Chapter Nine
Chains
The buzzing of my phone woke me. A glance at the clock told me it was just past three in the morning.
Ellie was still sound asleep, curled against me with her head pillowed on my shoulder.
I smiled down at her. Fuck me, this woman.
How was it possible to feel so much for someone you just fucking met?
Not only would I die for Ellie, I knew I’d kill any motherfucker I had to long before I died.
My phone buzzed again. This time, I carefully extracted myself from Ellie and sat up on the bed.
When I was sure she wasn’t going to wake, I took my phone and headed out of the bedroom.
I opened the door and was brought up short by three cats sitting in front of the door in the hallway.
Identical expressions of displeasure looked up at me.
They even whipped their tails in unison! Creepy. As. Fuck.
“I’m tryin’ to help your mommy, little assholes,” I grumbled. Lucifer hissed and the other two darted into the bedroom. Lucifer hissed again and growled as he sauntered into the room. Then the little shit rubbed against the door until it shut in my face. “Fucker.”
It took everything I had in me not to stomp down the hall, but the whole point in leaving the bedroom was to not wake up Ellie. Why? Why me?
My phone buzzed again. This time, I glanced at the screen and winced. Fuck. Knuckles. The president of the fuckin’ club had been the one blowing up my phone. And I’d basically ghosted him. Oops? I answered this time. “Yeah.”
“Chains! What the actual fuck? Answer the Goddamned phone the first time! Now, get your fuckin’ ass up and meet me outside your fuckin’ door!
” Knuckles ended the call before I could ask what the fuck was going on.
I winced. Probably in retaliation for me not answering the first two calls.
Knuckles could be a bear if he didn’t have enough sleep.
Or if he woke up. Or in general, really.
I slipped back inside the bedroom and snagged a pair of jeans, slinging the denim around my hips and zipping them.
I yanked open the door. “What is it?” Knight stood there, his tattooed face amused but irritated. Even in the dim hallway light, I could see the focused intensity in his eyes. Knuckles was beside him and turned the second I opened the door.
“You’re gonna want to see this, Chains.” Knight glanced at Knuckles who nodded sharply. “Come on.”
Knight led us outside to the ground floor to his apartment.
The small studio was freakishly neat. The only thing that made the place seem lived in was the rumpled twin bed shoved into the farthest corner of the room, and the wall-to-wall bank of security monitors displaying every inch of the compound grounds.
Inside and out. Only places where there weren’t cameras were in our private rooms. Which didn’t count guest rooms. Like Tate Blackheart’s room.
The women had put Ellie in a room meant for club members or family, so she hadn’t been videoed.
“You better not have Ellie’s apartment surveilled.”
“Relax. I’m not an asshole. Blackheart’s room, however, has been under constant watch.
” Knight moved his mouse around clicking icons and buttons on the screens, then he punched buttons on his keyboard.
Most of that shit made my eyes glaze over.
“He didn’t do much in his room. Probably guessed we’d be watching.
Managed to sneak out of his room. You know.
After I gave Tiny the okay for him and Griffin to hang back and let him think he gave them the slip. ” He zoomed in on one display.
On the screen, Tate Blackheart moved through Knuckles’ office with practiced precision, searching the place carefully.
He wasn’t rummaging. He knew what he was looking for and had at least some idea of where it would be.
His movements were calm and practiced. I watched as he approached the wall safe in the corner of the room.
Knuckles didn’t make a real effort to hide it because it was more for show in case we got raided.
“He think that’s the big score?” I glanced at Knuckles.
“Dunno. He’s been in there a bit and is only now workin’ on the safe.”
Knight shook his head. “He knew there would be some kind of safe and knew he could get into it if he could find it.”
“How long has he been in there?” Knuckles asked.
Knight checked the timestamp. “Almost fifteen minutes. He’s being thorough. You leave your door open unless you’re in a meeting with someone, Knuckles. He likely saw a corner of it when he was escorted to his room. The rest is just making sure it’s the only safe.”
Half a minute later, the safe opened, and Blackheart pulled out several stacks of cash and tucked them into a small duffel.
“How the fuck does he know the combination?” Knuckles asked, his voice dangerously quiet.
