Dex ARe (21 page)

Tora
. We’d known Pagano would do this. It was Tora who finally found the evidence to exonerate me. I knew the price she paid to get it and so did Pagano.

“Save it,” Sly said. “Tora’s not up for discussion.”

“Oh? She came to me, did you know that? Such a beautiful young woman she’s grown into. Stubborn, like you, Declan. She wasn’t afraid to go to extreme lengths to get what she wanted. Shocking, really.”

“Fuck you,” I said in a tone unrecognizable even to my own ears. Blood rage began to cloud my vision. Sly and Londo shifted; only Pagano stayed stock still, smirking at me from his perch on the table. He fingered the flash drive.

“You keep your hands off the club, or I do what I could have done,” I said. “You forget, I know where all of your bodies are buried, George. I survived Marion. You wouldn’t.”

He picked up the flash drive. “I figured you’d come here with weak threats. And I hadn’t wanted to stoop to that level.”

“No, but you’re willing to nearly kill innocent men.”

“You’re not innocent. Did you think I wouldn’t have a
backup plan? I made sure the government had enough evidence to put you away for life. How hard did you think it would be for me to do it again? Do you know how embarrassing your exoneration was for them? They’re itching to throw you right back there. You’re an easy mark. I’m not.”

He tossed the flash drive to me and I caught it one-handed. “Receipts, phone records, a money trail. There’s enough evidence on there to put you away again along with most of your club. And this time it’s unimpeachable.”

Sly stepped between us. “You’re going to play this card again? You tried it once. It didn’t work. Whatever you have on that drive is doctored.”

Pagano shrugged. “That’s your story. But you’re still just a bunch of biker thugs. You know firsthand how many times the FBI has tried to bring me down. And how many times they’ve failed. You still don’t get it. Blackie Murphy did. Hell, Dex, even your father did. There
is
no Great Wolves M.C. without me. You exist because of me and you’ll cease to exist whenever and however I like. I own you. I own the federal prosecutors. I even own half the judges.”

“Then what the hell do you need us for?” I said. “Don’t oversell it, George. If you have all of that, you don’t need this club to launder your shit.”

“We all have our parts to play and this is yours. You’ll do what I say or you’ll end up back in that hell hole forever. Your little girl won’t be able to bat her eyelashes and spread her legs to get you out this time. She’ll just do it because I want her to.”

When I moved, Sly didn’t try to stop me. I fisted Pagano’s tie and jerked him forward so I had him nose to nose. I kept my back to Londo. Sly was back there, covering me in any case, I knew.

“You’re not going to touch my daughter. You’re not going to speak her name or ever think about her again.” Tora was safe. I couldn’t let this asshole make me forget that. She was safe. I’d made sure of it.

Pagano laughed in my face even though I half choked him. “You just had to stay in your cage. If you’d done that, none of the rest of this would have happened.”

I jerked him tighter. His lips turned purple. “You’re not going to cross me, Declan. And you’re not going to kill me either. It won’t save your daughter or that little blonde nurse they said was standing next to you when your fat friend got torn open the other day. You kill me and the rest of my crew makes sure you pay for it. They’re going to let you rot in prison and start with Tora and Ava first. You don’t think I don’t have eyes on them right this second? I know every move she’s made since you left Chicago. With you back behind bars, you’ll be alive to know about what I do to her. To both of them. You want that? If I die, my family takes my place. Like cutting off the head of a hydra.”

He choked the last word out so I could barely hear it. But I saw his eyes. He meant what he said. The people I loved would have no peace while he continued to draw breath. There was no other choice. There had never been any other choice. I might be damned for it, but I would not let this man hurt anyone I loved ever again.

“Yeah?” I said, reaching into the front of my pants and pulling out the small knife I’d hidden there. “Let’s find out.”

George Pagano’s eyes widened as I stuck the knife between his third and fourth ribs, piercing his kidney. He opened his mouth, but was dead before he could scream.

I turned. Sly had a hand on Londo as Pagano sunk the ground.

“You fucking did it,” Londo said, his voice pitched an octave too high. “I can’t believe you fucking did it. Holy shit.”

Sly stood poised to take Londo out if he so much as moved. The trick now would be to hope everyone outside was ready to move quickly.

