Page 55 of Love Gamble

And the best part of this plan? We don’t have an exact plan. We are going to go find them and take advantage of whatever opportunistic situation presents itself. Ideally, we’d like to be able to take Tatum or Gio hostage and give them a little time with River in our dungeon. We can’t have them in our town, making everyone feel unsafe.

“Oh shit,” Jag murmurs, looking up away from his phone. “I think I found something.”

“What?” Romeo asks, brow furrowing.

“I’ve been going through social media and public records, trying to find what Tatum’s been up to since he turned eighteen, and he has a kid. He’s been hiding him—the kid doesn’t have his name.”

Romeo and River share a look.

“I’m not saying we should hurt a five-year-old child,” Jag clarifies, clearing his throat. “But we could use that as leverage. As to whether he even cares about his kid, that’s another story.”

“I wouldn’t harm an innocent kid,” Romeo says, and we all nod in agreement. “But if we need to use that, we’ll have to.”

“At the end of the day that is Corey’s nephew,” I point out. “Speaking of Corey, she wants to help by trying to get information we can use from Tatum.”

Romeo turns his head to me. “And how do you feel about that?”

“I think she wants to be useful, and I think she can be,” I reply, backing my woman.

River nods. “I agree, as long as you keep her safe.”

The threat is in his tone. He’s giving me freedom to make choices regarding her, but if harm comes to her, he’s going to kill me.

They leave it to me to handle. As long as she remains in the clubhouse, safe, I have no problem with her helping in that way. I didn’t miss the way her face lit up when I said we’d consider it.

“You look all sexy in black,” Corey comments a little while later, as she steps into my bedroom as I’m getting all my weapons ready. She eyes my usually hidden collection of guns and knives in my wardrobe. “Okay, I had no idea that was in there.”

“That’s the point.” I grin, bending down to slide a knife into a strap around my shin. When I look over at her, she’s staring at me with that glimmer in her eye that I’ve been getting to know too well. “What?”

She reaches up to push my hair off my forehead. “I don’t know, you in your shady getup and weapons is really doing it for me.”

I laugh and cup her face. “I love you.”

I’ve been wanting to tell her, and this is the moment. I want her to know how much she means to me. If I know anything, it’s how short life can be and I need to tell her how I feel.

Her eyes widen in surprise, and her throat works as she swallows. “I love you, too. But you already know that because I accidentally said it before.”

She’s so damn cute.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen tonight, so I just wanted to tell you that,” I say, lowering my head for a kiss. “But I’m sure it’s going to be fine.”

I say “fine” like Ross fromFriends.

I hope she doesn’t notice.

“Okay, why don’t you message Tatum now and keep him talking? Stay by your phone. I’ll text you with what you should ask him, and we will see how forthcoming he is with information.”

I should probably run this new plan by Romeo and River, but like River told me, she’s my responsibility now, and I know how important it is to her to feel useful. I decide we can just see how this plays out for now.

She nods. “Okay, I won’t let you down.”

“You could never,” I reply, my tone raspy. “I hope you know how incredible you are, Corey. You are strong, you are an asset. And I’m so fucking proud to have you standing with me.”

Her eyes shine with tears, and she takes a deep breath. I think she needed to hear that, and I will remind her every fucking day if I have to.

We share a long hug and some more kisses before we leave the bedroom.

The men meet out front, all fully loaded and ready to go. I must admit, we do look pretty badass.

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