“You’re sure Billie is okay, though?” Rhett asked, stronger emotions bleeding through his tone once more. “You’ve seen her? And the baby’s okay?”
Ah, the fucking baby.Turning to Angelo, I shot him a dark smirk. “Your turn,bro.”
“Billie isn’t pregnant. The belly was fake.”
Angelo didn’t even try to lead into it, and there was still no repentance in this piece of shit for the pain he’d caused all of us. And Billie.
I might need his help right now, but sooner or later, I’d have to beat his ass on principle.
Rhett’s jaw comically fell open. “It’s fake. How in the fucking… Why the fuck? Who and what the actually fucking fuck? You absolute piece of fucking shit. Why didn’t you die instead of Flo? I mean, if the universe was fucking fair...”
Rhett’s ranting rage this time was different, and Angelo still didn’t bat an eye. Not even when Rhett was describing in great detail the many ways he’d off theItalian motherfucker. And I actually thought Angelo’s lips twitched, and if I didn’t already hate him because he’d touched Billie, I might even like him.
“Your time is coming,” Rhett spat, pointing a finger right in Angelo’s face. “And I’m going to findmygirl now.”
This time the twitch in Angelo’s face was of a more serious nature, and recognizing that small loss of control in a very dangerous man, I pulled Rhett back and sent him toward the coats he’d dropped earlier. “Take these to the farmhouse,” I said to him. “It’s that way across the field.” I pointed so he couldn’t miss it. “A few miles. Find Billie and Jace, and let them know what we’re doing. If they haven’t called the cops yet, don’t bother. We’re going to deal with this our way, and the less law enforcement is involved, the better. You three also need to lay low until I tell you it’s safe to show your faces.” I hoped they took this part of my warning very seriously. “Don’t come back here. I’ll work out where you can go, so get in contact with Brenda. She can be our go-between.”
I’d normally be suspicious of our manager, since she was the one who’d placed us here, but I’d been over her background multiple times, and she was clean. She had no connection to this darker world of criminal organizations, and with all the surveillance from Big Noise, it could be anyone behind the attack.
Rhett nodded, reaching down to gather up the coats before he shrugged a long parka over his sleep shirt and shorts. “Don’t trust him, Gray. Use that asshole to help, but don’t trust him. He always has his own agenda, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he orchestrated this entire fucking attack.”
Angelo lunged forward, the first true break in his steely facade, but I caught hold of him before he could smash into Rhett.
He shook off my hold, leveling me with afuck youglare. “I would never be so fucking sloppy as these assholes were tonight. If I wanted you all dead, you’d be dead.”
Somehow, I believed him, and even Rhett looked a touch paler. He leaned in closer to me. “Stay on alert, Gray.”
That was his final warning before he turned and took off into the field, vaulting over the first lot of fences with ease. Rubbing my hands together to get some warmth back in them, I turned to Angelo and crossed my arms intomypose. “Alright, we have limited time until this shit gets discovered. I don’t have access to a cleanup team.”
“I’ll deal with it,” he said shortly. “Meanwhile, we need to tap into any and all contacts to figure out who set up this hit. Your family, my family, or the—”
“Wilsons,” I finished bluntly.
He paused, looking almost surprised I knew that name. “Yes, that’s where my money sits right now. They’re hungry, ready to take down the old families and criminal organizations. I know who your uncle is, just as you know who my father is. We can easily track through those two groups. Jace is clean, squeaky fucking clean, but what about Florence and Rhett?”
I paused, thinking it over. “Florence is an orphan, and my background checks brought up very little outside of the foster homes she bounced between through the years. Rhett, on the other hand, had a fucked up family life. I don’t know the full story, but I suspect his grandfather might be a cult leader and is probably more than capable of taking out the wayward grandson.”
Rhett would probably blow his fucking brains out if he discovered his family was the cause of Flo’s death, so I’d do everything in my power to ensure that never happened.
“Then there’s Billie,” I said, since he hadn’t mentioned her before.
Angelo grew even colder, and I wasn’t imagining the way he palmed his gun as he faced me. “Billie is mine. We don’t delve into her past. It remains where the fuck it is while we figure out whichotheravenue to explore.”
His tone brooked no argument, despite her being an obvious target if rival families thought she was carrying the Ricci heir. And I believed he’d walk away right now and take Billie with him if I pushed the agenda.
If only he knew that I would never let it rest, not when it came to Billie.
Because she wasn’t Angelo’s.
She was mine.
twenty-three
BILLIE
It had been a long time since I’d slept properly. Not since I’d been with Bellerose, before Angelo and the fake pregnancy. Before I’d lost my heart again.
Waking in the cocoon of the bed in the farmhouse to softly whispering voices felt so calming, and I was super rested.
