Page 56 of Matched into the Mob

“My hacker… or I prefer IT guy…” He gulped.

“Go on.”

“Did a thing. Something bad that I had nothing to do with.”

“Keep going.” He was getting my hopes up that we had a real carrot to dangle in front of Dane.

Turned out the guy had accessed one of Dane’s bank accounts by bypassing 2FA and updated all the contact details, effectively locking Dane out.

“I didn’t ask him to do it. I was horrified,” Matt told me. “I didn’t get a chance to tell him he’d fucked up and possibly implicated me.”

I had to meet this IT guy when all this was over with and have him work for us, not to steal money but to ensure ours was safe from people like him.

I conferred with Flint before using Matt’s burner phone and sent a text.

We need to talk.

Too late for talkingwas Dane’s response. Not a surprise.

I have something you want, I typed.

Doubtful, unless you’re talking about yourself.

Matt took the phone and typed furiously, telling Dane he no longer had access to one bank account.

Dane replied.You’re bluffing.No way am I going to fall for that. I could almost hear the snarl behind those words.

Nah. Tick-tock. Matt sent some footage taken from Dane’s drug lab and told him to check his bank account

WHAT DO YOU WANT?was Dane’s response after five minutes. Though I wasn’t looking forward to a confrontation, I enjoyed the fury behind the all-caps reply.

I’ll hand over the account deets in person before noon, and I’ll be taking a small commission. Plus, I’ll give you the rest of the footage. In return, you leave me alone.

He texted,Why in person?

Matt and I shared a glance before he wrote, I want to see the defeat in your eyes and know that I got the better of you.

Ten minutes later, Dane agreed and said he’d come with three bodyguards. I multiplied that number by two or three. He didn’t ask where Matt was, which I noted.

Matt raked his clawed fingers over his skin. “If there were any other way…”

I pulled him against me, neither of us speaking, just swaying back and forth, each of us alone with our thoughts.

Dane wasn’t a fool. Telling him to come here on a flimsy excuse screamed, “We’re going to mess with you.” He’d expect an ambush, so he’d have a back-up plan and that was to isolate and kill Matt. Much as he loved money, if he could do away with the human who double-crossed him, that would satisfy his inflated ego. Other than the loss of a child, killing my fated mate would be the greatest pain I could endure.

“It’s me he’s coming for.” Matt’s voice was muffled against my chest.

I couldn’t lie. Not to the man who bore my mating mark. “He wants to hurt both of us, along with my family.”

In the hour before dawn, Arnie made more food, and I took the gun from my bedroom. “Keep this.”

Dad and Uncle Arnie would be in the house, along with three of our men. The rest would be outside with me and Flint.

As the sky lightened and the rain slowed to a drizzle, Matt clung to me. His mind grasped one irrelevant detail. That Dane and his bodyguards would be naked after shifting. His life was in danger, he was dealing with a guy who’d kill his own father if his dinner was late, but he was fixated on them being nude.

“Naked? Weird. What if?—?”

I silenced him with a finger to his lips. “No, we will succeed, and after that we can start our life together.

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