Page 19 of Sinful Secrets

Of course, that’s all he wants. He’s barely legal age. He’s still young and trying to figure out life.

Not that I’m ancient or anything, but being four years older than him has given me more insight on what I want for my future.

He rambles on. “Hall is married and probably going home to be with his wife. Montgomery might as well be married. He’s always with Francesca. Marino seems to be busy all the time now. That leaves me, you, Roberts, and Anderson. Everyone is on board except you.”

Since Savannah hasn’t responded yet, I say, “Sure, I’ll come hang out for a little while, but I’m not staying all night.”

Chase lightly punches me in the arm. “I’m not planning on staying all night, either. Maybe I’ll get lucky and take a girl home.”

There’s only one girl I want to bring home, and she’s not answering my message.

The chime of an incoming message causes my heart to race, but looking down, I see a message from Joey.

We need you upstairs.

I finish drying off and change into a pair of jeans and a fitted t-shirt. “I’ll meet you guys at the club.”

Making my way out of the locker room, I jog up the stairs toward Francesca’s office. Her lights are off as if no one is inside.

Not that I really expected her to be working at this hour, but we often have meetings here when it’s just a few of us and not Arturo. I make my way down the hallway to the conference room.

Sitting inside are Arturo, Joey, Francesca, Rhett, and Alvin. Joey and Rhett are still in their uniform sans skates.

I knock on the door, getting their attention before stepping inside.

Arturo looks up. “Ah, good. You’re here.”

“Is everything alright?” I ask as I take a seat next to Alvin.

He gestures toward Alvin. “Mr. Brown here has brought us some information he has heard and verified through his channels.”

My gaze moves to Alvin. It must be bad if he came straight to Arturo.

Arturo clears his throat and continues, “The Emerald City Reapers have declared an all out war against us and Giuseppe Rossi. They want to take back the city and get rid of crime.”

“Do we know who they are or where they came from?”

Alvin chimes in. “No, but we are looking into our database for suspects with vigilante behavior.”

Rhett leans forward, propping his elbows on the table. “What about the young cop that threatened me and Chessie?”

Alvin shakes his head. “I don’t think he’d be that stupid. Sure, he wants to get rid of all Marino influence in Savannah, but he wouldn’t risk his badge and a life jail sentence. They are criminals, too. I’m confident they are the ones that shot Francesca and shot up the Rossi house.”

I think for a moment. “Were you able to get any camera footage of the incident at Mario’s or at the laundromat?”

“No. Nothing. All the cameras nearby glitched at the same time and all footage was just gone. It’s almost as if they were hacked and erased.”

“Damn it. So we are looking for vigilante hackers? That’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

I’m not too worried about Mario and Lucia. I’ve paid his loan and his fee for Arturo’s protection, and I’ve made sure that someone is doing patrols at night.

Alvin takes a deep breath. “There are too many hidden hackers out there nowadays. It will be easier to find an accomplice and get them to start naming names.”

Arturo interrupts. “From what I’ve heard, no one knows who the gang members are except the members themselves. Everyone is tight-lipped.”

No one stays tight lipped forever. Eventually, someone will slip and give us an opening. We’ll just have to follow the breadcrumbs.

“Sounds like we need to keep our ears to the ground. I’m going out with some of the guys tonight. I’ll try to discreetly ask around.”

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