by Barb Shuler
“Triple. I will give you triple what you paid.” I face-palmed and took a big deep breath. What the fuck was it going to take for me to get it through this guy’s head? I looked at Dalton and I knew. He needed to send someone to pay him a visit.
“No, Peter, and if you call me one more time, I will be sending someone around to make sure you take me seriously.”
“Bitch. Who the hell do you think are? You don’t scare me.”
“No, but friends of mine have been known to scare the piss out of grown men. Do you really want to find out just who I am?”
“This isn’t fair! You get rich off my building then I don’t even get what I pay for to try and run you out of town. Now you’re threatening me?! We’ll see who gets the last laugh.”
Before I could react, the phone went dead and Dalton was out the door. I decided it was better to let him handle it and make good on my promise to Peter. I took the new phone that Dalton had brought me and put in the numbers that I needed that he hadn’t done yet. Then I went back to working on the restaurant for interior designs. I hadn’t decided if I wanted to match this place or give it a fresh look. Did I want to hire an interior designer or did I want to do it all myself? Well, that one I knew the answer to. I’d end up firing anyone I hired, so it would be better for me to just do this alone. I needed to get boards and stuff so I could do this up properly. I made a mental note to grab them before I came into work tomorrow.
19
Dalton
Why was it that the good times in life always had to be interrupted by assholes and shitty people? I was trying to have a few minutes alone with my girl before I’d be needed elsewhere when that asshat, Peter Sinclair, called. There was one thing I wouldn’t stand for and that was someone threatening my girl. The fact that it was him doing the threatening had my wolf prowling toward the surface.
His “I don’t even get what I pay for to try and run you out of town” comment caught my attention. When I met Mia’s gaze, the fire I saw in her eyes pulled me back to my senses. Something had to be done about this man.
I didn’t even let him finish with his threats before I walked out of Mia’s office and moved down the hall. I hit the back door, slamming it open. I needed to figure out what to do. How do I make him back off without killing the bastard outright? I wasn’t sure I could.
“Boss,” Liam called out, following me out the door. I turned to face him.
“The last number on her landline. I want to know where it came from.”
“Sure thing. Give me five minutes.”
I nodded and walked toward my truck. There were ways to make asshats heel, and he was about to learn a few of mine.
I pulled out my cell and hit Angus’s number.
“Angus.”
“Have Nick take Ty’s spot on the door. Tell him to meet me at the truck. Move Chance to the bar where Nick was. Tell him I said yellow level; he’ll know what to tell Simon and Mo. If Mia ventures out into the main area, you follow her close enough that your shadow and hers are one. Got me?”
“Yes. Something I should know?”
I debated not telling him, but he had a right to know.
“Yeah, that son of a bitch Sinclair is threatening her. I have a bad feeling. She and the girls are your main priority. Not one hair out of place.”
“I’ll guard her with my life.”
“Good, because if something happens to her, it ends your life.”
I hit end and tossed my phone onto my truck seat. I pulled my button-down shirt off and put on a black T-shirt in its place. Did I care that I was about to have a face to face with Sinclair? Nope. He was going to explain himself, no matter what I had to do to him.
“Boss, I got it,” Liam said, coming my way.
“What’s up?” Ty said, jogging up.
I turned and met their gazes then nodded to the truck. “Ty, gear up. Liam, where are we going?”
“Johnson and Woodlawn over in Cedar Grove. It’s a bar/strip club place called the Rusty Nail. It’s in a bad neighborhood, boss.”
“How long will it take to get there?”
“About twenty minutes.”
“Good. You keep an eye on Mia and the girls. I told Angus to shadow her and put Chance on the bar. Anything goes wrong before we get back, you get those girls out of there and back to our place. Take the Delta with you.”
“You got it, boss. Happy hunting.”
A grin pulled at my lips as I climbed in and set my GPS. When Ty climbed in, I started the truck, pulled my belt on, and slowly pulled out of the lot. In twenty-five minutes, Peter Sinclair was going to wish he’d never been born.
The club that Sinclair called Mia from was in a bad part of town; Liam was right about that. We decided to park across the street in a lot with other vehicles and watch the place for a bit.
“How is he still in business?” I growled.
“I don’t know. A fire is the best way to take out the trash,” Ty grunted.
I agreed. I slid my knife into its holster on my leg, readying myself to exit the vehicle when my phone buzzed.
Liam: The cell number that called Mia is on the move.
I flipped my phone so Ty could see it.
Dalton: We’re gonna follow it. This place is a little too public anyway.
Dalton: Track it. I don’t want to lose him.
Liam: On it, boss. Linking to your GPS now.
I loved that Liam was on our side. The boy could be scary sometimes with his ability to hack into shit. We watched the door of the club, and when he came out, I pointed to him.
