Shatter (Unbreakable Bonds 2)

The liquor burned Snow’s throat and he closed his eyes a moment. Laying this on them after putting their friend in the ground felt like the worst possible thing he could do. Until he thought about the threat. Dwight Gratton was a madman. Snow might have been the one to beat him nearly to death, but his expression when he’d been standing over Ian in that motel room had burned a permanent place in his memories. Madness was too tame a word for the layers of hell that lived in that man.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the photo. “Tonight I went to Rowe’s house and when I came back outside, that picture was under a rock on the porch.” He walked to the couch and handed it to Lucas.

His friend stared at the image. “I don’t understand.”

“I haven’t had a chance to tell you this but that night we were in Covington and I left early? I saw Dwight Gratton in that bar.” He nodded at Lucas’s hand. “I’m pretty sure he left that for me to find tonight.”

All the color bled from Lucas’s face and he looked down at the picture again. “Oh no. Oh fuck no!”

Andrei straightened, alarm and confusion widening his eyes and twisting his lips.

Snow sat in the chair across the coffee table. “He’s back.”

“And he was in the hospital,” Lucas said, voice starting barely above a whisper before it gathered in strength as anger bled red back into his cheeks. “He was there sometime when we weren’t. You saw him in Covington? That’s why you acted—why you ran out like that.” He shook his head. “I thought you were reacting to what happened with me and Andrei.”

Snow’s brows snapped together. “Why would I do that?”

Lucas merely lifted an eyebrow before glancing down at the picture. “This is bad. You should have said something. That was a week ago! Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I planned to. I chased him that night, went back to look for him and that’s the night Ian and Melissa were hit. Since then…everything has just been screwed up. I simply forgot about him. After seeing that picture tonight, I think…no, I know that he was behind the accident. Only, I don’t think he was after Ian and Melissa.”

Lucas held up the picture. “Oh, he’s definitely after Ian.”

“What I mean is they weren’t supposed to be in that car. In Rowe’s SUV.”

Dropping the picture, Lucas grabbed his glass and drained it. He shoved to his feet and walked to the bar for another drink. “We’ve got to get ahold of Rowe. We need to alert the nurse I hired that he and Ian need to be under lockdown. The nurse is big, so he can probably watch over Ian somewhat, but we need to get a bodyguard on him and on you.” He turned back to point directly at Snow.

“I’m not worried about me. Do you know where Rowe is?”

He shook his head before he grabbed the bottle of bourbon and walked back over to the sofa. “No, but he did text to say he took the dogs and got out of town. That he needed time.”

Snow didn’t blame him. He’d be the same way. “He’ll probably be safe then because we know Gratton is here. That picture wasn’t on the porch when I walked inside Rowe’s house tonight.”

“Which means he was there when you were.” Lucas slammed the bottle down on the table and turned to look at Andrei. “Dwight Gratton is someone from our past who isn’t supposed to be in town. He’s dangerous. He used to work for Boris Jagger—was his right hand man, in fact. An enforcer who didn’t mind getting his hands bloody.”

Andrei’s dark eyebrows rose but he didn’t say anything. Every local knew who Boris Jagger was.

“We need to talk to Jagger,” Lucas said.

Snow shook his head. “No way. He reneged on our deal and we need to know why, not run in blind on this. Not with him. We cut ties after learning what we did about him and his people. Hell, it was all we could do to keep Rowe from moving all of us with Ian to the West Coast.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I was thinking maybe we could get Gidget on this.”

“Good idea.” Lucas looked down at the picture again. He pushed his glass away without pouring himself another drink. “Andrei and I will go to Ian’s tonight. Drink too much,” he said with air quotes. “And end up crashing in his guest room.”

Snow stood up and grabbed his coat. “You’re not going to tell him about Gratton, are you?”

“Not yet. He’s stuck in that damn cast. I don’t want him to panic, but he’s going to know something’s up when we give him a bodyguard. I’ll tell him then.” Lucas frowned at him.