Mario kept shaking his head at him.“Man, I am just the messenger and I wanted her to know the truth too.”
Ace folded his arms over his chest and scoffed.“Did you ever think of the fact that your family could be charged with aiding and abetting your Uncle Ray in a criminal enterprise?They sent him the money to start his gun running adventure.I mean he did use the money you sent for Charli to get him set up, right?She never saw a dime of whatever money your dad sent.”He nodded.“I could make a case to Shay on that alone.”
Mario paled at this development.“You wouldn’t?”he whispered.
Ace grinned evilly.“Yes, I would.If your dad gets too aggressive I will do just that.And Shay would follow through with it, once he hears the truth of what’s been going on all these years.”
Mario swallowed hard and took a moment to look around at all of them.Every single one of their faces told him the same story.They would do exactly that.
“But first,” Joker broke in.“We have to let Shay know what’s going on here and get him here to take charge of good ole sorry ass Ray, don’t we?”Reaching for his phone he had Shay on speed dial.Soon everyone could hear the phone ring as Joker had put the call on speaker.
“My Cards, what’s up?”Shay's voice sounded jovial as he answered the call.
“We might have found Tirade,” Ace informed him.
A silence fell over the line before Shay asked in a hushed tone, “Tirade?Are you sure?”
“Yeah and get this...Tirade is Charli’s Uncle Ray,” Ace replied.“And he’s waiting for another uncle to show up before he comes in here to kill everyone.”
“Shit,” Shay swore over the cell speaker then he growled, “Like hell he will.I’ll get there as soon as I can.Just try not to kill him before I arrive, ok?I need to stop that man before he leaves the country.We’ve been getting messages that’s exactly what he plans to do but we’ve never been able to find him.”
Ace scoffed.“Well, we got eyes on him now and more shit coming.”
“Like what?”Shay asked.
“That’s a long story and we still don’t know all of it yet.But basically, after ignoring her for better than half her life, Charli’s Uncle Jullian is now coming after her to drag her back to Italy to uphold a promise or some ass-backward family tradition.To bond two families together by forcing her to marry some guy she doesn’t even know and he’s dragging his council here along with him to make her comply to something she had never even known about until fucking yesterday.”
Shay was silent for a long moment before he said, “Well that’s pretty fucking stupid on his part, isn’t it?He left her alone for how long?Almost fifteen years and now she’s married and has a kid.He must be delusional.”
“Oh, he is that for sure,” Ace agreed.“She tried telling him over a phone call and he just acted like he did not hear it.”
“I’ll be there soon,” Shay ended the call.
Joker looked at his screen again.Pointing at the shadow of the man standing there, he said, “So this clueless dumbass might think we don’t know he’s there but that’s on him.He also has no idea Charli is well protected.And none of us will allow her to be hurt.”
“Damn right, we aren’t.”Ace growled.“He’s got no claim on my wife and I’ll tell him that with my fist if I have to.”He stared at the screen as well.“But first, we need to get that clueless dumbass on ice.All nice and tidy.Get him ready for his trip with Shay.”
Mario shook his head and looked around at the Bridges brothers.“I need to warn you.He is a man that always has more than one trick up his sleeve.And right now, he has a hell of a lot more to lose than just his freedom.A lot more than just the money he stole too.”
“What the fuck does that mean?”Deuce wanted to know.
Mario shook his head.“I heard strange things before while in Italy.Then also when I got here.Things I didn’t understand at first but seeing Ray standing there bold as shit...I think those things I heard were right on.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”Jack growled.
“Several of my other cousins stayed behind as well,” Mario explained.“They texted me over the years and what they tried to tell me didn’t make any sense before.They used odd names like this Gauntlet and those other men....Cannon Ball, Axe and Anvil?It all sounded like some video game to me.Then they told me stories about weapons.I honestly didn’t know what it all meant.Then I heard the story you all told here yesterday.You mentioned the names my cousins mentioned.One of the texts I got told me about Tirade or Ray taking this man Carmen’s inventory that no one else knew about.”
The Bridges brothers all looked at each other as they went tensely quiet now.
“So what does all that mean to you?”Joker naked Mario as he broke the silence.
Mario looked very afraid as he explained it, “That he’s got enough weapons and ammo to start over someplace else.Uncle Ray isn’t the kind of man to not back himself up.He probably has a new place already.He just needs to make sure no one else can stop him.So I think he will try to wipe us all out.”
