CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Ky
Anger rules my thoughts as I throw my leg over my sled, waiting for everyone else to get their fucking act together so that we can finally head off. For some unknown reason, Kon brought Mariah with us to Cullville, why we needed her I wasn’t sure, but maybe she would be used for some kind of leverage against Angelo, who knows?
When I think of what kind of man has them, a feeling of dread overwhelms me. Someone who thought nothing of abusing his supposed stepsister for God only knows how long. I’m sure he’ll take great pleasure in tormenting children that belonged to her, and the man she ends up with.
The rational part of me knows Sera wasn’t to blame for what happened. The kids were safe in our backyard, innocently playing together. But the irrational part of me is a raging storm, churning with anger and resentment. Maybe a bit of distance from her will calm me down and afford me some perspective.
Finally, the others appear, and climb on their own sleds, while Kon gets behind the wheel of the sleek black Mercedes he’d arrived in. His men stay behind to look after our women, with the handful of prospects left behind as well. Kon had been on the phone since the kidnapping happened, talking to his contacts about where Angelo might have taken Finn and Willow. I was impatient to head out, but I knew these things took time.
“We’ll find them.” I jerk my head toward the sound of the voice and see Ink beside me on his own sled. “The club will leave no stone unturned until we find them. You know that, right?”
We’ve been on the outs for so long that my first instinct is to tell the guy to fuck off, but I pull back from the brink, forcing my brain to think rationally. He was still my brother; I’ve known him practically my entire life. I wasn’t going to continue some stupid feud that would get us nowhere. So, I take the high road. Shocking the shit out of him and me.
“Thanks, brother.” We bump shoulders and fists, and just like that, everything is right between us.
Most of the brothers had joined in the rescue mission. Including my little brother Lukas, or Spider, as he preferred now to go by. He’d recently been given a full member patch, and he’d done everything to make himself indispensable to the club. Since losing his best friend Snake to the club in Washington, and his ol’lady dumping him and following Snake out there, leaving him alone to look after their kid.
Nobody was going to miss the bitch, let alone me. She had set her sights first on me, and when I rebuffed her, she’d moved on to Spider. The farther away from Briar Creek she is, the better I say.
Since Kon had appointed himself the leader of this mission, we let him drive out in front, flanking the car on either side as we rode out of the compound, heading out of Briar Creek and into Cullville? What the fuck?
My curiosity piqued, we continue to follow the conspicuous Merc down the quiet streets, until we reach an abandoned lot of warehouses. My stomach dips. We park our sleds, waiting for Kon to get out of his car. When he does, I feel my phone vibrate in the breast pocket of my cut. Retrieving it, I read the message and feel my anger mix with regret at the way I treated Sera.
Sera: Please be careful. Bring our kids home safe. I know I should reply, but I just can’t bring myself to do it just yet, so instead, I put the phone back into my pocket and get my head in the game. My club and my kids are counting on me.
As one, we gather in the center of the dusty parking lot. Kon pushing a dirty and exhausted Mariah in front of him. She’s far from the put together beauty she was when she reappeared in my life all those months ago. She’s in the mess she’s in because of her own making, and I’d be damned if I was going to feel sorry for her now.
“I’ve been told by a source that he’s brought the children here,” Kon explains.
“What the fuck. Why bring them here?” I demand, a hand on my shoulder has me turning around to see my dad.
“Calm down, son. Who knows how a psychopath's mind works, but at least he didn’t get further away.”
“So, what now? Are we just gonna stand here twiddling our thumbs?”
Kon turns an irritated look in my direction.
“If you can’t shut the fuck up and follow orders, you can just turn the fuck around and go home,” he growls at me, and I want nothing more than to pound his face into the dirt.
He had shown little interest in my father or me until he saw a chance to use us to further his own business interests. Yes, we’ve benefited from the alliance, but that’s beside the point. I’m still pissed with him, and I don’t think that feeling will ever go away. But for now, I’ll continue to be a team player, since he’s holding all the cards in the rescue of my kids.
Shoving my hands into the pockets of my jeans, I stand there with my mouth zipped, staring daggers into the back of the man’s head who was my uncle. Once he tells us the plan, I’m even more nervous than I was when we got the news that Willow and Finn were taken. I’m not sure it will even work, but it seems my dad has taken a backseat to his brother, which I understand since Everleigh has started her treatment.
“How do you know that this will even work?” I push back, since my father has checked out.
“Maybe if you trusted me more, you’d know me well enough by now to know it will work,” Kon drawls.
Asshole .
Shaking my head, I cross my arms over my chest, the late afternoon sun beating down on us.
“Now, I’ll go in and see if I can talk rationally with the guy. Maybe he’ll be more amenable when he sees I’ve got his plaything here. If not, then we go in guns blazing,” Kon says.
“Really, that’s your plan?” I murmur, getting a dark look sent my way by both Kon and my pops. I shake my head. Fuck that, I wasn’t going to play with my kids’ lives while we played whose is bigger. I was sure he had no one to tell him no before, probably in his entire life. Well, there was a first time for everything.
I take out my gun, which I’d tucked into the waistband of my jeans.
“Fuck this, and fuck all of you,” I growl, my father can censure me for perceived insubordination, all he likes when we get back to the clubhouse with both Finn and Willow. Until then, we do things my way.
