Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Dagger
Leaving a sleeping Katrina in my bed is the last thing I want to do, but Cy’s text came through, and I’m needed back in church. We’d broken so Cy could get back to what he was doing in digging. During our meeting, Axe and Rogue explained what they found in Carl Riggs’s office.
I’d told Katrina about finding him, but I didn’t tell her everything.
Carl had his throat slit, and a message was carved into his chest meant for the club.
Fucker knew we were going to show up there to confront Carl.
He knew and had him killed. Axe and Rogue searched Carl’s things and were able to find a few things that would help Cy in his search to find out who this is we’re up against.
It was more than just the warehouse. It was more than just about the club. More than just Katrina. Whoever this fucker was, they’d been in the shadows for a long damn time.
I hope like hell Cy has figured out who the hell we’re going up against and we can get them once and for all.
Dressing quietly, I glance at the reptile enclosure and shake my head at the sight of Drogon perched on a rock.
For as small as he was, he had a large ass home.
But I’m guessing it’s for him to grow into.
We were going to have to leave this thing here and get another one for the house.
Katrina was going to want to be able to have him in both places.
Turning back to my woman, I lean in and kiss her temple. I want nothing more than to get back in bed and hold her close the rest of the night, but time’s ticking, we only have til midnight to figure this shit out. I won’t let anything happen to Katrina.
Silently, I open the door, make sure to flick the lock as I step out into the hallway, and close it behind me. I make my way down the hall, stopping long enough to grab a mug, filling it with coffee, and head for church.
From the looks of it, my brothers all had the same idea with the mugs they were holding.
Even the guys from the Colorado Charter were in here.
Just as they’d joined us for the earlier meet.
There was no point in keeping Boxer and Grinder out of this.
Not when they were my woman’s family. They’d be more than pissed if we didn’t let them in on this.
It didn’t matter that they had just met her for the first time less than twenty-four hours ago. She was theirs. Same as she was mine.
“You tell her what’s going on?” Hammer asks when I take my seat at the table.
“Yeah, I told her. Didn’t go into detail, but I told her.
” I grunt and shake my head. “She said she’d sell the warehouse.
” She said she’d sell when she’d fought to keep it.
Refused to sell it. Only now she’s got more to worry about, and the danger is high if she’s willing to get rid of it.
I wasn’t going to let her. No way. She loved the space she worked to get.
Worked to keep. I’ll make it so she doesn’t feel the danger that’s surrounding her. “I told her she wasn’t selling it.”
“Good.” Malice nods.
“What is it about this warehouse?” Grinder asks.
“The land it sits on and the surrounding buildings around it that have already been bought up makes for a perfect distribution center for drug runners,” Cy answers.
“I followed the information Axe and Rogue brought back with them. I was able to connect the names of the shell companies to one that is owned by a name we’d already been looking into. ”
“Burnts?” Bruiser grumbles.
“Exactly.” Cy nods. “I also found I was able to connect Burnts’s name to another, fuckin’ finally.” He leans back in his chair and shakes his head as he looks around the room before locking on me. “You’re gonna lose your shit when you hear it.”
“Burnts is none other than Vin Delgado.”
“What the fuck?” I snarl, slamming my fist on the table. “Vin Markus Delgado?”
“The one and only,” Cy confirms with a grimace. “After finding his name connected, I’ve been able to lock into every dealing he’s had over the past decade. He’s gotten himself connected to some highly powerful people. Including Malice’s uncle and Gwen’s family.”
“We were told this guy acted as an associate of ours,” Axe grinds out.
“He did,” Cy agrees. “Remember the name Spider? Used to come around? He’s Vin’s right-hand man. He’d feed intel to us we’d find useful.”
“Fuckin’ hell,” Hammer snarls.
“Who the hell is this fucker?” Boxer demands.
“Vin Delgado is my motherfuckin’ brother.
” Older brother that I haven’t spoken to in years.
More than I want to think about. I left that family for a damn good reason.
They’re all lying, deceitful people. Him most of all.
Always going for the next scheme, he can cook up for a quick buck.
Seems, though, after I left, he’s found his way around to being a top scumbag.
Thinking about him, it finally clicks into place. All of it from the conversation we had on the phone, and why he said for me to meet him alone. This is about him wanting me alone.
“Cy, when did the sales around the warehouse start? Also, can you see when Riggs started approaching Katrina about getting her to sell?”
I didn’t want to think she’d been targeted because of me, but my gut is churning. I know what Katrina had told me about the offers Carl had made to her before I’d shown that day, and he’d been there.
Cy does something on his laptop before answering. “Carl approached her several times, but the times are closer together over the past months. Each time she denied him in the past four months, or so he’s made a call to the same number. The other properties were bought up over the last year.”
“They could have easily left her and her studio alone,” I mutter, clenching my fist. “Fucker had to have seen us together and decided to target her to get to me.” For two months I hadn’t protected her ‘cause I didn’t go after her when she first left my bed.
“Fuck.” I slam my fist down and shoot to my feet. “I’m going to kill the motherfucker.”
“Brother, you need to calm down,” Hammer orders. “Sit the fuck down so we can finish going through everything.
Gritting my teeth, I do as told, blood roaring in my ears. I shouldn’t be surprised that my own flesh and blood would be stupid enough to come after what’s mine.
I listen half-heartedly as my brothers talk around me, the entire time making plans of my own.
Vin wants a war with me, not the club. He’s targeting all of them, and more importantly, my woman, because of me.
It’s time I turn the tables. Vin’s about to find out exactly what it’s like to become the hunted.