Chapter 9 Hades
CHAPTER NINE
hades
Eddie Walsh's office hasn't improved since our last visit. If anything, it looks worse. The bourbon bottle on his desk is nearly empty, and the man himself looks like he hasn't slept in days.
"You boys are back sooner than I expected," he says, not bothering to get up from behind his desk.
"New information came to light," I tell him, settling into the cracked leather chair across from him. Tempest takes position by the door, watching the street through dirty venetian blinds.
"What kind of new information?"
I slide a photo across his desk. It's one from Rogue's old files, a picture of Ivy Bennett that he kept from when he was searching for Willow. Young, blonde, with the kind of smile that doesn't reach her eyes.
Walsh studies the photo for a long moment then reaches for his bourbon. "Where'd you get this?"
"It's connected to another case. One of our brothers was looking for someone's missing sister. Why? You recognize her?"
"What's her name?"
"Ivy Bennett."
Walsh goes completely still, his glass halfway to his lips. "Ivy Bennett. Jesus fucking Christ."
"You know that name?"
"Know it? I've been tracking that name for weeks." He sets his glass down with shaking hands. "I found a whole lot of interesting connections to Ethan Morrison. Information I never got the chance to share with your sister before she was killed."
My blood turns cold. "What kind of connections?"
"The kind that explains why Morrison had your sister murdered." Walsh opens his desk drawer and pulls out a thick manila folder. "After Calla died, I kept digging. Professional curiosity, you could say. That's when I discovered Morrison's connection to Ivy Bennett."
"What connection?"
"Money. Lots of it." He slides bank statements across the desk. "Morrison was paying Ivy Bennett five thousand dollars a month for three years. The payments stopped about five years ago, when she disappeared."
Tempest leans forward. "Five grand for what?"
"Information. Ivy was selling intelligence about MC activities to Morrison. Names, movements, business dealings, law enforcement schedules. Everything he needed to keep his money laundering operation running smooth."
"She was dating Lochlann," I say, the pieces clicking together. "The Shadow Hawks’ president's son. She had access to their business."
"More than just the Shadow Hawks. The girl was entrepreneurial. She was selling information on your club too, along with a few other organizations." Walsh flips through more documents. "That intel kept him one step ahead; dodging heat, crushing competition, growing his empire."
"And you're saying my sister found out about this?"
"Your sister didn't know anything about Ivy Bennett. She just knew Morrison's finances didn't add up. Couldn't figure out how a financial consultant was living like a millionaire." Walsh's expression darkens. "That's why she hired me. She had suspicions, but no proof."
"So you found more proof."
"I found more than proof. I found evidence that Morrison's been using his relationship with Evangeline to legitimize his money laundering operation. High-society connections, charity events, wealthy contacts who need their money cleaned without questions."
The thought of Evangeline being manipulated, used as an unwitting gateway into Morrison's criminal world, makes rage burn white-hot in my chest.
"Your sister was smart," Walsh continues. "She started asking the right questions about Morrison's business partners, his client list. If she'd lived another week, she would have uncovered the whole scheme."
"But Ethan made sure she didn't get the chance."
"Someone with that much money and those kinds of connections doesn't let loose ends threaten their empire."
I lean back in my chair, processing the implications. "So Ethan killed Calla and Marcus to protect his money laundering operation and keep Evangeline in the dark."
"That's my theory. As long as Evangeline doesn't know what she's really providing access to, she stays useful. The moment she figures out the truth..."
"She becomes a liability."
"Exactly."
Tempest shifts by the door. "What else did you find?"
Walsh pulls out more financial records. "Morrison's operation is bigger than I initially thought.
He's not just laundering money for small-time criminals.
Some of these clients are major players.
Organized crime families, international syndicates.
The kind of people who don't hesitate to eliminate threats. "
"Any of them connected to the Shadow Hawks?"
"Several. But it’s the businessmen that Morrison has maintained connections with even after Ivy died. Her intelligence network became the foundation of his current client base."
The scope of what we're dealing with settles over me like a lead weight. This isn't just about bringing down one corrupt financial consultant. We're talking about dismantling a network that spans multiple criminal organizations.
"You got copies of all this?" I ask.
"Of course. I've been in this business long enough to know when a case might turn deadly."
"Good. Keep it that way."
Walsh finishes his bourbon and sets the glass down with deliberate care. "There's something else you need to know. Morrison's been getting nervous lately. Word is he's planning to consolidate his operations, eliminate any potential witnesses."
"What kind of witnesses?"
"Anyone who might know too much about his business dealings. Former associates, information brokers, women who've gotten too close to the truth."
The implication hits me like a sledgehammer. "He's planning to kill Evangeline."
"Eventually. Right now she's still useful. But if she starts asking the same questions your sister was asking..."
"She won't get the chance."
