Chapter 17
Once they were all inside and seated at the large dinner table that was big enough to accommodate all of Kaid's clan and their mates and most of the kids, Ronan realized they’d all been playing poker. “Does Mom know you’re playing poker?”
“She does,” Maverik said.
“As do the rest of the women. We sent them to a spa day, and we’re having a poker day,” Bam announced.
“Even Aunt Janie?”
“She didn’t want the massage, but she’s getting a mani/pedi and a blowout,” Bane said.
“Yeah, she don’t want anybody touching her that she doesn’t know,” Bam agreed.
“So, what’s the problem?” Kaid asked, laying a card down and picking up two more.
“It’s a long story, but not too complicated.”
“So spill,” Daniel said.
“First, her name isn’t Capelli,” Ronan said.
“Well, I figured it probably wasn’t. She’s hiding from somebody.”
“Yeah. Her name is DiCaviatoppi.”
Bane froze. “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me?”
Ronan shook his head. “No, I’m not. She ran to keep him from beating her, and the kids, and has been hiding ever since.
If he finds her, she’s afraid that he would kill the kids just to make her watch, then take her home and torture her to death.
And even with that thought in her head, she’s not afraid for herself, she’s afraid for her kids. ”
“Nothing is ever easy, is it?” Kaid said redundantly.
“Nope. And that’s how you know it’s worth it,” Bam said.
“She’s afraid because she thinks that he’ll kill me, too.”
“You tell her?” Maverik asked.
“Kind of. She thinks I’m teasing her, but every word I said was accurate,” Ronan said. “Problem is that with all us working together for and in conjunction with our families, it looks to her like we’re in the same business her ex is in.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Kaid said.
“No, think about it. Family compound, always together, keeping to the family, lots of money to help each other when we need it,” Ronan said.
“Never thought about that,” Bane said. “But yeah, I can see it, too.”
“So you want us to just keep an eye on her, or what?” Kaid asked.
“Well, yes, but she mentioned to me that she doesn’t sleep at night, she stays up and listens for every little sound.
She’s nervous and scared to death. We went out Friday night and the boys stayed with Havoc, then we spent Saturday together and they all slept over Saturday night.
Sunday she asked me to take them home. I wasn’t planning on taking them anywhere.
I asked her to just stay with me. She knows how I feel, but she said she needs some time.
I took her home, and when she made it clear she is suspicious of me, of us, I gave a simple explanation of just a family and group of people who’ve made the right choices and worked hard.
Told her there is nothing illegal in our lives at all.
She said she needed time, so I immediately backed off.
Told her to call me when she wants some company.
I wasn’t mad, wasn’t trying to do anything other than honor her wishes.
I need her to choose me, like I chose her.
I don’t want to pressure her into anything she doesn’t want, not with her past the way it is. ”
“That bad, huh?” Daniel asked.
“Her father sold her to the DiCaviatoppi family to settle his debts when she was sixteen. She’s been a prisoner basically since then and married off to the old man’s oldest son, with the plan to keep her pregnant because a pregnant woman is easier to control.
They gave her a small allowance because a woman with money is a woman with options.
Her husband beat her, and abused her. He was jealous of the kids and pissed off he had to compete with them for her attention.
He’d drag her by her hair into their bedroom when he’d had enough of waiting for her to take care of the “fucking kids’.
He didn’t let them use the pool because the squealing and splashing wasn’t the composed behavior he wanted displayed around his friends, who were always there.
If they spilled something, they’d get beaten, just to tell you a little of what she confided in me. ”
“I think we just need to track him down and kill this motherfucker,” Bane said, flashes of Janie surviving something very similar provoking an almost visceral reaction from him.
“Same,” Bam said. “You don’t treat your woman like that, and when you cross the line in abusing your kids. You need killing,” Bam growled. “You don’t fucking hurt kids.”
“Agreed,” Daniel said.
“I’m not saying we go off and hunt him down. I’m saying that I need to make sure she’s safe. She’s still so spooked, won’t even put the kids in school because she’s afraid he could track her that way.”
“It’s possible,” Kaid said.
“Like I said, she stays awake at night waiting for something to happen. So, I’ve decided that I’m going to watch over her at night. She won’t even know it, but I’ll know she’s safe.”
“Just let her know,” Daniel said.
