Chapter 38
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Malachi
The water in the Eden bathroom sink burns my skin, but the blood under my fingernails is stubborn.
I scrub my hands over and over again with the overpriced soap that my brother insists on supplying the club with, until the skin turns raw.
But the metallic, heavy smell of the motel room doesn’t seem to wash away.
Eventually, I give up and I quickly wipe my hands with a paper towel before tossing it into the trash and walking out into the meeting room.
I find Zeke already siting in his place at the head of the long table. Right now, his face looks carved out of stone. Levi is on his right, dragging on a cigarette and blowing gray smoke toward the concrete ceiling.
“Would you put that thing out?” Zeke looks up at our youngest brother, and to my surprise, Levi obeys immediately. Even he’s shaken up by everything that has happened.
Elijah is leaning against the back wall, his arms crossed over his chest, while Cain stares at a sprawling map of the city taped to the metal surface.
Jade is standing near the door and the second I walk in, she steps closer to me. She doesn't say a word, but she stands close enough that her shoulder brushes mine, her warmth grounding me and serving as a reminder to not do anything stupid.
“This morning, we lost a lead,” Zeke begins, his voice quiet, but the authority in it is absolute. He looks directly at me. “I need to know why my brother gutted our only source of information before he could give us insider information on Nolan.”
“He was more than just a driver,” I pull a chair next to Levi and sit down, while Jade stays standing right beside my chair. “He was one of the guards from two years ago.”
Zeke’s expression hardens, his mask breaking and the cracks showing all over again how much he hates himself for allowing that to happen to his brother. Not even ending Ronan Devlin’s life with his own hands helped him get over it, and I don’t think he ever will.
“When Nolan’s father kidnapped you?” Levi asks bluntly, the look of disbelief in his eyes.
“Yes,” I nod, trying to sound as unbothered as I possibly can.
“How do you know it was him?” Elijah is the one to ask. “Are you sure you’re not mixing him up with someone else?”
I can’t blame my brother for asking this question. If the roles were reversed, I would be probably asking the same questions as Elijah. After all, I was in such bad condition during captivity that I wouldn’t have recognized my own reflection in the mirror.
“They had a nickname for me that Ronan came up with,” I tell them, a shiver running down my spine as I recall the memory. “They called me Mutt.”
Levi’s eyes drop to the long dead cigarette in the tray in front of him and then to the glass of whiskey that he doesn’t pick it up. “Son of a bitch!”
“Nolan is playing games,” Elijah says, pushing off the wall. “He deliberately used this guy to get under your skin, knowing exactly that it’d get a reaction out of you.”
“What worries me is how many other guys from that time are involved in this,” Levi points out.
“Something tells me the motel guy isn’t the only one,” I say, leaning back in the chair.
“I think so too,” Zeke agrees, leaning forward and planting his forearms on the table. “Nolan wants you reckless, he knows that if he breaks your focus, he breaks our defense and puts us in a very vulnerable position. Which he proved today.”
I want to argue, but the blood still drying on my cuffs proves him right. Besides, I know that Zeke himself isn’t having the best of times with the subject and with me being kidnapped suddenly being rubbed in our faces, even though he’s doing an astonishing job pretending otherwise.
“So what’s out next move?” Cain speaks, his attention falling back to the table.
Zeke looks at me, then up at Jade, letting out a long breath. “You two are off the board.”
“What?” My eyes go wide as I jump from the chair in surprise, but Jade’s hand lands on my shoulder, silently reminding me that she’s there and I force myself to calm down.
“Nolan has a leak inside the Moretti house, and he’s using psychological warfare against my second hand,” Zeke continues. “Until we find out exactly how deep Nolan’s infiltration goes, you can’t sleep at your house. You can’t even come to the club.”
“I trust my man,” I reply. I trust Milo, like I trust every single guy that works under my name.
“Just because you do, it doesn’t mean the rest of us must trust them,” Elijah points out, grabbing a cigarette from Levi’s pack and lighting it up.
“Still, I have things to manage,” I tell them.
“I'll manage everything for you,” Zeke cuts me off, his tone leaving zero room for debate. “What you need to do is take your wife and go to the cabin in the northern woods. You’ll stay there until I give the clear.”
“So we become prisoners,” I say, looking at Jade. “That’s fabulous.”
“Think of it as the much-needed honeymoon,” Levi adds.
“I think it’s a good idea,” Jade’s voice is weak when she speaks.
I take her hand into mine, squeezing it strongly without hurting her. “Fine, we’re going to the safe house.”