Rocco Read online

  She had scared the Hell out of me, and I wasn’t at all happy with the risk she had taken, but she was safe now. I couldn’t help but be proud of her. I knew she would be able to get what she was after, and I knew she could hold her own.

  But I was also damn glad I had put that GPS tracker in her purse, too. Teamwork had paid off, and now we were safe and sound.

  Well, almost. I was going to take her to the hospital.

  Then, I could rest easy.

  “I’m telling you,” Amelia said when we were alone, “I got it all. I got pictures of everything, along with what he admitted to me in the bar. I’m telling you this is going to stand in court, and we’re going to get Roman out of there. Even if it goes so far as to trial, there’s no way they’re going to think that he was anywhere near the stabbing when it took place.”

  “That’s great,” I said with a nod and a smile. I was glad to know we were going to get Roman out of jail, and I was glad we finally had what we needed to prove he was innocent, but, I wasn’t happy with the fact her arm was in a cast or that she had to go through this to get the information in question.

  “You know you didn’t have to put yourself in danger for Roman, right?” I asked her. “That’s what we’re for. We would have gone to that warehouse to get those photos if that’s what you wanted.”

  “I know,” Amelia said with a nod. “But you heard what he said. They were going to set a trap for you, and I would hate to think that I might’ve been able to do something all along.”

  “I’m just glad you’re okay,” I said. I held her gently, and though she grimaced, she smiled.

  “I’m glad you came for me. I don’t want to even think about what would have happened if I had been caught and you weren’t there,” she said. “I was so scared. I thought they were going to hurt me, or they were going to hurt you or something.”

  “No one is going to hurt either one of us. I would kill anyone who laid a finger on you,” I said.

  “Then, I would have to make sure you didn’t do it maliciously,” she laughed as she rolled her eyes. “The last thing I need is to fight to get you out of jail.”

  “I’m sure the day is going to come when we’re going to need you legally again,” I said with a smirk as I leaned forward to kiss her. “That’s the life of the MC.”

  “I think I can rise to the challenge,” Amelia said as she kissed me back. She closed her eyes and leaned into the kiss, making the most of the moment. I knew she would come around to see things from our point of view. She just had to learn that not all men were the same. Not all people she dealt with were the same, either.

  She was a good lawyer, and I was proud of her. I was still amazed she had gone through with what she did just to make sure Roman was set free, but it felt good. She had what it took to be an old lady in the MC, and I could see she was willing to give it her all.

  She might not have done it for the sake of the club, but she had done it for the sake of a member, and she had done it for my sake, as well. She didn’t have to claim that it was for the good of the Steel Wings because I knew it was for my own good, and that’s all that mattered to me.

  I was ready to take the next step – not just with getting Roman out of jail, but with Amelia, too. I wanted her. I wanted her forever. I never thought I was going to fall so hard for her, but now, I knew she was the one I wanted.

  Tonight, I was going to prove to her how I felt, and then I would take a step back and let her do her thing in the courtroom. I knew she could get Roman out of jail, and I knew she would, too.

  She just needed the information, and now she did. No one was going to doubt he was innocent, and with her defense, I knew things were going to come together as they should have all along.

  But, I had to admit, deep down inside, if Roman had to go to jail to make sure I got together with Amelia, then I was almost glad that he had to go through it. Sure, I wanted to get him out, but if this is what came of him being in, then I knew he would be happy to take the heat, at least for a while.

  Now, it was time to get him out. Now, I was happy.

  And now, we were ready to move forward with our case. The prosecution wouldn’t have an argument to stand on, and it would just be a matter of time before the real attacker was brought in and put in jail where he belonged.

  It was time to stop trying to find facts and go with what we knew to be right. It was time to stop hiding from how we felt about each other, too. I knew how I felt about this girl, and I knew how she felt about me. It was just a matter of getting her to admit it to herself – and everyone else.

  And, let the truth come out for good.

  Chapter 22

  Amelia

  “So you’re saying that even after all the shit we’ve got right here in front of us, and what you went through, and that broken wrist, we’re still going to have to find more concrete evidence in the case?” Rocco looked at me like I was crazy.

  I sighed. “Unfortunately, the prosecution isn’t as convinced with the evidence as I thought she was going to be.”

  “What the Hell does that mean?” Jett asked.

  “It means that we’re going to have to work a little harder if we’re going to get what we want out of this case.” I didn’t know how to explain it to them, or how to explain it to them that this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, either.

  I had written to the prosecution and let them know that I had more evidence in the case. I wanted her to know that I could create reasonable doubt, there was more than enough evidence to support that, and if it were to go to trial, it was going to end in our favor.

  Of course, we didn’t want it to go to trial. It cost time and money, and it was going to be a lengthy process if we were going to have to put together a jury and get everyone on board with the fact Roman wasn’t the one who had done the stabbing.

