Page 313 of Secret Shifters Next Door

“You look like shit. Are you being honest with me?” Ava’s tone was almost maternal as she chastised him.

He patted her hand. “It’s the treatments, sweetheart. I was up sick most of the night. Since I wasn’t going to get any sleep, I decided to work. I’d tell you if something were truly wrong. I promise.”

She glared at him for a few seconds before she stepped back and joined me. Gio chuckled. “Little mother hen you are,” he said, pointing at Ava.

“Gio, I hate to cut to the chase,” Miles said, “but why’d we have to rush over here?.”

Gio turned and pointed at Miles, his smile growing brighter. “A man who knows business, this one. I like you. Let’s get down to it.” He patted his desk and nodded to himself. “Part of why I barely slept was because I spent a lot of the evening speaking with some of my contacts. We managed to flip some of those guys who used to help Antonio. Made sure they knewwewerewho they should be afraid of, not him. Once they turned, the dirt piled up. I printed a lot of it last night.” He pulled open a drawer and pulled out a stack of paper, photos, and files that looked thick enough to be a bible. “Fucker’s been busier than I thought. If this got leaked to the press”—he tapped the stack with a fist—“his ass is done. It’ll be a total shit-show for him. He’ll know there’s only one person who could have dug this up. That means all hell will rain down on us. We’ve got a couple of options.”

“And those are?” Tate asked.

“One, we take it to him and try to blackmail him into leaving all of us—and you all—alone. Or we release it to the press and hope the authorities get his ass before he can bring thunder and hell down on Lilly Valley and any shifter caught in the crossfire.”

“How deep does this dirt go, anyway?” Steff asked.

Gio whistled and leaned back in his chair. “I’d say six feet deep. Antonio has dumped a lot of bodies. It seems he got evenmorebrutal and sadistic after he started this shifter war and tried to take his business to the legal side. All just a front, though. For every single dollar he uses for some kind of straight business or charity, he puts five more into something dark and dangerous. He covered his ass well, but not well enough.”

I leaned forward and nodded at the stack on his desk. “What do we have?”

“Call logs, photos, lines of credit, proof of bribery, jury fixing, assassination. Sam is working on getting some tape recordings put on a backup drive right now. Those are the jackpot. A few of Antonio’s lackeys recorded themselves, admitting to a ton of dirty shit they did for him. Basically everything. It’s enough to lock him away forever. Hell, in a few states, it’s enough to put his ass on the chair.” Gio lifted the stack again and dropped it on the desk. It made a heavy final thud. “This is power. All I need to know is how you wanna use it.”

“We see if he’ll back down,” Miles said. “We show him what we have, let him pull back. It’s the safest thing to do. That’s my vote, anyway.”

Tate nodded and ran a hand through the stubble of his cheek. “I think so, too. If there really is that much damning evidence, he’s got to relent. Would anyone be that crazy to throw all that money and power away on some stupid vendetta? It’s probably the best way to avoid retaliation.”

I glanced across the room and locked eyes with Steff. He was chewing on his lip and looked almost disgusted by the suggestion. He shook his head. “Nah. This guy is batshit-crazy. We can’t assume he is going to think logically. Christ, look what he did to his own daughter. Turned her into a sociopath, damn near did the same to Jared. Besides, even if we do go that route, and he says he’ll back off, what’s to say he actually will?”

“Right,” I added. “Are we really okay looking over our shoulders the rest of our lives? Like, in five years, are we still going to be worried anytime our mates or children aren’t home right away? Are we gonna find them dead in a ditch somewhere because Antonio finally came back for revenge?”

Miles sighed and gestured to Gio. “You know this guy and his kind. What do you think?”

“Antonio’s greedy. He’d take this as a direct threat. Does he love money more than he hates shifters? That’s the question you have to ask. He may see reason, or he may see red.”

I had a sudden mental image of what would happen if we weren’t successful. Tate dead in his front yard, his house on fire behind him, Harley and the kids screaming as the flames consumed them. Miles and Celina covered in blood, lying limp on the floor, a small and silent bundle lying still beside them. Steff and April, floating face-down in a river, bodies bloated and drifting away.

I’d lost too much in my life. I couldn’t bear to lose more.

“I can’t let any of you get hurt. I won’t risk losing all of you. I won’t fucking do it,” I hissed. “I won’t lose my family again, and not to this piece of shit. I won’t.”

Tate, Steff, and Miles all looked at me with palpable concern. Ava put a hand on my back and I gritted my teeth, trying to rein in my emotions.

“I got you,” Steff said, standing and putting a hand on my shoulder. “We are family. This is our pack. I know exactly what you’re talking about. I feel it, too. We’re right on the edge. No matter what it feels like, this is coming to a head.”

Tate and Miles joined Steff and they all put their arms around me. We huddled like that, making a silent vow to each other. At the back of our minds, we’d all known we’d die for each other. Now, it was out in the open. Without words even being said, we’d told each other exactly what we would do.

“What if we play both sides?” Miles said once we’d all composed ourselves.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Let’s be honest. He’s probably too crazy to really drop back and play the waiting game if we give him the chance to back down. He’ll either tell us to fuck off, or he’ll run. That’s it. Either one of those means he’ll come for us sooner rather than later. Let’s give him an out and see what he does. I’d love to believe he’ll see reason, but the more I think about it, the more I doubt he will. Maybe by showing him this evidence, it’ll freak him out enough that he makes a mistake. It gives us an opening to take him down.”

“Probably the only plan we have,” Gio said. “Antonio won’t go down easy. I like waving the red flag in front of the bull. Might panic him into doing something stupid. What do you boys say?”

After exchanging a glance, we nodded in silent agreement. War was coming. And we had some ammunition now. We’d needmore than that if he decided to bring his full force down on us. Until then, we needed to prepare.

TWENTY-TWO

AVA

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