35. Chapter 35
Chapter 35
Hazen
I slam the car door shut.
Anger roils inside me and my hands shake.
Blood runs down my arm, and I lean forward, pulling off my T-shirt and fastening it around the knife wound.
I can’t fucking believe him.
My father went behind our backs, behind The Brotherhood’s backs, and gave weapons to our enemies.
He betrayed us.
Dominic has always put The Brotherhood first.
All my life, it’s been drilled into me that they come before anything else—hell, even before ourselves.
We don’t exist as people; we are The Brotherhood.
If what Kai said is true, then my father has broken our trust.
Kai doesn’t have any reason to lie about the weapons.
Is my father that power hungry that he’d go against us?
Yes, he would.
Fuck, why didn’t Brax notice this?
He’s been glued to his ass, and now it’s too late.
We need to find out who else is involved in this and betrayed The Brotherhood, and we need to stop Dominic.
“That must be where the missing shipments have gone. Dominic has stolen them,” Gage says from next to me in the driver’s seat.
“Message Brax for an update on Dominic—does he have eyes on him? And call Duke. Ask him to review security footage to see if any of Dominic’s men have been lurking around,” I snap.
Gage taps away on his phone before bringing it to his ear.
When he finishes, he places his phone in the center console.
“He’s on it, and Brax doesn’t have eyes on Dominic. He lost him in traffic.”
“Fuck!” I slam my fist down on the dashboard.
“What’s the plan?” Freya asks from the back seat.
“We need to confront my father,” I say, squeezing my eyes shut for a second, breathing in and out of my nose, trying to calm my racing pulse.
“No, let’s just blow them all up. Fight to get our boy back,” Gage declares.
I shake my head.
“Then we’d be just as bad as them. We can’t risk Lucas getting hurt in the crossfire. We need to see my father first.”
“And how do we find him? Brax lost him,” Gage says.
“Maybe Mia?” Freya suggests, and I quickly pull out my phone and press dial on her number.
Why the hell didn’t I think of her before?
I’ve been too caught up in recruiting and keeping everything else afloat.
She slipped my mind.
“Hello?” Mia answers.
“Where are you?” I ask, and Mia pauses.
“Why do you wanna know?” she asks, and I squeeze the bridge of my nose.
I don’t have time for her shit.
“Meet me in ten minutes at Ace of Hearts,” I say, before hanging up.
We drive through town in silence.
My knee bobs up and down; I’m itching to find my father.
I need answers.
Gage pulls up in the back of Ace of Hearts, and before he turns the car off, I’m out the door, stalking toward the back entrance.
This bar has been open for years.
One of our guys took it over when it was a dive bar, and now it’s an elite gentlemen’s club for members only.
I haven’t been here in months.
I knock on the door, and it opens.
Zeke stands there, frowning.
“Man, didn’t know you were coming here today. We aren’t open yet, but come in.” He steps aside, and I move past him.
“Sorry, bro, Brotherhood business. Meeting someone here,” I say, moving down the dark corridor.
Private rooms are on either side, all the doors shut, with neon lights indicating if the spaces are occupied or not.
It’s early morning, so no one is here yet, but when it’s open, these rooms are always busy.
At the end of the corridor, the club opens up.
The bar sits in the middle of the space, surrounded by dance floors, viewing docks, and luxe seating.
“Wow,” Freya says from behind me.
I look over my shoulder, and her eyes are wide, taking it all in.
“I’ll bring you here one day when it’s open. It’s pretty cool.”
Zeke puts on quite the show with his girls; it’s like stepping into an award-winning circus but with sex.
I head over to the large black leather couch in the corner and take a seat.
Freya sits next to me, and Gage falls into a chair opposite us.
“Can I get you any drinks?” Zeke asks, and I nod, listing off our order.
“We’re expecting someone else,” I say to Zeke, just as there’s a knock at the back door.
Zeke disappears and comes back with Mia.
Her high heels click against the floor.
She flicks her straight, long hair over her shoulder as she stalks toward us.
I don’t trust Mia; she’s the reason my mother, brother, and sister left again.
