Chapter 12
BLAZE
“ Y ou’re Sabrina, I’m guessing?” I muttered as I sauntered into the room where we were holding her.
The land our compound sat on was pretty big, but Pierce hadn’t wanted the building where people were questioned to be near his daughter.
So one of the warehouses the club owned just up the road—with paperwork buried so deep in shell companies that not even the CIA could connect it to us, thanks to our prez being a former operative—was used for more intense interrogation, weapons storage, and other things that pertained to some less than legal activities.
“Who are you?” she asked, her voice quivering with fear.
“Relax. I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Probably,” Kevlar grunted, twirling a knife through his fingers. Some people might have assumed he was just trying to be intimidating, but truthfully, Kevlar was a little unhinged. He was the kind of guy who liked to play Five Finger Fillet.
I shot him a warning glance when Sabrina paled.
Kevlar shrugged and tossed the knife onto a nearby table. It was the only furniture in the room besides two chairs.
Sabrina was cuffed to one, and I flipped the other around to straddle it, facing her.
“You’ve really pissed off the wrong people, Sabrina,” I said conversationally.
“If you hadn’t tracked me down, they’d never have found me,” she whined.
“You’re right. We’re fucking good at what we do. Problem is, you’ve pissed us off, too.”
Sabrina shook her head frantically. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I paid for your services.”
I cocked my head to the side and studied her for a second. “You really think we wouldn’t figure out that you paid us with dirty money?”
She flinched and squirmed in her seat uncomfortably. “Does it really matter where the cash came from?”
“Obviously, you didn’t do your research when it came to the Hounds of Hellfire. We have a fucking code, Sabrina.” My expression twisted with disgust. “It’s not just about the dirty money. It’s about the fact that you left your roommate to pay the price for your sins.”
Sabrina winced and said softly, “I didn’t think they would go after her.”
I shot to my feet and stalked over to her, bending down to put my hands on the armrests. She clearly saw how close I was to the edge because she reared back as far as she could, and her eyes swam with terror.
“Yes, you fucking did. You just didn’t give a shit. But it’s your damn lucky day, bitch. All I care about is making sure that Courtney is safe. So you’re gonna tell me where the rest of the money is. If you do, without needing to be convinced, then you’ll be free to leave.”
“You won’t tell them where to find me?”
I shoved away from the chair and stood back, my feet braced apart and my arms crossed over my chest. “No.”
She hesitated, glancing between Kevlar and me, then tears filled her eyes. “I’m so sorry. I spent it?—”
“Do NOT fucking lie to me, woman,” I snarled.
Sabrina flinched again, then whispered, “What I didn’t put in my account is in a safety deposit box.”
She gave us the address, and I shot Kevlar a meaningful look. He pulled out his phone and sent a text while I turned back to Sabrina.
I questioned her for a few more minutes, then told Kevlar to have someone take her to the airport.
When I returned to my office, several of my brothers were waiting for me. We went over plans for the meeting the following morning, then I retrieved my woman and spent the night inside her sweet pussy.
“Who the fuck are you?” a greasy guy in ratty jeans and a dirty hoody muttered when he answered the door at the stash house.
“Blaze,” I grunted.
The man’s beady eyes dropped to my vest, and I saw the flicker of fear in his eyes before he managed to hide it behind an insolent expression. “You’re a Hounds of Hellfire?” he asked, looking from me to the enforcers, Rebel and Ink, who stood directly behind me.
I scowled and snarled, “Think that’s pretty fucking obvious, asshole. So if you’re smart, you’ll get the fuck outta my way.”
“Yo, Leon!” someone yelled from inside. “Shut the fucking door!”
“I don’t know what you’re doing here, but you need to leave,” Leon insisted, trying to sound confident and demanding.
The pipsqueak couldn’t keep up the act when I slapped my hand on the door to hold it open. “Lucky for you, I’m not staying. But these two”—I jerked my head back toward my brothers—“are gonna keep you guys company while I take care of some business with your boss.”
I didn’t wait for a response, just pivoted around and stomped down the stairs, muttering to my brothers, “If you don’t hear from me in half an hour, burn the place down. With everyone in it.”
Fifteen minutes later, I pulled my bike up to the front gate of a mansion in the wealthiest neighborhood in our county.
“Pax Driscoll,” I told the security guard. He checked his log, then opened the gate and waved me through.
The road was a large circle drive in front of the house, and I pulled up and parked my bike off to the side by the front door.
When I rang the bell, an older man in a suit opened the door with a sour expression that looked like it might be permanent.
“May I help you?”
“I have an appointment with Trenton.”
“Ah, yes. Do follow me.”
He spun around and marched into the house, leaving me to shake my head in disbelief. I didn’t think guys like him existed outside the movies.
He led me through an opulent lobby full of priceless antiques and shiny marble before stopping at a set of double doors made of thick, dark oak.
After a quick rap of his knuckles, he pulled open one of the doors and gestured for me to enter.
“Blaze, I presume.” The man who spoke was sitting in a tall, sing-back chair near a giant fireplace that was blazing brightly. His clothes were clearly very expensive, and diamonds winked from his ears, around his neck, and on his pinky.
Again, I had the feeling I’d just walked onto a fucking movie set.
“Trenton?”
“Have a seat.”
He waited for me to walk over and sit in the chair opposite him. “What can I do for you? Nic DeLuca was quite insistent that I take this meeting.”
“I’m here to talk about Courtney Cartwright.”
Trenton raised an eyebrow. “I sincerely hope she sent you to give me the location of her friend. I’d hate to have to send my men to convince her.”
Rage exploded inside me, and before he could blink, I was on my feet, my gun pointed at his head.
“Don’t. Ever. Threaten. Her. Again,” I seethed.
My finger itched to pull the trigger. If I knew for sure that Trenton was the top of the food chain, he’d already be dead. But I didn’t know if he answered to someone else.
Trenton glanced at the door, and I growled, “You really think I would come here without doing my homework, motherfucker? My guys neutralized your security the second I was through the gate.”
The door to the office swung open, and Kevlar and Ace strolled in, followed by a few more enforcers, Tomcat, Cruz, and Falcon.
Ace carried a satchel, and he tossed it at Trenton’s feet.
“That’s thirty-five thousand. We’re square. Sabrina and Courtney are no longer your concern.”
Trenton eyed the bag greedily, but the jackass still asked, “And the product?”
We’d been thorough in our research, so I was prepared for this question. “I suggest you take a closer look at your own.”
“Jason?” Trenton asked, his brow furrowing.
I snorted. “That asshole’s spine is as limp as his dick. Talking about the thugs who threatened Courtney.”
His expression was dubious. “My men are?—”
Tomcat handed me a folded piece of paper, and Trenton stopped talking.
“Check out this address.”
Trenton outstretched his hand, but I held the paper just out of reach.
“If anything happens to Courtney—if I even see any of your people within a hundred yards of her—I will burn every single one of your stash houses and storage warehouses to the ground. Then I’ll put a bullet between your eyes and leave your body in the flames.
And the guys who you sent to threaten her?
Don’t be surprised when the one who dared to touch her goes missing. ”
He frowned at me for a few seconds, then nodded and shook his hand a little.
After staring him down for another minute, I let him take the paper from me.
Then I flicked the safety on and returned my gun to the back of my jeans.
“We’re done here.”