“So you’re going to the Servant’s for help. You think you can get her free from Nico? You think you can use them like a fucking friend that has your back? Think again? They’d sooner stab you there than protect it.”
“Not my guy,” Ryder ground out. He really hoped he was fucking correct. It burned him up that Jimmy was even standing there, shooting off his mouth. He wanted to plant his fist there, right in the middle of his brother’s face, but he knew it would have been wrong. “I’ve saved his ass a few times. Kept him on the right side of the boneyard. He owes me. He was a brother once.”
“And you think that’s enough? You’re not just trusting this guy with your life, it’s Laura’s life too. Do you have any idea what Nico would do to her if he found out?”
“I’ve been told. I have a pretty good fucking idea. That is never going to happen. I’ll keep her safe, even if I have to give my life for her.”
Jimmy rolled his eyes like it was okay to be sarcastic. “There’s a pretty good chance that it’s going to come down to that, you know. Nico Cannelli is not a guy to fuck around with.”
“That’s why I need allies. And don’t worry. He’s made his own enemies. Even Laura told me that guys like him don’t grow old. She hates him more than anyone in this city ever could.”
“And let me guess. She still didn’t agree to whatever you have planned.”
“No. Of course not. It’s her fucking brother.” We can’t all be killers of our own family. It took a special brand of evil, a unique kind of fucked up, to take it that far and have zero regrets.
Jimmy exhaled loudly. “Look. Ryder- you’re my brother. I know that we’re little more than strangers at this point and that you probably don’t give a fuck about what I’m going to tell you, but please, for all our sakes- the people who work here, the sake of everyone who comes here for food and a safe place to sleep, for every single person who has used this place as a stepping stone to turning their lives around and even for all those that never plan on it and just want a hot meal or a new pair of socks, but especially for Laura. She’s a good person with a good heart, despite the life she was born into.”
“Yeah, well, you can’t pick your family.”
“No. You can’t.” A shared look, one filled with darkness, passed between them and Ryder knew that Jimmy understood. Even if he didn’t know that Ryder dispatched their father into the great beyond, he knew what they’d both been born into. The kind of life that no one should ever have to live through let alone two kids. He was reminded that his brother had been making his way in the world since he was sixteen. Alone. He’d been beaten half to death before he left. He hadn’t exactly had it easy either.
That was the real reason he cut the guy a break and didn’t pound his face in for standing in his way.
Jimmy moved carefully aside. He watched and Ryder wondered if he knew that he’d gone after Laura the week before. Probably. It seemed that his brother missed little. Maybe he was more than just a pushover softie who ran a shelter for society’s forgotten like some kind of saint.
“All I’m asking is that if you go through that door you know the risks you’re taking. You’re playing with fire here and that shit about getting burned is definitely going to apply at some time. Just- just think about that.”
Ryder nodded as he shoved past. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep the inferno far away from you. And there is no way in hell I’m letting Laura go down.”
The back door slammed shut behind him with a finality that echoed through the dark night air. As usual, the neighborhood was oddly silent for a place so damn dangerous. It was the lack of traffic, Ryder decided. He’d parked his bike twenty-two blocks over, in a facility that rented monthly spots, so he could be sure it was safe.
He walked nearly twice that distance before he caught himself a cab. He wasn’t going to ride his fucking bike into Servant’s territory after all. That would be like broadcasting all over the fucking place that he was looking for a bullet between the eyes or a hell of a lot of less savory trouble.
Jimmy’s words played on repeat in his mind, just as his last words did.
It was true. It had to be true. No matter what happened, he wasn’t going to let anything happen to Laura.
He’d fucking die first.
Chapter 13
LAURA
At four minutes past three in the morning, every single morning, Ryan and Paulo always took a smoke break. One went to the back door and one to the front. They were always out for fifteen minutes exactly, like it was their right to take a break in the middle of the night.
Maybe it was. The fact that they always did it and kept their heads meant that Nico must have allowed it. It made sense. He actually didn’t expect a threat to come from the inside so for those precious fifteen minutes, he left his office unguarded.
Nico was perpetually paranoid that his words and actions would one day be used against him. He was always going on about wires and undercover cops, about moles and rats. He believed in security cameras in the yard and on the exterior of the house, but he’d never allowed them inside. He’d once said that people could hack security footage and listen in or watch and he wasn’t going to give anyone half the chance to see what he did in his own fucking home.
Some of his ‘friends’ wouldn’t take kindly to their less than savory deeds and conversations being recorded at all, let alone leaked to the wrong people.
It was easy. Almost too easy.
Nico was out of town for a few more days. His guards were at the front and back door smoking, probably laughing and chatting with the men out there. There were no cameras to record her movements or prove that she’d ever left her room.
Still, Laura’s hand shook as her fingers ghosted across the cold handle. She glanced behind her once again, for the thousandth time since she’d left her room. Her heart hammered so violently that there was no chance of her catching her breath. It was probably best to hold it anyway, so that she didn’t make a sound.
After years of growing up in the same house, she knew where all the creaky boards were. She was able to move soundlessly from her room upstairs, down the massive staircase, around the corner, down another hall, right up to the door of Nico’s office.
