Chapter 17 #2
Menace nodded, then followed me out of the office. As we made our way to the back door, Menace smiled, reached over and patted me on the shoulder as he said, “Thanks for the help, brother. Breakfast is on me.”
I didn’t bother reminding him no one could hear what he was saying.
Instead, I just nodded and followed him out the door.
As soon as he locked up, we were on our way back to the clubhouse.
On the ride over, I thought back to the last couple of days with Marlowe.
I couldn’t imagine how terrified she must’ve been.
Hell, I’d thought she was pulling away from me, but instead, she was just doing what she could to protect me and the brothers.
I couldn’t help but feel like a huge, fucking asshole for doubting her, but I’d find a way to make it up to her.
I would show her once and for all I was there for her—no matter what the circumstance.
The guys had already gathered in the conference room and were waiting on us when Menace and I got back to the clubhouse.
It was clear from the tension crackling around them they were eager to hear why we’d called them all together.
Menace reached into his pocket and took out the receipts Marlowe had written on.
“Rafe and I were going through last night’s receipts when we came across these. ”
“What exactly is all this?” Viper asked with narrow eyes.
“It’s a warning from Marlowe,” I answered as I motioned my hand towards the receipts.
“Turns out this Eric guy Kate brought to the club the other night wants intel on us, and he’s using Marlowe to get it.
In the notes, it says he’s planted cameras in her apartment and has eyes on us at the club.
He’s even gone so far as to put a mic on her, and he’s threatened to kill her family—and me—if she doesn’t get the information he wants. ”
“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” Viper roared.
“I wish we were, but this is no fucking joke,” Menace replied. “There’s a lot more there, including the fact that Marlowe’s biological father was Anthony Polito.”
Surprise crossed Viper’s face. “What the fuck?”
“Yeah, she had no idea,” Menace told him. “She didn’t even know she was adopted until yesterday when Kate told her.”
“Hold on a fucking minute.” Country’s brows furrowed as he said, “I thought we were done with this Polito motherfucker. I mean, damn. We wiped out all those motherfuckers when Fury was here.”
“Clearly, we didn’t.”
Menace took a moment to go over the rest of what Marlowe had written in her warning, and when he was done, Viper looked angrier than ever. “So, he’s here to finish what Polito started, and he’s using Marlowe to make that shit happen.”
“That about sums it up,” I answered.
“Well, that shit isn’t going to happen. It’s time to turn the tables on this guy.” Viper turned his attention to Menace as he said, “I want to know everything there is about this Eric fella, and I want to know it now.”
Menace nodded. “I’ll pull an image from our security feed at Stilettos and use it with my facial recognition software. Ten to one says he’s our Stark.”
“Until we know more, I’m not taking any chances. As of right now, consider yourselves on lockdown. I want all families and ol’ ladies secured by nightfall.”
“What about Marlowe?”
“Bringing her here would only make this guy suspicious and put her in more danger than she’s already in.”
I knew he was right, but at that moment, I cared more about her safety than my own, and I was going to do whatever I could to protect her. “Then, I’ll stay over at her place.”
“Not sure that’s a good idea, brother. One of you says or does the wrong thing, and this whole thing blows up in our faces,” Menace warned.
“I won’t let that happen.”
Shotgun, our club’s enforcer, had been all but silent since we’d started church. He’d been taking in everything we’d discussed, but when it came to this, he refused to keep quiet. “Menace is right. You need to be here.”
I wasn’t surprised by his remark. It was his job to protect the brothers, but it was my job to protect Marlowe. “If the tables were turned, and this was Remington we were talking about, what would you do?”
“I would do exactly what you’re doing.” His eyes grew intense as he warned, “You’re gonna have to watch your back, brother. If you run into any trouble—”
“You’ll be the first to know.”
Once that was settled, Viper dismissed us all from church.
Usually, the guys quickly dispersed and went about their own business.
Not today. It seemed they all had something to say about the situation with Marlowe.
While I appreciated their concern, I was eager to find out more about this Eric asshole, so I excused myself and went down to Menace’s room.
I didn’t want to disturb him while he worked, but I needed to be there in case I could lend a hand with anything.
When I walked in, Menace was at his computer with Hawk sitting right beside him, quietly sifting through a folder.
Neither of them paid me any mind as I made my way over to the empty chair next to Hawk and sat down. As I peered over Hawk’s shoulder, I whispered, “Whatcha looking at?”
“The pictures of Stark’s place in San Antonio.”
I’d already seen them a few days before, but I peered over his shoulder for a second glance in case there was something I might’ve missed. He was sifting through the different images when something caught my eye. “Hey, go back to that last picture.”
As he flipped back to the previous photograph, he asked, “Why? You see something?”
“Yeah.” I pointed to a real estate sign in the front of the lot. “Is that for this property?”
“Looks that way.” Hawk leaned in closer, then said, “Holy shit. Are you seeing this?”
“Yeah, I see it.”
Curious as to what we were looking at, Menace glanced over his shoulder and asked, “What?”
Hawk handed him the photograph and said, “Check out the name on the sign.”
“Stark Realty? Are you fucking kidding me? How the hell did I miss that?”
“I missed it, too.”
“That’s how he keeps moving so fast.” Menace quickly turned to me as he asked, “Hey, am I crazy or wasn’t Kate bragging about the fact her new boyfriend was in real estate?”
“I believe she did. I also think she mentioned him working on some development while he’s in town. Bought some property and was prepping it for resale. Shouldn’t take much to find out which property, right?”
“Just a matter of looking up recent sales.”
“Well, I’ll be damned.” A smirk crossed Hawk’s face as he said, “I think we’ve got him, boys.”
“It’s certainly looking that way, but I’ll run the facial recognition just to be sure,” Menace replied. “I want to cover all our bases.”
“Agreed.”
“Let’s give him some breathing room.” Hawk stood as he looked over to me and said, “’Bout time for us to head over to Stilettos for our shift.”
I glanced up at the clock on the wall and was surprised to see it was already after three.
I told Marlowe I would be coming by her place this morning, but time had gotten away from me.
As I followed Hawk out to the parking lot, I got it set in my mind I was going to make it up to her, and I knew exactly how.
When I walked into Stilettos, I found Marlowe busy behind the bar making drinks.
Damn. She looked so beautiful she took my breath away, and I couldn’t wait to have a few minutes alone with her.
I walked up and just watched her go through the motions of making one of her fancy drinks.
She was a great bartender. She took pride in her work and never failed to impress.
When she finally realized I was standing there, a soft smile danced across her perfect, full lips.
“Hey there, beautiful.”
“Hey.” A shroud of concern washed over her as she muttered, “Where’ve you been? I was expecting you to come by my place.”
"I was planning to, but I got held up at the clubhouse.” I stepped behind the counter as I asked, “You got a minute to talk?”
She glanced over at the waitresses hovering at the bar, waiting for their drinks, then said, "We’re pretty swamped.”
"Hey, Lisa.” When she turned to face me, I asked, “Can I borrow Marlowe for a minute?"
“Sure thing. Take all the time you need.”
I gave her a nod, then I grabbed Marlowe's hand and led her down the hall. I knew there were no cameras in the VIP room, so we wouldn’t be seen by anyone, including Stark. As I reached for the door handle to open it, Marlowe asked, "What are you doing?"