“That’s not what he’s doing,” I say between clenched teeth.
“What else would it be?” she says challenging.
“He’s parading you around like you’re his property,” Jax says very bluntly.
“He showing off his prized toy. It was never about meeting the whales.”
“I’m not his fucking property,” she hisses. “If he pulls that shit again, I will rip his balls off.”
“He’s not going to get the fucking chance,” I say firmly making sure both Rory and Bastian get the message. I can see in their eyes they do, but Tori is already preparing to argue. “You can’t stay with me when I go back, Zee.”
“Zane is right, Tori,” Jax tells her. “We not leaving you alone with him at all. We’ve seen how he looks at you, and you’ve seen he’s not afraid to go after what he wants.”
“I can take care of myself,” she says as her defiant little chin tips upwards.
“This,” Bastian gestures around the room, “and that isn’t just about you. It’s not even about your sister. It’s much bigger than that for us. You will fall in line or we will make sure you don’t make it to Chicago.”
His tone leaves little room for argument but that’s not going to stop Tori. I grab her hand and drag her away from the rest of the guys before she gets a chance. “You can’t stop me from going,” she hisses.
“Baby, I don’t want to stop you, but you have to do this our way. Bastian is serious. He’ll make sure you don’t leave River City until everything is done. This is still a little personal for him, even if we’ve taken care of DeLuca. He wants them all out of the way. And Verity’s mom and DeLuca’s mom are the ones calling the shots right now. Even if from behind the curtain. We’re just not sure what part Rossi plays in all of this.”
“Yes, you are,” she accuses. “You know he’s after you. All of you. Because he wants what he thinks Rory and Bastian stole from him.”
“He wants you too,” I tell her. “And for some reason I don’t get, he has a problem with me.”
“His problem is the company you keep,” she snaps.
A ripple courses through me at her words. I know she is upset, and she doesn’t like being told what to do. I know she doesn’t like feeling helpless and out of control. But what she just said? “You have a problem with my family now?” I hiss, even though I know she doesn’t.
But those are just the words she needs to hear to chill. “No, I don’t have a problem with them,” she sighs. “I just fucking hate this.”
I pull her to me. “I know, Baby.”
I kiss the top of her head and lead her back toward the living area. “We want you to go to that event, Tori,” Bastian tells her but looks at me.
“Over my fucking -.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Bastian cuts me off. “Over your dead body. That’s not necessary. You’re going to be there too.”
“We’re all going to work our way through the crowd that night,” Rory explains.
“Won’t that look suspicious?” Tori asks.
“Trust me, it won’t,” Jax tells her.
“The fight will take place the same time as the auction. They’ll start herding everyone that’s participating in the two events as the party dies down,” Rory explains.
“Herding? What are they? Cattle?” Tori snarks.
“If anyone would be the cattle, it’s you,” he snaps back.
This entire meeting has been one sarcastic remark from everyone losing their cool. Tori is on edge. Neither of us are falling in line for Rory which Bastian finds funny. Jax is about a minute away from punching all of us in the mouth. The situation is a lot more tense than it should be.
“AT THE AUCTION SIDE,” Bastian nearly yells to get focus back on the actual plan, “will be Christian, Tristan, Drew, and Jared along with a few of Matteo’s guys that aren’t as recognizable. We’re going to try to do what we did with Rossi, but we’ve got a couple of backups in case we don’t get lucky twice.”
“We didn’t get lucky with Rossi,” Rory grumbles. “It was a good plan.”
“It was only good because of the masks,” Bastian reminds him. “If all goes to plan, we’re going to get those girls out of there then draw the two women into a separate room where they will be handled.” He looks at Tori when he says this because he wants her to understand what he’s saying without having to come out and say it.
