Ruthless Reign

Chapter 3

I shut my burning eyes for a few seconds as I waited for the coffee to finish brewing. It was my second pot since we’d gotten home last night and my stomach rebelled against the idea of having its sixth cup. But someone needed to stay awake, alert.

Thehouse had been dead silent for hours now, and it took a gargantuan effort not to check and see if there was in fact a dead person hidden behind Hardin’s bedroom door. More accurately, a dead Becca. With the way she was screaming, I had to wonder.

Ichuckled darkly to myself in the early morning light streaming in through the kitchen window, giving my head a shake. I had absolutely no doubt that he hurt her. I also had absolutely no doubt that she enjoyed every second of it. And she actually managed to calm him down. I even heard him speak to her before I put my headphones in and cranked up PrimalEthos, positioning myself in the living room so that I could see through both the side and front windows.

Thefloorboards in Hardin’s bedroom creaked, and I sighed heavily, knowing I would need to face her, face them. I mean, what the fuck was I going to say? Top of the morning to you, Vixen, how are your lady bits? Need some ice?

Myjealousy knew no bounds. It was a feeling I wasn’t used to, but one I knew that I would need to learn to live with. The hollowness in the pit of your stomach, like someone scraped out your insides with a jagged spoon and then slapped the bleeding beating thing in your chest with that same spoon on their way out.

Ipoured myself a cup of coffee, stopping mid pour when I heard the door open and the light padding feet across the wooden floor. I only resumed pouring when I heard Becca close herself into the bathroom.

Atleast she could still walk.

Despitethe lingering acid in my stomach, it felt different this time—knowing she was with my brother. We’d almost lost her, and truth be fucking told I’d rather share her than not have her at all.

Beccawanted my brother, but she wanted me too. At least, I hoped she still did. Funny how just days ago I asked Grey how it worked with them and AvaJade, unable to understand it, and now…

Apparentlyall I needed were a couple of bombs and a death threat to get over my hangups. Who knew?

Theshower started up in the bathroom and I heard the floorboards creak again as Hardin exited his bedroom. I stared out the kitchen window, tired eyes scanning the neighbors’ house, our hedges, and the slice of street I could see beyond both.

SilentlyHardin stepped up beside me, pulling a mug from the cupboard and filling it to the brim with black coffee.

“Were you up all night?”

“Someone had to be.”

Hegrunted his agreement, leaning against the counter as he casually sipped his coffee like he wasn’t balls deep in my girl hours ago. The thing is, I knew my brother. His tendency toward obsession. Becca may have wanted us both, and I may have decided I don’t care if she does. But that didn’t mean Hardin was on that same page. And she was good for him. Really good.

Iwished I was the sort of man who could bow out gracefully. At one point I thought I was. I wasn’t so sure anymore.

“If you have something to say, say it,” Hardin said gruffly between sips of coffee.

“I think I’m in love with her,” I said, shocking the absolute hell out of myself. “Can you say the same?”

Mybrother’s jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed but not on me. He wasn’t looking at me. Wouldn’t look at me. And apparently, wouldn’t answer me either.

Theshower turned off.

“She’s good for you,” I said, dumping the dregs of my sixth coffee down the drain. “ButI’m better for her, and you know it.”

Itwas a dick thing to say but there it was. The acid that’d been building in my stomach all night finally found a way out via my tongue.

Theonly indication he heard me was a slight tightening of the skin around his eyes.

Thebathroom door opened, and Becca stepped out, freezing in place when she saw us both in the kitchen. “Uh, hey,” she said, pushing wet hair behind her ears, her throat bobbing. “Is that fresh coffee?”

“Yeah, but if you want, some be quick.” I tugged my phone from my pocket, checking the time. “We gotta leave in about fifteen.”

Herbrows lowered, confused. “What do you mean? I have to work. My shift starts in less than an hour.”

Ishook my head. “Sorry, Vixen, not today. I don’t trust anyone with you save for me or Hardin, and we’re both needed at the meet.”

“But —”

“Maybe you can go in late,” I offered, already knowing that shit was highly unlikely. No matter what happened at the meet today there would be work that needed doing. As much as I wanted Becca to have some normalcy, it was too late for that now.

“Seriously?”

