Page 121 of Freeing Denver

“We still haven’t figured out who told Spider we’d be at the hotel. And there are other times, too …” I look down at Denver. “Someone has been feeding information to both Ranger and Spider since Denver moved to the city.”

Someone who was close enough to us to know the location of our safe house and told Ranger the day we went to Florida to meet Theo. Someone who told Vince Capelli our address so he could plant those bombs, and then later to Spider so he couldtake Axel and Alison. Someone who leaked the information about Denver being the last person to see Vince Capelli.

“Who, Colt?” Denver asks quietly. “Who could it be?”

I don’t know. There’s always a chance one of Cain or Charlie’s men overheard. We had so many of them watching us over the months.

“I know who it is,” Kitrick says, and both our heads snap in his direction.

“How?” I ask. “There’s no way you can be sure?—”

“I was pretty out of it that night at Eli’s, but I recognized his voice,” he says. “It took me a while to figure out where I’d heard him before, but … he was at Eli’s the night Denver arrived.” My heart rate picks up, and Denver is squeezing my hand so hard my knuckles feel close to cracking. “He didn’t just give information, Denver. He brought you to us.”

As Denver hugs Kitrick goodbye,I walk numbly back into the house. It’s loud, laughter and conversation filtering from the living room, my friends, my brothers all gathered together. Sandy is sitting cross-legged on the floor by Taf and Holly, all making bracelets. Keto is spelling out curse words with the lettered beads. Charlie is telling them they’re doing it wrong. Lucas and JJ are still watching the football game, my mom between them. Helena is telling everyone to keep it down while she reads.

“What did the fed want?” Alistair asks, handing me a beer.

I take it, the bottle cold against my palm. My fingers are still red from where Denver had clung to me on the beach. “When did you get here?”

“About five minutes ago,” he says, and frowns. “You okay?”

Somehow, I nod. “Yeah. He just told us Denver is officially not a person of interest.”

He pulls a face. “We already knew that.”

“That’s what we said.” I sip my beer, and Denver appears. She stands at the archway to the living area, pale, lips set into a thin line as her gaze sweeps across our friends.

Lewis comes to her side and says something that makes her smile. It’s weak, but it’s there, and she links her arm through his, resting her head against him.

Trust doesn’t come easily in this world, but the people you should be able to rely on are the ones who have stood shoulder to shoulder with you in battle.

But someone in this room has betrayed us.

“Sure you’re okay, Colt?” Alistair asks.

I force a smile and nod. “I’m fine.”

Denver and I lock eyes. In the brief time we spent with Kitrick, we decided to hold onto hope that he was wrong. That he misheard that voice, and the person he thought he recognized wasn’t the person in this room. So, until we know for sure, the name remains between us.

But if it is him …

So much is passed in the look between my wife and I—the betrayal, the hurt, the confusion that he would do this, that he’d risk it all to hurt us, and then the terrifying, all-encompassing question that writhes between the despair.

How do we make him pay for it?

Chapter 36

Denver

“How bad is it?” I ask, taking a seat at the dining table. Colt stands beside me, his arm resting on the back of the chair, and Lewis is on my other side.

Alistair pulls in a breath. “Massimo and Conor have had three meetings in the last two weeks. Massimo has also been talking to the smaller families, and they’ll follow his lead out of respect.”

“And Ranger?” Colt asks.

“He’s snubbing their calls. Hasn’t left California since we got Denver back,” he says. “Whatever you said to him, he’s backed off. Word is he’s even selling off some of his assets.”

My stomach twists a little at the thought. Ranger Luxe doesn’t quit. He gets hit, and he hits back harder. But then, he has lost his son and me. He doesn’t even have Cal anymore. Maybe this really was the final straw for him.