Table of Contents
Copyright
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Sneak Peak at Duke
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Copyright © 2018 by Savannah Rylan
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No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Chapter 1
Maverick
Every single one of us had been on high alert since the brick came through Jace’s window. Since Leti killed Sebastian. And the second fucking part of that phrase was one I still had issues digesting. Despite the fact that it had been a little over three months since that occurrence, I still couldn’t get that moment out of my head. Leti’s dull stare. The anger that flowed through her movements. I’d never seen a woman do that before. I earned a ton of fucking respect for her that night. With how she aimed that gun right at that bastard and pulled the trigger without even thinking. And in the grand scheme of things, it was probably good she didn’t think about that shit.
It was really bad when someone thought about that shit.
That night me, Duke, Colt, and Thor, took care of the bodies. We cleaned that damn house down, top to bottom. After dealing with the cronies Sebastian had, pulling bits and pieces of information from them all night, we had more than one body to bury. After all the information was gathered, we went back to that house in the middle of the night and cleaned it down. Bleached it. Scrubbed that fucking kitchen counter and practically burned the chair. We disposed of bodies the way we disposed of guns. We took it apart and cast it all over the damn town. We didn’t have to do it often. Like with the gun. But when we did, we did it right.
And none of it required sinking that shit into any sort of water.
Honestly, that was the worst way to dispose of a body. A very high risk of the current dragging it along and washing it onto a shoreline somewhere. But burying it deep into the ground? Or getting in good with the town cremator? That was where the real shit took place. I knew I’d be disposing of a body that night. I was honestly shocked we didn’t dispose of more bodies than we did. But I didn’t think it would be Jace’s girl that got us that body.
Fucking hell, I’d never mess with Leti.
I couldn’t blame her though. The more we all got to know her and the more of her story we figured out, the more respect I gained for her. She’d been under the cartel’s thumb for damn near longer than anyone I’d ever known. She was lucky as hell, too. Most people being owned by the cartel like that didn’t last more than a few weeks. And she had managed to do so well that she lasted two months. They kept her under their thumb. Manipulated her and threatened her with the life of her brother after they’d already killed him.
Honestly? Had she not put a fucking bullet in Sebastian’s head, I would have.
Had anyone done shit like that to my sister, I would have fucking flipped. No one messed with my family. No one. And I was guilty of killing for my family. Hell, my sister still didn’t know her abusive ex was six-feet underground on the outskirts of town. And she didn’t need to know, either.
All she needed to know was that I’d made sure no one would harm her again. With the help of Jace, of course.
That was why the two of us were so close. That was why I had Jace’s back in all this shit. With him screwing around with a client and taking her home and shit like that. Because when I’d needed it the most, he’d been there for me. When my sister came running to me that night with a black eye and a bloodied nose, Jace picked up the fucking phone and rode with me that night.
And when I beat that motherfucker in his face until he stopped breathing, he handed me a baby wipe to clean myself up before helping me dispose of that body, too.
No one messed with my family. Especially the women in it. And now? Leti was part of our family.
Which meant no one messed with her, either.
“Thanks for coming, guys. Time for us to pool information,” Dean said. “Jace, you and Leti are all set at the safe house, right?”
“Yup, we are all settled.”
“Good, find anything by your digging?”
“Rock helped me rig up my place with cameras. Since the brick, no one has tried anything there. So, my guess is that was just a scare tactic. Something to rattle Leti.”
“No other chatter online?” Dean asked.
“Not from what I can find. And I’m logged into just about everything. My laptops and my desktop are running day and night. Nothing’s coming up. And if it is, it’s very buried,” Jace said.
“Well, keep digging. The brick may have been a scare tactic, but my guess is that they aren’t just going to leave it at that,” Dean said.
“Colt, I know you’re keeping an eye on the roads. Anything suspicious?” I asked.
“Not a thing, Mav. No odd license plates, except your average volume of people passing through to get to the national forest, or Oregon or some shit. I’ve even got some cameras Rock helped me set up on some back roads so Duke can do some surveillance shit when it’s got time. And I’ve got nada,” Colt said.
“Well, no one’s fucking with the money. Though I did manage to get, that account cashed out and cleared in Leti’s name. Both of them, actually,” I said.
“Holy shit, that was quick,” Dean said.
“Yeah. Jace and I make a good team with shit like that. I’m having the money washed now, but once it’s clean I figured it’d be a nice little payday for those of us who had to clean up that night,” I said.
“How’s Leti doing with that, by the way?” Dean asked.
Jace shrugged. “About as good as we all did after our first kill.”
“What stage is she at now?” Duke asked.
