“Then we go in tomorrow,” I signed. “AK, tell the brothers what we need from the armory. Guns and all that shit. We go all night gettin’ ready if we need to.”
“And Rider?” I followed the sound of the voice. Smiler was looking at me. Again, the brother fucking spoke. Twice in a night. A new fucking record.
“What about him?” Ky asked.
“He goin’ in first?”
I looked to AK for him to answer. “I’ll scope out the plans of the commune. I still got them in my room. I’ll look into it. But I say we give him three or four hours to get there, do his prophet shit and get the innocent the fuck out.”
“Then what?” Smiler asked.
Ky smiled. “Then we bring the hounds of Hades to their door.” The brothers grunted in a mix of excitement and bloodlust. I slammed the gavel down on the table to end church. AK led the brothers outside to assign roles.
Ky didn’t move; neither did I.
Once the door was closed, he said, “You believe this shit, man? With Rider and Bella . . . their fuckin’ father?”
I shook my head and ran my hand down my face.
“You gonna tell ‘em?” he asked.
“N-not y-y-yet,” I stuttered out. “A-a-ain’t no r-reason in t-t-tellin’ ‘em if h-he doesn’t m-m-make it out a-alive.”
“Yeah,” Ky said. He sighed and, sitting back in his chair, said, “I can’t believe that after tomorrow all this shit with the cult could be done. They’ll all finally be dead. I never knew how much those cunts still bein’ alive bothered me until tonight. I need to fuckin’ breathe again, Styx. That’ll only happen when we’ve burned that place to the ground.”
“Y-yeah,” I agreed.
Ky got up from his seat and put his hand on my arm. “I’m gonna help out. I ain’t gettin’ no sleep tonight, and Li will no doubt be with Bella. I need to fuckin’ do somethin’ to stop me goin’ back to that barn and puttin’ an ax through Rider’s skull.”
My VP left, but I stayed in the church for fuck knows how long. I replayed everything Rider had said. Hundreds and hundreds of those fuckers to take on if shit went south.
I knew one thing. Not all of us would be comin’ back alive. I never said shit ‘bout it as Rider had spoken. I never said shit as we all agreed to walk back into that fucking place. But it was true. Eleven of us against potentially hundreds of heavily armed brainwashed cunts? Those odds weren’t good for no one, not even us.
I knew my strength as prez was about be tested more than ever. And no matter what I did, I couldn’t let us fall.
I had a bitch I loved more than life and a baby on the way.
All I had to do was stay alive . . .
. . . I just had to stay the fuck alive.
Chapter Thirteen
Bella
I clutched my hands to my chest as I watched the men disappear behind Rider—no, Cain—and I felt my heart break in two as his bright white tunic became engulfed in a smother of black.
“Rider,” I whispered as he faded from view. I wanted to run after him, but my legs were too weak to move. I blinked away the tears that were still falling.
Everything they had accused him of, he had done.
He had admitted to it all.
Lilah, my beautiful Lilah. He had hurt her . . . her beautiful long hair was cut short and her previously flawless face was scarred . . . all because of Rider. I could not believe it. Because the man I had fallen for through the barrier of the stone wall, the man I had slept beside each night for the past week—his hands caressing my face, never pushing me for anything more than a simple innocent touch—could not have been capable of such atrocities.
But Mae . . . he had kidnapped my Mae? Why? Why would he have done that? I just did not understand any of it.
“Bella?” Mae was walking toward me, Maddie and Lilah looking on.
I squeezed my eyes shut. “Was all that true? Was everything that man with the long blond hair said true?”
“Ky.” I opened my eyes to see Lilah standing next to Mae. Maddie flanked her other side, and just for the briefest of moments, I stared at my three sisters and my heart swelled to an impossible degree. Tears fell down my cheeks.
I had missed them so much.
“Bella,” Maddie said softly and edged nervously from the group. She stopped in front of me and reached up her hand to chase away my tears. I stared at my youngest sister. Her green eyes were bright and filled with something that they had never been filled with before—peace.
Maddie had found peace.
“How?” I asked.
Maddie, as if reading my thoughts, simply said one word. “Flame.”
My eyebrows pulled down in confusion. I did not understand. Mae threaded her arm around my shoulders. “We should go inside. There is much to tell.”
I looked through the gates of the compound and saw two men—no, boys really—also dressed in black. They were waiting to close the gates behind us, guns firmly fixed in their hands.
I let Mae guide me through. As soon as we cleared the gates, the two boys shut them. I jumped as metal clanked on metal. The younger-looking boy ducked his head and approached us.
“Madds,” he said, looking at my younger sister. “She looks just like you.”
“She is my older sister, Ash.”
His eyes widened. “I thought she died.”
Maddie pressed her hand on Ash’s arm. “So did I,” she said. “Bella, this is Ash, Flame’s younger brother. He has recently joined us too.”
The confusion was back. Maddie held up her left hand. She was wearing a ring. “Flame is my husband,” she said proudly.
A light, fluttering sensation filled my chest, replacing the heavy weight that had been suffocating me since they took Rider away. “Maddie,” I whispered, seeing a small, sweet smile tugging on her lips. “You have found love? Real love?”