  But, the prosecution wasn’t as easy to work with as I had hoped she was going to be. She made it clear she was going to push it through to a trial if we weren’t going to admit guilt or work out a plea deal. There was a problem with the defense, and she could pick it apart in an instant if she wanted to.

  Of course, I wasn’t so sure she would be that good, but then, she made a point I couldn’t argue.

  Roman was a criminal.

  Sure, perhaps in a court of law with a man who hadn’t ever been on the wrong side of the law and who didn’t have this sort of track record, it wouldn’t be that hard to create a defense and enough reasonable doubt to make anyone believe he didn’t have anything to do with a stabbing.

  But, the fact of the matter was that Roman was a criminal, and he had been part of a lot of crime sprees in the past. He had been in fights, and he had been in more fights even behind bars. He wasn’t the kind of guy to mess with, and he didn’t look like he was, either.

  He was covered in tattoos and battle scars, and that was enough in and of itself to make anyone second guess whether he was a good guy. I worried she was right about that, and if we were to push it to trial, she would be able to create enough evidence of her own to prove that he had been there during the night of the stabbing, and since he was the only one we had on record with the history of violence, it was likely he was the one who had done so.

  It was hard for me to fight with that argument, and I knew we were going to have to come up with something better. In essence, we were going to have to come up with more people than just Roman in the case.

  “We need to have more suspects,” I said.

  “What do you mean?” Jett asked. “I thought we knew that Smith was behind all this, and he was going to take the fall for it. Or, at the very least, we were going to get enough evidence against the prosecution that Roman would be able to walk free without having to worry about this.”

  “Well, with the prosecution thinking that Roman is a bad guy, it’s not going to be as easy as just telling them he wasn’t there at that time. We have a lot of evidence, that’s for sure, but we don’t have enough that we’re going to be able to
just get him to walk free. We’re going to want to have another person to point the finger at – someone we can say was involved with the case so we aren’t going to leave the public hanging,” I said.

  I hoped that it would make sense, but though the men understood what I was trying to say, they weren’t convinced we were going to be able to make a case for them.

  “How are we going to present that to the prosecution?” Blade asked. “Just walk up to her and say that it wasn’t our friend who did it, but a guy we really don’t like is to blame? That’s not going to really hold a lot of weight in the justice system, is it?”

  “We’re going to make it easier than that,” I said. “I happened to hear a couple of the men talking when I was at the bar the other day, and I think we might have something else to stand on. Essentially, I want to be able to catch them in the act, so to speak.”

  “And, how are we going to do that? Are you going to try to record something they said at the bar? I have a feeling if you were to show up there now, they would ask you to leave,” Knox said with a laugh.

  I joined in the laughter, though I got the impression he was making fun of me.

  “No, I’m not going to just walk back into the bar. You have to remember that I have a few inside tricks. And one of those happens to be the cops,” I said.

  There was a groan in the room, and Rocco shrugged. “We don’t like to work with them any more than necessary. And, that usually means we try to avoid working with them altogether.”

  “I know you do, but I would say that we burned our bridges by going to the warehouse the other day, and I think the best thing to do would be to bring the cops down on them when they are in the act of doing something in public. That would make a show big enough to attract attention, and it would put more publicity on someone who isn’t Roman,” I said.

  “What do you mean?” Jett asked.

  “I mean, I heard they are going to meet with the guy who double-crossed the stabbing victim. They’re going to be at a restaurant downtown tomorrow night, and they’re going to talk business. I have a feeling we can get a few cops in there, and we can even show up if we want. They’ll catch the guys in the act, and then we’re going to take that evidence and shove it in the prosecution’s face. With that on the board, that’s going to put someone else in the public’s eye, which means Roman isn’t the only bad guy here,” I said with a grin.

  The men looked at each other around the room, and I knew they were thinking over my idea. Of course, there was risk to the plan. It was hard to go to the cops and work with them when they all knew that they were flirting with going to jail themselves more often than not.

  But, that didn’t change the fact this was the best chance we had at getting Roman out of jail. We didn’t want him to be stuck in there, and I was worried to push the case through to trial with the evidence we had. Sure, I was confident in what I had from the warehouse, and I knew the names and dates of other activities that could help.

  But, that wasn’t enough to feel like it was a solid defense, and if we were to drop the ball too soon, that could land Roman in jail for a very long time – if not for the rest of his life.

  The last thing any of us wanted was for him to take the fall for something that he didn’t do, and it looked like he was about to do that very thing. I knew better. I knew he didn’t do it, and I was going to fight with everything I had in me to make sure he walked free.

  But, I worried that the rest of the world wasn’t going to see things my way. We were going to have to get the cops involved if we were going to do this right, and we would have to work with them to make sure we brought down the right guys.

  “Well, I’m not seeing another choice here,” Jett said with a sigh. “If we’re going to get him out of there, then we’re going to have to bend the rules on a few things.”