“He can’t. She hasn’t picked him and it’ll make her feel like she’s being forced into something again,” Bam said.
“I was going to talk to Daniel to let him know and ask for whoever’s there during the day to keep an eye on all three of them because the daytime is when I’m in New Orleans for classes.
I got the nights, though,” Ronan said. “But also, I’m wondering if I help, is it possible to add some kind of security to the shelter, maybe even the area the tiny houses are in? ”
Bam grinned.
“What?” Ronan asked.
“Tell him,” Kaid said with a smirk.
Bam pulled his phone out of his back pocket and swiped his finger across the screen to wake it up, then he scrolled through his phone until he found the app he was looking for. He opened it and handed it to Ronan.
Ronan took the phone from Bam and took a few minutes scrolling through the screens of the app he was looking at as Bam explained what he was seeing.
“Back when I didn’t think Everly was mine, she was being harassed by her Fox skulk.
Even though I couldn’t have her, it didn’t mean that I was going to allow anybody to hurt her, so I wired her studio in town.
It let me know when anybody came or went — sent pictures to my phone.
She, and her building were under complete surveillance at every second of every day.
And the day I got the message they’d broken into her building, it was the only thing that saved her. ”
“I didn’t know,” Ronan said.
“It was a long time ago. Anyway, I wrote the security program and installed the hardware. So when we were building the shelter, I just updated the program and we installed it in the building and on the grounds. It’s not in the tiny houses, but a couple of the cameras pick them up from the main building and the edge of the parking lot. ”
“How did I not know this?” Ronan asked, getting to his feet. “Can I have access to this app? Is this something that only you have?” Ronan asked Bam.
Bam grinned at him. “We all have it on our phones. Give me yours and I’ll add it to yours too.”
Ronan quickly handed his phone to Bam as he continued to scroll through the security app. “This is great. You don’t know how much I appreciate it.”
“You think we’re just going to send you off with an app?” Kaid asked.
“I mean, it helps, and greatly so,” Ronan said.
“You can’t stay up all night every night, shifted and hiding in the shadows to watch over your family, then go to classes all day, and work on the weekends, and continue to be effective at any of those things. You have to rest, too.”
“Their safety is more important than me resting,” Ronan said.
“Which is why we’re going to take rotating shifts. We usually shift into our animals and run a few times a week at night anyway. When it’s our turn to stand watch, we’ll just shift over at the shelter,” Kaid said.
“Well, except me, because I’m a little large to be able to stay hidden, but I’ll still be taking my shift. I can be illusive in human form,” he said, waggling his eyebrows.
“I don’t know what to say,” Ronan said.
“Say thank you. And next time you’re trying to protect your family, don’t think it’s not important to the rest of us. Come to see us,” Kaid said.
“Yes, indeed,” Bane said.
“You told Brandt or any of your crew?” Maverik asked.
“No. They all got littles. They need to be at home for their families,” Ronan said.
“Brandt’s going to kick your ass,” Bane said.
“I’m trying to handle my issues and be considerate of everybody being a daddy, and needing to be near home.”
“Makes sense. But still, you need to tell him. We don’t have any littles at home, except for Tessa if you want to include her and she’s eighteen and driving me insane anyway. I love that child something fierce, but I need a break sometimes,” Kaid said.
Everybody laughed.
“He’s trying to say we’ll be glad to help you. Retirement is boring,” Bane said.
“Got it!” Bam exclaimed, closing the screens he had opened on Ronan’s phone before handing it back to him.
“I set up the alarms on your phone for you, too. You might get some people going in and out and moving around that don’t matter to you, but it’s the price of watching all activity in and out of the building. ”
Ronan took his phone back and immediately checked the app Bam had added. “This is perfect, Uncle Bam. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Any chance after my house is built, you’d be interested in adding a system to it?” Ronan asked.
“What house?” Maverik asked.
Ronan looked up from his phone with kind of an ‘oh shit’ expression as he met his father’s gaze. “Emmalyn gave me some land between her and the pool and Brandt’s going to build the house and I’ll start paying him back after I finish with school.”
Maverik nodded slowly, then patted Bam on the back. “I told you my boy was a planner. He’s always on the ball.”
Bam grinned and looped his hand over Maverik’s shoulder. “Yes, he is.”
“So, who’s on tonight’s rotation?” Daniel asked.