Herbrown eyes flicked to Hardin, as if imploring him to be the voice of reason. I could’ve laughed.

“Hardin?” She pressed.

“Kaleb’s right.”

Herbody sagged, and her eyes fell to the floor as she nodded quietly to herself. “Okay. Okay, fine. I’ll get someone to cover my shift.”

Sheturned on her heel, vanishing into the darkness of Hardin’s bedroom and closing the door behind her.

Withher gone for the moment, I was able to make my sleep deprived brain think of more important things. The things I should’ve been thinking about last night instead of a million other petty jealous thoughts.

“You ready for this?”

“No.”

Ipressed my lips together. Neither was I.

Thiswas fucking Archer. The loss of him hit harder than I expected. He may not have been blood, but he was family. Like an uncle to us since we were still just a couple of kids. Dad’s best friend.

Andthat filth took him from us. Not only that, but he planned to take a hell of a lot more. The men would look to Dad for answers, hungry for retribution, and I honestly had no fucking idea what he was going to tell them. There wasn’t a single useful thought in my head. I could blame it on the sleep deprivation but that wouldn’t be entirely true. I wasn’t the idea man. I wasn’t the one dad or anyone turned to when they needed input. And it seemed that wouldn’t change today.

“We need to put the Irishman down,” Hardin all but growled, some of the rage Becca had managed to temper returning until I could see it like dark embers in his eyes.

Inodded, at least that we could agree on. It was the how that we needed to work out. “I’ll wait in the Bronco. TellBecca to hurry up where were going to be late.”

Ididn’t wait for him to answer me before snatching the keys off the counter and heading outside.

Theback lot at Saint’s autobody was filled to the tits already when we arrived. A couple of the guys hung around the staff exit, talking quietly while they smoked their cigarettes. They lifted their heads to us in greeting as we passed through and noticed that each one of them looked just as fucked up as we did. Their eyes were bloodshot as if they’d been up all night with an eight ball of coke instead of watching over their families.

Ididn’t miss the way they looked at Becca as she followed into the shop behind us with her head bowed. No doubt wondering why we were bringing a piece of ass to an official Saints meet with us. They didn’t know. And now was not the time for DamienSt. Vincent to fill them in on the fact that he had a daughter. We could still have a leak. And even if we didn’t, the more people who knew the more likely it was to get out. Hardin and I had already put enough of a target on her back without adding that to the fucking mix.

Throughthe glass wall, I could see that the meat room was already filled with people. Dad wasn’t in there yet, even though I saw his car outside. Hardin gestured to the little row of red chairs outside of the room, and Becca folded herself into one. We’d be able to see her from inside, but even having only a glass wall to separate us was making me uncomfortable as shit.

ThisIrish fucker seem to know so much about us, what if he knew this was our meeting place? What if the walls were already filled with explosives? What if they were just waiting for their opportunity to descend on us when they knew we would all be together in one place without our families?

“I’m going to do a quick sweep,” Hardin said gruffly from beside me, as if his mind had gone to the same dark places mine had.

Normally, I’d go with him, but there was no way in hell I was leaving Becca sitting out here, even if she was surrounded by other Saints.

“Hey, Vixen, you hungry? There’s a vending machine and one of those fancy ass coffeemakers in the guest lounge. I can grab you something before we start.”

Sheshook her head. “Not exactly hungry.”

Iknew the fucking feeling. But she needed to eat. We all did. Now, more than ever it was important for all of us to keep our strength up. After we were through here, I’d take her to get whatever she wanted.

“After were done here then,” I said. “We’ll go wherever you want.”

“Kaleb?”

Ipaused with my hand on the handle of the door to the meeting room, craning my neck to look at her. She chewed on her lower lip, pressing her hands together between her thighs. When she turned her head, I saw the ghost of fingerprint bruises along the side of her neck and stiffened.

“About last night…” She trailed off.

“We don’t have to —”

“We do,” she said almost sharply, and I open the door for the couple of

Saintswho were outside smoking to enter the meat room before shutting the door behind them.

“I just… I want you to know that this thing with Hardin, it doesn’t mean that what’s between us —”

“I know, Vixen. I know.”

Despitemyself, I offered her a small smile, and it was worth it to see the relief in her eyes, and the way her body sagged from it, relaxing into the chair as Hardin returned from his sweep.

