Chapter Eight #3
The problem was, Eli wouldn’t have just let them leave no matter how slowly they tried to move.
Not knowing what they knew. And Shade had done his damnedest to talk him out of confronting Eli and his inner circle that day at the compound.
In hindsight, Shade had been right. Hitting things head on had always been Vendetta’s way, but it sure as shit hadn’t served him that day.
And now, here were his brothers. In Mercy.
Shade had been quiet through it all, but now his voice broke the silence. “Is it true?” he asked. “Are you the one who got Eli’s niece out?”
Vendetta didn’t blink. “Yeah. I got her out.”
Shade’s expression didn’t change much, but something shifted. A flash of understanding.
“How long had you been back?” Ripper asked, incredulous but not judging. “Back in Oak Grove with that target on your back?”
“Not long.” Vendetta nodded. “I didn’t know Dylan was Eli’s niece when I met her. But by the time I did, it didn’t matter. She didn’t know anything about what was going on. She was just trying to survive, same as anyone. Eli handed her off like property, and I couldn’t let that stand.”
Shade gave a slow exhale. “Damn.”
“Yeah,” Ripper muttered. “No wonder he put a bounty on your ass. You didn’t just piss Eli off. You made him look weak to Sinister Skin, and now he’s in deep shit with them.”
Good. Vendetta arched a brow, sharp and steady. “What bounty?”
Shade answered, his voice grim. “Went out this morning through back channels tied to the network. Eli’s calling in every favor, every affiliate still willing to do business with him.
Five grand to bring in Dylan’s boyfriend dead, ten if he’s still breathing.
Word is Dylan’s worth even more if she’s delivered alive. ”
The words hit like a hammer. He’d be dead before anyone put a hand on her.
“He’s desperate,” Shade went on. “Trying to fix this situation. Sinister Skin doesn’t tolerate fuckups. So now he’s got people out there looking to clean up his mess before someone higher up decides he’s not worth protecting anymore.”
Vendetta crossed his arms, his gaze narrowing. “He thinks it’s me?”
Shade shrugged. “I don’t think he knows for sure. I think he’s hoping it’s not you.”
Ripper picked up from there. “Wishful thinking won’t save him. He’s not stupid. Paranoid as hell, sure, but not stupid. He knows somebody helped Dylan. And after she vanished, he started shaking the tree hard.”
Shade nodded. “That’s when Peggy got pulled in.”
The mention of Peggy’s name sent a chill down his spine.
“They worked her over,” Ripper said quietly. “They didn’t kill her, but she’s going to be in the hospital for a while. From what we heard, they finally got her to tell them Dylan had a boyfriend. Some guy named Jason who worked for INeeda. She said he was quiet, drove a white cargo van.”
Vendetta blew out a breath. Thank God I got us out of Oak Grove when I did.
“That was enough,” Shade said. “We volunteered to go talk to Freddie at INeeda ourselves. Told Eli it was to keep things discreet, in-house. We ain’t said shit to him though.”
“Freddie didn’t want to say much at first,” Ripper added. “But I know his sister. When we pushed the right way, he gave up what he had. He described you to a T.”
“But he mentioned Jason had a scar,” Shade said, eyes on Vendetta now. “Said he always wore hoodies, like he didn’t want people to see it. Barbed wire-looking, across his neck. It was the only thing that didn’t fit. Until it did.”
Ripper nodded slowly. “Even if it was you, we had no idea where to find you. We just up and left Oak Grove and planned to lay low for a while. The last we heard, Eli wasn’t ruling out the Hounds over here in Mercy.
He said maybe they had something to do with it.
That was why we thought to get a message in, to try and warn the Hounds of what might be coming. ”
Silence settled again, heavier this time.
“He’s not sure it’s you yet,” Shade said.
“But once he confirms it? Every guy in Sinister Skin’s gonna have your picture and a loaded mag.
” Shade hesitated, then added quietly, “We didn’t know.
About what happened that night. If we had…
we should’ve looked harder. We should’ve known something was wrong. ”
Ripper looked down, jaw flexing like he couldn’t decide whether to punch something or kick himself.
Vendetta kept his voice steady. “You weren’t the ones who wrapped the chain around my wrists.” He looked between them, two men who had once called him brother, and maybe still could. “You believed what you were told. I might’ve too, back then.”
Shade’s throat bobbed with a hard swallow. “Still doesn’t make it right.”
“No,” Vendetta agreed. “But it makes this right. You’re here now.” And that was enough. For him, and for what came next.
Silence settled thick over the room, every man processing what Shade and Ripper just laid down. The threat wasn’t abstract anymore. Sinister Skin was losing patience, and Eli was even trying to loop the Hounds into his latest fuck-up. The countdown was on.
Razor stood near the back wall, his arms crossed, his expression carved from stone. Outcast leaned beside him, quiet but watchful.
It was Razor who broke the silence, his voice low but sharp. “Sounds like Eli’s finally crossed the line we can’t ignore.”
“He’s desperate,” Shade said. “That’s when people start making bad moves.”
Vendetta said, “And he’s not gonna stop trying to cover his tracks.”
