Page 53 of Vicious Chaos

“Exactly,” I agree. “He may choose to not even try and sort out those issues right now. He may use it as a chance to project his strength. The men we killed will be another thing to trip him up, but I’m positive it’s not enough to stop him from making his next move.”

“What are you thinking then?” Ry asks.

Kade chews on his bottom lip, trading looks with Declan. “Those who help him cover his tracks,” he answers for me.

“Bingo,” I respond. “If he has to worry about doing the cleanup and cover ups himself, it will at least slow him down.”

“Nothing is going to stop him completely,” Declan points out.

My whole body sags forward. It’s easy to declare war. It’s not so easy to have to deal with the consequences. There’s no way we can protect all of our people. There’s always going to be casualties. Jackson is the perfect example of that. He wasn’t evil by any means. He was just doing his best to keep his mom alive in this cruel world.

“No, we just need to slow him down until we can figure out what his big plan is going to be.” That’s where everything is going to come to its head. William was sure Romano would have some type of show of power. Something that will call attention to how he’s just fine even with all of our attacks against him. It doesn’t matter how hard we hit him, he’s going to continue to act as if everything is normal.

“How are we planning on figuring that out?” Ryder asks.

I huff, “I have no idea. That’s tomorrow’s problem.”

All of our phones ding with the notification that Alec and Rachel are heading up our drive. “Let’s focus on what we can do tonight.”

Ryder nods before getting up and moving towards the door to let them in.

“Should we text the others?” Kade asks.

I shake my head. “We are seeing everyone tomorrow anyways. Let them rest tonight, this is still only just starting. Can you check that the entrance to the tunnels is closed?”

“You want to work in the office?” he asks, clearly surprised.

I nod. We’ve decided that Rachel and Alec are trustworthy. We can afford to let them in a little more. Doesn’t mean I want them to know about our biggest trade secret though. That is our most important asset, the key to our safety, the most effective tool we have to staying under the radar. That is a family only secret. Much like my true identity.

“It’s closed,” Declan cuts in. Huh. We almost never shut it anymore because of how frequently we use it. He must be able to read the surprise on my face. “We had a feeling,” he explains with a lift of his shoulder. Of course they did.

It’s only a moment later that Ryder walks Rachel and Alec into the living room. I stand up and the others follow my lead. “We’re gonna work in the office. It’ll be easier to go over all the intel we have.”

No one says anything as I lead the way into the office. Alec whistles under his breath as soon as the fake wall opens to reveal the room full of monitors. I can almost hear Rachel rolling her eyes as she slaps his arm.

He laughs and pulls her to his chest, kissing her cheek. It’s more casual than we’ve ever seen either of them before. She must have the same thought cause she squeals in his arms, slapping his arm again.

“What the fuck, Alec?” she chastises. She’s as bad as I am at keeping a straight face when it comes to our guys’ antics.

“Come on, babe,” he teases her. He runs his nose along her cheek and her mouth parts open silently. She probably doesn’t even realize the way she naturally leans into his touch. “We are going to spend a lot more time together. You think they’re going to keep their hands off Scar?” he asks, pointing to the guys. “Why should I have to then?”

We all start cackling as Rachel splutters. They’ve always kept up a very professional image in front of others. Of course people know about their relationship, but a stranger would never guess. He has a good point though. Might as well make themselves comfortable. Lord knows we all will.

She can’t refute his argument and lets him have his way, some of the tension spilling out of her as she realizes we are all accepting her. I’ve been hard on Rachel because of Jade, but the truth is I do value her and her loyalty. If we can grow closer because of this, I would consider it a win. Especially if it means Jade gets to enjoy more family too.

He sits on one of the couches, pulling her down onto his lap as he does.

“You guys hungry?” Kade asks.

I groan before anyone even has a chance to answer. “I want tacos.” I didn’t even realize how starving I was until he said something, but now I can feel the rumbling of my stomach. I don’t think I’ve eaten all day.

Kade looks around to everyone else, waiting for anyone to ask for anything else before he nods. “Tacos it is.” He’s already on his phone as he walks out of the room.

I turn back to my laptop and start pulling up the different people I think would have the most impact on Romano.

“Since we got off the phone, I started pulling up the files I had on the people I know are in Romano’s pocket,” I start to explain. I send different files to monitors so each one can display the list of names I’ve been working on.

“Of course he has contacts all over the country, but these are the ones that I think will be able to slow him down against us the most. His business in other states is still mostly untouched. He had some backlash with everything I had released before Christmas, but his war with us doesn’t affect most people on the east coast. Not unless they also have business here.”

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