Chapter 23
CALLIE
I could handle a lot of things.
I’d handled a stepfather who thought throwing furniture and breaking my will meant he was a big, strong man.
I’d handled a burning building with my kid on my hip and putting my body on the line to save his.
I’d handled three men rolling into my parking lot like they owned the place and taking care of me as a shot cracked and they whisked me away for safekeeping.
Men with guns, smoke and shouting from men in patched jackets didn’t bother me anymore.
What I could not handle was the sound Cody made when the front door slammed and a loud, obnoxious voice careened through the house.
Cody flinched so hard his juice box hit the floor and he made a pained sound as he brought his hood up over his head and drew the strings tight.
No. Absolutely fucking not happening. All the protection in the world did not mean shit when the rest of the people around us scared Cody.
They’d gotten close enough to put trackers on my car and Cody’s tricycle.
We’d not had time to talk about that before Cody and Colt entered the kitchen and the conversation turned to something that wouldn’t keep Cody up all night worrying about monsters.
“We’re leaving.” I set my coffee down on the counter and stood.
Cody kept his face tucked into his hood, slowly pulling the ends of the strings back and forth between his teeth.
Colt stiffened but kept pacing. He’d been doing that since Diesel showed him the tracker, and the constant motion triggered my flight response.
“Tonight.” I didn’t need permission, but I gave them a warning. “I’ll pack Cody’s bag and we’ll find a hotel.”
“Callie.” Hawk stood three feet away, his lean body tense. “You don’t have to leave.”
“Don’t.” I held up a hand. “Don’t tell me it’s been handled.
Don’t you dare. Someone put a tracker on his tricycle.
In this driveway. On your property.” I spread my hands in a gesture of surrender though I didn’t plan on giving an inch.
It was an apology to Diesel more than anything.
He’d tried, but his work came too late. “Your property, Hawk. Whatever you’ve been doing, it’s not enough. ”
“We don’t know that yet. You’re more at risk out there.” Hawk didn’t have to move to make his presence fill the room.
I felt it in every breath, the pressure grinding away my resistance.
“You need to call the police. This is more than we can handle alone. I want every bit of protection that’s out there.
” He wouldn’t call. Hawk did not call police into his problems. He dealt with them when they made themselves a nuisance.
The only reason he’d gone to the police station was to see what they knew about me.
“The police will open a file. They’ll take a report, and they’ll run the tracker through their system and find nothing because whoever placed it isn’t in their database, or if they are, the connection won’t hold up.
I will not trust you and Cody to a system known for failure.
Or one that can be bought. And while the file sits in a deputy’s inbox, the Hellhounds keep applying pressure.
” He moved toward me, each step precise.
“They don’t want arrests. They want leverage.
Police involvement gives them a different kind. ”
“So we just do nothing?”
“We handle it.”
“You keep saying that.” I pushed off the counter. “You’ve been saying that every single day and it keeps getting worse. Colt, please for the love of god, stop pacing.”
Colt frowned but stopped in the middle of the kitchen. “I think better when I move.” His gaze darted to Cody, and he pulled out a chair beside our son and sank into it. Within seconds, the two of them were deep into a conversation about cars that slowly pulled Cody from the depths of his hood.
Shit. I should have been the one to do that. I’d let my worry go too far. Colt had seen what Cody needed and offered him a distraction.
Too late now. If I interfered, it looked like I wanted Colt to stay away from Cody. I didn’t want that at all. I wanted us safe. All of us. “Explain to me, in detail, what handling it looks like, because from where I’m standing, all we’re doing is waiting for them to make another move.”
Diesel stood at the back window. He’d moved there after setting the tracker down and except for breathing, he hadn’t moved a muscle. One hand rested on the frame, the other on his hip.
“Diesel, tell me how to end this.” I never asked him for his story. Not where he’d come from or what brought him into Hawk’s circle. But it didn’t take a genius to realize Diesel had military training. I motioned toward the window. “What makes them stop?”
He straightened and turned away from the window. “Removing the reason they’re here.”
“That’s me.” I almost smiled, but it came out more of a grimace than the victory I’d expected. “You heard it straight from Diesel. I’m the reason they’re coming here.”
“No.”
An engine roared from the front of the house, the sound coming hard and fast along the fence line in the high-pitched scream of a throttle pushed beyond reason.
Glass shattered across the room, followed by a wave of heat and orange fire.
“Molotov.” Diesel dove for me, both arms going around my waist. He hoisted me off my feet.
Colt had Cody against his chest, one broad hand on the back of Cody’s head. “Got you. You’re going to be okay.”
Cody’s wail wrenched my chest, but Colt ran him from the room before I had a chance to even take a breath.
Flames licked across the roof in an ugly stream. Diesel dragged us behind the kitchen island and pushed me to the floor. “Don’t move.”
Colt and Cody were in the corner, tucked far enough into the shadows that I only saw glimpses of their eyes.
“We have to get out of here.” I struggled against Diesel’s hold.
