Cormac sighs, while the wheels in my head start turning.
My mind immediately went to Charlotte thinking Grim could die, which would cause Lacey agony with how fresh their bond is. Whatever Patrick is insinuating probably makes a lot more sense.
Fuck.
Going rabid really has started eating away at my brain.
Charlotte shakes her head.
“Wilder asked that we be at the fight to back him up,” Patrick says, keeping his eyes on Charlotte. “I declined. There’s no reason for us to attend, but I am sending Keegan and O’Riordan.” He turns to Cormac. “If you’d like to watch from above, it will only strengthen our relationship with Wilder.”
Well, at least he didn’t outright say that Cormac would be watching from above with a sniper rifle. Apparently he located the smallest bit of discretion.
Cormac’s gaze darts from Charlotte to Patrick. “I’ll be there. You two can stay home with Lucky and Charlotte.”
I nod.
That’s fine by me.
Charlotte quickly excuses herself to check on her son, and Patrick finally gives us a clearer understanding of what the fuck is happening.
“The MC is only in town because they’re searching for someone.” Pat glances between us, his eyebrows rising. “A woman named Candice. They didn’t say shit about the boy or why they’re hunting the woman, but…”
“There’s a damn good chance Charlotte and Candice are one and the same.” Cormac’s head falls back as it shakes.
“Why did they attack Lacey if they were after Charlotte?” I ask, praying it’s not a dumb question.
My mind is nowhere close to as sharp as it used to be. It’s embarrassing, but these are my brothers. While they may heckle me, they won’t exploit my weakness.
“I talked to Wilder about that very same thing.” Patrick shrugs. “We have no clear-cut answer for that. The most likely scenario is that they were searching for Charlotte, smelled another ripe omega, and thought they could take a detour to fuck with her and still find Charlotte afterward.”
“Charlotte left early,” Cormac says. “From the Christmas market, I mean. She got scared and left early.”
“She told you that?” Patrick asks.
Cormac’s cheeks turn pink. “No. I was there. She rarely goes anywhere except to the library, work, and Lucky’s day care. I followed her. I thought it would be a decent location to fake a chance meeting.”
I swipe a hand over my face.
It’s not a great sign if his natural obsessive tendencies are spilling into stalking a woman. He’s always used his hyperfocus to track and trap targets.
“Then she spent the next day hiding in her apartment before trying to run…” Patrick scratches his beard. “Even if Grim wins tonight, that MC is going to be a problem. They know Charlotte was in Boston. She’ll never be able to go back to work. Not if they’re actively hunting her.”
NowthatI can help with.
“I’ll go with Cormac tonight. We can wipe them out in one go,” I suggest.
Patrick shakes his head. “That won’t fix the problem. Not really. Even if you kill the members that are in Boston, there’s a whole home chapter in Florida.”
“We’re not going to hand her over,” Cormac snaps.
At the same time, I say, “Even if she runs, they’ll just follow.”
“No, I know,” Patrick agrees. “And it’s not solely our problem to solve, since Grim murdered several of their members. Let’s play this smart. We back up Wilder tonight, and we see how things go. They may see that Charlotte’s apartment is empty and assume she ran. They’re unlikely to continue to focus on Boston if they believe she bolted, and there’s no chance anyone would think to look for her here.”
I don’t like the sound of any of that, but Patrick has always been more cunning than I could dream of being, and that wasbeforethe decay set in. The entire reason I handed off control of the family was because I didn’t want to risk making bad calls due to my mental state.
I’ll follow his lead for now, but I also won’t keep my mouth shut if I think things are headed in a bad direction.
