Page 53 of Ruby

Tucker turns to her then follows her gaze seeing all the monitors on the wall. He pulls her into his arms. She goes woodenly. Her mind racing with the realization she’s going to be face to face with her brother after all these years.

“Don’t be afraid, beautiful.” Tucker’s voice is a deep rumble in her ear, which is pressed to his broad chest. “I won’t let these men hurt you in anyway.” Ruby tightens her arms around his waist, drawing strength from him. She takes a moment to gather herself. Time to face her past.

They enter the next room, which is a startling contrast to the rooms they’ve just walked through. This part is unfinished. The stark, bare concrete walls and floors a bit of a jolt to the system after the very modern, finished part of the basement. Ruby sees a large punching bag hanging from the ceiling in one corner. A weight bench and bar along with a large rack of weights are nearby. Ruby begins to wonder just how big this basement is because Tucker keeps leading her on to another door. Virus and Straw enter, but Tucker stops her before they enter.

“Ruby, you don’t have to come in here,” Tucker tells her. “But if you want to, I’ll be right beside you the whole time. I won’t let them harm you, okay?”

“I need to do this, Tucker.” Ruby tries to sound confident, but even she can hear the fear in her voice. “I…I saw one of the men you’re holding on the monitor in the other room.” She pauses, and Tucker takes her by her waist, holding her to him. She looks up at him. “He’s my brother, Tony.” Tucker’s eyes widen as he takes in her words. Ruby can’t believe it herself in some ways. Not since the day after she’d run away has she seen her brother. She knows he let her get away in Philadelphia so why is he here now? Why track her down after all these years? Her mind racing with all the possibilities. Father is ill or perhaps demanded, Tony find her and bring her back to end the tension between the families. More than likely though, Russo, Jr. is behind it all. He’s finally going to make good on his threats from six years ago and force her to marry him. She shudders at the thought. She’ll never let that asshole touch her. She’d rather die than to be married to the creep, especially after the love she’s shared with Tucker.

“Your brother?” Tucker’s voice is incredulous. He blows out a breath. He hugs her tightly to him, kissing the top of her head. “It’s going to be okay, beautiful. Let’s just go talk to him and see what he has to say.” Ruby nods and releases her hold on Tucker. They walk into the dank room.

Looking around, Ruby realizes this room looks so much older than the rest of the rooms they’ve been in so far. The concrete has turned a dark gray in color over the years. Cracks can be seen in places along the walls and floors. A single bare light bulb hangs from the ceiling in the middle of the room. Five men are sitting in straight back chairs under the light. The men’s arms are tied behind their backs and their feet are tied to the front legs of the chairs. Ruby allows her eyes to roam over each man’s face. A part of her had hoped she’d been mistaken about seeing Tony, but as her eyes land on the man sitting front and center in the middle of the captive men, she knows she isn’t wrong.

“Mary Catherine?” Tony asks when he sees her. Ruby can’t believe the relief she sees wash over Tony’s face when he sees her. He stares at her. His eyes roaming up and down her form. Ruby can tell he’s trying to reconcile the woman in front of him to the sister of his past. So much as changed over the years not just her hair color. She’d been so clueless and weak in the past, but now after living on the streets for the last six plus years, she’s gotten tougher and more confident. She refuses to cower at his glare. Ruby notices all the men in the room have turned to look at her. They all know her as Ruby, not Mary Catherine, all of them except Tucker. She’d told him everything last night, holding nothing back.

“Tony.” Ruby lifts her chin and straightens her spine. She’s determined to not let him see any weakness in her. Tucker pulls her into his side and slightly behind him. She’s sure he isn’t even fully aware of what he’s doing. His instinct to protect her has him on autopilot. Putting himself between her and any perceived danger.

“God, Mary Catherine,” Tony breaths out. “I’ve been trying to find you for years. I…I still can’t believe you are here. You’ve changed so much.” Ruby looks Tony over. He’s changed too. He looks gaunt and tired, his eyes no longer bright like they used to be, and he’s gotten a lot of wrinkles and worry lines on his face. She even sees he’s beginning to get some gray in his dark brown hair. Being a mobster must be a very stressful job indeed. Ruby pinches her lips together. Tony made his choice years ago, and she’s not going to feel sorry for him now.

“Well, you’ve found me,” Ruby says, unable to keep the anger from her voice. “What were you planning to do, hand me over the Russo as soon as you got me back to New York?” Tony’s face frowns and he begins to shake his head side to side.

“God! No!” Tony exclaims. “Mary Catherine, you have to listen to me. I never wanted father to agree to the marriage, but the Russos were out for blood for what father was planning to do. They’d already killed mom, and father had feared if you weren’t married into the family, you’d be next, just to teach him a lesson. I couldn’t say anything at the time. I was just getting started in the organization myself–“

“I don’t want to hear it,” Ruby cuts him off. “You could have said something, tried to stop the madness going on around us, but you didn’t. I’d just lost mom and found out our family is heavily involved in organized crime. I was mentally a mess, no one was on my side. I was all alone.” Ruby’s voice cracks, and the tears she’s been fighting begin to stream down her face. Tucker pulls her to his chest, holding her while she sobs, finally beginning to let go of her fear and grief from that time. Tony’s jaw clenches, and he glares at Tucker, clearly not liking the familiarity between them.

