Page 10

Chapter

Nine

GABE

T ara leans over and inputs the address to the place we are meeting Lilly, while I pull away from the curb.

“Who the fuck would be stupid enough to go up against Elio?”

“I have no idea but whoever it is has a death wish.” Tara settles back in the passenger seat looking out the window.

Reaper lays down in the backseat and I forget all about him to be honest.

“So, tell me more about why you stayed away?” I don’t want to hear how hurt she was by my actions anymore but I need to know everything.

If it’s just because she didn’t think that I wanted her I already plan on fixing that but I have a feeling there is so much more.

“At first it was because I wasn’t sure if I would be welcomed back. I started to train with Vance and Elio to make sure that nothing like what happened that night would happen again. Then Dean went missing and I started looking into his disappearance. In the meantime while I was chasing loose ends I started helping other women who couldn’t get justice the traditional ways.”

I quickly glance over at her and ask, “Why didn’t you go to the cops?”

“Because I knew that I wouldn’t get justice.”

She says it in a way that sounds so final, like she truly believes it.

“Why?”

“After I woke up I started looking into Dean and Ned more. I wanted to know who I was up against if I went to the cops. Did you guys look into Dean?” I feel her eyes on me and know she is looking at me without having to take my eyes off the road.

“We didn’t really have time to do much digging into him before Ali killed him and since he was already dead we never thought to.”

“Well that was a mistake. I don’t know how Ali got away from him. Dean was raised by his mother until he turned sixteen. Then he was sent to live with his brother. I didn’t know any of this until I started to look into him. From what I was able to find out he moved here a year ago but I couldn’t find out why. The story he told that night might be true but I don’t know. According to Dean he had to get out from under his brother’s thumb and picked a random town on the map one day,” Tara says, undoing her hair only to pull it back in a ponytail again.

“So who's his brother?”

“Carlos Ramirez. He is currently living in Chicago, does that name ring a bell?”

I say his name over and over in my mind trying to place him but nothing is coming to me. The way she asks means that I should know this man but I don’t. “I’m sorry, Princess. I feel like you want me to know but I don’t.”

“Fuck, how much do you know about the Mexican Cartel?” Her fingers are flying across her phone screen frantically.

“Only that I never want to get caught up with them.” I’m not scared of anything but I’m smart enough to not get tangled up with the Cartel or the Mafia. It’s bad enough that we have the Ricci family to worry about thanks to Ali.

“Hold on, I want to make sure I get the story correct.” The sound of her calling someone comes through the speakers of the SUV. She must have connected her phone to the car’s bluetooth.

“Tara, I heard what happened. I’m on my way to Elio’s house right now. I’ve offered my services to him,” Jackson–aka Demon–says. Why the fuck did she call him?

“Thank you for that, but that’s not why I’m calling. I’m trying to log into my files but my phone internet is shitty this far in the country. Does the name Carlos Ramirez ring a bell to you?”

“Goddamn it. What is it with you little girls from small towns getting mixed up in stuff that you have no right knowing about. Of course I know him and even I wish I didn’t. The question is how do you know the fucking leader of the biggest Mexican Cartel that lives in America?”

“What do you know about his family?” Tara asks completely ignoring Demon’s question.

“His father died when Carlos was eighteen, that was ten years ago. The media said he was the victim of a robbery gone wrong but he truth is that the Ramirezs thought they could take control of Chicago from the Bianchis?—”

“I remember hearing about that but I thought Don Bianchi killed the whole family,” I say interrupting Demon. The only reason I even know this is because we had a family hire us almost three years ago for protection saying they were trying to make it back to Chicago but their last name wasn’t Ramirez.

“That was the story, but Carlos, his wife, their two kids and his brother Nicolas fled in the middle of the night. They popped back up in Mexico a year later but then fell off the radar about three years ago. What does this have to do with you, Tara?”

“Dean is Carlos’s younger brother. Although he has a different last name…”

“Fucking seriously, hold on.” The sound of fingers flying over a keyboard fills the car.

“Are you typing and driving at the same time?” I ask.

“I pulled over but yes. Fuck how did we not connect the dots. I thought Dean looked familiar but ignored it. Nicolas Dean Hobbs was Javier’s bastard son and his mother refused to give him the last name Ramirez, if I remember my story correctly. Something doesn’t feel right about this. Tara, do you remember when Dean showed up in town?” Demon asks, sounding like he is trying to wrap his mind around everything like I am.

“According to him a year ago but when I started looking into him I found out that he lived in Chicago for a year before moving to Riverbend Pines.”

“Does Elio know any of this?” I ask because I can’t imagine he would be comfortable with Tara doing all of this alone knowing that not only is the Mexican Cartel but also the fucking Italian Mafia is involved.

“No I never told him what I found out,” Tara says, at least having the smarts to look ashamed of that fact.

