15. Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Fifteen
I didn’t think the meeting with Loki would take as long as it did to catch him up on what we discovered, but when texts from Wires, Ace, and Haven Richardson came through, phone calls ensued to all of them.
Wires discovered that I was right. The Onassis Syndicate had been keeping tabs on Lyra since she moved into Jevry’s apartment. When I got Ace’s text, I knew that Lyra had talked to Jevry. Ace was sure that Onassis was coming for Lyra. And I had to agree with him. I felt it in my fucking bones. Hell, I would. Especially since the man had held her in his arms.
The thought grated on my nerves that he’d touched what was mine. He’d pay for it with his fucking life.
Ace and a few of his brothers would be in New Orleans in a few hours. Ace insisted since, technically, he’d brought the Onassis Syndicate to New Orleans. The guns were just an opportunity that they seized on, which led me to call Haven Richardson. Her visit to Vinny Benoit turned out to be the most informative. She offered to work on his case to get his sentence reduced for his information, but it was worth it.
Haven got him to admit that the Onassis Syndicate was working out of an abandoned building not fifteen miles from the clubhouse. They’d been officially in the area for the past two months, setting up shop right under our nose. When I asked Haven about the guns, she hesitated, but only for a moment. What she said wasn’t a surprise to me. I’d thought as much, and Remy and I knew it was time to cut our losses with the old woman.
“Your mother orchestrated the deal for your missing guns. She’s also been funneling information to your Greek friend about your operation. She used Vinny and her boyfriend for initial contact, but after that, it was all her. Do what you will with the information,” Haven said, then hung up.
I left Loki’s office reeling after that call. I climbed the stairs in a daze, not knowing where I was headed until I knocked on the door of the temporary room he had been using since DeArie was in his.
“It’s open,” Remy called out through the door.
I pushed the door open and closed it behind me. I ran my hands through my hair. Fuck I needed a haircut.
“It was Mama,” I said to him, leaning against Remy’s dresser.
This room was even less personable than mine.
“I need you to tell me a little bit more than that,” he rumbled.
“It was Mama who set up the gun sale for the Greeks. Just talked to Haven Richardson. Vinny spilled his fucking guts,” I told him.
“You know what we have to do,” Remy growled.
I did. We’d known for a long time that Mama was a piece of shit. She’d betrayed us. Brought the Greeks down on us and almost got the woman I was falling head over heels in love with killed.
“Let’s take the girls to your house. I don’t want Lyra to have to spend another moment here with the club whores. Even though I kicked Ebony out, who knows who else is gonna come out the woodwork and try something stupid,” I said, folding my arms across my chest. “Can DeArie be moved?”
“Wait. So, you’re just going to shoot right over that Ebony thing?” Remy teased.
I rolled my eyes but couldn’t keep the grin off my face.
“Lyra broke her arm,” I paused because, damn, I was getting ready to sound like a pussy, but fucking it, the whole thing was awesome. “For touching me.”
There was a pregnant pause, then Remy threw his head back and laughed. He laughed so hard that he was bent over, holding his stomach.
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
“No, I’m telling you she gave her a warning, and then she put some fucking move on her that had her arm behind her back, and she broke that bitch,” I explained.
Remy laughed again. “Goddamn man, you got yourself a little hellion.”
“I do, and I fucking love it,” I said with a smile. Hell, even if I wanted to, I couldn’t stop. I was happy, and from the looks of it, my brother was happy, too.
“Well, what about you? You haven’t left DeArie’s side since we pulled her from that vehicle,” I mentioned.
He shook his head then smirked. “I like her. We’ve been able to talk a little since she’s been awake. Her bluntness is hilarious.”
I snorted because if she was anything like Lyra, then his brother was in for it.
“I’ll get Lyra to get the girls settled into the truck if you get Brick, Stone, and Riot to meet us there as backup. Wires is already on the property,” I said to Remy.
“You got it.”
I pushed off the dresser and pulled open the door. I didn’t know what would happen once we had our mother in front of us, but she had to go. I’d had no love for my mother since I was probably about ten years old. I saw her for what she was early in my life—a woman who should have never had children.
