3. Layla

Four days. Four fucking days! I was going stir-crazy, but every time I went to get out of bed, one of my doting, overbearing, asshole men was at my side. I couldn't even go to the bathroom on my own. They insisted on carrying me back and forth. I felt terrible about how much it was beginning to annoy me because they were just trying to take care of me, but enough was enough! Dr. Bailey was supposed to come by yesterday to clear me, but she had an emergency and had to postpone until today. And, of course, that meant I wasn't allowed to leave the bed yet, according to the guys. What was worse was that Cordy agreed with them! I was not a fucking invalid. Brandi and Monika had stopped by yesterday to keep me company, but it hadn't helped to make me feel less restless.

"You're pouting again, Mo stoirín," Sean commented from the chair beside the bed as he read something on his iPad.

"I need to get out of this fucking bed," I growled.

"Dr. Bailey should be here soon. Once she says you're fine, you can," he replied firmly.

If I didn't adore Dr. Bailey, I'd shoot her for keeping me tied to this damned bed longer than necessary.

"Well, what's going on?" I asked. "You can at least catch me up so I can hit the ground running when she does."

"You know the rules," Sean replied without looking up.

I growled again as I crossed my arms. Two days ago, after I wouldn't stop pestering him, Colton decreed there was no business talk in the bedroom. A rule that they were all more than happy to uphold. Stubborn jerks.

The door opened, and I sat up excitedly until I saw it was Zach. "You're such a bad patient," Zach laughed as he stood in the doorway.

"Like you have any room to talk," I argued.

"You're right, I don't," he chuckled. "But look who's here!" He stepped into the room, and Dr. Bailey followed him in.

"Finally! Doc, you have to tell them I can leave this bed. And that I am perfectly capable of walking," I said desperately.

Dr. Bailey chuckled as she set up her equipment. "Getting some rest won't kill you, Layla. You know most people would enjoy the opportunity to be lazy in bed for a few days."

"Four. Four days. And I'm not like most people. Anton and Tommy aren't resting, and I can't afford to either," I snapped.

"You will if Dr. Bailey says you need to," Colton stated as he entered the room, followed by Drew and Tyler.

I glared at him—my head jailer. "You," I growled.

He grinned, completely unaffected by my anger. "You know, you being mad at me just tells me I'm doing the right thing."

"Ok," Dr. Bailey said, "Let's check out those bruises first, then we can do the ultrasound and make sure you passed all of the pregnancy."

I shoved the blanket off of me and lifted my shirt. My abdomen still looked rough, but some of the bruises were starting to green around the edges. Dr. Bailey's fingers pressed against different areas as she watched my face for any sign of extreme pain or discomfort. I had news for her: even if the pain were blinding, I wouldn't let it show if it meant being able to get off bed rest. I was not stupid enough to say that out loud where Colton could hear me.

"Everything looks good here," she commented. "I can see the bruises are starting to heal, which is a good sign, and I don't feel any rigidness. I'll advise you not to get into physical altercations until completely healed. I'd advise you not to get into any, but I realize that's not likely." She squirted jelly onto my stomach and started the ultrasound. Part of me was still sad that the blob was gone, but mostly, I was relieved, which didn't make me a monster, I reminded myself. Kids were something to address in the future, not now.

After a few minutes, Dr. Bailey nodded and shut off the machine. "Things look good here, too," she informed me. "Any more cramping or bleeding?"

I shook my head. "No, that stopped by the end of the second day, I think," I responded.

"Ok, then, as far as I'm concerned, you're clear to resume your normal activities," Dr. Bailey said.

I was out of bed before she had finished the sentence. "Thanks, Dr. Bailey," I called over my shoulder as I shut myself in the bathroom. I was alone! I took my time showering. As anxious as I was to return to work, I craved a scalding shower. When I emerged all pink-skinned, the bedroom was empty. Now that they didn't need to babysit me, everyone was getting back to work. Good. I dressed in skinny jeans, a black t-shirt, and boots and skipped downstairs.

