“Where did you hear that from?”

“Like it’s a secret at this point,” Ryland scoffed. “Ash Dunham spread that shit like wild fire the second he got evidence. I mean, we all pretty much knew it. You haven’t been charged with anything since you took over for Drake. It was clear you had a cop in your back pocket, we just didn’t know it was your boyfriend.” I wished in that moment that I had made Ash’s death more painful. 

“Ex-boyfriend,” I said because it was the only defense I could think of. And because I didn’t want to keep talking about this, I turned back to Farren, “And I have concepts of a plan.” Ezekiel threw his hands up in the air with a scoff. 

“Well thank god we’re saved,” he scoffed. 

“Watch it,” Alexi seethed. “You will not take His name in vain in front of me.” Part of me wanted to roll my eyes but I figured that would give me the same treatment. I had forgotten Alexi was a devoted Catholic despite the work we did. 

Ezekiel also thought it was wise to keep his mouth shut and turned back to me. 

“So what is this oh-so-great concept?”

“Did any of you receive a text in the past few months, similar to this,” I asked as I pulled out my phone and allowed them to pass it around the table. 

“I didn’t get one,” Farren shrugged. 

“Yeah,” Ryland said as he frowned before handing it off to Ezekiel. “I got something like it but nothing came of it. I assumed it was a scam or something.” Oh, to be a new leader who could be excused for stupidity. 

“I got one too but like Ryland said, nothing came of it. I assumed it was bitch ass punks.” There was no excuse for him. He had been doing this long enough to know something was wrong. 

I realized I was putting my faith in absolute idiots when Alexi nodded. 

With that, we established a brief timeline. Ryland had gotten the first one about a month ago. Ezekiel got his next 2 weeks ago. I got mine only a few days after his. Alexi claimed to get his last night around midnight. 

That had made my blood run cold. 

“Where are those coordinates,” I asked, trying to keep my voice calm. Alexi stiffened as he glared at me. 

“It has nothing to do with you,” he seethed.

“I’m not asking because I want to know some dirt on you,” I scoffed. “I’m asking because my coordinates were for Dev’s phone in the room beside me. I got a call after my text claiming he knew exactly where I was at and the next time Dev walked outside he would be dead. Devon is one of the most important things in my life. If this asshole is going after people we care about in order to sell his productive, whoever those coordinates lead to could be in danger.” 

Alexi went pale as he pulled out his phone to check the text he had thankfully not deleted yet. I thought he was going to faint when he worked out where the grid would lead him. 

“I have to go,” he said simply as he stood up. 

“No,” I scoffed. “You need to stay here and help us figure this out. Send some men there to guard whatever is out there but you need to focus.” Alexi looked torn between his phone and the rest of the room before tapping a few buttons and moving to a corner to make a call. He spoke in Italian and I couldn’t tell if it was because he didn’t trust us or if the other man on the phone simply spoke the language better. 

“So, we know whoever the hell this guy is,” Ryland said, staring back at the ceiling. “Is trying to get us to sell his shit by threatening us. Great. Because that always works out well in the end.”

“It can’t be that hard to find him,” Ezekiel said with a shrug. “All we have to do is backtrack the text to him.”

“I’ve been trying,” I said with a sigh. “I don’t know how good any of you are with firewalls but I’ve been trying for the better part of two weeks and have barely gotten passed the first few layers.” 

“I’m pretty decent at it,” Farren said. “Could be why he didn’t send me a text.”

“Could have just not gotten to you yet,” Ryland pointed out. 

“Or, given your… recent… issues with the law, he might not be willing to work with you,” Ezekiel shrugged. “What’s the point of giving you a product you can’t sell?” Farren glared at him but said nothing. 

“I’ll try to work it though,” Farren continued like he hadn’t just been insulted. “With both of us trying we might get a bit further with it.” 

“In the meantime, we need boots on the ground,” Alexi seethed. “I’m not waiting around for this asshole to come to me. We should start looking for him.”

“Are you willing to put your men at risk for this,” Farren scoffed. “Cause I’m not going offer mine up on a silver platter to a guy who seems a little stab happy.” 

“Info brokers exist for a reason,” Ezekiel said carelessly. “I’m sure we all know our fair share of them. If we pay them enough I’m sure we could have plenty of eyes looking without risking our own men.”

With no better options, that’s what we decided. Farren all but jumped to the door the second we dismissed ourselves. Ezekiel and Ryland fought with every step they took and before long, only Alexi and me, Dev, and Barrett were left. 

“Did you need something,” I asked when he hadn’t stood up despite the rest of us heading for the door. 

“That location,” he said grimly as he stared at the table. “It’s the safe house my son is in.” I couldn’t help but frown. I didn’t know he had a son but I guess it looked like he kept it that way for a reason. 

“How often do you see him?”

“Every night. His mom and I,” he sighed. “We’re separated but still married on paper. She doesn’t like the job I do and tried to take my son. I convinced her to wait on a divorce. I moved them to a safe house and we’re trying to work on things. I’m always careful when I go there but that fucker knows where they are.”

“I know it’s scary and you want nothing more than to go on a manhunt right now, but we need to stay focused,” I told him. “Rushing in will only get you killed and that kid will be forced to grow up without a dad. Is that what you want?” He shook his head as tears gathered in his eyes. 

I couldn’t help but feel bad for the man I barely knew. Liam had been my brother, son, friend, thing since the moment he moved in with us. Even just sending him to school every morning was worse than any warehouse shooting I had to deal with. The night those assholes broke into my house and his life had been on the line haunted me to this day and likely always would. 

Dev and Barrett could take care of themselves but if this drug head had sent me Liam’s location instead, I wouldn’t have rested until he was bleeding out in my hands. 

“You had kids in your gang,” Alexi said after a while. “How did you keep them safe?”

“I didn’t,” I said sadly. “I had to send them away to keep them safe and admittedly even that didn’t work for some of them.” Matteo, Riley, Caleb, Jacob. The kids I sent away for their safety only for them to be worse off because of it. 

“I can’t,” he said almost brokenly. “It’s selfish but I can’t send them away.”

“Then you set up a security detail,” I told him. “You have eyes on that house at all times, you set up cameras, and you spend as much time as possible there in case something happens.” That’s what I had done and it still hadn’t been enough. 

He nodded before standing up and extending an arm to me. 

“Thank you,” he said as I shook his hand. “And even though I have no reason to trust you, please keep this to yourself.”

“I won’t tell a soul.”

“I want to believe that.” 

“You never told anyone about Liam. I won’t tell anyone about him.” There had been a day when I was walking Liam home from school, the only school in the area that was in a grey area between our territory. He had seen me there with Liam, my arm draped over his shoulders, as we laughed and talked about nothing. He had seen it and for weeks I waited for the other shoe to drop but it never did. “I owed you,” I told him. “You kept my secret love child and now I’ll keep yours. My debt is repaid.” 

He shook my hand firmly and that was that.