Chapter 25

Salvatore

I have no idea what is going on. The Savage Angels have me sitting at this table, without their leader. I drink my third cup of coffee, and I have had enough. I stand and the one called Kade stands with me. He is wearing a wifebeater and I can see a tribal tattoo going down one of his arms. He must be six three and he’s clearly built. He carries himself with authority and at least two of the men around the table follow him. His hair is to his shoulders and he keeps it tucked behind both ears.

“Am I going to have a sit down with Reynolds or are we going to drink coffee all afternoon?” My patience wears thin.

“Dane won’t be long. Take a seat and relax.” He moves his pale blue eyes to me, no emotion on his face or in his voice.

I straighten my jacket sleeves, do my jacket up and say, “I do not do business this way. Tell Reynolds to call me when he’s ready to sit down, until then, I’m leaving.” I move towards the door and he stands in my path. I hear chairs scrape across the floor as more of them stand.

“Take a seat,” he says and stands up straighter.

“You will move out of my way. I do not do business with underlings and I do not take orders from them. Move,” I say with a growl.

He stands there, toe to toe with me, and smiles; it does not reach his eyes. He steps to the side and with a sweeping gesture of his arm, he directs me to the door. “By all means, Mr. Agostino, leave. I guess we’ll wait for Guido Lamberti and do a deal with him.”

I laugh and say, “Yeah, you do that. I can see Guido coming out here to do a deal.”

His smile increases and he says, “He’s in town. Didn’t your Don tell you?”

My laughter stops and I look at this Kade, who looks pleased to have something over on me. “Guido is

here?”

“That’s what I said.” Fuck. I can tell he’s not lying.

I stride towards the front door and grab my phone out of my jacket. I hit call as Reynolds makes it to me from across the lot. I hold up my finger in his face and wait for Tony to answer.

“Yeah, Boss.”

“Tony, Guido is here, in this little fucking town.” I look at Reynolds and say, “Tell me, did you know he was here.”

“Boss, of course not!” Tony says.

I hold a finger up at Reynolds, indicating for him to be quiet again and he scowls at me. “Tony, I wasn’t talking to you. Send my best men and have them come here, I’ll need at least six men. Do it now.”

“On it, Boss, you want me there?”

“Yeah, Tony, I said my best men.”

I hang up and stare at Reynolds who says, “You sure you’re fucking done? Can I fucking speak now, in my own fucking Compound?”

My hands are up trying to placate a very aggressive Dane Reynolds. “I apologize, I meant no disrespect.

Why didn’t you tell me that Guido Lamberti was here?”

“He’s one of yours, why didn’t you know?” he counters.

“What the fuck is going on? Why are you running guns on the East Coast, we had a fucking deal!” I throw my hands up in frustration and begin to pace.

“Jonas, give us a minute, yeah?” Reynolds looks at his man who nods and walks towards the clubhouse. “I didn’t know you had a deal with Ms. Saunders. I had no idea that she was running guns and that we were the security for it. I don’t know about your deal. We do not run illegal activities, of any fucking kind, out of Tourmaline.” He finally lifts his eyes to mine and he looks defeated.

“You didn’t know? Then how the fuck did you manage to muscle in on my territory, not to mention, Don Abruzzi has not been paid a tribute!” I can feel my blood begin to boil; my rage simmers on the surface, waiting for something to trigger it.

“Ms. Saunders was not who we fucking thought she was. I have someone coming in tomorrow who may be able to answer some questions about her and I have one of my guys running a background check. We ran security on her runs because we thought we were protecting Carnival‐fucking‐Cigarettes. Not guns. It appears as though one of my guys knew about her and kept it going after she died. I’m guessing he was the one who expanded her business. He didn’t fucking know about you or your family.”

I nod my head, trying to understand what he’s saying. It makes sense that they wouldn’t run guns out the place they live. Ms. Saunders was devious but these are not choirboys, they are a large organization and I would think, not easily fooled.

“Why didn’t you run a check previously? She had many deals with many people. Her dealings are far and wide. I know with her death there were some wars as the gangs tried to gain control of her share.”

“We thought she was a little, old lady who owned a transport business. I kid you not; she cooked muffins for us, came to my home every Sunday and cooked breakfast for us and we took her shopping. I had no fucking idea.”

He’s being completely honest with me. This is not something I expected. From the little information I could gather on him, I know he is loyal to his MC and more recently his woman, Kat Saunders—lead singer of the Grinders. He is a simple man that runs his organization with an iron fist. This will reflect badly on him if this all goes sideways.

Time to lay all my cards on the table. “I was sent here by Don Abruzzi, he got his enforcer Guido to tell me to come here alone and fix this. I am a Captain in the Family; it’s unusual for someone in my position to have to deal with this.” I make a sweeping gesture with my arm. “Your sister, Emily, did you plant her in my path on purpose?”

“Man, I didn’t know either of you were coming. Have you got her stashed somewhere?”

“No, I do not have her.” I pause and look at him, trying to see if there is truth in his words. “If Guido is here, the Don must be upset with me. Guido is here for one reason only and that will be to take me out if this goes south.” I place one hand on my hip and rub my face with the other while pondering everything I have just learned.

“Did your Don tell you personally?” he asks

I look at him and shake my head, “What? No, he went through Guido.”

Rebel walks towards us and neither one of us say anything as we watch him approach. “Prez.” He nods at me. “Do we know where Emily is?”

“You’re serious? She’s not here?” My gut churns with this realization.

Rebel says, “No, she disappeared after she left the café. No one saw where she went. Rosie said you stayed in the café and finished your meal, so I know it wasn’t you.”

