Chapter Nine
Pope
Ghost grunts in pain as the resident doctor tends to his gunshot wound.
I watch him, sprawled on the couch, looking pale and shaken, fighting the pain.
Blood drips down his forehead from where the blunt of a gun hit him.
I read guilt in his eyes too, and the torment from thoughts saying he couldn't stop Sienna from being grabbed from her bed, but… how could he?
Someone—likely Bishop—knew Ghost was watching the apartment and planned accordingly. No, I don’t blame him.
This is all on me.
I should have pushed harder when she told me about separating for the night.
I shouldn’t have let her leave and if she insisted, I should’ve been the one guarding the building or moved her entire family to the casino.
It’s me that should’ve been shot in the shoulder and had my face hit hard enough to give me a concussion.
I should have been there to protect Sienna. Fuck wedding traditions.
The urge to kick the table is strong so I stalk to the window and look out at a city that never fucking sleeps. There are a million fucking places my lunatic of a brother could have taken her and the men I have combing through the city might not find her in time.
It makes me sick. Gnaws at my chest and stomach. The thought of not seeing Sienna again rips at me so I grab my phone and will for it to ring, light up with a text from one of my men telling me they’ve found her.
Hell, I don’t care if the call comes from the kidnapper himself. Whatever he wants, he’ll get it as long as he returns Sienna to me unharmed.
“There you go,” the doctor says and I turn to find him packing up his things.
“I'll prescribe you the medication you need to take. The bullet just grazed your shoulder so that wound should heal in a few weeks and without much issue. The most concerning thing now is the concussion but you should be okay with painkillers and rest. I’ll check up on you in the morning.”
“Thanks, Doc,” Ghost tells the doctor and he’s given a few more instructions before the man leaves.
Silence falls in the room after he’s gone and I can almost hear Ghost’s thoughts from where I am standing and when I turn to look at him, white sheet face and all, I can see how much he’s beating himself for what happened tonight.
"It wasn't your fault," I say for the tenth time, but I can tell he doesn't believe me this time either.
“I shouldn’t have let my guard down,” he says, head bowed. “Fucking son of a bitch came at me out of nowhere. One minute I’m opening my window to toss out my apple core and the next, there’s a hammer to my fucking skull.”
An apple? I would rib him about this any other time but I’m too panicked to find the humor in it. “We’ll find him,” I grind, feeling restless. “He’s dead the second I get my hands on him."
“Were you able to reach Bishop?”
“No.”
The single word cuts between us. My twin hasn't answered any of my fucking calls all night and I don't want to believe that he has anything to do with this but he's not helping matters by blocking me out. If it's Bishop who took Sienna, then…
Fuck!
I'm going to find her my damn self if I have to knock on every fucking door in Vegas. I'll exhaust all my connections tonight until Sienna is in my arms. Safe and sound.
I don’t bother with a jacket as I storm to the door and I’m halfway across the room when the front door bursts and I see a flash of blue pajamas running toward me then find myself looking down at a ball of blond hair tied in a messy bun.
It takes me a full minute to get over the shock, to assure myself that this is not a dream or a vision and that, indeed, Sienna is in my arms.
Alive.
Breathing.
“Pope,” she sobs, burying her face in my neck and when I feel the wetness brush my skin, I come alive, wrapping my arms tightly around her even as a myriad of emotions flood through me, threatening to wreck me with their intensity.
"Fuck baby," I choke out, emotions clogging me. I grip her shoulders and push back from the embrace to get a better look at her, those beautiful, tear-stained brown eyes. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
She shakes her head, more tears falling. “I’m okay. We’re okay.”
“Thank fuck!” I hiss, pressing my mouth to hers, tasting her tears then yanking her back against me. “You’re safe. You’re here.”
“Oh my God, Pope. I thought he was going to kill us!” she whimpers into my chest. “He killed…Ghost.” She pushes back from me and when she spots Ghost sprawled on the couch, his injuries evident, she wails. “Oh God, I thought you were dead. I thought…”
“Fucker couldn’t get me,” Ghost reassures her, cracking as much of a smile as he’s capable of.
“He’s not,” I reiterate, pulling her back yet again to my chest. “Everyone’s safe. I sent two men to stay with your family. Everyone is okay.”
