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“I make no promises if he escalates. We’ve cleaned up bigger messes,” he said.
“Neither do I,” I said with a sigh, “but I have to check in with your uncle.”
“Weston is already talking to him.” Sterling gestured to the side door that led outside, and I excused myself, heading that way. Hayes and Sterling could be trusted with Bailey while I was gone.
I found a few attendees sharing a cigarette, but my son was nowhere in sight. I knew he wouldn’t make a Family call this close to the event, but there was only a field nearby. Surely he wasn’t out there?
In only a few seconds the tracking app showed him right in the middle of the field. I groaned, knowing there was only one reason he’d be that far away. A job.
My brother had awful timing, so it was entirely likely he’d given Weston a mark at the same event. Generally, my son didn’t tell me the details, nor did I ask for them, but clearly that would have to change. We couldn’t risk Bailey or our covers. Sure, we could move on to another mark and find our information elsewhere, but she’d be left alone with that creep if we were forced to take off.
The thought of her being here without us was something I wouldn't even entertain. She was stuck with us now, though perhaps that wasn’t fair to her since she had no idea justwhowe were.
The Shaw Family meant nothing to her, but to us, it was our entire identity.
Our Family dealt with a lot of things, but trafficking was not one of them—arranged marriages, sure, but not stealing kids and teens and forcing them to endure abuse for the entertainment of sick fucks.
My own wife had been a victim of that crime. The ones who originally hurt her were likely long gone, but just like cockroaches, someone always took their place. I’d continue to exterminate them until the day I died.
The muffled cries weren’t audible until I was nearly on top of them. A man in a suit was bound and gagged on the ground, buried in the tall grass. My son was crouched beside him with a wicked grin on his face. He stared down at his victim, bloody knife in hand.
“Who do we have here?” I demanded of my son. Weston tore his eyes away from the target long enough to answer me.
“A man who apparently doesn’t want to give me answers,” he taunted, “and I think you’ll recognize his name, Father. This man is Antonio Alvarez. Just a few short weeks ago, he looked me in the eyes and told me he had no part of these dealings, so imagine my surprise when I walked in to find him here, shaking hands with Burke and Larkin.”
The name had me cocking my foot back and slamming it into the man’s ribs. There was a satisfying crunch as he screamed into the gag.
Larkin, another supposed leader that I’d been tracking for months, was the man we suspected Burke was closest to in the ring. He was more careful than his counterpart, so we’d recently switched our focus to the underlings. We’d thought Alvarez was ready to be cleared, but it appeared we’d made a mistake.
I wanted my mate nowhere near these men, but I couldn’t tell her why without a fight. I wasn’t willing to yank her out of their grasp until I knew who she was working for. I couldn’t put her in further danger.
“Why don’t you head out early?” I told Weston. “Your uncle will send a car for you along with a few men so you don’t have to do any heavy lifting.”
“If there’s anything left of him by the time they get here.” He dropped the knife and pulled out a switchblade instead, flipping it open and casually slicing through one of Alvarez’s fingers. When the blade reached the bone, Weston sawed at it slowly, staring into the other man’s soul.
Weston continued to question him, but he couldn’t have answered if he wanted to at this point. Honestly, even if he had, it wouldn’t have made a difference. Alvarez had already dug his own grave. The only way this night would end was with his death.
“Protect her,” Weston said as I turned to walk away.
There was no point in checking in with my brother now that Weston was calling in. Though we would be having a discussion about putting my job at risk.
By the time I reached the building again, I was surprised to see Bailey arguing with Sterling outside while Hayes stood next to them, looking around for danger. At least one of them was keeping an eye on the area.
“What’s going on?” I demanded as I walked up. Bailey turned to me and narrowed her eyes, glancing behind me before looking back.
“Where were you?”
“Out.” I ignored her growl of frustration. “Why are you outside? It’s not safe out here. You don’t know who could show up or who’s listening.”
She frowned but didn’t disagree.
Finally, she let out a long breath. “I just needed some air. The senator is a little bit clingy tonight.”
“He’s lucky he still has hands,” Sterling said. His own were clenched into fists, and he was practically vibrating with fury.
My hand went to my son’s shoulder and squeezed but Bailey beat me to the tongue lashing. “I’m not telling you again. You can’t go in there and cut his hands off!” She glanced around and lowered her voice. “Doing something stupid in there would have dire consequences for me.”
“We’re going to need those answers soon,” I told her.
