“Evie is not gonna want her brother dead,” Mick spat.
“Evan is experiencing some epiphanies regarding her family,” Mag shared. “You wouldn’t know this, so I’ll educate you that that kind of thing happens when you open your apartment door and see everything you worked for reduced to garbage because your brother is a piece of shit.”
Mick sat back hard, his chains clanging.
“Now, guide her to seeing the light and prove that maybe you got something worth the loyalty she’s given you and tell me how to extricate her from your shit,” Mag pushed.
“I tell you anything, I’ll be put down faster than I will be when they find out that bag is in the wind,” Mick returned, and the chains clanked again as he tossed out both hands, which were cuffed to hooks in the table. “And newsflash, soldier, I haven’t forgotten where I am, you know, cameras and tape recorders and shit. So, anything I say here can be used against me, and first, I’m not a dumbass, second, I’m not a rat, and third, if by some miracle I survive this shit, I don’t want anyone thinkin’ I’m either of those things.”
“So, in an attempt to cover your ass, you’re throwing your sister to the wolves,” Mag noted and finished, “Again.”
Mick tipped up his chin three times to indicate the three men in the room with him and replied, “Seems she’s got protection.”
“I’m telling her every word of this chat,” Mag shared.
Mick couldn’t quite hide his flinch.
So he cared.
But did he care enough?
“She’s already asking herself serious questions about her relationship with her brother, you don’t help me help her, she’s not going to have a relationship with her brother,” Mag continued.
“If I tell you, she won’t have a brother,” Mick returned.
“Considering she lost nearly everything today because of you, her life goals put on hold because her brother is useless piece of trash, I’m wondering how broken up she’ll be about that,” Mag stated.
Mick said nothing, but he was stewing, just not in a good way. He was pissed at having to take Mag’s insults.
Mag held his gaze.
Mick remained silent.
Quietly, his voice rumbling with disbelief, he asked, “Are you honestly gonna let me walk out that door without the tools I need to get your sister safe?”
“Evie always lands on her feet.”
Mag flattened his hand on the table and leaned into it.
He felt Mo get closer.
He felt Hawk go alert.
But once he did that, he stopped.
And then he said, “The thing you don’t get is, the people in our lives that we love, if we’re worth anything, anything at all, we bust our asses to make it so they aren’t in a situation where they have to land on their feet ’cause we made it so they’re always on solid ground.”
Mick’s face twisted before he replied, “Well, then, it seems it’s lucky she’s now got you.”
“Yeah, seein’ as I gotta help her survive the likes of you,” Mag returned.
The flinch he got at that was not at all hidden, but before Mag could hone in and work that, Mick’s face set to belligerence and he taunted, “Tell her I said hi.”
“I will, right after I tell her you didn’t give that first fuck you cost her everything and didn’t think once about anyone but yourself, not even to ask how she’s doing, which, by the way, is not very good.”
With that, Mag pushed up and walked right out of the room.
Mo and Hawk followed him.
Brock was waiting outside the door.
They moved farther down the hall before they stopped and huddled.
Hawk gave him a look and Mag braced because he could tell his boss was sliding into guru mode.
He’d worked for Hawk for years and the man deserved mad respect. He was a good boss, a loving husband and a doting father. He was also intelligent, experienced and returned the respect he had if it was earned.
And he was an excellent teacher and generous with his knowledge.
But Mag wasn’t sure he was in the mood for Hawk to go guru.
“You gotta play this the way you feel you should play this, but with that guy, you might want to think about giving to get,” Hawk advised.
Mag shook his head. “Evan strips to pay her bills and put herself through college. She does that and still has a second job. There might be a few things she can salvage from her apartment, Hawk, but it won’t be much. That’s an annoyance for