Page 59 of The Fortunate Ones
He was quiet for a while, and I let him process in peace, just being there for him. I wished Wes were here, or Brooks, or anyone who wasn’t me. But they weren’t and I had to deal with that.
Matty turned his head slightly so he could watch me from the corner of his eye. “If I did agree to go see him, what would happen?”
“Well, I’d go with you, of course. Any of us you’d want to be with you would come. You wouldn’t be alone for a second. I’d probably request that both our lawyers are there too, for liability’s sake. But you’d be in control. You could leave when you want, answer what you want. It would be all up to you.”
Matty hummed but didn’t say anything else for a while. Once again, I forced myself not to fill the silence, understanding he needed the time.
“Do you think he knows anything? About Andreev or Bradley? Or anything that happened to me?”
“Honestly, I’m not sure. And even if he does, he might not give you any answers.”
It wasn’t what he wanted to hear, but I was going to lie to him. I had ways of getting them, but under these circumstances, I wouldn’t get a chance.
“I-I think I want to talk to him. If that’s okay? I just, I think if I don’t at least try to ask, I’ll always wonder about the truth. If he really knew what was going to happen to me. He wasn’t a great dad or anything, but I-I can’t believe he would’ve sold me, not like that. I need to know, you know? Or at least try.”
Even though I wanted to shield him from all of this, wrap him in a blanket and hide him in this estate for the rest of time,I couldn’t do that. And I understood where he was coming from. I was pretty sure I’d feel the same way in his situation. My dad was a cold asshole who only cared about money, but I could never imagine him selling me into sex trafficking, and if he had, I would need to know why.
“I get it. I’ll email the lawyers and set up a meeting. Do you want to wait till the guys are back?”
Matty chewed his lip and then shook his head. “No. I want to get it over with. The more I think about it, the more chance I’m going to back out.” He looked at me again. “As long as you come? And Wes too, if he wants.”
I had never shown too much affection to Matty, never sure where the boundaries lay, but something came over me then. I brought him closer to my side with my arm wrapped around him and kissed the side of his head.
“He’ll want. We’ll be there. We’d never leave you alone with that fucker, not for a second.”
Matty let out a watery laugh. “Thanks, Luca. Thank you for taking me in and showing me what a real family could be.”
Shit, the kid was gonna make me cry.
CHAPTER 23
LUCA
The house was ostentatious.And that was coming from me. But this one took the fucking cake. It pissed me off some that Covington had gotten to keep the property when the FBI had wiped out his assets, but it was a family house that was proven not to be purchased with ill-gotten gains. So here the fuck we were, driving up the long, spiraling driveway to where Matty spent his childhood.
I watched him surreptitiously, trying to gauge how he was handling this. So far, he seemed relatively calm, not even looking out the window at his surroundings.
We hadn’t notified the lawyers that we were coming until we’d already been on the way. We’d had to plan for the possibility that this was a trap. The fact that they’d contacted us when half the team was out of the country was suspicious enough to have my guard up once all the initial emotions had died down. It was possible they were trying to get Matty out of the house for easy access or thought they could get Everett when he was more vulnerable with us separated. There was no indication that Lewis knew about Everett at all, but until I could confirm his involvement in all this, we had to be prepared for that possibility.
After discussing it with Wes, Leo, and then eventually Mav and Skye, who were still overseas, we’d decided this was the best plan. If it was a trap, they’d have very little time to implement it. Covington’s lawyer was not pleased with the next-to-no notice, but there wasn’t much they could do about it.
Wes plus two of Leo’s people, including Dominic, were with us. We’d also called our lawyer, who agreed to come with us. She was currently following in the car behind us.
Diego and Leo, along with several others from his team, had stayed back with Everett. Neither Everett nor Matty had been happy with that, as they’d become attached to each other, but Everett was safest behind the walls of my estate.
I’d been reluctant to leave until we heard from the guys in France. Luckily, Brooks had been cleared to travel, so they were on their way back, then we could have our doctors examine him and determine the next steps for his shoulder.
Dominic, who was driving, pulled up in front of the house and put the vehicle in park. He glanced back at us. “Give us a second to secure the area.”
I nodded, even if being stuck in here grated a bit, but it was about Matty’s safety so I stayed put. Wes leaned over and took my hand, settling me. “It’ll be okay,” he whispered. I hoped so, but if that asshole said one thing out of pocket to Matty, he’d be eating his teeth.
Dominic came back and opened the door for us. A man in an expensive suit came rushing out. He looked put out. It must’ve been one of Covington’s lawyers. He tapped his expensive dress shoe on the ground impatiently. I got out first and waited for Matty and then Wes to climb out. Another door slammed as our lawyer also left her car.
“Are you okay?” I asked Matty. He was uncharacteristically quiet, staring at the large double doors of the mansion without blinking.
His eyes snapped to mine, like he was coming out of a trance. “Yeah.” His voice was tight but steady. “I’m good. Just want it over with.”
Wes squeezed his shoulder. “Remember, you call the shots. You answer only what you want. We leave when you want to leave.”
