Page 9 of Charming But Reckless

Not because there was anything wrong with it. I was truly surprised to see my friend marry someone for a business arrangement.

Then again, he’d been different since the shooting.

Takeshi has never been the type to talk a lot or be overly friendly. Cohen held that title in our ragtag group of friends.

What he provided instead was a solid, reliable source of wisdom. I knew he’d have my back at all times, and that a few of his thoughtful words would pull all of our heads out of our asses when we needed them most.

Thanks to Brad’s single shot to his neck, Takeshi no longer had the ability to speak at all. Archie was working to teach him sign language, but with his need to stay in the US a time issue as well, the pair got married.

The entire idea stunk of Tank’s meddling ways.

Our boss had been trying to find ways to get past Takeshi’s high walls since he’d been released from the hospital. Nothing had worked so far.

Maybe Archie would be the thing to change him. To bring some life back into his eyes.

When I got to the office, I saw the rumors were indeed true. Takeshi and his new husband were there waiting for the meeting to start. I took my normal spot, then waited for everyone else to sit down.

Memphis started to pull up the information we planned to review, but he stopped when Ronan called out, “Heads up, Archie. This might get a bit graphic. You good?”

The newcomer to our group lifted a shoulder. “It should be fine. My roommate loves a good true crime show and those investigative stories. I’ve seen enough that I can keep up.”

I grinned at the notion. The world had seen a surge in true crime lovers in the last decade or so. Some blamed it on technology and how much was shared. Others called it a Freudian effect, since most killers didn’t look like the gnarly, evil monsters we’d been warned about as children.

Most bad people wore bespoke suits or dressed in elegant gowns. I knew better than anyone how well they could hide in broad daylight.

Memphis went back to work, pulling up the six images of the Gilded Ones. There were large red x’s in front of the ones we had confirmed kills on. The others were living on borrowed time.

“We’ve eliminated three of the six Gilded Ones leaders so far. We have three to go. While Tank assures me he has a contact set to take one of them down, that still leaves us with two.” Ronan’s voice held a finality to it that proved why he was such a great leader. With that kind of confidence, I’d follow him into any battle zone

I tapped my fingers on the table as I asked, “What do we know about the three left?”

Ronan motioned to Memphis. “Tell them what you’ve got.”

“It’s not much. I only have enough that I’ve pieced a bit together,” Memphis started. “The big guy with the beard is Ajax Lancaster. He’s into gun running. There’s nothing on him other than arrests and a number of addresses that are all either falsified or empty.”

Cohen huffed. “Of course they are.”

As usual, Memphis ignored his outburst. “Beside him to the right is Mordecai. Yes, I know it’s fucking weird, but I can’t find anything else on him. He’s who we have to thank for that shipment of women and children we just found. Currently he’s gone underground, but I have feelers out everywhere looking for him if he shows up again.”

“He wasn’t at the warehouse we raided and emptied?” Godric’s brow dipped as he spoke. Was he as skeptical about all this as I was?

“Nope. There is no footage to place him there. Stabler also mentioned he got a hit on Mordecai being in Paris during the raid, so he wouldn’t have been in the group. I’m guessing he had a second-in-command there to handle it all.”

I mumbled, “Probably the asshole who peacocked through the place.”

The guy had really pissed me off. I could tell he was one of the ones torturing the people backstage. It was clear to see in the way he held himself — as if he were more important than anyone else.

“You’re one to talk about peacocking, pretty boy.”

I sent my worst glare to Cohen for comparing me to that asshole. He had no clue just how different we were.

The guys all thought I was this charming personality that could calm a situation down at a moment’s notice. They had no clue how much of a survival technique it was.

At least, some of them didn’t. I have a feeling more than one had been privy to my past even though I hadn’t openly shared it.

“Back to what I was saying,” Memphis shouted to draw everyone’s attention. “The last jerk up there is Diestro Lune. If you guessed he’s just as bad as the other assholes, then you’d be correct. Everyone calls him ‘Looney’ — which is soooo original. They say he likes to shoot first and ask questions later.”

Archie bit out a laugh, which he tried to cover quickly with a cough. Takeshi grinned over at him, a look on his face I hadn’t seen in months.

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