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“We need the others in here for this shit,” Digger snaps, shooting to his feet.
My daughter stares at me as though she no longer recognizes the man before her.
Rae? Well, shit, she just looks disappointed. Andthat’sthe reaction that hurts most. I’ve become no better than the fucker we’re keeping her from. No better than the asshole with her in his sights.
Fucked up thing is, I do itforher.
“Sit the fuck down.” I gesture for my brother to park his ass. “Minion knows what I want to do.” I needed somebody with a critical thinking brain to confirm my gut feelings about it all. “And I’ll discuss it with the others once we’ve got Rae’s consent.”
“Consent for what?” Maddie asks on her behalf.
I glower at the lippy shit and then soften my focus for Rae. “We’re gonna need your help, baby girl.”
The woman sits mute, staring blandly at nothing in particular as the nuts and bolts of the situation rattle around in her head.
“All goin’ well,” I continue. “We’ll come back from the meet with at least two clubs ready to roll, should I give the word. If we’re to remove the threat Terry poses for fuckin’ good, then we need help. We’re strong, but our reach is limited. I’d feela helluva lot better knowin’ I’ve got men at my back over and above what we have here.”
A good leader protects his own, and if that means sending men from sister clubs in to fight for us to save a few of our own, then I’m not above positioning people for my advantage like that. For the Reapers to survive, I need men at the table. Strong men. I can’t send all our brothers to war and expect the club to thrive on the bare bones left behind. Gotta save some men to watch over the women and children, and I’d rather that not be the decrepit lifers who have trouble lifting a leg outta bed, let alone a gun to their shoulder.
“So it is war, then?” Maddie utters. “You’re actually going to do it? You’re going to take down Terry?”
“I’ll do more than take him down, sweetheart.” I catch Rae’s eye. “I’ll ensure he never comes back. Gonna kill the fucker.”
Her shoulders rise with a sharp intake of air. I’d goddamn put money on the fact ain’t nobody offered to do that for her before—to kill. Sure, I could swing it off as some fucking benefit for the club, but we’ve held Terry at arm’s length for a decade while he tried his fucking best to oust our club from Red River. From his path.
We could do it for ten more. Twenty.
Rae’s simply been the catalyst for something that’s been brewing a lot longer. This war is for her. For women like her. For the people of Red River and the surrounds who live their lives perpetually in fear that today will be the day Terry changes his mind, and they find themselves in the crosshairs.
The fucker’s ruled with fear for too long. He’s ruled with the threat of violence even longer, fucking up his victims with the kind of psychological bullshit that has twisted his son into the monster he is today.
It’s time that came to an end.
Rae’s lips press tight, rolling against one another before she pops the flesh free, red rushing back to the plump lines. “You still haven’t told me what you need me to do.”
“If we’re to get to Terry, I need his watchdog distracted.” I run my teeth over my bottom lip, then add, “I need you to be the distraction.”
Digger’s head near snaps off his tattooed neck. “The fuck?”
“You want her to be bait for Connor,” Maddie affirms.
I nod. “Kid’s eyes and ears for his old man. Need that boy blinded by something he can’t ignore so that Terry doesn’t get wind of what I’m gearin’ up to do.”
Rae draws a deep breath, palms rubbing up and down her thighs. “This is so fucked up.” She huffs a twisted little laugh. “First, I’m here to avoid the asshole, and now you want me to be the red flag to the damn bull.”
“I know,” I say softly. “I ain’t askin’ anything easy of you. But the payoff is worth the sacrifice.”
“My life?” she says. “That the payoff you’re talking about?”
“No, baby girl,” Digger appeases. “We won’t let that happen.”
No. We won’tletit happen, but if this life has taught us anything, it’s that fate is out of our goddam hands. Best wishes mean jack shit when you ain’t the one in control. Using Rae to blind Connor is a gamble, and I won’t paint it pretty colors and say it doesn’t come without risk.
A truth that still lodges in my goddamn throat when I lay eyes on the woman before me.
In a perfect world, I’d tuck her away in my goddamn bed and shield her from the evils of the world. But this reality calls for order to be restored, and the best way I can see that happening involves her.
“If I beat these motherfuckers to the punch to take Terry out,” I explain. “I need a solid plan on what happens next.”
