Chapter 29 #2
I let my gaze drag around the room. Hawk by the window, jaw set. Switch still braced near the door, knuckles white. Bella folded in on herself, breaking in quiet pieces. Brooke pressed into Rev’s side, his arm tight around her shoulders like he’s the only thing keeping her upright.
Then there’s Mason.
He’s standing near the wall, arms crossed, face carved from stone. Dagger’s beside him, one hand resting casually on the back of a chair, eyes sharp, already ten steps ahead of the rest of us.
I look straight at them.
“They didn’t just want to hurt us,” I say, my voice low and steady even though everything inside me is screaming. “He talked like he already owned her. Like taking an Iron Reapers woman was the whole fucking point.”
Mason’s eyes harden.
“They wanted to prove they could take what’s ours,” I continue. “Not just Bri. Everything. This isn’t retaliation for one bad deal or some territory bullshit. These people want to destroy us. They want to make sure the Iron Reapers are never in charge again.”
Switch mutters something vicious under his breath.
“And it’s working,” Dagger says quietly.
I nod once. “They shot up Perdition. Blew up the clubhouse. Hit us where we live. Where our families are.” My chest tightens. “And then they took Bri.”
Bella lets out another broken sob, and Rev swears under his breath, rage rolling off him in waves.
Mason finally uncrosses his arms. “They declared war.”
“Yeah,” I say. “And they did it loud.”
Dagger steps forward, resting his hands on the foot of the bed, eyes locked on mine. “You’re sure it was the same operation?”
“I’m sure,” I say without hesitation. “Warehouse. Third floor. Back corner. Same guy. Same calm. Same confidence. He knew we were watching them. Knew how long. Knew where.” My jaw tightens. “He said Perdition was leverage. Pressure. He wanted you to react, Mason.”
Mason’s mouth twitches, not quite a smile. More like a promise.
“They don’t get to decide when I react,” he says calmly.
I swallow hard, then push through the pain and sit a little straighter. “They’re organized. Funded. And patient. This wasn’t a heat-of-the-moment hit. This was planned. Timed. Executed.”
Dagger nods. “And they’re not local.”
“No,” I agree. “But they’re embedded enough to think they can run us out.”
Hawk scoffs. “That’s cute.”
I glance at Bella, then back to Mason. “They’re using Bri as leverage now. Not just against me. Against the whole club. Against every old lady in this room.”
Brooke stiffens at that.
“If they can take her,” I continue, “they think they can take any of us. They think we’ll hesitate.”
I meet Mason’s eyes, fire burning through everything else.
“They’re wrong.”
Mason holds my gaze for a long moment, then turns to Dagger. “Lock it down.”
Dagger nods immediately. “Already started. All chapters on alert. No one moves without clearance. Families doubled up. Rotations reset.”
“Good,” Mason says. Then he looks back at me. “And Bri?”
My jaw tightens. “She’s alive.”
It’s not a guess. It’s a decision.
“She fought,” I say. “She didn’t freeze. She didn’t give in. He wanted to break her, and he didn’t.” My voice drops. “She’s alive because she’s strong.”
Mason nods once. “Then we move like she is.”
Dagger straightens. “We find every connection they have. Every front. Every shell company. We pull the thread until the whole thing unravels.”
“And when we find them,” I say, voice deadly calm, “we kill every last one of those motherfuckers.”
The room doesn’t flinch.
Not one person tells me to calm down. Not one person tries to soften it.
Rev squeezes Brooke’s shoulder and growls, “For Bri.”
“For Perdition,” Hawk adds.
“For the clubhouse,” Switch says.
Mason steps closer, placing a hand on the bed frame, his voice steady and final.
“They don’t get to touch our women. They don’t get to bomb our home. And they sure as hell don’t get to decide who runs this town.”
His eyes burn when they meet mine.
“We make them pay,” he says. “For all of it.”
Dagger’s smile is thin and lethal. “And we do it slow enough they understand exactly what they did wrong.”
Pain roars through me, but rage keeps me upright.
“Good,” I say. “Because when I get my hands on the bastard who took Bri…”
I trail off, breathing hard.
“There won’t be anything left of him to bury.”
Mason doesn’t answer right away.
He shifts his weight, eyes unfocused like he’s already pulling maps and names apart in his head. Dagger mirrors him, silent, dangerous, already ten moves ahead.
Hawk breaks the quiet first. “We’ve got plenty of enemies.”
Mason’s jaw tightens. “We’ve had beef,” he says finally. “Clubs talk shit. Borders get tested. That’s normal.”
Dagger nods. “None of that explains bombs.”
“Or kidnapping,” Hawk adds.
