Chapter 16
Chet
I sipped at my coffee, watching Hyram and William stare each other down.
William’s gaze was unflinching, and not a single hint of emotion showed on his face.
Finally, Hyram rolled his jaw around and growled, “I understand Rurik just doing whatever the fuck he wants because he doesn’t answer to anyone sitting at this table, much less me.
But you , brother? Does this family not mean shit to you? ”
William cocked his head to the side the slightest bit.
Even though his facial expression never changed, he was giving a clear warning to Hyram to back track and watch where he was stepping.
William could survive without the Ghost Born MC.
He did for years while working for Rico Martinez, the leader of the Martinez crime family.
But what William couldn’t stomach was ripping this family from me.
That was why this family mattered to him.
“Thyrie saw you leaving. She was headed out for a meeting.”
“That late at night?” Malik asked, arching a brow. When Hyram shot him a cold look, Malik tacked on, “No offense, prez, but your wife is as nosy as they come.”
“The client can’t be seen in public, especially in daytime, not that it’s any of your fucking business,” Hyram snapped.
Rurik leaned forward and rested his arms on the table, steepling his fingers together in front of him.
“I’m assuming you’ve only heard William managed to take out the president and not a thing else.
” Hyram looked at him, his jaw clenched, but he stayed silent.
“Kaleen Jacobs was waiting for us when we got to the Savage Dreams’ clubhouse.
And he struck a deal with me. If he allowed us to take out the president, I would form a trade deal between their club and the Washington chapter of the Bratva.
He has covered the murder well. I’m assuming you only connected the dots because we weren’t here the same time he was killed? ”
“And because I know when it comes to Chet, William will do whatever the fuck he pleases if it means keeping Chet safe,” Hyram seethed through clenched teeth. He looked at William. “I ought to strip that patch off your fucking back for this. You could’ve caused a goddamn war.”
“As if we weren’t already broaching on one?
” I snapped, growing defensive of my husband.
William gripped my thigh as a warning to remain calm, but I ignored him.
“If it was Thyrie being targeted, Hyram, you’d have all of us busting into that fucking clubhouse with guns blazing.
You might have chilled out a lot in recent years, but everyone sitting at this table remembers why you spent time behind bars.
It was because of your sister. Because of family . ”
“I at least would have brought it to the table and made a plan. Not gone off half-cocked on my fucking own, hoping for the best,” Hyram bit back at me, anger burning in his eyes.
“He didn’t go off on his own,” Rurik spoke up. “We went together. He had protection the entire time.”
“Alright,” Nolan said, tapping his hand on the table to bring order back to the room. “What’s done is fucking done. The biggest threat has been dealt with. Let’s just figure out what we do from here.”
“Which is…” Malachi drawled, spinning his coffee cup in circles on the table, no doubt bored out of his mind and restless. And he probably had a video game he wanted to get back to. Malachi loved his video games.
“We need to find out who is being voted in as the new president and who’s their VP.
We need to set up a meeting, let bygones be bygones, and try to come to some sort of peace treaty.
Shaw is growing impatient about this, and he wants the problem solved.
” Hyram opened his mouth, but Nolan held up a hand, cutting him off.
Hyram smacked it down, making Nolan roll his eyes.
“ Yes , William acted on his own without the backing of the club, but he has accomplished more than we’ve been able to thus far. ”
“I can get in touch with Kaleen,” Malik spoke up.
“Absolutely fucking not ,” Rurik snarled at him, so much venom in his voice, even I jerked in surprise.
He gripped Malik’s chain and yanked him so close, their noses touched.
“You already forgot about the fact that you blew our fucking cover by warning him, Shadow?” The rest of us rarely used each other’s club names unless we happened to be on a run, but Rurik dropped Malik’s all the time.
Malik rolled his eyes, but there was no missing the rapid thump of his pulse at the base of his throat. “Kaleen would never betray me. There’s a bond formed in prison cells that can hardly be broken, Rurik.”
Rurik narrowed his eyes at him, but then, just as quickly, his features smoothed out, and a slow smirk curved his lips.
Malik swallowed thickly, his face paling the tiniest bit.
“This will hold.” He released Malik and looked at Hyram.
“I’ll contact Kaleen and find out what changes have been made on their end, then I’ll try to organize a sit down. ”
Hyram pinched the bridge of his nose, then looked at William. However, before he could open his mouth, someone knocked loudly on the chapel doors. Malachi stood and opened it, revealing one of Rurik’s men. Rurik stood, arching a brow at him. “What?”
Wordlessly, he held out a tablet to Rurik. Rurik took it, reading whatever was on it quickly. Gritting his teeth, he looked at Hyram. “We’ve got a problem.”
Hyram’s sigh was full of exhaustion. “When don’t we?”
“What’s happening?” I asked, trying to keep the anxiety curdling my stomach at bay. It didn’t do me any good here. If we had a problem, I needed to keep my head on straight so we could figure it the fuck out and take care of it.
“The prez had a daughter, and she’s just escaped a maximum-security psychiatric hospital.”
Hyram leaned back in his seat and shrugged. “Cops should find her well enough.”
Rurik shook his head and handed the tablet over to Hyram.
Hyram began to scroll through it, and tension burned through his shoulders more and more with each word he read.
“Nope. The moment she slipped into the woods, she disappeared like a fucking ghost. Dogs can’t track her scent.
She managed to scramble even the best trackers. She’s a wild card on the loose.”
“What do we know about her?” I demanded. “Anything useful?”
Rurik shook his head. “Nothing. She’s been unstable for years, apparently. Switches personalities like she changes her panties. We have no idea who we’re dealing with. So, we need to tread carefully and watch our backs.”
“Nine confirmed kills?” Hyram spoke up. “ Confirmed ?”
“Means there’s possibly more, but they can’t prove it,” Malachi said as if none of us knew what that meant.
“I know what it fucking means,” Hyram snapped at Malachi.
“Fucking Christ , this shit just doesn’t let the fuck up.
” He pushed back from the table and handed the tablet back to Rurik.
“Find me everything you can on her. If the SDMC is loyal to her, we may have an even bigger problem on our hands, especially if she held any love for her old man.”
Everyone filed out of the chapel after Hyram, leaving just me and William at the table. I looked at William. “Don’t tell me you have more wild ass ideas,” I griped.
William smirked. “Nah, not right now, baby.” He leaned in and gripped my chin, tipping my chin up just enough for a kiss.
“For now, we lay low and wait to see what happens with the SDMC and this woman. And I take you upstairs and we finally have that long soak, and I can take care of your wrists again.”
I glanced down at them. They were bruised and a little swollen.
I’d pulled on those ropes hard last night, not even aware I’d been doing so.
And since we’d fallen asleep before William could take care of them properly, healing them would now take a little longer.
Which also meant William wouldn’t tie me up until he deemed they were okay.
“What else are we going to do?” I asked.
William’s smirk turned feral, and my dick hardened so fast, I swayed in my seat. “Be a good boy, and you’ll find out.”
Fuck .