Not yet.
The basement door opened again, and Morpheus descended the stairs with Cerberus at his side. The room fell silent as our president crossed the concrete floor, his boots echoing in the sudden quiet as he stopped in front of us, his expression calm. Almost bored.
“Poseidon.” Morpheus smirked. “Welcome to the Brotherhood of Bastards.”
“Zeus is going to kick your fucking ass.”
“He can try.” Morpheus chuckled before his voice turned bored, almost conversational. “You are the brother of Alexandra Jones.” He paused. “The woman currently locked in a room upstairs.”
Poseidon’s eyes widened slightly, but he recovered quickly. “If you’ve hurt her.”
“Ihaven’t done shit.” Morpheus smirked as he looked toward me. “Nano, on the other hand, is another story.”
Poseidon’s head whipped to me. “What the fuck did you do to my sister?”
Scythe sniggered. “You mean what didn’t he do to her?”
Several brothers chuckled.
Morpheus held up his hand, stopping Scythe from saying anything more. “Your sister has something I want, Poseidon, and I’m going to use you to get it.”
Poseidon demanded. “What the fuck do you want from her?”
Morpheus studied him for a long moment. Then he said, “Your sister stole seventy-five million dollars from the Brotherhood of Bastards.”
The effect was immediate. Poseidon’s entire body went rigid. His mouth opened, then closed. His eyes darted to me, thenback to Morpheus. “That’s...” He swallowed hard. “That’s not possible.”
“It’s very possible,” Morpheus said calmly. “She transferred the money from accounts belonging to Cade Birch. A strip club owner in Rapid City who was laundering for us. She stole it and fled to Athens, Texas, before we could get our hands on her. But no worries. Nano is very good at what he does. Didn’t take him but a few hours to locate her before I sent him and a few others to retrieve her. She has been enjoying the Brotherhood’s hospitality for the past week or so.”
Poseidon’s face had gone pale. “Seventy-five million...”
“Dollars,” Morpheus confirmed. “Which gives me every right to put a bullet in her head and dump her body in a ditch, if I choose. The fact that she’s still breathing is a courtesy I have extended to you and Zeus.”
Poseidon stared at him, and I could see the moment the fight drained out of him. The moment he realized Morpheus was right. Alex had committed a crime so severe, so unforgivable, that the Brotherhood would be justified in executing her.
“That’s why she showed up out of the blue. Why she was so fucking jumpy? Always looking over her shoulder. I knew she was hiding something. FUCK!” Poseidon cursed angrily, before saying, “Tell me she gave back the money.”
Morpheus nodded. “She did, but what I need now is information.”
“What kind of information?” Poseidon asked warily.
“Your sister has knowledge about a man we believe orchestrated the hit on FIRE,” Morpheus said.
“Eros.” Poseidon’s eyes widened as he whispered, “How? How would Alex know about that shit?”
“Because she told Nano.”
Poseidon looked at me. “What did she tell you?”
When Morpheus nodded, Garotte removed my gag. “There was a man she was seeing before she stole the money. She overheard him talking to a biker. Someone she couldn’t identify. This man, whose name is Michael, paid this biker to eliminate FIRE. She didn’t know who FIRE was at the time, but she does now.”
The second I was done talking, Garotte replaced my gag.
“Fuck,” Poseidon groaned, shaking his head. “Only my sister could find herself in the wrong place at the wrong fucking time.” Taking a few seconds to digest everything, Poseidon eventually looked up at Morpheus and asked, “So what’s the plan? Because I can tell you right now, Zeus will lose his shit when he learns Alex knew information that could help us in this war and she didn’t say shit. She’s always lived her life on her own terms. She doesn’t listen to anyone. We all tried. Alex has always gone her own way, even when it’s the wrong way.”
“Your sister knows who ordered the hits. She knows where to find this dead man walking. She knows details that could help us prevent further attacks. But she’s refusing to cooperate.”
Poseidon sighed as the realization hit. “You are going to use me as leverage.”
