Chapter 16
BUCK
“Buck said you are a big city lawyer,” Hayes said. “Working at the Sip N’ Serv must be a big change.”
As soon as Sage told me what was on the discovered thumb drive, I called my brother.
He was also a lawyer and we needed his help.
I had no idea how he was going to do that, but I was a fucking rancher.
I knew jack-shit about legal things like this.
I dealt in cattle and horses and crop rotation, not the New York City mafia.
But my woman was mixed up in something because of her dumbass ex and it was my job to protect her.
Sure, she was smart and a lawyer herself, but Wilders took care of each other. She wasn’t alone and wasn’t handling this solo. She might be having my fucking baby and there was no way she was being put in any kind of danger.
When I called, I told him to get his ass to my house because I needed his help. He was here within fifteen minutes. I’d barely gotten dressed before he came in the back door.
“Yes, I resigned though and came here. As for the Sip N’ Serv, waitressing is definitely different and I am not very good at it.” She laughed at herself. “I can’t remember the difference between breakfast plate number one and number two. I have no idea how Aunt Mabel does it.”
Hayes grinned. “Mabel’s a gem. She makes it look easy.”
I had to agree, but the diner wasn’t important right now. “Um, the thumb drive?” I prodded.
“Right,” Hayes said, clapping his hands together. “I can’t believe your client was the Mancuso crime family.”
“They weren’t my client,” Sage replied. “I didn’t even know the full list of clients the firm had. I ran the pro bono department.”
“I’m sure the Mancusos weren’t getting their representation for free,” Hayes guessed. “Shit, this is a little crazy.”
He ran a hand through his hair, dropping down into the chair at my kitchen table across from Sage. He was really surprised by this and not much surprised him. Then again, there wasn’t much interaction with the mafia in small town Montana.
When Sage said the thumb drive belonged to the fucking mob, I’d lost my shit, too.
He looked my way and shook his head, then chuckled. “You know how to pick ‘em.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Watch it,” I snapped, even though I knew he was fucking with me. “You’re the only one left single.”
He held up his hands. “Sorry, Sage, but I’m gonna find a nice, simple woman. Date for a long time. Make sure she’s not connected to organized crime before I seal the deal.”
“I’m not connected to the mob,” Sage repeated. “They weren’t my client. Again, I worked with the underserved and charities in the community.”
“Okay, not your client. Your father’s then. Your ex’s. Jackson, right?”
She nodded at Hayes’ question. “Yes. Both of them.”
“Why didn’t you tell me your father’s law firm dealt with the mob?” I asked. “It’s not like he could keep his hands from getting dirty. And your ex? He stole documents from them.”
Sage looked up at me. “That’s on them, not me. I didn’t tell you about it because I quit, remember? When I said yes to you last night, that meant I wasn’t going back. I emailed my father a resignation letter from the airport on the way here. That was before I even met you.”
I rubbed a hand over the back of my neck. “I thought you didn’t want to keep working there because your ex and his baby mama worked there, not… this.”
I waved my hand toward her open laptop that was now in front of Hayes on my kitchen table.
“Your ex and the woman who’s having his baby work with you?” Hayes asked, his eyes wide. It seemed Sage kept surprising him.
“Worked,” she said. “Again, past tense. As soon as I found out about it–a few months after everyone else at the firm–I quit and came to stay with Aunt Mabel.”
“Without knowing you had evidence proving the Mancusos are laundering money through strip joints, laundromats, car washes, and other legit enterprises in the tri-state area,” Hayes said. “Jesus. This is a problem.”
All I wanted to do was fuck a baby into my woman, not deal with the mob.
“I didn’t mean to take the evidence.”
Hayes shrugged, reached out and patted her hand. “You’re bound by attorney-client privilege for any client your father’s company has, even after you end employment.”
She nodded. “Yes. That’s true.”
“Except because of your ex’s incompetence, you’re in danger,” I said.
