In the far corner of the parking lot, we huddled around the SUV for an impromptu Church. “After briefly speaking with Luca and two of his associates, he felt it would be better to discuss the details somewhere with more privacy. I completely agreed with him until he suggested we continue our meeting at his estate. He understood my concern and assured me he was not looking for trouble with our club. As a show of good faith, he agreed to allow us to keep our weapons, but we can’t take our cell phones and will have to consent to being searched for a wire. Coal, Spazz, and Grant will stay back in case shit does go south. Y’all head to the Croftridge clubhouse. Phoenix is expecting you. As for everyone else, let’s roll.”
“Prez,” I called out. “I rode in the SUV with Grant.”
“Shit. You take the SUV. Grant, you’re gonna have to ride bitch with Coal.”
Coal grimaced, but Grant didn’t utter a word. When I watched him climb on the back of Coal’s bike backwards, I laughed so hard my side started to hurt. Coal pulled out of the lot behind Spazz and Grant gave us a one-finger salute.
On the drive to Luca’s estate, I thought about calling Avery. I didn’t want to interrupt if she was in the middle of talking to Harper, but I wanted to check on Braxton and make sure she was okay. I convinced myself that Claire would have called me if something was really wrong. Instead, I called the hospital to check on Sienna and breathed a sigh of relief when the nurse told me she was fine.
Ten minutes after I ended the call, we pulled through the gates and followed the long, tree-lined drive to the sprawling, brick mansion situated amid a perfectly landscaped lawn that looked completely out-of-place in the middle of what should be a forest.
I followed my brothers to the front door, feeling extremely thankful that Copper knew what in the hell he was doing. Had I been in charge, I would’ve looked like a fumbling idiot. Instead of ringing the doorbell or knocking on the front door, Copper stood tall and stared at the door as if he was willing it to open. Moments later, we were greeted by Luca’s butler and shown to a conference room in the east wing of the house.
“Mr. Peccati will be in momentarily,” he said and began pouring glasses of water for each of us.
I eyed the glass placed in front of me suspiciously. He could easily poison us all in one fell swoop. I wanted to laugh when every other brother in the room did the same thing.
Five men entered the room; one sat at the head of the table with a man to his left and one to his right while the other two remained by the door. “Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Luca Peccati. These are my business associates, Piero and Cristofano.”
After Copper introduced those of us who didn’t attend the earlier meeting, Luca began, “I hope I haven’t caused you any inconvenience in requesting we discuss matters in a more private location. You understand how these things can be.”
Copper nodded in agreement. “We do.”
“Allow me to save you some time. If my information is correct, my nephew and his girlfriend have wronged a member of your club and his family. As I understand it, this is the same as having wronged a member of your own family, no?”
“That is correct,” Copper said, seemingly unsurprised by Luca’s knowledge of the situation.
“And you want to know if I was aware of their misdeeds?” Luca asked with an arched brow.
Copper leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. He pinned Luca with a glacial stare but didn’t utter a word.
Luca nodded to himself. “As I suspected. I can assure you and your associates, Mr. Black, that I was not aware of Todd’s activities, and for that, I do apologize. My sister’s stepson has been…difficult for our family. I have tolerated his behavior out of respect and love for her. But, his most recent behavior is inexcusable.”
Luca glanced at Piero, then Cristofano, and exhaled slowly. “Gentleman, if you’ll accompany me to the basement.”
“Excuse me?” Copper asked.
Luca held out his hands. “I wish to make things right with you and your men. I cannot do so in this area of my home.”
Copper gave a slight jerk of his chin and stood. The rest of us got to our feet and silently followed five mafia men to the basement.
It took everything I had to hide my reaction when my eyes landed on the two bodies in the basement. Todd Russo was hanging from the ceiling by his wrists and Kelly was tied to a chair with a gag in her mouth.
“My associates and I have already questioned them. They were very forthcoming with their answers, but you’re welcome to ask any questions you may have.”
Copper glanced back to me. I cleared my throat and glared at Kelly. “I want to know why.”
Piero untied Kelly’s gag and she immediately began screaming demands. “Get me out of here, Kellan! I’m going to have all of your asses when I tell my father about what you’ve done!”
Kelly continued with her bullshit until Piero silenced her by slamming the handle of his gun into the side of her head. “Perhaps it’d be better if you told them,” he suggested to Luca.
Luca nodded. “Ms. Vayer became involved with Mark Pruitt after my nephew was arrested by him for driving under the influence and possession of illegal drugs. The three of them came up with a plan to steal money from me, as well as Mr. Ward. Essentially, Kelly stole one of my license plates in hopes to implicate me in the death of Kellan Ward, and in turn, blackmail me to clear my name. Upon Kellan’s death, Kelly would have collected your life insurance money and the remainder of your trust fund, as she is listed as the beneficiary.”
I snorted derisively. “That dumb cunt. I changed that shit the day we separated.”
“Yes, well, clearly she didn’t think of that,” Luca said in disgust.
“But why did they target Claire?” I asked.
