“Right. I’ve always wanted to start volunteering. I’m sure it would be fine. Nico likes when we put on a good front. It makes the nefarious acts easier to bury when people think we’re a nice, normal family of people who care about society.”
“I do care about society.”
“I know. I’m just saying. Nico wouldn’t have a problem with it. I’d love to go with you.”
“Great. I’ll let the guys know. They’ll call Nico, no doubt, so if he has a problem with it, we’ll find out before then.”
“Good,” Drake nodded.
“Weren’t you going to get that glass of milk?” Laura whispered. “I’m actually kind of thirsty for real. I think I sweated out like a liter in there I was so nervous.”
“I’ll get you something. Milk or water?”
“Juice?”
“OJ or apple?”
“You know.”
“Right. OJ.” Drake stood slowly. He gave Laura a hard look and his brows tightened with his frown, as if he could tell she was different, or that something was off just by looking at her.
“What?” she asked, a little too defensively.
“It’s just- I can’t believe- I- something is- off. With you. It has been for a week now.” Drake’s frown never disappeared and his eyes did a quick sweep again. It took everything in her power not to blush or look away. She was used to keeping the surface placid and calm while burying her emotion deep down. It was a skill she’d cultivated over the years in order to survive.
“I’m not sure what you mean. I’ve just been- uh- I don’t know.” She looked down. “I guess it’s just girl things.”
“Oh.” Drake took a step back and cleared his throat. “Uh- right. Sorry. I’m not- sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Laura kept her head down so he couldn’t see her shame at having to lie to him. She only did it to protect him. To protect them both. As soon as they were both out of the house and at the shelter, where they could talk, she’d tell him everything. Well, maybe not all of it, but she’d introduce him to Ryder.
It no longer mattered that Nico was her brother. She knew that he planned on marrying her off to Marcello. She was as good as dead if he did it, in more than one way. Dead inside, but Marcello was a brute and Laura didn’t doubt for a second that he wouldn’t hesitate to kill her if he wanted to. She’d go from walking on eggshells, a prisoner here, to being no more than a shell of herself. Marcello actually made Nico look like a walk in the park. A nice walk, on a sunny summer day in a good area of town around one of those man-made lakes with the water feature, the kind where people came out with strollers and jogged and walked their dogs by.
“I’ll be back with your juice then.”
“Get the milk first. Drink it. Take the juice with you so that Nico’s guys don’t know I’m awake. They would wonder why we’re up in the middle of the night together.”
“I’ll tell them you’re not feeling well.”
“And you’re bringing me OJ?”
“I’ll grab the painkillers and tell them that you have- er- cramps.”
“Lord. Drake! You can’t even say it let alone pull it off as convincing.”
“Pull it off?”
“Never mind. You’re right. They would believe you. They wouldn’t think you were up to anything because you get so damn embarrassed over this.” She remembered that she was trying to sell her own lie, at least for a few more days.
God, Drake would be so shocked. Hopefully not hurt. And hell, she had no idea what she was going to do if he wasn’t on board. It was a chance she had to take. She was banking on the fact that he too hated Nico enough to at least keep his mouth shut about what was happening. She honestly preferred that he didn’t participate in the plan, just so that he’d stay safe.
The ability to keep his trap shut and paste an expressionless mask on wasn’t just one she’d learned to master.
Drake was as good at it, or better. His survival depended on it, even more than hers did.
“Drake…” Laura whispered as her brother reached for her door.
He turned slowly. “Yeah?”
“Just- be careful.”
He nodded in understanding. She still couldn’t believe he’d snuck into Nico’s office before. God. Did she know anything about her brother at all? Did he wear that mask, even with her? She honestly had no idea.
No. Idea.
And that scared the hell out of her.
Chapter 15
RYDER
Ryder knew the instant that Laura walked into the shelter. He wasn’t watching for her exactly, but he felt her, sensed her presence. The hair on the back of his arms stood on end, like she had the power to communicate her energy without speaking a word.