“What do you mean, it wasn’t me?” I ask, anger coming back to the surface. I look at Reynolds and his face is a mask of concern.

“She didn’t get a bus out of town, she’s not in any of the shops or the Doc’s or even the fucking motel. As far as we know, she doesn’t know anyone in town, apart from you. Has to be a snatch and grab.” Rebel’s words sink into me and my mind goes to Guido. Could Guido have done this to use her as a bargaining tool? She’d be easy to grab, she’s tiny and I’m not sure if she has it in her to fight back.

My gaze goes to Reynolds. “I did not do this. If she has been taken, it was not by me. But Guido? He may be using her to get to you or me.”

Reynolds’ look goes from concerned to rage and he snarls at me, “Where would he fucking take her?”

“Be calm, I will find out if it's the last thing I do,” I say, trying to reassure him.

“No, this is my town, and I’ve had enough of being kept in the fucking dark. I am going to get that fucker Guido and his fucking sidekick and bring them here. I will skin him alive if he’s hurt her. You will stay here,” he says as he pushes me towards the clubhouse.

This man is not in my Family; he has no authority over me and does not get to push me. I stand my ground and step into his space. I would not normally openly challenge someone on their home turf, but I’ve had enough.

I am about to punch him when I hear, “Hello! I’m Kat Saunders and that is my man you are about to tangle with.” We both turn and stare at her. She holds up both hands and continues, “I have no idea what’s going on—”

“Kat, go back into the garage.” Reynolds snarls at her.

Then she puts her hands on her hips and laughs, she laughs so hard she doubles over. I look at Reynolds and raise an eyebrow and he shakes his head from side to side, signaling he has no idea what she’s doing.

When she is finally under control, she says, “Go back to the garage? You’re kidding, right?” She grabs each of us by the elbow and walks us towards the clubhouse. She laughs to herself as she says, “I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t care, not really, but if you think for one minute I am going to stand there and watch you two duke it out, oh my god, you have another thing coming. So, let’s go have a stiff drink and talk this out. Like the adults we are. Oh, and, baby, you know that deal we have going for tonight, well I’m thinking if you think you can order me around like a dog then I'm not interested.”

I glance at Reynolds and he looks pained. Whatever their deal is, he isn’t happy that it’s cancelled. She lets us go and pushes the doors of the clubhouse open.

The tension between us has dissipated, and I say, “She’s a strong woman, you are lucky.”

“You have no fucking idea.”

I watch as she walks up to the bar and orders three scotches. She has a nice ass. I stare at it then Reynolds clears his throat and I look at him.

“Is there anything we should know about Guido?”

“He’ll be armed. You are best to go and offer him an invitation but make it so he can’t refuse, escort him here, do not let him or any of his men out your sight.”

He nods as his woman places a shot of scotch in his hands and then mine. She looks from one of us to the other, holds hers up and says, “To new friends, may we know each other for a long and happy time!” She throws hers back, does a little dance and then throws her arms in the air and says, “Woohoo!”

I look at Reynolds; he smiles and then we both laugh.

“That’s better! Now, I’m taking myself back to the garage but I would appreciate it if someone took me home. I’m bored and I’ve had enough. Shall I give you, say, one more hour?” she asks as she stares Reynolds in the eye.

“I would appreciate it if you stayed here in the Compound, you don’t have to stay in the garage. But Darlin’, I need you to stay in the Compound.”

She flips her long hair over her shoulder and stalks out of the clubhouse. Reynolds looks at the ceiling and swears. I laugh; Kat Saunders is one feisty woman.

He looks at me and he says, “I will deal with Kat later but let’s go back to my sister. Do you think Guido has her?”

“No. He would have phoned you by now. If he’s trying to use her as a bargaining tool, you’d know about it. She’s probably sitting somewhere, taking stock of her situation. Are there any parks or somewhere she could be sitting that your men may have missed?” I am not really concerned. If they did have Emily, they would have made contact. Reynolds is wise to keep his woman safe here in the Compound, even if she doesn’t like it.

Rebel comes through the clubhouse doors. “Prez, what are we doing about Emily?” he asks.

“Sal, thinks she could be somewhere taking things in, he—”

“Really? I’ve looked all over Tourmaline. I’ve questioned everyone who was on the street when she left the café and lots of people remember her leaving but then nothing. You don’t find that strange? It’s a small town, you don’t think someone would know where she is?” he says pinning me with a look.

“I can see your point but if Guido had her he would have called by now,” I reply.

“Well, maybe it’s not Guido, maybe it’s someone else.” Rebel looks at his President. “I want to ask Sheriff Morales if he’ll get Mr. Finlay from the hardware store to show us his video footage. He wouldn’t show it to me, thinks we are all thugs.”

Reynolds nods at him. “Can’t hurt. Go see Morales.”

Before Reynolds has even finished his sentence, Rebel heads for the front doors. Perhaps I am wrong? She does seem to have a knack for getting herself into trouble. I begin to feel uneasy. Rebel is right, it might not be Guido; it hadn’t occurred to me that someone else might have taken her.

Reynolds looks at me. “I’m going back in there to ask my boys to look for Emily. Our business will have to wait.”

I nod at him. “I can wait. Your sister should take priority but you need to handle Guido, perhaps I could help?”

He straightens up, squares his shoulders and says, “You fuck me over on this in anyway and you’re dead, you get me?”

A lazy smile plays on my lips. “Yeah, I get you. I will not screw you over, you have my word.” Reynolds stands there for a heartbeat, sizing me up then nods and walks off in search of his men.