“Really?” Steph shouted. “Why should I put myself back in a position to be hurt again? You saw what that did to me!”
“So, you’re just going to live the rest of your life in fear?” her mom asked. “I thought you were stronger than that. Better than that.” Her mom threw her hands in the air and stormed out of the room.
Steph laid there, staring at the door. Grabbing her pillow, she threw it. Why couldn’t people just mind their own damn business? Why was everyone so focused on her life?
She looked up at the ceiling. She couldn’t believe Rafa had left. But if she were honest, she couldn’t blame him. However, even knowing that, it still hurt. And that angered her. She was tired of him hurting her. She was tired of everyone not understanding.
But what could she do about it? If Franco and the Holston crew remained a threat to them, they would never have a chance. Franco would always hold the power to take Rafa from her again.
And for Steph, that was the issue.
Did she want Rafa back in her life, by her side? Yes. Did she want to rebuild what they used to have? Yes. However, she refused to put herself or her heart on the line, just to have Franco pull some more sketchy shit and force Rafa to leave again.
Then do something about it, she heard her mother’s voice in her head.
And that was another issue. Steph sighed. She didn’t know what to do. She knew life wouldn’t just be handed to her. Her parents had always taught her, if she wanted something, go after it. Earn it. Nothing good in life would ever just fall into her lap. But the only way she could get what she wanted, was if she eliminated what threatened to take it away from her. So, Steph laid there, staring at the ceiling, as she thought about her options.
She wanted a life with Rafa, but the only way she would get it is if Franco was removed from the equation…
She still couldn’t believe he had fucking left… Like, what the fucking hell!
It had been three days and she still wasn’t over it. In fact, with each day that ticked by, she became even more pissed off. He’d promised her. Yeah, she hadn’t accepted it at the time, but still. He’d fucking promised. Then turned around and broke it.
She stormed through the clubhouse and everyone moved out of her way. They all knew that she wasn’t in the mood for their shit. Even her dad was keeping his distance. She walked into the kitchen and pulled a beer from the fridge. Twisting the top off, she tossed it into the trash bin and took a long pull.
She glanced out across the room to see Tinker and Keily, along with Joker and Jasmine, sitting in the living room. She watched them as they smiled and joked with each other and she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her stomach. That should have been her and Rafa…
Yeah, but you’re too stubborn, she told herself.
She closed her eyes and leaned her head back. Fuck! She had to admit, she was more pissed off at herself than at him. If she would have just opened her mouth instead of standing there like a coward, he wouldn’t have left. Or, if he’d just kept his damn word…
Jasmine’s laughter pulled her from the vicious cycle that her brain insisted on taking itself through incessantly. She emptied the bottle and tossed it in the trash.
Walking over to one of the kitchen chairs, she grabbed her riding jacket and slipped it on as she headed for the door. “Y’all should seriously consider taking your lovey-dovey shit elsewhere,” she said, as she stormed past them and out of the clubhouse.
Steph headed straight for her bike. She needed to get the hell out of there. She had shit to do and it didn’t involve any of them. As she fired up her bike and dropped it into gear, she peeled out of her parking spot.
Joker called her name from the porch, but instead of stopping, she raised her two fingers, throwing up a deuce, and just kept going.
She loved her brother, but right then, she didn’t have anything to say to him. Plus, if she got too close, he might realize that she wasn’t alone on her bike. Because hidden beneath her bedroll, wrapped up perfectly in its signature black velvet blanket was her sniper rifle. So, Steph just kept going. And as she rode off, away from the clubhouse and her family, she hoped they all knew that she loved them. And while she no longer felt the pain of Rafa’s rejection, per se, she was still hurt, and angry. But not at them. Her anger was solely aimed at herself and Rafa. But, since he wasn’t around to shoulder his end of the burden, Steph had figured out another place where she could direct it. All she had to do, was get close enough to aim, and then let the fireworks begin…
Until then, she’d just have to make do with taking out everything and everyone who dared to step in her way. Because as of that moment, Stephanie Briggs was on a mission.
Her ultimate target? Franco Holston. But first, she was going to decimate everything he held dear, piece by piece. So, as she headed toward the city, Steph prepared to mark the first of many targets off her list – Franco Holston’s fake storefronts.
Gonna be awfully hard to sell your shit without a business to front it, Frankie boy. Steph smiled to herself. For the first time, in a long while, excitement zinged through her as she thought about the war to come.
Franco had taken something extremely valuable from her. Now, she would return the favor by taking everything from him – including his life.
She laid on her stomach, the sound of the building’s air conditioning unit droning in her ear, as she looked through a set of binoculars.
She watched as several people walked in and out of the auto repair shop just down the road. Most of them didn’t even have vehicles, so Steph assumed they were drug dealers going in to drop off money and pick up more product. Grabbing her camera, she looked down the high-powered lens and snapped several pictures. She would send them to her dad later so he could forward them to the proper authorities.
She was just about to start gathering her stuff to head to the next spot when a blacked-out SUV pulled up to the shop and stopped. Reaching for the binoculars again she watched as Rocco climbed out of the back and headed inside.
