27. ~Levi~

27

~Levi~

I'd done it.

I'd been right on the money. The intel from that sleazeball, Kyle, had proven to be a vital piece of the puzzle that I'd gone without all this time in my pursuit of that motherfucker, Malcolm Lynch. I'd had to go about my mission in a roundabout way.

Sure, it had enabled me to lay eyes on Lynch and track him down once.

But beyond that, it hadn't been possible to replicate.

Until now.

Now that I had the true name of his shadowed organization.

Osiris.

With the program I'd built in operation with that new intel plugged in, it had managed to pull up half a dozen mentions of that name. Places they'd been, deals they'd made, even details of a covert investigation into them from Nico Marchetti. He was the heir to the notorious Marchetti Syndicate—mafia, basically. Either he was vetting them now that they'd started making waves and looking to work with them, or he had a beef with Malcolm Lynch too and he'd discovered he was the man behind the operation of Osiris.

If it came to it, I could go through him.

Only if it became absolutely necessary, though.

Going that route came with complications for many reasons. But it wasn't merely the whole mafia thing. It was the fact that one of my contacts, Rina, absolutely despised the ruthless bastard.

Rina, who Mason had recently called upon.

To him and Colt, they believed her just to be an actual contact of mine who I'd exchanged favors with over the years. She was a hacker extraordinaire , as Mason put it. Her skills were equal to mine. That was on the down low, though. Her family and the circles she walked in weren't aware and she was very careful who came to know. Mason was only privy to it because of his closeness to me, somebody whom she trusted implicitly.

You see, she was much more than just a contact to me, or even an asset. We were close. We'd been friends for five years.

There was an understanding between us that was very difficult to find. She got where I was coming from with my quest, and my reaction to the kidnapping. Although she'd never actually suffered through that herself, there had been several attempts to do so. There'd also been at least three attempts on her life over the years. Her father, Santino Leone, had many dangerous enemies and as his daughter—a mafia princess—she was a chief target of those enemies.

I scrubbed my hand over my face as I focused back on my conspiracy board , all the clues, evidence, and key intel I'd obtained, linking patterns with red string across the cork surface, color-coding the push pins, the whole nine. I hadn't left out a single relevant detail.

"Fuck," I ground out.

There was no way around it now.

I'd reached a point where I had to dive deeper into my investigation or reach out to the likes of Nico to pool our intel.

With either option, it posed a risk of what I was doing finally being detected, of me exposing the fact that I was looking for Osiris and Lynch.

And that could very well mean them launching a preemptive strike against me before I got any closer. Before it was me on their doorstep striking.

While I wasn't above taking such risks, it wasn't just about me.

What I did would impact my brothers and Brianna.

So, I needed to tell them.

Things were precarious right now with Mason, though.

And then there was Brianna. I'd finally managed to pull her close to me, and the way things were between us was incredible. Even the thought of fucking with that made me sick to my stomach.

But I also couldn't let this go.

My phone pinged and I pulled it from the pocket of my black hoodie to see a text that I'd been expecting.

Hmm, she'd reached out sooner than I'd figured she would.

Caterina: Apologies, bello.

Damn straight.

Levi: Why did you help him? Especially over me?

Caterina: Not by preference, believe me. Necessary, unfortunately. Required an introduction to Peter Hall.

Levi: Are you in trouble?

Caterina: Aww, even though I hurt you, you're still so caring.

Levi: Our bond can weather this easily. Just give me a heads-up next time.

Caterina: Again, sorry. I was distracted when he contacted me.

Levi: By this trouble you're in?

Caterina: Not trouble, merely being prepared.

Levi: You need me, I'm here.

Caterina: I never doubted it. You too, bello.

Levi: Later, Rina.

Caterina: A presto!

I stowed my phone away.

I'd considered reaching out to her about this, but now knowing she was dealing with her own shit, I couldn't burden her with more.

"Motherfucking shit," I ground out, before smashing my fist into the wall beside the board.

"That seems like a significant understatement," a voice sounded from behind me.

Fuck.

I spun around to see Mason, the stealthy fucker, standing at the threshold of my tiny shithole apartment.

"I hate it when you pull that ghost shit, Mason."

"It comes naturally to me." He kicked the door shut behind him and strode toward me, taking in the place. Boring, beige walls, worn cheap hardwood floors, and a mattress in the corner I'd used as a bed a couple of times when I'd first come back here ahead of him and Colt knowing. My computer desk setup was the only other feature of the small space.

"Not your usual speed in the least. I thought my guy had made an error when he reported you being seen here."

"It's just a space. Purely about functionality."

"Business, not pleasure?"

"In a sense." There was no point denying it, because he'd seen the board, and he was even studying it with a furrowed brow as he drew closer.

"How did Steven detect your movements? You're stealthy too."

I lifted a shoulder. "I was laser-focused."

"Ah. The state for you where the rest of the world slips away."

"Yes," I ground out.

