Blood vs. Loyalty

Family Recipe

Holly woke up with a jolt when she heard the doorbell ring, sighing in frustration when the doorbell woke Valentina up, making her cry. She went in to get her, bringing her down with her to see who it was, telling Rat to go upstairs before letting Eli inside, listening as Eli told her that he was posting an officer outside the house and at the office for her sake. And the kids'.

"Don't fucking stand there and pretend you actually give a shit about my family. Spouting that legal duty bullshit. I don't want one of your lackeys babysitting me. I've seen what happens when they get impatient or bored and I don't have the time or patience to deal with that bullshit. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself and my kids. And what I lack, Jax has in turn. I see a single officer and I'm gonna file a complaint. Now get your ass out of my house."

Holly picked up her phone, putting it on speaker as she changed Tommy and Valentina's diapers, Abel watching the Wiggles.

"Hello?"
"Holly? It's Giovanni. This a good time to talk?"
"Yeah. Give me a minute and I can take you off speaker."

She finished the diaper changing and let the babies crawl around their playpens before picking up her phone.

"Sorry. I dealing with mommy duty."
"It's ok. So, did some research into your cartel problem first."
"What'd you find out?"
"Romeo and Luis? Not Galindo. CIA."
"They're feds??"
"Yep. I doubt Clay knew he'd be getting into bed with feds, but that problem needs to be corrected."
"Shit. The guys are gonna be pissed."
"Onto your other inquiry."
"Ok?"
"Called in a favor and had the info on John Teller sent to me. I see what you mean. His bike was tampered with. There was a fingerprint taken, but the evidence got tampered with. My guess is that some cop ruined evidence because Clay asked them to or threatened them or paid them off or something."
"That makes sense. When it comes to being in power or having money, Clay is kinda ruthless."
"Without having more to go on with the death threat note, I can't do very much on that front. But I can tell you that it's not the cartel."
"That's alright. The club's looking into the death threat."
"I'm sending Dante and his old lady to stay with you until things settle down with this."
"I can't tell you how much I appreciate this, zio. And how sorry I am that I have to call on you with this shit."
"You're family, Holly. We'll always be here when you need us."
"Grazie, zio."

Holly climbed onto the back of Jax's bike, deciding to go with him to go check on Piney. She made him stop once to get something to drink and stretch her legs. When they got to the cabin, she climbed off and walked in with Jax, holding his hand. She grabbed her bottle of sprite, finishing what was left as she sat down, listening to Jax and Piney argue with each other. When Jax walked out, she looked at Piney.

"I can understand why you want things to change. I do too. But you need to stop putting that shit on Jax's shoulders. He was enough on his plate without you pushing his dead father on him. You're not helping matters and all that's gonna do is just spin him out. And I'm not gonna lose Jax because of anyone. Ok?"

She walked back out to Jax, kissing him softly.

"So, Dante and his wife are gonna be here tonight. I'm gonna have to go pick them up from the airport around midnight."
"Ok. It's good that they're coming. It's nice to know that you have some added protection."
"Before we go, I have something to tell you. Something huge."

He turned off his bike and looked at her. She took a deep breath before looking back at him.

"I called my uncle the other day to talk to him about what's been going on. With the cartel too. He said he'd look into some of that and see what he could find out."
"What did he find out?"
"Romeo and Luis? Not Galindo."
"What do you mean they're not Galindo? What are they?"
"CIA......"
"Holy shit...."
"I doubt Clay knew about that. He'd never get into bed with feds. But the guys need to know. Y'all are working with feds."

Holly pulled up to the airport, waiting for her cousin and his wife, listening to music to keep herself awake. She played some thoughts out in her mind, wondering how the guys were gonna take it when they find out they're working with CIA. It wouldn't be pretty, she knew that for sure. She was taken away from her thoughts when someone knocked on the window, looking over and waving at her cousin, getting out to help put their bags in the back before climbing back into the car, driving home.

"Giovanni told me to let you know that your cartel problem would be taken care of by the weekend's over. And nonno is allowing the Clay issue to be dealt with in house."

She nodded, glancing at him for a second.

"I appreciate that. But I'm too tired to talk about things. But are you guys hungry? We can stop somewhere for food."
"No thanks. We ate on the plane."
"Airline food? Brave ones."
"No. We brought our own food."
"We don't trust airline food."

She looked back at Dante's wife, Maria with a smile before turning onto her street.

"Smart. I don't either. Well, we're almost at the house. You two will be staying in the basement room. We use the basement as the guest room since we've given the kids their own rooms."
"Thanks for letting us stay, Holly."
"Anytime. You're family. And Jax and I are both happy that you're here."