Chapter 20 Bones
BONES
An hour later, we’re both showered and dressed and I’m carrying Emma down the clubhouse stairs.
The main room is its usual level of bedlam.
Maggie’s at the stove making what smells like her famous biscuits and gravy.
Duck is pouring coffee. Half a dozen brothers are scattered around the long dining table, plates piled with food, conversation flowing.
This is MC life. Communal breakfasts, shared space, family. Fuck, I’ve missed it.
I set Emma in her wheelchair and push her close to the table. Immediately Ginger appears with a plate.
“Biscuits, gravy, scrambled eggs, and bacon,” she announces. “Maggie says you’re too skinny.”
“I’ve been a prima ballerina for most of my life,” Emma protests. “Of course I’m skinny.”
“Exactly. Which is why you need to eat.” Ginger sets the plate in front of Emma. “For your strength. Doctor’s orders. Well, Maggie’s orders. Same thing.”
I grab my own plate and settle next to Emma, close enough that I can reach out and touch her good leg. Across the table, Axel is feeding Rose bits of banana while Poppy tries to drink coffee and read something on her phone simultaneously.
“Sleep OK?” Axel asks me.
“As much as I was ever going to. You?”
“Rose was up three times—some sort of sleep regression or growth spurt thing. I don’t know. I’m running on caffeine and spite.” He glances at his daughter, who’s smashing banana into her face with gleeful determination. “But she’s cute, so I forgive her.”
“That’s the trap,” Duck says from down the table. “They’re cute when they’re babies, so you don’t abandon them in the woods when they become teenagers.”
Emma laughs, and I love seeing her relax into the chaos, slipping right back in like she was never gone.
I shake out her morning medications and hand them to her with a glass of orange juice. “Take these.”
“Bossy.”
“Obscenely. Now, do what the doctor said and take your pills. With food.”
She makes a face but swallows the pills, chasing it with a big bite of bacon. “Happy?” she asks around her food.
“Ecstatic.”
Kya slides into the seat closest to Emma. “So. Christmas in July got weird yesterday.”
“That’s one way to put it,” Emma says.
“How are you handling it? The Summit thing?” Kya’s voice drops lower. “I know last time—”
“I’m OK.” Emma reaches over and squeezes Kya’s hand.
“Really. This feels different. Last time, it was a shock I didn’t see coming.
I was alone and terrified, and I didn’t understand why it was happening.
But this time, I know what we’re up against, and I’m surrounded by people who can actually do something about it. ”
“Damn right we can,” Tank says from across the table. “Those Summit fuckers are about to learn what happens when you mess with Stoneheart after we very kindly sent them packing.”
“Language,” Andi says automatically, even though her kids aren’t in the room.
“Sorry. Those Summit jerks are about to learn—”
“Better.”
The door opens and Josie walks in, hair and makeup done, perfectly pressed slacks and a blazer despite it being just after seven in the morning. Stone’s at her side immediately, taking her bag, pulling out a chair for her.
“Coffee?” he asks.
“Please.”
I catch Emma’s eye and she’s trying not to smile. Everyone’s trying not to smile, actually. Stone and Josie are not subtle.
“All right,” Stone says once Josie’s settled with coffee and a plate. “Let’s talk business. Church in fifteen minutes. Officers and anyone working this problem.”
He looks at me when he says it, and I nod. I’m working this problem.
Ginger immediately appears at Emma’s side. “We’ve got her. Don’t worry.”
“Yeah,” Maggie adds. “Girl-breakfast time. We’ll paint nails, talk shit, the usual.”
“You know what?” Emma smiles. “That sounds kinda fun.”
“It’s settled then.” Maggie pats her head like she’s a child and Emma laughs.
I lean down and kiss Emma’s temple. “You good for a while?”
“I’m great. Go do your thing.”
“OK. Don’t leave her alone,” I say, looking between Ginger and Maggie. “She’s a wily one. Will try and do some funky ballet spin on her good foot if you look away too long.”
Emma rolls her eyes at me, but there’s that spark of amusement in them that makes my chest tighten. “I’m not that bad,” she mutters, though we both know she is—always pushing limits, even with a busted ankle.
Ginger snorts. “Says the girl who snuck out of the clubhouse when she had pneumonia just so she could hop a train to the city and do a flash mob with her friends.”
“That was totally worth it,” Emma says.
But Maggie just swivels her fingers back and forth. “We’ve got eyes on you, ballerina.”
