“Liam was, uh– He’s my kid brother, Boss.” My eyes snap to his, and the way his brown eyes fill with tears all but rips me to shreds.
“You two don’t share a last name?” I know logically that this means nothing, but I’m grasping at anything that points to him being mistaken and not having to bury his baby brother.
“No sir. He goes by our mother’s maiden name. When Imade the choice to join the organization, I didn’t want him anywhere near it. So I made sure he dropped O’Neil so no one would know.”
“Go home, Owen. Go be with your parents.” He’s shaking his head before I even finish my sentence.
“With all due respect, I’d rather be here today. I can’t help you find the person responsible for this by sitting at home with my parents. I’m more helpful here.”
The respect I have for this man just grew tenfold. He’s mourning, but before he allows himself a moment to break, he’s determined to help us get justice for his brother. That’s exactly why he’s always done so well with us.
“Fine. I need to call the Boss. You go call your parents to check on them and we’ll meet back here in twenty.”
Without another word, Owen nods and walks out of the office, quietly shutting the door as he goes. I know he isn’t going to call his parents, but he needs a little time to get himself together so we can do this efficiently. My phone’s to my ear before Owen’s fully out of the room.
“Yeah?” Rowan’s low voice echoes throughout the office.
“We have a problem, Boss.”
I can hear him sit up straighter. I only call him ‘boss’ if others are around or if something work related is serious. “And what’s that?”
“That kid we found outside of Z13 this morning? That was O’Neil’s kid brother.”
The line goes silent for so long that I wonder if he’s hung up.
“You sure? How did we miss that?”
“Positive, he was just in my office and told me. The brother used their Ma’s maiden name to stay off everyone’s radar.It was either a lucky guess or someone knew something we didn’t.”
“Get here. Grab Owen and come over. I need to talk to you anyway, and it’s better if our correspondence about such… delicate… matters is done in person. We’ll work with Owen, and then you and I need to talk.”
I huff in exasperation, “Do we have to? I don’t want to harp on this shit anymore than I have to. I didn’t tell you so we could beat a dead horse.”
“It’s not about that. Well, not entirely. Just come over. I promise we won’t talk about that. It’s about taking them down.”
A fire ignites inside of me just thinking about stopping them from hurting me or anyone else again.
“I’ll see you in twenty.”
“See you then. Love you, little brother.”
“Love you too, Roe.”
25
Chapter Twenty-Five
Jakob
The office that I have at the bar is small, and that’s putting it generously. There’s enough room for my desk, some file cabinets, and two guest chairs. By the fourth hour of combing over reports and making note of all the things that need to be restocked, I’m starting to go stir crazy. Grabbing my phone, I check it for the thousandth time. Still nothing from Dec.
It’s not a huge deal. Last night was just really intense. From his confession until we fell asleep. It all felt raw and exposed, and when I woke up this morning to an empty bed, no text, and no call, it kind of made me doubt how solid we are. It’s stupid, I know. I haven’t wanted to reach out to him and seem like a needy asshole or bother him while he’s working. So I shake the thoughts from my head again and try to focus backon my work.
I’m not sure how long it’s been, but a knock comes from my office door just before the door swings open and Jasper walks in. Without a word he walks over and picks my phone off the desk, examining it like it’s a foreign object. He tilts it every which way before grabbing his own phone and pressing a button. A few seconds later my phone rings out.
“So it isn’t broken.” He nods decisively.
“Oh, fuck off. I’ve been busy.” I roll my eyes at him while taking off my glasses and rubbing at the bridge of my nose.
