The man beside him stood as well. “And if she’s not careful, we’re gonna have a dead, innocent woman on our hands while Luca’s murderer gets away.”
“Again,” Wolf said flatly.
“All right, all right,” Mav said, holding up his hands, “why don’t we all just—.”
“You’re right,” I said.
That froze the room, and all eyes were on me as I tossed the contents of the manilla folder onto the table in front of me.
“You’re right,” I said again as I gazed around the room, “this is a private conversation meant for a family I’m not part of, and I understand that. But I also understand that I’m now part of this. I was made part of this when I was mistaken for her, held in your basement, starved, beaten, and dehydrated for two solid days.”
I looked each of them square in their eyes as I spoke.
“I mean no disrespect, but if we want to talk about who disrespected me first? It’s the three men standing behind me. Three men who took me right from out in front of my home on a random Tuesday morning while I was trying to get to work. I was stolen, so if you want to be pissed that I’m part of this? That I have input? That I’m just as much of a target as you guys are? Then be pissed at the three men standing behind me. But I’ve got information you need to know, and you really need to listen.”
“And why the fuck should we do that?” a gruff man asked, tilting his head.
I didn’t hesitate. “Because I know why she’s doing this, and it makes me more important than even I would have originally thought.”
“The hell does that mean?” Axe asked.
“What did you find?” Mav asked.
I felt Dante’s gaze on the profile of my face, but he didn’t say anything. He simply stood there, leaning up against that wall like he always was, with his hands slid into the tightest pockets I’d ever seen on a pair of pants in my life.
Made for a good view, too.
“Just let me help. Please,” I said breathlessly. “Let me make the pain and suffering worth something in my life. Just like you guys are trying to do.”
And finally, Wolf dropped back down into his seat. “You still need my phone?”
I shook my head. “Not if I’m going to give bullet points.”
“Bullet points are good,” someone said as the men sat back down.
“Guess we can listen for a little while.”
“Can’t hurt to hear what she has to say.”
“Worst she can be is wrong.”
Mav leaned over into my ear. “Good job, beautiful.”
I blushed at his words, but I knew it wasn’t over with their crew. I had no respect. I had no place. And if I was going to earn any sort of respect or place among them to watch this all unfold, then I had to play by their rules.
No more crashing church sessions. Got it.
“Okay, so,” I said, waving my hand in the air, “it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the reason I was adopted over my sister is because I didn’t have the kind of medical problems she had after we were born. I was good to go home after a few days, but she needed a NICU stay for almost a year.”
Dante’s eyebrows rose. “A year?”
I nodded as I opened the folder onto the table and slid papers in his direction.
“I didn’t have any issues other than some oxygenation problems right from the get-go, which is normal for twins. They got me up and running, and I was adopted less than 48 hours after being born. But Rachel? She needed NICU care for blood-related problems.”
“Blood-related?” a blond-headed, clean-shaven man asked.
“Name?” I asked.