I wanted to see my shark tank.

"Good to see you up and about, boss," Keith greeted me as I reached the foyer.

"Keith! How are you feeling? How is Ryan?" I asked, remembering how I had to leave them unconscious in the car.

"We're good, boss. I'm sorry that we failed to protect you."

I held up my hand to silence him. "You didn't fail me, Keith. We got ambushed, and you got knocked out. My capture wasn't your fault. It wasn't anyone's fault. It just happened, got it?"

"Yes, ma'am," he replied.

"Good. Now I'm gonna go find my shark tank," I said excitedly.

I skipped down to the basement to the interrogation room, but when I turned the handle, it didn't move. The door was locked! I pulled out my phone and called Tyler as I went into the room next door and tried to see the tank through the glass.

"Hello?"

"Why the fuck am I locked out of my interrogation room?" I demanded.

He chuckled. "I told you she'd go there first," he said to someone. "It's locked because I knew you wouldn't wait for us and ruin the surprise. We'll be right down." The call disconnected, and I went to wait for them in the hall. Less than a minute later, they appeared.

"How are you gonna come try to see the shark tank without us, LG?" Zach pouted playfully.

"If you knew this would be my first stop, why weren't you all down here waiting for me?" I countered with a smirk, "Now c'mon, lemme in!"

Tyler unlocked the door and then moved aside to let me go in. I gasped when I saw it. It was massive! The racetrack tank took up the entire back wall, and three smallish sharks circled around the colorful reef insert. "It's beautiful, but aren't the sharks a little... puny?"

"We chose to get them younger so that you'd have them longer before having to rehome them. They'll grow into the tank nicely," Tyler replied.

"What species are they?" I asked as I approached the tank.

"Blacktip reef sharks," Zach replied excitedly. "They were the toothiest we could get legally and were known to adapt to captivity."

"Nice. I love it," I said as I excitedly jumped on Zach's back. "We have our own fucking shark tank, Z!"

Tyler cleared his throat behind us. I slid off of Zach and jumped into his arms. "Thank you for making this happen," I said as I peppered kisses all over his face. "Thank you to everyone who helped."

"You're welcome, baby," Tyler replied.

I looked at Colton over his shoulder. "Now all I need is a Tiger," I teased.

"I draw the line at sharks, Hellcat," Colton replied. "You're all the feral feline that this house can handle." The others chuckled.

"Isn't that the fucking truth," Sean agreed.

"We'll see," I replied. I didn't exactly plan to get a tiger, but I enjoyed making Colt think I might. "Ok," I said, dropping out of Tyler's arms, "love my shark tank, but we need to have a meeting and regroup." As much as I wanted to stay down here and watch my sharks swimming around, we had things to do. "Can you call Kyle, Danny, Johnny, and Stephan? Have them join us."

"They're already upstairs," Drew replied.

"Great! Let's go."

"Wait!" Zach said as I headed toward the door. I turned back to him questioningly. "Who will be the first shark meal?"

I grinned at his excitement. "Leo. He's the one who was poisoning Daddy."

Zach nodded. "Consider it done," he replied. Zach loved a good hunt and would enjoy tracking him down. We went upstairs to my office, where Molly and the rest of my captains were waiting.

"Gentlemen, Molly," I greeted as I took my seat. Before Drew could shut the door, Dash and Dire squeezed through and came to sit on either side of me. They had become clingy while I had been bedridden. I'm pretty sure they were missing the constant snugglefest.

"It's good to see you up and about, boss," Stephan said.

"Did we learn anything from the place I was kept?" I asked, getting down to business.

"Unfortunately, we didn't," Johnny replied. "We went through the entire place, but it looked like they were taking advantage of it being abandoned and were only using it for you."

"That's too bad but not entirely unexpected," Sean replied. "It would have been stupid if they had led us to a place they used regularly."

