Chapter 29
Reaper
By the time we rolled into the clubhouse lot, the engines outside had already gone quiet but were still warm. Word had spread and they were waiting.
“Here, show them.” Lucy placed the flash drive in my hands.
I nodded, opened my mouth, but didn’t know what to say. So I turned and walked away, just like I always had.
Inside, the war room the lights were dimmed, the long table crowded. Every patched member was present. Phones down, shades off—Church was in session.
Riot shoved Gage into the centre of the room. “On your knees.”
He staggered down.
I paced once behind him, then threw the flash drive onto the table. It skidded to a stop in front of Keno. “Proof. He sold us out to cartel-connected hitters. Fed them names, routes, brothers.”
Murmurs rose until it blended into one, white noise roaring in my ears.
“Tell them,” I yelled.
Gage lifted his chin. A laugh bubbled in his throat, cracked and bitter. “You want a confession? Fine. I gave them Diesel. I gave them Ghost. I gave them you.”
The room roared. Riot slammed his fist for silence.
I bent down. “Patch. Off.”
Slow, trembling, Gage stripped the leather from his back. He laid it on the wood floor like a skin he’d been forced to shed.
I rose at the head of the table, my kutte feeling too heavy, like it was dragging me down. Every eye was on me, hard and expectant.
“You all heard it,” I said. “Gage confessed. He sold us out to cartel hitters. Handed the Fangs our drops, our names, our blood. Diesel’s gone because of him. Caleb too.” I let the weight hang before adding, “That’s blood betrayal. Article three, section one. Punishable by death.”
The table erupted. Fists slammed. Voices overlapped—“String him up!” “No vote needed!” “Out, then in the ground!”
Riot’s voice cut through the noise. “Club law says we vote. Even when it’s this clear. Especially when it’s this clear.”
I nodded once. “Then vote.”
One by one, hands rose around the table. Death. Every single brother. No hesitation.
Riot marked it down. “Unanimous. Death sentence.”
The room went quiet again. The weight of it pressed against my ribs. Every man there wanted blood, and I couldn’t blame them. But I wasn’t going to let rage run the club, not ever.
I planted both hands on the table. “You’ve spoken. He dies.” I paused, let it sink in, then added, “But not until I bleed him of every truth he’s still hiding. He’s got names, routes, allies we don’t know yet. I won’t hand him a bullet ‘til I wring him dry.”
Riot’s jaw clenched, but he nodded. Link looked away, fists still trembling, but no one spoke against me.
I leaned forward, voice loud and final. “The table decided his fate. I’ll decide when the axe falls. Until then, he rots in the basement. When the time comes, it’ll be by this club’s hand, and no one else’s.”
I slammed the gavel down. “Church closed.”
Chairs scraped back, boots heavy on the floor. We’d voted for death, but all we had was silence and a traitor chained in the dark below.
Gage looked at me then, for a heartbeat, before turning away. “Get him out of my sight.”
Link dragged him to his feet and shoved him toward the basement door. No one stopped them. No one spoke. The silence was heavier than any bullet.
I dragged my feet back to the bar and downed the shot a prospect had lined up.
Tapping the bar with two fingers he gave me another which went down just as fast, though nothing would settle my nerves.
I looked around, everyone was solemn, drowning themselves in drink and women as usual.
Lucy sat on the sofa in the corner, the spot she always chose, still in the room, but out of the way.
I moved to lucy. “Come with me.” I took her hand, guiding her towards the back.
“Really, Pres? Taking strays to your room now?” Gabby snarled from the bar.
“Yep. Looks that way,” I said.
“Guess I know where I stand now,” she said, a challenge in her tone.
“Guess you do.”
The hallway was clear as we moved up to my bedroom. Once inside, I pressed my back against the door and pulled Lucy into my arms. She melted against me, lips brushing my neck, sending jolts through my body.
“I need to use the bathroom,” she murmured, breaking the moment.
Her absence left a cold void behind her. I sank onto the bed, thoughts swirling. Diesel, Caleb, Gage . . . years of history twisted into betrayal. Gage had been patched before me, before I even became president.
Then there was Lucy. I couldn’t stop wondering what she was thinking about Gage. Did she think I’d made the right call leaving him alive? Or did she see it as weakness, hesitation that could cost us more down the line?
An hour later, we were in the war room: Lucy, Riot, Link, Keno, and me, maps and lists spread across the table. The flash drive’s intel glared back at us, Fang safehouses, transport routes, contacts. We had the information, but not the luxury of time.
“I want to hit them before they regroup,” I said. “Cut the head off before they find a new one.”
Lucy tapped a name. “Javier Del Rio. Copied in on every file Gage sent. Not just an enforcer. He’s logistics. Hit him and their supply lines choke.”
“Hmm,” Keno said, glancing up from his phone.
“Problem?” Riot asked.
“Del Rio’s ghosted. Three days. Might’ve known we were coming,” Keno replied.
“Which means someone’s talking,” I said.
“Inside?” Riot’s face darkened.
“Maybe, or the Fangs are just that good.”
Lucy tensed, gripping the flash drive. She didn’t speak, but I saw her calculation.
Her eyes flicked to me, steady, unblinking. “I can get you info from my contacts.”
“You don’t have to prove yourself to me,” I muttered.
“I’m not trying to,” she said. “I’m proving myself to them.” Her eyes flicked to the door leading to the bar. “To Caleb. To me.”
That landed like a blade to the ribs. I wanted to tell her she was already more Knight than half the men in kuttes outside, but the words stuck.
Then, lights out. Total blackout.
Half a beat later, gunfire.
“Down!” I barked, dragging Lucy behind the table as Riot raised his sidearm and crouched at the door, Keno and Link on the other side of him.
Controlled shots shattered glass, sending sparks across the room. Smoke curled from the front lobby, acrid and choking.
“Ambush!” a voice shouted from the hallway.
“Back door!” Riot yelled.
We moved fast, boots pounding the floor. He fired twice, dropping a figure in the shadows.
A shout rose from below, muffled through the floorboards. Then the rattle of chains, a crash. My chest turned to ice.
“Basement,” I snarled, but another boom rocked the building, closer this time, drowning out everything else. Smoke poured in, forcing us back into the fray.
For one heartbeat, I saw it clear in my head, Gage slipping through the dark while every brother who swore his death was pulled into the fight. Then the bar erupted into chaos.
“Status,” I yelled.
“Got injuries! Boxer’s hit bad!”
Lucy clutched her gun, white-knuckled. I placed a hand on her shoulder.
“This is it,” I said.
“Let’s give them something to be afraid of.”
Riot slammed another mag home, eyes cutting to me for the call. I gave it, clear and sharp.
But my focus stayed split, half on the firefight, half on the girl crouched beside me with fire in her eyes.
She didn’t just believe me. She believed in me and that was a hell of a lot more dangerous than the bullets flying outside.