Page 103 of The Loves We Lost

“How did you get this number, Collins?” King asks.

Collins? I think back over everything that’s happened recently. Shit, didn’t Vex say Brad Collins was the leader of the Righteous Brotherhood?

“You think you’ve got the only tech genius who can do a bit of digging?”

“You’ve got ten seconds to tell me why you’re calling me before I hang up.” King’s tone is one of utter boredom, but his body stiffens on full alert as his eyes narrow and jaw twitches.

I look around us with a critical eye. Up toward our roofline, behind the wire fence where all the shrubs grow, and along the property boundary. If they know King’s cell phone number, then they already know way more about us than we thought.

I type out a message to Vex, telling him to get his ass outside now.

“You know why I’m calling. You think I’m going to let the loss of eleven million dollars go?” Collins says. The anger in his tone is ice cold. Precise.

“You lost eleven million bucks?” King asks. “That feels like a real failure of leadership.”

“No. A failure of leadership is leaving our contact at the docks alive after you stole my weapons. He’s dead now, before you get any ideas of silencing him.”

Fuck. The man at the dock had a family. I remember photographs of kids on his desk. Maybe it’s because I have Avery now, but a daughter losing her father hits a little harder than it has before.

Vex jogs towards us with his laptop, and I put my finger to my lips to silence him as he approaches. I point to King’s phone on the table. He sets up next to King and starts tapping away silently on his keyboard.

“I don’t know anything about missing weapons. A man will say anything if you torture him enough. But seems to me like you just admitted to losing a ton of cash and some weapons. Both illegally gained. You want to tell me who your father is?”

There’s a protracted silence.

“I want my property back,” Collins says.

“Even if we ever had anything of yours, it would be long gone by now.”

“Well, that would be a shame, because then I’d be forced to take action. You’ve got forty-eight hours to reconsider.”

And the line goes dead.

King takes a deep breath. “I guess we ruffled his feathers.”

“You wanna catch me up?” Vex says.

“How the fuck was he able to get enough intel about this club that he knows my number?” King asks after he’s filled Vex in on all the critical parts. “He said, ‘You think you’ve got the only tech genius who can do a bit of digging?’”

Vex keeps his usually calm head. “Phone numbers are not impossible to hack. There are contracts with providers. But we should get you a new phone and phone number. Keep this one for now so Collins can reach you. As for the weapons, we assumed the only threat was the guy talking to the cops about us. It’s a flaw on our part that we didn’t think about him talking to the Brotherhood when they came asking him questions. In fairness to the guy, a civilian probably wouldn’t withstand muchof a beating if he thought telling them what he knew would see him released. The money has got to be a guess. And it’s been a week since we drained their account. I think they’re grasping at straws.”

“Is there a way for us to figure out who they might have dealing with their tech?” I ask.

“I’ll do a full review on their data structure. But I need to start now. I would imagine, after a breach like they just had, they’ve locked everything down. Give me some time to figure it out. I can dig deeper now that I have access.”

“I’m less concerned that they made contact than the fact they seem to know more about us than we anticipated,” I say. “This war was going to come to a head at some point.”

“Daddy.” I hear Avery before I see her appear around the corner across the other side of the lot. This morning they had a playdate at Noah’s place, and I’m praying it went well. I want both my girls to have friends.

“They’re here now because I’m supposed to take Vi away tonight while Avery stays at Niro’s. Want to make Vi my old lady. You need me to cancel?”

Thankfully Vi seems to realize I’m in a conversation and steers Avery away for a minute.

“Thought we needed a vote on old ladies,” Vex says.

I shake my head. “You might as well know; I already had the vote. The Bethlehem club voted yes. She turned me down last time. I want to try again.”

“Fuck,” Vex says.