I nodded in agreement. "Have we had any indication that Anton and Tommy are working with someone else? When I was captured, Tommy told Anton that they couldn't severely injure me because they had agreed with someone not to. Once I made it clear I wouldn't be taking their "offer," that changed, but initially, they planned to let me go."

Colton shook his head. "I haven't heard anything."

"Neither have I," Danny replied. "And they never mentioned working with anyone other than Anton, but we can ask around. Maybe it's a silent partner in the trafficking ring."

"Find out. If there is another player on the board, I want to know about it." I contemplated mentioning my suspicions about a possible mole within our ranks but decided not to. I'd keep that little nugget to myself for now. I wouldn't want to tip the mole off just yet. "How many casualties did we have in the shootout?"

"Three," Drew replied.

"I want to pay for their funerals," I told Tyler. "And make sure that we send their families money for their loss. We take care of our own, and they died protecting me."

Tyler smiled. "Already handled, love."

I nodded. I should have known he would have been on top of that already. "Let's discuss the trafficking ring. What do we know, and does anyone have any ideas on how to shut it down? I want to put more pressure on Anton and Tommy. I could already see the cracks forming when I was with them. I want more."

"I've been through Wallace's computer," Tyler reported. "He had everything we would need. I have the new warehouse location, shipment schedules, and "show" times."

"Wonderful. What about a client list?" Shutting down the ring itself might not be enough to satisfy me. The idea of a monster hunt after we do was appealing. I met Zach's eyes, and we grinned at each other. It might be a fun bonding experience.

"Unfortunately, he didn't have that information. It could be because they don't have one, or more likely, they didn't trust him with that information," Tyler replied.

"A client list would be something Anton and Tommy would guard closely," Sean said. "The mark of a good dealer in any commodity is the ability to protect your clients."

"So what's our next move?" I asked.

"We were discussing it earlier," Danny said, "and we thought we could hit one of their show times since we have their schedule. See who we catch in the net and put a dent on both sides of the field. Dealers and Clients."

I thought about his suggestion. "I like the idea, but I don't think hitting during a show is the best time. We don't know who might be there, and we'd likely be going up against even more guns, which means more casualties for us."

"You're thinking of hitting the window between a shipment and a show?" Colton asked.

"I am. A good old-fashioned breakout."

"We'd need to bring extra vehicles to get the prisoners out of there safely and expediently," Stephan said.

I nodded. "I'll let you handle that, Stephan. Just let Tyler know what you need. Your crew will be in charge of getting them out of there. Kyle, work with Stephan as well on this. Find somewhere to take them until we can return them to their homes or set up somewhere else."

"You can count on us, boss," Kyle replied.

"Johnny, can you handle surveillance? I'd like to observe a full cycle of how the people get shipped in. How many? How heavily guarded they are. Who attends the shows? We can start building our own client list. If possible, see if you can get a man inside and get a layout. As much as I want to move on this as quickly as possible, I also want to make sure that we do it right."

"I've got some guys who are part shadow," Johnny replied, "We'll get it done."

"Danny, work with Colt and Drew on the plan of attack once we have all the information."

He nodded as Sean spoke up. "Once we hit them, they'll just relocate and continue operations. Shouldn't we have a plan to stop them permanently in place before we lose the upper hand?"

"In a perfect world, yes," I replied. "But this is how we turn up the heat. The more pressure they're under, the sloppier they will be. I want to keep them scrambling and looking over their shoulders. I want their suppliers to start to question their involvement. I want their clients to lose faith in them. I want them out of my fucking city, and this is how we start to make that happen."

"Fair enough," he replied with a wink. "I can talk to Bear about acquiring some fun toys for the occasion."

"Will we leave the warehouse standing?" Drew asked, his eyes shining.

"Feeling an itch?" I asked my firebug.

He shrugged. "Certainly sends a more powerful message."

