Page 152 of Frisco

None of it–what?

I frowned. “That’s where Connor is.”

He was just watching me. One blink. One nod. “I know.”

“No.”

Nope. I wasn’t believing him. That made no sense. “Why–they’re up here? That makes no sense.”

“They’re in Indiana. At a prison. At a prison where all of the guards are being paid by Marco. All of them. There was a new hire and he turned down the payout. His family was decapitated the next morning. He has every single guard in there on his payroll.”

“No, but…” Connor.

Not Connor.

My chest was caving in. An invisible pressure was pushing down on me. My knees were threatening to buckle.

Please. Not Connor.

“The favor?” Everything in me was hurting because the pieces were coming together now. “The favor he’s doing for you, he hasn’t done it yet. Has he?”

Shane shook his head, so slowly.

I was being torn open, slowly by one piece of skin being pulled apart at a time. It hurt to breathe. Felt like I was inhaling blood. I could taste it.

“They were big favors. Sending bikers to Ruby’s, that’ll set her for life. My sister, you were going to buy her a hair salon.”

“The club was, not me personally. You didn’t ask for anything.”

I was remembering and that wasn’t right. “I asked for you to leave.”

“We did. It’s why we left, for you.”

But Claudia. Fucking Claudia. She followed, and I went after her. “My friends went with me because they thought I was running from Foley. I pulled them into all of this based on a lie. I wasn’t running from Foley.” I couldn’t take much more, but I had to face the truth. “Ruby asked me to go after my sister and I went because I was following you. I pulled Harper and Aly into this life because I wanted to fuck you.”

He let out a soft curse. “Kali–”

I shook my head. “No! You’re not done. We’re not done. No masks, Shane! Your words. You’re going to finish telling me everything. You’re going to tell me the favor my brother is doing for your club and you’re going to tell me why this all had to happen how it happened. I want answers. I want…” I couldn’t get air. My chest was imploding.

“Are you okay?”

I nodded, my neck was so stiff. “Just finish it, Shane. Tell me fucking everything.”

“Okay. I will.”

“No more masks.”

He agreed. “This is all the cards.”

He told me about their club’s meeting. That he brought it to every charter they had, that he was the one who was pushing to leave the Estrada Cartel. And I got that. I did. My heart was still hurting, but I understood. Marco’s hold was strangling them. I didn’t understand that part, but I didn’t need to. No one would want to work with a cartel. No one who had family and loved ones and children, and some of these men did. I also knew I only saw the tip of the iceberg, but I got it.

“What is Connor supposed to do?”

“Marco couldn’t put them in separate prisons. It’d be too much for him to control to keep them safe, but one prison was enough. And it’s set up where all four of those men are never together except for one time. And the expiration is running out. It’s an animal training course. The men signed up for it. They themselves did. It’s short-term. It’s only given to the best inmates. One instructor. One guard. And those four men.”

I was really getting it now. All of it.

“Connor loved animals.”

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