Chapter 12 #2
Viper runs a hand over his face. "Three days ago, a man came to our compound.
Showed up at the gate asking to speak to me personally about a matter of urgency.
" He pauses, jaw working like the words taste bitter.
"Said his daughter had been kidnapped by the Hellbound Devils.
Said you were holding her against her will, trafficking her.
Said he'd gone to the police but they wouldn't help because you had connections, and he was desperate to get her back before something terrible happened to her. "
Cami goes rigid against my side.
"He was convincing." Viper continues, his expression hard.
"Played the concerned father perfectly. Brought photos, showed us text messages that had supposedly stopped abruptly, painted this whole picture of a loving family torn apart by criminals.
" He looks at Cami directly now. "I'm sorry.
I should have questioned it more. Should have dug deeper. "
Steel studies Viper with skepticism. "One man's story doesn't usually merit kidnapping an ol' lady from a rival club."
"We did reconnaissance." Viper's VP speaks up for the first time. "Watched your compound and saw her there, saw she never left. We also learned she'd quit both her jobs with no notice. It fit the profile he'd described. From the outside, it looked like what he was claiming."
Viper meets my eyes without flinching, and I give him credit for that at least. “It was a massive fuck-up on my part.
I should have approached you first, asked questions, given you a chance to explain.
But—" He pauses, and something flashes across his face.
"We have a zero-tolerance policy on trafficking, Wrath.
My baby sister disappeared when she was sixteen.
Taken by traffickers. So when someone comes to us saying a girl is being held against her will, we act first and ask questions later. "
The revelation lands like a bomb. I see understanding flicker across Steel's face, see the other brothers processing this information.
Doesn't excuse what they did. But it explains it.
"Except she wasn't being held against her will." I pull Cami tighter against my side.
"Which we didn't know until we already had her here." Viper's jaw tightens. “That’s when we saw the property patch.”
Cami leans against my side. I run my hand up and down her arm.
"Tell them the rest," she says quietly. Her voice is shaky but determined.
Viper's expression is grim. "I talked to her, heard her side of things." He looks at Cami with something like respect. “Saw how she reacted when we brought her father in to confirm his story."
My whole body goes rigid. "You brought him here? You let that piece of shit near her?"
“The second I saw her reaction, I knew," Viper says quickly. "I knew the man wasn't a concerned father. He was an abuser. And he'd played us to get access to his victim."
Silence falls over the common room. Every Iron Serpent present looks uncomfortable. Guilty.
Good. They should be.
But my focus is on the man in front of me.
I move Cami gently away from me. She looks up with those big eyes, knowing what I’m planning, but not stopping me.
Viper doesn't even flinch when I cross the space between us in two strides.
My fist connects with his jaw with every ounce of strength I possess. The crack echoes through the common room like a gunshot. Viper's head snaps back, and he stumbles into the wall behind him, hitting it hard enough to rattle picture frames.
Blood streams from his split lip, his jaw already swelling.
Several Iron Serpents surge forward, hands reaching for concealed weapons. Viper holds up a hand, stopping them mid-motion.
"Stand down." He works his jaw carefully, testing if it's broken. Spits blood onto the concrete floor. Then straightens. "I had that coming."
"You had a lot more than that coming." I flex my hand, knuckles already swelling and bruising. The pain feels good. Satisfying. “You ever come near her again, you even think her name too loud, and I'll make sure you get the rest. I'll make what you do to your enemies look like mercy."
"Understood." Viper wipes blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. "And accepted. For what it's worth, Wrath—I'm sorry. Genuinely fucking sorry for what we put you both through."
The apology sounds real. Feels real. Doesn't change what happened, but at least he's man enough to own it.
Viper addresses Steel, president to president. "I'll do whatever it takes to make this right between our clubs."
"Good." Steel glances at me, a silent question in his eyes. I nod once. "Because starting a war benefits no one. But there will be consequences."
"Name them."
"First—this never happens again. You hear even a whisper about one of our people, you come to us first. You ask questions before you take action."
"Agreed."
"Second—we revisit those trade negotiations we were working on. But the terms shift in our favor."
Viper's jaw tightens, but he nods. "Agreed."
Steel studies him for a long moment, then seems to come to a decision. "There's one more thing."
"Name it."
"We want the piece of shit who started this whole mess."
Viper's mouth curves into something that might be called a smile if it weren't so cold. "Already taken care of." He turns toward the door and nods at one of his club members.
Two Iron Serpents appear in the doorway, dragging a bound and gagged figure between them. They dump him on the floor with all the ceremony of tossing a trash bag.
Cami's father lands hard, muffled curses trying to escape around the gag. His eyes are wide with panic now, darting between the faces surrounding him.
"Consider it an apology gift," Viper says, his voice carrying grim satisfaction. "We'll have him delivered to your compound within the hour. Door-to-door service. We'll even gift wrap him if you prefer."
Steel nods his approval. "Generous of you."
Viper's eyes find mine. “It’s the least we can do."