Page 24 of Filthy Liar

Skeeter tilted his head, his voice low. “Kristoff Lopez had you kidnapped. Beaten. Threatened with rape. He abused Maddox as a child and wanted to go to war with us over him losing his little toy when we saved him. Trust me, Zavier’s only alive right now because you gave him a chance to prove that he was nothing like his father. I’d bet my damn life on the fact that I’m right about Ander right now.”

That seemed to calm her slightly, and she nodded to end the conversation.

“Ander?” Skeeter called, making Ander release me enough so he could glance over his shoulder. “Don’t make me look like a fucking liar to my daughter, or you know death would be a mercy by the time I’m done with you.”

Ander nodded, moving me closer to the guys to shield me a little more as they returned to their meeting.

It was difficult to focus as Ander moved behind me, his arms around me from behind as he paid attention to the rest of the room. I wanted to check his injuries, but with the way Rory kept looking in our direction, I knew she was making sure we were listening.

“Isn’t there footage of him, Hendricks? Surely that’s proof enough if he was in the hallway where the private rooms are,” one of the Devils asked, Archer Hendricks looking ready to explode as he clenched his jaw.

I’d seen enough of these crews on TV to know who was in charge, so I knew Archer led the Reapers, Rory’s uncle, Axel Leary, led the Soldiers, and Rage Evans led the Kings.

I also recognized Sniper, who was Rage’s right hand man that led the Kings MC club further north.

“Whoever was working with him deleted the footage. We can only see Dante leaving through the front door.”

“There was too much blood,” Ander said, resting his chin on top of my head. “Your guys would’ve stopped him from leaving if he had blood on him.”

“He might have gotten changed into fresh clothes.”

“I think everyone in this room has killed someone before. You get blood everywhere, Hendricks. He would’ve had to shower to get it off his skin with the way the girl was left. None of the girls saw him in the hallway either.”

“You need to face it, Lavaro. Your brother?—”

“Show me proper proof and I’ll believe you,” Ander said calmly.

“The note literally has his name on it!”

“I know his handwriting, and that wasn’t his. Dante’s supposed to be in Italy running things for Stefano while he’s here in the States. Stefano sending one of his guys in to kill someone and put the blame on Dante, means you guys will target him and he’ll have to return home. Stefano’s onto us, he burned my house down to let me know he’s aware of me being here too, so fuck knows what he’s doing to Dante right now. You don’t know Dante, but I do. Stefano pulled us into line with violence and fear. That’s not how you keep people loyal.”

Axel tapped his fingers on the table in thought, eyeing Ander. “What if he has something over Dante’s head? He’d do his father’s bidding out of fear, right?”

“Dante’s not that scared kid anymore.”

“No, but right now, Dante’s alone in his father’s organization. If what you say is true and you think Stefano has him, that means Dante is currently in survival mode. I think we can all agree that people will do anything to keep themselves breathing in that kind of situation.”

“I need to get to him and find out what’s happening. If Dante’s been lying to me, then I’ll kill him myself,” Ander gritted out, his body tense.

“No, if we allow you to get to the bottom of this, then you’ll hand him over for us to deal with,” Slash cut in. “Deal?”

Ander tightened his hold on me a fraction, but his voice was firm. “Deal.”

“D can show you guys to your rooms, you’re not needed for anymore of this,” Slash stated as Diesel stood. “Lock Lavaro in one. I’m not having him free-roaming the house while we sleep.”

“He stays with us,” I growled, earning a look of amusement from Diesel.

“You really want to be locked in a room all night with him? We won’t unlock the door until we’re awake tomorrow.”

“I’m sure.”

“You’ll need to drag another mattress in if they’re all sleeping in there,” Slash said to Diesel, who nodded, motioning for us to follow.

Most people glared at us as we walked past, but it hurt a little when Beckett refused to look at me.

I guessed she was pissed at me.

Once upstairs on the main floor, Diesel let out a light laugh. “Well, that went better than expected.”

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