Xavier

 

When Matteo returned home, he had several men at his back. Xavier expected nothing less, but he still kept the gun pointed at Kenzie’s head. So far, she had been cooperative, and he was grateful. She’d been beaten enough as it was, and he wanted to keep the allegations against him false. The truth was the only thing he had going for him.

 

“Mr. Flynn, how nice to meet you in person.” Matteo gave a smile that extended up to his dark brown eyes. His dark hair was streaked with silver, but his olive skin only showed signs of aging in the crow’s feet at the corners of his eyes. He didn’t seem the least bit surprised or upset to see his daughter held hostage as she was, and he acted as though he was at a business meeting in a conference room. “I understand you want to talk business.”

 

“You’re damn right, I do.” Xavier was tempted to shoot him right there. He knew he would be shot immediately after, but it might be worth it. Then he realized that someone else would simply step up to take the boss’s place. Xavier wouldn’t be saving any of the businesses that forked their profits over to him, and he probably wouldn’t even save Kenzie.

 

“I assure you, we can conduct our business like men. Put the gun down.” At Xavier’s hesitation, he withdrew his own pistol and laid it on a side table. “You can step into my office and we can discuss this, just you and I.”

 

It sounded like a trap, but it was one that Xavier had walked right into. There was no way he could win this anyway. He slowly took his arm from around Kenzie, keeping his eyes on the other mafiosos. If they decided to make a move, there was almost nothing he could do to stop them. But pointing guns and yelling wasn’t fixing things, either.

 

Matteo turned to his men. “Keep an eye on my little girl, would you? I’ll be right back.” He waved toward a door on the other end of the room and led Xavier into his office.

 

It was a plush affair, with a tall leather chair behind a heavy oak desk and numerous expensive statues and knickknacks on the bookshelves. Several framed pictures dotted the wall, including some of Matteo with men who looked like they were other crime bosses. In one of them he stood next to a little girl with long dark pigtails and eyes that matched his own. Matteo made a show of stopping at a sidebar and pouring a shot of whiskey for each of them. He set the crystal glass politely in front of Xavier before stepping around the desk and sitting down. “Now, what can I do for you?”

 

Xavier refused to sit. He was too angry, and he didn’t want to play into Matteo’s hands or make him think he had an advantage here. “You know what you can do for me. Stop this nonsense. I’m not going to give you shit, and you know it.” He could have used the whiskey, but it seemed a better option to consider it poisoned.

 

Matteo spread his hands, palms up, and lifted his shoulders a little. “Mr. Flynn, you and I both know this is just business. Your club stole some major markets out from under me, ones that served as significant sources of income. I’m sure you understand what it costs to keep so many people under your wing. I can’t just go without that money. So you’re just going to give me what I’m rightfully owed. It’s all really very simple.”

 

“I don’t owe you a fucking thing.” Xavier was much better at keeping his temper when he was dealing the members of the Reapers. He knew what to expect from them, and they never tried to stab him in the back. “You want to say this is just business. Well, guess what? Stealing those deals from you is also just business. As you said, it takes a lot to keep a large group of people happy, and I’ve got to do it just the same as you do. And what about Kenzie? Is what you did to her just business as well?” A whole new flood of anger swept over him, and he pounded his fist on the desk. The whiskey glass jumped.

 

Matteo lifted his hands in the air, shrugging as if he had absolutely no control over what had happened. “An unfortunate side effect of making sure my little scheme worked out.”

 

Xavier evaluated his chances of strangling Matteo and escaping through the window. “Did it feel good when your fist went crunching into her eye socket? Did that make you feel like a bigger man?”

 

The older man actually laughed. “That’s the difference between you and me, Mr. Flynn. I’m important enough that I don’t have to do any of the dirty work myself.”

 

“You’re disgusting. If you’re all about business, then you aren’t the kind of man I want to do business with.” The fact that he had made one of his thugs hit Kenzie didn’t make things any better. He had still ordered it, and that almost seemed worse.

 

The mob boss nodded slowly, steepling his fingers under his chin as he thought. He looked up at Xavier. “So you won’t pay up.” It was a statement, not a question.

 

“No,” the biker confirmed.

 

“Very well.” Matteo picked up his phone and dialed. After a moment, he said, “Release the documents,” and hung up before turning back to Xavier. “The police will have everything in just a few minutes: the affidavit from Kenzie, the pictures, everything.”

 

A shocking sense of calm that Xavier hadn’t expected washed over him. He hadn’t wanted this to happen; he knew how devastating this could be for him. There was no way he could continue being the vice president of the club if he was in jail, and nobody would believe that he was innocent. Still, it was almost a relief to have it all over with. “That’s fine. I don’t care. I’m not going to let you control me with lies like you do with everyone else. You’ve made your living by extorting people, twisting their arms or threatening to break their kneecaps, but it’s time someone stood up to you. You’ve already killed two of my men over this, and if that’s not payment enough, then nothing will be.” He turned and stormed out of the office.

 

“Don’t let him leave!” Matteo called after him so that his goons could hear. “I’m not done with him yet!”

 

But Xavier wasn’t about to stick around. As soon as he was back in the living room, he assessed the situation and made his plan. The mafiosos were lounging on the couch, just getting up after hearing their boss shout. But Kenzie was in an armchair with her back to him, and he had easy access to her. Xavier whipped his pistol back out of his waistband and snatched her out of the chair. She screamed a little, but she didn’t fight him all that hard. He kept his body in front of hers, using her as a shield as he backed toward the door. If Matteo was willing to have her killed in order to get to him, then she was better off dead anyway.

 

“Easy now,” the big thug said, inching forward. “Just let her go. We don’t have to do this the hard way.”

 

“You guys have been doing it the hard way right from the very beginning. It’s clear to me that you like to play dangerous games.” He kept the pistol pointed in the air, so he could swing it down and aim at anyone who tried to get too close. Kenzie’s body was pressed against his, and even though he was just as pissed at her as he was everyone else, he was tempted to take her with him. It would only be fair, after all, since Matteo had taken out two of his members. He could just have Kenzie in exchange. There were some significant advantages to that, but no. She was just as guilty as the men were. Wasn’t she?

 

Instead, he backed up to the door. He threaded his gun hand under her arm so that he could still keep a hold on her without putting his weapon down while he turned the knob and backed out. It wasn’t until he was out the door that he let her go. Xavier knew they might still take him down while he got on his bike, but at least he’d made it out of the house. Surprisingly, there were no gunshots ricocheting through the neighborhood as he jumped on his bike and kicked it to life. No, Matteo was going to bide his time. He was going to let the system work with him instead of against him, which was why he had been so successful in the first place. Cursing up a storm, Xavier headed toward the clubhouse.