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Chapter Twenty-Seven

MERRICK

Leaving Colette in the bedroom, I walk out into the living area. The guys are already packed and ready to go. We didn’t have to discuss shit to know that it was time for us to get out of this city.

“Do we have any information at all on that fucker?” I ask.

Vaughn snorts. “Dust in the goddamn wind again.”

Shaking my head, I clear my throat before I speak. “We’re closer than we’ve ever been. I am not giving up, not again.”

Theron jerks his chin. “I could have ended him right here. I fucking froze.” His words come out in a rasp, and as much as I want to hug him and tell him that it’s okay, we aren’t kids anymore. We don’t have to huddle together for support. We have one another’s backs—always.

“Cut that shit out,” I snap. His head shakes once before he jerks his chin up, and his eyes find mine. “Any one of us would have done the same. That was some unexpected shit. We thought we were dealing with some asshole. Not a single one of us had any inclination it was him. Because what are the goddamn odds?”

Grayson lets out a bark of laughter, just a single one before he speaks. “I didn’t even know that fucker had ties to New York. We’ve been trying to find him for over a decade, and who would have fucking thought he would fall into our goddamn laps like that?”

Clearing my throat, I take half a step forward as if to put myself in the middle so I can take the floor. “I’m going to drive Colette back to North Carolina.”

“Drive?” Theron asks.

“I’m going to talk to the car rental agency, but she can’t fly. She doesn’t have clothes, which isn’t a big deal. I can call down to the lobby for an outfit, but she doesn’t have any identification. I’m not sure how I’m going to get that, either, not without Ravet knowing.”

“Calling Adriano will result in him telling you that you can have it after you deliver Ravet,” Theron mutters, thinking aloud. He’s right. That is exactly what will happen.

“I can’t have her here. Not without proper precautions in place. She needs to be under full surveillance,” I murmur, also thinking out loud.

“Are you thinking the safe house?” Boden asks.

My lips twitch into a smirk. “That’s exactly what I’m thinking.”

We own a condo in the same building as Vaughn’s place. He has secret access to that safe house, and it is completely and totally monitored. I should have put Colette there the moment her father started making noise about taking her back home and ending the arrangement. It was really fucking stupid of me not to.

But at the same time, I can’t help but wonder if all of this was meant to happen so we could enact our vengeance on Ravet. Destiny. Fate. Kismet. It seems to me that it is a recurring theme between me and Colette.

“Okay,” Theron says. “But we still haven’t gotten anywhere with Ravet other than the fact that we saw him, and we know it’s him.”

Shaking my head, I close my eyes slowly, then reopen them, my gaze connecting to his. I hold it for a moment, then clear my throat before I speak. I try to keep the emotion out of my voice, but I’m pretty sure I completely fail.

“I’m going to come back here and take care of Ravet.”

Theron opens his mouth, likely to protest my announcement, but I shake my head once, not wanting to hear that shit. Grayson steps forward. “I’ll come with you. My office work is caught up, and I can divvy out the few jobs I have to the other guys. It isn’t much.”

“I’ll take on whatever you need me to,” Boden mutters.

“I can’t ask you—” I start to say, but it’s Grayson’s turn to hold up his hand, effectively shutting me up.

“You’re not asking me,” he states. “I’m offering. And Ravet is a piece of shit who hurt all of us. This isn’t a one-man job. This is for every single fucking one of us to come together on. The other guys are going to run Securus because we will be around working when Ravet is gone, and we can’t negate our livelihood. But you will not do this alone.”

“No,” Colette calls out from behind me.

Every single one of us shifts our attention to her. She timidly looks down at the floor, then slowly lifts her gaze to meet mine. I watch as she shrinks back slightly, likely because she has all our attention. I’m not sure she’s ready for it, but she’s got it, so she either continues or walks away.

Being Colette, she continues, but in her own soft way.

“I am going to stay. I am going to be the bait. He will never come out of wherever he hides without a reason.”

I open my mouth to tell her exactly what I fucking think of her being bait. Which is to say, not fucking ever while I’m alive, but Theron speaks before I can get a single word out.

“She’s right,” he mutters. “I hate that she is, but she’s right.”

