Chapter 22
CHAPTER 22
W ilder was at his home office desk when his phone rang. He thought it might be Bex letting him know weapons class was over, but the number belonged to someone else. Wilder took a deep breath, worried what this call would bring.
“Hello, Nico.”
“Nikolas found some answers. So did I. Want to meet at Harper’s in an hour?”
“What did you find?”
“Enough to know that you will want Agent Castle and Granger there along with Detective Moretti. You need a game plan and you’ll need them to assist,” Nico said cryptically, which only served to make Wilder more anxious to hear the news.
“We’ll meet you there in an hour. Is Nikolas with you?” Wilder asked.
“No. He flew back to the city this morning to get you answers.”
“I didn’t get the impression he was that eager to help me.” Wilder knew he wasn’t. Nico had to be pushing him, and for that, Wilder was thankful.
“I gave him an incentive. Nikolas wants to go legit since I’ve found a way to make it more profitable. But he can’t do it without my help or the power vacuum will bring in other families to take over the city. I’m helping him find a balance between being legit and also not losing the power he’s accumulated. I was able to do it since I chose my successor.”
Wilder frowned at that. Not because it wasn’t good information but because that was a lot of information to give someone not in the family. “Why are you telling me this?”
“You’re smarter than you pretend to be. I’m sure you know why.” Nico’s voice was steady. He wasn’t flustered. He wasn’t nervous. He was confident.
“You know we won’t let you date our sister, no matter how open you are with us, right?”
Wilder could hear Nico’s smile over the phone. “I’ll see you in an hour.”
The bastard hung up on Wilder having not confirmed nor denied what Wilder asked. Wilder cursed and picked up his phone as he headed to his bedroom to change out of his gray sweatpants. He shot off a text to Bex, Peter, and Granger and then called his brother.
“Damon, we have a problem. A big problem.”
Forty-five minutes later, Wilder walked into Harper’s bar to find everyone waiting for him. Bex and Maggie were talking with Kerri and Penelope while Granger and Kord were talking with Peter. Then there was Damon staring daggers at Pen.
“What’s going on?” Wilder asked Damon who was sitting off to the side by himself.
“I told Pen to stay the hell away from any current or former mafia members and she just laughed at me. She told me she was too old to be told what to do by her brothers.”
Wilder frowned. “We can’t do anything to Nikolas or Nico since I need their help.”
“We need to wrap this case up and fast so I can castrate her Italian stallions,” Damon said with a growl.
“Wilder!” Bex called out as soon as she saw him. “I had the best time. Also, I’m both intimidated and impressed by Lydia’s girls. Lacy is just barely a teenager and she handles a rapier better than half the people I’ve seen at the Olympics. And I remember watching Sutton Ramsey win a medal!”
The stress melted from Wilder at Bex’s smile. He leaned down and kissed her right in the middle of the bar. “I’m so glad you had a good time. I had hoped you’d love it.”
“I can’t wait to go to class next week.” Wilder’s heart squeezed. Bex wanted to be here next week. Could she imagine them together for longer than just this case? “Hey, Pen,” Bex called out, calling his sister over. “Have you been to weapons class?”
His sister joined them. She knew about the class but hadn’t gone before. “Not yet, but I could learn how to stab someone so I could finally get my brothers to back off.”
Bex smiled at him and Wilder got worried. That smile was full of mischief. “What do you do, Pen? You had mentioned being in Europe recently.”
“I have to move to Europe to get away from overprotective brothers.” Pen paused as the door opened and then smiled. “Nico, I didn’t know you were going to be here.”
The predatory look Pen gave caused Nico to stop at the door and glance around. Wilder could see the moment he figured out what was going on. It probably had to do with Damon’s face looking thunderous as he stalked toward Nico.
“Pen,” Bex said softly. She was whispering so quietly Wilder had trouble hearing her. “Don’t play with fire just to prove you won’t get burned because you will. I know about overprotective brothers. You’ll only hurt yourself trying to prove them wrong.”
“Trust me, your brothers have nothing on mine.”
