Chapter 1
I follow my club into the courtyard of Maison des Cinq Chênes in the French District.
Cleo hops off Hex’s bike and practically dances to the front door.
I grin at her excitement. She’s just spent a large chunk of her money on the building, but we all know she’s going to give it to the young couple who join her on the stoop.
Cleo hands Ryan the keys so he can unlock the door.
When Ryan’s stepfather died intestate, the property went to auction.
Cleo bid on it and won. We’re here at the house because, according to Ryan, there is a hidden room in the house where his stepfather placed his will.
The rest of us are along for the ride because we want to see the hidden treasure that supposedly resides with the will.
When my phone vibrates in my pocket, I retrieve it and discover I’ve missed several messages from Skylar.
Skylar Prince is Cleo’s closest friend and someone I once considered making my Old Lady.
However, she took off over a month ago, and I haven’t heard from her until now.
I scan her text and voicemails begging me to contact her.
I’m not sure why she wants to talk to me, but I go ahead and text her that I’m unavailable to speak with her at the moment.
I tuck the phone back into my kutte and follow everyone inside.
Before we make it too far into the house, we’re surrounded by armed men.
They push us to the floor as their leader joins us.
Miguel Costa rants at us as he demands Ryan hand over a collection of jewelry. Ryan swears he no longer has the pieces, but that only serves to anger the man more.
“You will tell me what I want to know, or I’ll make sure your woman finds her way into my brothel,” he threatens. “In fact, all of your women will be my guests when I’m done with you. Where is the jewelry?”
Hex, Lake, and Dixie shift at his threat. If the men around us weren’t armed, Hex would be tearing them into pieces. We can’t fight back. Not yet. We’d risk the women getting hurt if any of us tries something.
“I don’t have the jewelry,” Ryan says. “I pawned them.”
Miguel strides forward to slap Ryan and send him sprawling. Movement behind Miguel catches my attention. I study the doorway across the room and see the shadow of a man. He’s big, and I have a feeling I know who it is. Abra.
As Ryan struggles to get back into a sitting position, I shift closer to Naomi, Ryan’s wife.
I’m sure all hell is about to break loose, so I need to protect her.
When nothing happens, I start to wonder if I imagined seeing Abra, but then the doorbell rings.
Miguel ignores it at first, but then decides to answer it.
When he opens the door, I strain to hear the voices.
The man speaking sounds familiar, but before I can figure out who it is, men stream through every door and surround the assholes holding us at gunpoint.
Abra is the first through the door, and he heads straight to the door to help capture Miguel.
I’m surprised to see Rey enter, but it’s the person behind her that draws everyone’s attention: Hex’s twin brother, Vladimir.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Hex asks his brother, clasping his hand before pulling him in for a hug.
“I’ve been trying to reach you for the past hour, but you didn’t pick up. Then I tried Desdemona. Luckily, I spotted Abra on the street and followed him. That’s how we figured out you fuckers were in trouble. What are we going to do with these guys? I can have my men take them somewhere.”
In a surprise move, Hex decides to follow Rey’s suggestion and lets her call her brother, who is a police detective. Once he arrives and takes charge, I sneak outside to call Skylar. She answers on the first ring.
“Zip? Thank god you called me back. I’m in trouble and I need your help. Can you meet me at your tattoo parlor?”
“Why don’t you come to the clubhouse? We aren’t there right now, but Nora and the prospects are there. They can let you in. We should be heading back there shortly.”
“No, I can’t be seen there. Please? Just meet me at Inked by a Demon?”
“Yeah, I can do that. Give me a few minutes and I’ll meet you there. I need to tell Hex that I’m headed out. What about Cleo? Do you want me to tell her you called? She misses you. We both have.”
Skylar sobs on the other end. “No, don’t tell her you’ve talked with me. Please? Don’t tell anyone. It’s important, Zip. I wouldn’t be asking if it wasn’t.”
I want to push her for more information, but the sound of her voice, so close to tears, breaks me.
I agree to keep our meeting quiet, for now.
I return to the house to find Hex and let him know that I’m taking off.
He knows that I have to prepare to leave town.
I’m participating in a tattoo artist competition being held in Texas.
When I enter the house, I search for Hex and find him talking to his brother. His following words stop my forward momentum.
“I’m saying she works for the FBI. I found out when I was in Russia, dealing with the families. Your friend Skylar Prince is a government agent.”
I spin on my heels and rush outside. I race through the city of New Orleans to my shop.
As the buildings fly by, all I can think about is Skylar and how she betrayed me and my family.
She’s an FBI agent? That's not good news for us.
How could she do this to Cleo? Her best friend?
Hell, how could she do this to me? My anger grows as my bike eats up the miles.
When I pull into my spot outside Inked by a Demon, I cut off the engine and slam into the store.
My staff glance up from their work, but then return their focus to their clients.
I enter my office to find Skylar waiting for me.
“You’re a fucking FBI agent?”