Sweet Revenge (Sinners MC Book 1), page 11
The door was barely closed before Bear spoke. “You got anything for us?”
Luke ran his hand through his hair. “Not much.”
“Nick?” I asked.
“I called him.”
“He answer?” I inquired, surprised Cam still had the number.
Cam leaned against the desk. “Surprisingly, yes. He has his old number, and I’ve called it a lot, but he usually doesn’t answer. I’m sure he has a burner phone with the club, and I have no fucking clue how he’s been hiding his own, but he obviously has.”
“You get anything good?”
My attention flicked to Bear when he spoke, and I saw the tight line of his shoulders. I watched Luke and Cam share a look and knew we were not going to like what they were going to tell us.
“I told him we have Maggie.” Cam announced.
“Fuck.” I cursed.
“Man, that wasn’t a good idea.” Bear tilted his head back to look at the ceiling.
“We can trust him,” Cam said with resolve.
“No.” Bear looked at Cam. “You could trust Nick, your old partner. This Nick is not the same guy.”
“He’s the same.” Cam met Bear’s gaze with his own intensity. “I worked with him for a lot of fucking years, and I’m telling you, we can trust him. No matter what he’s seen or been forced to do, he’s not going to lose who he is.”
“You can’t know that.” I stated adamantly.
“You grew up in that shit, man, and you’re standing here with us today trying to take them down. It didn’t change you.”
“My situation was completely different, brother, and you know that,” I argued.
“None of that matters,” Bear interrupted. “The fact is we all expect him to carry this shit around with him for a while. Does he know anything about Snake?”
Cam shared a look with Luke, but I was starting to lose patience. “What the fuck does he know?”
Luke ran his hand around the back of his neck before his blue eyes locked on me. “Snake’s gone. He didn’t say much, but he did say you guys need to step back, sent us the same warning.”
I shook my head. “Can’t do that.”
“His warning was clear.” Cam spoke up. “I get the feeling he has something planned, and he doesn’t want us to fuck it up.”
“Or get caught in the crossfire,” Bear guessed.
“That was my interpretation,” Cam agreed. “He also said to keep Maggie locked up tight. He was cryptic, didn’t say her name, not even once, but said keep her close, she’s not safe.”
“I don’t trust this.” Bear replied.
“You don’t trust Nick?” Cam asked defensively.
“I don’t know Nick, brother.” Bear faced Cam. “You may know him, you may think you know who he is now, but the truth is none of us knows if he’s even on our side. What he’s been living for over a year now is beyond any other undercover job you’ve had. It changes men.” He motioned between himself and Gunner. “We’ve watched it happen. Good men, men we’d never expect to go down ugly roads, did and for no other reason than the shit they spew started to make sense. After you hear it for so long, it starts to become who you are.”
Luke moved to lean against the desk in the office and crossed his arms over his chest. “We have something Nick wants, something we think is keeping him going in the right direction.”
The muscles in my shoulders tightened when I tensed. “What?”
Cam sighed loudly. “I talked about Madelyn…well, Maddie to us.”
My eyes flicked back and forth between Luke and Cam. “She has a kid now,” I reminded them, “with another fucking guy.”
“I let him know that didn’t work out. Told him she’s on her own, refuses to let anyone help, that no one has even seen the kid except Sydney, and that was in the hospital. That kid is almost three months old. She’s isolating herself from everyone.”
My eyebrows lifted. “What’d he say?”
“Not a damn thing.” Cam smirked. “Got real quiet. I know him. He’s only that damn quiet when something pisses him off or is out of his control. Something important.”
“Yeah, so what’s gonna be his next move if you know him so well?” Bear asked sarcastically.
Cam frowned. “I don’t know. Couldn’t get anything specific out of him, but if he says to step back, there’s a reason.”
“That’s all we’ve been doing.” Bear lowered his voice. “Sitting on my fucking hands does not sit well with me. We haven’t brought in anyone else that we normally trust because we do not want it fucking leaked that we’re interested in where Snake is.” He looked right at Luke. “Striker find anything?”
Luke shook his head. “Nope. Nothing. Said he followed a trail, but it went cold right outside of town. He doesn’t believe Snake’s still in town. Of course, when he asked around, no one saw a fucking thing. Either that, or everyone’s too damn afraid to speak up.”
“I think that’s more likely.” Bear swore under his breath. “Between the fucking Widows and the Diablos, people around here are scared to speak up. We need to get them out of here, all of them.”
“Agree.” Luke jerked up his chin. “I can tell you the FBI is all over the Diablos, and the last I heard, they have enough to grab Julio, who’s the current leader.”
Bear put his hands on his hips and looked at the floor. “So we got nothing.”
“My father.” I muttered angrily.
Bear’s head shot up. “You think he has him?”
I nodded. “He has him.”
Cam frowned. “Why do you think that now when during our last meet you didn’t?”
“I didn’t think this would be worth his time, but if Nick and Snap are telling the truth and don’t know where he is, then I think that’s because my father got involved.”
“You think he knows we have Maggie?” Bear asked.
“Probably.” I put my hands on my hips and dropped my head. “Fuck.”
