He’s not who he says he is.
As I showed him what she’d written, I said, “This isn’t making any sense.”
“She’s definitely trying to tell us something, but what?” As he handed me another receipt, he said, “Check this one out.”
He can’t find out
“Who the fuck is she talking about?”
“This is crazy. We’re going about it all wrong.” As he studied the receipt, he said, “Look at the time stamp. We need to stop reading them like this and put them in order.”
I continued sorting through my stack of receipts, searching for another message from Marlowe while Menace did the same with his. Once we’d put them in order by time, we stood back and read the complete message Marlowe had written. Menace was still staring down at the receipts as he muttered, “Holy shit. Do you think this is him?”
“Has to be.”
“You’re telling me this motherfucker has been right under our noses for days, and we knew nothing about it.”
“He came here pretending to be Kate’s boyfriend, brother. No way we could’ve known it was him.”
“Still pisses me off.”
“You and me both, but we’re not doing anybody any favors by standing here. We need to get back to the clubhouse and tell Viper what’s going on.”
Menace grabbed his phone as he said, “I’ll message him now and tell him to call in the others. They’re gonna wanna hear this.”
“No doubt.” As we started towards the door, I motioned my hand towards the different security monitors mounted on the wall. “He might be watching. We gotta walk out of here like nothing’s up.”
Menace nodded, then followed me out of the office. As we made our way to the back door, Menace smiled, reached over and patted me on the shoulder as he said, “Thanks for the help, brother. Breakfast is on me.”
I didn’t bother reminding him no one could hear what he was saying. Instead, I just nodded and followed him out the door. As soon as he locked up, we were on our way back to the clubhouse. On the ride over, I thought back to the last couple of days with Marlowe. I couldn’t imagine how terrified she must’ve been. Hell, I’d thought she was pulling away from me, but instead, she was just doing what she could to protect me and the brothers. I couldn’t help but feel like a huge, fucking asshole for doubting her, but I’d find a way to make it up to her. I would show her once and for all I was there for her—no matter what the circumstance.
The guys had already gathered in the conference room and were waiting on us when Menace and I got back to the clubhouse. It was clear from the tension crackling around them they were eager to hear why we’d called them all together. Menace reached into his pocket and took out the receipts Marlowe had written on. “Rafe and I were going through last night’s receipts when we came across these.”
“What exactly is all this?” Viper asked with narrow eyes.
“It’s a warning from Marlowe,” I answered as I motioned my hand towards the receipts. “Turns out this Eric guy Kate brought to the club the other night wants intel on us, and he’s using Marlowe to get it. In the notes, it says he’s planted cameras in her apartment and has eyes on us at the club. He’s even gone so far as to put a mic on her, and he’s threatened to kill her family—and me—if she doesn’t get the information he wants.”
“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” Viper roared.
“I wish we were, but this is no fucking joke,” Menace replied. “There’s a lot more there, including the fact that Marlowe’s biological father was Anthony Polito.”
Surprise crossed Viper’s face. “What the fuck?”
“Yeah, she had no idea,” Menace told him. “She didn’t even know she was adopted until yesterday when Kate told her.”
“Hold on a fucking minute.” Country’s brows furrowed as he said, “I thought we were done with this Polito motherfucker. I mean, damn. We wiped out all those motherfuckers when Fury was here.”
“Clearly, we didn’t.”
Menace took a moment to go over the rest of what Marlowe had written in her warning, and when he was done, Viper looked angrier than ever. “So, he’s here to finish what Polito started, and he’s using Marlowe to make that shit happen.”
“That about sums it up,” I answered.
“Well, that shit isn’t going to happen. It’s time to turn the tables on this guy.” Viper turned his attention to Menace as he said, “I want to know everything there is about this Eric fella, and I want to know it now.”
Menace nodded. “I’ll pull an image from our security feed at Stilettos and use it with my facial recognition software. Ten to one says he’s our Stark.”
“Until we know more, I’m not taking any chances. As of right now, consider yourselves on lockdown. I want all families and ol’ ladies secured by nightfall.”