7. Chapter 7
TATE
Reese is sitting on the couch with Ivy, and I can’t stop staring at the curve of her neck.
She’s wearing one of my t-shirts again. It keeps slipping off her shoulder, exposing marks I’ve left kissing and sucking her skin.
Seeing the red skin makes my cock twitch.
I want to cross the room and put my mouth on them.
I want to bend her over the arm of that couch and remind her who she belongs to while my family watches.
I don’t do any of that. I need to plan a way to painfully destroy her fucking father and quit thinking with my dick.
Fox is talking about timelines and logistics for how we are going to get the fucker.
I’m nodding in the right places, but half my attention is on Reese—the way she tucks her legs underneath her, the way she laughs at something Ivy says, the way her fingers drift toward her mouth when their conversation becomes intense, before she catches herself and pulls them back.
She doesn’t need that anymore. She has me.
The thought hits harder than it should. A week ago, I was fucking nameless women. Now I’m ready to burn down everything my family has built for that woman over there.
What the fuck is happening to me?
Headlights sweep across the windows, and I hear the crunch of tires on gravel.
Reese jumps and places her fingers on her lips.
I go to her. “It’s just Thorne, baby girl.”
I lean down and press a kiss to her lips, pushing my tongue in her mouth so she has something to soothe herself.
If she needed it, I’d pull my cock out right here for her.
I wouldn’t be shy. She sucks my tongue for a few seconds, and I don’t know how I’m going to get anything done with how hard I am for her.
“You’re safe,” I say against her lips. I don’t miss Ivy smirking at me when I rise to greet my brother.
The door swings open and Thorne walks in, shaking rain off his jacket. “Is it finally time to let the little brother in on whatever is going on around here? Shit is going insane.”
Thorne immediately gives me a hard stare. He never likes being the last one brought into things. But we don’t have time for his bullshit.
“Thorne.” I grip his shoulder in greeting. “Thanks for coming, brother.”
“Like I had a choice.” He shrugs off his wet jacket and tosses it over a chair. “Dad’s been up my ass for two days asking what I know. Which is nothing, by the way. Because my asshole brothers decided to leave me in the dark.”
“I only just got here today, fucker.” Fox doesn’t look up from the papers spread across the kitchen table. “Stop bitching and sit down.”
Thorne’s eyes sweep the room and land on Reese, taking in the borrowed clothes and the way Ivy is sitting close to her, like they’ve known each other for years instead of hours. Then he looks at me.
I try to convey what I’m thinking without words. Now is not the time rehash everything. We need a fucking plan.
Whatever he sees in my face is enough. He doesn’t ask questions. He just nods once and drops into the chair across from Fox.
“Alright. What’s the plan for killing Jenson Donaldson?”
Thorne plays the part of the careless youngest brother sometimes, but he knows what needs to be done. And he’s going to help make sure it gets done right.
“That’s the problem.” Fox taps his pen against the table.
“We can’t just put a bullet in his head.
He’s on the Council. And if we keep killing members of the Council, they are going to get suspicious.
And with Dad’s Talons not giving them anything to work with, we could start a fucking war if we give anyone reason to think we are involved. ”
Fox glances at Reese and then focuses on me. “And that’s going to be a hard sell.”
“So we need cause.” Thorne leans back in his chair. “Something that makes his death look justified. Or better yet, like an accident.”
“An accident would be cleaner.” I move to stand behind the couch, my hand settling on Reese’s shoulder. God I just need to fucking touch her. “But the Council isn’t completely stupid. Dad can manage them as best as he can. But when Reese reappears, they’re going to have questions.”
“Then we need to give them answers before they ask.” Fox is already mapping it out, the way he always does. “We need to control the narrative. Make it look like Jenson brought this on himself.”
“His trafficking operation.” Ivy speaks up. “That was always the plan, right? Use what he’s doing to those girls as justification?”
“The problem is proof.” Fox shakes his head. “We know what he’s doing, but we don’t have documentation the Council will accept. They’ll want records, financial trails, names. Something they can point to if anyone questions why a Council member ended up dead.”
“I gave Tate some names.” Reese’s voice is steady, and I lean down and kiss the top of her head. My brothers both look at me as if they can’t believe what they are seeing.
“That’s a start,” Thorne says. “But we still need to be able to prove it.”
“We’ll get all the sick fucks.” I’ve been turning this over in my head for days.