Mason’s gaze drifts to me. “You said he wasn’t local.”
“No,” I say. “Didn’t move like it. Didn’t talk like it. He wasn’t here to posture. He was here to execute.”
Dagger exhales slowly, rubbing a hand over his beard. “Then let’s stop dancing around it.”
The room stills. “This has Russian fingerprints all over it,” he says. “Not the street-level idiots. The money side. They’re in the long game.”
Brooke stiffens slightly at Rev’s side.
Switch frowns. “We haven’t had Russian problems in years.”
“Exactly,” Dagger replies. “Because they don’t operate loudly. They go quiet.”
My gut twists. It’s been two years. I remember it clearly. Everyone does.
“They went dark after we cut ties,” Hawk says slowly.
“After they tried to squeeze us on weapons,” Mason adds. “After they pushed Dagger to try and take cheaper product and he told them to go fuck themselves.”
Dagger’s mouth curls, humorless. “They didn’t like being told no.”
“They didn’t like losing control,” Mason says.
“And they really didn’t like losing money,” Switch mutters.
I press my hand into the mattress, pain flaring but grounding me. “You don’t plan something like this overnight.”
“No,” Dagger agrees. “You build it. Piece by piece. Fronts. Shell operations. Influence. You let the target get comfortable.”
Mason nods. “Two years of quiet isn’t peace.”
“It’s preparation,” Hawk says.
“They didn’t just want us weakened,” I say slowly. “They wanted us exposed. They hit Perdition. Blew the clubhouse. Took Bri.” My jaw tightens. “They’re trying to dismantle the Iron Reapers from the inside out.”
“Break the backbone,” Rev growls. “Make everyone question leadership.”
“And make the women afraid,” Brooke says softly.
Mason looks at her. “Yeah. That too.”
Silence settles again, darker now.
Dagger shifts, eyes sharp. “There’s another problem.” Everyone looks at him. “You don’t pull something this precise without inside help.”
The air in the room changes instantly.
“No fucking way,” Switch snaps.
Hawk’s expression tightens. “You saying we’ve got a rat?”
“I’m saying someone’s been feeding them information,” Dagger replies calmly. “Routes. Timing. Who was where. When Blade left. When the lockdown happened.”
My stomach drops. “They knew Bri was on the bike,” I say quietly. “That wasn’t luck.”
Mason’s gaze goes distant, already replaying the last few weeks in his head.
“Someone knew we were relocating,” Hawk says.
“And someone knew exactly who would be vulnerable,” Dagger adds.
Rev’s hands curl into fists. “You better be real fuckin’ careful with what you’re implying.”
“I am,” Dagger says evenly. “Which is why I’m not naming names yet.”
Mason exhales through his nose. “But we start looking.”
“Hard,” Dagger agrees. “Recent patches first. Anyone who hasn’t bled with us long enough to earn silence.”
My pulse spikes. The first brother I think of is Lucky. I like the guy, but fuck, I don’t know him well enough to know if he’s loyal. Always asking questions he shouldn’t need answers to yet. I swallow, saying nothing.
“We don’t accuse anyone yet,” Mason says. “We watch them. We could have Riot do a deeper dive on the new guys.”
“And we compartmentalize,” Dagger adds. “Information stops flowing freely. Need-to-know only.”
Hawk nods. “Flush the snake out.”
Brooke tightens her grip on Rev’s jacket. “What about Bri?”
Mason’s eyes soften just slightly when he looks at her. “She’s leverage right now.”
“And bait,” I add.
Dagger meets my gaze. “Which means whoever took her thinks they’re ahead.”
My voice is low and lethal. “They’re wrong.”
Mason straightens. “We move like we always do.”
“Slow,” Hawk says.
“Quiet,” Switch adds.
“And brutal when it’s time,” Rev finishes.
Dagger’s smile is thin. “We let them think the Iron Reapers are bleeding.”
Mason nods once. “While we sharpen the knife.”
I lean back against the pillows, pain screaming but my mind clear for the first time since I woke up. “They’ve been planning this for two years,” I say. “They don’t get to finish it.”
Mason meets my eyes. “No.”
Dagger’s voice is cold iron. “Because when we find the traitor…”
Rev cracks his knuckles. “They’re dead.”
“And when we find the Russians,” Hawk adds, “we burn them to the fucking ground.”
I close my eyes, Bri’s face flashing behind them. “They wanted to take what’s ours,” I say quietly.
Mason steps closer, his voice final. “Then we remind them who the Iron Reapers are.”
And somewhere out there, the men who thought patience would win them a kingdom are about to learn a hard truth. We don’t forget. We don’t forgive. And we sure as hell don’t let anyone take one of ours and live to enjoy it.