“I’m not in danger,” Sage said. “I’m not the one who had a thumb drive with incriminating evidence.”
“You need to call your ex,” Hayes told Sage. “Figure out what the fuck is going on.”
I nodded at the suggestion.
“After this morning, I’m not sure if he’s going to take the call.”
“He’ll take the call,” I added.
“What happened this morning?” Hayes asked, one blond brow raised.
Sage rolled her eyes as I smirked.
“Gotcha,” Hayes said, figuring out that we’d had sex, but I wasn’t going to clarify that we’d done it while Jackson listened in. That I all but taunted the fucker with it.
She picked up her cell and got Jackson on the line. I signaled with my finger to put it on speaker.
“Sage. What the fuck?” Jackson shouted from the phone she set on the table. “I can’t believe you had sex while–”
“Jackson, why do you have Mancuso files on a thumb drive? Are you insane?” Sage yelled, cutting him off.
“Fuck, you found it? And looked at what’s on it?”
“You’ve been harassing me for two weeks. Of course, I looked at it. Why do you have those files?”
Jackson was quiet for a second. “Protection.”
“Protection? From what?” she asked.
“It was insurance. Having proof of their illegal activities tucked away meant I was safe from them ever doing anything to me.”
“That’s the dumbest thing I ever heard,” Sage said. “You can’t ever go to the police with it. There’s no crime-fraud exception here.”
“Yeah, well, I thought it would keep me safe,” he muttered. “Turns out, they want the thumb drive.”
“Imagine that,” she muttered right back.
The mob wants incriminating files back? Imagine that.
“Look, I’m not rich like you. Nothing’s guaranteed for me.”
“You’re rich?” Hayes asked, then looked my way.
I shrugged. “It’s news to me.” I didn’t care if she had money. I could give her everything she needed.
“Jackson, you’re such an idiot.”
“They’re coming for the thumb drive,” he said. “Word is they’re already on their way.”
She frowned and glanced between me and Hayes. “What do you mean they’re coming for it? Who?”
“Bobby Mancuso.”
Sage glanced at me and Hayes. “Vincent Mancuso, the Don, is his dad.” Then, she pulled the phone closer and asked, “Bobby’s on his way where?”
“Montana,” Jackson said. “That weird town you’re in.”
Sage popped to her feet. “Why is Bobby coming here to Devil’s Ditch?”
“Yeah, what kind of town is named Devil’s Ditch?”
Sage ignored his question. “How does he know where here is?”
“Because you have the bag. I like my fingers, okay?”
“You put my woman in danger and you’re worried about your fingers?” I asked, setting my hands on the table and leaning in. “I’ll do more than cut off your fingers you asshole.”
“Are you with Dirty Harry or something?” Jackson asked Sage and she rolled her eyes.
Hayes grabbed the cell and hung up the call, dropped it back on the table with a thud.
He ran his hand through his hair again. He kept his hair the longest of all the brothers.
For a lawyer, he wasn’t all that clean cut.
He was the fairest of the bunch, looking more like a California surfer than Montana cowboy.
Colt was pretty chill, but Hayes, he was quiet.
There was a difference. He was silently ruthless.
Smart. Cunning, even. He was always the first of my brothers I called when shit hit the fan.
“What the fuck are we going to do?” I asked. “Some mob guy named Bobby Mancuso–who sounds like he’s right out of Good Fellas–is coming here for Sage and a stupid thumb drive?”
“I know what to do,” Sage said. She looked at Hayes. “You run your own law firm?”
Hayes nodded. “Wilder Legal.”
She smiled. “Good. Even though I can’t practice until I pass whatever tests Montana requires, I’m your new employee.”
Hayes’ eyes widened, then narrowed with some kind of understanding that it seemed only those who passed the Bar understood. He even grinned. “I like the way you think, Sage.”
I tossed up my hands. “What? What the hell’s going on?”
Hayes turned to look at me. “Get the guys together. Then get your gun.”