“Then you have your answer.Why should I try to stop you when I know it’s not going to work?”At this point, the only thing Matthew could do was to protect his mate.He wouldn’t be allowed to get anywhere close to that meeting because he might do something stupid, but he’d find a way.He always would when it came to Alan.
“I really don’t want to do this, but I don’t see any other option,” Alan said.
Nysys clapped his hands.“I promise that I’ll be close by and will shimmer to you if anything weird happens.You’ll be back in your mate’s arms before you can even start worrying that Victor’s going to kill you.”
Alan paled slightly.“I didn’t think that him killing me was an option.”
“Like I said earlier, he’s smart,” Dante said.“He’s going to agree to meet with you to find out what you want from him, but he’s not going to give it to you.He wants to get rid of all complications, and that’s what you are.It’s safer for him to make sure you can never tell anyone than wait for you to continue blackmailing him when you need more money.”
“But you’ll protect me, right?”Alan asked as he looked around the room.
Matthew grabbed his mate’s hand.He squeezed hard, relieved when Alan turned to look at him.“I will.”
“I already knew that.”
“We all will,” Moore added.“You’re Matthew’s mate.That means you’re family.”
“My team of enforcers will be there for you, too,” Dante said.“It’s our job.”
Matthew wanted to say that it wasn’t Dante’s job to send an innocent man into danger that way, but he didn’t.Bickering with the leader of the enforcers wouldn’t help anyone, least of all Alan, and that was what Matthew needed to focus on.
“You guys are like my pride,” Nysys said as he clasped his hands under his chin.And fluttered his lashes.“We’re a family, too.”
Dante cleared his throat.He was clearly ignoring Nysys, something that Moore seemed to agree with.Matthew wouldn’t have been surprised to see Moore disagree on principle because of who Dante was, so it was a surprise.
“Morin, you didn’t say if you knew who was behind all of this,” Dante said, bringing attention back to the problem at hand.
“That’s because we don’t know yet.We found the accounts with the missing money and the transfers, but we still don’t know who was responsible.We’ll find out, though.”
Dante nodded.“You and Nysys do that.The rest of us will focus on keeping Alan safe when he meets with Victor.We have a Nix on our team, so there’s no need for Nysys to be there.”
“Arresting Victor might alarm whoever he’s working with within the company,” Matthew pointed out.If his mate was going to put himself in danger, he was only going to do it once.That meant that one time had to count for something.
“We’ll need to get Victor to give us names.”
“And you think he’s going to do that just because you ask nicely?”
“I’m sure we can find incentives.I know the kind of person he is.Victor only cares about Victor, which means he’s going to try to save himself when he realizes everything is crumbling down.He’s not going to want to sink with this boat.”
Maybe not, but there were still too many things that could go wrong.Thinking about them made Matthew want to scream.
He still wouldn’t try to stop Alan.If Alan felt that he needed to do this, Matthew would support him.There was no alternative beyond fighting him over it and risking him deciding that he didn’t want anything to do with Matthew.
And Matthew didn’t want that.
* * * *
IT WASN’T LIKE ALANwanted to do this.In fact, there was nothing he wanted less than having to deal with Victor again.He didn’t want to see the man.He didn’t want to talk to him.He wanted Victor to pay for what he’d done and forget about him.
Unfortunately for him, that wouldn’t be possible.Someone had to stop Victor, and apparently, that someone would be Alan.
That wasn’t a choice.Alan knew none of this was his fault, but he still felt guilty.He’d given Victor the names of many people he’d thought Victor would help.They’d been vulnerable, had needed someone to stand up for them, and Alan had been convinced that was what Victor would do.It was what he’dsaidhe was doing.Instead, he’d been hurting the people he was supposed to protect.Victor was a monster, and he’d pulled Alan into his mess.Alan wanted him to pay, but even more so, he wanted him stopped.Someone else could do it, but why not Alan?
Hewantedto do this, even though he didn’t want to see Victor again.Logically, he knew he had no fault in what had happened, but it felt like the least he could do.
He glanced at Matthew.He’d known his mate wouldn’t like it when he’d suggested this, and he wasn’t sure what it meant for them.Would Matthew want to break things off?Were they even together to begin with?They were mates, but that didn’t make them boyfriends or partners.It didn’t make them anything.
God, this was so complicated.
