58. Kiera
KIERA
She doesn’t need to be such a bitch about it.
The liquor had gotten to me, making it hard to think about any of this logically. Sure, I fucked up. I wasn’t supposed to tell Maura anything. But I think I was owed a little credit. My mother was going to marry the man that tried to sex traffic me to his rich friends.
Kind of fair to have a small crash out.
“Look, I’m sorry. It was an accident.” I let my head fall back onto the booth. “She just knows exactly how to get under my skin.”
Dom leaned forward on the table and hissed back at me. “Exactly. That’s why I never should have let you see her.”
Rolling my eyes, I snarled back at her. “Let me? I would’ve gone whether you ‘let’ me or not. Besides, it’s not that big a deal. Isaac already knows that you’re most likely with me.”
“But he didn’t know. And now that he does, he can initiate my morality clause as soon as he has a speck of evidence.” Dom rubbed her forehead.
“Fuck. Really?” Spencer’s brow furrowed as she caught up, realizing that this was serious.
Dom nodded. “It’s in the charter. It’ll null my shares. If he puts the pieces together, our whole plan is completely fucked.” A scoff ripped through her throat as she licked her lips. “Which is hysterical because it was these two idiots that even did the kidnapping.”
The word triggered something in my mind. “Is it a kidnapping if I’m choosing to be here? Like doesn’t that make all of this completely legal, which wouldn’t be a problem for the morality clause?”
Even if Isaac could afford to buy a jury’s opinion, it should at least shape public sentiment and might even make a trial useless.
Leo winced. “The public isn’t so keen on a gang of lesbian bikers kidnapping a girl from her boyfriend and turning her into a sapphic too.”
Nodding, Dom crossed her arms, her muscles bulging out of the tight tshirt she’d put on. “Besides, it might not be a kidnapping, but it is impeding an active investigation.”
A moment of silence passed over the room as we all realized what happened, how seriously I’d fucked the whole thing. One wrong sentence and our entire operation was in danger.
“Fuck. I’m sorry.” But Dom continued to pout. “What do you want? I didn’t know. You should’ve fucking told us.”
There was a knowing look on Spencer’s face, another one of Dom’s secrets getting us into more trouble than we asked for.
Leo’s hand rested on my thigh under the table, the pressure and warmth helping to ground me as I felt tears welling in my eyes. Holding them back, I wouldn’t give Dom the satisfaction. Not over something I was clueless about.
Clenching her jaw, Leo sighed. “We’re all doing our best and we can’t change what’s already happened. There’s things all of us wish we could take back. We’re just going to have to figure it out, together.”
Dom stared down at the table, until her forehead scrunched tight and she reached for the wedding invite on the table. “It has to mean something.” Meeting my eyes, her blue eyes burned with an idea. “He wouldn’t have sent her with it if he didn’t want us to know something.”
Downing her espresso martini, Spencer winced. “Unless they just like keepsakes.”
But we all knew there was more going on here. Dom was right to ask why Isaac would marry my mom, knowing she had nothing. If he really thought I had the shares, which he did since he desperately tried to set me up with his right-hand creep, then he would want a way to take them from me.
Especially now that I’d broken out of his gilded cage.
If he married Maura and something happened to me…
He would be next of kin.
A shiver ran down my spine at the thought. Dom must have reached the same conclusion, a haunted look in those blue eyes.
“If we have any hope of taking this crime ring down, we have to do it all at once. Isaac, Gabriel, Zeus, the underground operation. One day, all destroyed.” Tapping the paper, Dom sucked her teeth. “This is the only date we have.”
Spencer shrugged. “You’d assume all of your dad’s cronies will be there.”
“Which would leave the offices unsupervised.”
Snapping her fingers, Leo nodded. “And all their trafficking lairs vulnerable.”
My mind was moving fast, competing with the alcohol to get the idea fleshed out fast enough. “One fell swoop.”
Dom tapped her fingers on the table. “We don’t know when he’s going public. But this is a real, tangible date.”
“But, if we’re going to really take them down, how are we going to get the public on our side?” I asked. Sure, we could kill all of them, take the board by force. But they’d have us carted off to prison faster than we could sign the paperwork.
Looking over at Leo, Dom smirked. “We’re going to have to find some emails.”
“Destroy their public image and take them out before Maura says ‘I do.’” A spark of excitement appeared in Leo’s eyes. All the lost hope of their email hunt suddenly dissipated into pure anticipation.
“Will people really be okay with that?” It was hard to believe that we could get away with publicly murdering a bunch of executives.
Spencer chuckled. “If you found out a man who trafficked women and children for decades with the help of hundreds of rich and powerful men was murdered, would you give a shit who did it?”
Not even a question, I shook my head. “No, I’d be glad someone took the trash out.”
A smirk played at Dom’s lips, something teasing and dangerous. Her eyes caught on my sword and wings, etched into my skin forever. Despite how all of this had started, I believed in their mission — our mission — and it was time to play our part.
Dom smacked her hands into the wood table and stood from her spot. “Time to get to work.”
“Lady’s gotta be desperate to piss.” Spencer slid out from the booth.
As we walked toward the exit, a tall, hulking figure rose from a bar stool. I recognized her. From the Hollow. It was really her: The Bull.
Her voice boomed across the bar. “Drones are gone, they bought your decoys.”
“Thanks, Roman.” Dom dapped her up, turning toward the bartender.
Before we pressed open the door, everyone threw on their disguises. I tucked my hair into a hoodie, Leo threw on a goofy bucket hat. Spencer lifted a bandana up, covering her lower face and throwing on a pair of sunglasses.
Dom threw on a simple black baseball cap with the Rubyfruit logo over the front.
The sun outside was blinding as Leo opened the doors. The dim bar made my eyes forget that it was the middle of the day.
Parked right out front, was a midnight blue Audi. For once, we’d be driving an SUV and not a sports car. It was less flashy than the Violence’s usual rides but its design was sleek and discreet.
Spencer held open the back door for me. But I didn’t want to let Dom mope. So I grabbed the front passenger handle and threw myself in the red leather seat.
“Holy shit.” I gasped, the trim along the edges of the interior glowed red.
Dom rolled her eyes as she tossed herself into the driver’s seat, starting the car's engine.
Stretching out my legs, I got comfortable. Behind me, Spencer and Leo squeezed into the backseat. Leo’s knees pressing Dom’s back.
“Seriously?” Dom grumbled.
Shrugging, Leo winked at me. “What? I can’t help it that I’m tall.”
Once we were all buckled up, Dom put the car and drive and moved us closer to home.
Somewhere out there, dozens of VV bikers were losing tails of their own. And hopefully, Isaac and his gaggle of tech goons would be stumped on how we got away.
All of this just for me to get some shares.
I’d somehow managed to make it more dangerous for the three bikers trying to protect me from an evil man.
Whether I wanted to deny it to Dom or not, I’d put her at risk. And now I had to hope that our plan would work — that somewhere down this winding road there would be safety and peace.