I turned toward my room first and pushed open the door.
It was empty.
Lyra could only be in one place. I walked a little way down the hall to Remy’s room. I knocked on the door; I could hear the women inside giggling. The door wrenched open, and there she was.
Damn.
“Hey you!” she said, pulling me in for a hug.
“Hey, you girls ready to go?” Her brows pulled down in confusion. Quickly, I said, “I want to get you and the girls somewhere comfortable.” I tried to cover up the real reason, but she didn’t believe me.
Lyra rolled her eyes. “I’m gonna have to beat someone else’s ass, ain’t I,” she huffed.
I snorted; this woman was every fucking thing.
“You won’t if you’re not here.”
Lyra nodded, then said. “We’ll be there in a few. Let us get DeArie dressed first.”
I placed a small kiss on her lips, and if I didn’t push away now, it was definitely going to turn into something a little more rated R.
“We’ll be taking you girls to Remy’s place, so hurry up,” I said then patted her on her ass when she turned away from me.
“Hey,” she complained, but the smile on her lips and the mischievous glint in her eyes said we’d take care of all that later.
A few minutes later, the guys and I were outside. Brick, Stone, and Riot were on their bikes, and Remy and I were in my truck. It wasn’t long before the girls came out of the clubhouse. Tara, Riot’s Old Lady helped DeArie to the truck. Remy hopped out and took over, picking DeArie up gently and placing her softly in the seat.
I slid out from behind the steering wheel and greeted Lyra with a soft kiss, then she climbed into the backseat.
I watched as Saria slid on the back of Brick’s bike. She looked like she belonged there. I nodded my approval when I caught his eye, then I slid behind the steering wheel, firing up my truck and on the move.
Once we dropped the girls off at Remy’s, we met the others in the office. I’d caught them up on everything we’d learned about the Greeks and our mama.
“Damn, that’s kinda fucked up,” Stone commented when we told them about what our mother did.
“Right. I don’t know how I’d react if I knew my mother set this whole shit in motion,” Brick replied, running his hand through his jet-black hair.
“We’ve always known she was a piece of shit,” I stated, looking at my brother, who’d taken so much bullshit from Madeline.
“Are you two sure about this?” Riot asked, looking between the two of us.
“It’s high time,” Remy answered, and I nodded in agreement.
“In the meantime, Wires, I need you to man the cameras. Ace said the Greeks were coming. I’d rather fight them here than at the clubhouse where women are. Loki agrees.” I continued to lay out orders.
“You guys just make sure the perimeter is tight. Rounds at the back docks at the rear of the property, the gun house, and Remy’s. I don’t expect them to come through the parking lot, but if they do, Wires can warn you. Oakland Chapter is our backup, but they still have another twenty minutes before they land. Just keep your eyes open. Any questions?”
When there were no questions, Remy and I climbed back into my truck, and I turned the ignition.
“You ready for this?” I faced my brother.
I was certain of what needed to be done, but I wanted to make sure Remy was all in. If he wasn’t, then Madeline LeBlanc would live to see another day.
Remy nodded. “I’m ready. You?”
“I am,” I said, and I felt it in my bones that this needed to be done.
I put my truck into drive, and we headed to Highland Trailer Park. Fifteen minutes out, Remy’s phone rang. He pulled it from his cut pocket.
“Yeah,” he groused into the phone, then went silent as he listened to whoever was on the other end.
“Turn around,” he blurted out. “Madeline’s at the farm. We’re coming.”
He hung up.
I did a U-turn right there in the middle of the street to a few horns blaring behind me as I floored it back toward our place.
“What the fuck is she up to?” I asked, not expecting Remy to answer.
“Something isn’t right, Beau,” Remy gritted out. “You need to go faster.”
I didn’t think twice about pushing the limits of my truck because I thought Remy was right. There was something up, and I had a sinking feeling that our mama was about to try to bring hell down on us.
Remy’s phone rang again, and Remy put it on speaker so I could hear what Mama was up to. This time, it was Stone.