“Then think of Nico. It’s not fair to him to put him in this situation. He is innocent in this battle with your brothers.”
Wilder kept his eye on Damon and whatever threats he was leveling to Nico, but he heard his sister let out a sigh. “You’re right. I’ll figure out another way to torture my brothers.”
“Are you done threatening Nico?” Peter asked Damon. “Kerri and I have a date night planned.”
“I’m done. For now.” Damon turned and took a seat at the tables they’d pushed together so everyone could sit together.
Wilder held out the chair for Bex and waited for Nico to tell them what he and Nikolas had found out.
“Nikolas went to New York this morning. Thank you for dropping off a sample of the drugs and the chemical tests from them,” Nico said to Wilder. He’d sent a message to Kale and somehow it was done. “Nikolas found out who deals in those drugs. After hearing what Nikolas found, I asked some contacts about DA Seabrook.”
“Who do the drugs belong to?” Peter asked exactly what Wilder wanted to know. Wilder knew Seabrook was corrupt, but he didn’t know who was helping him.
“Fergus Kelly,” Nico answered.
Wilder sat back, his lips pursed, as he started putting pieces together—Sasha and where he got the drugs and so much more.
“Who is Fergus Kelly?” Granger asked.
“He’s the owner of a competing club,” Wilder answered. “The Golden Harp.”
“And he’s the head of the Irish mob in New York,” Nico added.
“So, what’s the connection between the Irish mob and the DA?” Peter pondered out loud.
“That’s a very good question and one that I was wondering about,” Nico said. “Which is why I looked into Seabrook. What I found from my contacts in the Russian mob, the Belarusian mob, and the Mexican cartels is that Seabrook was looking to make deals. He wants to be mayor bad enough to strike deals with these organizations. The cartels were promised that he wouldn’t prosecute drug sales under a certain size, so all their dealers only sold at that weight and less. Then Seabrook promised the Russians and the Belarusians that he would fast-track building projects for them when he became mayor. In the meantime, he fed Kelly the patrol schedules and shut down any open investigations on them. Further, each organization told me that there was a rumor that Fergus Kelly would get ownership of WET once it was shut down.”
Bex sucked in a breath as her face turned red with anger. “Nikolas said there were cops on payrolls. But for all of this to happen, it had to be a mix of patrolmen, but also lieutenants and captains, if not chiefs. Do I even call Chief Wise and fill him in? And Max Caldwell drives some very nice cars and has some very nice clothes. Is he on the take? It wouldn’t hurt to have a detective in your pocket.”
“Max Caldwell?” Nico asked, cocking his head to the side and then pulling out his phone and typing something before turning it around to show Bex. “This guy?”
“Yeah, that’s Max. We’re both detectives in the criminal enterprise division.” Wilder placed his hand on Bex’s leg, which was now bouncing nervously. “They’re both read into this situation and I thought they were helping us.”
“I can guarantee Max isn’t on the take. Also, there are no reports about your chief being on the take either,” Nico told her. Wilder could see Bex relax at that news. “As for the others? Well, that’s up for discussion. Some I have names for, some I don’t. Basically, don’t trust anyone other than Caldwell and Wise.”
“I can get the FBI office to stop and frisk some of Kelly’s men. Then when they pull some drugs off them, we can run it, and when they match what was planted at Wilder’s I will have enough for a warrant,” Peter told them.
Wilder listened. It was all procedural and would take time. He wanted Bex safe now. He wanted her name cleared and he wanted Fergus and Seabrook to pay for what they’d done. Peter, Bex, Granger, and Dare took over discussions on what to do next and how to handle it. While Bex was distracted, Wilder caught Damon’s eye and motioned toward the bar.
“What do you need me to do?” Damon asked before he even found out what Wilder had planned.
“How do your motorcycle club friends feel about the Irish mob?” Damon smiled, and it wasn’t the kind that caused women’s panties to drop. This was the kind that made grown men piss themselves. “Good. It’s time you call them. I’ll meet them at your New York garage at eleven. Then we’ll go to pay a visit to The Golden Harp.”