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Rachel breaks the silence as she looks around the room. Ian and Jade, well Jade really, have made this place their home. Every time I come by, there’s more and more intimate details shared on their walls. New decorations that just fit them. There’s even a small bookcase on Jade’s side of the room now to store her slowly growing collection of books.
I’ll have to remember to ask Kade for recommendations on some new ones to buy her so she can fill her shelves. We can consider it partial payback for his recent attitude. Dickhead.
“When do you think the twins will move back in?” I ask, pushing away the annoying thoughts of my grumpy dickhead.
Jade beams and I smirk into my coffee. She’s been preparing for those boys to come live here since the week she was released from the hospital. We all knew it was only a matter of time before it would be safe enough to bring them back.
“Not until Romano is gone,” she answers. “But their rooms are all ready. We even set up a playroom where Trevor and Roe will be able to come over and they can all have sleepovers in there.”
“It’s going to be a nightmare separating them after they’ve all been living together,” I comment with a smile. Even though I know it’s going to be a trying process when we get there, I still remember when Roe was too scared to even look at the boys in the face.
“Speaking of,” I say with a cheshire grin.
Rachel perks up so fast she almost spills her coffee. “So you did come with something to tell us?”
“Damn, bitch. Spit it out already. What’s the holdup?” Jade taunts.
I raise a brow in her direction. Sassy little thing she is now. “I was waiting for you pussies to wake up a little bit,” I point out. They both look back into their coffees and take another long sip. Apparently neither one of them has a smart ass comment to that. Though Rachel’s fire has been rare nowadays.
“It’s nothing definitive,” I start, “but we’ve found proof Romano is still trying to keep in contact with associates,” I explain. While his business did have a lot of fall out after we hit the auction, he had auction houses all over the country. There are many that are still operating, especially the ones on the other side of the country. Less and less people are willing to work with Romano now, but even our power can’t be unrivaled throughout the whole country.
There are plenty of people willing to risk it. They believe the distance keeps them safe from us. They’re not wrong. It’s kept us from making a move, for now. It won’t be like that forever and we keep a long list of names that need to be eliminated.
“That’s why he isn’t already dead.” That’s something Charles began speculating to Noah about that got us to start trying to track call logs of those we know are still running his rings. “Christopher Donahue would not have kept him alive unless he thought he could still be of use, or Romano has some type of insurance against him in the event of his death. The second option isn’t likely, as Romano was far too cocky and left in a hurry. Who would he have been able to give his insurance to? William? Ciar? They’re already dead.” I shrug, a small smile playing at the corners of my mouth.
We really have isolated him so beautifully.
“We’re trying to track their phone calls to locate him. Charles is also trying to glean any information from his father, but we’re getting close now. I can feel it.”
There’s some of the fire I’ve been missing in Rachel. Her brown eyes burn with her need to make Romano pay, to see him suffer. It’s exactly why I came here this morning. She needed this pick me up. Ryder and Kade have all but completely taken over her business as she tries to heal from this loss. It doesn’t feel like anything we do for her could ever be enough but this felt like it could maybe be a start.
“What’s the plan once we do find him?” Ian asks.
I flop back against the pillows and shrug. It’s hard to decide when we don’t know what we’re going into. I already know everyone is going to want to be a part of it, but I don’t really think a team of fourteen will be necessary or practical.
“Don’t know,” I admit. “We will get a team together and take it from there. I have to guess he’s pretty isolated.” I can’t imagine him having a lot, if any, security around him. Charles seems to be in agreement that his father would only spend the bare necessity until he was sure Romano was no longer of any use to him. That, and killing him wouldn’t set anything into motion.
“It should be quite simple once we find him.”
Ian scoffs, “I doubt there will be anything simple about it.”
A maniacal grin spreads across my face. “You’re probably right.”
Rachel chuckles at my side. A flicker of her strength lighting her up. “Is there anything we can do in the meantime to help?”
I hesitate, not knowing what type of job to give her. The truth is we have a million things going on and even with how many of us there are, we are working long hours to keep all of our businesses up and running while we also dig into Romano and the wealthiest people of this country.
“Get dressed and come to the house. We still have a lot of information to sort through.” I jump out of the bed and trade looks with Ian. He nods and I know he’s got both their backs.
A tingle races down my spine, causing me to shiver. I pause in the doorway, leaning against the frame and try to pinpoint the cause for the sudden rush of unease. My eyes volley around the room one last time but find nothing out of place. The feeling doesn’t subside even as I say my goodbyes and make my way back home. Rather, a sharper edge of excitement pulses alongside the unease as I sit in the driveway.
My head falls to the steering wheel as I try to make sense of the chaos in my head. Something is coming. We’ve been sitting on pins and needles for weeks as we’ve tried to make headway into finding where Donahue could have hidden Romano away from prying eyes. Even with the information pouring in, the leads it has garnered have been few and far between.
A sigh spills past my lips. There are too many moving pieces on the board right now as we’re working on too many different fronts without a solid plan to keep us all organized. It’s my own fault. Some days it feels like I’m barely holding on to myself, let alone managing the team the way I should be. The way I normally do.
One little text should solve the majority of my unease. I exhale a deep breath and push the door open to finally make my way inside. I barely make it past the threshold before I hear Ryder.
“Team meeting?”