I stepped back from the board and shoved my hands into the pockets of my hoodie. "Let's stop dancing around it. Get to it. Reprimand me. Tell me this truce is already done with. Call me an obsessive danger to us all. Tell me that you'll—"

"This is impressive."

I started. "What?"

"The detail here, the depth of it all, so much that you've compiled over time, all these leads you've obtained all by yourself… it's impressive, Lev."

"I… what?"

He merely smiled, then studied both my board and my laptop screen for several minutes.

And I studied him .

What the fuck was happening?

He stepped back, then folded his big arms across his chest. "I'm sorry."

I frowned. "For what you did to Brianna?"

"That, yes. And I'm trying to make it up to you both. It's why I offered her to stay with us for a couple of days, to get to know her, to show you both that I'm going to support your relationship. But that's not what I'm currently saying sorry for." He shifted his weight, clearly uncomfortable with the emotion he was displaying, the raw honesty and regret coming off him. It flew in the face of all that stoicism he usually put forth. "I'm sorry that you've had to do this all alone. I didn't realize how badly you needed this justice for what happened to you. You don't talk about it, Lev, so me and Colt both thought you'd made peace with it, that you'd let that initial surging need to make him pay that you'd had after it happened go."

"You saw what happened when I talked about it last night."

"I did, but it's more than that, isn't it? It's because of me. You thought I'd shut all of this down, that I'd even use Roman to do it."

"Yes."

"Well, I'm not gonna do that."

"Why not?" I asked, the suspicion in my tone very clear.

"Let's just say that Brianna made me realize a few things, especially when it comes to you. And it's clear you need this. You need this closure to find peace." He dropped his arms and stepped right up to me. "The torment won't stop, will it?"

"Mason," I groused.

I went to turn my head away, but he grasped my jaw.

Firmly, but with no malice in it. "Lev," he pushed.

I swallowed hard. "No," I forced myself to admit. "It won't fucking stop."

"But doing this will see to it, won't it?"

"I've never been more certain of anything in my life." I grimaced. "But going any further with this—because it's reaching a tipping point—risks exposing me to Lynch and his new organization, which risks pulling you guys into it too by close association. And Brianna… she's not ready to hear about this yet. It was hard enough to get her to admit that it had even happened, to acknowledge who she really is, to get her to acknowledge me."

"I understand. And I have an idea."

"What's that?"

He stroked my cheek lovingly with his thumb and I couldn't help the groan that escaped me at the calming effect it was having on me. It was similar to what he and Colt used to do for me back when my episodes had been much more brutal and frequent.

And then he pulled away and walked to the board, slapping his finger to a photo of Royce Humphrey with a list of details below his image. "We use this piece of shit."

"I've considered it, but he's one of those types who can't be broken—like fanatics who are so entrenched in their skewed beliefs that there's no way to sway them to any other way of being."

"No, not like that. Although, it's deliciously stimulating that your mind went there."

I stared at him. "You're still going through a dry spell, huh?"

"It's not that."

"Then you exhibiting some actual sexuality, which you rarely ever do with locking that down so tightly, doesn't make sense." I pulled up short as the realization hit me. "You want Brianna?"

"She's… really something."

"No denying that."

"And?"

"And what?"

"How do you feel about that? You're possessive over her. Clingy, even."

"Clingy? No. Having no qualms about showing how much I want and care about her? Yes."

He chuckled. "Semantics."

I leaned against the wall beside the board. "I've wanted to bring her into my world for a long time. It's happening now. You're a part of that world. Colt's also been with her—with us. She's exhibited interest in you too. Asking about you, all that shit. I'm good with it, so long as you make damn sure it's on her terms. After what happened to her, it can't be any other way for her. It scares her otherwise and it could easily trigger her too."

"I'd do nothing less than ensure it's on her terms, Lev."

"Then, good."

We stared at one another for a few moments, Mason looking as taken aback by his interest in her as I was with absorbing it. He was so closed off, the fact that he was admitting it outright was really something. She'd definitely gotten into his head—and other areas.

I smiled inwardly. That was her. My Wildflower had a power that she didn't even realize.

"All right then," he said, then focused back on the board. "So, Royce… there needs to be some degree of separation between your investigation and its target in Malcolm Lynch. Royce is it. according to your intel here, he's aware of Lynch's movements. So we use him to obtain the additional intel needed in order to bridge the gap and zero in on Lynch."

Hmm. "You want me to infiltrate his system?"

"Precisely. Without a trace." He raised an eyebrow. "Can you pull it off?"

I scoffed. "Please."

"I meant the without a trace part? Being careful, brother?"

"Whatever it takes to do this."

"Perfect, then we can work together on it."

"You're really up for doing that? Working with me ? On this, of all things too?"

He laid his hand on my shoulder. "Like I told you last night while you were suffering from that attack, I'm here , Lev. I'm here now."

I smiled and grasped his hand on me. "Thank you"

As he smiled back at me and the moment rolled over us, I added what had been missing between us for too long, " Brother."