Authors: Selene Chardou
“My dad isn’t like that. Hell, he’ll be the Bastards’ Prez till the end and we don’t rat,” I replied in a quiet voice.
“
You
don’t rat
or
the Bastards don’t rat? Last time I checked, you were a fully protected member of the Saints. Watch your mouth around here. The walls have eyes and ears,” Eve said before she walked ahead of me to speak privately with Warden Daniel Matthews of Lovelock, who awaited her.
I stood there, my handbag on my shoulder and checked the messages on my smart phone.
This wasn’t just another visit and my dad wasn’t an ordinary prisoner. Prison officials and FBI agents surrounded me; I would hardly be able to embrace my dad, let alone slip anything to him. It wasn’t only a bad situation for me but everyone involved.
I looked down at my left hand and smiled as the blue diamond sparkled on my left ring finger. The ring represented so much more than my engagement to Trey, it also signified my change in club status. I wasn’t visiting my father as a Bastard biker brat; instead I was a woman affiliated with the Lucifer’s Saints visiting her dad who happened to be the President of a rival club.
Eve approached me with Warden Matthews by her side. “Jonesy’s ready to see you, Kyra. Remember, he knows about
everything
. Nothing stays quiet in the world you live in and to say he’s upset you’re engaged to Trey Lennon is putting it rather mildly. The man is livid, angry with you, and blames you for everything that happened to the Bastards.”
“Even if it’s
his
fault?” I shot back in anger. “I didn’t put a gun to his head and ask him to make any deals with
Aztecas Infierno
. Hell, they tried to kill us in Southern California and almost succeeded. I hate those bastards for what they did to
my
club. Thanks to them, Kink doesn’t have an old lady, has been goin’ crazy with grief and Chantal has had to step up as a mother figure to his sons, her nephews. She’s a kid herself—hell, she’s only
nineteen
. If my father wants someone to blame, he should take a good look in the mirror because he did this to himself.”
“Come on, let’s get this over with,” she replied in a no-nonsense manner as we walked through another set of security doors and were led into a private visitor’s room.
My father aged considerably since I’d seen him last. He sat in his orange jumpsuit, his wrists handcuffed to the desk. He hadn’t shaved in a while and his skin looked sallow, dark circles under his brilliant blue eyes, the same color as my own. His reddish-brown hair, flecked with gray, looked greasy and unkempt, thrown into a messy ponytail while his hands bunched together in fists. If he could have stood and slapped the shit out of me, he would’ve gladly done it and dealt with the consequence of his actions.
“What the fuck are you doin’ here?” my father greeted me coldly. “I gave you the chance to come back but you spit in my face and now you’re engaged to a fuckin’ Saint. Do you know how humiliating that is to me?”
I sat down across from my dad. “You know what’s humiliating for me? Knowing you hate Dizzy so much, you’d be willing to put my life at risk just to seek your petty revenge on a crime that happened over thirty years ago. I know what he did to you but that doesn’t absolve you from your own sins, Dad. ‘
He that is
without sin
among you,
let
him be the
first to cast
a
stone
at her
,’ do you remember that passage in the book of John?”
“’Course I do. I’m the one who taught it to you,” he muttered, refusing to look at me.
“Have you not ordered the deaths of men? If Dizzy hurt you when he murdered your brother then didn’t you stab him in the back when you viciously took his son from him and incorporated him into the Bastards? You knew all along and, yet, you’re just as culpable with deciding Trey’s destiny as Dizzy was.
“He could have gone to MIT or CalTech. He should have gone to college and you should have waited until he came back before you made him a prospect but you didn’t. It was your own personal little ‘fuck you’ to Dizzy,” I explained in an unwavering tone.
Dad slammed his fists against the table. “That boy always knew what he wanted, including my own fucking daughter. You think I would ever forgive him for what he did to you?”
“What did he
do
to
me
, Dad?”
“That fucking D&C you had…you blamed it on the college boy you was datin’ at the time. But the two of you had one night together all them years ago. Both of you…stinkin’ drunk…fuckin’ at the club party for Trey’s celebration and him bein’ voted into the club. I never forgot that—how could I when I knew the two of you would be nothin’ but trouble? And I was right. Now, he’s taken you away from me forever, and that
cocksucker
has won. Doesn’t matter what I ever did, Dizzy still always managed to one-up me. Stupid fuckin’ mick…came here with nothin’, and still managed to get everythin’.”
My heart sank at my father’s words. It was true and I couldn’t believe after all this time, I’d forgotten about the history between Trey and I. When he fucked me that night at my condo the previous November, it wasn’t the first time we’d consummated our relationship. I’d been too drunk to remember that night so long ago when we were young, wild, and free but Trey certainly remembered, and so did my father. How could I have been so thoughtless and stupid? My past had come back to haunt me and there was nothing I could do about it.
I refused to cry this time. It didn’t matter anymore. I’d decided my destiny and would follow through with the plans I’d made for my life.
“There’s nothing else to say, Papa,” I murmured. “You’re right, perhaps you have every reason in the world to hate Dizzy but your feelings for him are why
you
lost
me. I will always love you, until your untimely death—or mine—but I
won’t
stand by you while you go through this. The Bastards will
never
have my loyalty or my respect again. The life I lived with you is no more. Good luck and goodbye.”
I stood and glanced at Eve. “I know you wanted to talk to my father on your own. I’ll wait outside if you don’t mind.”