“Is it time?”

Hardinnodded and then jerked his chin toward the main door, where Dad was lingering with Ma at his side. Ma was saying something to him that had him pinching the bridge of his nose, his jaw taut and eyes closed tight in frustration.

Mychest panging that the memory of our losses.

“Stay here,” I told Becca, edging the words and a question even though we both knew it was more of a command.

Forhalf a heartbeat, I contemplated giving her my piece, until I saw old Briggs positioned in front of the back door through the little square glass window, keeping watch with what looked like a semiautomatic slung across his back. Good.

Maand Dad were across the shop floor, Ma studiously ignoring Becca’s presence and Dad saying nothing about it as he jerked his chin for us to open the door and head inside.

Thedrone of chatter in the boxed in space quieted as the four of us entered. Hardin and I took our seats near the head of the table and everyone else began to sit down until all the chairs were full and the remaining Saints stood in rigid lines against the walls, leaving the glass wall bare for all of us to be able to see out.

Dadremained standing in front of his chair, leaning over the table with his head bent and every muscle in his arms and back tense. The silence stretched on a minute before he was ready to begin.

“We have less than two weeks,” he said, his voice betraying no trace of grief or fear. “Two weeks until those assholes expect us to drive up to the canyon with our tails between our legs and our fucking money bagged up and ready to hand over. Two weeks to figure out our next move.”

Hepushed off the table, his slate gray eyes meeting the solemn gazes of several of his men before he spoke again. “Now, I may have some ideas, but right now I want to hear from all of you. This isn’t a democracy, but when that fucking filth decided to involve your wives and your children… Well, you should have a say.”

Ifthe red tint to Hardin’s face was any indication, he was a fistful of words from detonating. If anyone of these fuckers suggested that we should actually bend the knee and do as the Irishman said, I had a feeling my brother’s finger would get hello twitchy.

Atleast in this case, he and I agreed. There was no way we could live with the wolf sleeping in our backyard, with the threat constantly hanging over our heads. OverBecca’s.

Butwe needed to be delicate about it. The mad bastard had made it clear—one wrong move and he’d spill more Saint blood.

“He needs to be put down,” Zade said plainly.

Dadnodded, and the rest of the Saints in attendance muttered their agreement, heads bobbing.

“Good,” Dad said. “Now that’s settled, we need to figure out the how of it.”

Dadlooked at every Saint in the room in turn, and I wondered if he was thinking the same thing I was. One of them could be the source of the leak. Because there had to be a leak, didn’t there? How else could SéamasO’Sullivan have known so much?

“Before we get into that.” Dad snapped his fingers and Tracy from reception backed her way through the door with a tray filled with tiny glasses and a bottle of whiskey atop it. She set the tray down quietly, nodded to Dad and left.

Dadtwisted the cap off the bottle of whiskey, his fallen brother’s favorite brand, and poured himself a shot. I did the same, and pushed the tray down to the others. Once everyone had one-fifth of whiskey, dad raised his shot glass and I watched his throat bob before he spoke. “To our fallen brother.”

“ToArcher,” Zade said, and several others repeated the words.

Dad’seyes met mine, and I lifted my glass, throat too damn thick to speak. I tossed the whiskey back, and the burn of it cleared away that thickness, resting in my belly that was fast becoming a pit of acid.

“Before we go any further in this meeting,” Dad said gruffly, rubbing a wide palm over the stubble on his jaw. “There’s something that needs to be said, and I’m sure a lot of you have already been thinking it. TheSons of O’Sullivan seemed to know a hell of a lot about our operations. Things they seemingly could only know if someone who’d been. In. This. Room.” He punctuated each final word with a fist slammed down on the metal table. “Had fucking told them.”

Dadleaned over the table again, that wild rage he kept leashed showing in full force in his eyes now. It woke my own sleeping demons, and my fists clenched atop the table.

“IfI find out that anyone of you, no matter who, has been leaking information to our enemies, I will make SéamasO’Sullivan look like a goddamn puppy. That person will suffer more than I have made anyone suffer since I first took the title of Saint. I would hunt that person down to the ends of this godforsaken earth. There would be nowhere that person could hide from me.”

