Page 16 of Blood & Heartache

What I still couldn’t wrestle with was why? We hadn’t known each other long, and I was definitely attracted to them all physically. Hell, if I didn’t think there’d be repercussions, I’d sleep with them all. Yet something told me this wouldn’t be the normal case of a get-off-get-gone situation I was used to. Better not to cross that line more than I already had right now. What was the rule about losing someone in your life? No big decisions, no moving, and don’t jump into a relationship just to make yourself feel better. I could manage that.

Besides, I needed them focused on the task at hand.

Bringing down Harvey O’Hagan.

Once that was over, then I’d revisit whatever was going on in my personal life.

Chapter 7

The insistent vibrating of my phone in my pocket had me finally giving in and pulling it out. I’d told my men that if they called me, the world better be on fire because we had enough to deal with at the manor. A series of text messages had been sent, most of them pictures. It took me a moment to figure out what the hell I was looking at. When I realized what it was, I shot to my feet, drawing everyone’s attention.

“I’m sorry, something’s come up, and they need me down at the docks,” I told Astin.

“Do you need backup?” she asked, grabbing my arm as I passed her.

Pausing, I looked down into her emerald eyes that had been clouded with so much pain and sadness the past few days. She’d done her best to try and hide it from us, but a pain that deep can’t be brushed off just because you wish it to. It would take her time—lots of time—before that spark that drew me to her from the moment she met my challenge in the boardroom. Before I could think better of it, I lifted my hand to brush her cheek with my thumb.

“Right now, I just need to figure out what’s going on. If I think it’s going to be more than I can handle, I’ll make sure to reach out,” I assured her. The last thing she needed was to be worrying about any of us.

She looked at me as if she wasn’t sure she believed what I was telling her but nodded and released my arm. “Ryker, go with him.”

I started to argue, but the warning look I got from her had me thinking better about that choice. “Fine.” I glanced at the man. “Hurry up, I’m grabbing shoes, and then I’ll be out the door.”

Without checking to see if he was coming or if he decided to argue with Astin about going, I jogged down the stairs to my room. Snatching my leather jacket off the back of the couch, I pulled it on then shoved my feet into my boots, not bothering to tighten the laces. Back in the hall, I double-checked that my keys to the Hummer were still in my pocket since I couldn’t take my bike anymore.

Ryker was waiting for me at the door to the underground garage. “What the hell’s going on, man?”

“Talk in the car. We need to get there fast,” was my answer as I tossed him my phone. The images should still be on the screen and would be a better explanation than I could give right now.

How the hell did this happen? We’d had eyes on Harvey for the past two days before Astin ordered it to start. We all had agreed that the bastard needed to have someone tracking him at all times. Now our people were making notes about things he did or saw for us to use against him. Maybe we hadn’t missed anything. Harvey was good at getting other people to do his dirty work. Why leave evidence that can be traced back to you when you can pin it on someone else?

Yanking open the driver’s door, I pulled myself up and in with Ryker a heartbeat behind me. Turning the key, the Hummer rumbled to life, and the headlights illuminated the massive garage filled with various modes of transportation. Backing out of my spot, I hit the button that would trigger the door, and we were peeling out onto the street toward the harbor.

“Is this what I think it is?” Ryker asked. “How the fuck did they get their hands on that, and how did it end up burned to a crisp on our side of the docks?”

“Those are exactly the same questions I have. Was it being stored somewhere else that would have made it easier for them to get to?” I questioned.

“No, this doesn't make sense at all. The only way they could get to it was if they had access to the garage. Which means whoever did this had inside help, and we might be in more trouble than we realize,” Ryker said, voicing my own concerns.

It had rained most of the day but had stopped only an hour or so before. This means the fire had to be burning hot enough the rain wouldn’t put it out, or it just happened. “Text Jace, something about this isn’t sitting right with me. Don’t tell Astin anything, just tell him to be on alert and if he can lock down her room.”

“I can lock her rooms down remotely, so I’ll handle that part,” Ryker assured me. “Let’s just hope the asshole looks at his phone. I know all of us have been ignoring them while with Astin, but he better fucking look, knowing something went down.”

Once we made it off the city streets and onto the highway, I floored it. The fact it had been raining, it was Saturday, and nighttime were all things that contributed to us being able to make the twenty-minute drive in just under fifteen. It wasn’t hard to find what we were looking for with the firetrucks and firemen still moving about the scene. Parking off to the side, I double-checked my gun I kept stashed in the car was loaded, then stuffed it down the back of my pants before exiting. I was never one to trust that just because the place was crawling with law enforcement, it would keep evil at bay. If they were ballsy enough to steal Astin’s car, fill it with what looked like the handouts from the funeral, and torch the damn thing on our territory, they weren’t going to let a handful of cops stop them from doing as they pleased.

“I’m sorry, but you can’t be here, sir. You’re gonna need to get back in your car and leave,” an officer instructed the moment he spotted us walking up.

“My name is Luca Velius, I run this part of the dock for Caprioni Enterprises. I was alerted by my people that there’d been an incident,” I explained.

The cop instantly recognized the Caprioni name and nodded. “One moment, let me grab my lieutenant. He’ll be able to assist you better.”

Ryker took that as permission to look around and headed right for the car or what was left of it. I spotted a half-charred piece of paper on the ground and bent to grab it. When I flipped it over, what was left of Colmazio’s face stared back at me. It wasn’t the schedule of events for the funeral but a smaller version of the photograph that had been put up on the stage in remembrance. Part of a word or maybe a phrase was written in red across the image. There wasn’t enough of it to make out what it had once said, but clearly, it wasn’t anything good.

What the fuck was going on here? Why pick Astin’s car and leave images of Colmazio? None of this made sense, and it worried me that we’d missed something this big happening right under our noses. No doubt Ryker would be spending the rest of the night watching security feeds of the last few days to track down when this happened.

“Luca,” Lieutenant Scott Carbo greeted, reaching out a hand to me.

Carbo was an older cop who’d been on the job for the past twenty-six years and knew how to play the game. He was part of the gangs and narcotics division of the police which meant he was involved in many of the problems we ran into. Carbo wasn’t one of the cops we had to buy. Instead, we’d gotten his respect when we helped get his wife into a drug trial that ended up saving her life. We didn’t ask much of him but to give us a heads-up when things went south. This was another reason I was confused as to what the fuck was going on.