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“Okay, well, are you sure you don’t want Vaughn or Christian to go with you?” His eyes flicker to my belly, concern etched on his face.
“I’m sure,” I say firmly, not bothering to defend my decision. I’ve learned that most people still don’t understand how deep I am in Hunter’s world now.
I can handle this.
Christian and Vaughn immediately spot me waddling to the exit door and follow after me.
“And where do you think you’re headed in such a hurry?” Vaughn asks.
“I got a call.”
Both of their faces contort in a look that screams, “Oh my fucking god.”
“What kind of a call?”
“A clean up.”
Hunter explained to me a few weeks ago that at this point in his career, albeit begrudgingly, he mainly handles negotiations between underworld figures in disputes and charges them a shit ton of money to do so. He doesn’t do cleanups much anymore, but if a call comes in from a trusted source, he won’t ignore it.
“A cleanup?” Christian echoes.
“Yes.”
“The streets are already questioning if Hunter is out of commission,” Vaughn tells me.
“And?”
“And a sudden clean-up call feels like a setup.”
“I have Hunter’s emergency cell phone in my possession. We can’t ignore the fact that she called the number and sounded scared as shit on the call,” I tell them.
“Some random woman called Hunter for a cleanup?” Christian asks. “That’s definitely a setup. You’re not going.”
“I’m going.”
“This makes no fucking sense, Megan. You’re about to drop a baby any minute,” Vaughn counters, pointing toward my stomach for effect. “You’re putting yourself in danger. Hunter couldn’t have possibly agreed to this.”
He’s right.
Hunter would kill me if he knew what I was up to. He made it clear that if, by some small chance, I actually received a call on that bat phone of his, I should tell Vaughn and Christian right away and let them handle it.
At least I kept half my word.
“Listen, I know that none of us expected an actual call to come in, but it has. What do you want me to do? We’re supposed to be running things as if it’s business as usual. And I’m not dropping this baby in any minute. I’ve got a whole month.”
“The jig will be up when whoever called sees a pregnant college student come to the rescue. What the hell can you do?”
“I have a brain, if you recall, and if there’s any heavy lifting, Lars will take care of it. You all can’t keep this side of the business from me forever, especially when I’ve already been on the receiving end of some of your mistakes,” I say, reminding them both of when I was abducted and almost shot.
“I’m coming then,” Christian says.
“No, Lars is coming. You don’t send a whole team to a clean-up.”
“You’ve been talking to Hunter.”
“Obviously!” I say, flustered. “He has more faith in me than you two do.”
“And if I call him to check that he’s on board with this?” Vaughn asks me.