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CHAPTER ONE: VIPER
I keep my back to the cop hanging behind me. As an Enforcer with the Demon Dawgs, I know my allegiance is to my President and my family. To my brothers and my sister, Chill. Especially to Chill. Puma may have come to my rescue two years ago, and he may have been the one to bring me into the club, but Chill has been my mentor since that first day. She’s the person I look up to the most and the one I never want to disappoint. But I’m struggling and just grateful she hasn’t noticed yet. The cop behind me is dirty. I know he is. He worked for the loan shark and child trafficker, Dominic Stone. Instead of protecting children, this cop kidnapped them to feed Stone’s operation. I tell myself this, but I’m still struggling. The asshole we’re torturing is still a cop, just like the man I’m falling in love with. Rafe.
Hearing Dice taunt the cop about how he’ll never kidnap another kid has me hunching my shoulders. Another reminder of why what we’re doing is the right thing. Dice and his woman, Avery, rescued a beautiful little girl they named Angel from the nightmare Stone and this cop created. Anyone involved in human trafficking, especially the trafficking of children should receive a brutal and painful end.
“I’m a cop, you scum. You’re all going to jail.”
Puma’s bellow of a laugh jolts me, but not as much as Dice’s offer to take over. I thought I was hiding my reservations, but obviously not as much as I thought. I shake my head because I don’t trust my voice.
“Why do you think she should back out?” Chill asks him.
“He’s a cop. I just thought…”
Chill’s laughter has me turning around to see what she finds so funny about the situation. “He’s not a cop,” she says before taking a handful of his uniform and giving it a hard tug. The material rips away easily, and I see why. Velcro at the seams.
“It’s a fucking costume?”
“A stripper’s costume. Yes,” Chill says, her eyes full of mirth. She tosses the remnants to the floor. “I noticed the velcro when he was holding us hostage. That and his badge is fake.”
“That’s a relief,” I mutter to myself.
When Chill places her hands on my shoulders, I want to look anywhere but at the disappointment on her face. “He isn’t a real cop. But if he was, he’d be a dirty one. Dirty cops make all cops look bad. They put the lives of good cops in jeopardy, and they have no business wearing the uniform. One day, we might have a cop hanging there, but only if he’s earned it. If you can’t handle that, I need to know now.”
I consider her words, and deep down, I know she’s right. If a cop ends up here, it’s because he did something wrong. Dirty cops make good cops look bad. They’re dangerous. I consider how Rafe risks his life every day to help people. He’s a good man and a good cop. “You’re fucking right. Whoever hangs there deserves it, especially if he wears a badge.”
We get some information from the fake cop before we move on to interrogating Stone. I get to use the nutcrackers I bought for just this purpose. Cracking Stone’s balls and hearing him bellow in pain is extremely satisfying. The aspect I enjoy mostabout being an Enforcer is the opportunity to come up with ways to torture the assholes who hurt the innocent.
We’re just finishing up with Stone when Puma gets a call from Spark.
“Wildcard, Chill, can you finish up here?” Puma asks them. “Spark needs Dice, Viper, and me. It’s about Angel.”
Chill and Wildcard wave us off. So, after I clean up, I follow Dice and Puma back to the clubhouse. I can tell Dice is struggling to stop himself from booking it. I smile at how obsessed he’s become with the little girl. Angel is a special girl and deserving of a man like Dice to protect her. If anyone knows how to make a damaged girl feel whole again, it’s Dice.
I see Rafe sitting with Dr. Chambers, Maia, Max, and Alisa. I give him a wave as we move past them. He gives me a smile, but I can’t help to notice it doesn’t reach his eyes. I’m certain he knows where we were coming from and what we were doing. He turns a blind eye to most of what the club does because we’re not true one-percenters. But he knows we aren’t Boy Scouts. Or Girl Scouts.
I see Spark enter his office just as we turn the corner. We follow him in to find Avery and her friend, Juliet, waiting for us.
“What’s going on?” Puma asks.
“Yeah, what’s up, Spark? I should be in The Pit helping Chill,” I add.
“I know, but this is important,” Spark tells us. “I got the results back from the lab on Angel’s DNA. We found a match. She has a half-sister. Same father, different mothers.”
I frown at his words, not sure what this has to do with me, but then I hear Avery say my name. I glance at her in question, but then Spark lobs a fastball at me. “Viper,” he confirms, watching my reaction. “I saw the resemblance between you and her, so I took a chance. I sent your DNA in with Angel’s, andthere is a match. Siblings. Angel is your sister. Half-sister. Your father is her father.”
I shake my head. “That’s not possible.” I killed my father years ago. There is no way he’s Angel’s dad.
“The results say otherwise. I’m sorry, I should have asked first,” Spark tells me. “I don’t know why I didn’t. It was a long shot. I didn’t want to create more confusion or get anyone’s hopes up.”
“But this is great news…” I hear Avery speaking, but I’ve tuned her out, although I hear the word ‘guardianship.’ My mind is back in that dirty kitchen several years ago. The night my father found us. Where he murdered my mother before trying to rape me. I remember the threats he made, how he planned on taking me with him and breeding me. Like I was livestock.
Dice grabs my arms, so I’m forced to look into his face. I don’t want to cry, don’t want to show weakness, but I can’t stop the tears. I can’t stop the trembling that starts in my center and radiates out to every bit of my body.
“Viper? What’s wrong?”
“It can’t be true.”
“I don’t understand,” says Avery.