It’s not the first time my mother’s fled, either.
Every time this happens, when she finds out about my father’s affairs, she leaves, but she always comes back.
He forces her to return to his grasp, and I hate him for it.
They are better off away from here—at least I don’t have to watch out for them that way.
They are safe, and that’s all I want.
“Martini, please,” she says to Zeke as she moves past the bar.
“Mia,” I say with a nod.
She smiles, taking a seat on a chair next to Gage’s.
“What can I help you with?” she asks, pursing her fake lips together.
“My father owes members of the Hood weapons that he’s taken from us and promised them,” I say, getting straight to the point.
We don’t have time to fuck around; they have Lucas.
Who knows what they’ll do to him while we try to recover their goods?
Zeke places our drinks on the table between us, and I thank him.
I’m not worried about him overhearing our conversation; he’s one of our most trusted men.
He sits on the board and knows better than to gossip beyond here.
“Yeah, and?” Mia takes her drink and sips it.
“We need your help finding him.”
Mia puts her glass back on the table, crosses one leg over the other, and leans back.
“What’s in it for me?”
Fucking hell, this bitch.
“What do you want?” Gage asks, and she looks between him and me, completely ignoring Freya next to me.
“I want power. To be the first woman councilor for The Brotherhood.”
I laugh, grabbing my glass of scotch and downing it.
“That’s never going to fucking happen.”
“You let Freya sit at the table and have power in decisions,” Mia whines.
“That’s different. She’s one of us,” I say with a small smirk.
“You’re not.”
Mia’s face falls, and she looks at Freya with a mixture of hatred and adoration.
She wants to be her, but she never will be.
There’s only one Freya LeClair, and she’s ours.
“Well, before she was Dominic’s plaything, she was with my brother,” Freya says, looking between Gage and me.
“If she can help deal with Dominic, find her a role. This shit needs to be dealt with. It may help bring peace and stability, serving The Brotherhood, adding new perspective to the table.”
The room falls silent.
I ponder Freya’s words.
New perspectives aren’t always bad—but they’d need to be from the right people.
There’s no way in hell I’d ever let Mia join The Brotherhood, but she doesn’t need to know that.
She just needs to think we will so that we can get to my father.
The clock is ticking, and the more we fuck around with Mia, the less time we have.
“Fine, you’ve got yourself a deal,” I say, and Mia grins.
Gage makes a grumbling sound, but I ignore him.
His eyes bore into my skull, but I’ll fill him in after she’s gone.
“He’s set up base in Freya’s old place,” Mia says, and Freya sucks in a breath through her teeth.
“Over in Daringhood?” Freya asks.
Mia shakes her head.
“In Daringville.”
Freya’s cheeks turn pale.
“How many men does he have?” I ask, desperate for more details.
“I-I’m not sure,” Mia stammers.
“How many?” I repeat.
“Take a fucking guess.”
“Honest, every time I’ve been there, I’ve gone through the front door, messed around inside.” She has the good grace to blush and not make eye contact, thank fuck.
“Then left. All his men seem to work out the back in an extra garage.”
“It’d be good to have more intel,” Gage mutters.
“That yard backs onto bushland. Could have five soldiers or five hundred.”
“He wouldn’t have that many.” Mia scoffs.
“And besides, you guys are The Brotherhood. You’re going to take him down.”
I stand.
She’s right.
We fucking are.
How the fuck didn’t Brax or Zeke discover this?
Has he been there the entire time?
Fuck me.
They say, like father, like son .
Well, the joke’s on Dad.
No one knows him as well as I do, and while I’ve sought his approval for years, I’ve finally realized I’ll never get it.
Nor do I want it.
He deliberately risked my life for his gain.
If Kai hadn’t let slip that he’d been supplying them with weapons, we could have lost Lucas or Freya—and all because of him.
The Brotherhood protects its own—but it seems Dad’s forgotten that.
Luckily, I haven’t.
And I know just what to do about it.
“I’ve got a plan.”
We’re coming for you, Dad.
I hope you’re fucking ready.