Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
THOR
T oday is dragging. I had to deal with three different irate customers who were mad they lost their belongings to us. They didn’t pay the money back in time and now we own their items. It’s the suckiest part of managing this place. They read the fine print and are fully aware of the deadline. Somehow, it never fails. They don’t pay in time and get pissed like it’s our fault. I understand some people need money. I’m more than willing to work with those who come to me respectfully, but yelling and screaming will get you nowhere.
I check the clock on the wall again for the fifth time in the last hour. I still have thirty minutes until I’m out of here. I’m ready to go get my woman and head home. Tonight, Tech and the girls are supposed to brief us on what they’ve found on those flash drives.
“Thor, how many times are you going to check the time?” Armor snickers.
“Until I’m out of here and headed to my woman,” I grunt.
Smoke and Armor throw their heads back laughing and I smirk. I’ve got it bad.
“Welcome to the club, brother.” Smoke laughs.
“What club?” I furrow my brows.
“The no nuts club. We handed those fuckers away the minute we claimed our women.” He sighs.
Armor and I chuckle but neither one of us disagree. Maddy has me by the balls. I’m not even in denial about it. I open my mouth to respond but my phone rings. When I pull it out, Doc’s name lights up the screen. Instantly I know something is wrong. He never calls while he’s at the hospital.
“Is she alright?” I rush out.
“She’s gone, Thor. She left me a note while I was in surgery. It reads, ‘He has my mom’. Kim, the other nurse, said she left about four hours ago.”
I stumbled back until I hit the wall. My vision blurs as I get lightheaded. She left. To save her mom. That fucker has them both.
I’m going to kill him!
Fuck a plan. Fuck being calm. Fuck anything other than me putting a bullet through his head. This ends today!
“Get to the clubhouse. I’ll call Viper and see if the girls can hack the security cameras to see what happened.” Doc hangs up and I’m moving on autopilot. Armor and Smoke hurry to shut the store down as I storm out. I don’t wait on them. I hop on my bike and race to the club. The entire drive is a haze. When I pulled up, I notice some of the brothers are just now arriving. Viper must have called everyone in.
Storming into the clubhouse, Viper is already standing there waiting for me. “Go get a bag, Thor. We head out in ten minutes. The girls are going to brief us on the plane.”
As much as I want to ask questions, that will only delay us. I pack a bag as quickly as possible. When I make it back down to the common room, only half of the brothers are standing there with bags.
“We all can’t go. We need to make sure the kids are protected in case that fucker has any other tricks up his sleeve,” Viper tells me.
I give him a nod and sling my duffle bag over my shoulder. “Let’s go,” I say as I stride out the door.
Two of the club vans are waiting and the brothers who are going file in. Kevin and Luis drive. The entire drive, I’m a shaking mess.
My woman has suffered enough, and now he takes his torment a step further and kidnaps her mother. I don’t know who this man is. He practically raised me and he’s a complete stranger.
I barely have a relationship with my mother because she worships the ground he walks on. In her eyes, her brother can do no wrong. There were plenty of times over the years I wanted to call her and let her know how he betrayed me, but I couldn’t hurt her. Honestly, I don’t know whose side she would take. He took care of my mother when her husband died and provided for us. Over the years she developed the upmost loyalty to Thomas for that.
Regardless of the turmoil I have with Thomas, I love my mother. She was great to me. It hurt having to leave her behind, but I did it to protect her in my own way. She already had lost my father. I didn’t want to add her brother to the list.
Now, here we are ten years later, and the hurt I was trying to save her from is coming full circle. She will be burying her brother soon. I don’t have it in me to stand beside her and pretend I’m hurt.
Arriving at the airport, I expect us to be dropped off at a terminal but we keeping going until we reach a gate. Cara sits up front with Kevin and flashes something at the guard. The gates open and Kevin drives onto the tarmac.
What the hell?
I around the group and the guys look confused as well.
Good. I’m not the only one.
We finally approach a huge plane, and Cara turns around. “Let’s go, fellas.” We file out and I turn to Viper. He shrugs, shakes his head, and makes his way to the plane.
Blade and Torch are standing at the edge of the steps talking to the pilot like old pals. Somebody needs to explain what the hell is going on. Walking up the stairs, I freeze when I see the inside of this plane.
There are cream leather seats, a few couches, and a television mounted on the wall. There’s even a small dining area. It is like something straight out of a magazine. This is high class. I take a seat near a window and Cara sits beside me.
