Page 13 of Saving Wyatt

Besides, even if I got a reason, even if by some ludicrous miracle someone was interested in me, they wouldn’t last long. No one could love a man who didn’t love himself.

Warren’s friend came to mind, with his kind eyes and his strong arms. The way he’d looked at me, or to be more accurate, the way I’d looked at him.

It had been impossible not to think about him. In fact, he was all I could think about instead of my actual predicament. In a way it was a good distraction, but I didn’t need distractions. Especially hopeless ones.

Because men like Ari were too good for a jerk like me.

“Santiago!” Hwan glared at his friend, and Santiago shrugged.

“I’m not saying he did it. I’m just saying that it doesn’t mean they won’t find evidence. That man is officially going to be mayor in a few days. We don’t know how deep his connections go,” he explained.

“We have to assume he’s connected to everything,” I said, clearing my throat. “We can’t trust the police, nor anyone outside this room.”

I saw a few people nodding, and I hated myself even more. These people, people with lives, loved ones, children, families, were all here because of me. And they’d been put in harm’s way because of none other than me.

Dare had every right to be upset with me for what I’d done. Everyone did. And yet the fact they were still here, helping me, gave me hope. Hope that maybe I wasn’t all bad.

I shook my head.

No. They were all here because they had no other choice.

“I know we’ve all been waiting for Salieri’s next move, but I never saw this coming,” Slade said.

Duke’s face twisted with anger. “I can’t believe I let that man into my sanctuary, near my animals. That bastard,” he said.

Up until his mayoral run, he had been volunteering at Duke’s animal sanctuary, where we’d all gathered today. After he’d revealed himself to us as Salieri, we also realized he was the man behind Duke’s weird arrangement that meant he always had funding to take care of the animals, while Salieri’s people moved drugs right under his nose.

“You couldn’t have known,” Hwan said. “None of us could. I mean, we voted for the asshole. How could we have imagined Salieri wasn’t hiding in the shadows but posing as a zillionaire? Actually…” He raised a hand in the air and turned to Slade. “Can’t we do anything about that? About his double identity? Surely if the government found out he wasn’t really Jake Wilson but Raymond Salieri, they’d have an issue with that, right?”

Slade pressed his lips together and shook his head. “They would have, if it could be proven. The man has managed to forge an entire identity. He’s created a whole backstory, traces of his life as Wilson, he’s even got childhood photos.”

“But he’s still a fake person,” Wesley, Teddy’s boyfriend, said.

Slade took a deep breath and adjusted his position against the wall he was leaning on. “I’m actually starting to think Jake Wilson is the real identity and Salieri was the fake one he used to infiltrate the Ferraro family.”

I glanced at his boyfriend next to him, King. The son of one of the biggest criminal families in New York and heir to the throne. Only he’d given that role to his younger brother after taking his father’s life. And who could blame him? The man threatened to kill his mother and granddaughter and take everything King loved away from him.

Monsters. All of them, criminals. How could someone lose their humanity that they would threaten to take the lives of their own family? Was dirty money really that worthy to lose your morals to?

Hwan frowned.

“Couldn’t we…dig up his Wilson past?” Santiago asked.

Slade shrugged. “We could, but I doubt we’d find anything.”

“I’m on it,” Santiago answered and pulled out a pad of sticky notes and wrote something down.

The young man was nothing if not thirsty for a good scoop. A journalist, through and through. A journalist itching to expose Wilson, Salieri, whatever the fuck name he chose to go under. Thankfully, he also had a brain and knew doing so would put him, Joey, and the two kids they’d adopted in danger.

“So what next? What do we do? How do we bring him down?” Autumn asked.

Everyone went eerily silent, and her expression changed from determined to frustrated real fast.

“Are you kidding me, Mayberry Boys? Come on. We’ve got, like, what? Twenty minds in here? Surely we can put them together and come up with a bunch of plans,” she shouted, and even the elderly and unfazed dog at Duke’s feet stirred.

“Mayberry Boys?” Hwan raised an eyebrow.

She huffed. “Not important right now,” she said.