“No.” He held on tighter and pressed his mouth to my ear. “They might be trying to flush us out. We have to stay inside. The men will take care of it.”
As though summoned by the mere thought, several men rushed the room. Voices clanged outside, and the sound of streaming water hitting the side of the house calmed my racing heartbeat. The flames continued to flicker, but the single bottle of flaming alcohol hadn’t been given a chance to spread.
Cody whimpered. “That wasn’t a firecracker.”
I bent double and reached across the empty space to take his hand.
“Hey, bud. Look at me.” His eyes lifted, but he kept his face pressed tight to Colt’s chest. “It’s going to be okay.
We won’t let anything happen to you.” One look at Colt’s fierce gaze and I knew he’d die for the boy in his arms. His hold tightened and he rocked Cody side to side.
Hawk’s men flooded into the room and finished putting out the last of the blaze trying to sneak along the ceiling.
Diesel tracked their movements and the busted out window without letting me go. A hiss of the fire extinguisher followed a terse order to watch the corner, and then Hawk’s voice coming from far away. “Clear. Single incendiary extinguished. Fire’s out.”
Diesel stood, bringing me up with him.
My legs wobbled, but I steeled my spine and focused on breathing. Smoke drifted in lazy curls that burned when I sucked air through clenched teeth.
Colt remained crouched with Cody in his arms. I crossed to them and hugged Cody from behind, wrapping my arms around him and Colt at the same time. Cody trembled from head to toe, his breathing as ragged as mine.
He’d probably have nightmares again. We both would. But we were still alive. I held my son and caught Colt’s quick shudder and the spasm of his hands when he swallowed.
Hawk strode through the kitchen, pausing behind me to talk to Diesel.
I listened in and realized that was why Hawk stopped where he did.
He was letting me in, letting me understand what happened.
“They wanted us to know they could still reach us. That’s why we have to take care of this in-house.
This is the kind of pressure they use to get what they want.
Pressure aimed at a kid works faster than bullets.
This is their end game. They’ll keep coming after him to get what they want from you. ”
I had to come clean with them once and for all.
It was time. I kissed Cody’s temple and jerked my chin toward the counter where we’d be far enough away Cody wouldn’t overhear.
“It’s because of my stepfather. It all goes back to that damned ledger.
” I rubbed the ache in my throat, my fingertips skimming over the gold chain.
My skin warmed with the reminder of what I had to lose, and I raised my chin.
“Wade ran with a crew that overlapped Vulture business years ago. He collected debts and kept a ledger of men who owed and men who could be squeezed. I knew he ran with a rough crew, but I didn’t know how bad until after they took him. ”
Diesel put a hand on the small of my back, and I realized I’d started shaking again.
Hawk brushed my hair away from my cheek. “That’s the ledger they’ve been talking about. The one you said you don’t have.”
“I don’t have it.” I squeezed my eyes shut as memories of that night flashed through my mind. I did not want to relive that night, but I’d started my confession and I’d see it through. “I took it the night he was arrested because it seemed like the smart thing to do.”
“What crew?” Diesel stroked my spine.
They already knew, but they needed me to say it. “The Hellhounds. It was the same crew that’s after me.”
Hawk rested his closed fist on the counter.
“Wade wrote down everything in that ledger. Names and routes. Payoffs. He even had a list of people’s kids and whether they’d be good leverage.” I tripped over the word as anger surged. “I took it as insurance against him coming back for us.”
“How would Wade know you have it?” Hawk kept his fist on the counter, and his other hand settled on my shoulder.
The touch grounded me in a way I hadn’t realized I needed.
“I was the only one in the house who would go through his stuff. I threw out everything else. Burned all his clothes. I was angry and I didn’t think it through.
He was supposed to be out of our lives for good.
” I should have known his people would come after his stuff, but I hadn’t been thinking very clearly at the time.
“He must have sent them after it, then realized what happened once they couldn’t find it.
He probably thought having that ledger would pay his way back into their good graces.
He got himself out of whatever hole he landed in after his arrest. Probably trying to prove he’s still useful. ”
“Surprised they didn’t just kill him.” Diesel growled from behind me. “It’s a liability. He took a risk admitting he’d written it down.”
“And now they think we have access to that information.” Hawk closed the loop in our conversation with a shake of his head. “Explains why they’re not giving up. No one is going to believe you don’t have that book. I wouldn’t believe it if I was in their shoes.”
I’d spent so much time convincing myself getting rid of the ledger was the right thing to do, but consequences didn’t go away. I should have found another way.
Too late.
The stillness in the room brought a chill that raced down my spine. My phone trilled from my back pocket, startling me into taking a short, sharp breath tinged with smoke. I coughed and yanked the phone from my pocket, eying the screen.
“Unknown number.” Diesel started to take the phone from me. “Don’t answer it.”
“I have to.” We all knew who was on the other end. None of this was random. I recognized the voice as soon as he said my name, and my body reacted with a shudder that released the phone.