Outcast pushed off the wall. “Then we don’t give him time to.”
Razor nodded once. “Exactly.”
Stepping forward, Razor pulled a paper map that had seen better days from a small file cabinet by the wall.
He spread it out on the table at the center of the room, glancing at different points on it as the others gathered round.
“We don’t solve this with just bullets. We need to bleed this thing from the inside. Quiet first, then loud.”
Razor pointed to a red circle around Oak Grove.
“We go in with a plan. We start by cutting off their logistics. Any safe houses, drop points, and runners. Anything we can dismantle before it blows back.” He looked over at Vendetta.
“You’re at the center of this. You’ve been close to it longer than any of us. ”
“I’ve got names,” Vendetta said. “And I’ve got eyes on two of Eli’s men who are afraid but not loyal. We squeeze them right, they’ll give us what we need.”
“Good,” Razor said. “Hero, Outcast -- you’re with him. Shade, Ripper, you two know the town too. You help guide the second wave. I’ll put Snow, Crash, and Player with you.”
Razor looked around the room once more, his tone turning iron. “I’ll call a meeting with the rest. Eli thinks he can drag Mercy back into this? He’s about to learn otherwise.”
“We going to keep someone here in town?” Outcast asked. “Just in case.”
His president nodded. “Ryder will stay with a couple of Hounds. He also has Margot, and she can be ready to pitch in if shit goes down.”
Razor caught the look Vendetta gave him and grinned. “Ryder’s old lady is a local deputy.”
All he could do was nod. It was the first he ever heard of a biker with a lady cop. But these days, with all he’d been through, not much surprised him anymore.
“Good,” Razor said. “Then it’s decided. We’ll do some scouting today. And tomorrow…” His gaze darkened. “We send a message Eli won’t walk away from.”
* * *
Dylan
Dylan sat cross-legged on the bed when Josh returned to the room.
She had pulled on one of his flannel shirts, sleeves rolled halfway up her forearms, to cover her tank since the air conditioning kept the room cold.
She felt a little better after her nap. She still felt the danger looming beyond the walls of the Hounds’ clubhouse, but not as sharply.
She looked up when Josh walked in, closing the door behind him and locking it. The grim look on his face made her stomach drop, and he hadn’t said anything yet.
“What’s happened?” she asked.
Josh took a seat on the edge of the bed, his shoulders tense beneath the weight of everything. “Two of my brothers showed up,” he said quietly. “Shade and Ripper, who came over from the Abingdon chapter with me. Guys I rode with before everything went to hell.”
Dylan’s brow furrowed. “They knew you were here?”
He shook his head. “They figured it out. Put the pieces together. They talked to my boss at the warehouse, and he told them Jason was a quiet guy with a bad scar on his neck. They came to Mercy to warn the Hounds because Eli’s pointing a finger at them too.
Anyone but his fucking self. Turns out Shade and Ripper are also done with Eli.
If I were a betting man, I’d say they aren’t the only Cottonmouths in Oak Grove ready to abandon ship. ”
Her lips parted, absorbing the shift. “Do they know about me?”
Josh nodded. “They know what Eli’s trying to do,” he said. “They said there’s a bounty out on both me and you. And that he wants you alive, probably to clean up his mess, or worse.”
Dylan wasn’t surprised, but she didn’t look away either. “What else?”
Josh hesitated, then exhaled slowly. “Peggy’s in the hospital. Eli’s people worked her over. She didn’t give much. Hell, she didn’t have much to give them in the first fucking place. But it was enough for them to start connecting dots. And now Eli’s panicking.”
Dylan went still. “He’s coming here?”
“He won’t get the chance,” Josh said. “We’re taking the fight to him in Oak Grove, where it belongs.”
Staring down at her hands, Dylan sighed. It was bad enough Josh had been dragged into this. Now Peggy was in the hospital just for trying to help her. “I don’t want to be the reason Mercy or the Hounds get pulled into this.”
Josh reached out, gently took her hand in his. “You’re not. You’re not responsible for any of this, Dylan. Not Eli pointing a finger at Mercy. Not Peggy being put in the hospital. You can’t blame yourself, okay?”
Dylan’s heart sank. It sure felt like everything was her fault.
“One thing you need to understand about your uncle,” Josh told her. “You escaped him, Dylan. And that’s got him rattled. You made it out and that wasn’t supposed to happen. Now he’s spiraling. If he’s paranoid enough to blame Mercy, he’s scared. That means he’s already cracking.”
She swallowed hard, her voice barely above a whisper. “What happens now?”
Josh looked at her, really looked at her. For a moment, he didn’t speak. Just brushed his thumb gently across the back of her hand like he was grounding both of them.
“Now,” he said quietly, “we finish it. We bring the truth into the open. Expose everything he’s built and burn it down before he can do to someone else what he tried to do to you.”
Dylan sat back, her breath catching. Her voice came steadier this time. “For your revenge.”
Josh blew out a breath and nodded. “Yes.”
Dylan’s gaze held his. “For every girl who comes after me. For my part.”
There was a pause, then a mutual spark between them.
Josh gave a small, solemn nod. “We do it together.”