“No, no!” Londo said, putting his hands up in surrender. “You don’t understand. He wasn’t kidding about what he said. He tried to leave orders to have your daughter and some other woman killed if anything happened to him. But it’s not going to happen. I swear to you.
It’s over. There’s a gun. Taped under that shelf by the catwalk. We were going to use it on him. George wasn’t going to live today no matter what.”

“Who’s we?” Sly said.

“You have to get the hell out of here.”

“Londo, what the hell is going on?”

“George wasn’t lying, Sly. He’s been obsessed with Dex. Paranoid you were going to rat him out. Mad with the idea of going after your family, Dex. None of the rest of us ever wanted that. It’s ridiculous. It’s all he could think about. The hits on the club, those were all him, but we made sure nobody got seriously hurt. Or they weren’t supposed to. At the Wolf Den, that was a mistake. My guy was aiming for the wall, I swear. I can make this okay. We don’t want a war with the club. We want to move out of this territory for good. There’s too much heat down here and it was because of George’s obsessions. He was stuck in the past. Just like you said. I can make this okay but you need to get your people and get out of here now.”

I shot a look to Sly. This could be a setup, of course. Londo could just be scared he was the next one about to wind up dead on the floor. Before I could do it, Sly walked over to the wall where Londo pointed and sure enough, concealed behind black electrical tape was a 9 .mm. Sly slid it under his belt and nodded to me.

“How do I know you’re not just lying to save your own ass?” I said, my fingers still twitching with blood rage. “How do I know my family really isn’t in danger?”

Londo put his hands up. “Because George is dead and no one has made a move on you. You don’t hear me screaming orders for my guys to start shooting up yours. Walk out with me. You’ll see.”

“You walk out first,” Sly said to Londo. The guy swallowed hard and nodded. My heart racing, I brought up the rear and we walked into the blazing sun together. We filed out. Colt and the rest of the crew rose to attention and moved toward their bikes with a look from Sly. Sawyer didn’t wait and started up the van.

“It’s over. George is dead,” Londo called out to his crew. They looked bewildered for a second but didn’t make any sort of move toward us. They stood down.

“How the hell are you going to make this okay?” Sly turned to Londo. “That’s not how this works. Are you giving me your word none of this lands on my guys?”

Londo nodded and still, none of Pagano’s men made a move. “You have more dirt on my crew than I have on yours. Just like Dex says. You keep up your end by keeping your mouths shut and we’re done with each other.” Blood roared in my ears. Later, I might be able to make sense of what happened in that warehouse, but for now, every cell in my body was telling me we needed to book, and fast. I stepped around Londo and headed for my bike, keeping one eye on Sly to cover his blind spot.

I heard movement behind me but before I could turn toward it, I felt the cold barrel against my temple.

“Get on your fucking knees and don’t move,” Billy said, before I heard the unmistakable hammer click as he cocked his gun. Steady as I could, I put my hands out and sank to my knees.

“Don’t move. Don’t anybody make a fucking move!” Billy shouted. From my peripheral vision, I saw hands go up all around.

“Billy,” Sly said, his tone slow and deliberate. “What is this?”

“This isn’t how this was supposed to work, Londo. We had a deal,” Billy shouted.

“It’s okay, Billy,” Londo said. “I wasn’t kidding. George is dead. Go inside and see for yourself. It’s not on you. It doesn’t have to be on you. It’s taken care of. It’s all good.”

It was like I had two minds. There was cold fear that came from the realization that Billy meant to end me. But it sharpened my senses and puzzle pieces fell into place. Billy had a deal with Londo. Londo had assumed he’d be in on the meeting and would take out George. But there’d be a price.
Me
. Billy would kill me so the Pagano family got their blood price. Maybe Sly was supposed to die too. Then Billy would get the club. Londo would get Pagano’s crew.

In that moment, I knew I was only alive, however briefly, because it turned out Londo had freaked at the sight of blood. I couldn’t help it, it made me laugh. The second Pagano hit the floor, Londo had fallen apart and panicked, forgetting all about Billy.

“Shut the fuck up, Dex,” Billy said. “You belong in prison. This is on you.”

I shrugged even though my heart pounded inside my chest and I knew with certainty Billy would pull that trigger. I’d misjudged him up until now. I’d seen that cold look of hate in his eyes since the second I walked back into the club. I felt stupid now for misreading it. “Pagano said that too. I’m sorry to disappoint both of you.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Billy said. “This way works too.”

