Page 111 of Traitor

“Mike, we got a problem,” Little Ricky began and my heart immediately sank. His voice was different. Gone was the goofy jokester, replaced by something else. Something I’d never heard before. “Grey’s been shot and it doesn’t look good.”

Epilogue

January 2017

“Did you see anything out of the ordinary?” Zane asked, as the crowd began dissipating, everyone in a rush to get out of the cold.

I looked around the cemetery and shook my head. Lauren was over talking to Kate and Dakota near Grey’s casket. I wasn’t going over there—not yet.

Eight Sons had ambushed me in my own fucking home and I hadn’t even been able to warn Grey because they’d gone after him ten minutes prior. Lauren had taken out six of them on her own—with ten bullets left in the mag. Every single one of her shots had been deadly accurate.She’d smugly told me that Jimmy had taught her to“always carry cocked and loaded.”

I hadn’t known whether to be proud or scared shitless. Thankfully, the department had been willing to overlook my highly illegal weapon of choice and just congratulated me on keeping my family safe.

“How did they know that I was going to be home? I was supposed to be at your fucking wedding.”

He crossed his gargantuan arms over his chest. “I’ve been trying to piece that together myself. Even if we factor in the rat in the club and the fact that there are multiple moles inside the station, nobody knew you were planning on being home. And if their goal was to eliminate you, wouldn’t they have brought more men? They know that you’re a cop.”

Little Ricky walked over to us, his eyes rimmed in red. “I got some ideas about that, but you’re not going to like it so much.”

I sighed. Other than finding out that my wife was pregnant, I couldn’t recall the last time I got good news. And even that had come with its own set of problems. I now had to try and keep three people safe.

He waited until he knew we were listening. “It didn’t click until this morning. Who knew thatla sirenitawould be attending the wedding? Besides Grey and me? But, I don’t count, for obvious reasons.”

I ignored the spark of anger that flared at his term of endearment and really listened. “Are you saying—”

Zane interrupted. “That you were never the target.”

My blood ran cold. That was why they’d only sent eight men in. It was how I’d escaped without a single scratch. I leaned over, struggling to get air into my lungs.

Jesus Christ.

They’d gone in that night to kill my wife. I looked over at her—comforting Kate—our babies still hidden from the world under her black dress and gray wool coat.

Nate came up behind me. “Mike, are you okay? Look at me.”

I brought my fist up to my mouth and pointed at Lauren, unable to speak through the absolute rage I was feeling. Nate looked to Little Ricky and Zane for interpretation.

“He just found out that the Sons of Death were trying to put down his wife, not him,” Little Ricky offered helpfully as Nate’s face blanched.

I wiped the rain from my forehead and stood up, ready to massacre their entire fucking club. I pushed the fury down and made my way over to her. I had to get her somewhere safe—the problem was that I didn’t know that such a place existed anymore.

Lauren gave me a soft smile as I walked up, before wrapping an arm around my back, stroking me gently. She still looked a little green around the gills; a side effect of pregnancy hormones, times two. “You okay?”

I looked over at the casket. “I’m going to say my goodbyes and then I need to get you out of here.”

She nodded and led me over to my father. I stared down at the metal casket; suddenly without words. I couldn’t imagine how Lauren had handled losing her mom on her own. This was a fucking nightmare that I wanted to wake up from.

I slammed a fist down on top of the metal, sending the spray of flowers off the top. Lauren let out a cry of surprise and I turned back to reassure her that I was fine, only to see her pointing a shaking finger behind me.

I spun back around and immediately saw what she’d seen. A business card rested on top of the metal—one that depicted a smiley face with a gun pressed to its head.

I felt as if a bomb had just been dropped on me the longer I stared at it. Lauren’s hands came up to her mouth as she trembled and shook her head. “It didn’t mean anything. I didn’t think it meant anything,” she whispered.

Torch came running up and had an arm around her within seconds. “Lauren, is it the babies? Are you okay?”

She shook her head again and pointed at the card. His face went white and he looked at me. “You know about this?”

“No,” I forced out. “And given where it was hidden, we weren’t supposed to.”

---