I walked into the clubhouse with Lacey tucked against my side and stared around the packed room into the eyes of all the people waiting on me to make sense of the situation we all found ourselves. Wolf and Pipe rose from their barstools and walked toward me. Wolf slapped Riggs upside the head who was sitting at a table, staring across the room at Anthony Bianci’s mother and the girl I assumed was his sister. Riggs stood up and followed suit, joining the brothers as they stood before me.
“Where’s Blackie?” Wolf asked, glancing at Lacey before fixating his eyes on mine.
“Gold has him and Reina,” I said, diverting my eyes to Lacey as she whimpered beside me. “Call your mother and tell her where you are, tell her you’re okay,” I said, lifting her chin. “You’re okay,” I reminded her as she stared at me with questionable eyes.
“Come here, sweetheart, let’s dry that pretty face of yours,” Grace said, reaching out to take Lacey’s hand. Her eyes lifting to mine, seeming to speak the words she didn’t say. You take care of mine and I’ll take care of yours.
Lacey dropped her hand into Grace’s as she pulled her against her chest like the nurturing woman she was and guided my daughter toward the bathroom.
I ran my fingers through my hair and walked toward the room where we held church. I knew they’d follow, and not so much because they wanted answers but because one of our own was at the mercy of another man and that wasn’t acceptable. Not in our book, not in our club.
However, I didn’t expect Anthony to stand in front of the door, with his arms crossed against his wide chest, his brother-in-law Mike at his side.
“Move out of my way, Bianci,” I growled, fire in my eyes as they met his. He glanced over my shoulder at Riggs, Wolf, Pipe and Bones who had joined the pack behind me.
“I get you have a code you people live by, a brotherhood, but you’re down a man and I owe you a favor. So, like it or not, I’m a part of this thing. I’m with you until you get your right hand back and your woman, because not too long ago you laid it all on the line to help me get mine.”
“And him?” I tipped my chin toward Mike.
“Now come on, Bulldog, you and I go way back,” his lips curved. “You saw my shot with your own eyes,” he said, raising an eyebrow, slapping the palms of his hands together and pointing his index fingers outward, mimicking a gun. He clicked his tongue. “Bang, bang,” he added.
They were both right, not that long ago I vowed to help Anthony get his life on track so he could get his woman and I was there when Michael first pulled a trigger at our shooting range. The kid was his father incarnate. They weren’t Satan’s Knights, but we were allies and when one was at war they needed all the help they could get. Anthony and Mike provided us with an advantage—they’d been around Jimmy a lot more than any of us had. They would have insight to that lunatic, knew what made him tick and what they didn’t know they could get from their people on the streets.
I looked at them once more before turning around and looking at my club.
“That okay with you?”
“Since when does what we think play a factor when dealing with the likes of them?” Pipe grunted.
Wolf elbowed him. They had a right to be bitter but now wasn’t the time for it to surface. No, now we needed to be a unit, and our honor and loyalty to one another needed to play front and center.
“Fine, but I’m not riding with one of them on my fucking back, they drive a cage,” Wolf warned.
“A cage?” Mike asked, leaning into Anthony. Bianci shrugged his shoulders and stepped aside allowing me to walk into the chapel. One by one we filed through the door, taking our respective seats at the table. I stared at Blackie’s empty chair for a moment before slamming down the gavel.
“A couple of months ago, Pastore asked me to take care of a problem he had. A Fed was sniffing around one of Jimmy’s bodies and they wanted me to make the Fed disappear. That Fed was my brother, Danny. This guy over here…” I pointed to Bianci who was leaning against the wall, “…was about to help me save my brother’s life but we were too late. Jimmy killed Danny and set his house on fire. Reina, the woman I’ve been seeing, was Danny’s girlfriend and she was in the house with Danny when he let the house go up in flames.” I glanced around the table and sighed as I continued. “I’ve been planning my revenge for months, figuring it was personal and so no need to bring it to the club. It’s not personal anymore. It’s not even about Danny anymore. Wolf, Pipe, you two have been around since Cain’s days, you guys remember the G-Man, right?”
Pipe nodded. “Remember going to a lot of funerals at his hand,” he said.