Page 33 of More Tricks

The guys chuckled at that, but the conversation was derailed as the others arrived. Cognac looked pissed, which was highly unusual for him always being my happy-go-lucky-glass-half-full man.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, pulling out from Cam’s hold.

Cognac just shook his head and went right for the refrigerator, where he grabbed a beer. I turned to Sprocket, who took a seat at the breakfast counter, looking subdued. When my gaze shifted to Picasso, my brows rose at seeing the look of rage on his face.

“Okay, someone needs to talk and tell me who I’m stabbing,” I ordered. “What the fuck happened?”

Picasso met my gaze as he spoke through clenched teeth. “They left us a present at the scene.”

“What? I thought this was the Mad Dogs retaliating?” Eagle questioned.

His brother let out a huff. “Yeah, that’s what we thought too until we found this.” Picasso pulled an envelope out of his pocket and handed it to Eagle.

Quickly he opened it and pulled the letter out and scanned it quickly. “Show me.” Eagle snapped.

“I won’t show it to you, no one needs to see that, but I’ll tell you what reminder they left for Demitri,” Picasso said before taking a shaky breath. “It was her ears.”

“Who’s ears? Elena?” I asked, snatching the letter out of Eagle’s hand.

It seems you are no longer useful to me, Demitri, with how little information we’ve gotten from you as of late. I think you’ve forgotten what it is that I still hold in my possession, or do you not care anymore? Possibly you need a reminder, so I’ve sent one along.

How many more pieces of her can I keep cutting off before it becomes something she can’t afford to lose? If you want this to end, then keep up your part of the deal. Two Tricks is planning something. Rumor is she’s coming to me. Get me information on the plan, and your sister will keep what is still attached to her body.

P.S. I couldn’t decide which one to take, so I sent them both.

Diego De León

Chapter eleven

Dax

We knew word of us coming to New York wasn’t going to stay quiet for long, but I didn’t plan on Diego retaliating this fast. Demitri had sent word that Pinky had been found out and killed, so he was laying low until the dust settled. It would seem he felt it’d been too long and wanted answers. Well, the bastard just upped the ante by pulling this kind of stunt. If the Phantom Saints weren’t out for blood before, they were now.

“That man’s a sick fuck,” Cognac muttered, slamming his beer on the counter. “We never would have known about the letter if Demitri hadn’t shown it to us. They placed it in his locker along with the present wrapped in a pretty wooden box.”

“How do we know they are her ears?” I asked.

Picasso gripped his stomach like he was trying not to gag before he could answer me. “Demitri said the earrings were the same she wore the day she was taken. Opal studs Gabby got her for her birthday just two weeks earlier.”

“Do you have the ears?” I pressed.

“Why the fuck are you asking that?” he challenged. “We’re talking about my niece here, not some two-bit criminal you can gawk at the remains. Have some respect.”

While I knew he was coming from a place of anger and fear, I didn’t appreciate his attitude or the fact he assumed I was asking out of morbid curiosity. “Listen, jackass. I’m asking this because it’s really fucking simple to cut off someone else’s ears, put in the damn earrings, and claim they're your loved one. Fuck, have a little faith in me, would you? I’m not a complete monster.”

Picasso looked appropriately scolded but didn’t say anything as he walked out of the house. My assumption was he went to get the ears, but I wasn’t sure, so I followed after him. He headed right for his bike parked right at the bottom of the stairs and lifted the flap to one of the saddle bags.

Seeing him pull out the wooden box, I jogged down the steps and placed my hand over his. “You already had to look at this once. Just let me handle it from here. I know family means everything to you, and I want to do my best to bring her back home safe and sound.”

Without speaking, he nodded and let me take the box from him. I didn’t return to the house. Instead, I headed for Wes’s command center, where no one but my guys would bother me. Weston made sure everyone knew they weren’t welcome in the new space, and if he found anyone messing with things, he would break their hands. And they call me the crazy one. Ha!

I flipped on the lights in the snug little room, setting the box on the desk. Opening one of the side drawers, I pulled out the magnifier Wes used when putting tiny computer parts together. This wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been skeptical about body parts being sent to me. Hostages were valuable and you didn’t do anything that might kill them off while they were still of use to you.

Slowly, I opened the lid and used tweezers to lift the edge of the cloth wrapped around them. To me, it looked like a fancy handkerchief with the initials DDL sewn into one corner. The man was good with theatrics if you asked me, but it was the same reason I like to leave an ace card with my flaming skull on it, so they knew who did the deed. It’s how you trained people to fear you, which was half the battle of gaining power.

While I obviously had no medical training to be able to tell if these ears came off a woman or if they matched the right age, I could tell if the earrings were shoved through the ear once they were cut off. At first glance, they looked fine, but with how gruesome something like this was to the loved one, they don’t look that close at the details, just like now. One earring was far too off-center and angled funny. Even with a piercing gun, it wouldn’t be at this angle, plus I would bet money that there was no way a woman like Gabby would let her kid have a jacked-up piercing. She was far too detailed and liked to make a show of being a well-off lawyer to draw in clients. It made me wonder if she owned that house or rented it for the part to make us think she owned it.

Feeling confident that there was a high chance of these not being her ears, I went to hunt down Demitri. He might be a guy and clueless about earrings, but he might remember a disapproving conversation between mother and daughter. As I walked through the clubhouse, I spotted him knocking back a shot. Can’t say I blamed the guy after what he just found. Hopping up on a stool next to him, I caught the eye of the new bartender, Tops.