ROMAN (Lane Brothers Book 5) (3 page)

Jared follows and I close the door with a slam that makes all three of us wince.

The room, if I can even call it, includes an en-suite bathroom, a closet that’s bigger than my house, and a sitting area that looks pristine enough to eat off the floor. It takes me several steps before I reach the other seat and sit with a tired sigh.

All I want to do is curl up and sleep, but I know I would not be able to even without the interruption. I haven’t been able to for weeks.

The way I’m feeling right now, I probably won’t sleep again till I see my idiot lover, so I may as well entertain these two cute fools if that’s what they want.

“What’s up?”

“Er, Ma wanted us to make sure you were settled in and—”

“I’m fine. Is that’s all?”

Jared bites his lip and I see Jace take a deep breath before barreling ahead with a frown.

“Since you’re in such a delicate condition—”

“I’m pregnant, guys, not dying. I’ll be just fine once I get some sleep and come up with a way to get hold of your fool brother. Seriously, what’s up with him lately, huh? He hasn’t called in so long that I’m starting to wonder if he purposely lost my freaking number.”

“Uh, that’s what we wanted to discuss with you, Mellie. See, we’re hoping that we can use the phone to call him.”

“As if that isn’t what I tried to do already! I’m not stupid or brain dead, you know. I called a couple of times and it went straight to voice mail. He isn’t accepting my calls, either, so stop with the hangdog expressions and the pity party,” I growl, wanting nothing more than to lay hands on my sweet Roman and give him a dose of my wrath.

My mood and tone must be hitting home, because I see them exchange another look before turning to me with hesitant smiles.

“Um, did it go right to voice mail or did it ring once or twice?” Jared asks, looking hesitant.

That look makes me want to smile because Daddy had looked at me the same way the day I walked into the house sporting five new piercings and enough white face makeup to make one of those medieval women look tan in comparison.

I know I’m being difficult. It’s just that I’m not in any way used to people talking to me like I’m some sort of fragile flower or something.

I work at a biker bar where the most sensitive guy can open a bottle with his teeth, for crying out loud, and my dad wasn’t exactly all that in touch with his emotions.

I am what I am, I guess, and I kinda like me this way. Roman did, too…once upon a freaking time.

“It rang once, okay? And then it went to voice mail. No, don’t look at me like that, I know what that means and y’all better believe your brother will be hearing about it when I get my hands on him.”

In fact, I called like twenty times before I got scared that someone would notice and I’d somehow blow his cover. The truth is, I started suspecting by the tenth call that he was ignoring me.

“Uh, well that’s good,” Jared starts and I feel all the pent-up frustration begin to boil like a volcano in the midst of eruption.

“Good? You call having the father of my unborn child ignoring me
good
?”

“Not good as in good that he’s…erm, look, if it rings that means it’s on and we can track it,” Jared rushes to explain.

“And what does that mean? I thought he told you guys to back off till he gets what he needs from those idiots,” I say, recalling Roman’s frustration every time Miah or Jared would get too close and he’d be forced to pull away more.

“Mellie, the truth of the matter is that Lynn has been released. We have eyes and ears on her, but we can’t guarantee his safety when she rejoins her people. Cleo has also woken up from her coma and we’ve only just recently survived an attack from her side. We need to get Roman out now, whether he’s done or not. If we don’t, he could die.”

Seeing the fear and what I think might be desperation in Jared’s eyes is hard to look at, because I know that if this man is saying we’re done, then we’re done.

It strikes fear into my heart and I know what I’m going to do to get to Roman even as Jared and Jace start talking about tracking the number.

I need to get to him and fast, because I have met the real Cleo Conrad and I know exactly how evil that woman is.

We don’t need proof anymore. We just need to live.

Roman

The sound of screaming reaches my ears. I block it out the best I can and focus on the task in front of me, praying as I do that with this last upload of information to Jim Dobson, we’ll all be free soon.

Being a plant in an organization that goes against every personal belief I have and the freedom and safety of innocent Americans is starting to take its toll.

I hardly sleep anymore, only when I’ve been drinking so much with Dyson Bruno that I pass out as soon as I hit my bed. It’s getting harder to keep the lines from blurring, something Miah warned me about when I went into this mission.

I have to follow through to the end, no matter how much it kills me to have to watch my family suffer my loss and think of my Mel all alone in that cabin, afraid but fighting so hard to be tough. In reality, I think she’s the softest person I know. No matter how tough she is she’s still that soft, smiling woman I fell for and I will do anything to keep her that way.

My baby girl is a one of a kind, ball-busting angel and I’ve loved her for so long that I sometimes think of our relationship now as karma’s sick sense of humor.

I’ve known that Mel was my girl for almost three years now since she started tending bar at that hole in the wall and flirted with me one night after a happy hour that left my stomach curdled.

I always planned to make a play for her after I cleaned up the department and went into private security with Miah. Hell, I’ve been carrying the ring on a chain around my neck for as long as I can remember.

