“You know this is the perfect opportunity to kill off the precious leaders of The Brotherhood.Cut the heads straight off the snake,” Bear says from the back seat, meeting my gaze in the mirror.The corner of his mouth lifts in a smirk.
He’s right, but we can’t.It’s too risky.
“We need our weapons that Dominic promised us.We don’t have enough power to kick off the war yet,” I say, and Bear rolls his eyes, falling back into his seat.
“And we need my daughter safe,” Zion says.“I’m so close to having enough rent to get a house for her, something better than my piece-of-shit trailer.Give me a little more time to get her out, then you can do whatever you want.”
“How much timeexactlydo you need?”I press.
“Give me a week,” Zion says.“Maybe someone at work has a place they’re renting out.And I need to find a fucking nanny I can trust over here.”
“She could always stay here,” Bear offers with a creepy smile.
Zion shudders.“This is no place for a little girl.”
I agree.
It’s time to stop playing small.We need to make moves.Big moves.And now that we have The Brotherhood princess, we can use her to our advantage.
I switch gears, flying out of Bear’s theme park onto the dirt road and heading straight for the meeting point.Fuck, I hope Freya stayed home and isn’t with them.They need to lock her up so she’s safe and protected, but they won’t.She’s too smart for them; she’d break out in seconds.I miss my best friend, but I’m done trying to convince her to return home.She’s made her bed, and she’s sleeping with our enemy.I’ll always love her, but I have to let her go.Focus on protecting the people who are on our side, who look up to me, to us, as their leaders.
The tracks come into view, and there she is, her long brown hair up in a high ponytail, her arms crossed over her chest, and a look of fire in her eyes.I smile.Thank fuck Freya hasn’t lost that yet.Gage, Lucas, and Hazen are with her, looking pissed off.
Tate is on our side of the tracks with about twenty men scattered around the road and outhouse.They aren’t carrying guns, but The Brotherhood doesn’t know that.Lightning pierces the sky.A storm’s rolling in.
I pull up, and as Bear opens his door, I reach out, grabbing his arm.He glares at my fingers around his forearm, but I don’t let go.
“Don’t do anything unless I say.Got it?I wanna see how this plays out first,” I warn, and Bear rips out of my grip, slamming the door behind him and completely ignoring my warning.Fucking hell.
Let the games begin.
Chapter Twenty-One
Before
Amirah
I slam my bedroom door shut as hard as I can.It rattles, and I want to scream.I spoke with Gage when we got back from the docks, and he gave me literally none of his time.Jewel has been moved from the docks.I’ve googled Bill’s Freight, and nothing interesting comes up, so I’m at a dead end.That was my only lead, and I’ve blown it.
Then there was a huge explosion at town hall that took so many lives and left Freya in the hospital!I have to get this all out.I need a release.
I race over to my bed and pull out my journal from under my pillow.After grabbing the pen from its holder, I start writing.Words fly onto the paper.I can’t keep up.My hand shakes, but I push down on the pen harder, letting it all out.
Men are so predictable, and Gage is such an asshole.I went to him for help, to have more power within The Brotherhood so I could dig deeper into Jewel’s disappearance and those shipping containers.
What did my brother say to that?I’ll tell you.He told me to go paint my fucking nails.What a dickhead.I tried to tell him about Jewel and the shipping containers, but he shut me down.I thought he could help, but he didn’t even give me the time of day.If you want something done right, you need a woman.
I’m still nervous to do this alone.It’s so much bigger than I thought.Maybe I should ask Freya about it.She might be able to help, but I still feel like I can’t burden her with this.Especially after the explosion and hurting herself.She’s got too much happening.I have to do this by myself.
I close my journal and place it back under my pillow.A small weight lifts off my shoulders.I pull out my phone and hit call on Lily’s name.She answers in two rings.
“Hey, darling girl, any news?”
“Hey, Lily.You busy?”
“Just about to leave for work.Everything okay?Any updates?Did anyone get hurt in the explosion?”
I sit up straighter, holding the phone to my ear.“No, we are all okay, thank goodness.Nothing yet with Jewel, but I had a lead that took me to the docks.Did Jewel ever say anything about visiting there?”
