"I gotyour message to Crash. He's agreed to meet, but only if we come to him. He'll be free in an hour," Nicco reported a few hours later.
His anger had shifted from me to the Delgados after I filled him in on the whole picture. Their collaboration with Dayton, or Darren's involvement at least, and what it entailed. I was beginning to expect Austin Delgado, the current boss, had no clue what his son was running in his own family. Add in the suspicion that no one had seen Austin for months. I'd begun to wonder if he was even still alive.
The agreement with Dayton regarding Immy made me suspect an arranged marriage alliance had occurred. With this threat against Loren and this job they wanted us to do, Nicco began to think differently about things. The danger to her life was clear after the explosion, and it was only my reassurance that I had a guard posted along with a nurse who was a friend of the family watching her that finally settled him.
I was beginning to believe my cousin had stronger feelings for Loren than even he knew. Sax, too, for that matter. He'd been almost as bad as Nicco. Reigning in that brute had taken effort, but unlike Nicco, Sax understood the risks and knew the score. Once his need to protect her had been satiated, he could think clearly and knew his presence there would only raise questions. Questions we didn't want to answer or bring to light.
I hated holding them here and keeping her from them. I didn't want to punish Loren, but there wasn't any other way to keep her safe. At least not yet. Immy had regressed into her shell and was avoiding me. She refused to talk to me until I gave her phone back. It was a risk I couldn't take at the moment, so as much as it pained me, my sister ignoring me was the better option, even if that meant she saw me as the enemy.
Focusing back on Nicco, I shut my ledger and stood up from the desk. Rounding it, I grabbed my suit jacket and headed out of the office. Sax waited with Nicco in the hallway, and we all walked toward the garage together. Sax might've accepted his distance from Loren, but he'd been quieter than usual this past week, and I had to guess it was from not seeing her. I tried not to take it personally, but it seemed to weigh on me more and more each day.
The worst part was that Sax knew there wasn't any other option. He was just pissed about it.
Immy intercepted us before we made it to the garage, and I didn't have it in me to deal with her teenage attitude today. Her arms were crossed, and her expression fierce as she blocked our path. It was the strongest I'd seen her in a few days, so while I was annoyed at being delayed, internally, I was glad to see some life returning to her.
"Immy, we don't have time. Please, move."
"No!" Immy screamed, and before I could blink, I felt her palm striking me across the face.
I stood motionless, shocked she'd slapped me. Immy must've felt the same because she stood frozen with her hand in the air. Sax and Nicco stood stock still, watching me to see what I would do. When I didn't retaliate, Immy began to speak again. This time with a lot less sass but determination all the same.
"You're going to tell me what's going on and let me get in touch with Loren or Jude. This isn't fair to them, Attie! I need to know if they're okay."
"You know what isn't fair, Immy? I'm having to stop and have this conversation with you while I'm doing everything I can to save your little boyfriend and therapist, and yet, all you give me is attitude. So, how about you trust me and move out of my way before people are unnecessarily killed? Can you do that? You can be mad at me later."
Immy's lip wobbled, the harshness in my tone uncommon, but I couldn't use kid gloves on her anymore. If she was willing to strike the boss to get her point across, she wasn't the delicate flower I'd cast her as since the incident. We would all need to accept it, and it meant starting with treating her like a full member of this family.
She'd crossed a line by slapping me, and that resulted in a consequence. I'd have to be creative with how I went about it. Nothing would ever cause me to strike her, and our usual form of consequences wouldn't work on her anyway. Immy had taken steps toward a life I didn't know if she wanted, but if she insisted on walking down this path, I would have to be ready and make sure she was as well. First, though, I needed to eradicate the cancer that was Delgado.
Immy moved out of our way and allowed us to pass. I didn't say anything else to her, knowing it would only be a distraction at this point. She would know what was waiting for her when I returned. That would be torture enough for the moment. Nodding to the guard at the door, I wanted to make sure she didn't try to leave. That would be a problem I didn't have time for today.
Before we exited the house, I heard her quiet words whispered into the air, "I'm sorry, Attie…. please."
Her plea gutted something in me, and I wanted nothing more than to be able to fix this for her, to give her what she wanted. I paused in the doorway as I debated, but unfortunately, the best solution might not be the one she wanted. I had to be the man who made that call. So, I didn't acknowledge I heard her words. I couldn't. Instead, I wrapped them safely around my heart and focused on protecting the family.
It was the only thing I could do. The one thing I'd been born to do, and the only promise I could make her. Family above all. The scary part was, I wasn't sure who fit into the category anymore. My life was changing all around me, and with it, my worldview. I prayed we'd all be left standing in the end.
* * *
"You sure Crash lives out here?"Sax asked Nicco for the third time. When Nicco didn't answer but merely rolled his eyes, Sax huffed but went back to looking out the window.
We were way outside of Chicago and headed down an unpopulated road. There hadn't been another house for a couple of miles now. I wasn't sure if we were headed to a possible solution or a trap resulting in our deaths. It was hard to know at the minute.
The SUV full of guards stopped ahead of us and turned down a gravel road. Our car followed, as did the one behind us. The three-car parade proceeded to make its way down the long gravel road spitting up dust as we went. I felt bad for whoever had to wash these later.
A house came into view finally, and it was, quite frankly, a dump. It might've been nice at one time, but years of poor maintenance had deteriorated it. If what our sources had found was true, it made sense he lived in such disrepair. The guy was penniless with a mountain of debt on his shoulders.
Dogs barking could be heard as we neared, and as we rolled to a stop, Crash walked out the door, holding a menacing dog by the collar.
"I thought you said he was agreeable to this meeting?" I questioned Nicco as I kept my gaze focused on the mysterious fighter.
"He is. I think he's holding the dog more for you than himself. He's a dog trainer or something. I imagine he's holding the dog back and not using it as a threat, but that's just a guess." Nicco shrugged. He'd been quiet since I'd filled him in on everything dating back almost twenty years. He hadn't remembered Jaz since he was only about eleven at the time, but once he'd heard the whole story, Nicco had jumped all in, as I believed he would.
Based on his reaction to the photo, I think Nicco's priorities had already shifted more than he realized. I hated taking away the normal life he'd dreamed of, and I hoped I'd be able to give it to him someday. But now it was war, and I needed him. We needed people we trusted and who knew the costs. I understood what he'd sacrificed to join me. Now, I had to prove it had been worth it. Loren would be a weakness for him unless I could make it a strength.
I was still working out the how on that one.
Stepping out of the car, the three of us observed our surroundings, training kicking in as we all fell into our roles. The guards were stationed around the property and watched our back as we approached the fighter and his dog.