter sucked his teeth in aggravation.
“I don’t need you or Kenneth hovering, OG.”
He kept his voice as respectful as possible, but he was firm. He didn’t answer to anyone as the Ace of Spades, and that would not be changing, no matter who was doing the questioning.
“Why did you destroy the place?”
Kaine scoffed. “That’s not something I would discuss over the phone even if I did answer to you. Was there something of importance there that you needed?”
Benjamin sighed. “There is talk about the way you’ve been changing up things.”
“I’m not in the mood for a lecture.” Kaine cut the older male off, anxious to see his mate. Listening to the elder male fuss was an ineffective use of his time, especially for something that had happened over a week ago.
Benjamin sighed again, the aggrieved sound grating Kaine’s nerves. “We’re all affected by any actions you take.”
“As long as money is not coming out of your pocket and the feds ain’t at your door, ain’t shit for you to question me about, if we’re keeping it real,” he reminded the elder shifter.
“Heard,” Benjamin said.
Kaine hung up the phone and went back out into the living room.
His siblings were sprawled over the couch, chatting with Dave and Hakeem.
They all tensed as a knock sounded at the door.
Guns out all the way around, Kaine went to answer the door.
He looked through the peephole and smiled.
His mate was on the other side, and all of a sudden, the aggravation from his call with Perretti dissipated.