“Explain,” I prompt her.
“In a second.” She laughs.
Ten minutes later, we’re settled, and the plane is getting ready for takeoff. Once we’re in the air, a flight attendant approaches us. “If you need anything, Cara, just let us know.”
“We should be okay, Evelyn. We’ll be discussing some things, so we’ll need privacy.”
“Okay. I’ll be in the pilot's cabin if you need me.”
The attendant walks away and everyone turns to the Romano siblings. Blade barks out a laugh. “This is Dad’s private plane.”
The fuck?
I knew Paul was rich, but private-plane rich? That’s another level of wealth right there.
“Your dad has a private plane?!” Armor shouts.
“Exactly how do you think Sofia travels here so much when she goes to school full time?” Sara asks in amusement.
Armor sits back with a slight frown, muttering to himself.
“Okay, we have bigger things to talk about. We went over the footage of the hospital, and it seems Thomas sent his goons after her. They went in pretending to be a patient. We don’t know what happened in the room but not even three minutes later, Madison walked out looking like she had seen a ghost. She wrote Doc that note, met them in the stairwell, and left.”
“That bastard! I swear if he touches one hair on her head, I’ll cut his dick off and shove it down his fuckin’’ throat!” I snap.
Cara pats my shoulder, trying to calm me down. “If you’re serious, I’ll let you borrow my knife. But you should also know we have Thomas Shaw by the balls. Seems like Mr. Mayor is as dirty as it gets. We’ve got him on money laundering, stealing profits from seven different charity organizations he owns, and he has business with three high-end criminals. He’s got his hands deep in the drug business,” Cara says.
“You got all of that off his computers?” I ask bewildered.
“Yeah. Either he isn’t too bright, or he thinks he’s untouchable. Either way, we got him.” She pauses before looking at me with worry. “Thor, you’re not going to like this next part.”
I shake my head and wave my head prompting her to continue. “You can’t kill him.” I open my mouth, but she puts her hand up, stopping me. “He sent a letter to his lawyers saying that if for any reason he has a suspicious death or disappears, then the club is to be investigated. He went into detail about how you have a grudge against him and that you only joined the club to take him out. It’s all bullshit. If you take him out, you’ll have the FBI swarming the clubhouse. It’s too big of a risk.”
“Fuck that. He’s not getting away with this, Cara. As long as that man is breathing, he poses a threat to my woman. If I have to spend the rest of my life behind bars for her to be safe, then so be it.”
I don’t give a single fuck. I’ll gladly take that bid if it ensures Maddy’s safety. I would be a miserable fuck without her, but I mean it when I say I would take down the world if I feel she’s at risk.
“Thor, don’t be selfish. Your decision affects Madison as well. I know for a fact she wouldn’t want you behind bars. That would kill her.”
I take a deep breath and gather myself. I know the club would look after Maddy. But would she be angry with me for changing our lives forever? I honestly don’t know.
“What do we do?” I ask Viper.
“I say we take that information and hand his slimy ass over to the police. Suffering behind bars for the rest of his life is far more punishment than a quick death.”
I nod resentfully. I don’t know which option I’m going to take, but I won’t tell them that. I’m about to come face-to-face with the man who ruined my life and took something from me. I don’t know if I have it in me to let him walk away.
Hang on, baby. I’m coming.
By the time we land, my nerves are shot. Three and half hours was too damn long. That fucker could have been doing God knows what to my woman in that time. My stomach churns at the thought. I know I’m not supposed to kill him but if Maddy has been touched in any way, all bets are off.
“Dammit,” Cara hisses from beside me.
“What is it?” Viper asks her.
“This asshole is holding a press conference at the city hall. That’s a lot of witnesses.”
If it’s not one thing, it’s another. I just want to get my woman and Martha. That’s it. If he thinks a press conference is going to deter me, he’s got another think coming. Who the hell holds a press conference while having two hostages?
I never knew this man at all. He puts the term ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’ to shame.
“That might not be such a bad thing,” Capone says.
“What do you mean?” I ask in confusion.
“If we threaten to release the information we found to the press, I’m sure that would get him to comply very quickly.”
Viper nods his head in agreement and starts barking off orders. While most of the guys will surround the building in case Thomas tries something, a few of us will make a go for him.
We exit the plane and load up into the vans waiting for us. When we arrive at City Hall, Viper instructs us to take off our cuts before we get out of the vans. Once we’re out of the van, I notice a briefcase in Cara’s hand. My eyebrows shoot up to my hairline and she throws her head back, laughing.
