Chapter Four
Bredan snapped his head around and glared at Nolan. “You hear that? That old man is coming after us for the money Dad borrowed and didn’t pay back. We were there, but we never got any money.”
Lily shrugged. “You and your brother signed that loan, you were a co-borrower.”
“That a damn lie,” Bredan called her out. “We were only there as witnesses.”
Lily shook her head. “No senor, you signed as coborrowers.”
“But that’s not what our father said.” Lorance shook his head as he looked confused.
Lily shrugged. “Then he lied to you. And you never checked the paperwork. Did he ever teach you to read what you sign before you sign it?”
“Damn him, damn him all to hell.” Bredan snarled. “He always told us to trust only him, that he wouldn’t lead us into danger.”
Crank just shook his head. “Of course he told you that, but you are the ones who believed him. You should have known better than to trust a man like him. And by your betrayal to him recently, I at least believed you did not trust him.”
Bredan looked wild eyed and desperate. “You have to help us, Nolan! You have the money, pay off the debt.”
Crank crossed his arms over his chest. “Why should I do that? I’m not the one who made the deal.
I’m not the one who double crossed dear old dad.
I left him intact and all he did was use my name to try to sink me into his bullshit.
Then what did you two do? Turned around and double-crossed the double-crosser.
” He shook his head. “Who could keep up with you all? Traitors are as traitors do. You boys are on your own.”
“You think that family is going to believe you had nothing to do with this debt?” Bredan growled. “Your name is still Lawler.”
Lily turned around and informed him of the facts, “But his name isn’t on that loan document, estúpido. And everyone knows he’s got nothing to do with Todd’s business.”
Bredan turned his head and stared at her. “Oh yeah, who says?” He glared at her then said, “And I can say Nolan came back and Dad was about to start introducing him to his partners, can’t I? Who’s going to say it ain’t so?”
Lily stepped toward him and retorted, “I will. I’ll tell my uncle every word you say is a lie.”
Bredan’s nostrils flared and he snapped, “If you do, your family will never recover the money.”
Lily smiled and nodded. “Wow, you would throw your own brother under the bus? Si, I guess I should have expected that from you. But you know what older men remember? They remember the old ways. My uncle is an old man and he will take my word. He may never get the money back but he can take it out of your hide, one way or another. He will get his pound of flesh, from you and from your brother.” She nodded at Lorance.
“He won’t come after Nolan, he’ll come after the names on the loan contract. ”
“That’s murder!” Lorance called her out.
Lily shrugged. “You can yell at me if you want. But I’m not the idiota that signed my name to that contact and neither is Nolan. You, your father and your other brother did that.”
“I’ll just tell him about Nolan, that he’s got the money to pay off the debt.” Bredan growled.
Lily smiled, “You can tell him whatever you want but he won’t come after Nolan. He will come after you two.
“Holy fucking shit!” Lorance swore. “If we can’t find the money we’re dead men.”
Bredan turned on Lorance and shouted, “I know that, but right now, everything Dad ever touched is frozen. Frozen solid and we ain’t got a dime we can touch. In case you forgot, Dad held the purse strings and we gave him that right.”
Boomer shook his head. “Then you boys ain’t got a chance if Lily’s Uncle Tomas takes over.”
Titus glanced at Guardian and said, “Get them into the cells until the sheriff gets here.” He sighed hard and said, “I’m getting a freakin’ headache from listening to them argue the same point over and over.
” Then he glanced at Lily and Canto. “I think we need to talk about what else is coming our way.”
Lily shrugged but she didn’t say a word.
Guardian and Ulysees took Bredan and Lorance down to the cells.
Bredan never stopped screaming for Nolan to save them. Once they got them inside the whole dooryard went silent
Boomer let out a relieved breath. “Damn, them boys were loud.”
Spider and Tracker chuckled as Boomer was known as THE loudest biker anywhere. But one look from Boomer made them keep their mouths shut.
Lily and Canto were led inside and sat down at one of the tables.
Titus, Bouncer, Boomer and Ironman all sat down as well.
The rest of them settled down close by to hear what Lily and her only remaining brother had to say.
Bouncer crossed his arms over his chest and looked directly at Lily. “So honey, why did you walk away when the shooting started?”
Lily slowly shook her head. “I am so not your honey, your sweetheart or your baby. Don’t you disrespect me like that.”
Bouncer shook his head. “Not disrespecting you. Just asking a question.”
Lily stared at him and she looked disgusted. “I walked away because I was done with him.”
“Him?” Ironman asked.
“Eduardo,” she spoke quietly. “The devil who made me who I am, who I will always be.” She looked around the room.
“Que? You didn’t think I could read the situation?
You think I didn’t know what was going to happen today?
” Shaking her head she added, “I could read exactly how far my father would push this. I know he wholly expected Joel to come in from the back while flying his plane and catch you all unawares. He expected to find your compound blown to hell so he would get no resistance to coming through the front door. He never imagined in his lifetime that Joel might fail. That thought would never cross his mind.” She shrugged her shoulders.
“He never expected Ricco to be dead either. He knew his son was wild and crass, but he never thought he would take the coward’s way out.
He should have known Ricco would wimp out if there was no other choice to be had. ”
“You said earlier that Ricco knew Gabriel was in that bar,” Titus said. “You said he knew and he blew it up anyway. How are you so sure he knew?”
“Ricco had his own man check inside the bar and his man told him Gabreil was there and Ricco still blew it up,” Lily assured them.
“This man is loyal to me as I saved his family from being killed by Ricco. He told me what happened. Then Ricco left town before the police notified us. He also knew what Eduardo would do when he found him. I believe that Ricco didn’t want to die by Eduardo’s hand.
He knew Eduardo would take his own sweet time to kill him and that was Ricco’s greatest fear... Eduardo’s rage.”
“Why would your father do something like that?” Ironman asked.
Lily turned her head to look at him and said, “Because Gabriel was his favorite from the time he was born. Gabe was his firstborn and my father thought the sun and moon rose from him. Ricco was his second born and Eduardo always made him feel second best.” She shrugged.
“Me? His thirdborn was a disappointment all the way. I was a girl and he didn’t have time for a girl.
But he didn’t forget me. He just trained me to become a ruthless killer.
When I was fifteen he began training me in hand to hand combat.
He taught me to use a knife, a handgun and a rifle.
If I missed my mark on the range, he would put me in a ring with a professional fighter.
I wasn’t allowed out until I defeated the fighter. Sometimes I won, sometimes I didn’t.”
The room went silent as if shock had hit them all.