Bad Men - Piper Stone Page 0,93

and that she was prepared to live her life as she saw fit. Unfortunately, it held a tracking device, one that allowed the Serpent’s men to find her easily.” While I found the story incredulous, I did believe every word Dante had told us.

“What? Why?” he asked, his hand shaking as he attempted to bring the glass to his lips. “Why would Michael do that?”

“Because you reneged on your entire deal with the Mancini family after you found out about how Michael had treated her, even threatening her that she couldn’t leave to join Doctors Without Borders. On that day you went to see his father, Michael set a plan in motion,” Diego commented.

“You see from what we understand, Michael has been much more involved with the family’s business than you were originally led to believe. That included making a deal with the Serpent in order to bring drugs into the country, even undercutting the Miami Cartel that they’d used for fifteen years. However, the Serpent is a difficult businessman, requiring alternative types of payment. The day that you barged into Joseph Mancini’s office, telling him in no uncertain terms that you were finished with being the family’s doctor, Michael knew that he could have everything he wanted. He gave Lindsey to the Serpent in exchange for sealing his deal.” I could tell by every word I was saying that Silas hadn’t known just how far the Mancini family would go to exact retaliation for their son’s botched surgery.

As the glass slipped out of his hand, he dropped his head into both, sobbing uncontrollably. “I didn’t mean for her to be hurt. I never though Joseph would stoop so low. I didn’t mean to hurt his son. At least the poor boy is at peace.”

Diego and I looked at each other. “What are you talking about?” Diego asked.

“Christopher died last night. His heart just gave out. I did everything. I really did do everything.”

Jesus Christ. The Mancini family would likely exact an entirely different type of revenge. I didn’t like this at all. Diego could tell what I was thinking and nodded. We needed to get the fuck out of here now. Even if Michael was out of the country, it was likely he wouldn’t stay there given the recent news. We had to protect Lindsey.

“Well, I will tell you that the Serpent never touched her. I honestly believed that either Michael used her as collateral or that the Serpent couldn’t bring himself to touch her until a certain point. That we may never know. However, she is fine, although I’m not certain how enthused she will be at rekindling your relationship. That will be entirely up to her,” I stated without any emotion. In truth, I’d come to his house with the thought of crushing him like a bug. I knew the weight of what he’d done would do that on its own. The Walters family had suffered enough.

However, there was the question of how to handle Michael once he arrived. This was getting messy.

“I could kill Michael for what he’s done.” Silas slammed his fist against the chair, his face beet red.

“I don’t think you’re going to have to worry about that, Dr. Walters. He will be handled in our way whether he is out of the country or not.” Diego seemed giddy in his announcement.

Silas narrowed his eyes. “What are you talking about? Michael hasn’t left the country. The asshole was here today acting like he loved her, begging me to tell him where she was. I almost fell for the bullshit, but I was afraid. For her. For my family.”

“Dr. Walters, I’m going to give you a piece of advice that you need to heed to. Take your wife and get out of town. Do not tell anyone where you are going. Dante will make contact with you when it’s considered safe.” As I backed away, I heard a distinct sound, one that I knew far too well.

Lindsey’s moan, although it had nothing to do with pleasure.

Weapons in our hands, we swung around to see Michael as he dragged Lindsey into the room, a gun pointed at her head.

“Well, well. It would appear that you have company, Silas. I thought you knew better than to bring two fucking mercenaries into the picture.”

Silas jerked to a standing position. “Michael. What the fuck are you doing? Let her go.”

Lindsey darted her eyes from one of us to the other, trying to keep calm.

Diego and I moved in formation,