I shook my head and snapped, “Fuck no. She doesn’t know what she’s drawing. Her mentor is feeding her the symbols as ‘pattern reconstruction exercises.’ Giving her partials to fill in. She doesn’t have a clue they’re active identifiers. Doesn’t think they mean anything at all. But she’s got a mind that sees deeper than surface-level shit. And she’s being trained to use it in a particular way, which makes her valuable if you’re creating a database of identifiers for rival syndicates. It also makes her a target.”
King rubbed his jaw, then broke his silence. “Finding some of her work associated with our work makes this club business.”
I hadn’t really expected King to tell me to fuck off and handle this shit on my own, but relief still hit me low and hard. My brothers would have my back. That meant more protection for Elena. More muscle if things went sideways. And more reach if I had to burn the world to the fucking ground.
While the majority of the club’s jobs were small, very detailed, and delicate work, there were times when we had to do more than just erase one person or family. Like the cases Wizard had found with links to these symbols.
Sometimes we had to go after the devil they were hiding from. Take down a larger group or even an entire organization, especially if they were involved in shit that slashed through our moral code.
Even with just the small amount of information Wizard had uncovered, I had a feeling that we’d only scratched the surface and were facing down a much larger monster.
“This mentor,” King murmured, drawing me from my thoughts. “What do you know about him?”
“Jareth Marks,” I answered, my tone filled with venom. “Big name in the art world. Runs a private studio and is on the boardfor several associations, as well as the admittance committee for Elena’s program.”
Wizard added, “Doesn’t seem like he does more than consult with other students, so the fact that he’s mentoring Onyx’s girl is a red flag all by itself.”
King’s eyes returned to me, and he was silent for a minute, his gaze probing. He must have seen what he was looking for because he shifted his focus to Ace and announced, “Elena belongs to a Hound. Her protection comes first. I want you to tear apart Marks’s finances. Personal and business. If he’s moving money for syndicates, taking bribes, paying for hookers, whatever. If it’s illegal or even a little shady, I want to know how and where.”
Ace cracked his knuckles. “On it.”
King gestured to Ash. “Run his name past your law enforcement contacts. I want to know if he’s on their radar. Is he being watched? Is someone protecting him? I want to know if he’s beneath their notice, or if he’s a bigger fish than he seems.”
Ash nodded once, then threw back the rest of his whiskey before shoving away from the table and walking the glass back to the bar.
“Use Rebel to help with the research,” King told Wizard, his expression hard. “He can take on building a profile for Marks while you keep working on the symbols. Why those? We need to find the commonality between the ones Marks is giving Elena. See if there’s a sequence or if the symbols point to a bigger operation. Look deeper. And find out why the fuck he’s made Elena a pawn in all of this.”
Wizard grunted. “He’ll slow me down, but I’ll use him.”
“Bullshit,” I snorted. Rebel was one of our enforcers and a security expert. Not just the physical shit. He knew how to secure non-traceable numbers, emails, VPNs, and more. His tech skills surpassed most.
“You saying he’s as good as me?” Wizard snarked arrogantly.
“No,” I conceded. “But you’re a freak of nature. Rebel can hold his own, and you know it. Besides, you’ll fucking fry yourself doing it solo.”
Wizard glared, but he didn’t disagree.
“Go do your shit,” Blaze ordered as he canted his head toward the door.
Everyone stood to leave, but I stayed planted when King instructed, “Onyx, hang back.”
Once the door shut behind them, leaving only the three of us, King’s voice dropped. “There’s no safer place than the compound.”
“I know.”
“If this escalates, you bring her here. Can’t have you distracted when the shit hits the fan because you’re worried about her.”
I nodded. “Already my plan.”
“Good.” King stared at me again, his expression unreadable. Then the hard line of his mouth softened just enough to tilt up. “Sending out a vest to be embroidered.”
Something in my chest loosened. “Thanks.”
He’d seen what I had taken days to accept.
Elena was mine. It was time the whole fucking world would know it.
7
