Chapter 35

35

When Zane walked into his office, followed by Jax, he to the bar and poured two whiskeys. He took the ice filled handkerchief and put it in a glass so it wouldn’t drip and left it at the bar.

“You will get in trouble if Ava finds out you took it off,” Jax smiled as he accepted one of the glasses.

Just shut up. Did you get an update on the man?” Zane asked.

“Bert O’Riley, a nobody if you don’t take into account his grandfather runs the second largest factory in the city.”

“Legit?”

“Yes, squeaky clean from what I know,” Jax told him.

“If he would disappear?”

“He is the sole heir to it all. His father was a deadbeat, good for nothing and old man O’Riley disowned him when Bert was two. Burt seems to follow in his father’s footsteps, but as he is the only male relative, the old man keeps him around,” Jax told Zane.

“Fuck. It may be worth it,” Zane said.

“You rearranged his face and intestines, why not call it a day?”

“He lay his hand on something that belongs to me,” Zane huffed.

“I get it. I’m just saying that Ava is fine, no harm was done to her. You got to punch the guy and he will be feeling it for days, probably longer as he’s a fucking wimp. All is good. Why draw attention to us necessarily?”

“He touched her.”

“He did,” Jax admitted. “But taking this further may jeopardise the plan that Ava had about the charities, old man. O’Riley is cosy with the mayor.” Zane gave Jax a look to show him he knew what Jax was trying to do. “Just saying.” Jax

said.

“Fine, we will let him live. But I don’t want to see him in the club while Ava is here.”

“I’ll make sure of it,” Jax agreed. Zane hated that he had to let the man go. He felt like he couldn’t protect Ava like he wanted to. Jax didn’t realise how desperately Zane needed to be able to protect her. But his friend had a point in it being dangerous for the idea Ava had given him. She had sounded so excited about it; Zane didn’t want to be the reason it fell apart. “It looked like she knew what she was doing.” Jax said, looking at Zanes hand.

“Not surprising, she always has to exceed in everything she does,” Zane huffed.

“Everything?” Zane looked at his friend, he wouldn’t answer the question, but couldn’t help the smirk that appeared on his face. “Not fair. I would like to point out that I found her first and you only found her because of me,” Jax said with a sigh. Zane knew his friend wasn’t serious, so it didn’t bother him. He just chuckled.

35

“I thought you were going for Gabriel?”

“It’s tempting, that is one beautiful man, and just the right amount of sassy. But I would prefer not to be killed in my sleep by Ryder,” Jax said. Zane laughed.

“You clocked those looks he gave you?“:

“I felt them like lasers on my skin. Gabriel is a tempting prize, but no one is worth having to sleep with one eye open for the rest of my life.” Zane continued to laugh at his friend. It was good to know that Jax had some sensibility.

“Any news on Cobler?” Zane then asked.

“He is keeping a low profile. I don’t know if it’s because he learned his lesson, if he is scared or if he is up to no good,” Jax said.

“Has he tried reaching tout to Ava?”

“Why don’t you ask her?” Jax asked.

“Why are you answering my question with a fucking question?” Zane asked. Jax just raised an eyebrow. “Because I don’t want to upset her,” Zane admitted.

“See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” Jax smirked. “No, he hasn’t neither have his wife.”

“Not even to check up on her or to see where she is?”

“No, not a single contact attempt since the lawyer contacted them to make them sign the lease,” Jax told him. Zane nodded. He didn’t know if it was good news or not. He did want her uncle to stay away from Ava. It was his fault she had been put in a dangerous situation. If the one holding his dept hadn’t been Zane, Zane shuddered to think what it could have led to. But Zane had done a background check on Ava, he knew they were her only living relatives. He hated the thought of her thinking no one loved her. He didn’t want her to feel alone.

“Well, that’s good then,” he said.

1

“Are you going to move forward with Ava’s suggestion about donating to a women’s shelter?” Jax asked.

“Yes, I think it makes sense.”

“I agree, it will give us some much–needed sway in the mayor’s office and if we make the donation large enough, they will feel obligated to include us in all their hootsie tootsie functions,” Jax said, grinning.