He was surprised to see a tall man trailing behind her. Dark with broad shoulders and the same dark striking facial features, he knew right away that it was Drake, her brother.
Ryder’s shoulders bunched in on themselves. If Laura brought Drake it could only mean one thing. She agreed with his plan or she’d found something out that would help him. Either way, the end result was the same. She was in agreement that Nico had to be taken out.
“Laura.” Ryder stepped up behind her when she headed down the hall towards the kitchen. Her brother trailed in her wake, overly vigilant. He could read the anxiety in the kid’s eyes, but hell, he knew that feeling. The feeling of having to be ever aware because your damn life depended on it.
Laura started at his touch and her brother tensed. Ryder very much doubted that Drake had seen much action over the years, given that Nico liked to keep him firmly where he belonged- on the civilian end of the spectrum, but his hands balled into fists and he tensed for battle.
When Laura’s dark eyes swept to his face and she realized it was him, she relaxed, and so did the pit bull at her side. “Ryder,” she breathed.
“Are you here to talk? Do you have time?” He glanced at Drake.
He had to hand it to the kid, who wasn’t really a kid at all, though anyone who hadn’t actually been to juvie or jail before they were twenty still counted as a kid in his books, the guy had eyes that were cold and hard as steel. He put on a good surface, his face unreadable. It would have made Ryder nervous, and he didn’t like being nervous, if he didn’t intrinsically realize that Drake was on Laura’s side and so by proxy, he was on his side too.
“Yes- I- I have time.” Laura’s eyes swept up to her brother’s face, as though she almost expected him to disagree, but Drake nodded slowly.
“The only place I have is my room.”
Drake tensed, but Laura set a hand on his arm. “That’s perfect. Lead the way.”
It wasn’t far, down a maze of hallways. Ryder led, though he knew Laura knew the way. She was nervous. He could sense the energy coiled in her, ready to snap. Of course she was. People didn’t feel good about sentencing their family members to death, no matter how bad they were.
Ryder pushed open the door to the small room and flicked on the light. His room, as usual, was immaculate, bed made, his duffel at the corner. Maybe juvie taught him something other than better crime and survival skills.
Drake glanced around the room, but Laura went right to the bed. She sunk down on the edge, letting the too thin mattress catch her fall. She looked up at Ryder and her eyes were already huge pools swimming with tears and emotion.
“I did it. Like you asked. I snuck into Nico’s office and checked his book. I…”
“Didn’t like what you saw?” Ryder finished for her.
“No.” Laura shook her head.
She looked so sad, so lost, when she glanced up again, that it was all he could not to march right over to the Cannelli house and put a bullet in Nico’s fucking brain right that minute. Not that it would help. He was pretty sure that the guy wasn’t currently in Philly at the moment. Fuck. It did make Ryder want to track the bastard down. It made his hands itch to make Nico suffer for ever putting that fear, that sorrow, that pain in Laura’s beautiful eyes.
“Drake,” Laura breathed. “This is- Ryder. He’s a- a friend.”
“How do you- know him?” Drake’ brow wrinkled in confusion, but when he swept his gaze to Ryder, his eyes were menacing.
“You know Jim? The guy who started this place? The owner?”
“Yeah…”
“This is his brother. He’s…”
Ryder stuck out his hand. “Ryder. A little more worldly than Jimmy, I think Laura was searching for. I haven’t exactly lived on the straight and narrow, but you don’t need a civilian right now. You need someone who has the means to start a war and take your brother out. I have contacts with some of your brother’s enemies, and there are many. They’d be willing to take him down if they can move in on some of his territory. They won’t do it otherwise. Nico is just a roadblock standing in their way to moving more product and that means more money for them.”
“You’re talking about the Servants?”
Laura’s eyes widened and even Ryder was a little taken aback, though he made sure that he didn’t show it. “Yes. That’s who I’m talking about.”
“How- how do you even know that?” Laura asked.
