Chapter Five
Cash
I sat in King’s office where he had been hiding for days, ever since he kissed Grace in front of everyone. The day Crispin Sinclair had alluded to kidnapping her.
We didn’t know at the time he was full of shit. He took Dante with him, and Sypher, Ghost, and Jingles followed them to New York. They were all home now, and Grace had been safe the whole time.
Only King didn’t know that and he let his emotions get the best of him. For two years, he had pretended there was nothing between him and Grace. But the way his face went white as a sheet at the thought of her being taken proved what we all suspected.
We didn’t ask for details when Jingles told us Jane was dead. But it pissed King off that Sypher had blown up his life for fucking nothing. He had never needed the Microdrive. Dante was stronger than we all thought. Who would have suspected there was a devil hiding inside the kid.
Though it made sense.
He and Amber were twins, and we all knew how fucking strong she was. The officers now knew everything about her and what King had kept hidden from us.
Now, I understood why he’d done it.
I didn’t at first. Felt like he was keeping secrets the way Steele had done. King put that son of a bitch on a pedestal he didn’t deserve. He was still fucking up there. Despite what he’d done.
The knock on the door before it opened was brief. Blade walked in and sat in the chair next to me and opposite King.
King ignored him, pretending whatever the fuck he was doing was important. He wasn’t doing anything. I had been handling the club shit.
“You know you fucked up. When are you going to fix it?”
“Fuck off,” King snarked, and I leaned my elbow on the arm of the chair, trying to hide my grin behind my hand.
No one had to look at Blade to know he was grinning. He was one of the few who could get away with calling King on his shit. Now that everyone knew they were related.
“It’s been a week. You need to talk to him.”
I stayed quiet as King tossed the pen in his hand and leaned back in his chair.
“He doesn’t want to talk to me. I know I fucked up, and I don’t have an excuse for what I did, other than I knew she would never be in any fucking danger. No one ever knew that drive was in there and had no reason to even suspect it.”
“It was still a shitty thing to do,” Blade rebuffed.
He nodded. “It was. But you make the best decisions you can in the moment. No one knew Sypher had the drive except Ryder and Ellie. So, no one knew I had the drive except Ryder and Ellie.”
“She carried that thing everywhere,” he reminded him.
“Because I asked her to.”
“Dammit, King,” Blade shouted.
“Look, I can apologize to Ryder until I am blue in the face, but he won’t forgive me. If he wants to hand in his cut, I’ll understand.”
“You’re not sorry, are you?”
King shook his head, and Blade glared at him. I didn’t know what the point of this conversation was. I might not like Ryder, but I understood why he was pissed. But Blade knew King. He made his decisions with the club in mind.
“What would you have done?”
“I wouldn’t have put a three-year-old at risk,” Blade thundered.
“She wasn’t at risk. Ever!” King argued.
“If someone had found out—”
“How would they find out? I was the only son of a bitch who knew it was there. And only three other people knew I had it.”
“Sypher gave up Amber. You don’t think he wouldn’t have given up you?”
I closed my eyes at his logic. Of course, it was possible. People were fallible. But Sypher was smart.
“Sypher gave up enough about Amber to keep Jane from finding her here. A little bit of truth to lead her in a different direction. And Jane would have had to know he had the fucking drive to get the information out of him.”
“You have an answer for everything, don’t you?”
“Yes, I fucking do. Because I am the king of this motherfucking castle. It is my responsibility to keep everyone safe. I don’t do a goddamn thing without going over every fucking scenario.”
Blade stood from his chair and walked to the door. He stopped with his hand on the knob and turned toward me. “So your answer for fucking up is ‘but did you die?’”
King looked him in the eye. His face stern. Giving nothing away, he asked, “Did you?”
Blade shook his head and stormed out, slamming the door behind him.
“He’s right you know,” I said. “You owe Ryder an apology.”
“Are you fucking with me right now? You’re gonna give me shit about Ryder?”
“No, I’m gonna give you shit about Tabby and Ellie. I don’t give a fuck about Ryder. But whether you want to admit it or not, you put his little girl and his old lady at risk.”
“Sypher put them at risk.”
Silence lingered between us, broken by an impatient knock on the door. Haizley barged in; her eyes locked with mine before pinning King with an icy glare. Despite his efforts to hide, everyone knew where to find him when he wasn’t in the bar.
“We need to talk.”
“Not now, Haizley.”
“Yes now,” she insisted, filling the chair Blade had left. She looked at me again. When she turned back to King, I wondered if she would rat me out. “It’s about Amber.”
The tightness in my chest eased, but the guilt stayed. I was wasting her time by not showing up. But I justified it by telling myself she was still getting paid.
“She still doesn’t know. Danny and Dante haven’t been to the clubhouse since they got back. She needs to be told about her family, now that the danger is gone.”
“The danger isn’t gone.”
Haizley visibly blanched. “Jane is dead. Dante killed her.”
“Jane wasn’t the only threat to Amber.”
“What else is there?” When King opened his mouth, she growled, “Don’t you fucking say club business.”
