16. Beheaded Man Rises
-Jade-
The ride to the clubhouse is daunting. I pop another pill to get through what I need to do next. It’s time for me to call a meeting. After Weasel opens the gates to the compound, I drive in and park, sitting in the car reflecting on the night or better yet, early morning. Why does my chest feel so tight? I need these pills to kick in quicker. I should have gotten more Snow from Monty before I left, but I know Jameson wouldn’t have allowed it. Fuck, what did I do? Half the things I said to them were false. Kayla was never sent to bring them to me. They were never a job. But what is true, is that I knew about The Aces. I was gunning for them when the time was right. It just so happens that the Aces beat me to it. I definitely had every intention of killing them to spite their fathers, but– A knock at my window takes me out of my thoughts. Looking up, I see Slash smiling at me. I lower the window.
“What’s up, Slash?” I give him a small smile.
“Um, what are you doing out here?” He says wearily.
“Waiting for the twins to roll in. I’m calling a meeting.”
“I see. Are you doing okay?” he asks.
“I’m fine. Go round everyone up and wake up my father.” I quip. He nods and walks off.
I shut my SUV off and climb out. I head through the clubhouse doors and take a seat at the bar. It’s quiet in here for once. It is midweek, and in the middle of the night, so there’s no partying going on. Slash hands me a glass of water and a shot. This man knows me too well.
“Everyone will be here within the hour, Princess.” I nod and take a long gulp of water, letting the cold liquid slide down my throat, chilling my heated body. My leg bounces waiting for everyone to arrive. What is taking the twins so long?
My father is the first one to roll through the door. He takes one good look at me and immediately comes over.
“Fal, what the fuck happened to your face?”
“Dad, I’m fine. I know it’s the middle of the night, and I have no rank to be calling a meeting, but it needs to happen.”
“I know you better than this. If you’re calling a meeting, that means it’s important. However, I want to know what the fuck happened to your face.” He cups my cheek and I lean into his warm touch.
“Let’s wait for the meeting.” He nods and I turn around to take my shot of tequila.
Not long after, the twins finally arrive and nod to me. I think I’m going to throw up.
My father calls out to head into the chapel for the meeting. He lets me sit in his seat and he stands on the opposite side. Everyone says their hellos and shows me the respect that my father instilled into them. What a crock of shit.
“Thank you for coming to my meeting. I appreciate it.”
“Shouldn’t we wait for D’mitri?” Weasel asks. My father looks to me and says,
“I haven’t been able to get in touch with him in forty-eight hours. I was hoping you knew where he’s been held up.”
“I do,” I say. I look to my brothers and they both start shaking their heads slightly. Oh don’t worry sweet brothers, I am not going to dime y’all out. If this move gets me killed, then maybe the man above or below will take me to the ones I love. Everyone’s eyes are on me, waiting for my answer. I take a deep breath, feeling the black beauty finally kick in and giving me the adrenaline I need to get this shit over with.
“He won’t be making the meeting tonight, or any in the future.” I say shrugging my shoulders.
“And why is that, princess?” Slash asks with narrowed eyes. I look over to him and smirk.
“Because he’s dead, and I killed him.” The room goes into complete hysterics, almost everyone drawing their guns at me. I grin, standing up and drawing my own weapons, holding them at Slash and Weasel. My father stands there unmoving like my words are a shock to his system. My brothers draw their guns on the men who are pointing theirs at me.
“All of you, drop your fucking weapons! That’s my sister you’re fucking pointing at!” Ryker commands.
“That’s a fucking ORDER! Drop them now, before I drop you!” Ryder shouts. My father finally fucking speaks.
“That was an order, all of you, put the pieces away, Jade is not the enemy. She will explain and we will decide her punishment.” He nods at me. It really pisses me off that these men trusted that rat bastard over me. I’ve always been loyal to this club, made them all a lot of money, and this is how they repay me? I pistol whip both Weasel and fucking Slash.
“Out of all the people in this room, the two of you, I trusted the most and you didn’t even let me explain why I killed him.” They both grunt. Slash looks at me with pleading eyes, but fuck him, fuck all of them at this point.
“Fallon, please explain.” My father insists.
“I don’t even know where to start. The night of my birthday, I got a video of mom being murdered. Yeah dad, the story you fed me when mom died was all bullshit. She was murdered in cold blood and everything after that was a lie. My entire life is a fucking lie, but we will fucking get to that.” His face pales. I continue,
“I got the video while out at the Halloween dance and I freaked and ran. To make a long story short, D fucking shot me with a tranq, kidnapped me, raped and sodomized me along with slicing my face up. He’s been working with The Aces since the Ireland incident. He’s had us all fooled from the start.” No one says a thing. This just pisses me the fuck off even more.
“So not only have you been lying to me my whole life, but you were about to sell me off to him in an arranged marriage. If you only heard the vile things he said to me while raping me, it would make your head spin. So I killed him. I cut his heart out of his chest and fed it to my dogs. He’s long gone.”
“Who helped you?” My father presses.
“It doesn’t matter.” I chance a glance at my brothers, and they nod.
“It does matter, because you couldn’t have done this alone, Fallon.”
“Like I said, it doesn’t fucking matter.” I say through gritted teeth. He comes around the table getting in my face.
“You will give me a name, Fallon. Now!” He yells.
“Fuck you John, apparently you are not even my real father! So maybe we need to have a conversation with some truths. How about everything that’s been happening to me stems from something YOU were involved in!” I yell.
“You were supposed to stay hidden, Fallon, you were never supposed to become what you are today. Your mother never wanted this life for you, or any criminal life for that matter. That’s why she chose D’mitri, so that you would stay close to me where we knew you would be safe and not married off to another family of power.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean? You and her have been training me one way or another my entire life, and now you tell me I was supposed to be a hidden child. What in the actual fuck?”
“ENOUGH!” Ryker shouts.
“It was us. We helped our sister kill him and get rid of the body.” Ryder chimes in. My father looks at the both of them in shock.
“You knew about this? When I called you that night, you were already with her? You lied to me, you went against the club.” He states. Fuck this! He doesn’t get to call my brother a liar and accuse him of going against the club when he’s the traitor.
“You accuse them with such conviction, but you’re the one who lied. The one who went against our code! You fucking prick.” I push him away from me but he comes right back into my face growling at me.
“Fallon, watch who the fuck you are talking to. I never went against code. What the fuck are you talking about?”
“The Morozov’s, Dad, you put the hit out on her family because of what they did to me in Ireland. Here’s the kicker John, you had it wrong the entire time. It was the Aces. Those pricks are the ones who raped me, left me riddled with scars and burn marks. You killed an innocent girl for revenge on the wrong fucking family!” I let that sink in for a second. He doesn’t say a word, he just blinks.
“Pres, is that true?” Slash asks. A few of the other guys chime in and I take this as my cue to get out of there. They are so busy interrogating their Pres that I leave without notice. I walk behind the bar, grab the bottle of tequila, and pour myself a double shot. I spin it around for a second, then I throw it back. Taking my phone out to check the time, I see it’s just after four A.M. It’s time to head back to the Academy, I have class in a few hours and I want to shower the night off of me. Leaving the clubhouse, I walk over to my car but get this feeling like eyes are on me. I look around but don’t catch anything. I unlock my SUV, quickly start it up, getting out of the compound and onto the road.