“You don’t have the resources that we have,” Nico said bluntly. “You may have been in line to lead your club, but a motorcycle club is nothing compared to our empire.”
Mercer sighed. “Yeah, but my father’s been playing us for fucking years. I should’ve known and accused him before he could accuse me. Something to get the upper hand.”
“You wanted proof first,” Hart said; his first contribution since he’d introduced himself. “And couldn’t dig deep enough to find it without risking Talia. I can respect that.”
“Let’s not put words in his mouth,” Nico grumbled. “He didn’t say shit about wanting to keep our daughter safe.”
Hart rolled his eyes. “That’s because you only hear the actual words. I’ve heard a lot more than that since we started talking to them.”
One of them seemed to actually like us, thank fuck.
Was one out of four enough?
We’d been supplying their enemies with bullets that could wreak absolute havoc. Unknowingly, but it did make us look like idiots.
Jurah sighed. “Let’s not squabble here. We can save that for when we’re back home. Just tell us everything else you know about the bullets your club has been passing out.”
Mercer launched into an extended explanation, and I relaxed somewhat. I was off the hook—for now.
The rest of the conversation was mostly between Nico, Jurah, and Mercer, with West pitching in the information that he’d found. Grumpily, I had to add. He was brooding more than normal.
I wasn’t surprised when Mercer sent him from the meeting room with the excuse of someone needing to check on Talia. If my first impression was bad, West’s was abysmal. He was making us all look bad.
On his way out, West told them where to find the bullets he’d stolen and hidden. They made a call to have them picked up as he grumped his way out of the meeting room.
Her fathers relaxed a bit toward us after that. Maybe because they realized we’d just handed over one of our only methods of clearing our names.
I was bouncing in my seat, itching to leave and check on Talia myself. Before I could try and excuse myself, Nico started the real interrogation.
“With business out of the way, let’s get to the more important questions. You’re wanting to be with our daughter.” Nico Alfieri glared across the table at us. “Yet, you’re the reason she ended up in this position in the first place. Why shouldn’t we kill you?”
My chest tightened. We were the reason she’d been alone and vulnerable in Villem, an area of town she wasn’t supposed to ever set foot in.
Maybe she hadn’t been visiting us when everything went down, but if she hadn’t known us, she wouldn’t have stayed with me after my surgery. I wouldn’t have gone feral and scared her off while she was in the early stages of heat.
Her savage bonding was my fault, and I’d never forgive myself for that.
But I also couldn’t bear the thought of being without her.
“Because she would never forgive you if you did,” Mercer said.
Our pack leader projected an air of casual confidence, but I sensed his anxiety when I pushed at the bond. If the Alfieri mafia leaders didn’t want us near their daughter, we would never see her again.
“Talia would recover.”
“Do you want to make that bet after what she’s already been through?” Mercer asked. “We want to be with each other, so why not give her a chance to be happy?”
Hart sighed. “He has a point, Nico. They all have their mother’s stubbornness. If we did anything to these men, she’d never forgive us.”
“Her safety is more important than whether or not she likes us,” Nico countered.
“I don’t think they’re unsafe for her.” That was the first input Penn had on anything.
It sounded like he was on our side. Was that two out of four? Did we have fifty percent of the pack fathers rooting for us?
I tried not to get too hopeful, but hope was kind of my thing.
“What if you’re never able to bond her?” Nico demanded. “What will you do then?”
