Chapter 23
The Illusion Shattered
Elizabeth
“You felt nothing towards him?” Meredith asked me as we sat in Grace’s living room.
“Would you have felt anything toward Brandon?” Grace tried to put things into perspective, but I wasn’t sure she was going to get her point across.
“Yes. Rage. Resentment.” Meredith shrugged before she settled back into the couch cushions.
“He was…there. Surprised. How I…remembered him. Older.” I took a sip of my water. “Breaking…control.”
“So, now what? How do we keep the pressure on?” Grace stared down at JR as he wiggled against the blanket she’d put on the floor. “I don’t have any communication with him, and I won’t go behind Sabre’s back to reopen that line.”
“I keep thinking about Aunt E’s demon spawn.”
I shook my head but didn’t correct her opinion.
“Mer—“ Grace sputtered.
“No. He might not have turned out to be a psycho if Alex”—Meredith spat his name—“hadn’t stolen him.
” She picked at the label on a bottle, letting it rip underneath her nails.
“He needs to own up to his part in all of this, and if he can’t, we need to be the ones to show him, not the men.
” She raised her shirt sleeve, baring the road rash scars on her left side.
Our eyes kept finding each other, but the only sounds in the room were the babies cooing at each other.
“I need you to hear me, right now.” Emily uncrossed her legs, leaning forward. She waited until Meredith couldn’t escape her gaze. “We won’t win if you go scorched earth.” She stood, crossing the living room to stand in front of Meredith. “I refuse to lose you.”
“I won’t burn for someone else’s sin.” Meredith stood toe-to-toe with Emily. “I won’t let my family burn because some cartel boss thinks he has a claim on my aunt.” She put her hands on her hips. “If a motherfucker wants to dance, I’ll grab a pair of your stilettos.”
***
I focused on my dinner plate, taking small bites of the grilled chicken. Dinners were normally loud affairs, but tonight, the only sound in the room was the scratching of the plasticware as it hit the paper plates.
“This is insane.” Sabre dropped his fork, sitting back in his chair. “Dinner’s delicious, Chef, but I’m sure I’m not the only one who can’t taste it.” A few more forks fell. “Grease?”
“Cyph and I checked for trackers. There was one on the car I normally give Thunder.” He shrugged. “There’s no telling how long it’s been there.”
“Where was it?” Thunder asked him, wiping his stubble with his napkin.
“Behind the wheel well.”
Cyph chimed in, “I’m kind of disappointed. All that tech, and he goes with a standard issue tracker?”
“Speaking of which, I need you to check the tit show cameras from last night,” Count said. “Six men in suits came in, asking for my top-shelf liquor. Ring any bells?”
There was a loud chorus of groans.
“Have any new girls come in, offering to work off the books?” Pretty wrinkled his nose.
“No, and the girls already working haven’t propositioned me.”
“Why is Manuel Lopez sending men again?” Sabre leaned his head back, closing his eyes as he placed his hands over his stomach.
“To start a war.” Grizz planted his elbows on the table, cradling his head between his hands. “With us in the middle.”
“Why?” I interjected.
Sabre didn’t discredit me as he opened his eyes. “No matter how hard we try, we keep running into the Lopezes.” There were a few chuckles at that statement, and even Thunder smirked.
“Why does he want us trapped? We don’t have illegal runs.” Pretty looked directly at Wreck. “If you know anything, now is the time to speak, motherfucker.”
Wreck was on the same side of the table as I was, so I didn’t see his physical reaction, but we all sat back in our chairs when he spoke up. “So you can accuse me of hiding my past?”
Pretty leaned forward, eyes blazing, but as he was about to say something, Cyph stepped in.
“Krait is stirring the pot.” He turned in his chair towards Count. “Where did you put the warehouse money?”
“I didn’t. It’s sitting in Sabre’s office, waiting to be cleaned.” Count’s spikes shook.
“Son of a bitch. Tell me I’m not wrong.” Cyph waited.
“No fucking way. Are you sure about this?” Count leaned forward, his eyes blazing.
“Are the Knights cleaning El Sombra Roja’s money through the Lopezes?” Kitten plucked a piece of chicken off her plate, sticking it in her mouth. Every eye turned to look at her. “What?” she said.
“That’s my cue.” Emily picked up her plate, heading towards the kitchen. Zook did the same, following her.
Grizz watched until they disappeared. “Krait sold us out over the warehouse. I bet he told Manny we burned it.”
“Add in Diego’s demise, and Krait’s setting us up to take the fall,” Sabre finished.
“Fuck.” Thunder shot straight up. “Fuck.” He paced behind our chairs, and I turned to watch him. “Alex knows about Krait’s deals. He either doesn’t care, or he honestly thinks Peter’s alive.”
“The demon spawn said he was trying to dismantle the Lopezes from the inside.” Meredith slid closer to Grizz.
“Yeah, but if Krait’s cleaning money through them, they’re not going anywhere. Money makes evil go round.” Count’s hand wrapped around one of his spikes as he tried to twirl the end around his finger.
“It doesn’t really matter in the end, does it? All roads right now lead to us.” Sabre met every person’s eye at the table before he moved on to the next, but he came back to me. “We need to tell Alex.”
Peter’s gone. I grasped at my chest.
Thunder stopped pacing, dropping to a crouch in front of me. “Liz?”
I gasped for air. “Pe…Peter,” I wailed. “My baby…” It came out in quick bursts. “Dead.”
The tears swallowed my vision, but a black veil wiped them away, taking the rest of my vision with it. I tried to stand, but time froze me.
“Mi amor,” Alex sighed.
My vagina was on fire as the doctor sat between my spread legs. I heard the screams echoing around the room, but it took me a minute to realize they were mine.
“You’re doing so well, mi amor. One more big push.”
“You fucking push,” I told him. The men in the room laughed as if it was the funniest joke they’d ever heard. It irritated me, and I flopped back on the bed, giving up. “My baby doesn’t have a name.”
Alex ignored me, reaching to adjust the pillows behind my head. “I told you. There’s nothing to decide. He’ll have an old familial name, and that will be it. You’ve got to push. My boy is almost here.”
My child and I would be damned if I was letting Alex name him. “His name is Peter.”
My body contracted, but I waited until Alex shook his head in defeat before I resumed pushing as if my life depended on it. I could barely see. The sweat was falling into my eyes. All I could hear were my screams, only to be joined by my son’s.
It all went black.
“He’s beautiful, mi amor.” He stood at the window overlooking the hospital parking lot. Peter was in his arms. “You must be exhausted. Get some rest, and we’ll be here when you awake.”
I’d taken him at his word.
The veil instantly lifted.
I never thought of him. I didn’t sign birthday cards and stick them in a drawer.
The club talked about Peter as if he were just a chess piece to be removed.