They’re going to hate me. All of them.
I always told myself I could live with Sloan hating me in the end because I hated him too, but the other two… that’s going to hurt. It was always going to hurt, but I was more willing to face it before, when I had the righteous anger on my side. Now it’s just me facing down the three of them, and the look of betrayal I can already see in Rory’s and Levi’s eyes makes me feel like I might vomit.
“I have a contact in the Jackals,” I tell them, my voice hoarse. “I’ve been feeding him information. Shit I’ve picked up from listening to your conversations and going through your things. He knows about the money you’re moving around. About the big haul recently. And he knows where your accountant lives. Alex.”
They all react to my words immediately, their faces going hard.
“Fuck,” Sloan curses. “Goddammit.”
“They’re going to raid his place.” Rory speaks in a low voice. “They’ll hit it as soon as they find out. It’s too good an opportunity to miss out on.”
“Motherfucker. We have to get there. Now.”
Sloan is still obviously pissed at me, but I can see him transitioning into battle mode, his mind jumping ahead several steps to deal with the problem in front of him. Without another word, he snatches my shirt up from the floor and flings it at me. I pull it on, half expecting him to tell me I’m confined to my room or something until they get back, and yeah. That would be fair considering what’s happened.
But instead, he grabs my arm and drags me toward the door, not even giving me a second to protest.
“You’re coming with us,” he snaps. He cuts his gaze at me, fury burning in his gray eyes. “I’m not letting you out of my fucking sight.”
23
Sloan shoves his gun back into his waistband, and there’s a mad dash where Levi and Rory go to get theirs and do the same. They thunder down the stairs, still dragging me behind them, and we all head out to Sloan’s car.
He practically shoves me at Rory, who ushers me into the backseat quickly. I don’t even have time to buckle my seatbelt before Sloan peels out of the driveway, breaking the speed limit as we drive toward the accountant’s house.
He grabs his phone and dials a number quickly, and it’s quiet enough in the car that we can all hear it ringing and ringing and ringing. No one answers.
“Fuck,” he swears, tossing the phone back onto the center console. “Fuck!”
“Should you tell Gavin?” Levi asks softly, and I can see Sloan’s face darken even more in the rearview mirror.
Reluctantly, he nods and grabs his phone again, hitting a button and putting it up to his ear.
“It’s me,” he says, so clearly he’s gotten an answer for this call. “There’s been a possible breach. At Alex’s place.” He’s quiet for a second, listening to whatever his dad is saying. I can’t hear anything other than Sloan’s part of the conversation. “Yeah, I know. I know. We need backup. Send whoever’s close.” A pause as he listens some more and then, “I don’t know yet. We’re heading there now.”
It would be so easy for him to just spill to his dad that there was definitely a breach, how it happened, and who was responsible. But he doesn’t.
He keeps it vague, nodding along to whatever his dad is saying on the other end. “Okay,” he says finally. “Sounds good.” Sloan hangs up and rubs a hand over his face. “He’s sending whoever’s nearby,” he explains to Levi and then glances back at Rory in the mirror. He doesn’t even look my way, and I can’t blame him.
I still feel sick. The way the car is speeding and Sloan is taking turns at a breakneck pace doesn’t help, and I grip the arm rest on the door hard enough that my knuckles are white.
Everything I’ve learned in the last hour or so keeps hitting me over and over again, like the information refuses to settle. My dad is alive. Sloan helped him. And I fucked them over.
Someone might be in trouble because of me, and it’s a big enough deal that members of the Black Roses are mobilizing in force to help keep him out of the Jackals’ clutches.
Even knowing that, there’s a part of me that still feels justified in what I did. I only acted on the information I had, and if Sloan wasn’t such a secretive, closed-mouthed, untrusting asshole, then none of this would be happening. I wouldn’t have had to go to the Jackals for revenge because I would have known what was going on. I maintain that it’s fair for me to want to get back at someone who I thought murdered my family.
But at the same time, another part of me feels so, so fucking guilty.
Whatever’s going on here, it seems like it’s really big. Clearly, I gave up something even more important than I realized. I just wanted them to have something, anything they could use against the Black Roses, but I never thought it would turn out like this.
It seems to take forever for us to reach the accountant’s house. Sloan pulls up in front of the small bungalow, and as soon as he cuts the engine, the guys are getting out of the car.
I open my door, stepping out to go with them, and Sloan whirls on me, anger still clear on his face. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he demands, walking toward me like he’s about to pick me up and put me back in the car himself if he has to.
I stand my ground, glaring right back at him, ignoring the churning in my stomach. I’m not going to throw up here. Goddammit. I’m not.