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“You were there?” Bear looked disapproving. I frowned at him.
“Yeah. I was fuckin’ there. A member of this club has to die, I’m the one doin’ it. Problem?”
Bear stared at me. Hard. “Yeah. I got a fuckin’ problem. You went into another club’s territory with only a handful of men. You went lookin’ for a war but didn’t take enough to back you up.” He lifted his chin. “Tell me I’m wrong.”
I shook my head. “Not sayin’ you are, Bear. But I won’t lie. I was pretty sure Hammer was lyin’ when he said Scarlet was being held by Iron Tzars against her will. I know some of those men as well as I know you.”
Bear grunted. “Mars, in particular.”
“Yeah. Scarlet is with Mars. He made her his old lady.”
“You gonna respect his claim?” Bear always did know how to ask the hard questions. It solidified my belief he was the right man to be vice president.
“It’s what Scarlet wants. Woman’s been through enough without us fightin’ over her like dogs over a bone.”
Ringo snorted. “Well, that and the old ladies of Iron Tzars are more than a little rabid. Especially that one called Lemon. Eh, Prez?” Yeah. Ringo had my number.
“The women of Iron Tzars ain’t our problem. But Scarlet wants her sisters to come to Evansville. I think it’s a good idea.”
Dom shook his head. “Not sure that’s a good idea. They should at least be given a choice.”
“Scarlet is their only living relative. You can bet your ass Wylde has already worked some magic to make her their legal guardian. Besides, you know they think Scarlet hung the moon. They’ll go wherever she is. Hell, they fought like wildcats to go with her when she left with Hammer.”
“He’s right.” Fang’s deep voice penetrated the soft murmur around our meeting room. “Those girls will want to be with Scarlet. It’s not a bad idea to ask them, though. Just to be sure. The last thing we want to do is make them feel like they don’t have any choices. One or both of them will bolt like a wild fuckin’ bronco if we do.” There were more than a few chuckles around the room. Sunshine and Rainbow weren’t quite on the same level as Lemon, but they were both skirting the edge of wild.
“Agreed. Now. Have Gina tell them to get packed. I’m expecting Brick to roll in here with a contingent that includes Mars and Scarlet within the hour. They’ll expect the girls to be ready, and I don’t intend to be more of an ass than I’ve already been.”
“No one expects you to cave to another club in our territory, Prez,” Bear snapped. “You don’t think those girls need to go, fuck the lot of ‘em.”
“No. This is one time I’ll allow it. At least, if the girls want to go. I owe it to Scarlet. After what she went through, that woman can have any fuckin’ thing she wants. She needs her sisters right now. Probably more than they need her.”
Byte stood. “I’ll go help Gina. She had a thing for Hammer. Think it’s best if she doesn’t find out about it around the girls. They’ll meet you guys at the entrance to the inner compound.” He was the best person for the job. Sunshine and Rainbow adored the tech wiz. Probably because he kept them in the latest gaming consoles and computers. He was right to think Gina didn’t need to hear about Hammer until she was away from the others. Byte would see to it she had privacy when she was told. If anyone could keep things smooth in this instance, it would be Byte. “When Scarlet gets here to pick them up, she can ask them in front of me. I’ll honor their wishes and be careful of everyone’s feelings.”
“Good.” I looked around the room, studying each of them. “We have one more thing to get out of the way.” I met the gaze of each man present, really studying them. No one hurried me. It wasn’t their way. We were all trained to wait patiently, no matter the circumstances. In our line of work, there was no room for mistakes. We were each other’s only backup. Sometimes we didn’t even have that. Each man could hold everything inside and not give anything away. Even torture would yield few results. If any. So I had to watch everyone very carefully. I’d trusted every person in the club.
Even Hammer. Even knowing the history between him and Claw and Madina. Even knowing Claw’s woman had given birth to Hammer’s twins. Claw had always treated the girls like his own, but now I had to be sure the threat to them was over. Also, I needed to know who in my club could be sadistic enough to contemplate hurting our children. No matter what the reason, that was as step too fucking far. “Hammer terrorized Scarlet. Beat her and threatened to harm Sunshine and Rainbow if she retaliated or left him.” A couple of the men glanced at each other, showing more of a reaction than I’d expected, but more than a few simply gazed on stoically, giving nothing away. “He told her he had someone in the club keeping an eye on the girls. That one word from him and they’d suffer. I’m paraphrasing, but I took it the same way Scarlet did. Hammer had someone in Grim Road working with him to destroy Claw through his children.”
“That’s fucked up,” Spike muttered. “Only a fuckin’ coward preys on kids to get back at an enemy.”
“It’s worse than that,” Dom said, giving me a glance. I nodded. The club needed to know. “Sunshine and Rainbow are Hammer’s daughters. Claw is the one who killed Madina.”
That got more than a few disbelieving grumbles.
“No fuckin’ way,” Spike snapped. “Not possible.”
“Which event are you referring to?” Dom asked. “Because there’s a couple things I had trouble with.”
“Fuckin’ all of it! Hammer would never disrespect a brother by movin’ in on his woman. Madina and Claw had been an item for years before Hammer even patched in.”
“I confirmed the first two with Hammer myself.” I scrubbed a hand over my face. “Look. I know this is a real dick punch, but the fact is the only innocent parties in all this shit are Scarlet, Sunshine, and Rainbow. Hammer fucked Claw’s woman. By all accounts he loved Madina. Claw and Madina had… issues. I’m not certain what they all were, but I know Madina was unhappy. I wasn’t there when she told him about the babies, but I suspect she was going to leave him.”
“The signs were there.” Bear stroked his beard as he mused. “I remember thinking there was something going on between the two of them, but…” He shrugged. “Not my business.”
“Fuck.” Spike was possibly the most transparent of all of us. His work in Black Ops usually had to do with scouting a mark and planning the strike. Even though he had the training, he wasn’t as experienced with deep cover as the rest of us. “I still don’t see it. Hammer would have taken revenge on Claw directly. Not by going through kids to do it.”
“Think about it, Spike.” Falcon gripped Spike’s shoulder in an effort to calm down the other man. “Claw was the VP. Hammer was a newly patched member. How’s he gonna fight Claw?” He looked up at me. “What I don’t understand is how Hammer could have someone ready to harm the girls if he knew they were his.”
I nodded to Falcon. “Good point. When we took Hammer apart, I got the impression he was so eaten up with hate he didn’t give a fuck. Claw had raised Sunshine and Rainbow as his own. Hammer knew he’d never have their loyalty and love the way Claw did. I think he distanced himself from the fact they were his daughters. He gave away more than I thought he would, and I think that was only because of what we did.”
