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She instantly looks up at me. “You were right. There were other ledgers in the boxes with stuff retrieved from the scene where my father and his men were killed. We’ve found one, somewhat still intact and it shows there was a shift in money. We also found this.” She holds up a piece of paper and I quickly glance over the written note. “It’s my father’s handwriting.”
“It’s a calculation on how much money and livestock was missing,” I murmur.
“Yeah. And you know what the amount and date is screaming at me?” My eyes hit hers and I wait for her to continue and when she does I’m stunned into silence by the following two words she throws out, “Fake. Tits.”
“Come again?” Atticus grumbles from beside me.
“Fake tits.” Hudsyn points at her own chest. “Jorie got a boob job right before all of this happened. She’s been nagging about it for years but she couldn’t afford it because she never lifts one freaking finger. And I know for a fact her father couldn’t afford it either, though he did have easy access to get it.”
Atticus narrows his eyes. “And you think her father sold out his club just to give his daughter a breast enhancement?”
“I’ve heard and witnessed some crazy shit over the years but if this is true?” Yuma shakes his head. “Then this tops everything. I mean it’s straight-jacket shit for sure.”
“But it is motive,” I tell Atticus and he grunts in agreement.
Atticus rubs his thumb over his jaw. “There’s a million ways this could have gone down, all three could be involved or one while the others cover it up. Not just Jorie’s father was expelled, remember? Fact is, we found a trail with the money and livestock missing so there’s a rough estimate of the amount we’re talking about. It should be easy to tie it to a breast enhancement and check her financial shit along with her father and brother’s. Yuma, you wanna jump in and find out everything you can?”
“Already on it, Prez,” Yuma grunts and goes to work on his laptop.
“We have to question your members,” I tell Hudsyn.
Her eyes slide from me to Atticus. “You want to interrogate my girls to see if there are more rotten eggs in this basket?”
Atticus returns her hard stare. “Yes.”
Her hands curl into fists. “Fine. But I will be present and I will round them up and give a statement beforehand.”
“Fine,” Atticus grunts. “As long as your statement doesn’t include any details of what we just discovered.”
“I might have allowed for my father’s killer to live under my roof, but I’m not that fucking stupid,” she snaps and it makes me flinch.
It’s hard not to take this personal for her and everything that happened is fucked up, but to realize you’ve been living happy and shit with the one responsible for all their father’s deaths? Yeah, she’s blaming herself for sure.
“Never said you were, and my brother sure as fuck would never claim an old lady who didn’t have a good head on her shoulders. Now, we gonna do this?”
She lifts her chin. “The clubhouse was cleared?”
“The destruction was localized to her room only, the rest of the clubhouse is secure and cleared,” Atticus agrees.
“Good. Then we can gather everyone in the main room and have a chat one by one in church.” Hudsyn opens the door and me and Atticus stroll out after her.
She turns and frowns. “You can wait here, I’ll come get you once I’ve talked to my girls.”
Atticus hooks his thumb into his jeans pocket and subtly taps his badge. “Not happening. We’ve given you a lot of leeway but I do draw lines when needed and this is me drawing it. And I don’t give a fuck how you take it because I’m doing it to make sure all of you stay safe and get those responsible behind bars.”
“She doesn’t deserve to breathe or have the chance to so much as stick her thumb up her ass behind bars,” Hudsyn snarls.
I grind my teeth because this is a reaction Atticus was looking for. He might be able to get justice no matter what, but that doesn’t mean he’s above the law. I mean, suspects end up dead most of the time but there is never any doubt those fuckers are innocent.
Now, we know Jorie isn’t innocent. Hell, we were all right there when she triggered an IED that was stashed in her room. Atticus and I were the first ones to find Tikki. There were metal shards lodged in her body, one in her head that instantly killed her. But she also had knife wounds across her body which explained what Hudsyn mentioned when Jorie crawled out of the window with blood on her shirt and a knife in hand. Not to mention, the IED used was the same kind which was used to wipe out the founding members.
But this little act proves Hudsyn is out for blood instead of justice and vengeance can cloud your actions. I take a step toward Hudsyn and with it face Atticus. I’ve always stood beside him–as a brother in many ways–but with this move he knows from here on out, I’m standing strong beside my old lady.
“You know you only have one marker to cash in, right? One and you’re done,” Atticus tells me.
I incline my head, fully aware of what he’s reminding me of and with the shit Hudsyn just threw out, I’m sure I’m going to need it. Hudsyn glances up at me and the way her eyebrows are furrowed, I can tell she wants to ask me what Atticus meant by the words he just threw at me.
Placing a kiss on the top of her head, I ask, “Can we get this over with?”
