Page 40 of Blood & Heartache

“In other news, I’ve been going through Gunner’s computer and phone records,” Ryker interjected as he got up and handed me a tablet. “It seems that Gunner has been a busy boy.”

Reading over the emails he’s sent to Melony, the anger and betrayal I felt were immense. He’d disclosed more than enough for Melony or anyone else who found this information to hurt the Caprioni Family in a crippling fashion. “Please tell me we can erase all traces of this communication and it hasn’t gone beyond the two of them.”

“Yes, we can do that, but…” he paused and let out a sigh, “… we need to bring someone in to help.”

A Cheshire grin grew on Luca’s face. “You’re talking about Hound, aren’t you?”

Ryker didn’t answer, but the death glare that Luca received told me everything I needed to know. Whoever this Hound was, Ryker didn’t like him, but clearly, the man was fucking good at his job. That had me wondering why he wasn’t working with us on our security team already or some other area within the top echelon of the Family.

“Who’s the Hound, and what’s his story?” I asked when no one seemed like they were going to say.

“Hound is a fucking troublemaker who decided to break into our system, snoop around, then try and blackmail us with the information,” Jace explained. “Ryker, as good as he is in cyber security, couldn’t figure out how the asshole did it, so Boss decided to hire Hound. He paid him what the prick asked for in blackmail money to make sure it couldn’t ever happen again. Hound did the work but made it clear that he was a contractor and wasn’t interested in joining the Family or being controlled by them. While he was working with Ryker, he took great joy in rubbing it in Ryker’s face that he was better than him.”

“That bastard is an asshole, and if this weren’t such a problem, I wouldn’t make a big deal out of it and involve him. Thing is, if the cop decides to take your tip about Melony, then they’ll look at her phone and email when they can’t find her, which in turn will lead to all of this, and we’re royally fucked. Plus, he will be able to tell much faster if Melony has spread the word to anyone else,” Ryker added.

Clapping my hands together, I nodded. “Great, how do we make this happen?”

“I’ve already sent a message to him on the encrypted site he set up for us to use if we needed him,” Ryker said, shoving away from the table. “We’ll know if he decides to help us soon enough.”

“All right, I like how things are finally moving in the right direction. Jace, where are we with the mayor?” I asked, just as Boykov and Liu returned. “Welcome back, boys. Did you have fun spending time with the fuzz?”

“Lady Astin, may I request that you never refer to them as the fuzz ever again?” Boykov muttered. “Rather, let’s call him a cockroach, so I don’t feel bad crushing him under my heel.”

“So things went well,” I teased. “What did he really want to talk to you about?”

“He did ask about you and the mayor, if you’d ever met up with him without telling anyone, If you had a habit of slipping your security, and then he asked me if I was sleeping with you,” Boykov answered, anger written all over his face. “That man simply can’t believe you’d be able to garner such loyalty if it weren’t attached to something else… disgusting bastard.”

“Well, it seems our White Knight is making all kinds of friends tonight. Is he gone?” I questioned, looking to Liu for the answer.

“Yes, he’s been escorted off the property, and I ensured he did so with an escort out of the house to his car. They were instructed to remain at the front door until he drove away and the main gate was closed,” Liu informed me.

“There, now we can cross that problem off our list. Jace?” I called, returning to the question I asked earlier.

“We have people at Keller, and they’re working on getting information. It’s harder since we don’t have many higher-level staff on the night shift. We do on the day shift, so it might have to wait until the seven o’clock changeover,” Jace shared.

“We’ll deal with what we can get for now and hope nothing drastic changes in five hours. Now the next thing we need to figure out is what the fuck to do about Gunner. I’m open to any and all options you might have to offer me,” I said, gesturing to them.

No one answered right away, each of them knowing there was only one way to deal with what he’d done. I knew it too, but that didn’t mean I wanted to accept it. Allowing us to at least contemplate other options made me feel less of the monster Gunner told me I was. There was no one. I mean, not even the boss herself could be saved from this fate. You don’t betray the Family. It’s the singularly most enforced rule that ends in only one way—death.

“Astin, I wish there was another option we could offer you,” Braxton murmured, his voice soft as if he hated to tell me this. “The one thing you can do is not make his punishment public. While it will need to be addressed, there is no rule about the actual punishment needing to be done before witnesses. That’s what we can offer you, not having to end his life as the others watch.”

Sadness, anger, hurt, and betrayal bubbled up in me to the point I just let out a roar of anger and slammed my coffee mug against the table, shattering it into a million pieces. “Why? Why did he make me have to act like a monster? If he wanted me to be different, why did he break the one rule I will never change? No one can believe that I won’t act with the full vengeance of the Caprioni name when you blatantly betray us.”

Ryker gently grasped my wrist and pried my fingers open so the shattered pieces of ceramic fell from my grasp. Without saying a word, he brushed away the smaller shards and pressed a napkin against the small nicks and cuts they’d left behind.

“Gunner knew what he was doing,” Ryker said quietly. “No one takes a risk like that without acknowledging that if they get caught, they’ll lose their life. We enter this family alive and leave it when we’re dead… that’s the oath we all make. His death by our hand doesn’t make you a monster… it makes you the boss. This is the darkest side of the life we live, but this won’t be the last time you’ll have to remove one of our own for the safety of all.”

“I agree with everything Ryker has said, and while death is the only punishment, I do believe it would be best to wait until we know what the police are going to do. If he turns into their main suspect, then it would be more harmful to the Family to end his life prematurely,” Atticus interjected. “Much as we hope to use Melony’s death to cast suspicion away from us, Gunner might as well do the same if we know how to use this death in a more meaningful way. In the end, he will pay for his crime and atone for the sin against you, Astin.”

“What the fuck,” Jace blurted. “Since when have you become such a mastermind?”

Atticus just looked at the man and blinked slowly before answering, “I’ve always had a mind that works more efficiently than others, but not all situations require my IQ to be involved. Since this matter will affect Astin in an adverse way, I feel as her best friend, it is my place to advise and give what knowledge I can provide. In previous matters, I saw no reason to share my insights. You all would have ignored it simply because I was the one who said it.”

“Man’s got you there,” Luca said with a laugh.

“Anyway,” Jace muttered. “Atticus is right. Let’s hold off on that particular matter until we know if Hound can get all the information deleted, what the police are going to do about Melony, and how the mayor is recovering.”

“I’d say that means we can all turn in for the night,” Ryker stated. “Everyone, keep your phones on. We have no idea when this situation can turn south, or we’ll get the information we need to act on immediately.”