"That's what I'd be worried about if I were you."
* * *
The ride back to the clubhouse is tense, both Tempest and I lost in our own thoughts. The weight of what we've learned sits heavy between us, made worse by the knowledge that we can't share it with Evangeline yet. Not until we're sure, not until we have a plan that keeps her and the kids safe.
"This is bigger than we thought," Tempest says as we park outside the clubhouse.
"Yeah. It is."
"You know what you're going to have to do, right?"
I know exactly what he's talking about, and the thought makes my chest tight with conflicting emotions. "Get close to her."
"Close enough to protect her when Ethan decides she's become a problem. Which he will, sooner or later."
The idea of being near Evangeline every day, of watching her build a life with those kids while keeping this secret, is both everything I want and complete torture. I rub the heel of my palm against my sternum like I can dig the ache out.
"She just ended her engagement," I point out. "She's vulnerable, grieving, trying to figure out how to take care of five kids. The last thing she needs is me complicating things."
"The last thing she needs is Ethan deciding she knows too much."
He's right, and I know it. The safest place for Evangeline right now is close to me, where I can watch for threats and respond accordingly. But if I lose her like I lost Calla…
It's going to destroy me.
"There's something else you need to consider," Tempest says as we walk toward the clubhouse. "When this comes out, when she learns the truth about what Ethan was really doing, she's going to need someone to lean on."
"She barely knows me."
"She knows enough. I've seen the way she looks at you, brother. The way she responds when you're around. There's something there, and you know it."
"There's attraction, sure, but that doesn’t mean she’ll trust me enough to be someone to open her wounds to."
"Doesn't it?" Tempest stops walking and turns to face me. "Look, I know you've been carrying a torch for this woman for years. I also know you were too honorable to make a move while she was with someone else, but things have changed."
"The timing is still shit."
"The timing is what it is. If you wait too long, if you let her convince herself she's better off handling this alone, you might lose your chance to protect her."
The possibility that I might fail to keep her safe makes something cold and desperate claw at my chest. Whatever happens between us personally, I won't let Morrison hurt her the way he hurt Calla.
"What do you think I should do?"
"Be there. Be present. Let her see who you really are underneath all the leather and attitude." Tempest's expression is serious. "And when the time comes to tell her the truth, make sure she understands that you're not the enemy here."
"Even if it destroys any chance I might have had with her?"
"Even then. Because keeping her alive is more important than keeping her interested."
He's not wrong. Whatever my personal feelings, Evangeline's safety comes first. Those kids need her. I need her, even if she never knows it.
But the thought of watching her face when she learns that the man she almost married was using her to legitimize a criminal empire, that her brother died because he was getting too close to the truth...
It's going to break her. And I'm going to be the one who has to pick up the pieces.
We're almost to the clubhouse door when my phone buzzes with a text. Evangeline's name on the screen makes my pulse kick up like I'm a teenager with his first crush.
Evangeline:
Jake's having nightmares again. He keeps asking for his uncle Hades. Can you come back?
I stare at the message, my heart doing something complicated in my chest. She needs me. Not because there's a crisis or emergency, but because a scared little boy wants his uncle to chase away the monsters.
If only she knew about the real monsters circling her world.
"Problem?" Tempest asks, reading my expression.
"Jake's having nightmares. She wants me to come back."
"And you're going."
It's not a question. We both know I'd walk through fire if she asked me to.
"Yeah. I'm going."
"Good. That's how trust gets built. One small moment at a time."
He's right. The grand gestures matter, but it's the everyday moments that really count. The bedtime stories and homework help and middle-of-the-night comfort. The quiet intimacy of sharing a life.
"Hades." Tempest's voice stops me as I'm heading back to my bike. "She's going to need you when this all comes out. When she learns what Ethan really is, what her engagement was really about. Be ready for that conversation."
"I'll be ready."
"And brother? When the time comes, when she's ready to let someone help her carry this load, don't let her convince herself she's not worth fighting for. Because she is. She's worth everything."
The words hit me harder than I expected. The idea that Evangeline might not think she deserves protection, love, someone willing to go to war for her, makes something fierce and protective roar to life in my chest.
But as I fire up my bike and head back toward the house where she's waiting, where five kids who are becoming mine in every way that matters need their uncle, I allow myself to hope.
Maybe this time, when everything falls apart, I'll be strong enough to help her put it back together.
Maybe this time, I'll be brave enough to fight for what I want.
Maybe this time, the woman I've been in love with for years will finally see me as more than just the dangerous man in leather.
Even if it means going to war with someone who has everything to lose.
Even if it means keeping secrets that could destroy us both.
Even if loving her means becoming the kind of man I swore I'd never be again.
Because she's worth it. They're all worth it.
And I'll be damned if I let anyone hurt my family again.