Her entire body quaked so violently that her legs felt watery and wobbly. She had to plant her hand firmly on the door while the other stayed on the handle, just to keep from sliding down to the floor.
Can I do it? Can I really betray my own brother? She told herself she’d look and that was it. Just one glance at Nico’s appointment book. She didn’t have to do anything with that knowledge. She could just… glance at it. Save it for the future, if she needed it.
There was no way Laura chanced bringing her phone down with her, since Nico checked it regularly and had it synced to his. He probably could see everything she did on it, which made sense, given that he was the one who insisted she have it. It seemed like a line of freedom, an olive branch, at the time, but it hadn’t taken her long to figure out what Nico’s true intent was. He never did anything without a reason.
I have to. Before she could take a breath and relieve her screaming lungs, before she changed her mind and talked herself out of it, Laura twisted the handle. It gave easily.
Once upon a time, she’d admired her father. No, that was wrong. She’d always loved her father. He’d done his best to keep her safe. It wasn’t his fault that Nico was a monster, that he didn’t run their operations and treat their family the way her father had. He’d always said that the doors in the house didn’t need to be locked because they were a family and they loved and trusted each other. All they had was each other, when it came right down to it. They didn’t need to keep secrets from each other.
Nico never kept the doors locked because he used fear and intimidation to keep his secrets safe. He knew that neither she nor Drake would ever betray him. They didn’t have the power and they knew what the consequences would be. His men were loyal to him because if they weren’t, they were hunte
d down and brutally tortured and executed.
Laura slipped silently into the room. She produced a flashlight from the pocket of her pajama pants. She finally exhaled, slowly, and drew in a long breath, giving her lungs a bit of relief. The hair at the back of her nape prickled. The air felt charged, crackly, thick and dangerous. Fear shivered up her spine, chilling her internally though it was warm in the office.
She knew she didn’t have much time. She hurried over to Nico’s desk, where she knew his appointment book always sat. She’d been in that office many times over the past few years, always called down. She never went voluntarily. There, Nico dictated his demands and meted out his punishments.
Her eyes flicked up to the far left wall. The house was old, nearly a century old, and the walls had the dark wainscoting that was popular at the time. They’d been re-stained over the years. Nico’s office looked like a real office with the dark walls and the crown molding at the ceiling, the dark hardwood floors and the huge mahogany desk.
She’d been slammed into that very wall once, when Nico was angry about something. He was always angry about something she’d done. That day, she remembered, she’d gone to the mall. Stopped on her way to the shelter to buy a new pair of jeans, since she needed them desperately. She hadn’t taken in Leo, her driver. She’d been in the mall for less than ten minutes total.
Of course Leo ratted her out. Or maybe it was the tracker Nico probably had in her phone. Either way, he’d found out. He masked the punishment under guise of being the caring older brother. He said she could have been hurt or killed or taken. That she was a target when she went out into public areas that weren’t under their protection. She should have taken Leo and asked him first, if she needed clothing.
It was just a bullshit excuse to rough her up, to reinforce that he was boss and that she was nothing. She knew it, because he let her walk alone in the roughest neighborhoods, to the shelter and back to her ride, three times a week, unescorted. He wanted her to know that she was just a thing he was forced to provide for and give a small allowance to. She was a thing that he’d had to shell out money for so that she could have a useless degree, a degree she’d never use. She was his. She wasn’t a person, she was a thing just like the ancient ornaments and paintings and furniture in the house.
Laura shook her head. She tore her eyes away from the wall and forced them down to the leather clad book on the corner of Nico’s desk. Hand shaking, she flipped it open. She turned the pages, her eyes scanning each one.
There were several opportunities in the coming weeks. Meetings outside the house. Nico went for lunches and dinners with clients and fellow scum every single week. It wouldn’t be hard to pick him off, though being that he always chose very public places, the possibility of there being collateral damage was also high.
Her stomach tightened painfully. She didn’t want anyone else to get hurt. That was the point of even considering having Nico eliminated.
Eliminated.
That was a nice word for murdered. The thin paper fluttered in her grip as her hands began to tremble again. She realized that she might leave a print or an indentation on the paper, since her palms were rapidly growing damp and clammy, and quickly released it. Instead of closing in on themselves, the book flopped open, advancing itself by two weeks.
Laura’s eyes widened.
Marcello.
She knew that name. The one word, penciled in on August fourteenth at two in the afternoon. It was like a death knell. He was ancient. An old ‘friend’ of her father’s. He had a virtual empire at his disposal. He was a very rich man. Word was that his last wife passed away from cancer quite a few years before, but everyone knew that he’d killed her. What she’d done to deserve it was anyone’s best guess. Probably nothing. She probably hadn’t done a single thing.
Laura hadn’t heard or seen Marcello in years. Honestly, she’d stopped thinking about him. She’d forgotten completely how terrifying he could be.
Or how his gaze lingered on her, even as a twelve year old girl. She’d caught him once, when she was fourteen, staring at her. She hadn’t missed the gleam of greedy desire in his eyes.
No. Not him. Nico wouldn’t….