“It’s not that briefcase.” She giggles.
I blow out a breath, relieved. The last thing she needs is the temptation to torture someone.
All the guys break off to surround the building, leaving me with Bear, Tiny, Viper, Cara, and Sara.
“Kev said he’s inside the building in one of the conference rooms getting ready to start the press conference. If we’re going to do this, it has to be now.”
There’s security and police lined up at the entrance of the building, so we sneak around back and find a back door. I try and open the door bit it’s locked. Sara knocks on the door and a few seconds go by before it opens. When the security guard’s eyes land on Tiny, he tries to hurry and shut the door.
I get it. Tiny can be intimidating. He’s six foot ten and two hundred and eighty pounds. It’s exactly why Viper brought him along.
Before the security guard can get the door closed, I block it with my foot. Cara pulls a needle from her pocket and jabs it into his neck. He slumps to the ground, and we walk inside. Tiny drags the body into a nearby room and shuts the door.
Cara leads us down another hall. She’s getting directions from Kev who’s hacked into the cameras. I notice only one guard standing at the end of the hall. I’m betting that’s the room Thomas is in. My feet move faster. For all I know, Madison could be in that room.
The guard opens his mouth to say something, and I plant my fist in his jaw. He goes down like a sack of bricks.
“Nighty night,” Cara coos with a snicker.
I swing the door open, and Thomas’s head pops up in surprise. He’s not the only one surprised. I’m stunned silent at the sight of my mother sitting next to him. I haven’t seen her since I left. We talk from time to time, but that’s it. Since Maddy’s been back, I haven’t talked to her at all.
Listening to her praise a monster built a bridge between us. Before I knew the truth, he was just a backstabber to me. But now? He’s an enemy. One who has to die. I don’t know how she’s going to take that.
“Jonah,” my mom gasps. She pushes out of her seat, runs to me, and wraps me in a hug. I keep my eyes locked on Thomas. He’s nervous, as he should. When he pulls his phone out, Viper draws his gun.
“Don’t even think about it!” he barks.
Thomas drops the phone and glares at him. My mom takes a step back and her eyes widen in fear. “J-Jonah, what’s going on?” she whispers, looking from me to Viper.
“That’s a great question, isn’t it?” I narrow my eyes at Thomas.
He subtly shakes his head, begging me not to say anything. That’s just rich. He can kidnap and rape a woman, but he’s afraid of his sister finding out exactly who he is.
“Why don’t you finally grow a pair of balls and tell her?”
My mom looks between Thomas and me with furrowed brows. “Tell me what, Thomas?”
He opens and closes his mouth like a fish out of water. I can’t take any more of this. I just want Madison. This shit is holding me up.
“Tell her how I found you in bed with Maddy the night I left town. Tell her how you led me to believe for ten years that she willingly slept with you when you raped her.”
Mom stumbles back, shaking her head immediately. “No, no, no. Jonah, you must be mistaken. Your uncle would never do something like that. Is that what Madison told you? I always told you that girl would break your heart and now she’s dragging your uncle into this.”
“Enough! I don’t care if you believe it or not, Mom. You wonder why I never come home, and this is exactly why. You’re always on his side. He can do no wrong. The day I left town, you chose your side without even knowing it.” I turn my gaze to Thomas. “You have five minutes to get Madison here.”
Thomas smirks, not moving an inch. Cara steps forward with her briefcase. She sets it on the table and opens it. Pulling a piece of paper out, she slides it across the table. Thomas scans over the paper and he’s seething.
“You’re down to four minutes.” Cara smiles.
“H-how did you—” he snaps his mouth shut and looks up in panic.
Cara pulls out another piece of paper. “Give us Madison and Martha and we’ll sign this.”
I walk over and take a look at the paper. It’s an NDA. I open my mouth to say something, but Cara stares at me a pleading eyes. She must have something else up her sleeve. I nod to Thomas, agreeing with her. I trust Cara.
Thomas grabs a pen and hands it to me. “Not until I have Madison and Martha,” I say.
Thomas pulls out his phone and instructs someone to bring them in. Mom cries with a hand over her mouth. “What did you do, Thomas?”
“Not now, Athena!” he hisses.
“No! It seems you’ve been lying to me, and I want to know what the hell is going on!” she shouts.
Thomas pushes up from his seat, completely furious, but before he can say anything, the door opens.