“She works for Doctors Without Borders,” Steel said. That was the truth after all, and he was proud of Lilly’s selfless career. “I don’t get to see her often.”
“But why keep her a secret?” Lucky asked, his face curious. “I’ve known you since I was eighteen years old! I took abulletfor you, and younevermentioned a sister to me. I had to find out from Keys!”
When Lucky and Bear were young Marines, they’d been under Steel’s command. While Lucky had only served four years,he’d still been deployed multiple times. On his last tour, he’d spotted a sniper that Steel had missed and took the bullet meant to kill Steel. His injury had not been the reason he’d left the Marines, and though Steel was sorry to see such a fine young soldier go, he understood more than anyone that family came before country. But Steel had not forgotten Lucky’s sacrifice. They’d stayed in contact over the years, and Steel had even written letters as a character witness to aid in Lucky gaining custody and then adopting his two much-younger siblings.
And when Steel had retired and needed a place to settle his family down, he’d chosen Lucky’s small town of Mount Grove, Pennsylvania. Carter, his oldest, had already graduated by that time, but Jordan and Melanie were still young teenagers. The idea of the motorcycle club had come about one evening over drinks with Lucky, who had already retired from the Marines, and Bear, who was due to retire soon. They’d wanted more than a club for veterans, but a home. A place for people without family or who couldn’t be with their family to reacclimate into society after years of service.
Originally, the motorcycles had just been fun. Something for them to do on weekends, but as more people joined, the more Steel realized that the men, and eventually women, needed more structure than a simple hangout place.
TheVia DaemoniaMotorcycle Club had been born.
There were seven Original members: Steel, Lucky, Bulldog, Jumper, Demo, Scar, and Bear. All seven had taken Officer positions. After Scar had left, Ghost had been named as their new Enforcer and had remained as such, despite Scar’s return, until he’d been nominated as the club’s new President. Now, they were going to have to find yet another Enforcer. Recently, the club had also added an eighth Officer position. Keys, their resident computer wizard, was now the club’s Tech.
A lot of changes, Steel silently mused. And not just the amount of red that now coated the club’s hands. They’d had two funerals in recent years, though one had turned out to be not necessary. Scar’s death had been greatly exaggerated, but Conner’s had not been. The prospect had given his life to save Harper’s, Lucky’s ol’ lady. Unknown to anyone at the time, Harper had also been pregnant, meaning Conner had saved her baby’s life too. Pumpkin’s recent brush with death had shaken many of them, and not just because they had also thought they’d lost Scar. It was a reminder that they could die at home as easily as they could overseas.
Steel’s desire to protect the club, his family, was what drove his decision to step down as President. Since Jenna’s diagnosis, his priorities had shifted, and he was no longer the best man to lead this club. They needed someone who was entirely devoted to them, and Steel was not that man anymore.
Jenna was his sole concern.
“We all came into this club with secrets,” Steel reminded his VP, evenly. “If you recall, it wasn’t until Harper had entered your life that many of the club learned Scotty wasn’t your biological son or the circumstances behind you adopting Sissy and Scotty.”
Lucky’s cheeks reddened.
Steel turned his attention to Bulldog. “None of us had heard Abby’s name prior to Carlos finding her on the side of the road in that rusted old minivan. We all accepted your history with her without batting an eye. Why is it so hard to believe that I had a life, family, outside of the club? Or is there another reason the two of you would doubt my leadership now?”
Both men stiffened.
“It’s not that,” Lucky defended. “We trust you implicitly, always have.”
“It’s just a shock,” Bulldog continued. “At least for me, because I never knew.”
“And now you do,” Steel said shortly. “Can we move on to the point of this meeting now?” Lucky and Bulldog smartly clamped their mouths shut before taking seats opposite Steel. He sat back, looking at the next highest ranking members of the club. Men he trusted with Jenna and his children’s lives. “I know you were keeping something from everyone at the meeting yesterday, including me. What is it?”
Lucky barely moved while Bulldog turned his head, cracking his neck. The two exchanged a look before Bulldog said, “There was a break-in at the consignment store while you were in jail.”
Steel’s outward expression did not change. “Anything taken?”
They shook their heads. “Keys was busy, but he sent Tom over to take a look,” Lucky explained. Tom was Keys’ new business partner. While he wasn’t a member of the club, he was a friend. His wife, Simone, was also Tally’s best friend, and therefore their entire family fell under Scar’s protection. “He found three hidden cameras.”
If Steel wasn’t here at the clubhouse or at his own home, he was at the consignment store with Jenna. Someone clearly wanted to watch him.
Bulldog ran a hand down his mouth and long beard before he added, “The panic alarm that was installed under the counter was also disabled.”
Steel stiffened. There was a chance that the cameras were placed in the consignment store by the Feds, that there was a surveillance warrant on the place. A very small chance, but still a chance. Steel would have had Keys look into it before making other inquiries, but the second that Bulldog had said the panic button was disabled? All other concerns went right out the window. After Angel and Bree had been attacked in her tattoo studio, Keys had installed security measures in each of the club’s businesses, as well as on each person. The dog tags the clubwore were not given to them by Uncle Sam. They were trackers with the warningIf you’re close enough to read this, you’re close enough to dieengraved on the back. The ol’ ladies had them in their earrings or jewelry, and the club kids had trackers in their shoes.
Each business had a panic button behind the reception counter by their registers. There were many issues with this news, but the biggest was the fact that whoever had broken into the consignment store had known of the panic button’s existenceandhad reason to disable it.
A very different sort of fire than the one that had fueled him only hours ago now burned in his veins.
“Jenna is to go nowhere alone,” Steel ordered. “I want both prospects fully armed and on her at all times. Get Carlos to deputize them if needed.”
Bulldog nodded, pulling his phone out of his pocket. “What about Ollie?”
“Jigsaw has him at school,” Lucky said quickly. After Pirate had quit his job as the local high school’s security guard, the club had put Jigsaw in his place. The new member had been between jobs, and Principal Rockland had been happy to have another former military guard.
It was unlikely that someone would attack Ollie at his high school. It was too public, but it wasn’t hard to hide someone’s motives. Unfortunately, active shooters in schools were not uncommon in their country, and someone could disguise themselves as such to get to Ollie.
“Chip,” Steel said. “Get him a janitor job or something at the school. I don’t want just Jigsaw there.”
