Page 62 of Protected by the Biker (Grim Reaper MC)
“Wow.” He laughed. “Now, that is some crazy shit. You are willing to sacrifice your career for that woman? That says a lot.”
“Not sacrifice.” I closed the window’s blinds and turned back towards him. “Just put on pause, for now. I would hate to see her hurting and I know that if she witnesses her family fall apart, then she would fall apart internally right along with them. I need to know what you know about any deals that come up. Anything that will grab the attention of the Chicago police department.”
“Why?”
I grinded my teeth together inside my mouth like I was trying to smash them to powder. I couldn’t believe my position had changed so dramatically and all because of a woman that I couldn’t seem to shake out of my heart. She grew like a rose in a place that I never thought there would be life.
“I need to protect Carina and if that means keeping her family out of trouble, or at least giving them the heads up, then that is what I am going to do. I just need to know what is happening Mason. Can you do that for me?”
He exhaled, then leaned back in his seat. “Yeah, man. Yeah, I can do that. It will be weird as fuck, but I can do it.”
“Good. That’s all I need from you.”
I headed towards his front door, but he spoke up before I could reach it.
“Hey, you’re leaving?”
“Yeah. I need to take care of some things first. You just make sure you keep me alert to anything big, alright?”
“Ok. I got it, Harrison.”
As I walked by him, I saw the shotgun just to the right of his chair and wondered if he would’ve had the gall to use it if things didn’t go the way they did. I was just happy that I didn’t have to find out.
***
Over the next couple of weeks, I kept my distance from the precinct, but at the same time, I made sure to stay in touch with Mason in case anything changed about the Dellucci family. I hadn’t heard from him in the last two days, so I started to wonder if everything was alright.
Carina and I continued getting closer and as the days went by and the more we hung out with each other, the more I wanted to make sure nothing happened to her or her family. She had become a thorn in my side, but it wasn’t one that I wanted to remove. I couldn’t move the way I normally would have, but I loved having her around.
One evening, during a date with Carina, I got a call from O’Malley.
“Hello?”
“Are you enjoying your vacation?”
“Vacation? That doesn’t sound like ‘suspension’ to me.”
“Yeah, same thing. Bring your ass into the precinct within the next hour.”
“O’Malley, I am out right now.”
“I don’t give a shit if you are in fucking Puerto Rico. Bring your ass to the Precinct in the next hour.”
He hung up before I could response. I shook my head as Carina sat on the other side of the table. The sparkle in her eye glimmered as she sat in front of the glass of champagne. I shook my head sadly.
“Babe, I need to go.”
“I understand. Are you getting called back to work?”
“I don’t know what the fuck is going on. All I know is that I need to go down to the station so I can see what that bastard wants.” A look of disappointment flooded her eyes. I reached my hand across the table and gently slid it on top of hers. “Babe, don’t worry about anything, alright? I told you that I will make sure you are safe above all. Besides, I haven’t heard from Mason in a few days, so maybe I will find out what the fuck is going on with him.”
“Ok, baby. Be careful, alright?”
“Always.”
I took out my card and dropped it onto the table so she could pay for our meals. After that, I kissed her on the lips and then left to go to the precinct. A million scenarios ran through my head like a track meet. I wondered if O’Malley figured out that I was trying to keep Carina and her family safe, or even worse, Mason could’ve ratted me out and made me appear to be connected to the Dellucci family. Either way, I had a dreadful feeling that shit was about to hit the fan.
When I walked into the building, everyone looked at me as if I was a ghost. I sucked the air out of the room when I stepped into the lobby. I clenched my jaw as officers cleared their throats and waited for me to make my next move. I looked throughout the office until I landed on Mason’s desk. It was wiped clean as if he was no longer around. With a curious eye, I walked towards it, searching for an explanation. One of the officers spoke up.
“He is gone, Harrison.”
“Gone?” What do you mean by that?”
“He is gone. I guess someone found out that he was connected to the Dellucci family. He is detained right now, but he is trying to make bail.”
Fuck. “When did this happen?”
“A couple of days ago.”
I shook my head. The timeline made sense now. For the last couple of days, it had seemed as though he had fallen completely off the face of the earth. There was no sign of him at his home and his voicemail filled to capacity so that I couldn’t leave another message.
“Alright,” I said solemnly as I walked to O’Malley’s office. I knocked twice and after that, his voice billowed from the other side, telling me to come in. When I opened the door, another officer sat in my chair with a smirk on his face. O’Malley grinned as he pressed his fingertips together.
“Glad you could join us, Harrison. Have a fucking seat next to that guy.” I looked at Ronald. He was an undercover cop who was trying his best to take my ranking as lead undercover.
“I just wanted you to take a look at what a real fucking detective looks like.” O’Malley laughed. “Within a matter of days, this guy not only came in, but he got concrete information about a deal the Dellucci family is getting ready to make and in that process, he bagged four dirty cops for their connections with Dellucci. And your friend, Mason?” O’Malley shook his head, “that filthy fucking fat piece of shit was one of them. I just wanted you to see the man who will most likely replace you because of your inability to separate business from pleasure.”
Ronald smirked as he looked at me like a winning fighter in a cage match. I threw up my hands and I walked out of the office. I could hear O’Malley calling my name behind me, but I did not care. I was in too deep now, and I had to know exactly what was going on. And the only way I could think of doing that was to talk to the one person I wanted to keep away from this.
Chapter 20
Carina
“Fine, daddy. I will come. It is later tomorrow, right?”
“Yes, sweetheart. We have a dinner at our place and you know how much me and your mother love to have you around when these things take place. You help bring life to the room with your beautiful smile and your demeanor. It’s like you put everyone at ease.”
Years ago, I had done this for my family in the past. It was never anything more than just a dinner. No business was ever discussed. After desert was served, that was when my father and brothers always went out to the porch to talk while I helped my mother clean dishes. Once I was seventeen, I figured out what these dinners we really about and I hadn’t been to one since.
“I’ll think about it Daddy.”
“Just come tomorrow evening, sweetheart. For me? It will be the last time I ask you to take part in such a thing.”
I huffed. “Fine, daddy. I’ll go. But please let this be the last time.”
“Absolutely, sweetheart. Absolutely.”
I hung up the phone, then got up to find something to wear to dinner. As much as I hated what my family did, they were still my family. I was lucky that this was the only involvement I ever had with the family business. When I was younger, I told them that I didn’t want anything to do with the business side of it, and they somehow had agreed. As I grew up, they had helped me so much with college tuition and my apartment that I felt like I owed it to them to help out in these types of situations. It was harmless and besides that, it was the least that I could do for my family.
I
thought about Harrison as I pulled a long, sleek black dress out of the closet and laid it on my bed. I wondered what would happen if I brought him to the dinner with me. I laughed thinking how daddy would probably have a fit that I brought someone outside the family to a thing like this. Besides that, I didn’t think it would be a good idea, especially if other members of the family, and other families were going to be there. All it would take was one person to figure out that he was a cop, and after that, I knew all hell would break loose.
Right on cue, I got a call from Harrison.
“Hey sweetheart? I was just thinking about you. How did everything go at the precinct?”
“Baby, I need you to be upfront with me, alright?” I could hear the distress in his voice.
Panic slowly started to course through my veins. “Sure, baby. What’s wrong?”
“Does your family have anything going on right now? Any deals?”
I lowered my eyes and pulled my ear away from the phone. I shook my head, thinking that his Captain must’ve gotten into his head and forced him to get some information out of me.