Drake’ hands clenched at his sides. He’d worn plain clothes, jeans and a gray t-shirt with a V neck, but Ryder couldn’t help but think that the guy would have looked better in leather. Drake might be the better of the Cannelli brothers, but he’d been raised in the same family, the same house, the same lifestyle as Nico. Tough was probably in his genetics and his eyes flashed with intelligence. There was probably little that Drake missed.
“I told you. I’ve been in Nico’s office more than once,” Drake said quietly.
That was news to Ryder, but he watched Laura and she didn’t seem overly surprised, so obviously she already knew.
“Drake caught me in there,” Laura confessed. “We talked after. That’s why he’s with me today. We both know that we have to do something before-”
“Before?” Every protective instinct that Ryder had went crazy. He wanted to be the one to pop Nico, to dispatch him to the flames of hell for ever daring to lay a hand on Laura, but he knew it couldn’t be him. Not if he ever wanted a future with Laura.
Which, surprisingly, he did. For the first time in his life he saw himself actually enjoying civilian life. Being a regular person with- with a house and a job and a family. He never thought that was in the cards for him. It probably wasn’t, but he did have good mechanical skills and uh- less savory skills like his size and his ability to work in protection and enforcement, if it came down to that. He might have limited career opportunities, but there was always work for men like him. Work that, while unsavory, didn’t actually involve killing anyone. Work in clubs as a bouncer or as security were still honorable professions that a person didn’t have to swear allegiance to or give their life for.
“Before he- he marries me off.”
“What?” Ryder nearly slammed his fist into the wall closest to him, but he refrained at the last second, not wanting to frighten Laura. She didn’t need to see him as the beast he truly was. He wanted to be better than that, also a first, just for her. He would have called that weakness in the past, but now, now it seemed far more like a strength.
“The fucker is meeting with Marcello, a friend of my father’s, in a few weeks,” Drake provided for Laura, who hung her head and said nothing at all. “He’s dangerous. Pushing sixty. If you can imagine our world as a hunger chain, he’d be at the top. He’s a mean bastard. Everyone knows he killed his first wife. My dad didn’t actually like him, but he did fear him and having Marcello as a friend is better than having him as an enemy. He’s very well connected. No one has dared to try to take him out for a very long time. He’s one of the few that has already lived to see old age.”
Laura finally found her voice, but she wouldn’t look at Ryder. “It was there. In his book. He’s going to meet with Marcello and I know there’s only one reason. When I was a kid, just- fourteen, Marcello would come to our house and eye me up and down. I knew he wanted me. He’s always wanted me. I know that the meeting is about marrying me off. I’ve always known it and Nico probably doesn’t have a good reason to meet with Marcello otherwise.”
“He hates Marcello,” Drake pitched in. “Can’t stand the bastard. He’s so jealous of him that Nico can barely stand to be in the same room. He hates that Marcello did the work to build himself an empire. He hates that there isn’t a way around him or through him.”
“So he’s planning an alliance,” Ryder finished.
Laura looked at her brother first, amazement in her eyes, then slowly, her eyes tracked to Ryder. He wondered just how much Drake actually knew and clearly Laura was stunned. It made sense, given that the guy had to survive. If he put his head in the sand, that head would probably be lopped off in no time. Knowledge was power and Drake probably knew a lot more than he’d ever let on. Ryder’s skin prickled and he knew that having Drake in his corner was better than having Drake against him. There was something about the guy that he didn’t like and he sure as hell didn’t trust him, but Laura did and the guy appeared to be there to help take Nico down, so, for the moment, Ryder had to cling to that.
“Look,” Drake said evenly. “We’re Cannelli. Laura and I both. No matter how bad you think you are, we’re from a different world. I saw my first dead body when I was three. It’s one of my earliest memories. My father tried to be a good man, but even he could be heartless. He had to be, in order to survive. Our mother was gunned down, shot to death, at a fucking dinner party. There’s the regular level of bad that we have to be in order to stay alive, but then there’s Nico. The bastard wouldn’t hesitate to put a bullet in my brain if it suited him. He wouldn’t give it a second thought and wouldn’t lose any sleep after. He’d marry my sister off to a man who would beat her, abuse her, rape her, and who knows- probably even kill her. I’m not going to let that happen.”
