He runs his hands through his hair, looking agitated. “This is my fault. I’m the one who suggested this place.” He curses.
I look at Kruger, who looks like he’s two seconds away from going postal himself.
“Suggested this place for what?”
I look between them. I missed a shit-ton while my sister was sick, but if something happened and it involves Citi, I need to know about it.
“We had a client—Jack—who arranged a meeting with me and Nathan, wanting to hire ELM to find his missing wife. But the guy seemed off from the get-go. We declined to take him on, but he kept contacting Nathan, offering more and more as an incentive.”
Havoc takes over from Kruger, leaning against the edge of the sofa. “Around the same time, Hannibal had this guy Sam sniffing around his club, offering a percentage of his security business if he could rely on the MC’s protection. Hannibal had Kruger check him out.”
Kruger nods. “We tracked down Jack’s wife to warn her that Jack wanted to hire us to find her, only to learn that the Jack who was her ex-husband and our guy weren’t the same.”
“She had no idea who the other guy was?”
“None. But it was the same guy who called himself Sam who was poking around Hannibal.”
“I don’t get it. The woman you tracked down wasn’t his wife, so what does he want her for? And how does Hannibal tie into it?”
“The woman he had us look into was a test. He wanted to see if we could find her and how far we would dig. He also wanted to get a bead on what kind of MC we were. He hoped he could throw money at us and we’d do his bidding.”
Havoc picks the story up again. “The guy trying to hire Kruger was actually a PI. He was chasing us down for his client.And let me tell you, this Jack or whatever the fuck his name is, is as bat shit crazy as his employer. He’s trying to find his client’s wife—that part is true. He’s looking for a woman named Lilac, who just so happens to be Lil. Our Lil.”
“Jesus, no wonder she ran.”
“Let’s not get into that,” Kruger grunts, and I remember that they used to be pretty close before she disappeared.
“Wait, does this mean he wanted in at Hannibal’s clubhouse to search for Lil? He thinks she went there?”
“It was one of his leads, yeah.”
I adjust Star in my arms so her head is over my shoulder. “How does this have anything to do with Citi and Star? They never met the guy, right?”
Havoc groans, shaking his head. “No, but Kruger needed somewhere to meet him at the last minute.”
I wait for the rest, but when it doesn’t come, I feel myself frowning in surprise. “You brought him here? While Citi and Star were living here? What the fuck, Havoc?”
“We were under the impression he thought Kruger and Delphi lived here. The lease is still in his name, after all.”
“Did Citi know?”
“That a guy with a bomb strapped to his vest was here? Of course, fucking not,” Havoc snaps.
“He had a bomb, and you let her come back here?” I’m questioning his fucking sanity right now.
“It sounds fucked, I know, but he really did seem to think I lived here.” Kruger steps forward.
“Oh yeah, so what would have happened when he came to kill you for not doing what he wanted? Instead, he finds a woman and a little girl. You think he’s above having some fun with them? Lil ran for a fucking reason, and I doubt it’s because the guy bored her to tears.”
“I fucked up, I know I did.” Havoc runs his fingers through his hair again, making it stick up all over the place.
“We both did,” Kruger admits.
“Yeah, but you didn’t double down and imply it was Citi’s fucking fault.” I point at Havoc. “He did.”
“Yeah, well, he probably got the alarm code from me. Don’t know how, but I used it to get in that day. Maybe he had a camera on it that I didn’t see or something.”
“Go check it out. See if you spot anything that looks off, too,” Havoc tells him before he looks to me and nods. “I’m sorry, Ambros. We never thought something like this would happen. We wouldn’t risk her that way. You have to know that.”