“What do you want to do?” Luke inquired.
I let the hate for that man, the hate that I normally kept a tight hold on, bubble to the surface. “We draw him out.”
Cam shook his head. “How?”
“We bait him.”
“You got something he’ll want?”
“The same damn thing he’s wanted for the past five years,” I answered honestly.
“The video.” Bear guessed.
I nodded but didn’t have to speak.
“You’ll be trading your life for hers,” Bear stated.
“Not if we do it right,” Luke said.
I rolled my neck and tried to stretch out the tight muscles before speaking. “I’ve said it before; my father is a lot of things. He’s a murderer, he’s a pimp, a drug dealer, and he’s an all-around asshole, but the one thing he’s not, is stupid.” My stare landed on Luke. “If he has Snake, then he already knows the shit we’re trying to keep from him, including the fact that we have Maggie.”
“Give me the recording you have,” Luke suggested. “I’ll hand it over to the FBI. They obviously want to bring them down, or they wouldn’t have sent in an agent. They’ll bring him in.”
I stared at him intently. “I do that, I’m a dead man before the cell door even slams shut.” I glanced at Bear before continuing. “Why do you think I haven’t just turned it over? I’m willing to give my life for the club or,” I hesitated, wanting to say Maggie, but decided that was revealing too much, “those I love, but I’m not giving my life for that piece of shit and his vendetta.” My eyes scanned the faces in front of me. “We get enough evidence, and the FBI can take down every chapter of the Widows.”
“So, what do you want to do?” Cam asked.
“I’ll ask him what he wants. He’s arrogant, and he hates me, but his hate may work in our favor. Hate is a strong emotion, especially the kind he has for me, and if we’re lucky, it’ll trip him up.”
“I don’t understand why the fuck he would help Snake.” Luke ran his hand through his hair.
“He knows something,” I answered quietly. “He wants to use it against me, and I have a bad feeling I know what it is.”
“What?” Luke asked.
I only had to say one word. The one thing that would make me break. My father knew what kind of man I was. He knew what I would do for those I loved and knew what I would sacrifice. If he knew or suspected my feelings, he was holding all the cards.
“Maggie.”
A knock on the door caused all our heads to snap that way, shocked as shit when Bear pulled it open and there stood my weakness.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
MAGGIE
I chewed on the corner of my lip and opened a bottle of water before I took a quick drink and set it on the bar in front of me. Becs and Jack were talking, and I was listening, but I was feeling a little overwhelmed, and if I was being honest, a little lost since Gunner left.
“Maggie.”
My head snapped up when I heard Becs’s voice. “Yeah?”
She smiled. “I need to talk to Bull for a second.” She pointed across the room at Bull. “I’ll be right back.”
I nodded and glanced at Jack before looking back down at my hands now folded on the bar top.
“I hear you know my boys.”
I closed my eyes briefly and gathered all the courage I had to look up and have a conversation with someone I didn’t know and, worse, Luke’s dad. I still felt responsible for the fire that burned down his wife’s house over a year ago. Snake set that fire to teach Luke that he couldn’t touch him, and he couldn’t save me from him. Luke had intervened one too many times, and the result was his wife could’ve lost her life.
I nodded again, but then cleared my throat and forced myself to speak. “I know some of them.” He smiled and waited patiently when I continued. “You have seven, right?”
“I do, but me and my wife, Anna, seem to have adopted some more over the years.”
I’d heard that. The rumor among all the men was that the Dimarcos took in everyone and treated them like family. Becs said they’d done it with her, Bear, Gunner, and the rest of the MC. “I’ve heard that.”
“Have you met Grace?”
I shook my head. I hadn’t, but I’d obviously heard of her. The only girl in a family of eight kids and the youngest. Plus, she wrote the books I was reading on the Kindle Becs gave me. Becs described her as beautiful, confident, and sweet. A rare combination, in my experience, but my experiences were rarely of anyone sweet.
He sat back and crossed his arms over his wide chest. “Ahh, you need to meet Gracie.”
I smiled, knowing I would like her as much as I liked all the Dimarcos if I ever had the opportunity. I just couldn’t imagine how I would. “That would be nice.”
He sat forward and leaned on his elbows. “Do you like living here?”
I swallowed hard and thought about the question. At first, I hadn’t. In my mind, I’d traded one prison for another, but lately, I’d felt differently. “I do.”
He slapped his hand down on the bar. “Good.”
I smiled and gathered the courage to ask a question myself. “Do you like having a big family?”
He chuckled. “Guess I better, huh?” I felt the tension drain from my shoulders and laughed along with him, smiling when he continued. “Always wanted a big family. I grew up in a family of five, was and still am close to my brother and three sisters and wanted the same for my kids.”
“That’s nice.” I said softly.
“Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
I shook my head. “No, it’s just me.”
He looked around. “Not just you anymore from what I can tell.”
I looked around the room as well but frowned. “They’re just helping me out. I’m sure once they find Snake, I’ll have to find a new place to live.”
The thought of leaving made me feel like crying, but I had no idea why, except that the idea of starting over by myself was overwhelming.