Dadlet his words settle among the group for a moment before continuing.

Ihoped to fucking hell that we were all wrong about there being a leak. These were all good men. Vetted. Trusted. It was possible Séamas got his information another way.

“All right.” He clapped his hands together. “Let’s go over what we know.”

“He started by taking out the police chief,” Pope offered.

“Nah, he started before then. Slowly turning the smaller gangs in the area to his side.”

“Right,” Dad said. “And he did that by using a show of brutality. The promise of more death and violence in exchange for obedience.”

“We know he took out the Warden and all of his men which means he’s now got a massive amount of firepower in his arsenal.”

Damn. I hadn’t really thought of that. ButPope was right. TheWarden was our gun supplier. If the Sons of O’Sullivan took them out, they no doubt owned what was once theirs. We still had no idea if we were outmanned, but now we knew for certain that we were outgunned.

“We know he’s willing to spell innocent blood to get what he wants,” I offer in a dark tone. “He has no regard for human life and no code of honor that he lives by.”

“He has political allies,” Hardin said, and all eyes in the room turned to him, but he didn’t elaborate.

Dadnodded his agreement. “As far as we know, it’s the mayor and the senator of California himself. And we know that he wants us to bow down and kiss his feet. He wants our territory. To take what’s ours.”

Murmuringsof hell no and fuck that rose from the group.

“We have to turn the other gangs back to our side,” Zade said. “We let them enter our territory on the condition that they bent the knee to you and paid us a fucking fair share for being allowed to run their operations on our greener pastures. If we turn them back to our side, there goes all the eyes and ears the Sons of O’Sullivan are no doubt using to watch our every move. They become our eyes and ears again. And when it comes time to fight, they fight with us.”

Amuscle in Dad’s jaw ticked. “Of course we need to turn them back, but it’s not going to be fucking easy. He took out the Warden’s entire group and word of that has spread through SoCal. TheSons have everyone running scared. We can’t use scared.”

Zadestood. “But we can use angry. We know that to turn each group against us, to make them obey him, he took a life in cold blood. Like you said, a show of brutality in exchange for obedience. Fuck yeah, they are scared. But you can bet your ass they’re angry too.”

Whatwe needed to find out was if they were more angry than they were scared and it would need to be done delicately.

“We’ll need to be careful,” Dad said, echoing my thoughts. “It’s going to take time. Time we don’t really have. If he finds out what we’re doing, he’s going to try to take another one of us. And if he finds out one of the smaller fish is back in our pond, there is a damn good chance he’ll take another one of their men or worse, he’ll wipe them out. If that happens, none of the others will stand with us.”

Itwasn’t much of a plan. The amount of patience and finesse it would take to turn every smaller gang in the area back to our side meant staying under SéamasO’Sullivan’s thumb longer.

“What about MayorCosta?” Ma asked. “And the senator? Could we take them out discreetly?”

Fuck, I almost forgot how ruthless Ma could be when she was pushed to the edge. They weren’t exactly innocent men, aligning themselves with a deranged gangster, but still.

“The mayor is a lost cause,” Dad replied. “He’ll have to be dealt with, but the senator still may be able to be used to our advantage. I have no doubt Séamas used the same scare tactics on him, possibly threatened his family. If we could offer him protection, he may flip. And if not, blackmail is always a strong motivator, and I just happen to know a few things about our dear senator that he wouldn’t want getting out. I’ll handle that. Zade, you head up a team to start bringing the smaller guys back to our side.”

“We need more firepower,” I said. “Diesel up in ThornValley can help us with that.”

“They can help us with a lot more than sourcing arms and ammo,” someone muttered.

“They still aren’t whole,” Damien growled. “I won’t ask them to sacrifice more of their men or leave themselves open to another attack while they’re still trying to rebuild their ranks. And this fucker is a wildcard, we still don’t know the extent of what he’s capable of. I won’t throw that mad dog in their direction, not until I know I have them on a leash.”

“We can ask for the guns,” I pressed. “Let me pitch it to the crows. They come down this way a couple times a month. They can deliver and it won’t look like anything out of the ordinary.”

“You would bring your cousins into this?”