And yet I never got to charm the grumpy bartender and get her to agree to a dinner and moonlit walk or even an ice-cream cone while holding hands. What I got instead was her coming to me about the rot in the department and her father’s unwilling involvement.

Every day that we had together was a blessing, but I may never see her smiling face again or kiss her sweet lips as I take her tight body, all because two women decided that money and a bitter family feud are more important than decency and respecting human life.

I desperately want to see her again, but any day now one of these ingrates could catch me sneaking information to Senator Dobson.

I’m so close to getting the name of the last member of a secret council that exists in the organization. With that name, we’ll have them all and there’ll be no running from this or setting up shop in a different part of the country.

If I manage to find the last member and get the intel to Jim, I could potentially get out of this alive and go home to Mel and my family.

God, I miss her so much. It’s a constant pain in my chest, made even worse by the fact that she’s been calling me for days and I can’t answer the secret phone I smuggled in with me.

I can’t risk it, not after I heard them all talking about the way they offed Dobson. The news upset me. I kinda liked the old guy after I got to know him and found out that if not for his desire to protect Mel after Cleo threatened to hurt her, he would have been an honest cop.

I went to see him one last time and found my friend dead with his throat slit from ear to ear, a calling card that was my own personal favorite in the good old days of ridding the world of some of the worst animals ever to breathe.

With that visit, I confirmed my own suspicions that someone is on to me. It also let me know that whoever is behind this knew that Miah and Jared would assume it was a message from me.

I would never have done that to the chief, and part of me hopes my brothers would know that, despite the doubts they surely have about me now.

I don’t blame them for doubting me. Heck, some days I have to shake myself and remind my struggling mind that I am not the traitor who turned on his own and is a key player in an organization that wants inequality and civil war.

I have to tell myself constantly that I’m still me, the Roman who loves his family and would die to protect them—something I almost did when I told my brother’s girl Paulie about that bomb in her car.

Most days the battle to remain
me
is so hard, I have to resort to thinking of Mel and the dreams I have of a life together.

Her image and the idea that we could get married and have a family like the rest of my brothers helps pull me back from the dark world I’ve entered.

I also think about Clari and Miah’s adopted kid and Wyatt and Ellie’s new baby. I’ve heard that another Lane is on the way thanks to Miah’s love for his wife.

I have yet to meet my nephews. But as much as I want to, their innocent lives remind me why it is so important for me to complete my mission.

With Cleo waking and regaining enough strength to have ordered a hit on my family, and Lynn’s imminent arrival, I can’t walk away yet. There’s too much at stake.

I’m so deep in thought that I almost miss the soft scrape of leather loafers out in the hall, and I only manage to retrieve my tools and roll beneath the desk when I hear the door open and voices muttering.

“She’s gone, for God’s sake. What more do you want, Cleo? Lynn isn’t coming in and Paulie is under lock and key. We should focus on finding Lynn and leave Paulie to her own devices. The girl is no threat to us anymore!”

I know that voice and I’m about ready to start cursing Jerry for his foolishness when I hear Cleo start screaming and the distinctive sound of glass shattering.

“You think I care about Lynn and those stupid missile codes? Please, Jerry, I can have new missiles by next week and we all know it! I want that little traitor Paulette and I want to watch her suffer as she dies.”

Cleo spent years blackmailing Paulie and threatening her nephew if the poor girl didn’t toe the line and run her drugs and money for her. The fact that Paulie gained the courage to remove Cleo from the picture while we all moved in is just…reasonable as far as I’m concerned.

Now with Cleo awake and Paulie out of the council like I was hoping for, I have the rare opportunity to play a hand I’ve been keeping close to the vest for months.

At least I would if the damn man would stop hamming it up like he’s auditioning for Broadway. Fucking Jerry. The man is a great asset to have since he’s Cleo’s brother and one of the few people the psychopath trusts, but to come to Paulie’s defence so vehemently isn’t a good idea. I’ll tell him so just as soon as I stop wanting to throttle him.

“She tried to kill me!”

Jerry sighs and I roll my eyes at his tone.

“Cleo, dear, the tox reports confirmed that the toxin was only meant to keep you in an induced coma. The girl couldn’t kill a fly and you know it. Now stop being unreasonable and help me with Lynn, for God’s sake! The woman is a loose cannon, missile codes or not. She could blow the whole operation before we get everything in place.”

The operation, as I’ve pieced together, is to set off a highly lethal biochemical gas at a public event and pin it on a black supremacist group that’s more about rallies and meetings than they are about anything else.

In fact I’ve studied them extensively enough to know that all they are is a band of disgruntled people wanting to focus on equality and human rights in our country.

The gas is the least of my worries, though, and something I’ve addressed with Jerry enough to understand that if we do not move quickly, we could have bombings and missile strikes of major cities on our hands.

I need a handful of things now. The name of the secret council member. Lynn’s missile codes.

And the ability to muzzle Cleo when the time comes.

