“Shoo,” Tess ordered. “I got her.”
Ruby giggled.
“I got these men wrapped around my finger,” Tess said proudly. “Perks of marrying the Prez.” She held up her hand, showing off the wedding band wrapped around her finger.
I didn’t hear any more of their conversation, I was too busy worrying about what was going on with my club, why everyone was here, and why Zodiac sounded so distraught.
When I entered the war room, all of my brothers were shuffled inside, saving me my normal seat at the table. All eyes were on me as I entered, but nobody said a word, shifting their gazes to Zodiac who stood stoically at the head of the table.
“Glad you could make it,” he said gruffly, scrubbing at his beard.
“What’s going on?”
Pincher was sitting in a chair, something prospects never got to do, but for some reason, they were allowing it. It was Aries normal spot, but he was standing by the wall observing.
“We got another video of Pincher’s sister being tortured.”
Pincher was doing his best to hold back his tears, but it had to be hard for him, especially knowing she’s still out there somewhere.
“What was on the video?” Archer asked, leaning forward on his elbows.
“Pincher, may I show the rest of the club the video?”
Pincher weakly nodded his head, his hands clenching into angry fists.
The video was exactly twenty seconds long, showing the poor girl strapped to a chair, eyes closed with angry red marks around them. It was obvious whatever they dripped into her eyes before had done some damage, because she wasn’t even trying to open them. Then you saw a knife come into view of the camera, and it being dragged across her forearm. She screamed, and a sinister voice came from somewhere behind the camera. “Your bitches are next.” Then the video just cut off.
“We need to save her!” Pincher shouted, jumping to his feet. “My sister doesn’t deserve this shit!”
He was right, no woman deserved the pain and torture that poor girl was being put through. But finding her was going to be difficult, we all knew that. Once someone goes underground, flushing them out was never easy.
“The Artillery is getting out of control,” Archer raged, his hands clenching into fists. He’d grown quite attached to Pincher, and I knew his anger was because of the bond the two shared. If Pincher was hurting… Archer was hurting too. “We’ll find her, Dillon. I promise you we’ll find her.”
Pincher pushed away from the table. “I wish I could believe you, Archer, but I know how the Hell’s Artillery are. When we find my sister, she won’t be alive… it’ll just be her body.”
“Please don’t say that,” Scorpio urged. “Juliette can help us find her and bring the Artillery down. Just have faith, Prospect.”
Dillon frowned. “It’s hard to have faith when every person who’s ever been a part of your life has let you down. I need to go… I need some air.”
Zodiac waved his hand. “Okay, Prospect, take a breather. The rest of you, stay.”
Pincher quickly left the room, leaving the rest of us sitting around the table.
“What are we going to do, Zodiac?” Fish asked, looking at the rest of us. “I’ve tried to locate her, but nothing is coming up. She’s gone, just like the Artillery.”
“Keep looking, Fish. We need eyes to be on the lookout at all times. I want people combing the streets, check outside of town if you have to. The Artillery are somewhere, we just have to figure out where they went. Bull, Archer, I want you two to pick up extra shifts at the club. They put a hit out on our other girls, and I won’t be able to sleep until I know our girls are safe. Not just the ones who belong to members like Juliette and Tess, but the Fallen Stars too. Everyone needs to be protected right now.”He turned to Scales. “You’re the club’s Treasurer, I need you around the club more, Scales.”
“You know I can’t do that, Zodiac. Rosalie…”
“Fuck Rosalie! Scales, are you a Celestial Son or not?” Zodiac boomed.
Scales straightened up a bit. “Of course I am… but…”
“No buts. I’m sick of this shit, Scales. That woman has you by the balls, and you’re letting her drag you around by them. Man the fuck up, and assert your dominance. You know the club will back you, you just have to have the strength to stand up against her. If I say I need you around the club, then I need you here. No where else. You got me?”
“Yeah, I fucking got you,” Scales mumbled.
“And you two,” he exclaimed, pointing at me before his son. “Same goes for you too. Aries, I don’t know what the fuck is going on with you, Son, but whatever it is, figure it out. We need everyone around here, not just a few stragglers.” Aries nodded his head but didn’t say a word. “And Cap, I know you got things going on with that chick you’re helping, but the club comes first. I better see your face around here more, or so help me…”
