Swallowing hard, a fierce determination runs through me. “We’re leaving now. Be there soon. Just stay hidden, okay?”
She whimpers again. This time, I don’t miss the clear sniffling of her crying. “Okay. See you s-soon.” Her voice cracks, and then she ends the call.
Letting out a hefty huff, I slide my cell into my pocket while Nitro shakes his head. “The fuck is she doing at the casino? I thought that would be the last place she would want to go, you know… considering?”
“Her stupid friends took her there,” I grumble, my boots pounding as I make my way over to the rest of the guys, and unfortunately, Elizabeth is with them.
Bear glances up, the first to spot me. “Everything okay, Pres? That call seemed intense.”
Exhaling, I shake my head as the rest of the guys and Elizabeth turn to look at me. My eyes shift to Will, and I figure it’s best to just come out with it. “We have to ride to the Hidden Hand Casino—”
“What?Why the fuck would we do that?” Ghost spits out, interrupting me. The toothpick in his mouth almost falling out with his shock.
Elizabeth raises her brow as if she’s very interested in this, but I keep my attention on Will. “Because Millie’s there hiding in a bathroom stall, and she needs us to—”
“Are youfucking kidding me?”Will yells, making everyone look at him, but he doesn’t seem to care as he starts edging toward the exit. “She’s there? At the fucking casino. Hiding from those psychos right now?” His breathing comes in hard and fast, his face turning redder with each passing moment.
I raise my hand to placate him. “Yes, prospect, she is. That’s why we need to formulate a plan—”
“Fuck having a plan, Pres. No disrespect, but if they find her, we won’t have time—”
“Will, take a breath. It’s going to be okay, son. We’re gonna go get her. Aren’t we, Pres?” Bear states, placing a placating hand on his youngest son’s shoulder.
Will pants harder, his eyes frantic as he stares at him. “Dad, I haven’t told her… how I… if she…” he hesitates, but we all know where he’s going with this conversation.
Bear wraps his arm around his son for comfort, his eyes meeting mine for an answer. “Okay… we go.Now. We get Millie out of there alive—”
“I want to come with you,” Elizabeth interrupts, and for a brief moment, I forgot she was even here.
I snap my eyes to meet hers, letting out a mocking laugh. “No,” I reply succinctly, then signal for my guys to begin heading out to our bikes.
But she doesn’t give in, her heels clicking on the floor as she runs behind me. “Hey, I’m here to gather information on the club and how you handle business. This isexactlywhat you have me here for. To watch how you handle business. It doesn’t get any more real than this, Sin. If you want to prove to me,to the world,that your club is the good guys you say you are, then youneedme to see how you handle this. Otherwise, all I can say is that you went off into enemy territory and refused to let me go with you. And from that, I can only surmise the negative connotations that have been raised against you and your club are, therefore, founded.”
Letting out a frustrated growl in anger, I spin to face her, gritting my teeth. “This kind of confrontation, wildcat, is not fun and games. It can get messy. We’renotthe bad guys in this scenario, but we might do bad things to the bad guys to ensure the safety of the people we love. I don’t know what the hell you’re about to witness, but I don’t apologize for what we have to do to make sure that Millie comes home to her father. That she comes home to Will. Youhaveto understand that if you’re going to come with us, Defiance going into the Hidden Hand Casino is a breach of the treaty we formed with them.We’rebreaking the rules by doing this, and in doing so, we could get hurt. Youcouldget hurt. So, if you’re willing to be injured or possibly die for this part of your story, then by all means, Elizabeth,tag along,”I snap mockingly, hoping like hell it will deter her.
But the crazy bitch just smiles, reaching for her bag containing her notebooks and recorders, then throws the long strap over her shoulder. “I’m not easily scared, bossman. I’m here for the scoop. To me, this is where the headlines start. I’m coming. Youwon’ttalk me out of it.”
Groaning, I throw my hands in the air in frustration and spin, stomping my boots as I head for the exit. “You’d better keep up and don’t lose us. We don’t want to save Millie and then have to go in to protect you too.”
“Got it. You won’t even know I am there,” she states. The happiness in her tone makes me question if she even cares that Millie is in danger, or if she only cares that she is heading into the heart of chaos to get her shot at some sort of epic story right now.
Stupid, crazy woman!
I step up beside the SUV and glance at Will. “Prospect, take Elizabeth and keep a close eye on her while we’re heading into the casino. I know you want to go in all guns-a-blazing, but we need to play this right. We’re going intotheir turf, we play bytheir rules,or everyone will end up dead—”
“But, Pres—”
“Prospect, don’t be a fucking hothead! For the sake of Millie… Do. You. Understand. Me?”I snap.
Will slumps his shoulders as Elizabeth steps up to his side, looping her arm with his. “I got him. We’ll be okay. We’ll hang back and let you guys take the lead, won’t we, Will?” She smiles kindly at him, and he exhales and then slowly nods.
“Yeah. Can we just go, though,please?”Will begs.
I dip my head in thanks to Elizabeth, then turn to face the rest of my brothers. “All right… we know what can happen when weenter the Alliance’s turf. They don’t know we’re coming, so they probably won’t greet us with open arms. If we show no hostility toward them, thismightgo smoothly. Don’t be a fucking hero. We just want to get Millie back and leave. It’s too close to bringing in the new year for anyIron Man, End Gameshit.”
My brothers laugh as Elizabeth tilts her head at me with wide eyes. “Who knew you were a Marvel closet geek?”
Snorting out a laugh, I lean past her, opening the SUV door for her. “Not a geek at all. Once a month, we have a movie night, and a brother gets to pick the movie. Every time it’s Ghost’s turn, he picks the next in line from Marvel. We’ve been slowly going through the franchise…again. Last time, it wasEnd Game. It’s just the freshest reference I could find that I thought the guys would remember.”
