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18
Toney and I got back from her office, and she got mom all set up in her apartment with an IV of fluids, antibiotics, and pain meds. The women and older teens are taking turns sitting with mom. My girls are tucked safely in my apartment. I told Toney not to open the door unless it was me, Monroe, or Sully. I know I should be able to trust everyone, but Delia and Emlyn’s father tried to kill my Goddamn mom. I shouldn’t have to worry that somebody else in my family could come at me, but I am.
“Thank you all for coming. I know this is not an easy task. We always hate voting against another brother, but he did the unthinkable this time. I will tell you the charges, and then I will tell you the brother. Nobody has been talking about it because I have told those who know the truth not to open their fucking mouths. My mother—the founding lady of the Gatekeepers MC—has been brutally raped and shot by not only another brother but our ex-president.”
“No fucking way.” Liam, who was Calan’s road captain, spits.
“He would never do something like that,” Darragh says. He was Calen’s secretary.
Before I can say anything else, I can hear my mom begging for Calan to stop. I don’t dare look at the video. Just hearing it again is making me sick to my stomach. Emlyn rushes to the nearest trash can, emptying her stomach. I’m not far behind when I hear the gunshot.
A hand I don’t expect runs over my back. It’s Tadhg, Calan’s enforcer. “It’s okay, brother. That’s hard for all of us. She may be your mother, but she’s treated us all like her children.”
I wipe my mouth on the rag handed to me and take a swig from a water bottle. With a swish and spit, I rinse my mouth before heading back to my place at the head of the table.
“As you have seen, it wasn’t just one brother, but two. Both Calan and Connor need to pay for what they’ve done. Now because it is the right thing to do, I will take a vote. The vote is to strip them both of this brotherhood. Make them live the little time they have left as civilians.”
“I don’t think Delia, Emlyn, or you should be able to vote as your all family,” Darragh speaks again.
I snort. “Who better than us? A little more information very few of us have. My father was not Kellian like they led me to believe my entire life. Calan was. Delia and Emlyn are not my cousins. They are my sisters. Now there’s a vote on the floor.”
I watch and listen as hand, by hand, and voice by voice, a decision is made. I stay quiet, as do my sisters, until everyone has had their vote. I look at Monroe. He nods, then Sulley.
“Death is too fucking good for him.”
I dip my head, watching Delia and Emlyn. Delia visibly swallows but nods yes. Emlyn chews her nail, and her leg shakes like a fiend needing a fix.
“Em?” I urge her softly. “Vote your conscience.”
“He’s my dad.” She murmurs, a tear running down her cheek. “My heart.” Her voice breaks, then her head nods, followed by a stifled sob.
It is a sad series of events, but I finally have control of my club.
Seven hours until I am to come face to face with the motherfucker that upended my world. Connor says he has information that he thinks will save him in a trade. Unless it’s the location of the access codes for Fort Knox, he’s got nothing else that I could want.
Pulling out my phone, I call the accomplice. “Don’t speak. Just listen. Change of plans. Head for the midway at Morrow. Go see Glen, and he will have a spot. Don’t even think about not showing up, or I will release the hounds.” I hang up the phone and let him stew in the idea of a one-way boat trip.
***
I can’t hold my smirk as I see Glen. The old fisherman was a friend of my grandfather Big Kel. They ran together in the Marines back during Vietnam and co-founded the Morrowland Hounds. A play on our name and their hometown. The club that spawned the Westmoreland brothers, who raised me. Fitting that Calan would end up here to die.
“Hey, ya young pup.” Glen limps toward us. His knotted cane is a testament to his fisherman ways, covered in razor clamshells and shark teeth.
“Papa Glen.” I hug him.
“I’m sorry about your mom.”
“No apologies, she’s still breathing.”
“Well, thank God for that. They’re on the Stella two. She’s fueled up, and there’s two barrels. Go out for about two hours, and it will get you past the rips.”
I nod, watching Monroe, Crux, and Drysten. I left the girls and Sully behind so that they had some deniability. If the coast guard catches us, we’re toast.
“We got it all right?” I get affirmative nods for my answer. “Then let’s tread water.
Getting on the boat, Drysten takes on the driving while Crux and Monroe get things ready for us. Below deck, Connor is locked in a bedroom while Calan is in the engine room, with the rank smell of dead fish and seawater. Heading down, I can smell the melting lead and pat myself on the back for the forethought enough to have grabbed the thing from Toney’s place when I saw it.
Calan is gagged, and his leg is bleeding through the dressing, which is the only fabric on his body. Next to him is a tray and the smelting pot.