She smiled slightly and nodded her head. “Believe me, I understand.”
“Wait a minute,” my father said as I reached the door with a prison officer by my side to walk me out.
“What is it, Father?”
“I just wanted to say that it’s not over. I know I don’t have no reason to be loyal to
Aztecas Infierno
since they think I’m a rat already. Everyone does now that I’m being moved to Supermax but…they’re gonna come after the club and they’re gonna destroy it. They want it all—Northern Nevada, Vegas, California,
and
the rest of the West Coast.
“They’re gonna get it too, even if they destroy themselves in the process of eliminating the Saints. Maureen planted a seed her son is gonna sow and believe me, if anyone knows about vengeance, it’s Carlito. That is where he shows his Cox side of the family…he’s patient, baby. Don’t ever let your guard down if you wanna see you and your old man reach
my
age.”
I didn’t bother to respond because I had nothing else left to say to my father. Our semblance of a relationship was over and either he would try to run the Bastards from a prison cell or naturally transfer power to my brother, Evan. No matter what they decided to do, it wasn’t my decision or my concern.
I walked outside of the prison and breathed in the fresh Nevada air. I couldn’t leave this place fast enough. I had a day of relaxation and fun at the club and an evening with my man planned that night.
We were celebrating the official transition of the Saints’ Vegas chapter being handed over from the old guard to Hardy and Ronan. Although we could have celebrated the event in Sin City, Hardy and Ronan insisted the event be held at the Birch Tree compound. We’d taken an FBI helicopter from Carson City to Lovelock and would be taking it back after Eve finished speaking to my father.
It seemed like ages passed but around twenty minutes later, Eve emerged with her FBI cronies following behind her. As soon as she reached me, we walked side-by-side.
“Turns out your father loves his club more than anything else,” she began in a quiet voice. “He’s decided to tell us everything he knows in exchange for a reduced sentence.”
I strode next to her, my heart thundering in my chest. “How long will he be inside?”
“The judge will give him a two year sentence for aiding and abetting criminals wanted by the government under RICO. He’ll serve six months at Florence ADX in solitary confinement and pay a fine of three million dollars to the government.” She turned toward me, her hazel-green eyes bright with emotion. “It’s nothing, but he’ll spend the rest of his life lookin’ over his shoulder as long as members of
Aztecas Infierno
are free.”
“What about Fernando and Carlito? The Feds don’t have enough to charge either one of them?”
“Not when Emilio is taking the blame and telling us he ran the organization. We’re imposing the max and going through their records with a fine tooth comb. We’ve seized assets and we’ll continue to do our best to bring in Carlito—he’s wanted for questioning after all, but Fernando is running the club and he’s clean as a whistle. We have nothing to tie him to anything. He was never at any of the meetings and, for a VP, he sure doesn’t participate in much.”
“It might be due to his sexual proclivities,” I murmured in response. “Fernando is bisexual and he’s never tried to hide it. Emilio considers his younger brother to be an embarrassment to say the least.”
“Yes, I know all about Fernando and his…sexual orientation. I have a whole file on the Navarro family,” Eve remarked as we continued to walk toward the helicopter. “The only sons of Ricardo and Amelie Navarro, the couple emigrated from Cadiz, Spain to Ensenada, Mexico while she was pregnant with Emilio. Ricardo was a Spaniard but Amelie was Belgian—half-Flemish and half-Walloon.
“Sardonically speaking, men who have no skin in the game run a cartel founded on defending the realization of the great Aztec revolution. Men of Western European origin, wearing brown-face while playing the part of the oppressed and downtrodden, fighting a motorcycle club full of Irish people who
were
oppressed and downtrodden in their native country. If
that
isn’t irony, I don’t know what else to call it.”
We walked the rest of the way in silence as I thought long and hard about the situation. Both Eve and my father had given me key pieces to a puzzle I could take back to the Saints and they could use to their advantage. I would speak to Gisela first and together, we would decide what to do.
The helicopter ride back to Carson City ended much too quickly though it did give me some extra time to formulate a plan. Eve said goodbye to me before she smiled encouragingly.
“I know what your father said to you today was harsh but it’s good you’ve left the Bastards with a clear conscience. There’s so much you need to know about the Saints MC and I’m sure Trey will share it with you when the time comes. Until then, take care of yourself and my son. Stay safe, all right, honey?”
“I will. Thank you.”
She embraced me warmly before letting go and strode quickly to a black Chevy Tahoe owned by the Feds. The windows were smoked to limo-tint; as soon as the back door closed, I couldn’t see her anymore. I turned around, unlocked my own SUV and slid inside.
The drive to Birch Tree was quick and uneventful. As soon as I arrived at the clubhouse, Trey met me shortly after I parked the Range Rover.
The club had undergone changes since the drive-by. The whole compound now had a ten-foot high cement wall. Although it should have seemed oppressive, we all felt safer. This didn’t mean another attack couldn’t happen but we would have a lot more protection.
Dizzy had also called in a favor. Saints members who had either gone Nomad, or wanted to leave their club for other reasons were allowed to relocate to Birch Tree. The charter had grown by another ten men who’d all been at Miranda’s funeral so it was actually nice having more bodies here at the compound.
Everyone I knew and loved was here for the Vegas chapter celebration on a perfectly beautiful, peaceful summer day.
Gisela and Cillian sat next to one another on a picnic bench next to the park. Caitlin and Declan played with Kink’s sons, Killian and Braedan.