He pressed the barrel further into my temple and black spots swam before my eyes. I felt his posture shift as he braced himself for the kick back. So did I.

The shot cracked through the air and my vision clouded red with warm blood. Billy’s blood. I turned. Sly stood directly behind me, gun raised. Billy lay at my feet with the back of his head blown out.

Chapter Twenty-One

Ava

Something was wrong. I felt it in any nerve ending. For thirty-six hours, I’d become a prisoner in my own home. Mark
left but Joleen stayed with me. I kicked myself for doing it but I called Dex. My calls went straight to his voice mail.

About twelve hours in, I’d finally let Curtis into the apartment. He wasted no time turning himself into our third roommate. Joleen stood at the stove frying eggs while Curtis sat at the table. I could barely stand the sight of him and I knew that wasn’t fair.

I wanted Dex out of my life. A clean break. It was the only way I could be sure I wouldn’t walk into a hail of bullets the next time he was around. And yet, there was Curtis: as a prospect, he lacked the cut yet. But that was a minor detail. Curtis was a Great Wolf all the way. He carried himself like them. He talked like them. He bled for them. He kept a respectable distance from me and called me ma’am and that made the whole thing worse. I couldn’t stay mad at him or throw him out. Except he wouldn’t tell me anything of substance.

Where was Dex? What went down? Was everyone all right? Curtis said nothing about anything. When his phone rang I couldn’t help but hover, trying to piece together who was calling and what was said. Curtis kept it close to the vest, usually stepping out into the hall to talk. He listened more than talked and his face betrayed nothing when he came back in.

“I have to go out,” I finally said. “Eventually I’m going to have to go to work, Curtis. Are you going to follow me there too?” I wasn’t really mad at him. I was worried. Out of my mind with it.

“You don’t have to work until tomorrow night,” Curtis said, unhelpfully. “Your schedule’s cleared, remember?”

I wanted to bash him over the head with Joleen’s pan. She smirked from the kitchen. In the last day, she’d become Curtis’s co-conspirator. I hadn’t brought myself to ask her about it but I knew that look on her face. And I knew it on his too. When this was over, whatever this was, I could expect Curtis to stay in close touch with Joleen Massey. Traitor.

“If I left right now, would you put your hands on me?” I said. I wouldn’t. Of course, I wouldn’t. But Curtis’s answer would give me more of a clue as to how much danger Dex thought I was in. By extension, it would tell me how much danger he was in.

God. That right there. It was the reason I had to get him out of my system. He was like a drug. It felt oh so good in the moment but eventually, being with Dex would destroy me. I’d made the right call. Except, how come it hurt so badly? Just thinking about him made my heart ache from the hole he’d left there. He’d left a t-shirt behind and when Joleen and Curtis weren’t looking, I’d slipped into it just to have his scent all over me again. How would I survive losing him a second time? It had been only a day.

“Aw, c’mon, Miss Olander.” Curtis shrugged. He had puppy dog eyes and if the situation were different, I might have laughed when he set them on me. “Don’t be like that. It’s not just Dex, you know? The rest of the guys wanna make sure nothing happens to you either. Just sit tight. I promise this’ll be over real quick.”

“You shouldn’t make promises like that,” I said, fixing a cold stare at him that I knew he didn’t deserve. Then I promptly felt like a shit.

Joleen set three plates of eggs and bacon out. We were doing breakfast for dinner. Curtis wolfed his down and fixed those puppy eyes on her. She reacted properly and a blush crept up her neck. Oh brother.

“I’ll eat later,” I said and Joleen wrinkled her nose at me. I left the two of them alone and went to my corner of the loft, drawing curtains shut for privacy.

I curled up on my bed and pulled my headphones from the nightstand. I pulled up an audio book on my phone and set it in its cradle. I couldn’t even tell you what it was about. Mercifully, my brain shut off and I was asleep before the next chapter.

Pounding woke me and I sat up, disoriented. The apartment was pitch black and I had no idea what time it was anymore. I cast my headphones aside and threw the curtain back. Someone pounded at the door again.

“Curtis?” I called out. He didn’t answer. I let my eyes adjust to the light. It was very late, almost midnight, according to my phone. And I appeared to be completely alone in the apartment.
What the hell?