Myteeth clenched. “Where do you think the Sons will look to when they’re finished with us? They aren’t safe up in ThornValley either. Do you really think he’ll stop taking our territory? We need to take care of the problem here before the problem spreads further and to do that we need weapons. I don’t see any of the smaller gangs risking their necks to get them for us, and I don’t see us being able to approach the Mexicans further south without Séamas catching wind of it. Diesel and the Crows are our best bet to get what we need.”

Avein jutted from my dad’s temple, and through the rage in his eyes, I could see he knew I was right. “Fine,” he hissed, tipping his head back to take a deep breath in through his nose. “You do it carefully. You do it quietly. And you do not tell them what’s happening here. I won’t put Diesel and his family at risk, not until we gain the advantage.”

Inodded.

“None of this helps us right now,” Ma said, tapping her fingers on the table as she considered other options, her eyes shifting back and forth. “We need our own eyes and ears and we need them now. We need to know their movements. We need backup. We’re vulnerable. Our families are vulnerable.”

“So then we do as he says,” Dad said through his teeth. “For now. As long as he’s getting what he wants and we appear docile, he may not strike us again.”

May not.

Itwasn’t good enough, but for now I guess it had to be.

“We meet again in a week,” Dad announced. “Same time, same place. I want results. If anyone else has anything to offer, speak now.”

Silencefilled the room.

“Dismissed.”

Hushed, low conversation began as the Saints gathered for the meet started to rise and filter themselves out of the room with Zade at their helm, barking for certain men to follow him out to the parking lot to discuss their next steps.

Iwatched Becca studiously not looking at any of them as they passed her on their way out. Hardin and I stayed in the room with Ma and Dad, who slumped into his chair, releasing a shuddering breath as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

Ina rare show of emotion, he reached for Ma’s hand atop the table, and she squeezed his tightly, offering him some of her strength.

Asoft tap tap sounded against the open door and Becca let herself in, sweeping it closed behind her. Her shoulders lifted tensely as she turned to face us, looking awkward as she cleared her throat.

Dadlifted his head, arching an eyebrow at her.

“So, I don’t know if you’re aware but this room isn’t exactly soundproof.”

Asif it mattered at this point whether she heard us or not.

Shedragged out a chair and sat facing dad, pushing her long dark hair back from her face and swallowing hard before she spoke. “I didn’t want to interrupt but I was thinking, and totally ignore me if this is stupid, but I want to help. I mean, if apparently I’m not safe either until this is over, then it’s sort of in my best interest to offer solutions that might help end it faster.”

Dad’seyebrows lowered. “Go on then. What do you have to say?”

Iflinched inwardly on Becca’s behalf. There was a reason I didn’t often speak at these meetings. “Becca, I don’t think there’s?—”

“Someone said he took out the police chief,” she said as if she was leading into something that we should have already understood. “And then you also said that he had the mayor and the senator in his back pocket.”

“ What are you trying to say, hon?” Ma asked, her patience slipping.

“Well, no one said he had the cops in his back pocket. AndI’m thinking if he killed the chief and he went over their head to the senator and the mayor, then maybe he doesn’t. That maybe they are upset that he took their chief from them. Maybe they don’t want to deranged lunatic operating in a city that they are trying to protect.”

“Holy shit…” I trailed off.

Daddropped his head, but even at this angle I could see the upturned edges of his lips as his body shook with soft laughter. When he lifted his head, there was a sort of wonder in his eyes as he beheld his daughter. “You’re smarter than you look, kiddo.”

Shebit her lip, glancing away as a soft flush crept into her cheeks, and I got the feeling she didn’t get praised often by the man who raised her.

“This stays between us,” Dad said, meeting each of our eyes in turn. “With the possible leak in our ranks, this could be the ace we need to get the upper hand. I’ll pay a little discreet visit to the boys in blue, see if they’re willing to keep us looped in on anything they see or hear.” His proud gaze rested on Becca again, and fuck, if I wasn’t eating my words. Seeing her in a different light.

Dadrose and clapped her shoulder on his way past. Ma moved to follow him out, pausing in front of Becca. “You can sit in on the next meet,” she said, surprising the hell out of me. I knew she was still bitter about the whole long-lost-daughter thing, but that sounded a lot like acceptance. A peace offering at the very least. Thank fuck since I fully intended to make her a part of the family.