37. SIN
The building stank of piss, blood, and puke. Sadly, those were scents I was used to.
When I walked inside the bunkhouse that was on the farthest side of the compound, away from the clubhouse, away from the others, where Giulia’s twin brothers were staying and where the girls were currently living, and reachable only by ATV or SUV, I dipped my chin to my brothers.
Link was here, Rex and Nyx too. Steel wasn’t though, but I knew why. He’d already been shoved on a plane to Phnom Penh, and Storm? He was already on his way to Coshocton, as the ‘biker’ had been blamed for the crash, and not this piece of shit on the floor.
We called this place the Fridge.
It wasn’t often we used it. Wasn’t often we had the need to use it, but I got the feeling we’d be using it often in the coming weeks. Once Donavan was back on U.S. soil, this was where he’d be brought.
It was a bare cell with concrete walls and concrete floor with more stains on it than an abattoir.
Walking over to Link, I grabbed the baseball bat from his hand without asking, well aware that he’d gotten his licks in on Lily’s behalf, then strolled over to the fucker on the ground. Because Link’s wrath? Even Nyx’s? Nothing compared to mine when I was in this mood.
Kicking him in the gut had him grunting as he curled into a ball.
“You’ll regret this,” he slurred, staring up at me through bruised and beat up eyes. His face was covered in cuts from his flight through the windshield, and even though he was a mess, it wasn’t enough for me.
I felt the anger inside me baring its teeth. Christ. I worked hard to keep it under wraps, to keep it controlled. No one who knew me now would even recognize just how angry I could get. Some days, I felt like the fucking Hulk with how it could trigger me, but I worked hard to keep it contained.
Today was not a day for containment.
“I’ll regret shit,” I snapped, as I drew my leg back and kicked him hard enough for him to soar off the floor and collide into the wall.
“He’s Luigi Fieri, Benito’s third son,” Nyx told me, his tone conversational.
“Fucker’s been talking, has he?” I retorted, tapping the bat against my leg as I strode over to him.
“Yeah, thinks his papa will want him back.”
Tension filled me, and I cut Rex a warning look. “No fucking way.”
Rex shrugged. “Better for business if he goes home.”
“Would you let the fucker go home if he killed your baby?”
Rex’s jaw tightened. “She miscarried?”
“Yeah. She fucking did.” I’d had my phone off during my vigil at Tiff’s side, mostly because I’d wanted the guilt to eat at me.
I’d wanted it to tear at my insides, because here and now was where I wanted to pour out my grief.
The weird thing was, finding out I was going to be a dad had made me surprisingly happy.
Learning that wasn’t going to happen?
The pain was unreal.
I thought it was something inside me being happy at the fact Tiffany was going to be tied to me forever, whether she liked it or not. But I wanted the baby.
Fucked up that I realized that now when we’d lost him or her, but then, what about my life wasn’t fucked up?
The thought had me raising the bat overhead and bringing it down against the bastard’s legs.
When an audible snap ricocheted around the small room, satisfaction flooded me in time with the cunt on the floor howling with pain.
“We could leverage him,” Link suggested.
“For what?” I spat. “What the fuck do we want from the Fieris?” I squatted down and grabbed the bastard’s head, shaking him until he had no choice but to focus on me.
His face was coated in sweat, his eyes sheened with the delirium of agony, but it was nothing compared to the pain inside me. The pain that had sharp teeth that were tearing at my insides for what Tiffany was going through.
I shouted, “Why the fuck did you come after the women?”
He didn’t make a peep, but he pissed himself.
Great.
“Wanted to deliver Lily to his brother?—”
Link’s words had my head snapping around to face him. “What?”
“Lily’s contracted to marry Gianni Fieri. They were supposed to be married already, but he got sent up.”
“And you’re okay with this?” I bit off, gaping at my brother like he’d grown two heads.
Link’s mouth curved into a snarl, and as he surged forward, Nyx grabbed his shoulder and hauled him back. “The fuck do you think?”