"I'm not opposed to it, provided we can get all the innocents out of the building and there is time."

"I'll come up with a plan," Drew assured me.

"Now that we have a plan of action with that, how is business? Are our operations running smoothly?" I asked Colton.

"Tyler brought an issue to my attention in one of our drug operations within Kyle's territory," he replied. "Their payments were severely reduced after you took over. I took Drew with me to check it out and then let Kyle know what we found. It seems they thought we wouldn't notice and didn't expect us to have documents of their previous payments. I issued a warning."

"And I'll be monitoring them closely and overseeing their pickups going forward until I'm sure they aren't trying to fuck with us anymore," Kyle assured me.

"Good. It sounds like you guys have it handled. If I need to visit myself, just let me know. I'm sure Dash and Dire would enjoy a little field trip." When they heard their names, they sat up from where they had been lying and laid their heads on my lap. I pet them. I'd have to take them out to the woods soon to run. They weren't used to city life. I knew how they felt. I had grown accustomed to the Alaskan Wilderness. I'd have to talk to the guys about getting a cabin in the mountains somewhere closer than Alaska.

"Layla?"

I snapped out of my daydreaming and looked at Colton. "Yeah?"

"Did you have anything else you wanted to discuss?" he asked, his lips twitching in amusement. I looked around and saw the others looking at me expectantly.

"Sorry. That's all I had. I'd like to talk to Tyler about the shelters, but you guys don't have to stick around for that," I replied.

Johnny, Kyle, Danny, and Stephan left me alone with my men.

"Where'd you go?" Drew asked.

"I was daydreaming about nature," I laughed. "We should get a cabin in the woods to escape where the boys can run around, and we can unplug from business."

"I think that's a great idea. I'll start looking for properties today," Tyler replied.

"It would be nice to have a vacation spot," Zach agreed. "Maybe the wolves won't be the only ones running around the forest."

"Are you going to hunt me down in the woods, Z?" I purred.

"Hell, yeah!"

"I wouldn't be opposed to that idea," Sean added.

The others nodded their agreement, and I felt the temperature in the room rise. Fuck. The idea of them chasing me down in the woods sounded hot.

"I'll have options for us by the end of the day," Tyler stated, pulling his laptop closer to start the search.

I laughed. "Well, now that we have the idea for our next date night, how did the meeting with Officer Scarni go?"

"I had to leave early because that was when you were ambushed, but I left Molly to finish the meeting."

Molly, who had been silently taking notes at her desk while we conducted business, stood and took a seat at the end of the table. "He agreed with your locations and numbered them in order of need but suggested either shifting one of them over or adding a new one. He marked it on Tyler's map."

"I'm fine with adding another one. The more there are, the harder it will be for Anton to grab people off the streets. Tyler, how soon can we get started on this?"

"I can have the architect here to review building plans with you today. The contractor is lined up and ready to go when we are," he replied.

"Do that. I want to break ground this week on the first one." Deep satisfaction bloomed in my chest. It felt good to give back and ensure the safety of the down on their luck citizens. "If it looks like we may run out of funds, add more."

"About that," Tyler said. "I thought it might be a good move to loop some politicians into this. Maybe host a fundraiser dinner? It's a great PR move for them and helps strengthen your relationships with them. You never know when you might need a politician in your pocket."

"That's actually a really good idea," Drew said.

"What's with the surprise?" Tyler asked. "I have great ideas all the fucking time."

"I didn't mean it like that, Sensitive Stan," Drew replied, rolling his eyes.

"I love the idea," I said quickly before they could start sniping at each other. "Molly, I'd like you to help me set it up. Why don't we do it at my hotel, where we had the crew meeting?"

"I was going to suggest to have it there," Colton said. "As it is, a big party will be a security nightmare, but having it at a location we control will help."

"Umm, Layla?" Molly said. "I don't know how to throw a fundraiser dinner."