This was the moment she’d been waiting for. Reaching over, Steph grabbed her rifle and searched for her target. Eliminating Rocco would put the first kink in Franco’s operation.
The sun beat down on her, heating her back as she waited for him to emerge. She could have just fired into the building, but she didn’t want to take the chance that the bullet would ricochet and hit an innocent person.
It felt like hours had passed. Her skin burned from the sun, but she refused to give up. The first rule her father taught her when she became a markswoman – patience. Sweat dripped from her face, but she didn’t move to brush it away. Too afraid that, at that moment, Rocco would exit, and she’d miss her opportunity. Luckily, Steph didn’t have to wait much longer. As the door opened and Rocco exited the building carrying a large black duffle, she placed her finger over the trigger, closed her left eye, and released her breath slowing before firing the shot.
Chaos erupted.
She reloaded and fired another shot. This time into the duffle bag. Money exploded out into the street. People rushed toward it and started grabbing at whatever they could. Quickly, Steph slid off the air conditioning unit and gathered her stuff. She broke apart her rifle in record time and stowed it in the blanket. Grabbing up her camera and binoculars, she carefully tossed them into her travel bag and jogged to the ladder that would take her back to the ground and her bike.
Her work there was done, for now. She’d come back tonight, after they closed, to finish off the job. That way, she could ensure that no innocent people were hurt in the process of removing Franco and his organization.
One down, so many more to go.
Chapter Sixteen
Rafael
As he swung the ax down on another log, he heard the distant sound of motorcycles. Walking back to the cabin, he set the ax on the porch near the door as he made his way inside. Lifting the shotgun from its spot on the wall, he loaded in two shells, grabbed the ammo box, and walked back outside to wait. He w
asn’t expecting company, but he’d been prepared for it, nonetheless.
Rafa knew better than to think that Franco would just let him go. He wouldn’t put it past his brother to hire someone to hunt him down. However, if that were the case, whoever he sent would be in for one hell of a surprise.
The sound of the bikes grew louder. Rafa felt in his pocket for the lighter but hoped he wouldn’t have to use it. The last thing he wanted was a war, but he wouldn’t go down without a fight.
The bikes topped the small hill and carefully rolled down the drive. Whoever was on the back, knew the property well and the places to avoid. Feeling a bit relieved, he lowered the gun, but not his guard.
The three bikes rolled to a stop in front of the cabin and when the first biker took off their helmet, Rafa breathed a sigh of relief.
“What are you doing here?” he asked Sledge.
“Have you heard from Stephanie?”
His question caught him off-guard and sent warning bells off in his head. “No. Why?”
“You haven’t watched the news?” Gunny asked.
Rafa gave him a blank stare. There wasn’t electricity in the cabin; therefore, there was no TV; which in turn, meant no news.
“Never mind. Stupid question.”
He nodded in agreement, then asked, “What’s wrong?”
The men climbed off their bikes and stepped up onto the porch. He could see the worry in Sledge’s eyes, and it did nothing to ease his fear. Whatever was going on, was bad. Real bad.
“She took off,” Ink answered, leaning against a support beam on the small porch. “And she’s going after the Holston crew.”
“What?” Rafa didn’t understand.
“She shot and killed Rocco Holston as he was leaving an auto repair shop on the south side,” he explained. “Then, later that night, went back and blew the place sky high.”
“Holy shit.” His stomach fell to his feet.
“We’ve been trying to reach her,” Sledge said, “but she’s not answering.”
“How do you know it was her?” Rafa asked, not wanting to believe it.
“She sent Diesel some pictures of possible associates of Franco’s,” Gunny replied. “Known drug dealers. Suspected human traffickers.” He shrugged. “Then she just ghosted. We woke up yesterday to news about Rocco and the same shop. Two plus two, and all that jazz.”
Rafa was shocked.
Rocco and Franco were involved in a lot of shit and needed to be run to ground, but he never would have thought that Stephanie would go at it alone. She had never been that careless with her safety.
He turned back toward the cabin and walked inside to grab his phone. Powering it on, several messages and voicemails popped up. He dialed his message box and listened, but none of them were from her. Thinking that maybe if he called her, that she would answer, Rafa quickly scrolled to her contact and pressed the green button. However, it went straight to voicemail. Either she had turned it off, or her phone had died.
“Nothing.” He tossed the phone onto the bed.
“We think she’s about to hit another of Franco’s properties,” Sledge told him. “But we don’t know which one.”
“He has a lot of them,” Rafa said.
“And that’s our problem,” Ink replied. “Any idea which ones are the most valuable to him?”
“All of them.” None of Franco’s businesses were clean. Each of them offered something to his empire. “Whether it be drugs, guns, or girls, they were all important.”
“Can you make a list of what he owns and where they are?” Sledge asked. “We have to get to her before Franco figures out she’s behind his money loss.”
Rafa didn’t even want to think about what his brother would do to Stephanie when he found out that it was her who’d cost him the shop, and took their cousin’s life.
“Yeah,” Rafa agreed.
He walked over to the bed and grabbed his phone again. Opening a message to Sledge, he quickly sent him a text of all the information that he wanted and added a bit extra. “The last two addresses are for boat slips. He uses boats to bring product to and from an island in the Caribbean. And by product, I mean girls.” He stared at the men, hoping they understood his meaning.
