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He shakes in his anger and scoffs, “She fucking ran.”
She ran? Up the driveway? With a knife wound in her gut? In heels? Damn, the bitch is ballsier than I gave her credit for. I’ll give her that.
Declan still quietly cleans Rachel, applying pressure to her wound as he continues to examine the tissue surrounding it. We need to be better situated in order for him to properly treat her.
I put my questions and unease I’ve had towards Rachel for the last few months on the back burner for now. Alec is too calm around us for me to be suspicious of her intentions for the moment. It doesn’t mean I believe her, or even that it matters if what she says is true. Alec is too pissed at her and too relaxed with us for me to be worried about why she decided to show up at our doorstep like this.
I stand up and point towards the hallway at the other side of the living room. I’ve set all the guys up in the same wing of the house as Luca and I, so this wing remains relatively vacant. It’s not normally used as it’s mostly more guest rooms.
“Second door on the right,” I say as I wave to Rachel. Kade drops beside Declan, shoving Alec out of his way. The two of them take Rachel to the room I designated them to. It's not as good as a hospital, but it’s close enough.
Kade already knows where everything is and will be able to get Declan set up so he’s able to actually help Rachel.
Noah makes it back to me just as we start trailing after them. “Jade is sleeping, Ian is sitting with her. Holden and Tyler went to her place to grab a bag for her. Mikey and Ronan are getting Britt settled in the room next to Ryder’s. Britt is shaken up but still giving them hell.”
I laugh a little at that. “She’s tougher than she looks. Tougher than they would like to believe. She’ll be fine in this life.”
Noah hums but doesn’t say anything else. I have a feeling he’s thinking about my reticence to bring Declan and him into this world for the same reasons. Well, he can suck my dick. I figured it out…eventually.
Okay. A few hours ago. But who’s counting?
I give him a little glare and he just laughs, shrugging like he didn’t say anything. He didn't but his thoughts are so damn loud he might as well have.
We are the last ones to the room and I let my eyes casually drift over the set up. I see the approval and surprise on Declan’s face as he surveys the medical equipment I’ve gathered here.
It isn’t enough if anyone were to need surgery. But stitches? Yeah, we can handle stitches here.
As soon as everyone is settled and Declan is prepping Rachel’s wound to be stitched up, I turn my attention to Alec. I’m ready for some answers now.
“How about we rewind to the beginning of this shit show and you tell me what the fuck happened? Why is Rachel bleeding? Why did she decide to show up here? And what the fuck she was saying about Jade?”
He sighs in defeat, his posture deflating now that Rachel is getting the help she needs under our care. He knows he owes us. Nothing in this life is given for free. Rachel hasn’t earned this type of loyalty from us. Not after she pushed the Jade issue this far.
“Some of Romano’s men were at Thorns tonight. We could tell something was going on when Michael showed up clearly agitated.”
“What time?” I cut him off.
He looks to Rachel as if she’s going to wake up all of a sudden and be able to answer for him. Declan starts the blood transfusion as we all watch and wait for Alec to answer.
“Late afternoon, maybe 4 o’clock?”
I hum and nod to myself. That means Romano was prepared for us to retaliate when we got Noah back. It makes sense why the man directly under William would be rattled after we captured his boss. None of us had expected for him to be with Noah when we found him. It was an unexpected boon we plan to capitalize on in every way we can.
“Everything else was fine, at least for a few hours. More of Romano’s guys started showing up, but nothing unusual. Nothing that set off alarm bells. Thorns is always busy with that crew.”
I nod, knowing he isn’t wrong. Thorns is one of our clubs on the opposite side of downtown. It’s not in as trendy of an area as Steel Roses, but that’s perfect because it draws quite a different crowd. A crowd we have a vested interest in tracking not only their movements and schedules, but who they meet with and what is discussed at our tables.
Thorns is one of our best kept secrets. Rachel and her crew spend so much time there, most people assume she owns it. She practically uses it as her headquarters and in return, helps manage and run it. It’s been the core of our alliance since we first opened our doors there four years ago, just as Rachel rose up and took control of her father’s business. It proved beneficial for all of us.
Gambling goes hand in hand with drugs and we get to stay silent partners as we collect information that is beneficial to us.
“A little after ten is when everything went to shit,” Alec continues.
They moved fast, I’ll give them that. That would have meant they responded almost immediately after the first gunshot went off. Not that the entire incident took more than a few minutes. It was a rather short and to the point type of message. No need to drag out a call to war.
“They were coordinated, pulling out weapons at the same time and causing chaos. Security was able to disarm most of them with minimal damage. Some interior shit will have to be sorted, but no casualties on our side.”
At least there’s that. I would have been severely disappointed if security hadn’t been able to handle the situation. We train them exactly for this type of bullshit.
