Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Angel
Taking my seat at the table, I meet Reaper’s gaze for a brief moment before looking to Hellhound, then Styxx and Scythe. I wait for my brother to bang the gavel on the table.
“Styxx and Scythe, what do y’all got?” Reaper asks, leaning back in his chair.
“First off, this Miles dickwad is a pain in the ass. Seems clean to the eye. He’s a doctor and all that stuff in the light of day.
But turn the lights off, and the bastard is more than your average asshole.
It took some digging, I’m sure this fucker and his family paid a shitload to bury this information. ”
“What information?” Hellhound demands.
“Guy’s a psychopath,” Scythe answers, tossing a file in both Hellhound’s and my direction.
I flip the top of the folder open and scan over the papers there. My blood boils in my veins and it’s all I can do not to lose my shit. “This motherfucker isn’t getting near Stella,” I declare, curling my lip in the corner on a snarl.
“I’ll kill him before he comes near her.” Hellhound slams his fist on the table.
The two files are passed around for each of the members to read over. With each pass, the tension grows higher.
“No one is going to do a damn thing.” Reaper is the last to say anything. “She’s family, and we’re not about to lose anyone else.”
“Agreed,” Scythe sneers. “But to make matters worse, it seems Miles douche-dick has his hands in the group we’re looking into . . . the Scarlet Needles.”
“Makes sense since he’s a banned doctor,” Daemon mutters, sliding the folder across the table.
“I’d still like to know what happened to Isabelle,” Hellhound snarls.
“Why don’t we ask Stella?” Ghost suggests. “Maybe she’d be able to find out for us.”
Hellhound looks at me with a question in his gaze. “Think she’d go for it?”
“How about we ask?” I offer. “Isabelle’s your woman, and Stella’s your sister. One thing I’ve learned about Stella is that she’ll do anything for you. She doesn’t have to say the words for me to know that she seems to think she’s got to work at making you proud or not upset you . . .”
“What the fuck’s that mean?” Hellhound growls before I can completely finish. “You saying my sister’s scared of me?”
“No, brother, she’s not scared of you but rather scared of losing you,” I retort. “Stella fuckin’ loves you. Getting her to come here wasn’t fuckin’ easy. She’s afraid to disappoint your ass.” Anger courses through my veins at Stella’s defense.
The very idea of anyone or anything upsetting my woman pisses me off.
“I’ve told her it was time we put shit behind us,” Hellhound grumbles, clenching his teeth. His fingers ball into a fist on the table, ready to hit someone.
Or something.
“How about you all work shit out when we’re not in church?” Reaper grumbles clearly not in the mood to hear any bickering.
Glancing from Hellhound to my brother, seeing the fierce look in his eyes he only has when he’s getting pissed.
“Right,” I mutter and rap my knuckles on the table. “I’ll go get Stella, and we can ask her about her opinion on the matter regarding what we can do about finding out what those Scarlett Needles dick bastards did to Isabelle.”
Pushing back my chair, I stand and make my way around the table.
Without a word, I leave the room and go in search of my woman, finding her in Reaper and Ivy’s room with the rest of the ol’ ladies and their friends.
The sight of my woman holding my nephew in her arms causes my chest to tighten.
In just a number of months, that’ll be our son or daughter she’s holding.
Fuck.
It hits me right where it counts that I’m going to be a dad, and I’ve got a hell of a job ahead of me. I’ve always had Reaper and the club, but now I’ve got a beautiful woman and a child on the way. I’ll do everything in my power to protect those that are mine.
I knock on the open door, my gaze locking with Stella’s as she smiles tentatively at me.
“Can you come with me?” I ask, clearing my throat. “Club wants to ask you something.”
The smile wipes away, and she nods. “Yeah, of course.” Turning slightly, she reaches the baby up to Ivy, who takes him easily while smiling.
I move across the space to Stella and help her to her feet. Granted, she gives me a look that tells me she’s more than capable of standing on her own.
Grinning, I ignore the look she gives me and wrap an arm around her waist. I guide her out of the room, out to the hallway, and neither of us speaks a word. Making it to the doors to church, I give her a squeeze and open them in order to step through with her at my side.
“I thought we weren’t allowed in here,” she blurts out nervously.
“Normally, that’s the case, Twinkle,” Hellhound says, looking directly at his sister.
“Why am I in here then?” she asks.
“Come on, let’s sit, and we’ll explain.” Placing my hand on the small of her back, I guide her over to my chair. I sit first and bring her down on my lap, holding her to me.
“I’ll get right to it, Stella,” Reaper announces. “We’ve got an issue right now and that has to deal with a group called the Scarlet Needles.”
Stella tenses at the name. “Are you talking about the group that steals organs and sells them on the black market?” she asks, her bottom lip quivering just the slightest.
“How do you know about them?” Tombstone demands, brows creasing as he leans forward to brace his elbows on the table.
“They’re a group of monsters . . . trying to recruit where they can. I’ve turned them down plenty of times.” Her answer doesn’t bode well with me.
“You wanna explain how they’ve tried to recruit you?” The question comes from Styxx. Rage seems to roll off him as much as his brother, Scythe. I don’t blame either of them for the anger since they lost so much to the bastards.
Stella explains how they tried to recruit her and how she put her foot down .
. . told them to leave her alone or she’d go to her brother and cousin about them.
The fact that she’s Hellhound’s sister and the niece of one of the profound Irish mafia groups who are also connected with the Black Clovers MC.
She’s lucky to have the backing she did otherwise she could’ve ended up like Styxx and Scythe’s parents.
Fuck, the thought of losing her pisses me off.
By the time Stella finishes explaining about what she knows of the Scarlet Needles organization, you can all but taste the tension filling the room. She’d given us more information than what we had in the file.
“Why do you all need to know about them anyway?” she asks in a whisper.
“Thank you for telling us what you know,” Reaper mutters and looks to Hellhound with a jerk of his chin.
“Stella,” Hellhound starts, leans forward with a shake of his head, and blows out a breath. “Reason for us asking is, they’re behind Isabelle’s kidnapping when she was a baby, and we’re concerned that she’s also a victim of theirs.”
“How so?” she asks, barely allowing him to get the last words out.
“She’s got a scar on her right side near her hip,” he answers.
“With her being pregnant, there are not many options, but I can look into finding out what we can do. See if we can find out if she’s missing anything vital. I know her OB/GYN, I can talk to her. Maybe we can get an ultrasound done.”
And right there is why I’m crazy about Stella.
No matter what, she puts others before herself.
Not just that, though, she stood against a group that usually kills those who refuse them.
But it makes me question if they’ll come at her again.
Especially now that we know this Miles fucker is also a part of them.
Either way, I’ll kill them all and send them straight to hell if they dare touch my woman.