“Who’s that big man with him? He’s been to the club before. I saw him a few times before we were on the doors. There was another man with him last time.”
“What? Son of a bitch!”
I zoomed in on them and snapped a picture, then sent it to Liam and the boys. I quickly added them all to one call so I only had to say this once.
“What’s up, boss?” I heard a noise behind Kody. Then silence. “Max is on the door with Nick. His earpiece is in.”
“Good, listen up. I sent you all an image of a big dude. Ty said he was there with another man before.”
“Spiderweb tat on the right temple. Ugly motherfucker,” Ty added.
“I’ve seen him.”
“If you see him again, don’t let him in. If he’s in, get him out. He’s one of Sinclair’s men.”
“I’ll have a look around. Just in case.”
“We’re on Sinclair’s ass. Ty and I will be out for a while. Liam has a location in the event—”
“Your wolf loses his goddamn mind—again?” Kody snorted. “We got you, boss. Go show him who he’s fucking with.”
I shook my head and chuckled. “We will, don’t worry. Remember, if Sy shows up, he’s not allowed in.”
“We know. We got this. Go beat up an asshat. The girls are all safe.”
“Dalton, we’ve got this. But you should know Mia’s already threatened to lock Angus in the alley if he doesn’t stop following her around.”
I smirked. “Good to know.”
“And,” he added, “Jayden was heard calling you something not so ladylike. You touched her water bottles.” He chuckled.
“I did nothing to that bar—today at least.” A growl rolled through me. I bet my little witch had something to do with that. “I’ll deal with that later. Give us two hours. If you hear nothing…”
“We’ll come running. Don’t stress, you’ll get grey hair.”
I hung up when Kody’s booming laugh filled the speaker.
“He really is an asshole,” I chuckled.
“It looks like these guys are heading back toward home.”
“Good. No one will hear him screaming out there.”
Twenty minutes later, we pulled onto the long road that would lead to the back of Sinclair’s property. The good thing about being a shifter was that we had great, perfect night vision. No headlights meant the fucker had no idea we were here.
“What’s
the plan?” Ty asked as I parked under a copse of trees.
“Go in and get answers.”
“So we're doing this by the seat of our pants. Awesome.”
His sarcasm wasn’t lost on me, but I chose to ignore it. I had a plan, one that ended with Sinclair having a tragic accident. Once I got the answers I wanted, that was. We slipped from the truck, pulled on black face masks, and hopped the back fence. There should have been guards on the grounds, but the only one with Sinclair now was the big man.
Ty and I slipped through the back door, eased down the hall, and followed the voices toward the office.
“You were supposed to kill her! I paid you to make that happen!”
My head tilted to the side. The man on the phone was hard to hear, but I heard him. His words made my blood run cold.
“You failed me, Sinclair. You said they’d be easy to get alone. You lied. I want them both. You said if I hurt one, the other would step in…such pretty ones. I want them or I’m coming to see you. I’m not opposed to making an exception.”
The line went silent. Sinclair cursed and started to yell. “Stupid fucking bitch! I want my damn club back. You! You go get that freak you work with and get in that club. I want those girls. I’ll hand deliver them to him since he can’t seem to do his job.”
“There’s new security on the doors. It won’t be easy to get in.”
“I pay you so do as I say, not question me. Get out of here. Don’t come back without those whores!”
I’d heard enough. I moved closer, Ty on my heels. When the big man came out of the office, he stalked down the hall. I made a hand gesture to Ty.
“Why do I always get the big ones?” he muttered as he jogged down the hall.
I made my way into Sinclair’s office, shutting the door behind me. He had his back to me, but I wanted him to see me coming. I cleared my throat.
“Didn’t I tell you—” he trailed off. When he turned I was right there, in his personal space. My fingers wrapped around his throat, squeezing just hard enough to cut off his airway. His eyelids started to flutter before I dropped him. He slammed down into the desk chair, his body shaking as it tried to take in oxygen.
“What…who?”
I pulled my mask off, snarling as I leaned over him.
“You hired someone to run Mia James out of town. Why?”
“The bitch stole my club!”
My eyes burned, my wolf peering out at the man before us. A growl built inside of me.
“Why do you want the club back? You sold it.”
“I shouldn’t have sold it. Fucking bitch wasn’t supposed to keep it. He lied to me.” He was talking in circles.
“Why?” I asked as I picked up the metal letter opener from the desk. I didn’t like what he said so I embedded it into his thigh and jerked it back out. His scream filled the office, making me feel better, so I did it again. Twisting it slightly, I asked, “Why?”
“M-money,” he panted.
I twisted the opener again. “Why!!”
“Money! The money!” he cried.
My mind spun that over. Money? Money laundering would be the only sensible reason to own a business, sell it, and then buy it back. I pulled the letter opener out of his thigh and brought it down on his hand. His shrill scream left my ears ringing.