I gaped at him some more, then demanded, “You let Lily carry on thinking the bastard was going to come after her?”
“I knew I’d deal with the fucker when he came for her?—”
“Too fucking late. He sent his prick brother after her, and because of that, I’ve lost my fucking kid,” I roared at him, leaping to my feet. No one stopped me when I slammed my fist into Link’s face, not even Nyx, and I figured they knew that was because I’d beat the shit out of anyone who came close.
I had a rep.
I knew that.
It wasn’t often talked about because I liked it that way, but you didn’t grow up scrapping for food without getting good at fighting.
And good was an understatement.
Twice in my life, I’d beaten someone to goddamn death with no other weapons except for the ones attached to my arms. I’d boxed for the fucking Marines for a reason, had even killed someone in the ring before by accident.
This was the shit I didn’t want Tiffany to know.
I didn’t need her to know that side of me, because I kept it under wraps purposely.
That anger?
That rage?
My Mr. Hyde.
It was why I was called Sin, the reason for which I hadn’t been able to share the story behind my moniker with Tiff.
Wrath.
That was me.
I’d killed my father.
With my bare hands.
And I’d do it again.
Just like I’d kill the cunt on the floor.
“Padraig.”
My real name came from Rex’s lips, and it was the only thing that would have stopped me from beating the shit out of Link.
Head swerving to glower at him, I snarled, “Don’t fucking call me that.”
Rex just grunted. “Then don’t beat Link to death. We have bigger fish to fry than him being a dumbfuck.” He cut Link a look, who was mopping up his broken nose without any grumbling. “We were always going to be dealing with Fieri, but I was hesitant to make a first move. There are only sixty of us in this chapter, that’s not enough to fight the Famiglia. With our allies at war with them, we can throw ourselves into the battles without the risk of losing everything we’ve fought hard to earn.”
Link grunted, “I owe the club.”
“We all do,” Rex rasped, his gaze trained on the broken body on the floor. He studied him for a second, then muttered, “What do we know about this prick?”
Nyx, leaning back against the wall, stacking his boot against it, stated, “Mav says he’s the third son. The second died of leukemia when he was a kid. The first boy is following in the father’s footsteps, but this one keeps fucking up. Gets sent to rehab a lot?—”
“Another fucking junkie.” Rex grunted. “Great.”
With a sniff, he turned on his heel and began to walk toward the door. “Take your anger out on him, Sin, but after, that’s it. I want you contained. I wasn’t bullshitting about having bigger fish to fry, and I don’t want you wasting that temper of yours on men who have your back.”
Before he could leave, I demanded, “What fish need frying?”
He turned to look over his shoulder at me, and his smirk was pure arrogance. “We have a family to destroy.”
Satisfaction had me tipping my chin up before I dipped it immediately, telling him silently I agreed with him, that I’d obey.
When he saw I understood, he stated, “The Prospects on the detail…let Nyx deal with them as his final task as an Enforcer.” His mouth tightened as he shot Nyx a look, and I sensed Rex’s displeasure with his best friend.
“I’ll make them regret being dumb fucks,” Nyx vowed, and though I heard the gravel in his voice, it wasn’t enough.
“Do that. And Sin? Remember what I said. Burn off your anger on this shithead, not on brothers. Even if they’re dumb, they’re family.” Before I could agree or disagree, he left, and though I knew he was right, I moved away from my brothers, who all backed up toward the door.
I wasn’t surprised when they left me with the guy who paid for the stupidity of the Prospects who’d let my woman head out into danger, who suffered for the loss of my child’s life in ways he could never have imagined.
And me?
I couldn’t have imagined it either, because the rage that whispered through me?
It was a thousand times more powerful than that of discovering my father in my wife’s bed.
A thousand times more powerful than learning Luke Lancaster had drugged my woman.
He bore the brunt of my rage more than any man ever had.
Or would ever wish to.
And he died a sack of sorry shit as he became the third man I tore to shreds with a rage that festered inside me like a gangrenous wound.