Chapter 36
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Ezekiel
“How are we going to get Mia back?” It’s the first time Riley opens her mouth during the meeting.
“We can’t let them sell her!” She’s been quietly sitting in one of the chairs, taking in every word my brothers and I have exchanged for over thirty minutes, but the fear and the panic that have been building inside of her since the moment we connected Cohen to Devlin is now surfacing.
“We will,” Malachi says with determination before I can open my mouth. He’s never forgiven Devlin for what he put him through last year and neither have I. I intend to make Devlin pay for it slowly.
I called my brothers after Riley identified Devlin, and we arranged to meet at the Eden. It took a lot of convincing to stop Cain from going after Devlin immediately.
“The police has already charged the Eden with human trafficking,” Levi steps back into the conference room, casually throwing his phone to the table. “My contact at the station confirmed.”
“That means Devlin succeeded,” Elijah speaks, his focus on the small origami he’s made while the rest of us were discussing the almost certainty, that Cohen sold us out. “He made us look guilty for something he’s doing.”
“Do you know what this means?” Levi crosses his fingers, elbows resting on the table. “We’re screwed.”
“Yeah,” I agree. “With law enforcement turned against us, it’s going to be a fucked-up ride clearing our name.”
“And that’s if we manage to clear it,” Levi adds, noticeably agitated. I’ve only seen my youngest brother like this when Devlin took Malachi.
“That’s why I said we shouldn’t wait around and chat,” Cain places his glass on the table, leaning forward. “Putting a bullet between his eyes might not clear our name, but it will stop him.”
“No, it won’t,” Malachi cuts in. “It will only make things worse, and we’d give both our business and our lives to his son on a silver platter.”
“Mal is right,” Elijah agrees. “If we do that now, with all eyes pointed on us, he’d have a field day with it.”
“And the sick son of a bitch might not even care that we killed his father,” Levi says.
“So basically, they take our girls, sell them, and along the way just destroy everything that we own and our name,” Cain recaps as if he’s disgusted by the fact that we’re not acting immediately. “And we just sit in a fucking conference room and talk about it instead of doing something.”
“We are doing something,” Malachi responds in a calm tone.
“Oh, yeah?” Cain raises an eyebrow. “Maybe we should have done the same thing when he took you—”
“That’s enough!” I jump to my feet, my chair sliding backwards until it hits the bookshelf behind me. “This is exactly what Devlin is hoping for. Having us turn against each other. But as long as I breathe, he won’t get to see that.”
I glance at Riley, who’s now pulled her chair back from the table, her hands crossed against her chest.
“Zeke’s right,” Elijah is the first to speak. “We have enough to be sure that Devlin is behind all of this, but we have to act smart and catch up with him because right now he’s five steps ahead of us.”
We all nod in agreement, even Cain seems to come to his senses and remember that a bullet between the eyes isn’t always the best solution. Especially for someone like Devlin, who deserves a much slower death.
“Go and gather our people,” I instruct. “Only the select few we trust. We need them.”
Once we wrap up the meeting, Riley and I are left alone in the conference room and all it takes is one glance in her direction to see that she’s not feeling very hopeful about any of this. She probably thinks she’s never going to see her best friend again and I can’t blame her for feeling that way.
I pull a chair up next to her and sit, turning her to face me, our knees touching. I lean forward. “We are going to get Mia back,” I say confidently. “Her and the other girls.”
“How can you be so sure?” Her eyes meet mine.
“Because I know my business and the Kavanaghs don’t take no for an answer.”
She studies my face for a few seconds as if she’s trying to see through me, before she speaks again. “Are the Kavanaghs also involved in human trafficking?”
The question doesn’t surprise me, anyone in their right mind would be wondering the same thing given the situation. I shake my head.
“I mean, I know you’re not involved in the disappearance of your own girls, but I’m asking in general,” she continues before I can answer properly.
“We’re not, Riley,” I take her hand in mine, my eyes never leaving hers. “Prostitution and human trafficking are one thing the Kavanagh family has never been involved in and we never will be.”
“Then you…” She seems to be choosing her words carefully. “Do other things but not human trafficking and prostitution?”
“Yes,” I nod. “We deal in weapons, drugs, gambling, loan sharking and other financial crimes, but not that.”
Riley sighs, relief washing over her face. “Good.”
The upper corners of my lips turn into a small smile.
This woman has no idea the power she holds over me.
Which is ironic when I think about it, because there is literally no one else in the entire world that has that kind of power over me.
Yet, there she is, Riley Monroe, the only person that represents a danger to my heart and my mind.
“Why are you smiling?” She asks, her brow furrowing.
“Because not many people are allowed to talk to me the way you do,” I respond. “And most of them would not survive it.”
Her cheeks turn pink and she looks down at our hands in her lap. “Is that bad?”
For my heart only.
Before I can respond, loud sirens outside interrupt us. I jump to my feet, my eyes going between the door and Riley.
“We have to go,” I grab her wrist as gently as I can and we head to the back door where Levi and Malachi are already waiting for us by Levi’s car.
“Isn’t this making things worse?” Riley asks as I open the door of the black SUV for her and she slides inside.
“Elijah and Cain will handle the police,” I explain, joining her on the back seat.
“Elijah knows the law well enough to be able to expand any loophole in this case to our advantage,” Malachi explains. “He’ll buy us enough time to solve this.”