“Yes, we don’t want to miss out on those.”

“You know as well as I do what kind of deals are being done at those things. I we get a foot inside, a whole new world will open up,” Jax pointed out.

“You are right. The accountant suggest we rout the money through one of our facade companies. It will lend the company another layer of legitimacy. He sent three suggestions: I’m sending them to you. Read them through and we will discuss which one we should pick,” Zane told Jax. Zane looked at his watch and saw it was well past two in the morning. “I think we can call it a night, or do we have anything else on the to–do list?” he asked.

2/4

35

“No, everything is crossed off. I just need to find some entertainment for the night as that little cherub is not going home with me. How about you? A week with the same woman, are you needing a change? Or an addition maybe?” Jax asked. Zane felt a quick flare of anger. Just the implication that Ava wasn’t enough for him had him seeing red. But he calmed down, it did no good in letting his feelings show.

“Not tonight, maybe later in the week,” he said.

“Suit yourself. I’ll just say good night to Ava before I go hunting.” Zane joined Jax as they headed to the WIP–room. Ryder and Tom were still standing outside.

“Anything new?” Zane asked.

“No, boss. They have been inside since you left,” Tom said. Zane knocked on the door and walked in. His angel was sitting on the couch where he had left her. Gabriel and she was laughing and looked up as he walked inside.

“How’s your hand?” Ava asked and smiled at him.

“It’s fine,” he told her and walked over to her. “Are you feeling ready to end the night or do you want to continue?” he asked. The two friends looked at each other.

“We are ready to head home. Do you mind if we give Gabriel a ride home?”

“Not at

“Not at all,” Zane said.

“It’s okay Ava, you don’t have to. I can take a cab,” Gabriel objected.

“It’s not an issue, we will be happy to,” Zane told him. Gabriel nodded and Ava smiled at Zane.

“I will say good night to you now, Ava. I have a couple of things to see to before I head back home,” Jax told Ava.

“Good night [ax, I hope you find what you are looking for,” Ava told him. He smirked at her, and Zane just shook his head. The fact she had delivered that line without blushing showed how much she had changed in just a week. He helped her out of the couch and placed his hand on her back as she walked out of the room.

“We will be dropping off Gabriel on the way,” Zane told Tom.

“Sure thing, boss.”

In the car Ava and Gabriel started talking about making plans to eat lunch the next week. Zane listened with a half ear as he scrolled through the three options the accountant had given him.

“Gabriel, you are an accountant, is that right?” Zane found himself asking.

“Yes.”

“If you, hypothetically, would set up a charity how would you set up the front business for it if the organisation as a whole had some less than clean money?” Zane asked.

“I wouldn’t use the ‘not so clean money‘. I would use a part of the organisation which was as clean as it could be and set it up as legitimate as possible,” Gabriel said.

35

“Why?” Zone asked.

“Charities tend to draw attention, especially if there are large sums of money involved. It would cost you just as much, or more, to try and front a ‘not so clean‘ business as clean as you would spend on the charity. Using an already clean- option would lessen the cost and give you a legitimate front to give you credit as being a businessman,” Gabriel answered.

“He’s brilliant i

brilliant, isn’t he,” Ava beamed and gave Gabriel a squeeze.

“He is,” Zane agreed. He liked that plan better than the one his own accountant had given him. Why hadn’t his own accountant been able to put something like it together? The most obvious business would be In Cavea Aurea, Zane thought. He could work with that. The car stopped outside an apartment complex in the modest, but not bad, part of the city. Before Gabriel got out, Ava gave him a hug. Zane said goodnight to him, as did Tom and Ryder. When they drove off again, Zane put his arm around Ava, he felt like he hadn’t seen her at all that evening. He was happy she had had fun, but he had missed her.

“Let me see your hand,” she told him as she tried to look at it as it was laying on her shoulder. He lifted it and placed. in in her lap, the light in the car was dim but he could feel her fingers probing it over the bandage. “You didn’t keep ice on it,” she said accusingly. Zane looked at the two men in the front seat. He could see in the mirror both were doing their best not to laugh.

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