Page 94 of Wicked Truths

“No, I didn’t know. I mean, I figured it was their house when they kidnapped me and I saw their name on the mailbox.”

Uncle Tony is irate. “What do you mean when they kidnapped you?”

“Uh,” I glance around the room. “I was doing some sneaking around trying to get answers they wouldn’t give me and I was taken. Well, not beforeJax told me his last name wasn’t Brown like he told me.”

AJ sits back down next to me. “What were you trying to figure out?”

“Anything and everything that has happened over the past two years, what businesses they’ve bought, and who they associate with now.”

Uncle Tony slams his fist on his desk. “Damn it. Arturo needs to stop treating you like a fucking child.”

That’s never going to happen.

“How are we going to arrange a meeting at the Rossi house?” I ask, changing the subject back to the matter at hand.

Uncle Tony grins. “You have the biggest bargaining chip of all right now.”

“And what is that?”

That I want to know if my mother faked her death?

“You have the Rossi heir in your interrogation room.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

FRANCESCA

I might have workeda few jobs for Uncle Tony and AJ, but I’ve never once considered breaking into my house and rescuing someone that Dad was interrogating.

“Don’t you think this is kind of a risky plan? Breaking Jax out of the house, I mean.”

“This is our only window to make it happen. Arturo and Joey are at the arena for the game tonight, and most guys are going to be out on patrol. The last thing they would expect is for us to get Jax and bring him back to the Rossi’s house.”

Uncle Tony grabs his backup gun from his desk and places it at the small of his back before grabbing extra magazines.

“I’m assuming you don’t have one on you?”

I shake my head. “I can’t have one on me at the arena.”

Truth be told, my gun is locked up in my bedroom at Dad’s house. I haven’t carried it since AJ gave it to me after the last job.

AJ grabs a gun from the filing cabinet and hands it to me before grabbing several extra magazines. “You need to keep it on you.”

“I can’t bring it into the arena.”

“Well, cousin, you might need to find different employment, or Dad and I will have a talk with Arturo. After the kidnapping, you need to be armed twenty-four seven.”

I don’t argue with him. It’s unlikely after tonight that I will ever be alone. Rhett will watch me like a hawk, and Dad may as well lock me in my old bedroom for betraying him.

Uncle Tony glances around the room, checking everyone, including the two guys that left to deal with the guests at the hostess stand. “Everyone good? Let’s go. We’ll take three cars. One stays with me and the other one will be the lookout.”

In a split second, everyone moves to head through the kitchen and out the back door of the restaurant.

I tuck the gun into the waistband at the small of my back and hop in the backseat of AJ’s sports car while Uncle Tony gets in the passenger seat. AJ takes the lead as we head to Dad’s house.

My stomach tightens, like I shouldn’t be doing this, but what other option do I have? Mom is Uncle Tony’s sister and if she’s alive, he deserves to confront her, too.

AJ drives down the long driveway to Dad’s house.

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