Epilogue
Blanche
It’s been a while since all the Ol Ladies were called to Church.
It’s an open invitation, but usually it’s only Chewy and Remy who sit in.
I guess with the threat to my Sage and those two douche lords who were working with Petrov still doing business, it’s probably best that we’re all brought up to speed.
“Quiet!” Marx yells before beating his giant fist against the wall like a silverback gorilla.
Tess jumps in my arms slightly and I give Marx the stink eye. She’s going through sleep regression at the moment so both Tav and I are super touchy and fucking exhausted.
“Sorry,” Marx mumbles after Lovely gives him the death glare. “Anyway,” he says, clearing his throat, “I thought I’d update everyone after the shit show at Switch’s ranch. Sorry about that, by the way, Roman said he’d pay for any cleaning or damages.”
“Yeah, dad is already putting Roman’s money to use.” Switch booms with laughter.
My lips twitch a little, before a yawn takes over my face.
“OK, as you are all aware Petrov was put down by Dima, so that is one less problem to worry about. All the little girls are safe and sound, as they should be.”
Everyone cheers around the table, and I cover Tess’s ears to block out the noise. Not that she cares, this kid could sleep through a tornado, unless of course it happened in the middle of the night when her parents are trying to sleep.
“He also left us with a warning. We have to protect Sage.” My heart skips a beat at the thought my baby might be in trouble. “The fucked up thing is that he can’t tell us what or who, we’re protecting her from, so just, fuck, I don’t know, keep your eyes and ears open, yeah?”
We all nod, and I try to ignore the pitying looks that get thrown mine and Tav’s way. “It’s OK, Firecracker, we’ve got her. No one is going to touch our girl,” Tav murmurs, pressing his lips to my temple and calming the storm inside me, as he always does.
“On to other business, I finally managed to get a picture of Richard McDonald, Matthew Thompson’s business partner.
Up until now the only information we knew was about Thompson.
It seems he’s the face of the company, McDonald is the background man.
And here. He. Is.” Chewy mumbles before tapping something with a flourish and a picture comes up on the screen behind her.
Lovely’s gasp should have been my first clue, but I was too busy staring at the very familiar face on the screen.
“That motherfucker.” I spit, fury running through my body.
“Ah, whats going on?” Chewy asks, looking between me and Lovely.
“That’s not Richard McDonald. Or it may be, I don’t know,” Lovely stammers.
“Buttercup?”
“That man, we know him.” Lovely finally manages to get out.
“Richard McDonald?” Rider asks, confused.
“No. We know him as Nathaniel Mercy. He was in training to be Royal Landry’s right hand man.” I grit out, the bile rising in my throat. “And he’s also Sage’s sealed union.”
Pops’ eyes narrow. “And what the fuck is that?”
“It means Sage has been promised to him since birth. It’s not legally binding but in his mind he’ll think she belongs to him.”
Rider runs a hand down his face, groaning, “Why the fuck are there so many men out there who think they own women? Fuck’s sake, how many more do we need to put down?”
“Luckily for you, you don’t need to worry about this one,” I say conversationally, grinning at Rider.
“Oh, why’s that?”
“Because I’m going to kill him myself.”
Sage
“You’re not meant to be eavesdropping.”
“Neither are you, Stinky.” My lips twitch, knowing I’ve caught him out.
“I have to, to keep everyone safe.”
“And so do I.”
He looks up at me, and he knows what I’m going to do. “I will miss you.”
“I will miss you too, Stinky. I love you, you know that right?”
He nods once then throws his skinny little arms around my waist, holding on tight. “Chef will help you.”
My throat tightens at the mention of his name, but it’s not Chef’s help I need. I need my uncles. I need The Keep. This shit started at the Keep and I’m going to end it there. My mom won’t have to kill Richard McDonald because I’m going to do it myself.
Mad Dog
“Pops, I need your help.”
Pops eyes narrow and I almost back out, but I don’t. I stand my ground against the little meddling fucker.
“My help, or the help of the Love Pres.”
I stare him down for a moment, before letting out a slow breath. “I need the Love Pres.”