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Vance hums. “And what will that cost me?”
“You tell us why the fuck you are working with Benjamin Wyatts.”
“Interesting. I know my men didn’t tell you that, as they didn’t have that name. Where might you have heard it?”
Rage glances at me, and I lean forward. “Vance.”
“Axe. How wonderful to hear your voice.”
I let out a humorless laugh. “I’m sure it is. What do you know about this Benjamin, Vance? Because if you work this close with him, then I can assume that you trust him. Which would mean you are losing your touch.” Poking the bear probably isn’t the smartest move. That is made clear when Rage narrows his eyes at me, his fists clenched on the desk.
Silence greets us on the other end of the line. Vance is a patient and calculated man. “Why don’t we stop playing games, gentlemen?”
“Yes. Why don’t we?” Rage says through clenched teeth. “Why don’t you explain why you are breaking an alliance with us and trying to take one of my men? If you had an issue, all you had to do was reach out.”
“Yes, we have an alliance, but unfortunately the person who asked for a favor from me is of higher importance to me. I will not bullshit you. Risking losing his relationship is a greater risk than yours. But I will also state that I asked for detailed information about this. It was not a light decision. But it seems you are allowing one of your own to hurt an innocent woman, Rage. I would have expected better from you.”
I clench my fists and stand ready to ream his ass, but Sugar is there shoving me back and slapping a hand on my mouth. He shakes his head at me.
“I also would have expected better from you. As you know me from our extensive talk all those years ago, I would never allow one of my men to hurt a woman. You should know that. And if you had any worries, you should have reached out. If there was something going on I wasn’t aware of, which there isn’t, I would have liked to deal with it myself and not have your men kidnap one of mine. So, if you would like to see your last two men walk out of here and don’t want to start a war between us, then come. You, yourself. Do not send a lackey. Do not disrespect me with that shit. Show your face, Vance. We will speak face to face. My tech guy will drop a location to you. You best be there before midnight.”
He hangs up the phone, and Sugar releases me. I turn and drive my fist straight into the wall. “Ouch, brother, this is my office. Do you mind?” Blade asks with a chuckle.
I turn and head straight towards him, ready to beat the shit out of him, my anger taking over. Rage steps in front of me and shoves me back. He keeps shoving until my back collides with the wall with a sharp thud.
“That’s enough,” he growls, his eyes sharp with anger. “When I release you, you are going to walk out of here and head home. Take my bike. I will find a ride. You get your ass home. You take your woman, who is struggling to even breathe, and go to my house. The two of you will not come out until you’ve slept and are both sober and in stable sets of minds. I swear to God, Axe, I will put guards on the doors if I have to. I will stand there myself if I have to. You are falling apart and any second you are going to do something stupid and get yourself or one of your brothers hurt. Your woman, who we all love, is struggling. You need to be there for her. She doesn’t want the rest of us helping. She needs you. She fucking needs you.” He yells the last part in my face.
For the first time in ten years, tears gather in my eyes. I quickly blink them away before giving a sharp nod. I have been selfish. Saying I was doing all this for Presley when it was for me. She didn’t need this. She needed me. Right by her side. Holding her and putting her back together.
My angel is suffering.
Chapter Five
Rage
Axetakesadeepbreath and pulls himself together. I release him, and he takes off straight out the door. No one speaks until you hear the roar of my bike starting and the sound fading in the distance. I sigh and run a hand through my hair.
I look at two of my best men. “We do this now. We get it settled. Then we hand-deliver Ben to them. We don’t stop until he is at Axe’s feet, begging for mercy.”
“We fucking do this. For Pres,” Blade says with a sharp nod.
“This ain’t goin’ to be easy. There is a real fuckin’ possibility that Vance is goin’ to bring a fuckin’ army and try to destroy us to get to Axe. We’ve never liked him. He don’t like us either. We barely made it through when we cut ties with the drugs.”
I nod at Sugar. “I know. But we don’t have another choice. We plead with him if we have to. We prove to him that Presley is the one being hurt here. Whatever Ben told him, the fucker twisted everything to make it seem like Axe hurt her.”
My father worked with Vance. Mostly his father, but Vance too, especially when he took over. Vance didn’t like my father. But it’s give and take in this world, and he got to run his drugs through here bringing in money, so he dealt with my father.
When my father died and I took over, we made huge changes. One of the first being the deal with Vance. We cut ties with the drugs. He was furious. He tried attacking us, but we had Stone. He had climbed a tree on our property and set up a sniper. The second the red dot appeared on Vance’s forehead, everyone froze. They left, and a month later, Vance set up a meeting. There was no apology. He made it clear he still hated us. We took away a sizeable area from him. But he needed help. He heard through the grapevine how we were changing everything. He had a program that helped women and children.
We had already started our own thing up, noticing how many people around here needed help and how many law enforcement people were fucking corrupt, so it was easy to agree. Anyone surrounding us who contacted him for help, we would go and assist. He laid off with the hatred, but that was the last time I spoke to or saw him. He always had someone else contact us for jobs.
This can go two different ways. I’m hoping for the good way, but with the possibility of it going bad, we need to prepare, and now that Nerds has set up a location to meet, we only have eight hours.
I will not lose anyone. If it turns into something bad, I will destroy them.
They think we are weaker because we have turned the club around and keep most violence out of our town. But one thing they don’t know is my family is fucking everything. We would all lay down our lives for each other.
When we are threatened, we tighten our reins, and no one can break through. Family doesn’t make you weak; it strengthens you and makes you more resilient.