For that I need Jim Dobson on the scene, but no matter how much intel I get I still can’t get him to move in. I have the SEAL mole and Williams, so I’m clear on that end at least.

Now I just have to get this wrapped up before someone really gets hurt. I have a bad feeling, and while I try to stay positive, I’ve learned to rely on my gut and I know what the feeling means.

Something is going to go wrong.

“Jerry, Lynn is coming back. She’s just trying to shake the tail the Lanes have on her is all.”

That makes me smile because I can well imagine poor Jerry’s face right now. The man is terrified of his wife, and who can blame him? She shot him and left him for dead in her bid to kill Ellie, Wyatt’s wife.

After that little fiasco, it was almost impossible for me to convince Jerry not to take his new family and run. I say
almost
because I did eventually manage to get his help, but the man is not happy about being back in the fold.

Especially not with his psycho wife on the loose.

“Fine, but if that idiot leads them straight to us all, don’t say I didn’t warn you. Oh and do me a favor. Muzzle that dog of yours. What Dyson did to Huley and his lover is just plain wrong and you know it.”

That sends a shiver straight down my spine and I shudder. I’ve seen a lot of gruesome acts in this world, and you’d think I was immune to horror by now, but even I lost my lunch after seeing the results of that torture session.

Dyson really is an animal, and it horrifies me to think of what the man is capable of.

“They were stealing from us. They knew the risks.”

Jesus, this woman is one cold-hearted old crone. I can’t imagine what poor Paulie must have felt for years being under her thumb. Even Ronny, a cousin by marriage and someone we all thought was involved in this mess, is terrified of her. She and her boyfriend, Bronx, are hidden at the Lane estate and refusing to leave.

I can’t blame the woman, not after some of the information I’ve collected and the things Dyson bragged about doing. If I had the choice right now, I’d grab my own woman and run as far and fast as I could to protect her.

“Cleo, just…tone it down is all I’m saying, girl. We’re so close now. We can’t afford to be caught because you’re on some vendetta path here. Talk to Dyson, and for God’s sake, get Lynn’s missile odes. What you do to the woman after isn’t my concern, but we need those codes.”

I hear a huff and grimace at Cleo’s shrill laugh.

“You’re still scared of Lynnie? Look at the way you’re shaking, Jerry. Are you still upset she tried to shoot you, brother? Relax, we’ve spoken and she’s willing to forgive you for the shit you pulled with Ellie.”

“Forgive me? The woman almost cost us everything when she went off the rails, Cleo. I had to work fast and convince them all that I’m innocent before they started piecing it all together. She’s a Goddamned liability and you know it. And if you keep going after Paulette so recklessly—”

“I am in charge here. Me! And don’t you forget it, brother of mine. If I want Paulette Hayes’s head on a platter, that is exactly what I’ll get. Now stop whining and tell me where we are with the Dobson girl.”

Mel.

I feel my blood start boiling at just the mention of my baby, and I have to keep reminding myself that Jerry would never let them know about the cabin in the woods where my girl is currently hiding.

She’s safe from these vultures and I can’t begin to think about her being alone out there while Cleo is looking for her or I’ll go crazy.

“She’s disappeared, Cleo. I told you that. We’ve searched everywhere for Mel Dobson. The chief must have gotten her out from under Roman and hidden her before we killed him.”

“You sure we can trust the little shit? He’s one of them—”

“He’s been involved in this with me since almost the beginning. How do you think I got those AI assholes off our asses in the first place? Roman took care of that for us.”

I resist the urge to snort and listen as Jerry starts playing his part to perfection. I gain respect for the man as I hear him tell her about my gambling problem and how I squandered my trust fund.

According to what I put on paper, I’m penniless and on the verge of being disowned by George if I don’t clean my act up. It’s all bullshit, of course, but I’ll sing that tune as loud and long as necessary if it keeps my head intact.

Just a little longer
, I keep reminding myself as the conversation turns to Ronny and her disappearance while Cleo bemoans the fact that Lane security has tripled and the women are all untouchable at this point.

By the time I hear them leave, still arguing about Paulie, I feel like I’ve aged ten years. That’s what being in the presence of pure evil will do to you, and I hate feeling this dirty and unworthy all the time.

I need to talk to my baby girl just once, just long enough to hear her voice and remind myself of why I can’t fail.

The problem with being away from her for so long without knowing that she’s still safe is that the fool woman could decide to come out of hiding and go home at any moment.

That’s bad for a lot of reasons, namely the fact that I don’t want her knowing about her father yet. Mel loved her dad, and it would kill her to find that he died so brutally.

I swore to Mel that I’d protect the chief and make sure he came out of this with a plea bargain and a suspended sentence for all the help he’s given me.

I failed her, but by God I will not fail her again. She will stay hidden no matter what happens, even if something should go wrong and I die in this terrible place.

“Dammit, Lane,” I hiss beneath my breath, sliding out from under the desk and grabbing my stuff. “You stay away from her till it’s over.”