Sweet Revenge (Sinners MC Book 1), page 6
“Pike told me you guys are hiring because you already have more cases than you can handle.”
My eyes found Pike who stood on the other side of the bar watching the meeting he had organized. Pike and Bear became friends years ago when he first started working for Elite and began handling the security at the very bar we were all sitting in right now. The only place we could all meet and call neutral territory. After all, it wasn’t every day that you’d find a group of men all either from a security company, the police department, or an MC who are friends, but we are. It hadn’t been an easy road to navigate, but I trusted every man in this room or we wouldn’t be here.
“We are,” Jax agreed but then lowered his voice to a threatening level. “But this isn’t a case we’ll turn away.” Bear nodded, and Jax continued. “Is there a way to get Brody into the Widow’s clubhouse to set up equipment?”
I shook my head. “No, it’ll never work. They’ll know exactly what to look for. Half of them were military and the other half have been trained to see and hear all. They had to be when they decided to start selling kids.”
Brody, another of Luke’s brothers who works for Elite, shook his head. “I have shit they’ve never seen; I promise you that.” He sat forward on the stool he was occupying. “It’s virtually undetectable.”
“Virtually isn’t good enough.” I answered honestly.
Jax looked over at Brody before his eyes landed on me again. “I need to ask, how is it that you know so much about this club?”
My eyes sliced over to Bear who held my stare, and I knew I had a decision to make. A decision he would stand behind no matter what it was. I’d been holding onto a secret for a long time. One I kept from my own club members and also from the men in this room. Bear was the only one who knew, and I’d planned to keep it that way, but this shit with Maggie was getting out of hand, and I needed to find Snake. The need to find him and end him was burning in me, and I was afraid of how it would change me if I didn’t end it now.
I let my eyes scan over my brothers, my friends—including the Dimarcos, who had become that out of circumstance, but friends all the same—and decided to trust them.
I nodded at Bear who crossed his arms over his chest and waited. “I know the club well because I used to be a member.”
I predicted the look of shock that slid across the faces in front of me, so I wasn’t surprised when silence overwhelmed the room. I waited, letting the information settle, knowing questions would follow, and I wasn’t wrong.
Jax was the first to speak. “How long were you in the Widows, and how the hell did you get out?”
“My entire life.” You could’ve heard a pin drop when I announced that, so I continued. “My father is the president of the national chapter. He runs the whole damn thing. The home base for the club is in Colorado.”
I waited while the shock settled in the room. After all, it wasn’t often that one club lets another member leave only to join another club. And in this case, a rival club.
“He’s still living?” Jax asked.
“Yep.” I sneered. “Still lives in Colorado and calls all the shots.”
“And you just left?” Jax questioned suspiciously.
I ran my hand through my hair and sighed, hating that I was even thinking about the old bastard, let alone talking about him, but for Maggie’s sake, I’d do it. “I wanted out after some shit went down. He agreed, but I had to move away. I’d gone to school with Bear who had moved when we were seniors in high school, called him up and he invited me here to North Carolina. He said he was just voted in as president of his club and was looking to make some changes if I was interested. I was, so here I am.”
“There are a lot of holes in your story, man,” Luke pointed out.
“There are,” I agreed.
“And you have no contact with your father?”
“No.” I stated severely.
“You expect us to believe that, with a chapter of his club basically in your backyard?”
I looked at Brody when he asked what everyone had to be thinking. Brody and I were similar in that we didn’t speak until something important needed to be said. I wasn’t surprised he was the one to ask the question.
I gave him an honest answer. “He strangled my mother when I was fourteen. Made me watch. Told me it was what happened to women who tried to leave him without permission. So, no, I don’t have contact with the prick.”
“Jesus Christ.” Luke breathed out and ran his hand through his hair.
“Why was she trying to leave him?” Jax asked.
“She was trying to get me and her out of the club because she found out my father had just commissioned the sale of women. Not prostitution, they’d be in that for years, but actually selling women.”
“Out of the country?” Luke guessed correctly.
“Right on the first guess.”
“The prostitutes?”
“Two for two,” I answered sarcastically before I continued. “The prostitutes were the easy choice because they were addicts and they owed him. He’d been supplying their drugs for years, and in return, they’d been supplying their services.”
“Your mom found out,” Jax concluded, and I nodded. “What happened after that?”
I took a deep breath as visions of that day forced themselves back into my mind, and this time, I didn’t try to beat them back. “He had her tied up in an old shack out in the middle of fucking nowhere. He pulled me out of school and took me there. She knew she was going to die, and her last words to me were that she was sorry she couldn’t save me, but that I needed to save myself. Then he killed her, lit the place up, and drove away while every piece of her burned to ash.”
“Fuck, Gunner, man, I don’t even know what to say.” Jax admitted.
“There’s a first time for everything.” Bear teased sarcastically, breaking some of the unbearable tension in the room and even causing a few grins.
The weight in the room lifted some, and Jax pushed forward. “How did you finally get out?”