“He will now. I’ll ask around to see what I can find out. Gabe, we have to be even more careful about all of this. I have a bad feeling and I don’t want anyone else hurt. I’ll start looking into what Dean was doing before he showed up here,” Demon says, well really demands.

“I understand. Keep us informed,” I say, reaching over and hanging up Tara’s phone. “Let’s hope that Dean’s relationship is strained with his brother. I don’t really want to deal with the Mexican Cartel and the fucking Italian Mafia.”

“I don’t think the Bianchis will get involved. From everything I was able to find out, which wasn’t much, it looked like they didn’t care enough about Dean’s family,” Tara says, rolling her eyes, not taking this seriously.

“I’m not talking about them. I’m talking about the fucking Ricci Family. That Italian Mafia. You do know there is more than one family involved in any mafia right?”

Tara narrows her eyes in my direction, anger flaring in them. “I’m not fucking stupid Gabe. But I don’t understand why we need to worry about the Ricci family when they have nothing to do with this.”

“They don’t have anything to do with this but they have something to do with Ali. Who is on her way to becoming your sister-in-law. Ali’s family was murdered by the Ricci family. Right now her brother is deep undercover trying to bring them down.”

“Are you fucking serious?”

“It’s Ali’s story to tell you but you need to take this?—”

Tara slaps a hand on my chest. “I swear to God Gabe, if you are about to suggest that I’m not taking this seriously then pull the SUV over and get your ass out. Fuck you. I am taking this seriously. I have from the moment I woke up in pain from what they did.”

I pick her hand up off my chest and press a kiss to her knuckles. “I’m sorry Princess I know you are. I’m just worried.”

“I get that Gabe. Now can I continue telling you about why I didn’t go to the police?” I nod and she leans back but doesn’t pull her hand away. “Even if Dean doesn’t have a good relationship with Carlos there is still Ned’s family to worry about. Ned’s family ties aren’t as bad but his brother is a county sheriff who would do anything to keep him out of trouble. I knew if I went to the police it would be their word against mine and I would lose. So I decided to get my own revenge.”

“Tara, do you hear yourself right now? You are going up against a county sheriff, potentially the Mexican Cartel and maybe the Italian Mafia. You thought you could do that all alone?” I slap my hand against the steering wheel in frustration. “I might understand your need to do this yourself and yes I know you are taking it seriously. But this is a dangerous game you are playing.”

“I know this but I can’t just let them get away with what they did.”

“I’m not asking you to do that Princess. But fuck you need help.”

“If I get in over my head Elio and the family will be there to help me.”

I growl at her and make a left hand turn. “We might not be a fucking Mafia but we can protect you too.”

“I know okay. I know that now but after that night I couldn’t risk getting hurt anymore.”

I pull to the side of the abandoned warehouse and cut the SUV off before reaching over to unbuckle Tara. I lift her easily and pull her until she is sitting on my lap. Reaching down I scoot the seat back as far as it will go to give us more room. Tara is looking at my chest and I need her to look at me. Using my knuckles I tip her head back and find tears filling her ocean eyes.

“Princess don’t cry–”

“Do not tell me not to cry. I called Reed that night to come get me from the bar you left me at but he never answered. Then I called Jessie after…” Her voice breaks and so does my heart. My girl called for help from my friends and everyone let her down. “When Elio found me, I was clutching my phone in my hands. When he gave it back to me I noticed that not only did I call Jessie but I must have dialed Nick at some point. The thing is no one called me back. You didn’t even call. So why would I ask the four guys who said they had my back for help?”

Her words feel like a slap to my face. “That’s bullshit Princess. I called you multiple times that morning after I noticed you didn’t come home. I swear I called you.”

She is furiously shaking her head. “No you didn’t. I had zero missed calls from you.”

“Hold the fuck up,” I say and shift her forward to grab my phone out of my pocket. I log into my online profile for my provider, click on bills and request the bill for a year ago. I download the pdf file and scroll all the way down to the day I’m looking for. There in black and white is the hundreds of calls to her phone. I turn my phone around to show her.

“I called you hundreds of times. Because you didn’t have your voicemail set up I couldn’t leave a message. I don’t know about the other guys but I fucking called you.”

Tara takes my phone from me and stares at the screen in shock. “You… you called.” Her bottom lip starts trembling and the sight of it kills me.

I knock my phone out of her hands and sink my hands into her dark locks pulling her face inches from mine. As I speak my lips brush against her. “Yes I fucking called you. I kept calling you until I got that fucking recording that told me your number had been disconnected. From the moment you went missing I never stopped looking for you. How could I stop looking for my fucking heart? Because that major organ is not inside my chest it’s fucking with you, Princess.”

“I don’t understand this but I’m sorry. I’m sorry I–”

Tara’s sentence is cut off by the sound of tires on the gravel outside. “We will finish this later. Come on, let's find out why this bitch lied about you,” I say, pressing a chaste kiss to her lips in promise that everything is going to be fine.