“Get your asses back here! We are out of fucking time! Madeline brought the fucking Greeks with her. We’re under attack.”
***
The guys were on alert. Riot and Stone had burst through the doors of the house and immediately started barking orders for us to get to the safe room.
Who the fuck has a safe room in their house?
Even though it was unconventional, the three of us slowly climbed the stairs, following Stone’s directions regarding where and how to seal ourselves inside. Once we got DeArie settled, I backed out of the space and slammed the door shut, then paused, leaning my forehead against the door.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered to them, even though I knew Saria and DeArie couldn’t hear me.
I rummaged through every place I could think that Wolf would hide a gun. I knew from conversations Beau and I had last night, that he used to be military, which in my mind translated to a gun-toting badass who stashed guns all around his house. I hit pay dirt under his pillow. I empathized with the level of paranoia it took to sleep with a gun hidden there.
I wrenched the door open and listened intently for any signs of intruders. I was met with nothing but silence, so I checked to make sure there was a round in the chamber, flipped off the safety, and carefully walked down the stairs and out the front door. If these fuckers were after me/Jevry, then they were in for a rude awakening if they thought I was going quietly.
Where the cacophony of gators and insects greeted me the last time I made the trek down this dirt road toward the main building of LeBlanc Gator Tours, this time, hearing yelling and gunfire. My first and only thought was of Beau. I needed to get to him. If something happened to him because of me, I would never forgive myself.
Damn. It was a revelation I wasn’t willing to break apart just yet.
Running toward the shouts and gunfire—never thought I’d be doing that—I ran into a hysterical older lady who grabbed me.
“Oh my God!” she yelled, hanging onto my arms so tightly that I lost grip on the gun in my hand. “You gotta help me!”
“Okay,” I tried to calm her. “What’s wrong?”
In her hysterics and my concern, I didn’t notice her subtle stoop to grab the gun that I had dropped.
When she stood, she flipped her hair back out of her face, smiled, then pointed the gun directly at me.
“Now that that’s handled, there is a beautiful Greek god waiting for you on the docks.” The smile disappeared from her face. “Now, get moving while my sons are distracted.”
My hands went up in surrender, and my mouth dropped open with what was the most surprising look I could ever muster in this situation.
“Sons? You’re Beau and Wolf’s mother?”
Now that I’d asked the question and got a good look at her, without all that brown hair with natural blond streaks interwoven in it, I saw her eyes. They were the same green her sons possessed. But that was where the similarities ended.
“Unfortunately,” the woman sneered. “The ungrateful assholes. Now move.”
I turned slowly, walking back the way I came. When I got to Beau’s house, I paused, unsure where she wanted me to go from there. So many questions were tumbling around in my mind that I was quiet for the most part. The one blaring in my head was why she would do this? Why would anyone do something like this to their children?
“To the left, dear,” she instructed. It was clear to me she knew where she was going.
I did as she directed, turning to the left and around the side of the house.
“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” A voice came from behind us, and my knees nearly buckled at the familiarity of the voice. It wasn’t Beau or Remy but was definitely welcomed, nonetheless.
Beau’s mother grabbed my upper arm and held the gun firmly into my side.
“I’m taking her to the man who paid for her,” she answered. “Now, kindly get out of my way.”
So, she thinks I’m Jevry too.
Maybe I could use that to my advantage if Stone couldn’t get me out of this situation. Assuming she was bluffing and wasn’t actually going to shoot me.
“I don’t think so,” Stone growled, pointing his gun at Beau’s mother. “Hand her over, and you can live.
She snorted. “Are you serious? Do you know how much this guy is paying me for her? And you think I’m going to just hand her over to you?”
Stone took a step toward her. “If you think I’m about to let you…”
But he didn’t get to finish whatever he was about to say because Ms. LeBlanc turned her gun to Stone so fast that he never even got the chance to fire back before he hit the ground.
I screamed. Stunned that someone could just kill in cold blood without any prompting.
“Oh, shut the fuck up, and let’s go,” she snarled and continued to drag me around the house.