“She’s regretful, but acknowledging the fact that she doesn’t feel as bad for it as she feels she should,” Jace said.
“Shit. After only a few months? Took me two just to admit I’d killed the fucker,” I said.
“That’s what I keep telling her. But you know she’s been through a lot. She’ll hold onto that for the rest of her life,” Jace said.
“We all do,” Duke said.
“You two need anything?” Dean asked.
I watched a grin crawl across Jace’s face, and I knew exactly what the hell he was about to say.
“No fucking way,” I said.
“What?” Duke asked.
“You didn’t!” I exclaimed.
“He didn’t what?” Colt asked.
“I did,” Jace said, grinning.
“You did what?” Dean asked.
I threw my arms around the man I considered my best friend. I clapped his back as a massive smile tore across my face. Holy fuck, I knew he’d be the first one. With his playboy attitude and his boyish smile. I knew he’d be the first one to be a dad out of all of us.
&
nbsp; “When you two are done with your bro-fest, can you fill the rest of us in on the secret?” Colt asked.
I released Jace and watched a massive smile crawl across his face.
“Dude, how’s she feeling?” I asked.
“What the fuck’s going on!?” Dean exclaimed.
Jace turned towards the guys. “Leti and I are pregnant.”
“No shit!” Duke exclaimed.
“Well, that was fuckin’ quick,” Dean said.
“Why does that not shock me at all?” Colt asked.
“Because it’s Playboy Jace. I mean, really. Does this shock anyone?” I asked.
“Not a damn one of us,” Dean said.
The guys shook his hand and clapped him on the back before we all settled back into a professional mode. With Leti pregnant, it brought a whole new dynamic to what we were doing. A whole new urgency to our situation. And I watched that reality dawn on every single member of my club.
“Now, the stakes are higher,” Dean said.
“That means we gotta keep our eyes peeled,” I said.
“Jace, you keep your eye on the dark web. Get with Rock and hack into everything you can possibly get into. We need to start focusing on what’s going on around us. Every little thing that might seem out of place,” Dean said.
“I’ve got my ties to the police department in town. And Brewer does as well. I’ll get us to start doing a little bit of poking. Not a lot, but just to see if any of them start acting funny after mentioning a few tidbits of information,” I said.
“Perfect, Maverick. Colt,” Dean said.
“Yep?” Colt asked.
“Keep your eyes on the road. I want those back roads traveled twice a day. I want those cameras you set up with Jace and Rock recording everything,” Dean said.
“You got it, boss,” Colt said.
“Duke. I need you keeping your ears peeled. You’re like the damn gossip of the group. I don’t know where you get your theories and shit, but we need you in overdrive right now,” Dean said.
“Already done and done. But, I’ll ramp it up a notch. You know, for Leti’s sake,” Duke said.
“I appreciate it,” Jace said.
“Bringing women into our midst is one thing. But bringing children into it is another. You all know that Brynn is pregnant as well. If the cartel never really left, then we gotta figure out who the hell is involved and deal with them. Quickly. Dip into all of your contacts. Especially you two, Maverick and Duke. The two of you are tapped into this town like the electricity that runs through this damn place. You dig, and you tug, and you listen until you come up with something,” Dean said.
“You got it,” I said.
“On it like butter on bread,” Duke said.
“I actually got a couple places I could hit up right now, if you call church done, Dean,” I said.
“I second that idea. Maverick and I could get started on it now if you wanted us to,” Duke said.
“The sooner, the better. You all have your tasks. And Jace?” Dean asked.
“Yep?”
“You spend time taking care of Leti. She’s gonna need you, now more than ever,” Dean said.
“Trust me, I’m not leaving her side unless I have to,” Jace said. “She’s hanging out in the next room right now.”
“Congratulations, man. I’m really happy for you,” I said.
Jace smiled at me as Dean clapped his hands. “Church is over. Get to it. And the second you’ve got information, call me. Plan for church first thing tomorrow.”
Then, Duke and I were off.
Chapter 2
Gabriela
I let out a laugh when I heard my cell phone ring. My hands were completely covered with freshly made chocolate chip cookie dough, and there was no way that I would get to my phone in time. I had just started forming the cookies into little balls when my cell phone rang out. I’d have to call whoever it was once I got the cookies into the oven. I quickly got back to work on the cookies and ended up filling two whole baking sheets of them.
For as long as I could remember, I had loved baking. It was my way to unwind. Baking something was mindless to me since I had been doing it since I was a child. I had all of our family recipes memorized, and now instead of following the directions, I just let my body go through the motions. It was as if I was on auto-pilot, and I loved every second of it. My mother always liked to joke that if they couldn’t find me behind my computer, they knew that they could find me in the kitchen.