Sledge nodded. “Thank you.”
The men turned to leave, but Rafa stopped them. “What do I need to do?”
“Nothing,” Gunny replied. “Stay here. Do not leave. Turn off your phone. Franco shouldn’t be able to track it since Diesel disabled your GPS tracking system, but just to be safe, leave it off.”
Rafa looked down at his phone. Diesel what?
“He’s a hacking genius.” Ink smiled and waved a hand. “I don’t understand it either. So, just go with it.”
“I can’t just sit here,” Rafa argued. If Stephanie was in danger, he needed to find her.
“Yes, you can,” Sledge retorted. “And will.”
“If she runs into trouble, you’ll be the first person she’ll seek out,” Gunny said. “Here is the best place for you.”
If she shows up… He didn’t like the way Gunny said that first word, but he kept quiet. If they thought she would find him, then he knew they were right – he needed to be in a safe spot to allow her to do so. But still, just sitting there didn’t feel right to him.
The guys got back on their bikes and fired them up. Rafa stood there watching as they turned around and headed off, back the way they came.
With his hands on his hips, he looked to the sky and sighed. He was getting way too old for this shit. “Damn you, Stephanie,” he said out loud. He still couldn’t believe she had been stupid enough to go after the Holston crew by herself. Franco had the backing of a lot of high-profile people. Once they got wind that they might be in danger of being outed, all hell would break loose. And the love of his life would be caught in the middle.
“Fuck!” He hung his head.
His worry mixed with a growing anger that he hadn’t felt in a long time. Leave it to Stephanie Briggs to evoke that kind of emotion from him. Rafa ran a hand through his hair. When he finally got his hands on her, he would make sure she knew just how unhappy he truly was. As far as he was concerned, she wouldn’t be sitting down for a week.
Chapter Seventeen
Stephanie
Two down…
She stood at the corner, in the shadows, and watched as another of Franco Holston’s businesses went up in flames. She could hear the sirens in the distance growing louder and knew that soon, the fire department and other emergency personnel would arrive, but it would be too late. The place was already engulfed.
She turned her phone on long enough to connect the USB cable between it and her camera and sent the latest photos to her dad. She knew, by now, that the club would know that she was the one going after Franco, so before he would have a chance to track her, Steph turned it off again and slipped it into her bag. Grabbing her stuff, she turned away from the blaze and headed off down the street to where her bike was stashed in a back alley.
“Man, this is a sweet ride.”
She heard the male’s voice before she rounded the corner and rolled her eyes. It was probably some crackhead hoping to make a score. But he would be in for a rude awakening.
“Don’t touch it,” a second voice said.
She stopped dead in her tracks. She recognized the second voice. Shit! Looking around for a safe place to stash her stuff, she found none. So, with a heavy sigh, she squatted down and unzipped her pack. She wedged her rifle into it and then zipped it up, praying that it stayed in place. Slipping the pack onto her back, she pulled both of her Glocks from the holsters at her lower back and stepped around the corner.
“Can I help you?” she asked, staring Franco directly in the eye.
“Well.” He smiled, but there was nothing friendly in the gesture. “Hello, my love.”
Steph shook her head. She watched as the crackhead ran a hand over her seat. Raising her gun, she fired a shot down by his feet and watched as he jumped b
ack. “Do not touch my bike.”
“Didn’t I just say that?” Franco asked, appearing annoyed. “I swear, I can’t find good help these days.”
“What do you want, Franco?” Steph asked.
“Oh.” He smiled again. “You.”
“I’m right here.” She shrugged.
“I see that.” He moved his hands toward his back, and she raised both guns, pointing them directly at his chest. “Whoa!” He raised his hands. “I don’t have anything. Calm down, my love. Put those away before someone gets hurt.”
“That someone is going to be you if you don’t get out of my way,” Steph retorted.
“Now, is that any way to talk to your future husband?”
Steph laughed. The thought was actually comical. “Not in this lifetime.”
“I wouldn’t be so quick to speak.” He made a flicking motion with his finger.
Steph turned slightly so that she could see behind her but keep an eye on Franco and the crackhead at the same time. From the shadows, Elgin Williams emerged. She should have been shocked, but after Rafa’s confession, she already knew that Williams was involved in Franco’s businesses somehow.
“You don’t look surprised,” Franco commented. “Which means my dear brother has been spilling his guts.”
“Maybe I can help him spill a bit more.” Williams chuckled.
“You touch him, you die,” Steph warned.
“No.” Williams shook his head. “The only person dying here today is you.”
She heard a noise and spun around to see several men stepping out of the dark. She was surrounded. Fucking hell! She didn’t have enough bullets for this.
“You see, Stephanie,” Franco said, looking down at his watch. “While I love you, you cost me a lot of money. You destroyed not one, but two, of my businesses, and that cannot go unpunished. So, here’s the deal. You agree to marry me, now. Or die.” He shrugged like it was no big deal which option she chose.
Capturing Stephanie: Devil's Henchmen MC Next Generation, Book Three Page 8
