Page 46 of Toxic Devotion

Marco relaxed back in his chair, eyes closing with a deep sigh. He took a second to just be, and then he picked up his phone and made that call, ignoring whatever the hell his stupid heart was trying to tell him.

Chapter Seventeen

Neil

DEATH HAD taken hold of him, and it was refusing to let go. The evidence Cade had gotten from the Destroyers was a big piece of a puzzle he’d been trying to solve for years. He now had more insight into Hughes’ operations than he’d ever dared hope for. Unfortunately, not everything had gone according to plan. Mike’s death was a calculated risk. As much as he knew it would hurt Cade, it had been necessary.

Hughes somehow still managed to pull strings and considering that the warden of the black site prison Hughes was supposed to be in was giving Neil the runaround, he had a feeling Hughes was no longer there. Things were about to get a lot worse.

He was standing between two mature trees, watching the funeral from afar, unsurprised when someone stepped up next to him.

“Thank you for meeting me.”

Marco’s grunt had him turning his head to look at him. The man looked good. Hell, he looked sharp. His suit was pristine and fit him like a second skin. He also looked like he would rather have his entrails pulled out than be there.

“I need you to be careful,” Neil said. “The person who’s been trying to kill me? It’s been Hughes the whole time. If he finds out about you, he might come after you, too.”

“Finds out about me?” Marco repeated, a mocking tone to his voice.

Neil closed his eyes and took a breath before meeting Marco’s fiery gaze.

“If he learns what you mean to me, then, yes, he will try to kill you,” he said.

Something flashed through Marco’s dark eyes, and he dared not hold out hope that it was any kind of affection.

“For his sake, he’d better hope he never finds out,” Marco said and turned on his heels, walking away from Neil.

He followed Marco with his gaze as he walked to a black car that was waiting for him just a few feet away. Rome was standing by the door to the back seat and when Marco neared, he opened it for him. The second Marco was inside and the door was closed, Rome met Neil’s gaze and gave him a short nod.

He drew in a breath, relieved to know that Marco had Rome to look after him. He doubted Hughes would find out about his connection to Marco, but as it turned out, the man was resourceful.

He looked back toward the cemetery just in time to see Aidan walk up to Cade. The kid shouldn’t have been at the funeral but no matter how coldhearted he pretended to be, he couldn’t say no to him. He knew what those two meeting would lead to, and he wasn’t mad about it. He had no doubt Cade would run with the information Aidan had on his foster father, the State’s Attorney. It wasn’t how he’d planned on taking him down, but he’d let Cade have this one. He owed him as much for Mike.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

He’d gotten confirmation of Hughes’ escape shortly after Mike’s funeral and they’d only had a few months of quiet before Hughes had gone after Cade. He’d caught him, too. Twice. His Marines, the Black Raiders, including Cade’s boyfriend, had been there with him along with one of Neil’s operatives who’d been tasked with keeping Cade safe since Mike’s funeral.

One of his Raiders falling in love with Cade hadn’t been something he could’ve foreseen. If he believed in fate that’s what he would’ve called those two finding each other, but he didn’t believe in much of anything these days.

Back when he’d finally gotten the evidence he needed to shove Hughes into a black hole, there had been a flash drive involved. Cade had handed over that flash drive to Neil, but it turned out that he’d given him a copy that didn’t have everything on it and Hughes wanted the original flash drive back. That was why he’d gone after Cade. That, and revenge.

Hughes was back in the wind and Neil was working to uncover his mole at the Agency. He should’ve put a bullet in the man ten years ago. Though he had no doubt the Raiders would finish the job this time around. They had to. There wasn’t any other scenario he wanted to even consider. Losing another Raider was a blow he wasn’t sure he would recover from. One had been enough. More than enough.

He was closing in on the mole. He had a name. He just needed proof. He needed the truth. He knew that wouldn’t be easy, but he was willing to do whatever it took to bring Hughes down.

Chapter Eighteen

Marco

WHEN HE’D gotten that phone call it wasn’t anger he felt. It was cold hard terror. A shooting. Outside Dante’s school. Then King had called. The road Dante’s school was on also had both the middle school and the high school buildings on it and King’s daughter attended the latter.

Once King had confirmed that Marco wasn’t involved, he shared that he had videos of the shooting, and he knew who one of the guilty parties was. The West B. Jackals. A low-life gang out of West Baltimore. They’d been kissing Destroyer ass up until most of them had gotten killed in a shootout at the clubhouse when Cade had gone in to find evidence to confirm their involvement in the murder and rape of a young woman.

Cade had found a whole lot more than that from what Neil had told him and that was why the State’s Attorney was in prison. Neil had also lost an operative that day. When Neil had shown up to ensure Marco was safe after that shit show, he’d seen the weariness in the man’s eyes clear as day. He’d wanted to hold him. Support him. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t let the man in again.

When King had gotten whatever he wanted from the Jackals, he’d handed them over to Marco who’d thoroughly enjoyed killing the little fuckers. Now, he’d found the other men. The ones who had entered his territory and shot at the Jackals on the street right by a school. A fucking school. He wanted them dead.

It had taken some digging and some bribing, but he finally had an address. All the men were holed up in a house just outside of town and he was less than a mile away. Should he have ordered his men to take care of it? Yes. Was he there alone with only one gun and two magazines? Also, yes.