Page 25 of Jager's Prey
A part of me wanted to be soft for him, not all the time, but int those moments that mattered. That same part of me wanted to see his eyes soften for me and only me. I didn’t want to dive headfirst into anything—which was sound thinking. But in order to get deeper, I would have to take a step toward him, show him that I was willing to start.
The question became, how could I let go and start anything with him?
Shaking my head, I checked the property, the vehicles then went back inside. I was climbing the stairs when my cell buzzed. Seeing Swede’s name surprised me as it was late, and he should probably be in bed by then.
“Yeah?” I picked up the video call.
“Why is it so dark?” Swede asked.
“Um…it’s the middle of the night?” I replied. “What-cha want, man?”
“Get Mack.” Swede was serious. “We need to talk, and it has to happen now.”
Exhausted, I rubbed my eyes but jogged the rest of the way up the stairs and knocked on Mack’s door. When he allowed me in, He was back in bed, sitting up with the sheets down to his hips.
Damn, he’s fine.
“Swede wants to talk to us.” I told him.
“Now?” Mack groaned.
I switched on the bedside lamp and scooted into the bed beside him without asking. Mack moved closer.
“Well?” I asked.
“We found out some stuff about Cage’s father.” Swede did something on his computer.
His face slid to the side along with ours so that some information began scrolling on the screen.
“His name isn’t Rinaldi.” Swede explained. “It’s actually Mencini—Claudio Mencini.”
“You’ve got to be shitting me.” Mack growled.
“What am I missing?” I looked from the screen to Mack.
“Claudio Mencini is a notorious mafia boss from Italy.” Mack explained. “When I was a kid, he was just littering the streets with bodies. He started turf wars to take over—this was before Cage was born. Then one day he was just—gone.”
“Gone?” I wanted to know. “How is that possible?”
“I guess we now know where he’s been.” Mack frowned. “He’s been given a new lease on life by our government. I mean, how does a man like that deserve a second chance?”
“I don’t know.” Swede explained. “All I know is that if someone is after his kid, it’s mostly because they realize who Rinaldi really was.”
“What about his wife?” I wanted to know.
“He met her long after he went missing.” Swede replied. “I think she really had no clue what he was. She was born in Mississippi, moved to Montana when she was a teenager to live with her father after her mother died. She was a good student, but life was hard.”
I sighed. “Okay. Then why go after Cage? I mean, Mencini was right there. Why not take him out and leave Cage?”
“It could be that they wanted him to suffer.” Mack answered. “Killing the kid would do that.”
“Do you know whotheyare?” I asked Swede.
“It could be one of two families—The Portia’s and then there’s the Framaglia.”
“It wouldn’t be the Portia’s.” Mack spoke up. “The father was killed about five years ago and the one son he had went into hiding.”
“Claudio killed almost the entire Framaglia family.” Swede explained. “He ordered a blackout on the family.”