I put my hands on my hips and closed my eyes briefly, tamping down the nasty memories now at the forefront of my mind. “Several years ago, I watched my father make a series of deals with the Mexican drug cartel, promising them young girls and boys in exchange for their connections. He wanted to corner the market in Colorado for selling drugs, and this particular group was the way to do that. If they agreed to supply him and not the other clubs, he became the strongest leader in all of the clubs, putting the Widows and him on top. It was all business. Nothing I hadn’t seen before except the trade had never been kids. Apparently, the cartel could get top dollar for kids from the US, and they needed a partner across the border. My father was so fucking happy when the deal was made. They partied for days on end. I can’t even tell you how much booze, drugs, and women went through the place during that week.” I paused before continuing, needing to steady my mind. “After the celebrations ended, I went to him, told him I didn’t want any part of it, and he basically told me it was my duty, especially as the son of the president. What he didn’t know then was that I had recorded the meetings. After I established my plan, I went back to him.”
“What was the plan?” Pike asked.
“I planned to turn it all over to the police. I told him I had the video uploaded, and it would send to the department by a certain date whether I was alive or dead. I was the only one who could stop it from sending because I was the only one with the code.”
“And did you?” Pike pressed.
“I had to; he’d have known if I was bluffing. A part of me knew there was a very real chance he’d just kill me, and I wanted him to pay. If I couldn’t be around to personally take down the entire club, I was going to make damn sure I handed over enough information for the police to at least get him.”
Brody looked suspicious. “He just let you go?”
“Fuck, no. He beat the hell out of me, then had a few of the other club members do the same. Destroyed my computer, searched the entire clubhouse looking for the bugs. Trashed all the clubhouse computers, my phone, any damn thing he could find that might be where I was storing the videos. He knew those videos would be the first step in destroying the club and putting him away for a long time. He also knew if the information was leaked, the cartel would not be happy, and he’d have to answer to them, which was not something he wanted.”
Brody ran his hand along the back of his neck. “Fuck.”
“This shit went on the few days I gave him to make a decision. He thought I would back down, but I didn’t. I would die if I had to just to shut them down. I think he finally realized that and told me I could go with the stipulation that I left town and gave him all the files. I told him I would send him all but one, the one with the most incriminating evidence, which I would hold onto as assurance that I would continue living.”
“He agreed.” Jax stated.
“He didn’t have a choice. I’d planned this for a while and took in every consideration with my plan. Made sure I tied up every loose end because I knew if I didn’t, he’d find me and kill me. He’s ruthless and violent, but he isn’t stupid. And he knew I wasn’t either. I set up all the security and surveillance for that clubhouse and then some. He knew I knew my shit.”
“Did you send the files back to him?” Luke asked in disbelief.
“Absolutely. I knew if I wanted to find a way to take him down and save my own life, I had to be patient, but I kept the one that will destroy him. It’s not enough to destroy the club, though, and that’s the bigger picture for us. The Widows need to be taken down, but we have to do it right, or the next jackass in line will just build it back up.”
“Do you have enough now to take down the club?” Luke inquired.
Bear glanced my way before he spoke up. “We’ve spent the last almost four years gathering evidence to turn over to the police. We want the Widows shut down as much as anyone, but there is only one way to do that, and it’s giving the police enough to actually make arrests and weaken them. We haven’t overlooked anything and have interrupted every shipment across the border that we can by tipping off gangs, including the Diablos who are all too happy to piss off the Widows. They’ve been fighting over territory for a while now.”
“But it’s not enough yet, is it?” Luke concluded.
Bear shook his head. “No, not yet.”
“Where is Nick in all of this?” Cam asked, and I cringed. Nick was Cam’s friend and had been his partner in the FBI while Cam worked undercover investigations. The FBI had been watching the Widows for years, and when they needed someone to do an undercover stint in the local chapter, Nick signed up. The idea being that he could begin to dismantle them from the inside out, but we knew he was doing shit for them that he wouldn’t recover from, and we knew he had no choice if he wanted to keep his identity a secret.
“Nick should’ve never been sent in.” Bear frowned. “I told all of you that you should’ve talked to us before he made that move.”
“There wasn’t time,” Cam said. “Someone had to go in.”
“It was the wrong move,” Bear stated again. “He’s in now, and there’s only one way out for him.”
Cam gritted his teeth. “We need to tear down this fucking club.”
“We don’t have enough yet.” I reiterated.
Jax lowered his head. “Fuck.”
“What do we need?” Pike inquired.
“We need Snake,” I answered.
“Why?”
“Snake’s a powder keg,” I answered honestly. “Can’t keep his mouth shut when he’s challenged, backed into a corner, or just pissed. He could give us most of what we need to bring down the club and the icing on the cake is we’d have that bastard. We could finally make him pay for his crimes against Maggie and you, Luke.”
“Do you think Snake’s in Colorado?”
I considered that before Bear spoke. “He couldn’t have ridden there, though. It’s too far. They would’ve gotten him before he crossed the state line.”
“If my father was involved, there would have been a plan to get him out of North Carolina before he grabbed Maggie. My father’s not usually sloppy, and he would never want any shit falling back on him. Especially shit caused by a woman.”
“Unless they figured out Maggie was a narc,” Jax suggested.
“And that she was hiding with you,” Brody added.
