“Hi, Dean.” I smiled. “I’m Gentry.”
“Hi,” he whispered.
“We won’t let Brooke get to you,” I promised, seeing the fear in his eyes when I heard the screaming pick up again.
The door quietly shut, and Brooke’s screams became muted.
He looked fearfully at the door, using the coats to continue to mostly shield himself, then he looked back at me before saying, “I don’t want to go home.”
My stomach lurched. “You won’t be going home with them ever again.”
He swallowed hard. “Promise?”
I held up my pinky finger. “I promise.”
Eight hours later, my kitchen was filled with people.
Sage was at my kitchen sink, washing dishes.
Dean was laid out on my couch, his knees pulled up close to his chest, as he slept soundlessly in a protective ball.
I’d watched Sage pull a blanket off of the recliner to cover him with, and I’d wanted to slap myself for not thinking to cover him myself.
“How’s this going to work?” Sage asked what we were all thinking. “How does he get to keep him without getting other law enforcement involved? They’ll take this to court.”
Just as she asked that, Apollo, the man that I owed my new life to, came pushing through the door. The first thing he said was, “I don’t think they’re going to be taking anything to court. If they did, they’d be exposing a hell of a lie. Like you,” Apollo looked at me, “they left and created a new life somewhere else. They falsified Dean’s death with the help of, whom I assume, is the Irish Mob. My best guess, they were asked to be witnesses of character, then moved out of the state so they couldn’t cause any more problems.”
“Who are you?” Sage stiffened.
“Sage,” I said quietly. “This man is the one that helped us with our new lives. Apollo, Sage. Sage, Apollo.”
Sage narrowed her eyes. “Next time you decide to meddle in someone’s life, it’d be pretty cool if you just shared. I’ll bet it would surprise you, but I would’ve left willingly. You wouldn’t have had to lie to me at all.”
Apollo leveled Sage with a look. “Wasn’t really going to take that chance. Plus, I can do a lot of things, but not take on the Irish Mob on top of everything else on my plate.”
Sage’s shoulders slumped, and she turned to look at me. “The only issue I can see here is that they’re going to go back and ask for help. I fucked up by sharing who I was. Then Dario will come here.”
Pain and anger surged inside my body as I thought “let them.”
But then common sense took root and I realized that I couldn’t think like that anymore. Not only did I have a kid to think about, but I also had a club family to think about.
“I think it’d be easier,” Black added. “If we charged them with the crimes we know they committed. Abuse of a child, of course. Assault on a minor carries twenty to forty years in prison. We just need to prove everything they’ve done.”
“And keep them from talking to the mob while they’re being charged,” I pointed out.
“Whatever we pin on them will have to be fast and quick.” Sage crossed her arms over her chest. “If they go to the men that helped them hide…”
The way that she shivered had me wanting to go to her.
But I didn’t.
Stepping away from Dean felt like I would forget how to breathe if I did.
So I stayed.
Sage hugged herself as she leaned her hips against the counter.
Hux, who was closest to her, threw his arm around her shoulders.