I grinned at her. "Neither do I. Don't worry, Google is our friend, and I'll have Brandi help us. She's sure to have an idea or two about it."

"If you're sure," she said hesitantly.

"I am. And worst comes to worst; we'll hire a party planner," I replied as I grabbed my phone to call Brandi.

"Hello?"

"Hey, boo! I need your help."

"Whatever you need, it's yours," she replied.

"We're making plans to move forward with the shelters, and Ty suggested we host a fundraiser dinner to raise money for the project," I said.

"That's a great idea. It will help solidify your position within the city as well. Want me to help you curate an invite list?" Brandi asked. "Would you go away? I'm perfectly capable of going out onto my balcony without you following me!" I heard her growl at someone.

I chuckled at her neverending war with Nate and his men. She'd give in to them eventually. Her reaction to finding out that Nate was smitten with her told me she was just as interested in him but didn't want to be. I'd already done a deep dive into Nate, and he was a stand-up guy—no known skeletons in that closet.

"Stop laughing. This is your fault," Brandi growled.

"Sorry," I said.

"No, you aren't!" she accused.

"You're right, I'm not," I replied before reverting to why I called. "Yes, I'd love your help with the guest list, but I could also use your help planning it. I don't know the first thing about a shindig like this."

"No," Brandi replied bluntly.

"No?" I asked in confusion. I hadn't expected her to say no.

"That's what I said. Not fucking happening. I remember what happened the last time I tried to plan a party with you. Hire a party planner, 'cause I'm not doing it," she replied loudly. Loud enough that everyone in the office could hear her, and Drew, Colt, Tyler, and Zach started to snicker.

"What's so damn funny?" I asked them.

"Did they hear me?" Brandi asked. "See! They remember, too. It's not fucking happening, Layla. I really can't stress that enough. In fact, hold on."

The line clicked as she put me on hold. I glared at my still laughing men. "It wasn't that bad!"

"Does someone want to fill Molly and me in on the joke?" Sean asked.

"In high school, Layla decided she would head the prom committee," Drew explained. "She had all of these big ideas to make it the best prom anyone has ever attended."

"And she had the money to make it happen," Tyler added.

"Just not the attention span," Zach snorted.

"It wasn't that bad!" I argued, repeating myself.

"Hellcat, I love you, but it ended up being a disaster," Colton chuckled.

"What happened?" Molly asked, leaning forward in her seat, fully invested in the story.

"Layla couldn't decide on whether to have a band or a deejay, so both showed up," Colton replied.

"She had never decided on a caterer, so she had... how many were there, LG?" Zach asked.

"Four," I replied sullenly.

"That wasn't even the worst of it," and I cringed when Drew started laughing even harder. "The best part was that Layla assumed the venue would provide the tables and chairs; they assumed she was bringing in her own since she said she didn't like what they had available." Drew laughed so hard that it took him a few seconds to compose himself enough to gasp out, "So they had enough food for four proms and nowhere for anyone to sit and eat."

"I hate all of you," I complained.

"You still there?" Brandi asked.

"Yes," I replied. "Thanks for getting the guys started."

"Ok, hold on." I heard another click. "Mon, you with us?"

"Yeah, I'm here," Monika replied.

"You have to be fucking kidding me!" I exclaimed. "You called her?!"

"Tell her what you asked me. Tell her what you want to do," Brandi prompted with glee.

"No."

"Fine. I will," Brandi replied. "Layla wants to throw a fundraiser dinner for her new charity to raise shelter funds."

"Please, God, tell me you don't want to organize it yourself," Monika interrupted.

"She does!" Brandi replied before I could. "She asked me to help her!" Monika's laughter exploded through the phone, making me pull it from my ear to glare at it.

"You're both assholes, and I hate you," I said into the phone before hanging up on them. Unfortunately, the laughter didn't stop when I did since everyone in the office was also laughing.

"Fine! I'll hire a fucking event planner."