“We’ve been careful,” Bear defended himself and the club.
Brody shook his head and looked at me. “Brother, if what you’re saying about your father is true, then there isn’t a doubt in my mind that he’s had eyes on you since you drove away from their clubhouse.”
“I know he has. Hell, they set up the Widows clubhouse in town after I moved here and joined Bear, but he would’ve had Maggie killed if he knew she was the narc,” I stated bluntly.
“Then what’s the game? Is Snake that important to the organization that your father would risk moving him across state lines?”
“Snake’s a good soldier, and he’s proven that. He’ll do anything, follow any order, all in the name of club life. My father wouldn’t want to lose someone who follows orders and shows that kind of loyalty.” Bear nodded his head in agreement when I spoke.
“Have we considered Snake’s orchestrating something of his own?” Luke offered. “I’m guessing he got his road name for a reason.”
I hadn’t considered that. In my mind, everyone was following my father’s orders. Was there a chance Snake was vying for something, maybe a position in the club?
“I don’t think we need to find Snake.” Brody spoke up suddenly.
“Why the hell not?” I growled.
Brody’s eyes focused solely on me. “I know you want retribution for Maggie, brother, and you will get it. We can all promise that.” I saw heads nod in agreement and flicked my eyes back to Brody’s intense stare. “I know what it’s like to want to destroy the person responsible for my woman’s pain, but I also knew I had to do that in a way that I could still come home to her at night.”
Brody went through a lot with his wife, Gia. Everyone knew that story, so I didn’t doubt the honesty in his words, especially when he continued. “You want her?”
I did. I was sure everyone knew that because I wasn’t pretending to hide it. I’d wanted Maggie from the first moment I laid eyes on her, which was a long time before I knew most of the people in this room, and I’ve never stopped wanting her. There was just something about her that drew me toward her every time I saw her, even before she came to us with information to bring down the Widows. I lifted my chin in Brody’s direction. He knew my answer; I didn’t have to say the words.
“Then fight clean,” he said. “She’s lived a long time in a dirty world, probably saw things we can’t even imagine, and the last thing she needs to see is any hint of the world she lived and feared in you.” I nodded, and he continued. “We’ll get Snake, but we need to do it in a way that we get him for good.”
“We find Nick.” Luke surmised.
“Can’t you get ahold of him through his contact with the FBI?” I asked, knowing he wasn’t completely alone in there. The FBI had to be keeping tabs on him.
“He’s not checking in.” Cam’s gaze landed on me and Bear. “They’ve lost contact with him.”
“Fuck.” I ran my hand through my hair and nodded. “Then you’re right, we need to find Nick.”
“Exactly.” Brody dipped his chin at me before he faced the room. “He’s our connection. We need to use him.”
“I’ll put Striker on it,” Jax declared. “He’s the best damn tracker in our company.”
“Nick is Smoke,” Bear shared. “That’s the road name the club gave him, and it’s accurate. I’ve never seen anything like it. He’s here and gone before you even know what the hell happened. We can’t get a trace on him.”
“Then we draw him out.” Luke said.
“How?” I asked the obvious question.
“We use his weakness?” Bear guessed.
The mood in the room grew solemn. We all knew Nick only had one weakness. We just had no idea how to use her without getting anyone killed.
Because if Nick thought for one minute that any of us put Madelyn Hughes in danger, he’d take us all out.
CHAPTER TEN
MAGGIE
Twisting my fingers together, I stood inside my bedroom staring at the closed door in front of me. For the first time since I came here all those months ago, I wanted to leave my room. One month ago, I saw Kat and started my new prescription that very day. By the end of the week, I borrowed Becs phone and called the therapist who agreed to come see me. Since then, I’d been meeting with Lisa three times a week, and it’s felt nice to talk to someone, so nice that I’ve found myself looking forward to the appointments. I’d also found myself smiling more when Becs would visit, and I’d finally gotten my cast off, so overall, I was feeling better.
It also didn’t hurt that I was spending time with Gunner, but more than that, I was enjoying it. He’d been checking in everyday—sometimes only to say hello and other times, he’d sit down and ask me how I was feeling or what I was reading. Last night, he came to my room just as I’d put on a movie and asked if he could watch it with me. I answered yes, and he climbed onto the bed beside me, both of our backs propped against the headboard, not touching at all, and we watched Sandra Bullock pretend to be a beauty pageant contestant. It was an old movie but new to me, and I found myself grinning throughout it. I could feel the heat of Gunner’s stare on the side of my face sometimes, but I didn’t look at him. I wasn’t nearly brave enough for that yet. After the movie, he told me he’d see me tomorrow before he left quietly, and not for the first time, he made me second-guess everything I thought I knew about men.
I woke up this morning feeling happier than I had in a long time, and after reading a few chapters of the book on the Kindle that Becs gave me, I decided I felt hungry. It was odd to feel hungry because it wasn’t typical for me. Or maybe it was something I’d become so accustomed to ignoring in my life, because food wasn’t always available, that I forgot how to recognize it. Even during my time with Snake, I’d ignore hunger pangs and only eat when he was home to eat with me. He preferred that, and I knew better than to disappoint him.