Her heart sunk as she realized that he would. Her brother wouldn’t hesitate to sell her to the highest bidder and Marcello was a rich man. He was a man with many allies and few enemies, because no one dared to oppose him. He had good connections with chapters all over the country and some internationally. He had ancient family ties that went back all the way to Europe. His reach was long and when thwarted, his retribution swift. His anger knew no bounds. What he wanted, he got. What was denied him, he took. He had no qualms about crippling empires. He’d dug his way from the bottom straight to the top and he’d stayed there for decades because he was ruthless.
Footsteps sounded in the hall. Not heavy, but she heard them all the same. Panic crawled up into her throat and Laura forced herself to remain calm. It wasn’t Nico. That wasn’t his gait. It wasn’t either of his guards. They never walked so lightly. It was probably just… the housekeeper or something. Someone up in the middle of the night, walking past the office.
When the steps stopped and the handle turned slowly, Laura froze. She glanced around, but there was nowhere to hide. She could have ducked under the desk, but she knew it would only be a matter of seconds before whoever was out there would find her. Instead she used the few seconds she had left to try and think of a plausible excuse for why she was there in the first place.
Her heart kicked so violently she felt strangled by the frantic beating. Her throat closed up and her palms were slippery when she clutched them together.
The door opened slowly, so very slowly, then a set of familiar broad shoulders and a dark head of hair emerged. She let out a little gasp of surprise.
“Drake,” she breathed.
His eyes widened and he quickly and soundlessly shut the door tight behind him.
Chapter 14
LAURA
Drake waited until they were back, safe in her room, the door shut behind them, the lights off so as not to rouse suspicion, before he confronted her.
“What the hell is wrong with you? Why were you in Nico’s office?”
Laura wanted to cross her arms, but she was sitting on the bed across from Drake, holding the flashlight on her lap on its lowest setting so they could at least see each other’s faces. “I could ask you the same thing.”
“I was thirsty. I came down for a glass of milk and I saw that Nico’s thugs were outside having their usual middle of the night chimney smoke session. I heard something in the office and I knew it wasn’t Nico. I wanted to see what the hell was going on.”
“No you didn’t,” Laura deadpanned. She kept her voice to a whisper so no one below would know they were awake.
Drake did the same. “What do you mean, no I didn’t? No I didn’t, what?”
“No you didn’t hear something. I was super quiet. I wasn’t even moving when you came in and I froze when I heard the footsteps in the hall. There’s no way you heard me.”
Drake hedged. “I- I heard something. I knew something was off.”
“Not good enough, Drake. Have you forgotten that I’ve known you your entire life and I can tell when you’re lying to me?”
“I’m not lying. I just knew something was wrong.”
“Bullshit.”
“It’s not bullshit.”
“Try again.”
“Laura!”
“Shhh!” She hissed. “Keep your voice down.”
Drake’ eyes swept the room. He waited for a minute, but there was no sound from downstairs, no indication they’d been overheard. “Okay, I was going down to snoop in his office. I do it often, twice a month at least, especially when Nico’s gone. I wait for his boneheads to go out and have their fucking smoke and then I go and dig in his business.”
“Why would you do that?” Laura’s mouth dropped open and she fumbled the flashlight right onto the bedspread. S
he retrieved it and held onto it with a far tighter grip. She had to hang onto something. It felt like her entire world was crashing down around her.
“Someone has to. You know who and what Nico is. I was just- trying to keep a step ahead.”
“I don’t think he’s going to have KILL LAURA AND DRAKE marked on his calendar.”
Drake clapped a hand over his mouth to silence his laughter. “You know what I mean. It’s probably the same reason you were in there.”
“I’ve never gone into Nico’s office before,” Laura protested. “Do you know how dangerous that is?”
“Of course. He’d kill me if he ever caught me in there. He doesn’t need much more provocation than that. He’d say I was plotting something against him and there would go my head.” Drake drew a hand across his neck and actually grinned as he did it.
Laura reached for his hand and tugged it down. She didn’t release it, but held it in hers. “That’s not funny! You’re my baby brother. I’d never let anything happen to you.”
“It wouldn’t be your choice.”
“Drake- you’ve- we’ve… we’ve been friends since we were kids. Not just brother and sister, but friends too. It would kill me if anything happened to you. There isn’t anyone on earth who gets me like you do. We were raised together in this shit, in this life, but we’ve always stuck together and stuck it out. I would have been so lonely here if I didn’t have you. Nico was never like that. He never wanted anything to do with either of us. He was always a bastard. He always tormented me when we were kids.”
“I know. Me too. He’s an asshole. We were just lucky enough to get stuck with him as family. Too bad you can’t choose that shit.”
Laura’s eyes widened. “I- I have to volunteer at the shelter again in a few nights. Why don’t you come with me?” She narrowed her eyes and she knew Drake instantly caught on. She couldn’t talk about the things she needed to say in the house. She would never risk that the walls really did have ears. Nico said he didn’t believe in cameras, but hell, he probably had something planted in her room, or Drake’s…
Lonely Rider - The Box Set: A Motorcycle Club Romance - The Complete Series Page 72
