Page 43 of Under His Embrace

He glanced at Dante, who groaned.

“Fucking bikers. I don’t have the time or patience to dick around and care about whatever roles and policies the fucking MC men use. They are insignificant in terms of the long-standing power we’ve held as the Constella force—or other crime families in the city.”

“Well, until they’re all dead or powerless,” Romeo said, “it seems that Gunner is now the self-proclaimed leader of the Devil’s Brothers. As of last night, at least.”

I was mildly curious. We were on the same page of letting our enemies kill each other off, no matter how long it would feel like a waiting game. “What about Reaper? Is he dead?”

“Dead or dying.” Romeo shrugged. “It sounds like they damn near burned down their clubhouse with infighting.”

“Then fuck them. Let them all rot in hell,” Dante said as he stood. He was still angry, rightly so, about the motorcycle gang. They kidnapped Nina from him and tried to trespass to destroy his home here. I couldn’t blame him for his attitude toward them.

“I’m going to start my honeymoon with my wife.” As he walked to the door, he looked at us one at a time. “But remain on alert. We will monitor this activity but not get involved.”

I nodded once in acknowledgment.

“Keep the soldiers and guards on high alert,” he ordered before he went.

Romeo and I stayed in the office, finishing our coffee and replying to the capos and men who reported in for updates on orders.

“Even though we need to be focused on this activity, we can’t let the situation with Wes Morrison fall to the back burner,” I reminded him.

“Correct.” He sighed, then rubbed his face. “But so far, he’s hiding rather well.”

As a man in a position like his, that made sense. He was a public figure, which meant he’d take caution with anyone being able to track him or stalkhim.

“He’s not the first corrupt cop or political figure we’ve taken down,” I said.

“Has Chloe said anything else about him?” he asked. “Or the shooting?”

I shook my head. “No.”She isn’t talking about much of anything now.

“What’s that look for?” he asked, frowning at me.

I cringed. “I feel like she’s hiding something from me.”

“That pertains to the shooting? Or Wes?”

I shrugged. “No. Yes?” I was confident that if she knew something that would be a security issue, she’d come clean. “Ten years is a long time. She hasn’t been in my life all that while, and I know she’s lived her life.”

“A lot could happen in a decade.”

“Yeah. But the longer she’s here, the closer we get, I have to wonder if she wants to stay.”

“If she wants to stay this time,” he clarified.

Chloe wasn’t someone coming into the family for the first time. Dante, Romeo, and Eva all remembered her from before. They accepted her back then, and they weren’t opposed to welcoming her into the family again now. I didn’t fault Romeo for being suspicious of her, given the circumstances she’d come into our lives again, as a witness to an attack.

“If she doesn’t…” he said carefully.

“I don’t want to think about that.” I shot him a hard look. “She’s it for me. She has always been the one for me. If she doesn’t feel the same about me, I’ll spend the rest of my life with her holding half of my heart.”

“Has she talked about why she ran before?”

I shook my head, hating how secretive and guarded she was. I’dnevergiven her a reason to doubt me. I’d never given her an example of how I wouldn’t stand by her and support her.

“It’s got to be her parents. Her fear of sticking with us despite their being all self-righteous and telling her that we’re bad people. Criminals.”

He rolled his eyes. “To the point they’d send Morrison after her and try to bring her home to them?”

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