Page 82 of Bloom: Part 2

LOGAN

Our arrival at the clubhouse attracted quite the attention. The bullet-ridden car with its crumpled body from the crash came to a halt in the driveway. In under a minute, men lined the porch, some armed as though expecting trouble.

“Crowe’s here,” Bloom said. “He’ll know what to do.”

I didn’t bother to crush his spirit that when it came to the Agostis, Crowe was nothing but fodder. They had drug runs across state lines. The Mafia ran leaders of countries and infiltrated the highest echelons of the law.

Jesus, why did I involve them in this?

We got out of the vehicle, and I took Bloom’s hands. “It’s all right,” I said to the group of men. “We shook them off.”

“Them?” From the way Crowe was looking Bloom up and down, he wanted to inspect him from head to toe, but what I’d said to him at Thanksgiving dinner must have resonated because he only took a step toward us and halted a couple of feet away.

“What the hell happened?” Grimm gestured for the others to go back inside.

“Two men attacked us on the way here.” My gaze fell on Joel, who hadn’t left with the others. He wore a look of concern. To hell with him. Before he came into town, none of this had happened. “I can only assume they work for my father.”

“I wouldn’t make that assumption.” Joel moved forward, but Bloom slid in front of me, and he backed up.

“You showed up in town at the same time the US Marshal betrayed me and two men tried to kill me. What else am I supposed to assume?”

“Joel—” Grimm shook his head slowly. “You know I didn’t want this life for you. Why did you have to get involved?”

“In what way am I involved? All I did was deliver a message like I was asked to do. Agosti said he wanted me to persuade his son to visit him in prison. That they needed to talk.”

“Talk? Dead men don’t talk, Joel, and someone tried to kill us today.”

“You don’t know that was your father. He sounded sincere when—”

“Sincere?” I barked out a laugh. “My father is a manipulative monster who makes Hannibal Lecter look like a saint. He will chew you up and spit you out when he’s done with you. You have absolutely no idea what you signed up for when you agreed to be his lawyer.”

“You’re wrong,” Joel said. “He has regrets. Many of them, and I think he’s trying to make amends.”

“Then how do you explain someone trying to kill Logan?” Bloom snapped. “Maybe he fooled you, and you fell for it.”

“Okay,thisisn’t helping anyone,” Crowe said, his attention fixed on Bloom. “We need to sit down and figure out what the fuck to do before someone gets killed.”

“Agreed,” I said.

Bloom’s stance became rigid. He narrowed his eyes, glancing from me to Crowe. “Just to be clear, we’re still gonna get married, and we’ll be together regardless of what happens.”

“Yeah,” I croaked out. I’d promised him. How could I break that promise even under the intensity of Crowe’s frown?

“Let’s go inside and talk about this,” Grimm said. “There must be a solution.”

We followed Grimm to his office, which was barely big enough for all of us. Joel sat on the edge of Grimm’s desk. Bloom and I occupied a loveseat while Crowe paced behind us. The door opened, and Grimm’s VP, Booker, and enforcer, Mort, filed in. From their acknowledged nod, Grimm must have alerted them, but what could they do? The more people who got involved, the more casualties would result.

“Joel, tell us everything you know,” Grimm said.

“I’ve said everything I know.”

“Well, start again from the beginning,” Grimm snapped. He didn’t seem happy that Joel was involved in my family’s mess, and I didn’t blame him. The young man had no idea what kind of trouble he was in.

“Last spring, Emil Agosti reached out to the firm I was working with,” he said. “He’d come to us on behalf of his father. He needed someone on retainer because they’d lost a lawyer from their team. His cousin was facing gun charges, and they needed another lawyer to represent him. My firm wanted to send someone more experienced, but they wanted me.”

“They asked for you by name?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

---