Page 83 of Shattered Pieces

The guys were all milling around the bar when I arrived, seeming curious about the reason for the meeting.

“What’s this about?” Samuel asked as we approached, my eyes already on Matteo.

“We have a problem. It involves your girl,” I said without hesitation, making him scoff.

“You’ll do anything to get rid of her, won’t you? We had to put up with Donovan for you, so you can just⁠—”

“Aurora wasn’t a rat,” I said calmly. “Whether she betrayed us or not has nothing to do with this conversation. It’s come to light that the witness that made a statement to the cops about Rory killing her dad was Mandy. This isn’t me being pissed at her for getting Rory arrested, this is about the fact Mandy ratted, and who knows what else she could say against us if she wanted to?”

He seemed surprised, which made me feel better because it meant he wasn’t in on it. Dealing with a betrayal within the crew was a lot messier than the shit with Rory. It was meetings, votes, and an execution.

“Mandy went to the cops?” he asked with disbelief, and Diesel sighed.

“She might not know a lot, but she’s a rat. Both her and Claire know things they shouldn’t, and it makes me wonder if they were spying on us from the beginning. There’s no proof of that, but I saw the statement myself. Mandy ratted, so we have to handle it. The Devils are looking for the witness, so we can either let them handle it, or we have to. Regardless, cutting Mandy off could potentially lead to her spilling shit about us to the cops as payback. Like how Claire got embarrassed that day here and accused me of sexual assault. Girls like that are dangerous,” he reminded them, and thankfully, most of the guys were nodding their heads in agreement.

“He’s right. She’s a liability,” Samuel said carefully, glancing at Matteo. “You had no idea it was her?”

“No. She made an eye witness statement? What the fuck was she even doing in the Heights? Was she alone? She hates the Heights,” Matteo said dryly, and I shrugged.

“D, show them the statement.”

Matteo’s back straightened, his eyes narrowing on Diesel. “Why the fuck do you have the statement?”

“I owed Rivera a favor. They want the witness, so I got it for them,” Diesel said with ease.

“You’re helping them get Donovan out?” Matteo snapped, but I put my hand up to silence him.

“If Hunter was happy with calling it even on Diesel for this information, it was worth it. The question is, do we let them handle it and take out Mandy, or do we handle it internally?” I asked, murmurs going around the room as they discussed it.

“I say let them deal with the mess,” Brick offered, leaning back against the bar. “Mandy’s a blue blood academy kid and her father’s the local priest. It could be quite messy covering up her murder. I’d love to not have to deal with it. What’s the worst thing that could happen? They get busted and they’re dealt with too?”

That seemed to have more of the guys on board with the plan, and Matteo waved an annoyed hand at me.

“Fine. Let Rivera take out the girl. It’s not like she was more than pussy to me anyway. See, Maddox? This is how you handle a problematic woman. None of that bullshit you pulled with Donovan.”

“Like I said, Aurora wasn’t a rat, and she has nothing to do with this conversation,” I said sharply, sick of arguing about it. “We’re in agreement to let the Devils handle Mandy then?” Nods went around the room, and relief hit me. At least no one was going to fight me on it. “Good. We’ll hand the information over to Hunter on the way home and see what comes of it. Matteo, don’t let Mandy know we’re onto her. If she texts, reply to her. Any change in patterns will make her suspicious or make you look like a suspect to the cops if it goes to shit.”

“Sure,” he muttered, helping himself to the bar.

Maybe I was wrong and he had gotten feelings for her? I could sympathize slightly if he had, but at the same time, if he wasn’t going to fight for her, then that was his problem.

Diesel came with me to the Devils’ warehouse, and I knew a lot of the guys weren’t happy to see me when I was let inside by Bobby.

“Boss is upstairs,” he grunted, my eyes landing on Tyler at the bar as he drank with Faris. Of course, that little shit was here.

He saw me as we headed upstairs, and I could hear Faris telling him to stay out of it. He didn’t need to know murder plans.

Hunter eyed me with irritation when I opened the door to the office and let myself in. It pissed me off when he spotted Diesel and seemed to relax again. How often were they hanging out these days?

“Where’s your dog?” I asked dryly, closing the door behind us.

“If you mean Marco, he’s at Wet Dreams,” he answered, looking at Diesel. “You got something for me?”

It pissed me off a little to be dismissed so easily, but I let Diesel handle it since it was technically his deal.

“I do. You wanted a name, I got you the statement,” Diesel answered, and Hunter raised an eyebrow as he stood, walking closer.

“That was fast.”