Inside the chapel, Stone takes his seat at the head of the table, immediately serious. Tank, Hawk, Mack, Cash, and Axel fill in around him. Josie sits to Stone’s right with a stack of file folders. I take the empty chair next to Axel.
“All right,” Stone starts. “Let’s recap where we are.
Eighteen months ago, Summit Development tried to muscle into Stoneheart.
We pushed back. Got in their way, and they escalated.
So did we. Hard. They’ve been quiet since we rained hell on them, and we thought—hoped—they were done. But clearly they’re not.”
“They’re just being smarter about it this time,” Tank says. “More subtle.”
“Exactly.” Stone looks at me. “Bones, tell us what you found.”
I pull out my laptop, open it to the files I compiled overnight. “Carolina Properties Group started buying houses in the east-side neighborhood three months ago. On paper, they look legitimate—registered business, clean contracts, everything above board. But when you dig deeper—”
I turn the laptop so everyone can see the screen. “Carolina Properties is owned by a holding company called Piedmont Development Partners. Which is owned by another company called Southeast Regional Investments. Which is owned—”
“By Summit Development,” Hawk finishes.
“There are a few more steps to get there, but yeah. It leads to Summit.” I pull up another file. “They buried the connection deep, probably hoping no one would connect the dots. But the paper trail is there if you know where to look.”
“How’d you find it?” Axel asks, leaning forward.
“Started with the property deeds and dug until I found Summit, many layers deep, listed as a primary shareholder on Southeast Regional’s tax forms.”
“They tried to hide their involvement,” Stone says slowly. “But not well enough. What about the legal angle?” He turns to Josie.
“The contracts are clean,” Josie admits. “I’ve reviewed the ones Erica showed us. Standard purchase agreements, more than fair market value plus a substantial premium, help with moving costs. Nothing illegal about offering to buy someone’s house for more than it’s worth.”
“Even if you’re pressuring them when they say no?” Hawk asks.
“That’s harder to prove. Erica says they’re pressuring her by offering more money, more perks. The only threat has been a deadline to decide or the offer is off the table.”
“If it were me, I’d call that a threat,” Tank says, his eyebrow twitching. “Most of our people can’t just up and move on a dime, even with money on the table.”
“They’re picking at the east side for a reason,” Axel says, folding his arms.
“Neighbors there are mostly old-timers. Folks who don’t want to leave but don’t have the means or backup to fight for their homes. Summit thinks they’ll roll over if pushed.”
“And some will,” Cash says quietly, “especially after last year. People remember when Devil’s burned. They remember the harassment and the threats. And so far we’ve been winning. The community has had our backs. But how long until they just run out of steam? Take the money? Get it over with?”
Silence hangs for a beat. No one says it, but we’re all thinking the same thing: people are tired, and Summit knows just how to squeeze the last bit of will out of them. Every offer for a house on the east side is a bet Stoneheart’s backbone is finally ready to crack.
“So what’s their play?” Mack asks. “Why go for the east side again? If they wanted to start shit again, there’re easier targets.”
I drum my fingers on the tabletop, staring at the cursor blinking on my screen. “Yeah, but remember who Summit works for, what their original plan was when they started tearing up the road to expand the sewage tunnels?”
“Drug running highway,” Axel puts in, stroking his beard. “You think they found another way?”
“I think the cartel still wants their money and their product running between here and Charlotte. The new road construction, the new real estate deals—maybe they lost the tunnel, but if they own half the houses along the corridor, they don’t need it. They use the neighborhood as the next pipeline.”
“They set up a warehouse or a friendly tenant,” Hawk says, catching on, “run trucks out the back doors, nobody the wiser.”
“Or they just flip the whole block for a zoning change, slap up a mixed-use complex, and suddenly they own the most valuable piece of real estate in Stoneheart. All legal. All clean,” Stone says, tone flat but sharp as a blade.
“They bought the cop who burned Devil’s last time. Now they’re buying the town.”
The room goes quiet, everyone processing what that means.
“So what’s our play?” Tank finally asks. “Because if they’re doing everything legal, we can’t just—”
“No,” Stone cuts him off. “We can’t. That’s exactly what they want—for us to react with violence so they can paint us as the bad guys. Get us arrested, get the feds looking at us instead of them.”
“Then what?” Hawk leans forward. “We just let them buy up the neighborhood?”
“No.” Josie speaks up. “We fight them legally. Through the system.”
She moves to the table, spreading out her documents. “Carolina Properties can buy all the houses they want. But they can’t change what those properties are used for without zoning changes. Which means public hearings, planning commission votes, community input.”
“So if we organize the residents to oppose the changes—” Stone starts.