LEVI
My blood is still simmering when I get to Cristiano’s house. I wanted to come from last night when he told me what happened to Megan. But when he tasked Knox and me with finding out why in the ever-loving fuck Bill’s men tried to kidnap her, I knew I had a higher calling.
When we dug around and found out what’s been happening to Megan and how she knows Bill, I wished like hell I’d checked her out sooner. Especially when we all sensed she must have been working at the club because she was in trouble.
There’s not a damn thing I can’t find out on a person, so I would have been able to confirm she was in deep shit. Deeper than I know she even realized.
Knox left me a few hours ago to come here while I did a bit more digging around.
I make my way to the living room and find Megan sitting in the armchair. Knox is on her left, stroking her neck while Cristiano hands her a cup of coffee.
Her eyes are red and swollen like little slits on her face. She tries to smile when she sees me, but it looks like it hurts.
“Baby,” I mutter, moving over to her. I crouch down and plant a kiss on her forehead. “Are you okay?”
“I’m okay.” Her voice is barely audible and shaky.
Cristiano looks at me and I nod, silently confirming I’ve done all I can for the moment.
He knows Megan was married to Hunter Reid, a motherfucker who we’re sure was killed by someone in the mob. He also knows the money he gave her went to Bill and everything else I found out is not good by any means.
Hunter was a sort of middle man—and spy—for a number of organizations, from the Bratva to the Cartel. Some of which were enemies to each other. So no fucking wonder his ass is dead. When things go wrong, men like Hunter are always the first to have a target on their backs.
We found out a lot, but we’d still like her to talk to us just to be sure we haven’t missed anything.
“I’m going to make breakfast in a few minutes,” Cristiano says to her. “Do you need anything else before I start?”
“No. Um… I know you’re waiting for me to talk and I should. It’s just difficult.” She looks at each of us, but her gaze settles on me. “I guess by now you probably know some stuff about me.”
The comment doesn’t surprise me. She knows I’m the tech of the group and probably guessed I’m only arriving now because I was checking things out.
“We do,” I confirm, tilting my head to the side. “It would be helpful to hear what you’ve been going through, but only if you can talk about it.”
“I want to. I just don’t know where to start.”
“How about with Hunter?” Cristiano suggests and she looks at him. It’s clear from the weary way she sets the coffee cup down on the table that her dead husband is her least favorite subject. “How did you meet him?”
“High school. I lost touch with him then we reconnected earlier last year. I was so happy to have him back in my life that I never questioned anything. He just wanted to hurt me.”
She takes a quick breath then tells us everything about Hunter, her marriage, the shit he left behind with Bill, and how she ended up at the club. We listen to her pour out her heart, watch her open up, and trust us. By the time she’s done talking, I want to erase the pain I can see in her and fix her broken heart.
Most people know me as a killer and would be shocked to hear me voice those types of thoughts. I’m shocked at myself because I’ve never met a woman who could instill those types of feelings in me. A quick look at Knox and Cristiano and I know they feel the same. When you’ve been friends as long as we have, you know things without them being said.
So I know we each think of her as ours. Ours to protect, no matter how long we’ve known her.
“I’ve had a rough life and this just feels like another kick to push me down.” Megan dabs away the tears streaming down her cheeks with the heel of her hand.
I pass her some tissue and give her hand a gentle squeeze. I’m aware of the difficult life she’s referring to. In my checks, I found out about her mother’s death and her quest to find her stepfather. I haven’t told Knox or Cristiano about that part yet, but I will because I think I might be able to help her.
I know Gibbs, the PI she worked with. I contacted him earlier this morning and got the files he had on her stepfather. The fact that Gibbs has searched for him and failed to find him says a lot. Gibbs is industry best and widely used by a number of crime families in the Chicago alliance. However, I like to think of myself as a little bit more above board than Gibbs because I won’t think twice about killing a man to get what I need.
.
“Let’s eat breakfast now,” Cristiano says. “Then Knox will go with you to sort out this thing with Bill.”
“Sort out?” Megan’s brows shoot up as she tries to process what he means.
“Yes. We’ll talk some more when you get back. Okay?”
“Okay… thank you. Thank you all.”
Cristiano looks over at me. “While they’re out, fill me in on everything else.”
“Of course.”
There’s a lot to tell him and more to sort out because it wasn’t Bill who killed Hunter. He just took advantage of the situation to cash in on Megan.
We have worse people to worry about.