“It is club business, Haizley,” I said for him.
The look on her face told me she wasn’t amused that I had my prez’s back.
“Let me talk to Sypher first. I need to make sure she is safe before we tell her everything,” King offered.
“You have two days.” Haizley stood from her chair and walked out, leaving King with another fucking problem to solve.
“I have to get out of here,” he said. “Let’s go for a ride.”
As we walked into the main room, Jack shouted, “Oh shit! The Mob’s back!”
Someone turned down the music, and everyone turned to stare at the men by the door. Beck ran over and hugged Sal. She hadn’t let the shit going on around here stop her from having as much family as she could.
“Hello, Son.”
“What are you doing here?” King asked, ignoring the term Sal used.
“Hey, King. We brought Maureen’s daughter out. Thought we would stop by and say hello,” Duncan said. He was King’s uncle on his mother’s side. The mother he never knew.
King looked at Declan. “What’s going on?”
“Can we talk in private?” Duncan asked, looking back at Sal.
“Sure, we can talk in church,” he said, resigned that we weren’t getting away. The officers followed without being asked. Given what happened last time Sal was in this room, we wouldn’t let King face him alone. Family had your back no matter what. No questions asked.
“So, what’s up?” King asked.
“We’ve got shit going on up in Boston. Colleen needs to stay here with Lannie,” Sal explained. “Need you to watch over your cousin.”
“My cousin?” King looked surprised. He hadn’t talked much about Sal or any family he might still have in Boston.
“She’s your uncle Duane’s daughter,” Duncan explained.
King stared at Duncan before looking at Sal.
“You ok, brother?” I asked. It seemed every time the Mob entered this room, bombs got dropped.
“Not sure. Hadn’t really thought about any other family aside from Sal.”
Sal sighed, and King ignored him. I couldn’t begin to understand what he was feeling.
I had other family out there somewhere. Never gave them a thought until something like this brought up my own family.
Still, I didn’t wonder about them. It was just a fleeting thought that passed through the air like dust floating around. It was just there.
“You have an aunt and another cousin in Boston. My sister Caity and her daughter Maddie.” Sal looked at Blade. “Same for you.”
Blade looked up quickly. “Fuck, I’ve got more family?” He turned to King and grinned.
“We didn’t get much time to talk back in December,” Sal stated. “Haven’t talked much since I left either.”
“There’s been a lot of shit going on. Not much time to catch up with long-lost fathers,” King snarked, glaring at the son of a bitch. He acted like he was the center of the fucking world.
“No fuckin’ doubt you two are related,” Duncan mumbled. “Look, there’s more. I want to talk to you about your mom.”
“My mom died when I was ten.” King turned his glare to Duncan.
“Look, kid, I know you got dealt a shit hand. But my sister was your fuckin’ mother. She did what she did trying to protect you. Don’t fuckin’ disrespect the sacrifice she made.”
“Fuck you, Uncle ,” King sneered. “I don’t know she made any kind of sacrifice. For all I know, she was no better than my niece’s mother who was a selfish, petty bitch who kept her from growing up with a father who loved and wanted her.”
Duncan’s hands clenched on the table. We all sat alert, ready to move. He ran his hands over his face, but it was one of the other ones that spoke next.
“We have information about your mo—about Darcy. If you’re interested,” Cian said, correcting himself before King had to.
King leaned forward, crossing his arms on the table. No one said a word. We sat quietly and observed, ready to move if we had to.
“What information?” King asked carefully.
“Duane found her,” Cian informed.
“Where is she?”
“We don’t know,” Sal answered.
King looked at Blade. “The Mob always talk in fucking riddles?”
Blade smirked at Sal. “Yea,” he said as he sat back in his chair. “Sal doesn’t give out information freely. Plays it closer to the vest than you do.”
“Look, King. We believe my brother knew where she was, but he was killed before he could tell anyone.”
“What about Maureen?”
“She didn’t know anything. But Colleen did. Duane told his daughter he had found Darcy. But didn’t tell her where,” Duncan explained.
“We think Tyran killed Duane after he got the information about Darcy’s location. He went to California shortly after Duane was killed.” Sal added. He focused on the table for a moment before looking up at King.
I saw the hurt and anguish on his face as he said the words, “I’m sorry, Son. Tyran said she died seven years ago.”
No one said a word. King didn’t talk about his real parents. Not Sal or Darcy. But I imagined it had to be hard, knowing he would never get a chance to meet her.
“You ok, Prez?” Jack asked solemnly. Jack had recently gone through something similar.
“Everyone out,” King ordered.
Chairs scraped against the floor as the officers stood. Jack stopped beside King. His words were quiet. I only heard them because of how close I was. “I’m here for you, brother. I know what you’re feeling. It’s ok to grieve.”
King nodded, unable to speak, and Jack slapped him on the back before leaving the room.
“Give me a minute with my son,” Sal whispered.
“He needs to know the rest.”
Fuck, what else is there?
“I’ll tell him,” Sal rasped, his voice filled with emotion. I looked to King. He nodded, and I walked out of the room.