Wordlessly, I spin on my heels and walk out of the hotel suite. I have to. I cannot listen to this shit because, at the end of the day, rationally, I know they’re both right.

I just don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to be part of the planning process. I want nothing to fucking do with it right now. I promised Colette that she would never be in danger again just twenty minutes earlier, and I'm already ready to break that fucking vow to her.

COLETTE

Merrick leaves the suite, but I don’t go after him. Every fiber of my being begs me to do that, but I don’t, and I can’t. This is far too important. This man needs to be taken down. Pushing off the doorjamb, I make my way farther into the room until I’m close enough to have a quiet conversation with them all.

“Merrick said that he did something to him. You don’t have to tell me what, but I have a feeling he was going to try to use me to do it to more boys,” I say.

The idea of doing anything for Malcolm or that demon woman who was in my father’s office makes me physically ill. I want to throw up, scream, tear at my skin, and pull my hair out. I cannot contain the emotions I feel about it.

But beyond all the disgusting things it makes me feel, what is the worst is that it makes me sad.

So incredibly sad.

“He did hurt all of us,” Theron murmurs. “Badly.”

Nodding, I suck in a deep breath, letting my exhale out slowly before I continue. “I figured as much. I want Malcolm stopped. And that woman. The men in that meeting at my father’s didn’t say much, but that woman… She is evil personified. I could see it in her eyes.”

“I know who you’re talking about,” Vaughn announces as he scrolls on his phone. A moment later, he jumps up from his chair and walks closer to the group. “We can take care of her, but go and get Merrick. We need to talk,” he grunts.

I don’t know what that means, but there is a seriousness in his tone that makes the air in the room crackle. I suck in a breath and hold it as my gaze flicks around the room from man to man. Theron is the one who breaks away from the room and heads toward the door to get Merrick.

I don’t know what to do, what to say right now. But these men are all looking around, and the grave expressions on their faces make me not only believe but convince me that this is definitely big. Much bigger than I could probably ever imagine.

Staying silent, I start to back away, thinking that if I can find my way to a wall, maybe I can just melt into the wallpaper, and everyone will forget about me. I want to help, but I don’t know what’s going on, and I’m worried.

My stomach twists and turns.

I sink my teeth into my bottom lip, and my whole body trembles as I think about a million different things that could be going on right now. When Theron and Merrick walk back into the room, my focus is on Merrick and only Merrick. He doesn’t even look at me. I might as well actually be the wallpaper that I’m trying to blend into.

“We have a fucking problem,” Vaughn announces.

That cracking sound in the air intensifies. Biting the inside of my cheek, I watch and wait for what is going to be said next. I’m not sure what it is going to be, but clearly, this is so big that they all take a step forward to shrink their circle.

I don’t move closer, though. I stay where I am and strain to hear what is coming next. The entire room is all ears. When he begins to talk, I don’t understand everything that’s going on.

“Merrick is on the fucking dark web. A contract for a hit.”

With a frown, I take a half step forward, but he’s not finished. “So is Colette.”

“Well, at least we know who did it. What now?” Merrick asks.

He’s seemingly unfazed, but I am very much fazed because my name is on some kind of hit list. What ? I start to ask just that question, but then Theron speaks, and I decide I really don’t have much of a say in anything happening here, mainly because I’m a bit confused by what’s going on in general—so I decide I’m going to just listen for a minute.

“We have a couple of options, but really only one main one, which is to not get killed. The second option is to take matters into our own hands.”

“How do we do that?” Boden asks.

“We go along with our original plan,” Theron says. “I think we should ruin them all. Financially and career-wise, of course, but only after Ravet has been delivered to Adriano.”

I’m so confused by everything. I open my mouth to ask why Malcolm is going to be taken to my father, but then I decide, again , that this isn’t the time or place to ask my questions, so I snap my lips closed.

“Colette,” Merrick calls out.

My spine straightens as his eyes lift to meet mine. “You have questions, baby?” he asks.

Instantly, my entire body melts. I could actually turn into a puddle on the floor at this very second. But I don’t. Instead, I take a hesitant step toward their circle, then another. And with all their eyes on me, I ask my questions, and they answer all of them—every single one.