Knight leaned forward, pointing to a small device in Blackheart’s hand. “Electronic safe cracker. High-end shit from the quick look I got here.” He tapped the screen. “No matter how fancy or plain it is, it’s not something your average ex-con carries around unless he’s planning a job.”
My jaw clenched so hard my teeth ached. “He never intended to reconnect with Ellie. This was his plan all along. How did he know there was money and where it would be? Anything else important in there besides cash?”
“Business ledgers on the legitimate businesses.” Knuckles waved his hand dismissively. “Nothing I care if anyone finds. Like Knight said. Any cash is there to satisfy the cops if they decide to raid us.”
I watched as Tate closed the safe before zipping the duffle and standing.
He moved in an unhurried fashion. Apparently, he believed himself unobserved, secure in his deception.
I’d never for the life of me understand how someone as smart as a fucking doctor would think we didn’t have cameras all over the place inside our home.
The sight of it, of him betraying not just our hospitality but his own daughter’s trust, made something primal and violent stir inside me.
Ellie tried to pretend she wasn’t affected by her father’s resurgence in her life, but I knew part of her still clung to the idea of the man she’d known as a child instead of the monster he’d turned out to be.
This betrayal would hurt her. Probably in ways she didn’t expect.
“I’m going to fucking kill him,” I stated, the words flat and certain.
Knuckles placed a heavy hand on my shoulder. “Not yet. We need to know if he’s working alone or if someone sent him.”
“Tonio Miles might want to have a word with him first,” Knight added, his eyes never leaving the screen. “Especially if he tried to hit us because he knows we’re working for the Miles family. Tonio will want to make sure he can contain the damage if necessary.”
“Fuckin’ bastard,” I muttered as we all continued to watch the screens.
“Looks like he’s heading to the common room.” Knight pressed a few buttons and several lights on one monitor switched from green to red. “Got the place locked down. He can’t get out until you let him out, Knuckles.”
The grin spreading across Knuckles’ face was positively evil. “Good. Have Tiny and Griffin close in behind him but stay out of sight. We’ll approach him when he realizes the main door’s locked. Should be fun. He armed, Knight?”
The other man shook his head. “Not that I know of. Not unless he has an inside man, and when I tell you I’ve literally had eyes on him from multiple angles the entire time he’s been here, I’m not exaggerating.
If he’s working with someone in here, I can’t find it.
And you know I wouldn’t say that unless I was a hundred percent. ”
“Keep a close watch on everyone. Let us know if something looks like it’s goin’ south.”
“All over that, Prez.”
Knuckles spoke quietly into his radio to Tiny, then he and I headed in the direction of the common room, slipping into the shadows of the big open spaces of the warehouse.
I caught sight of Blackheart as he got too close to a shaft of light from a streetlamp spilling through one of the windows and we knew exactly where he was. We hung back. A few seconds later we spotted Tiny. The man wasn’t even trying to hide, but Blackheart seemed oblivious that anyone was around.
Tate paused outside the common room door. He adjusted his jacket and slung the duffel over his back. Then, with one last glance over his shoulder, he pushed the door to exit… and nothing happened.
I moved from the shadows as Blackheart pushed against the door handle again, his movements becoming more frantic with each failed attempt.
Knuckles stepped out beside me, his footsteps deliberately heavy on the concrete floor now.
Blackheart spun around, the duffel bag strap clutched in his fist in a death grip.
His eyes widened for a fraction of a second before his face settled into a mask of practiced innocence that made my blood boil.
“Going somewhere?” Knuckles asked, his voice deceptively casual.
Tiny materialized from the other direction, his massive frame blocking any path to escape. Griffin moved in silently from behind, completing the trap. Blackheart was cornered, but the fucker didn’t look nearly as frightened as he should have.
“I was just getting some air,” Blackheart said smoothly, adjusting his grip on the duffel. “The guest quarters are a bit… stuffy.”
“Without us?” Tiny’s deep voice was menacing at the best of times. Tonight wasn’t the best of times. “Pretty sure you were given the rules and that one of them was that you were to have a babysitter at all times.”
“I hardly think stepping out for some fresh air warrants a guard.” Blackheart tried to wave off the admonishment because he hadn’t yet realized it was a threat.
“What’s in the bag there, buddy?” Griffin pointed to the duffel Blackheart still clung to like his life depended on it.
“Just some clothes I need to dispose of.”