Once the cookies were set on the sheet, I went over to the sink and washed my hands. I jumped when I heard a voice behind me.
“Ah, there you are,” my father said.
“Jesus daddy,” I exclaimed, and I turned to face him. “I didn’t hear you walk in.”
“I’m sorry princess,” he said as he held up his hands and smiled. “Smells good in here, what did you end up baking?”
“Just chocolate chip cookies.”
“My favorite,” he said as he walked over to the oven. I smacked his hand away from the handle.
“They aren’t ready yet!”
“Fine, I’ll just talk to you about your next assignment.”
That got my attention. My father hadn’t given me an assignment for his business in a little while. Besides baking, my other passion was computers. If I wasn’t covered in powdered sugar, I was sitting at my desk typing away.
“Your assignment is gathering information on this motorcycle club,” my father said.
“A motorcycle club? Are they related to the new business you are working on in town?”
“Yeah, they are. They seem to be very opinionated about us working on this business.”
“What are they doing?”
“They’re sticking their nose in places they don’t need to be in. That’s harmful to us. Harmful to everything I’ve built for our family. My boss wants us to gather intel on them, which means I need to send in the best. And you know who my best is, princess.”
“That’d be me,” I said, smiling.
“Exactly. And the good thing about this assignment is that you don’t know anyone connected to this club. So, if you decide it’s appropriate to infiltrate, you don’t have to wear a disguise unless you want to.”
“Perfect. Because I don’t think my hair can take another bleaching and dying. It might end up falling out of my head.” On the last few assignments I worked on, they had been with people that somewhat knew my family. It would be refreshing to work on something that I wasn’t connected to in any way.
“It’s always important to take care of yourself, princess. It would be a shame for the beauty you hold to go to waste. I raised a beautiful daughter.”
“Which is also why you taught me to fight,” I said coyly.
My father chuckled and brought me in to kiss my forehead.
“Exactly, mija. Exactly.”
“When should I start digging around for information?”
“How does sometime before dinner sound?”
“Sounds like I should get up to my room and get to work.”
“I’ll call for you when your mother’s done making dinner,” he said.
With one last kiss, my father released me to my bedroom. Another assignment, another possibility of going undercover. I knew there was something wrong with the business because of my father’s frequent meetings. He only had meetings like that back to back whenever something was happening that didn’t need to be happening.
For as long as I could remember, the RD Corporation had been my father’s mainstay for his stream of income for our family. My father had explained to me that they were a large corporation in Mexico, and he was the head of their American operations. My father handled a lot of the ports on the West Coast, though I wasn’t sure what else he does. I know sometimes it took him away in the middle of the night. But I also knew he would come back in with smiles on his face and treats for my sisters and me.
Can’t be that bad, right?
It was our fam
ily business. And one day, I’d be set to take over that business. My mother had three girls after me. And all of them were celebrated. In our family, every child was celebrated. Every child got a baby shower. On the flip side, every death was mourned. Every person who worked with our family got a funeral of some sort.
Like Uncle Sebastian.
They were all family. They provided for my father, which enabled him to provide for us. And one day, when he could no longer run his side of things, I’d be set to take over his seat. As the eldest--and especially since he didn’t have any sons--that was my calling. My future for this family. And it was one I’d take with great pride. I tailored my education to it. Graduated from the University of Texas in Austin with a Computer Engineering degree. It would enable me to keep up the work I all ready to for the business while slowly learning my father’s side of things.
Eventually.
I wasn’t learning what he did just yet.
Of course, I had heard rumors about RD Corporation. That it wasn’t a business at all and that it was actually run by the Roja Diablos Cartel. Which was utterly ridiculous. I would hear things people would say around town about how ruthless they were. But I never believed it. I trusted my father. He would never be involved with something that was bad or even illegal. It was almost laughable to me that people would think that a real company was associated and run by the cartel.
I guessed that people just didn’t like the business itself. Its principal operations were to buy out different business ventures and turn them around. It has received some bad publicity over the years because of disgruntled business partnerships, which led to all these rumors to fly about the company itself. Every business had their faults, and the RD corporation was no different.
I shut the door behind me in my bedroom and made my way to my laptop. I threw open my closet and closed the doors behind me, then locked myself in. For some reason working in a small secluded space always made me more productive. Besides, this way I was able to make sure what I was doing was only known by me. I typed my code onto the keypad I had installed that unlocked my laptop, then I sat down and cracked my fingers.
Gathering the information I needed would take well into the early morning hours.
Maverick (The Black Hornets MC Book 2) Page 1
