Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Zion
Grabbing the collar of Kai’s leather jacket, I stare into his dark-brown eyes.
How fucking dare he mention my daughter, asking how I’d feel if Amirah was her?
Revealing that I have a kid to one of our enemies—the princess of The Brotherhood, no less.
No one is supposed to know about her, especially since she’s currently living on enemy fucking territory.
If my daughter was in Amirah’s shoes, I would have blown the whole fucking town to the ground to get her back. She’s the only reason I’m still breathing. She’s my savior, and now more than ever, I can’t allow anything to get in the way of seeing her. It’s already hard enough.
“What the fuck?!” I growl right in his face.
Kai doesn’t flinch. He holds his hands up in surrender. “I just want you to know what’s at stake here.”
I scoff, shoving him backward, and he stumbles before righting himself. “Amirah knows about her now, so she’s not going anywhere.”
Realization slams into Kai, his jaw twitching. “Fuck. Sorry, bro.”
Kai had to mention her in front of Amirah. Now she knows, and that cuts deeper than a knife. No one apart from us knows about her. I don’t know Amirah or trust her. She’s our enemy, and now she knows my best-kept secret.
I storm out the door, moving through every fucked-up room until I’m back in the living room and falling onto the couch. It doesn’t take long for the door to open and the curtain to swish open and closed.
“I’m sorry. I fucked up,” Kai says. The couch dips beside me.
I don’t reply, because what’s the fucking point? He knows how I feel about what he did. I’m not going to waste words. My daughter is a secret, and hell, she doesn’t even know I’m her father. That’s how it’s had to be until recently. Now everything has changed.
I didn’t want her getting caught up in our shit or this town, but I have no fucking clue what to do. Everything could be ruined if Amirah gets out and tells The Brotherhood about Cleo. If they ever found her, they could use her against us, just like we are doing with Amirah.
I might be on board with using Amirah to our advantage, but taking her in the first place was a fucking stupid idea. Still, that’s Bear—if he gets an idea in his head, nothing will stop him. Now that she’s here, she isn’t leaving. I won’t allow it. Not until Cleo is safe.
The door slams shut, and Bear struts in, heading straight for the fridge in the corner of the room, where he grabs a can of beer. He opens it and finishes it in three mouthfuls, then throws the can into the trash bin next to the fridge.
“Kidnapping is exhausting.” He sighs, sitting down on the opposite side of me.
I scoff, folding my hands behind my head.
“They’re going to come for us soon. What’s your grand plan?” Kai asks, leaning back against the cushion.
“Haven’t thought that far ahead.” Bear yawns, covering his mouth with his hand. “Maybe I’ll say we’ll take her instead of the cars.”
I roll my eyes. Of course he fucking hasn’t. Bear takes action without thinking of the consequences first.
“We need to go after them before they come for us. We’ve held off before because Dom’s been too strong, then Freya was in the crossfire. Now there are holes in their leadership. They have newbies they’ve recruited. It’s the perfect time to strike,” Kai says.
I ponder Kai’s words for several heartbeats. He’s right, and it would be stupid for us to sit around and do nothing. All I’ve ever wanted is a safe place to raise my daughter—one where we are free to do as we please. A life where I have enough money to provide her with everything she needs to grow.
I release my hands and reach into my pocket.
After pulling out my lighter, I flick the ignition.
A small flame dances in front of me. It’s strong, fearless, but I have control.
I let go and the light disappears. Flicking it back on again, I run it under my arm.
My skin starts to burn. The fight within me is strong.
My skin starts to become unbearably hot.
“What are you proposing we do?” I ask, releasing the flame and a heavy exhale. My skin burns, a reminder that I’m in control.
“Take down The Brotherhood, remove the divide, and hit them where it hurts.” Kai’s eyes turn dark, and he starts to bounce his knee up and down.
“And how does that look, exactly?” I ask.
“We need to build an army bigger than theirs and have enough weapons to use against them. I’m done working my ass off for nothing. Living like this,” Kai says, leaving out the truth behind it all.
He wants revenge for his sister, and that’s something I understand. Like his need to protect Freya—it’s all because he couldn’t save his sister.
“What about Freya?” I ask.
“What about her?” Kai says, sitting up straighter.
“Would you tie her to a target board if you had to?” Bear asks with a grin.
I roll my eyes. “Bear, get a new fucking hobby. No, Kai—I just mean she might ask you to stop again. She’s one of them now.
She chose them. And what will you do if she does?
” I ask the hard question because, fuck, it’s one of Kai’s downfalls.
He’d still move mountains for Freya. She was his best friend.
I get it. I’d do anything for my brothers, too, but he has to choose us over her now.
Kai runs his hands through his short hair, messing it up before he pins me with a heavy stare. “I’ll do what needs to be done.”
I like Freya. She was once one of us, but now she’s sleeping with the enemy, and we can’t afford to let her be our downfall.
“We need more people on our side,” I say. “And we need weapons.”
There’s a light thump against the door we came through, but Bear and Kai don’t notice it. I watch the red curtains closely for several seconds, but nothing happens. Maybe it was the wind.
“We need a nuke, so I can just blow them all up.” Bear grins even wider, and I shake my head.
“What?” I scoff. “Then we die anyway from radiation?”
His mouth falls open and he curses. “I can get us more money to get weapons from someone else.”
“How?”
The corner of Bear’s mouth raises. “The usual—people pay for these guns of steel.” He flexes his muscles, and I roll my eyes.
“We need more than funds and men to take down The Brotherhood,” I say.
“We need to play this smart. We need to figure out how many of their men are left after the blowup with Dominic, and where their weapons are. Find out more about the docks, their shipments—if we can take over that, we can control the whole district.”
“What about using women for intel?” Bear suggests. “I mean, we’ve got the perfect starting point with Amirah at our disposal.”
I open my mouth to tell him to shut up, but maybe he has a point.
“Why women? Everyone knows The Brotherhood is a male-run organization,” Kai says.
“No, Bear’s onto something. Those boys are pussy-whipped by Freya; she’s basically got a seat at the table. Could be that this is a new age of The Brotherhood, where the women have more voice, and there’s nothing a woman loves more than a bleeding-heart sob story.”
All the men in the ville are loyal to The Brotherhood, but perhaps the women could be persuaded to join us.
Kai throws his phone at Bear, and he catches it.
“Get one of your friends at the club to run interference for us. Tell them that you heard Amirah was taken by some college guys in Berkeley. It’ll give us time to figure this shit out,” Kai says, and Bear breathes out heavily through his nose.
“I’ll see what I can do.”
I feel eyes on me. I sit up straight, glancing over my shoulder toward the curtains. They’re open, just a crack. I hit Bear on his leg, pointing toward the doorway, and all hell breaks loose.