Phee sighed. “It’s his story to tell, not mine. There’s one guy who I guess you could say introduced him to the business. Someone who holds a huge amount of power and isn’t afraid to use it to keep people in line.”
My stomach churned, and I suddenly was wondering whether I should go back out there and take the bottle of vodka from the boys. My heart was thumping, my body alight. I wanted to get moving, get Romeo and run before anything else could happen, but I also wanted to hear what Phee had to say. I was conflicted and finding it hard to sit still.
“Basically, the guy got a hold of Romeo and told him that if he ever tried to leave, he’d hunt me down and sell me to the highest bidder,” she finally admitted, her entire body visibly shuddering. “It’s why we changed our names. He didn’t want you to come after us and get mixed up in that bullshit, and after… issues… I had in the group homes in Louisiana, there was nothing left for me there… so I ran.”
Despite the fact that my brother right now was in serious danger, I felt like a weight had just been lifted off my shoulders. Like I’d spent the last couple of weeks wondering whether my little brother and sister had changed their names so I wouldn’t be able to find them because they didn’t want anything to do with me.
Releasing a long breath, one I felt like I’d been holding onto for years, I slunk back into my chair and covered my face with my arm just needing that moment to let everything sink in and process.
“All right, let’s just cover where we’re at right now,” Wrench offered, taking over when he realized I was struggling because he was my brother, one of my brothers, and he was there when I needed him to be. “Romeo is technically being released in a few days. We need to make sure that he isn’t moved from the infirmary until then.”
“That’s the only thing between him and those guys who sent this message,” Op added. “And given we aren’t entirely sure what the message was…” He looked over at Phee who shook her head. “He just said it was a hard warning, one that could have easily turned out a lot different.”
I cleared my throat and rolled my shoulders as I sat up straight. “It was an ‘you better think hard before you try anything stupid’ message. They would have my details from the sign-in form. They would know I’m family. That I live far away, and if they know him as well as they do, they would know I hadn’t been around for a long time.”
“Someone will be watching him when he’s released. And if he goes anywhere but back to Las Vegas…” Wrench let the words hang in the air, but we all knew exactly what he was saying.
I’d given Romeo all my details, even deposited money into the prison bank account. Enough for him to get a plane ticket to Alabama when he was released, even though at that stage, I wasn’t sure whether he was even going to come.
I was trying to keep the ball in his court, make it feel like I wasn’t suddenly forcing my way back into his life, scared that he might back away.
Things had just escalated, though, and we were looking at a whole different situation.
Romeo wanted out. That had been confirmed. So as far as I was concerned, I was about to do anything I fucking could to get him here to a place where I could protect him from whoever this asshole was that was threatening my family.
“Guess we need to make sure when he walks out of there, he isn’t alone,” Op summarized, standing up from the table, his eyes looking to me. “Take whoever you need. Get hold of Romeo, tell him to do whatever he has to do to stay in the infirmary until he’s released… fake a stomach ache, flirt with the nurse, I don’t fucking know. Whatever he has to do to keep his ass alive until we get some men there.”
“Already on it,” Wrench murmured, pulling his cell from his pocket.
Phee looked up at Op standing at the head of the table, her eyes brimming with tears. “Thank you,” she managed to force out, just as one of those tears dripped down onto her cheek.
Op nodded. “We protect ours,” he assured her before his face finally cracked into a smile. “Welcome to the family.”