Just then, I catch a dark shadow step into the apartment.
My gaze shoots up from the sobbing girl pressed up against my chest and moves to the man who steps into my apartment and it’s a face I’ve known every moment of my life—even before.
But there's about to be one version if he’s the reason for all this.
Sienna must feel me freeze against her as she pulls back and turns to see what I'm glaring at but there's no fear in her eyes when she looks at Bishop, so I decide to find out what the fuck is going on.
“Pope…Bishop is who saved me. I wouldn’t be here without him,” she says, pulling completely out of my embrace and despite my need to hold her close, and leaving me in shock as she does it. Bishop saved her? After everything?
When Bishop motions for me to follow him into the kitchen, I let Sienna go and follow my brother. I wait until we’re alone to turn to him. "What the fuck happened tonight?" I grind harshly, despite knowing he saved my girl, I can’t let my anger go.
Instead of responding, Bishop takes out a piece of paper from his jacket and slides it on the island. I glance at the folded paper for a full minute before picking it up. I don't know what to expect when I unfold it and start reading but I find myself shocked when I see my father's handwriting.
It’s Bishop’s letter. Its contents have been eating at me for weeks and here lies the answers to all the questions I’ve had.
I already knew Bishop has been cut from inheriting anything my father left behind but what surprises me is the fact that he gets nothing even if I fail to fulfill the requirements of my letter.
If I fail to marry and produce an heir then…
“Ryder took her,” he says, as if reading my mind.
“Dad left both Ryder and me a check, buying us out of staying involved in the Elysium. It was insulting and blatant favoritism for him to leave everything to you but our father was always one for entertainment. A cunning bastard that’s probably enjoying all the entertainment we’re providing him right now. ”
There is nothing but disdain in my twin’s voice as he talks about our father.. "Ryder was set to get everything in the end if I failed to fulfill the conditions in my will. Why wouldn’t you tell me?” Why the fuck didn’t it say so in my letter?
“I was pissed,” Bishop says, his eyes firing up with emotions I saw that day in our father’s office after he’d read his letter.
“I’ve worked on Elysium for as long as you have.
What right did he have to cut me off? Then you were going on along with the will and it's conditions without complaint so I figured you were on board with cutting me out of the MC.”
“And you didn’t think to talk to me? Demand your share?”
"As I said, I was pissed and wasn’t in the right headspace to have logical thoughts.
” He doesn’t look pissed now which confuses me.
“But when I calmed down, I realized I wasn't the only one getting cut off. Ryder was too. He probably thought everything would be divided in three but you got it all. When things started happening to your bride, I knew it had to be him.”
I throw my hands up in frustration. “And what, you didn’t think to tell me?”
“I couldn’t accuse Ryder without proof. Which is why I waited outside Sienna’s apartment tonight. I knew he was running out of time; it had to be tonight or never.” Fuck!
He’s right. His wait and see approach has saved me.
“So, what exactly happened tonight?” I follow-up.
“I’ve been following Ryder for weeks, trying to collect evidence that he’s the sneaky bastard behind everything that’s happened.
I put a tracker on his bike and when I saw him meet Daryl Gore—the junkie who stole that car—I had no idea what for until after the accident.
” I don't bother asking him why he didn't point this out at the office the other day but remember him snatching the photos before Ryder could see. “I figured he planned to do everything in his power to postpone the wedding, so I gave him time to stop and he did, for a while at least. But I knew something was coming. You have a few days before the deadline. I bet he figured if he kidnapped Sienna, there wouldn’t be sufficient time to find another bride.”
It fucks with my head, knowing how blind I was to all this and Bishop not sharing a damn thing. Sure, I’m the hot tempered one between us and would have probably not taken a patient and calmer approach as he did but it still stings.
“So,” Bishop continues, “I waited out there tonight so I could stop him from getting far.”
“And now, I’m going to kill the son of a bitch. “Where is he?”
“Dead,” Bishop says, casually, almost bored. “I left his body on the street like the trash he is.”
There are so many questions, but they'll have to wait. I need to get back to Sienna, assure myself that she's safe again. Christ, what happened tonight took off ten years of my life. I start to leave but stop, turning back to my twin brother. “I suspected you.”
“I know.”
“Since when?”