1. Dax
DAX
The rubble of what used to be my home crunched under my feet as the scent of smoke burned in my nose, confirming the reality of what I was looking at.
The bomb had been set in the basement, so thankfully, it hadn’t destroyed the houses on either side of us.
They took damage, but it wasn’t something they couldn’t fix easily enough.
At least they had a motherfucking house to fix unlike Wes and me.
“It could be worse,” Wes commented from where he stood next to me.
I turned on him and snarled, “Exactly how could it possibly be worse? We’ve lost everything, Wes.”
He looked down at me, unfazed by my outburst. “We could have been in the house when they set off the bomb. The asshole knew we were gone when he detonated it. Hell, he could have blown up the entire block just to get you pissed at him.”
“That would never have worked,” Cam interjected. “Our lovely dark queen might not wish harm on others, but it wouldn’t have gotten her pissed off enough to go after this guy. No, he knew exactly what he was doing, making it personal.”
My gaze fell on the newest member of our motley crew who just so happened to be part of the FBI and trained to look at situations like this in a certain way.
He was right. I’d have been mad if he blew up the block and sad for the innocent people who lost their lives, but the fact he came after me directly and made me watch it happen, made him my number one target.
Moments after I watched my home get destroyed before my very eyes, I lost my shit.
All I could see was red as I beat the hell out of whoever tried to stop me from storming right to Mexico at that moment.
Unfortunately, that person ended up being Picasso, and he was sporting a busted lip and a black eye to show for it.
It was so bad they called Dani in to dose me with some kind of sedative so I’d stop hurting myself in my rage.
My bullet wounds weren’t healed, seeing as I kept getting into situations that had me getting manhandled or defending myself.
I’d slept for almost a whole day with the shit she gave me, and now I was clear-headed and laser-focused on what my newest goal in life was going to be.
The De León Cartel was going to be wiped off the face of the earth, and I was going to make it an experience Diego would never forget.
Most people would think that just attacking him directly would be the best way to deal with this, but like Cam said, this asshat made it personal.
When you poke the devil, he doesn’t just end it—no, he enjoys the torment.
Step one was to find out his connection and if there was anything he had near and dear to his heart.
What I had planned was going to be a side of myself no one had seen since I started the Hidden Empire.
“So now probably wouldn’t be the right moment to revisit having you guys move in with us, right?” Cognac asked as he kicked a brick into the hole that had once been the basement.
“Seriously, man?” Picasso snapped. “Have some sensitivity about the situation.”
“Look, when things get stressful, I joke. It’s how I’ve always coped,” Cognac defended himself.
“We can deal with that later. Right now, let’s take a walk around the space and see if we can find anything that survived. I’m sure there has to be something. You had safes, didn’t you?” Eagle asked, turning his gaze to me.
“Yeah, there were a few scattered around the house. I’m sure the big ones in our bedrooms should be intact,” I answered, moving deeper into the rubble.
Wes and Void were hot on my heels, walking on either side of me like bodyguards, but I knew they were there to make sure I didn’t do anything rash with the police and firefighters still around.
The cops were on our dime, so I wasn’t worried about them, but the firefighters were the wild card.
They declared the area safe for us to move around in as they were dealing with their reports and other steps they had to take with it being a bombing.
Thanks to Cam, we kept the FBI from showing up as long as he kept them informed if there was anything they needed to be alerted about.
They still believed I was going to help them with their mission to take down people in my network, but it was the complete opposite of what would happen.
I had plans to share things with them, but it would be to assist me in getting revenge.
When it came to getting the job done, it didn’t matter to me how it happened as long as it did.
“Have we heard from Harper?” I asked, hoping one of my guys would have an answer for me.
“I reached out to the brothers, letting them know it was an emergency, and they needed to get back to us ASAP, but they haven’t reached out yet,” Wes shared.
That wasn’t surprising since they knew Harper was being hunted.
My gut told me they knew who was behind this because they’d been contacted to take Harper out.
It would be just their style to make me figure it out for myself since they don’t do anything for free.
Even taking care of Harper came with strings, which was me trusting them to keep my best friend safe however they saw fit without telling me anything.
“Let me know the moment we hear from them. I need to ask a favor,” I said as I squatted down to peek under what had once been a wall. Under it, I could see the safe that had been in Wes’s room. “Hey, look, there’s yours. Now we just need to get this shit off of it.”
The second I reached out with my good arm to attempt to do just that. a muscular arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me against a firm chest. “Little demon, you know the rules. You can look, but no touching.”
Scowling, I looked up at Void’s piercing light-blue eyes. “If you’re going to enforce that rule, then I might apply the same to myself. It’s not all that much fun if you can only look and not touch now, is it?” I taunted.
Void gave me a wicked smile. “I have no problem watching, little demon.”
Well, that backfired. “Alright, big guy, put me down. I promise not to touch anything… for now.”
“I’d check to make sure her fingers aren’t crossed because we all know that’s a lie,” Sprocket called from across the way.
Damn, how are these guys figuring me out this fast?
“Trust me, I wasn’t going to trust her for a second,” Void assured their road captain. “You want to come over and help us out? This chunk of wall is pretty large.”
“That’s what she said!” Picasso yelled.
I peeked around Void’s body to catch his gaze. “Not for you she didn’t!”
“What the hell, spitfire, that’s fucking mean,” he grumbled, chucking debris out of his way. “You haven’t even seen it yet, so how would you know?”
“Because you’re giving off major little-dick energy right now,” I answered with a smile. “But I’ll happily let you prove me wrong later.”
