"Thank you. I appreciate that." She smiles at him and then turns to Nitro. "Thank you for everything that you and your men have done to help Mason and I, but we'll be leaving tonight."
Nitro's eyes flick toward mine and then back to her. "Sorry, sweetheart, we can't let you do that."
"Why not?" she asks him, her tone flat—there’s almost no emotion.
"It's not safe for you to leave. Nobody knows that you're here right now. Just stay, heal and rest. Then we can talk about you leaving." He doesn't give her a chance to respond, leaning forward, his face inches from hers. "You have nowhere to go, no money and no family, other than Mason. Where the hell would you run to?"
"That is not your concern. I appreciate you taking care of us, I appreciate you getting us out of that car and out the hospital unseen. But where we go from here has nothing to do with you, it is my job to take care of my brother. Not yours."
"And a fucking fantastic job you’re doing there, love, crashing your car into a river and almost killing both of you. If we hadn't of been there then you would be dead. You shou—"
"Gears," Prez snaps at our Road Captain. "Enough. Don't be a prick."
"Sorry, Prez," he tells him.
"I'm not the one you need to apologise to." He tips his head toward Nova, but she clearly doesn't want it.
"No. It's fine. He's right. I failed to protect Mason. I'm trying to fix that, but in order for me to do that we need to leave today." She swallows, then lowers her head, taking in a few deep breaths. She's not as calm as she appears. "Being here puts everyone at risk. You don't know the lengths they will go to, to get what they want. I appreciate everything that you have done, but I have to go, it's better that way."
Nitro looks at her then turns to the rest of the room. He looks at each of the brothers and then focuses back on Nova. "I know more than you think I do, and I understand the risk. Now,how about we tell my men all of it, how about we tell them the very thing you're trying to hide and then we can decide if the risk is worth it?"
"It's not. We're not. Please, Nitro, I'm asking you to let us leave. Forget you ever saw us," she pleads with him.
He shakes his head at her, then turns to face the room. "Brothers, her uncle is a cop."
Chapter Twenty-Five
I literally hold my breath, I can't believe he just dropped that information to this room of men. My eyes stay locked on the side of his face as he watches each of his men, who have not uttered a word to the news. The room is completely silent, so silent you could hear a pin drop.
"If her uncle is a cop then why isn't their missing pictures all over the news? How come they ain’t tearing up this city looking for them?" Tank asks. I'm not sure who he's asking as I still haven't moved. I don't want to turn around, I don't want to face the men, but I know they are all looking at me, I can feel their eyes on me.
"Data." Nitro speaks. "It's time to share." He turns to me. "I don't know what you know, but you need to be ready for what you hear. Once you hear it, you will understand why I'm telling you that you can't leave."
I have no idea what the fuck he's talking about. "Prez?" I hear Ice question behind me. He clearly doesn't know what is about to be shared either.
"I'm sorry, Ice, I only found out this information about ten minutes before the meeting. VP doesn't even know yet," Nitro tells him.
Movement to my right has me turning to the other end of the table. The man introduced to me as Data briefly leaves the room, then arrives a few seconds later with his laptop. I watch as he connects it up to a big screen behind Nitro and everyone turns to look at it as it comes to life.
Right there on the big screen is my uncle, dressed in his uniform, talking to some guys in suits. I feel the panic begin to rise up inside of me, just the sight of his face scares me. I take a couple of deep breaths, I need to get a grip, I can't lose it.
I jump as Nitro places a hand on my arm. "Breathe, he can't hurt you in here," he whispers to me. A low growl sounds behind me, and I hear Ice's chair scrape across the floor, then I feel one hand on my arm and the other on the back of my neck. Nitro smirks, then gives me a wink before removing his hand.
The heat from Ice, his touch, the gentle movements of his thumb across my neck, it's distracting. I'm losing my calm. I close my eyes and breathe. I let the creaking of chairs and the clicking of laptop keys pull me back to my senses. And I open my eyes to see the same image on the screen.
"Nova." I look up at Data. "I'm really sorry to bring this up, I know it's going to open up some pretty shitty memories, but I need to do it, okay?" he asks, his eyes full of sorrow. I nod, not having any clue what he's about to bring up.
"The man on the screen in the black suit is Tommy Larson. He and your uncle have known each other since they were in high school together. He runs a successful criminal empire, guns, drugs." He swallows and glances at Nitro who gives a small nod.
"Money laundering, people trafficking. This image is from last year when your uncle helped one of Larson’s men dodge a murder charge. Your uncle planted evidence on someone else who took the blame."
"What? I… wait…" Confused, I don't even know what to ask. Nitro places his hand back on my arm and I look over to him as Ice's grip tightens on my arm and neck.
"Prez..." Ice bites out. I don't understand the look that Nitro gives Ice, but he moves even closer, pulling me almost out of my chair. "Baby, let him finish," he tells me, his mouth way too close to my ear. I nod, not really at anyone.
"Nova, the man charged with your parents murder—"
"He was a homeless guy, just looking for somewhere to steal things from, that’s what my uncle told me." I cut Data off and tell him what I know but he shakes his head at me.
