37
Soul
Men are scattered aroundthe clubhouse, preparing for battle. There are guns on every table and extra men at the perimeter. The families have been pulled in from the neighborhood. They’re staying in the ranked-members’ rooms while we figure out what we’re dealing with.
Thankfully, Tempe has been watching Charlie while I work on getting her mother back. I’ve never been more grateful for my brothers’ old ladies.
All our men are preparing to go to war with Eli for taking Emery. Except for Chaos, who is at the hospital checking on Willa. She broke a rib in the accident, and she’s been struggling to maintain consciousness. Thankfully, the doctor said she will make a full recovery.
“I hate that Zane is the one pulling strings to keep us out of jail right now,” I grumble at Steel, who follows me into church.
“We didn’t have any other option. Did you want me to leave you in there with Willa in the hospital and Emery missing?” Steel levels me with a glare, leaving no room for argument. “That’s what I thought.”
“Zane isn’t helping us out of the kindness of his heart. That’s all I’m saying,” I remind him as we drop into our seats.
“Well aware. He thinks if he helps us, we’ll help him.”
“And all this time we thought he wanted to see us burn. Now he’d rather use us as puppets like he did the Iron Sinners.”
Steel shakes his head, dragging his hair off his forehead. “He probably doesn’t have any other choice. With the Iron Sinners gone and Eli turning on him, he needs us.”
“We’re not helping him.”
“We’re not,” Steel agrees. “He can think whatever he wants right now, so long as it means you guys aren’t locked up. But the moment we find Emery, we’re dealing with that asshole.”
“Glad we’re on the same page.”
Zane probably thinks we’re grateful to him for finding a way to invalidate the district attorney’s evidence against us. That we’ll repay him by becoming his army, just like the Iron Sinners were. But he’s wrong.
It doesn’t matter if my wife is his niece or that he helped me evade prison. He doesn’t get to threaten my wife—my daughter—and get away with it. We might have accepted his help today at the courthouse, but he’ll get what’s coming to him.
Ghost walks into church, balancing his laptop on one hand. “We found her.”
I shove out of my chair, ready to go. “Then why are we still standing around?”
“Hold up.” Steel holds up a hand. “The only advantage we have right now is that Eli doesn’t know Zane helped get you out. He’s trying to keep that from Eli’s contacts as long as possible. We need to go about this the right way, or we risk something happening to Emery.”
He’s right.
Ihatethat he’s right.
I sit back down, knowing we need to be smart about this.
I’m usually the wrecking ball Steel sends in to make a statement for the club. For her, I hold my recklessness at bay. For Emery and Charlie, I do as my president says.
“Tell me the plan then.” I muster all of my restraint. “Where is she?”
Ghost sets his laptop on the table as Legacy and Havoc step into the room. None of them take a seat. The only reason I do is that if I’m not planted in this chair, then I’m not going to stay put.
“Eli has Emery at a hotel on the outskirts of the city. The security is high-end. He’s not taking any chances. From what we can tell, the top three floors are privately owned. We assume she’s there.” Ghost spins his laptop around, showing us an image of the front of the building.
I’ve seen that hotel before. It’s pretentious. Decorated in gaudy gold finishings. The rooms are twice asexpensive as the hotels surrounding it. I shouldn’t be surprised that he took her there.
“I doubt they’re going to let us walk right in and take the elevator.” Havoc crosses his arms over his chest.
I shake my head. “Well, it’s not like we have a spare helicopter sitting around to go in through the roof, so we need to figure out another way upstairs.”
“All the cameras run on the same grid,” Ghost explains. “If we shut off power completely, they’re going to know we’re coming.”