“Did you know?” Laura asked, eyes round and wider than ever. They were filled with something close to horror. “Did you know about Marcello?”
“I did,” Drake admitted. “But only for a few days before you found out. I was trying to find a way to tell you, to get you out of the house and get you alone where we couldn’t be found out. You going snooping in there and coming up with this was the best thing that could have happened. I- I wouldn’t have let it go through, Laura. I would have found a way to stop him.”
“How?” Laura shook her head. “We’re not like him, Drake. We’re nothing like him. Nico has always done what he wanted. His whole life, even as a kid. He was horrible and he’s only grown worse now that he has power and money and men at his disposal.”
“Dad used to say he was a born leader.”
“A born shithead more like,” Laura snorted. “My brother is not a leader.” She implored Ryder, but she didn’t need to.
“I’m already on your side. I’m in full agreement. He might lead men, but you’re right, they follow him out of fear. They can be bought. That’s part of the plan.” He turned to Drake. “If you’re willing, I’ll tell you the rest.” He paused and exhaled slowly. He needed to say it, so he did. “I’ll warn you though, that if you do anything to sabotage the plan or betray me or Laura or my contact with the Servant’s or any of their men, there is going to be hell to pay. You will not live to see your way out of it. Do you understand?”
“Ryder!” Laura gasped.
“I’m just making sure,” Ryder assured her.
“Drake is on our side,” Laura hissed. “He’s my brother.”
“I know. I’m just putting it out there. I prefer that everyone know the consequences before we get right down to it.”
Drake slowly nodded. His face, that fucking face of his, hid what was truly going on behind that placid surface. Ryder hated it. He hated tha
t Drake could remain so calm after just being threatened like that. He hated that he was cool and even when discussing the shit that was going to happen to Nico and what could potentially happen to Laura if they didn’t succeed.
No. There is no way I won’t succeed. He would never let Laura be the wife of some ancient mobster, a man who would misuse her and mistreat her. Ryder meant what he said. He wanted to give Laura her freedom, but she should have the freedom to choose, even if, in the end, she didn’t choose him. It would hurt like hell, but he could survive it if he knew that she was free and well and happy, living her life like she was always meant to.
“I want Nico dead,” Drake said firmly. There was maybe a little too much conviction in his voice, but for the moment, Ryder couldn’t worry about that. He needed Drake on their side.
“And your sister free?”
“Of course. I want Laura to be free. I’d kill fucking Marcello myself if I was able to, just to save her.”
Laura rose slowly, clearly stunned at the venom in Drake’ voice. This was obviously a side of her brother that she’d never seen before.
Ryder closed his eyes for a moment. She was about to see a side of him that she’d never seen before either. He just hoped she wouldn’t run from him after. That she could forgive him for what he had to do, what he was about to put in motion. That somehow, some way, life would be merciful just once, just once, and he wouldn’t lose her.
Chapter 16
LAURA
Nico had been back for a few days and the house returned to its regular solemn prison. Laura faked being ill for three days just so that she wouldn’t have to face him. She was terrified that something in her eyes, in her voice, in her demeanor, would give her away and that Nico would somehow know that she’d been a part of betraying him. He’d kill her on the spot, she was sure. It was far, far better to pretend to be sick and not leave her room.
She wished she could have kept feigning her stomach flu, but on Monday morning, when Nico’s shadow, George, a man who went everywhere by her brother and rarely left his side, knocked on her door, she knew that there was no escaping. No matter how sick, when George pulled open that door and demanded she come down to Nico’s office, she knew she couldn’t deny him.
Lonely Rider - The Box Set: A Motorcycle Club Romance - The Complete Series Page 73
