“Why the fuck didn’t he make it happen before?” I bark, enraged all over again. I stand and glare at Mom and Victor. “I have spent the past year ingratiating myself to Shoulders and Rocky so I could get an in with The Bulls. I spent months sucking up to that prick Marwan, trying to get a meeting with their old prez, and you could’ve gotten me in to see him without any of that bullshit?” I start pacing, trying to expend some of this reckless, restless energy coursing through my veins.
“It would have raised red flags and brought too much heat,” Victor says. “We had to tread carefully to avoid arousing suspicion.”
“I don’t give a flying fuck!” I shout. “My little sister has been held by monsters for almost three years! You had resources available to find her, and you did nothing.” I shove at his shoulders, ready to knock him the fuck into next week, only Stewart hops up and pulls me back.
“Do you really want to waste more time talking about all the ways things should have gone or get the right people on the case now so we can find out where she is?” Jase tries to reason with me.
“This is bullshit, and you know it.” I shove him away from me.
“We have done our best!” Mom stands. “The trail led to Boston, and we found Jasper Baldwin through that investigation. Jasper led us to The Bulls, and it was The Bulls who took her. They are the key here. Someone in that gang must know where she was sent.”
“Pity most of them are now dead!” I roar, losing the tenuous hold on my control.
“We tried that angle and got nowhere. I had someone on the inside meet with Ruben, and he refused to say a single word.” Victor rises and walks up to me. “We could have threatened them, ended them, or done any manner of other things to get The Bulls to talk, but they wouldn’t have. Gang members are loyal to the bitter end. The Bulls had recently been shafted by The Sainthood, and they trusted no one. My hands were largely tied. It’s a balancing act because I can’t draw attention to myself. If I do, questions will be asked that could lead back to your mom and you. I have tried to avoid that.”
“You should have exhausted every possible option.” Folding my arms across my chest, I stare him down.
“The trail would’ve gone stone-cold if we’d driven The Bulls into extinction. Having you infiltrate them from the inside was deemed to be the best route to source the information we needed. I still stand by that.”
“Fuck you.” I shove him. “Fuck you, you prick. I don’t care if my father trusted you. You left my sister with monsters and kept me in the dark when we could have been doing so much more.”
Eerie silence trickles into the fraught air.
“We’ll talk to Baz,” Jase says. “We’ll go see him tomorrow. He’ll get you into the prison on the down-low. It won’t look suspicious if it’s set up by Lust & Envy.”
Ash looks deep in thought, but whatever it is, she’s not sharing it with us.
“It’s late,” Vincent says. “We should make tracks. Our men have cleaned your house and set the cameras up to run old footage on a loop. We took footage from both houses, and our tech team edited them so they are fit for purpose. Carter won’t realize it’s not live feeds he’s watching, so you’re safe now. No one will know you were here with us. If anyone looks, it will look like you were all at home today, because I don’t trust him not to check up on you. We have a guy stationed at the house, and he says the coast is clear so far, but I don’t want to tempt fate.”
“We can take a few more minutes,” Victor says. “There is more we need to handle.” His face shines with sympathy as he looks at Mom, and I’m not relishing the thought of the chat I need to have with her.
I’m seriously pissed at her. In a way I have never been before. But she’s still my mom. She has endured hardships to keep us safe all these years, and we were all each other had. I’m fuming she kept so many secrets, but I know her heart was in the right place even if she made some terrible decisions. I can’t turn my back on her. Not after everything she has done for me.
Some of my anger flitters away, but forgiveness is still a long way away.
“What did Carter say when he took you?” Victor asks. “What exactly does he want?”
You could hear a pin drop in the room until Ash says, “To tell me I’m his biological daughter and he has plans to install Ares as the rightful heir so he can have more control over the board or something.” Ash shrugs, deliberately downplaying it.
And I get it. We can’t trust any of these people. Mom included, because she seems far too reliant on the Fox brothers.
“You’re Carter’s blood?” Vincent’s eyes pop wide. He shares a look with his brother. “I wonder if that’s why Eric asked me to train her?”
“Hold on.” Jase frowns. “My dad set that up?”
Vincent nods. “He asked me for a favor, and I didn’t question it too much. He told me Ashley was a late initiate and she needed to be trained.”
“Do you think your father knows?” Ash’s gaze bounces between Bree and Jase.
“Fuck if I know anything.” Jase throws up his hands in exasperation, and I’m feeling it too.
“Watch out for Walter and Toby,” Victor cautions. His Adam’s apple bobs in his throat. “You can’t trust anything Carter says even if it seems like the current Pride & Wrath Luminary and his heir don’t appear to know you’re Clint’s son. Stay off their radar, and avoid them for now. I would put a couple of men shadowing you, but I suspect Carter has eyes on you, and I don’t want to arouse suspicion.”
“You can’t.” Ash clamps a hand over her mouth as she yawns. “He warned us not to say anything to anyone, and we think it’s best we at least appear to play the game his way.”
“Agreed.” Victor reaches a hand down to help her to her feet. “Give your concussion a few days to settle, and then resume your sessions with Vincent.” He looks around at all of us. “It wouldn’t hurt for all of you to attend too. We should be prepared for anything.”
The sound of a chopper approaching draws everyone’s attention to the window.