He angled his head down, and a line formed between his eyebrows. “Why do you think that?”
I gestured to the room at large. “I helped them out, so now they’re helping me out. But once Snake isn’t a threat to the club, that’ll change.” I leaned in against the bar. “It’s okay because Gunner is teaching me to drive, and he got me a book so I can study for my GED. At least they’re helping me get ready to be on my own.”
He nodded, his eyes watching me closely, which I found a little odd, when he finally answered. “Gunner’s a good man.”
“He’s nice.” I agreed.
“You ever been on your own, darlin’?”
I nodded. “Yeah. After my mom died.”
His eyes softened. “How old were you?”
“Fifteen.” I swallowed hard when the thoughts of my mom floated through my mind.
He closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them slowly, but I could recognize the sadness in them. “I didn’t grow up easy either, darlin’, but I had my brother and sisters with me. I’m sorry you were all alone. Nobody should have to be.”
“Are your parents still alive?”
“No. They died young. Too much partying.” He lifted his hand, his palm facing me. “Don’t get me wrong, I love my parents, and they did the best they could, but they liked drinkin’ a little too much.”
I felt tears coming and blinked my eyes quickly to clear them. “My mom did her best too. She wasn’t perfect, but she tried, and she was always good to me.”
He smiled with sympathy in his expression. “She sounds like a wonderful person.”
I returned his smile, but it was watery. “She was.”
“You miss her.” It wasn’t a question, only a statement of fact, but I answered anyway. Jack was easy to talk to, and I found I actually wanted to keep the conversation going.
“I miss her every day,” I admitted quietly. “But I’m glad she wasn’t here while I was with Snake.”
His eyes softened, and he leaned forward, lowering his voice. “Something tells me Snake would never have been in your life if you weren’t grievin’ your mama.” He reached out and laid his hand over mine. “Sometimes, darlin’, when we feel like we’re drowning, we grab onto the first thing we see that might save us. That’s not a mistake. That’s surviving.” He wrapped his big hand around mine and squeezed gently. “Your mama would be nothing but proud that you survived without her. She would also be proud that she raised her daughter to be strong enough to sacrifice herself to save another.” He reached his other hand across the bar top and grabbed mine, holding them both tightly. “That’s what you did for my boy. It terrifies me to think about what could’ve happened if you hadn’t come to these boys with the information you had so they could warn Luke.”
“It wasn’t a big deal.” I answered shyly.
“It was to me, and it was to Anna. It also was to my kids, especially Luke. Family takes care of family, no matter what they have to sacrifice to do that. You are and always will be family to us.”
This time, I let the tears hit my eyes, and I didn’t stop them. I let myself feel. I hadn’t had a family in a long time, and I wanted it, wanted it more than I’d ever wanted anything. I wanted to belong to someone again.
I made a decision at that moment. A decision that would help Jack’s family and the people I was starting to care about here at the club. I moved around the side of the bar until I stood directly in front of Jack.
“Thank you.”
He turned on his stool and leaned forward, wrapping his arms around me, and squeezing me tightly against him before he whispered, “No, Maggie, thank you.”
I pulled back and wiped the tear from my cheek. “I have something I need to do.”
He smiled softly. “Okay, darlin’.”
I nodded my head and moved around him, heading for the office where I knew Bear and Gunner were meeting with Luke. I paused outside of the door and hesitated only a moment before I lifted my hand and knocked.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
MAGGIE
“Maggie.” Gunner came to the door and stood in front of me. “What happened? Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” I took a deep breath and exhaled heavily. “Can I come in?”
Bear stepped up beside Gunner. “We’re having a meeting, honey. Can it wait?”
I shook my head. “It’s important.”
They shared a look of confusion, but both backed up and let me walk through. I smiled shyly at Luke and Cam who watched me closely but stayed quiet. Gunner came to stand beside me, and I exhaled slowly, feeling more confident with him at my side.
“Do you need us to leave for a minute?” Luke asked softly.
I shook my head. “No, I need to say this to all of you.” I took another deep breath, glancing back at Gunner when he reached down and wrapped my hand in his. I squeezed his hand and faced the men. “I remember what happened to me.”
Luke stood straight from where he was leaning against the desk. “Do you remember everything?”
I nodded slowly. “I think so. I mean, I blacked out and don’t remember those times, but I remember times when I was conscious.”
Gunner growled beside me, and I knew he probably didn’t want to hear this, but I moved on anyway. I looked directly at Luke. “He told me he shot you.”
Luke’s eyes widened. “Can you remember what he said exactly, Maggie?”
“He was angry. It seemed like he wanted me to react, so he kept telling me things, but I didn’t react. Then he told me he shot you. Said it was a lesson to me and a lesson to you that nothing will ever touch him.”
“Did he talk about the fire?” Cam asked.
I rolled my lips between my teeth. “Yeah, he said he wishes Kate had been there. Well, he didn’t say her name, he called her something else, something awful, but I knew who he meant.”
Cam’s eyes snapped to Gunner beside me. “You were right. He does say a lot of shit when he’s pissed.”