This seemed to appease him. “I’ll hold you to that. Also, I found another safe. It’s massive. Looks like it could hold enough to lock up a whole arsenal.”
“Oh, that would be the hidden one in the office. It’s where we kept all the backup weapons and extra ammo for easy access since it was on Weston’s floor,” I explained, wriggling out of Void’s hold, freeing him to move the shit blocking the other safe.
Trying to keep your balance in a sling strapped tightly to your body by an angry nurse was challenging, to say the least. A few bricks shifted under my foot, and I flailed the other as if that would keep me from eating shit, which it didn’t.
Just before I fell back on my ass, I was scooped up bridal style and found myself looking up at Cam’s face.
None of us quite knew what to do with him, but we all decided that keeping him close was the safest option.
I wasn’t sure I really believed everything his father told me about him working in the FBI to keep me safe, but that was a problem to deal with another day.
For now, the acknowledgment that I held his life in my hands was enough to keep me from locking him away in a dungeon or deep freezer at one of my many warehouses.
“You need to be more careful if you don’t want me to keep coming to your rescue like you’re a damsel in distress,” he murmured. “I know how much you hated those types of women unless that’s changed?”
“No, I’d much rather be the dragon that everyone fears and get to eat the brave knights or the princesses. I’m not picky when it comes to food.”
This brought a smile to his face, reminding me just how handsome he was and how dangerous he could be because of it. “Glad to see I still know a fair amount about you after all these years.”
“Since you’ve been stalking me, that makes sense,” I commented in a clipped voice. “If you wouldn’t mind putting me down, we have a lot to do.”
“As the lady wishes,” Cam answered, stepping over to a more stable area before letting my feet touch the ground.
Without saying another thing to him, I marched off to where Picasso was standing, watching the situation with a frown on his face.
If there was one thing I knew about my broody artist, it’s that he hated when people he didn’t trust got involved with his family, especially his brother.
He might have a bad case of little-brother syndrome in how he thought Eagle could do no wrong.
Unless it was Picasso he disagreed with, then he was undoubtedly wrong.
Having learned more about their past and the history between them and the rest of their family, it made sense.
Devin and I were like that in many ways.
I was always the one looking after him and cleaning up his messes until I stopped.
I’d finally decided it was time to put myself first and go to college, thinking he could survive life for four years with me not keeping track of his every move.
Only he started to keep secrets from me for the first time in our lives and ended up married to a princess of the Blackjax MC.
This started my hatred of motorcycle gangs when they turned their back on my brother when he needed them.
Now here I was involved with the leaders of the Phantom Saints MC—how life likes to throw us curveballs.
Finally, I reached Picasso without further mishap and glared at the safe lying face down. Now, this safe weighed as much as a car and had to be put in with a crane and special supports to ensure it didn’t fall through the floor. “Well, fuck.”
“You got anyone on your payroll who can help us get the thing out of here?” Picasso asked, giving me the side-eye.
I gave him a blank look in response. Of course, I had people to deal with shit like this. Pulling out my cell phone, I called Brian, who picked up on the second ring. “Boss, you okay? I heard about your house. I tried to call you earlier, but your phone was off, and Weston wasn’t picking up.”
“Physically, we’re fine. Neither of us was home when it happened. Look, I need you to call Mo and his boys to pick up our safes and transport them to the office,” I said.
“Sure thing, boss. You need anything else? Got a place to stay?”
“Yeah, we’ve got a few options to pick from.
The whole thing makes me incredibly pissed off.
How are things on your end while I’ve been gone?
I know Wes has been keeping up with the basics, but he said you’ve really stepped up for me,” I mentioned.
Brian paused a moment as if he wasn’t sure if I was really happy about the situation or not.
“Brian, you’re my right-hand man besides Wes.
I really am grateful you’re handling things.
It makes me feel better while I deal with this shit. ”
He let out a breath he must have been holding in relief.
“Thanks, boss, it’s good to hear you say that.
I’ve been worried I was overstepping, but Wes said you’d be cool with it.
Things here are good. I’m just trying to keep shipments going in and out on time, but some of the bigger customers won’t deal with me.
I’ve promised them you’ll get back to them when you can.
Otherwise, our people haven’t really said much about the whole you coming out as Two Tricks, but I think it’s because they’re happy to finally put a face to a name. ”
“One can only hope it’s that, and they aren’t planning a coup or something. Make a list of those who won’t deal with you, and I’ll reach out to them when I get a chance, just to let them know I’m going to be a little busy for the foreseeable future.”
“Will do, boss, and Mo should be there in thirty for the safes,” Brian shared before hanging up with me.
Tucking the phone back into the back pocket of my jeans, I smirked at Picasso. “And you doubted me.”
“Ah, no, I don’t think you’re remembering the same conversation.
I just asked if you had anyone on the payroll.
Never did I doubt you would have someone to get the job done,” he defended.
He watched me for a moment like I might have some snappy retort, but I just rolled my shoulders, trying to release some of this tension I was carrying.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, spitfire, but you seem way too relaxed for what’s happening right now.
It can’t be the drugs Dani gave you because they can’t last that long. What gives?”
I looked over the war zone that was once my home—the one place I felt was safe no matter what was going on in the world around me.
That bastard had taken it from me, and he was soon going to learn what that meant.
“There’s nothing about me that’s relaxed right now.
You mistake my calm for what it really is. ”
“What would that be?”
“Focused rage, Picasso. This man has no idea the hell I’ll bring down upon him.”