AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“There was a fire yesterday,” Ayla Fairchild starts without preamble. “One that apparently resulted in the deaths of…” Her eyes flick down to a small screen in front of her, as if she’s reading from a headline. “‘Several notorious members of a criminal gang, including its leader, Austin McKenna.’”
She pauses, her gaze raking over each of us before settling on Maddoc. Her eyes flick down to his missing finger for a moment, then return to his face.
“This isn’t what we meant by staying off the authorities’ radar,” she says, no inflection in her voice. “What happened?”
“McKenna had plans to take down The Six,” Maddoc responds. “We stopped him.”
All six members react with low murmurs and angry expressions, but Ayla’s gaze never wavers from Maddoc’s.
“Explain,” she demands.
Maddoc does, laying out the whole story, including how Austin married me in order to steal my inheritance, which he was using to fund his plans against The Six.
“We’re no strangers to threats,” one of the men says, his voice calm and his gaze assessing. “And for all Austin McKenna’s arrogance, West Point has never been one.”
“Not before he got his hands on Riley’s money,” Maddoc says. “But the resources that gave him were… formidable.”
He names the dollar amount, and The Six all mask various expressions of shock.
“And these assets are still in the hands of what’s left of West Point?” Ayla asks sharply.
“No.” Maddoc gives her that predatory smile that always makes my heart trip. “It’s in the hands of McKenna’s widow.”
Her attention snaps over to me, and the sharp intelligence behind her gaze strikes a chord in me. “You?”
I lift my chin. “Yes.”
A faint smile graces her mouth, and she gives me a small nod, then turns back to Maddoc. “Go on. What makes you so sure that McKenna was planning on coming after us?”
“We were tipped off.” He nods toward Dante. “My second infiltrated West Point to confirm the details. We were going to bring the proof to you once we had it, but McKenna caught Dante on his way out.”
Ayla raises an eyebrow. “This was yesterday?”
“Yes.”
She looks at Dante. “And did you find proof of his plans?”
“I did. He was setting himself up to take all six of you out in one fell swoop.”
Her face goes hard. “Show me.”
Dante transfers the digital files to her, and they direct us to wait out in the club while they review them.
My nerves return with a vengeance while we wait. “There’s no way they can bring repercussions on us for this, right? We were doing them a favor!”
Dante snorts, and Maddoc chuckles, shaking his head. “That’s not quite how it works.”
“We were covering our own asses,” Dante adds. “They know that, but that ain’t necessarily a bad thing.”
Logan nods. “They’ll respect it. They were already impressed that we found out about McKenna’s plans. I got the impression they would have been blindsided.”
Dante nods. “They were definitely surprised. Now we just gotta see what they’re gonna do about it.”
“What’s there still to do?” I ask. “He’s dead.” Then I shake my head before the men can answer, remembering what they told me this morning. Austin’s death will leave a hole in Halston’s underground that’s going to be filled, one way or another. The Six may not involve themselves directly in gang activities, but they’re also not going to ignore something like that when it’s bound to cause even more chaos.
When we’re finally summoned back into their chamber, they don’t waste any time.
“You were right,” Ayla tells Maddoc. “McKenna’s plans were very… thorough. The resources he was pouring into overthrowing our power definitely elevated him to a true threat.” She pauses, sharing a look with the rest of The Six before turning her attention to me. “Resources which now belong to you, Riley Sutton.”