I stalk toward the entrance to the warehouse. The first to flank my six is Ink, and I couldn’t be more grateful after everything that happened between us. Since he’s the SAA, he pushes me back a bit and enters first, directing everyone to be quiet. I don’t appreciate the move, but taking orders from Ink is better than taking them from my so-called uncle.
We hold our weapons at the ready, my eyes darting left and right, expecting, I don’t know who, to pop out at any minute. One of Angelo’s goons comes round the corner, I grab him by the neck, before he even takes his next breath, twisting so that it breaks with a pop. Dropping him to the ground, I pay no mind as I walk over the fucker.
We walk deeper into the warehouse, the stale smell of dust filling my nostrils as our boots scuff against the concrete floor. My children's safety is all that matters, and the thought of them being near Angelo makes me want to tear him and everyone connected to him apart.
“How good of you to join us!” a familiar voice drawls, and I lift my head to see Angelo standing above us on the second floor, leaning over the railing. For someone who’s spent their time in a stale and dusty, old warehouse, he looks fresh, his clothes wrinkle free and not a hair out of place.
“Oh look, it’s my old friend Kon,” he says, shaking his head when he sees us. “What is this, aligning yourself with a motorcycle gang? Tsk tsk, I knew you were slipping.”
As one, we all point our weapons up at him, but all he does is laugh, the sound echoing through the large space.
“You and I were never friends. I simply tolerated you, had I known what you were doing with your so-called step sister I would’ve put a bullet in your brain a long time ago,” Kon says cooly, a grin on his face as he tightens his hold on Mariah’s neck, and she whimpers in pain.
“I really wouldn’t do that if I were you. You never know who you might hit.” Angelo's hand flicks out, a silent command, and I pull back the safety on my gun, the metallic click a sharp sound in the tense silence.
But the sight of Sera standing next to him stops me dead in my tracks. Her eyes wide with fear, her clothes stained and torn, and her hair was matted with dirt and sweat. How the fuck was she here when I left her back at the compound in safety?
“What the fuck’s going on here?” I demand.
“What’s going on is, this bitch thought she would play amateur sleuth. Imagine my man’s surprise when she calmly sits in his car, thinking he’s there as an Uber.” Her eyes meet mine, and I can see the regret written in them from here.
“Where are my children?” Sera screams, angry tears stream down her cheeks. He makes another gesture, and his goons bring in the kids, holding them in their arms. But that’s not what has me wanting to commit murder. Their limp bodies, heavy and lifeless in their arms, were a clear sign that Willow and Finn had been drugged.
“Now, we can do this the clean and easy way, or we can do this the messy way. I know which I prefer, but I’m giving you a choice. Let Mariah go, and I’ll let the kids go free.” The two goons stand at the rickety balustrade, holding the children above their heads.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I roar.
“Well, since I couldn’t get my hands on the money from my dear sister’s inheritance from her slut of a mother, I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone. So to speak.”
“You’re a sick motherfucker, you know that,” I growl. “You’re going to murder two innocent children over money?”
“Well, he squandered the money he was given by his stepfather on whores and drugs,” Kon calls out. “The Bianchi name isn’t worth the paper it’s written on in the underworld. He killed his stepfather to get to the position of Don, but he’s been a complete disappointment.”
“Shut the fuck up. You know nothing,” Angelo spats.
“I know more than you think,” Kon counters. A double gunshot sounds from somewhere in the warehouse, and I can see blood spreading across the crisp white material of his shirt before he takes a tumble over the balustrade and lands with a loud thump on the concrete floor below. Mariah falls to the ground as well, a bullet fired by Kon through the back of her head.
The goons scramble, laying the children down on the ground as they grab for Sera, but she claws and kicks her way away from them. They finally give up and leave her alone, and when bullets start flying, she throws herself on top of the children, covering them with her body.
That’s my woman . I think proudly as I shoot my way up to the second floor, and I see Angel helping Sera to her feet, as she takes Willow into her arms and he picks up Finn.
That’s when I realize it must’ve been him that shot Angelo. We look across at each other, and I send him a silent thanks before I take Finn from his arms.
“Follow me.” The scent of blood hangs heavy in the air, but I push through the mounting bodies, my voice strains as I shout to Sera, urging her towards the front doors and freedom.
Once outside, I direct her to a small patch of grass under a shady tree where we could lay the kids down, its leaves rustling gently in the breeze, the innocence of it belying what had just transpired in the warehouse. The air rushing in and out of our lungs as we fought for breath.
Minutes pass, and finally my brothers and Kon appear, running to where we’re sitting on the grass. Kon passes me a bottle of water, and I trickle water into each of their mouths, hoping some hydration will hasten the effects of whatever sleeping pills they were given.
“Let’s get the fuck out of here. Everleigh can look them over when we get back to the compound,” Pops says. Everyone agrees, just as smoke billows from the roof of the warehouse. Good ol’ Pops’ trademark move. Leave no evidence behind.
Everyone moves to their respective sleds and vehicles as Sera places the children in the backseat of Kon’s car, making sure they were strapped in. Without a word, she sits with them, refusing to look at me.
Shaking my head, I go to my own sled, throwing my leg over it as I rev the engine and wait for Pops to take the lead. Tired and needing a shower, we ride back towards Briar Creek and home.