  “If you think we can do this without half the gang ending up behind bars, then I’m all for it,” Blade said. “We need to get Roman back for more reasons than one.”

  “Agreed,” Ares piped up, and my heart skipped a beat in my chest.

  “It’s decided then,” I said with a smile. “I’ll make a few phone calls to let the police know what’s going to happen. I know they’re going to be happy with the tip, so we’re not going to have to worry about them coming after any of you on this.”

  “Good,” Jett said. “I’m tired of having my men in jail.”

  “Me, too,” I said with a nod. “I promise I’m going to get him out of there as soon as I can.”

  He nodded, and the subject was soon changed to other things. I wanted to keep talking about the plan, but I knew that I had to let it go and focus on other things, too.

  I had to be patient. I would talk to the people I needed to, and they would be there for me. I knew they would be thrilled to get mobsters off the street, and what better way to do it than to get big names in the community when they were at the same table.

  Sure, it was going to be tricky, and I knew they weren’t going to be thrilled with the fact there were going to be innocent bystanders who would get caught up in the heat of the moment, but they knew what they were doing and would make sure everyone was safe as possible.

  Then, we were going to catch those guys in the act, and we were going to lock them up. It was the best bet Roman had in getting out of there, and I was going to take the chance on him if it was the last thing I ever did. I was determined to get him out, and I would fight and fight until he was.

  I knew it wasn’t over yet, but I had confidence in my plan. My plan to get the evidence at the warehouse had worked – despite a few hiccups – and now it was time to deal with this one, too.

  It was one step at a time, but I was confident in the next step that I had. This was what we needed to do, and this was going to prove once and for all Roman was innocent.

  And, it was going to get me the case. I would prove to the whole office I knew what I was doing and I knew what I was talking about. I would be able to hold my head up high and prove to them I could handle cases like this. And just like Rocco had said when he came into my office that morning a couple months before, I would prove to them I was the best of the best.

  They’d all just have to watch me.

  Chapter 23

  Rocco

  I walked back and forth in the restaurant, trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible. I wasn’t dressed in the standard MC gear, which was fine, but it was annoying watching the mobsters talk and drink as though nothing in the world could touch them.

  They thought they had gotten away with sending one of our own to jail, and they thought they were free to just sit and celebrate now. There were plenty of drinks on the table, which was enough to piss me off, too.

  But, I had to keep my cool. There were plenty of cops around, all undercover and all waiting for the right moment to strike. I wasn’t sure if the waiter himself was an undercover cop or detective just waiting for the right moment to give the signal, or if they were just close enough to the table they could hear what was going on, but either way, I was pent up with energy and ready for something to happen.

  I knew the cops had done a fine job of keeping the traffic coming in and out of the restaurant a minimum. Once the last of the mobsters had arrived, they shut off the people coming into the restaurant, and they were stopping others from leaving altogether.

  Anyone in the building was going to have to go through a screening process to get back out, though they were being moved to another room to keep them safe in case something were to go wrong.

  We wanted the plan to run smoothly. We wanted to get the mobsters, and get the Hell out of there without having to deal with gunfire or bloodshed. It should be simply. Hell, the entire plan was meant to be simple. But, it still remained to be seen how it was all going to work out, that was for sure.

  I knew these men, and I knew they were all hair-trigger when it came to how they reacted to things. They could be fine one moment, then have their guns drawn and be firing like t
heir lives depended on it the next.

  The last thing any of us wanted was for anyone innocent to get hurt, and we were working hard to make sure that didn’t happen. It was going to be a dance to get these men corralled like we needed them to be without that going down, but I had a feeling we could pull it off.

  Jett and Knox were on the other side of the restaurant, and I knew Blade was near the door. We had worked with the cops to allow the members of the MC to be present for the arrest. We had enough information on the men that we knew how to keep them there, and we knew what the cops were looking for when they came down on them.

  Now, it was just a matter of waiting.

  The only thing I was happy about was the fact Amelia wasn’t in the line of fire. I didn’t want her anywhere near there when all Hell broke loose, and I wasn’t going to let her anywhere near the action. Of course, she wasn’t happy with the news when I told her, but she didn’t argue with me, either.

  She knew I cared about her, and I didn’t want her to get hurt. I didn’t want her in the room because I didn’t want to have to worry about her being caught in the crossfire. I didn’t want to have to worry about a damn thing with her. I had almost lost her in the warehouse the other night, and even if she argued that she was fine and nothing was going to happen, I knew that something could have.

  It only took a second for the worst to go down. If that were to happen and I were to lose her, I knew I could never forgive myself. I hadn’t told her that I loved her yet, but I knew she knew that I did.

  I would lay down my life for her, and I wasn’t going to let her put herself in danger for his case anymore. We could handle our own. We had been doing it for years, and we could continue to do it, too. It was part of the MC, after all.

  I watched the officers like a hawk, waiting for the moment when they would give the signal. Waiting for the right time.