“Please, Mary Catherine, just listen to me, hear me out,” Tony implores. “There’s so much you don’t know.”

“You’re right. I don’t know, and I don’t want to know,” Ruby replies heatedly. Tony flinches at her sharp remark.

“Father was trying to get out!” Tony blurts out suddenly. Ruby’s head jerks up from Tucker’s chest and whips in Tony’s direction. When he sees he’s gotten her attention, Tony continues speaking. “Mom hated being in the family. She wanted to get the whole family out. It’s why she tried to keep you away from it as long as she did. Dad had been trying to go legit, but the other factions of the family weren’t having it. They kept causing trouble for our legal businesses. Father was approached by the FBI to turn state’s evidence against the others in exchange for immunity for his crimes. They knew he was trying to go legit and thought they could use him to bring down the whole family. He wasn’t going to agree, but a mole in the FBI leaked it to the other bosses that father had been contacted. That’s why they killed mom and attempted to kill you, too. Father managed to convince Russo, Sr. it was all a big misunderstanding after mom’s funeral. Sr. said father could prove it by marrying you off to Jr., so father agreed. He didn’t really want to do it, Mary Catherine, but they were going to kill all of us. Sr. promised father you would be well taken care of if you agreed to the marriage and did your part as the doting wife. It would solidify the two factions of the family and prevent an all-out war. Gianna came to me and told me her father was planning to kill you after the wedding because he heard you were talking to the police.”

“I was contacted by them, but I never told them anything,” Ruby cries. “I didn’t know anything to tell them!”

“I know you didn’t,” Tony replies sadly. “I was the one giving information to the police. It’s my fault mom died.” Ruby stares at him not believing what she’s hearing. “Listen, I can’t change what happened. The Russos have people in their pockets from the local police, to judges, congressmen, and even in the FBI. I didn’t know I was trusting the wrong man until it was too late. None of that matters now, though. What matters is getting you somewhere safe, before the Russos find out we have double crossed them. Father’s been gathering evidence for years. He’s ready to turn it all over, but we needed to find you and get you under the witness protection program, too.”

“No,” Tucker’s voice is a low gravelly rumble. “Ruby stays with me.” Tony looks at Tucker. His face a sneer as he looks Tucker up and down.

“Just who the fuck do you think you are?” Tony asks. “Mary Catherine–” he emphasizes her old name– “is my sister, and I’ll decide what happens to her.” Tucker looks down at Ruby. He takes a deep breath before speaking.

“Ruby, I want you with me,” Tucker tells her, ignoring her brother and his goons for now. “But it’s your choice, your decision to make. I know you’ve thought all along your father was selling you off and that your brother didn’t care, but they obviously do, and in their own fucked up way were trying to protect you.” Ruby looks up at Tucker. She hopes he can see the love in her eyes. This man, who declared she was his on the first day they met, is giving her the choice, not trying to tell her what to do as her father and brother have always tried to do. They’ve treated her like a child who doesn’t know what’s best for herself or how to take care of herself, but she’s done just that for the last six years. Tucker sees her inner strength and respects it. She knows he wants to protect her from all evils, but he’s letting her make the choice. Her heart swells with more love than she could ever imagine. And here she thought she’d loved him as much as possible, but now it’s even more.

“Thank you, Tucker.” Ruby smiles at him. “I want to stay with you, too, but we need to make sure the Russos don’t come after you or any of your friends.”

“Our friends,” Tucker corrects her. “I will make you safe, beautiful. Whatever it takes.”

“I hate to interrupt the love fest here.” Hawk joins the conversation. “But I may have some insight into this situation, but we can’t discuss it here.” Tucker looks over at Hawk a multitude of questions on his face. “Later, Tank. Classified.” Tucker nods as understanding comes over his features. Ruby isn’t sure what all of that means, but if Hawk can somehow make it so she can stay with Tucker and not be in fear of the mob showing up on their door, she’ll be very grateful.

“Mary Catherine?” Tony draws her attention once more, “Who are these people, and what are you doing with them?” Tony does look genuinely concerned. Ruby looks back at Tucker, not sure how she should answer his question.

43

TANK

Tank knows they can’t tell Tony who they really are especially with his mob involvement, but he doesn’t have to come up with an answer as Hawk takes command of the situation.

“We are your worst nightmare if you do anything to cause harm to come to Ruby.” Hawk’s voice is deadly. His anger at this situation is easy to hear. “Ruby belongs to Tank and by extension all of us. We will protect her with our lives and that includes protection from well-meaning but misguided family members. Now, you guys hang tight here a moment while we discuss these developments.” Hawk leads the team out of the room, leaving Tony and his men tied to their chairs. Tank guides Ruby from the room and to the finished room with a bar and lounging area.

The guys begin taking seats. Hawk motions to Hack who whips out a laptop. His fingers begin to fly over the keyboard. Soon images begin to appear on the large screen in the room. Tank narrows his gaze on the images. It’s the Columbian jungle compound they recently raided as well as the big players in the cartel. What does all this have to do with Ruby’s situation?

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