“Jenson’s been operating outside Council-approved channels to run his operations and build his own network.
They tolerate a lot of shit, and some of them would turn a blind eye to the trafficking operation if it lined their pockets, but none of them tolerate being cut out of the money.
If we can get the right proof, the Council will give Dad the authority to take out each and every man on the list.”
Fox’s eyes sharpen. “You’re right. Dad would have known about the operation if it had Council approval.”
“I think Jenson’s been running his shadow operation for years right under their noses.
And they aren’t going to like that. No one on Reese’s list is on the Council.
They are all lesser members he could control.
” I look down at Reese. “Baby girl, do you know where your father might keep any of his financial records?”
Thorne whispers something to Fox, but I ignore him and keep focusing on my girl.
“There’s a safe he thinks no one knows about in the room on the third floor.” She tilts her head back to meet my eyes, and they are watering. “The room I told you about.”
I’m going to burn her father’s house to the fucking ground once this done, so that house of horrors is wiped from her existence.
I watch her throat move as she swallows. “But I don’t know how to open it.”
“I’ll get into the fucking safe.” Thorne is already grinning. “That’s the easy part. The hard part is getting in without him knowing.”
“We just need to get him out of the fucking house.” Fox rises from his chair to sit beside Ivy, then picks her up and sets her across his lap. “Once we have the records, he’s dead anyway.”
I clench my fists, ready to see that fucker’s blood. “He’s dead if we find the records or not.”
“Let’s just take him,” Thorne says, waving his hand. “Then we search the safe, get what we need. No reason to wait for him to leave, we’ll just get him out.”
“We need to take him when he’s already out of the house, so we have his car, too. Then we’ll secure him while we look for what we need. If we have to torture him to get it out of him, then we fucking will.”
I glance down at Reese to see if she is bothered by the violence. Her fingers are tracing her lips.
“You’ll need someone who knows the house.” Reese’s hand drops and she stands up, turning to face me. “I know where the cameras are, the servant schedules, and how to navigate the house. I can get you there without anyone seeing.”
“No.” I growl the word.
“Tate—”
“You’re not setting foot in that house or that room ever again.”
She holds my gaze, and I see that fire in her eyes. The same fire that made me want her the first night at Velum. The same fire that I know has kept my girl going, surviving everything she’s dealt with.
“Tate, I’m not asking your permission.” Her voice is quiet, but I know she isn’t going to back down.
“Baby girl—”
She steps closer, tilting her chin up as she wraps her arms around me. “And you’ll be there. We’ll be in and out. We need this so we can get them all. Please.”
Fuck.
I want to throw her over my shoulder and lock her in my bedroom until this is over. I want to keep her safe even if she hates me for it.
But I see the determination in her face, and I know that this is something she needs. It’s not just about revenge for her. It’s closure. The chance to take back something that was stolen from her.
“Goddamnit.” I draw a long breath, knowing that I have to give her this. “You don’t leave my side. Not for a second. The moment we have what we need, we’re out.”
She nods once. “Thank you.”
“Fuck, he’s got it bad.” Thorne laughs and catches Fox’s attention. “He might be worse than you.”
“Fuck off, Thorne.” But I don’t deny it. I can’t. Not when I’m standing here with my arms wrapped around her like I’ll die if I let go. I’ve never felt like this before in my life.
Fox is watching me with that look he gets when he’s figured something out. He doesn’t say anything, but I know what he’s thinking.
I know he’s going to ask me about her. But I don’t have time to examine what Reese is to me. I just know that she’s mine, and I’m going to destroy anyone who tries to take her from me.
“So we’re doing this as soon as possible.” Fox pulls Ivy closer against his chest, his hand resting on her thigh. “We go to Dad first thing, lay out what we know, get him on board with managing the Council. Then we move on to Jenson.”
“We’ll need to know his schedule.” I force myself to focus on the job instead of the way Reese feels pressed against me. “We don’t know where he’ll be or if he’ll even leave the house.”
“He’ll play golf the day after tomorrow.” Reese’s voice is steady. “He leaves at ten and doesn’t get back until two or three. He never misses it. He plays with men who . . .”
“He’s so fucking dead,” I whisper to her.
Thorne pulls out his phone and starts typing. “That’s our window. We grab him after golf, on his way home. His security should be light enough for us to handle.”
“What about his driver?” Fox asks.