Page 29 of Make You Mine

Knowing he’ll be with me again soon gives me enough strength to leave. I smile inwardly as I walk to the waiting SUV. To think I waltzed through that hotel door to berate him for abandoning me and giving up on us, and now I'm leaving with a restored hope for the future.

As I watch Hotel Luxure fade away in the distance, it dawns on me… I’m no longer fighting this battle alone.

Trent

I embrace Micah in a brotherly hug as he enters the private humidor room. When I called for a meeting, Nico arranged for us to come to this cigar bar in the Flatiron District.

Another Saint owns the establishment, so we knew it was safe and neutral ground. Micah is a trusted ally to Nico, but only Saint members are allowed at The Quartet.

Micah hugs me a little longer than normal. He’s no doubt hurting over all the new revelations. I grab the back of his head and hold him close. “No matter what, your dad didn’t deserve that shit.” This is the first time I’ve seen him since the news, and when we talked on the phone, I was jumping down his throat over Ashley.

When he leans back from me, emotion unlike I’ve ever heard from him laces his words. “I’m sorry, brother.” He shakes his head and continues. “I want to end him for murdering my father. But knowing what he has been doing to Ash has me so fucked up. I want to burn him alive for that.”

I pat his shoulder, and my mind rushes to the things she opened up to me about earlier. For my own good, I shut those thoughts down because, if not, I’ll spiral and drive my ass over there right now. “We are going to take that son of a bitch down.”

“Absolutely.” Micah gives me a weak smile that barely quirks his lips.

“One more thing,” I say, and Micah looks at me, brow furrowed, probably ready for the other shoe to drop after all the terrible news he’s gotten lately.

“It was really hard for me not to say anything to Ashley tonight about Junior killing your dad, but I think she should hear it from you.”

Micah nods in understanding. “I’ll tell her.”

The ache in my chest eases. It seemed so wrong not telling her, but we didn’t have much time. Besides, I felt it was better for her brother to have that moment with her, to share in her grief, not the man, who, in her eyes, just showed back up after three years of being a ghost.

“Join us,” Nico says from his seat beside my brother at the round table in the center of the room.

Cigar smoke billows through the air, and we do as he asked.

“Trent, the floor is yours.” Nico leads, taking a swallow of his whiskey.

“Thank you all for coming. I needed to discuss the current Junior situation with you three.” I take a sip of the water in front of me, not in the mood to drink. “My brother and Micah know some of what I’ve learned in the past few days, and I wanted to bring you up to speed.” I direct my attention to Nico. “Nico, you know my loyalty to The Saints. I also know it’s never been a secret to you that my goal is to break Ashley free of the chains tying her to Junior.”

He nods. I’ve always been upfront about this; the only stipulation was I also had to be all in with The Saints, which I proved myself to be.

“However, recent evidence has me begging you to make this a priority. I know you want to end Junior for all the mess he’s causing in the city, but he’s been abusing his wife and forcing her into things she does not want for years now. I won’t go into details for her privacy, but I want to be honest with you and need you to know that I’m at my breaking point here.”

Literally.

Nico rubs his hands over his face, that’s covered in a painful grimace. “I’m sorry to hear she’s been treated that way. He is the scum of the earth, just like his father and, unfortunately, I can imagine how you are feeling.” Taking a deep breath, he reassures me. “But I promise you, I’m closer than ever to having what it takes to end him once and for all.”

He looks at all three of us. “If we do this the right way, then none of you have to be put at risk when it's all said and done.And most importantly, Ashley will be free of him without the consequences.”

Some of the tension I’ve been holding on to leaves my body with his admission.

“I currently have three other people on the inside besides Luca and Micah. Only one of them is possibly around when conversations of importance may be had. Recently, a discussion was overheard about money laundering through Sinners, which doesn’t come as a surprise. However, from what Don Amato in New Jersey is telling me, Junior is behind on the payments he owes to the head family in Italy.”

Interesting.

“My intel believes this is because he is putting it into an offshore account, but we need more info for our PI to prove this.”

“And once you have proof?” Trevor asks.

Nico twists his cigar between his fingers. “Then we’ll kill him, like we have always planned. However, the hit order will hopefully come from within the Italian families and therefore no backlash.”

“That makes sense as to why he’s been so reckless since my father’s death,” Micah says, pondering for a moment. “He knew the issues with the Russians would get back to the families in Italy, and they would know he should be bringing in more money, not less.”

Releasing a heavy breath, I nod. That’s exactly what’s going on; he’s sloppy, which makes me feel even better about the way this plan will play out.

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