Chapter 68 Dante's message
Ryder's POV
The text came through while I was watching Sage sleep, something I had been doing a lot lately because sitting in the chair beside her bed and making sure she was still breathing had become my nightly routine. I needed to see her chest rising and falling with each breath, needed to confirm that the nightmares hadn't woken her up screaming like they had for the past few nights.
My phone buzzed and I grabbed it quickly before the sound could disturb her. The number was unknown but the area code was local, which immediately put me on edge.
I opened the message and felt my blood run cold as I read the words.
"Tell Jaxon I have information about Vincent's murder. The killer is someone in the Steel Wolves. Someone with access to his schedule and communications. I'll share what I know for a price."
My fingers moved fast as I typed back a response.
"Who is this?"
The answer came almost immediately.
"Dante Moretti. Remember me?"
Fuck. Yeah, I remembered Dante and so did everyone else in the club. He used to be Vincent's right hand man before he got caught stealing from the club and feeding information to our rivals, which led to Vincent kicking him out two years ago with a very clear message that he was never welcome back.
"What's your price?" I texted back because I needed to know what game he was playing.
"One hour alone with Sage."
I stood up so fast that the chair scraped loudly against the floor and Sage stirred in her sleep, making me freeze until she settled back down. I moved quickly into the hallway and closed the door behind me before pulling up the number and calling it directly.
Dante answered on the second ring with a voice that dripped with amusement.
"Ryder Kane. Still playing Vincent's loyal dog I see."
"You want to die?" I kept my voice flat and dangerous because I meant every word. "Because asking for time alone with Sage is a real good way to make that happen."
"Relax, I'm not asking to fuck her or anything like that. I just want to talk to her for one hour and that's all." He actually sounded amused like this was some kind of joke to him. "Unless you're not interested in knowing who killed Vincent, in which case you should just forget I ever called."
"Why the hell would you know who killed him?"
"Because I happened to be in town when it happened and I saw things that nobody else noticed. I heard conversations that people thought were private and I connected dots that no one else bothered to connect." He paused for effect before continuing. "And also because the killer made the very stupid mistake of annoying me afterward when I needed something from them."
My grip on the phone tightened until I thought the screen might crack. "Give me a name right now."
"No, that information is going to cost you an hour with Sage. You can either take it or leave it."
"I'm leaving it because you're not getting anywhere near her."
"Then I guess you can enjoy never knowing the truth about what really happened. You can enjoy watching Sage drive herself completely crazy trying to solve a murder she'll never figure out without my help." Dante's voice turned hard and cold. "And when Diego drags her to Arizona in three weeks and marries her whether she wants it or not, you can enjoy knowing that you could have prevented all of it if you weren't so fucking stubborn about protecting her from a simple conversation."
"What the hell does Diego have to do with any of this?"
"Everything, but you'll never know the details unless you agree to my terms and let me talk to her."
I wanted to reach through the phone and wrap my hands around his throat until he stopped breathing. "One hour in a clubhouse office with guards posted right outside the door, and if you so much as touch her, you're a dead man."
"That's fair enough. Tomorrow at noon and make sure she knows I'm coming." He hung up before I could say anything else.
I stood there in the hallway staring at my phone while every instinct I had screamed that this was some kind of trap. Dante had to be playing an angle that I couldn't see yet, but the problem was that he claimed to know who killed Vincent and he also claimed to have information about Diego and these damn contracts. If there was even the smallest chance that he was telling the truth, we couldn't afford to ignore it.
I walked downstairs and found Jaxon sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee that had probably gone cold an hour ago. He looked up when I came in and his eyes narrowed.
"You look like shit."
"Dante just contacted me."
Jaxon went completely still and his whole body tensed. "Dante Moretti? The same traitor we kicked out of the club two years ago?"
"Yeah, that's the one. He says he has information about who killed your dad and he claims the killer is someone in the Steel Wolves who had access to Vincent's schedule and all his communications."
"And you actually believe him?"
"I don't know what the hell to believe right now, but he sounded way too confident. He talked like he actually knows something real and not just bullshit." I pulled out a chair and dropped into it. "He wants to meet tomorrow at noon at the clubhouse."
"What's his price for this information?"
"He says one hour alone with Sage."
Jaxon's coffee mug hit the table so hard that liquid sloshed over the side and pooled on the wood. "Absolutely fucking not."
"That's exactly what I told him, but he won't give up any information any other way."
"Then fuck him and fuck his information too. We'll figure out who killed Dad without any help from that piece of shit."
"Will we though? Because we've been investigating this for weeks now and we're not any closer to getting real answers than we were on day one." I leaned forward and looked him straight in the eye. "Dante claims the killer annoyed him later. I guess that's why he wants to rat the person out."
Jaxon stood up and started pacing back and forth across the kitchen while running his hands through his hair. His jaw was clenched so tight that I could see the muscles jumping and I knew he was fighting with himself about what to do.
"I don't trust him and I don't trust his motives for coming forward now," Jaxon finally said.
"Neither do I, but we're running out of time and options here. Sage has less than two weeks before Diego expects her in Arizona for this wedding that none of us want." I stood up too because sitting still was impossible. "If Dante knows something that can help us find Vincent's killer or get leverage against Diego, we have to at least hear him out."
"And if it's a trap? If he's planning something that puts Sage in danger?"
"Then we'll have guards right outside the office door and I'll be watching too the entire time. The second anything feels wrong, we pull her out." I crossed my arms. "But Jax, if there's any chance he's telling the truth about knowing who killed your dad, we can't just ignore it."
Jaxon stopped pacing and turned to look at me with an expression that was equal parts anger and desperation. "I want to find my father's killer more than anything, but not at the cost of putting my sister in danger."
"So we make sure she's not in danger. We control the situation and we don't let Dante get away with anything." I moved closer to him. "One hour in a room with guards outside and both of us watching. What's the worst that can happen?"
"He could try to manipulate her or scare her or plant ideas in her head about the club."
"Sage is tougher than you give her credit for and she won't fall for his bullshit." I put my hand on his shoulder. "Let's at least tell her about the offer and see what she says. This should be her choice to make."
Jaxon stared at me for a while before finally nodding. "Fine, we'll tell her in the morning and let her decide. But I swear to god Ryder, if this goes wrong, if he hurts her in any way, I'm holding you responsible."
"If he hurts her, I'll kill him myself before you get the chance."
We sat back down and I reasoned the entire matter. Dante had information we desperately needed, but the price he was demanding made my skin crawl with how wrong it felt.
I just hoped that whatever he knew was worth the risk of letting him anywhere back into the club and near Sage.
Because if this backfired, if Dante was playing us and something happened to her during that hour, I'd never forgive myself for agreeing to it.