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Zane took Ava into the kitchen to tell Anna she and Gabriel would need something to eat and that a guestroom needed to be readied for Gabriel and Ryder. He stayed with her as she sat and talked with Anna while waiting for Gabriel. Zane had a hard time letting her sit on the chair on her own. He had an urge to take her up to their room and lock themselves away. He had been too close to losing her, and the baby. But he reined in his controlling urges and thought about the man sitting in the basement. One of his own fucking men. But Tristan would soon be spilling everything, including his guts. Zane would make sure of it. And Ryder would be equally as motivated. Zane almost chuckled at how much pain the man was in for. The door to the kitchen opened and Jax walked in side. Zane had sent him a text after he had received Avas first text. And then another one when he knew Ava and Gabriel was safe. Zane blocked out the memory of the sheer panic he had felt after reading Avas text and then being unable to get a hold of her. When his men had reported they were at the front door of the apartment but no one was opening it he had cursed letting Ava talk him into going there. His panic hadn’t let go of him until he had held Ava in his arms, despite geting the message from his men the moment Ava had opened the door. Jax leaned against the kitchen counter and took an apple from the bowl of fruit that always stood there.
“Heard you had an adventure, Ava,” he said. Ava gave him a weak smile.
“Yeah,” she admitted.
“Are you okay?” Jax asked.
“I’m fine. It wasn’t a big deal,” she told him. Jax smirked.
“The men told me you hit the fucker in the head. It seem to be your signature move,” Jax teased her. Zane saw Ava blush and appreciated that his friend was putting a less serious spin on the situation.
“It’s the easiest way to make sure they go down,” Ava answered and both Zane and Jax laughed. Ryder and Gabriel walked into the kitchen and Ryder walked his boyfriend over to the table where Ava was sitting and made sure he took a seat. Zane bent down to Ava.
“I will be in the basement, angel, if you need me, call or send a text and I will be here withing a minute,” he told her. She gave him a smile and a nod. He wasn’t satisfied with the response so he just look at her.
“Yes, honey. I will let you know if I need you,” she humoured him.
“Good girl. Have a nice evening and don’t wait up for me if you get sleepy,” he told her and placed a kiss on her forehead. As he stood up, Ryder and Jax looked as ready as he felt. All three of them left the kitchen. “How did he get in?” Zane asked as they made their way downstairs. All the warmth had gone from his voice.
“He put small charges around the windows. They were targeted in a way that welded the windows free from the frame,” Ryder growled.
“How the fuck did he know to do that?” Jax asked.
“The fucking asshole helped me design the place,” Ryder said. Zane and Jax cursed. They arrived at the basement, outside the room Carlos stood waiting for them. Zane wanted to trust the man. He had trusted Ava’s life to him when Tom had been down. And as Tristan was a traitor, that could mean Carlos was okay. But then, they could have more than one rat in their midst. The thought made Zane want to hit something. Fortunately, he had just the thing to take his anger out on. Carlos handed him tape for his knuckles. Zane had started wrapping his hands after meeting Ava. She worried when he bloodied his hands. He grunted a thank you and took out his phone and handed it to Carlos.
“If my wife calls or text, I am to know it within the next second,” Zane told him.
“Yes, boss,” Carlos answered and held the phone. Zane finished wrapping his hands and handed the tape to Jax who did the same and then handed it to Ryder. They had all become soft since meeting their partners. At least to a point. None of them wanted the person they loved to worry. They wouldn’t stop, they didn’t have it in them to change how they lived. But they did wrap their hands. When they all were done, Zane walked into the room, closely followed by the other three men. In a chair in the middle of the square, white room, Tristan sat. Tom stood behind him.
“B-boss,” Tristan said as he saw Zane. Tom slapped the back of his head. It wasn’t a hard slap, but Tristan flinched. Zane grinned, that was his angel’s doing.
“No one told you to speak,” Tom said.
“Now, Tristan. You are going to speak. I’m going to ask you questions and you are going to answer. If you don’t, or if you lie or twist the truth, or take to long, or if I just don’t like the answer, we will hurt you. You have stood beside me for this type of thing, you have seen what I have done. So, we will just get started,” Zane told the man he only a couple of hours before had called family. Tristan looked pale and nodded.
“I think Ava and Gabriel did a number on him if he is this compliant already. We should have them do all the prepping,” Jax said and laughed. The other men grinned. It was a dig to remind the traitor he had been taken down by an untrained woman and one of the kindest and gentlest men Zane had met. Except for when Ava was in trouble, he added to himself.
“How long have you been a part of this family?” Zane asked Tristan.
“Since I was a little rut, boss. Your father took me in from the streets before I was out of my teens,” the man said. Zanes fist connected to Tristans stomach and the traitor doubled over as the air was pressed out of him.
“And this is how you repay us?” Zane growled. “You accept our help, we make sure you earn a decent cut and all we want in return is your loyalty. But you can’t even fucking give us that?” Zane asked in a low voice.
“No, boss. I-I mean yes, boss. I have always been loyal, boss. Both to your father and to you,” Tristan said as he coughed.
“Breaking into my fucking apartment when Mrs. A and my boyfriend was there alone is not being fucking loyal,” Ryder pointed out. Emphasising each point with a punch to Tristan’s body.
“I didn’t know. I thought no one would be there,” the traitor huffed as he tried his best to straighten up in the chair.
“Do you think admitting you didn’t go after my wife on purpose will spare you the punishment of a traitor?” Zane wanted to know.
“Wait, no. I’m not a traitor.”
“You keep saying that. But if you weren’t a traitor, you would have gone over to our good man Ryder and knocked on his door and asked to come in. If you were a friend, you would even have brought some beers. Friends don’t feel the need to dangle from a line, twenty six storages of the ground, and blow their friend’s window in. Do you see the difference?” Jax told him.
“I didn’t,” Tristan said. Zane hit him square in the jaw as Tom hit him in the stomach.
“Are you saying Mrs. A and Gabriel are liers? Are you saying they were the ones that set off the charges and you just happened to be there?” Tom hissed.
“Think carefully about the next words out of your fucking mouth,” Zane said.
“No, no. I don’t say that. I’m absolutely not saying that,” the beaten man said as blood dripped from his mouth.
“At least he has some sense,” Jax said. To an outsider he looked cooler than the other men in the small room. Even Carlos that were standing in by the door looked more agitated than Jax. But Zane knew his friend. There was a tension in his jaw and shoulders that told Zane that Jax was just as pissed as the rest of them.
“Then explain how you are not a traitor,” Zane told Tristan.
“I promise I did it all for the family,” he said.
“Interesting. Since I’m the head of the family I would think I would know of any plans that would involve my bodyguard and secretary and that may have the potential to interfere with my accountant,” Zane mused.
“I didn’t exactly get my orders from you, boss.”
“I fucking know that,” Zane told him. He was irritated and kicked the mans knee. “So who in the organisation gave you the orders?”
“Well, he’s not in the organisation,” Tristan confessed. Five men swore as one and four of them delivered hits to the traitors body.
“You can’t be this fucking stupid, Tristan. If they aren’t a part of the organisation, you don’t do what they tell you to do. Jesus Christ, why do I have to explain this!” Zane exclaimed. Tristan was hanging forward in the chair. The only thing keeping him from tumbling to the floor was his hands that were bound to the chair. He wheezed as he fought to straighten up.
“But boss. I have never gone against his orders,” Tristan said.
“Who are you talking about?” Ryder asked.
“ The old boss.”