Cassidy closed her eyes, but the tears escaped anyway. She’d had a conversation like this with Alfred right before she’d left him, and her ex had been appalled and adamant that no child of his was ever going to be a homosexual. Leo, after a single day, accepted Mario exactly how he was, and he didn’t even really know him.
She felt his fingers on her cheek, gently brushing away her tears. She opened her eyes to see his brow furrowed and a look of such worry on his face, it almost made her smile. Almost.
“Thank you. I needed to hear all that.”
“Good. You ready to meet my team?”
Cassidy looked in front of her in surprise. She didn’t recognize where they were, but that wasn’t very surprising, as she didn’t know Kingston well since she wasn’t allowed out and about too much. She turned to look behind her, but all she saw were other cars on the road. She wouldn’t know if one of them held members of Michael’s security force. “Is it safe?”
“Yes. I lost our tail a while back.”
“Seriously? I thought men weren’t good at multitasking,” she said.
Leo chuckled. “I’m not saying I can read a book and watch TV at the same time, but evading bad guys while chatting with my girl? Piece of cake.”
He pulled the sedan into an alley behind a run-down and, frankly, pretty scary-looking motel. Pulling the keys from the ignition, he turned to her. “My team isn’t staying here, but it’s a good place to meet. Coke would never expect us to be at a place like this, and it’s far enough from his territory that it shouldn’t get back to him. You’re going to have to climb out this side.”
Looking to her right, Cassidy snorted. Leo had parked against a concrete wall at the edge of the alley. Right next to the wall. She wouldn’t have been able to open the car door if she’d wanted to. But all the other cars in the alley were parked the same way. They blended in perfectly with their surroundings. After Leo stepped out of the vehicle, Cassidy awkwardly scooted over the center console. Within seconds, she was standing next to Leo, and he had her hand in his, and they were walking toward a door.
It opened as they approached, and Cassidy looked up in surprise.
A man with dirty-blond hair and the most amazing blue eyes stood in front of them, holding the door open.
“Thanks, Eagle,” Leo said.
“Of course,” Eagle responded.
Then Leo turned and said, “Thanks for the assist.”
Startled, Cassidy looked over her shoulder and saw another man had come up behind them. He was only a few inches taller than her five-nine and had short black hair.
“Anytime, Gramps. Although you didn’t need much help from me. It was kind of fun to get between you and your tail and drive really slow. The asshole seemed pretty frustrated with my touristy driving.”
All three men chuckled as Leo guided Cassidy into the building. They walked down a hall and entered a room on their right. She wrinkled her nose as soon as they stepped inside. There was a funk in the air that Cassidy couldn’t identify.
“Cassidy, I’d like you to meet two of my three teammates. This is Bull, so named because he always hits his target. And this is Eagle.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Cassidy said politely. She wasn’t sure what to think of the other men. They were both tall and muscular and looked as if they could more than take care of themselves in any situation they were put into. But it wasn’t as if they could fight all of Michael’s security forces. Three against the dozens of people who worked inside the mansion wasn’t exactly even odds.
“She’s skeptical,” Bull said with a grin.
“Hilarious,” Eagle agreed. Even Leo seemed to be laughing at her.
Cassidy stiffened. She didn’t like being the butt of the joke, especially when she had no idea what was so funny.
“We aren’t laughing at you,” Leo told her, pulling her over to a table. A towel had been draped over one of the chairs, and he gestured for her to sit. “I’ll explain everything, and you’ll understand how the four of us can—and will—break you out of here.”
Cassidy sat gingerly on the edge of the chair. She’d gotten comfortable with Leo, but then again, she knew him. Well, knew the man he used to be. She didn’t know Bull and Eagle. “Wait, you said four, but there’s only three of you here.”
“Smoke’s watching Coke’s house,” Eagle said. “He’ll report back to us anything we need to know. We’re safe.”
And just like that, Cassidy felt herself relaxing somewhat. Leo’s friends had weird names, but it was obvious they were all there to help her, and it hit home how much she owed them.
Bull and Eagle leaned against the walls nearby, and Leo pulled up a chair near her. For the next thirty minutes, he explained what he’d been doing in the five years since he’d gotten out of the Army. He told her about Silverstone and his friends, and what they did, and he talked about Silverstone Towing back in Indianapolis.
By the time he stopped speaking, her head was spinning. It was shocking enough to learn Leo had been in Special Forces, let alone what he’d been doing since. Though she had to admit . . . she was extremely relieved as well. “I know you said you’d read the letters I sent to the FBI, but for some reason . . . I still kind of thought you’d accidentally run into me,” she admitted sheepishly.
Leo smiled and shook his head. “No. We’ve been researching Michael Coke and his organization for quite a while now. We know what he’s capable of. We’re working with the FBI and Homeland Security, and even the DEA.”
“So you’re really going to kill Michael?” Cassidy asked.
“If possible, yes.”
“How?”
“That’s not your concern,” Bull said, pushing off the wall and crouching near her chair.
Cassidy appreciated that he was getting down to her level since she was sitting. She’d learned to hate how everyone talked down to her, literally and figuratively. Standing over her and telling her how things were going to be.
“I want to help,” she protested. “When I first got the job, I thought Michael was really nice. But I quickly realized that he hides his evil side very well. He was the one who ordered Lloyd to take our passports, the one who decided Mario and I weren’t allowed outside the walls of the mansion at the same time.”
Bull nodded. “I’m sure he’s behind everything you and Mario have suffered through, but we’re going to end it. Soon.”
“Does it bother you?” Eagle asked.
Cassidy turned her head to look at the other man. “Does what bother me?”
“The fact that Gramps is gonna kill Coke?”
Cassidy turned back to Leo. “I can’t believe Gramps is your nickname.”
Leo grinned.
“That’s just wrong. Seriously,” she complained.
“He’s the oldest,” Bull said from his spot next to her.
“So? Look at him. Does he look like a grandpa to you?”
No one answered her question, and all three had silly little smirks on their faces. Cassidy rolled her eyes. “Well, you will never hear that name cross my lips when I’m talking about or to you. No way in hell.”
“Skylar, Taylor, and Molly call him that. Is it gonna bother you?” Eagle asked.