“Money laundering? You’re running dirty money through your businesses and bringing it back out clean?”
“Ye-yes! Please, I told you…”
“Why did you target Mia?”
When he refused to answer me, I pulled out the knife I wore on my holster. It was sharp enough it would cut wood. I had no problem putting the tip to one of his fingers and pressing down. The screaming really had to stop. I covered his mouth, blocking his nose until he stopped fighting. When I removed my hand, he gasped for air.
“Why Mia?”
“I… He set it up. She was supposed to be taken care of already!”
My eye twitched. I leaned in closer, and another of his fingers fell to the floor. He groaned, his body shaking with fear and pain. It would never be enough for me.
“She won’t sell. I need that club back!”
“No!” I snarled.
“It’s the only way…”
“What’s the big man going to do? I saw him leave.”
“He’s…get the girl. She’ll come if she’s forced to. I have to make her sell!”
Ty chose that moment to come into the office. He stood with his arms crossed over his chest. If he was back, the big man had been taken down.
“Your man won’t be making an appearance tonight. So now what?” I asked as I twisted the letter opener again, his warm blood coating the side of my hand. I breathed in, the smell of his fear filling my nostrils.
“You’re making a mistake!”
“No, you made the mistake. You tried to have my girl hurt. You upset her, scared her, and for that you must pay. The choice is how?”
He bucked in the chair as I relocated the pointed tip of the letter opener to the apex of his throat and pressed in. A drop off blood down the tip.
“He’s going to get her…you can’t stop him!”
My snarl filled the room as I pressed harder on the letter opener. He wasn’t going to give me any more information, so I did what I had to. I drove the point through his skin and embedded the letter opener in his throat. The gurgles of his last breaths escaped before he slumped forward.
“We need to get rid of this,” I stood and indicated the dead body.
“The tool shed out back should have some gasoline in it.”
I nodded to Ty. “You do that. I’ll turn on the gas stove in the kitchen. I want this place to go up in flames hell would be proud of.”
Twenty minutes later, the home of Peter Sinclair was ablaze. As we hopped the back fence an explosion rocked the ground. There were two less assholes left in the world.
As I leaned against my truck, I sent out a message to the rest of the pack.
Dalton: Job done. Threat is still active. Be back soon.
Now we just needed to find out who else was after my girl so I could end them.
20
Mia
I was doing my best to not lose my shit at Angus. I had threatened him more than once that if he didn’t put some space between us, I was going to lock him out in the alley with the other guys. He said the same thing, that he was just following orders. I’d take big deep breaths, but that didn’t help. I knew this was for my safety, but there was a small part of me that thought that D had found out that I’d moved Jay’s bottles and this was his payback.
“LIAM!?!”
He popped up like the ninja that he was, brow raised.
“Did you tell Dalton that I messed with Jay’s bottles, because there’s protective and then there’s being a pain in the ass!”
He chuckled. “No, I didn’t. Angus is doing what he was told. D’s on his way back now, so you can take it up with him.”
“I’m gonna kill him.”
Liam raised his hands and backed away. Smart man.
I moved behind the bar to help out the girls for a little bit, since boredom was taking hold. Dalton came back not long after. The look on his face made me drop my bitching about Angus. Taking his hand, we went into my office.
“Sinclair won’t be bothering you again. Please promise me that you will stay with one of us at all times, though. There is still someone out there, but we aren’t sure who yet. If you need to leave, you and the girls have someone escort you out to the car.”
“I promise. We can make sure all the guys know to walk the girls out every night like they do now.” Dalton pressed his lips to my head. I closed my eyes and leaned into his embrace. I hated this. Not knowing when and if someone was going to attack me or one of the girls, everyone on high alert. I was sick of it. “Why did he want the club back so badly?”
“You were apparently never supposed to keep it. It was a money laundering operation, but it backfired when you wouldn’t sell
it back to him. He made some deals and in the end, it cost him his life.”
“Can you ease up on the bodyguard, though?”
“Nope. If I’m not here, he’ll be your shadow. Keep messing with Jay’s bottles so that I get the blame for it and it’ll be worse.”
I made a face and buried my head in his chest to hide my laughter. “It wasn’t me!”
“My little witch, I know you’re lying.”
“It’s not lying, it’s withholding details.”
Dalton pinched my ass, causing me to squeal and smack my hand against his chest. A knock came at the door, which opened, and Liam entered. Pulling back, I rested my cheek over his heart. I listened as they talked, my mind working on a plan to find out who was coming after me. We needed to end this once and for all. I was tired of not being safe in my own club.
A couple of hours later, after closing up the bar and making sure all the girls got out okay, Dalton and I headed home. I waited until D was fast asleep, or as asleep as that man gets, and got out of bed. We had a third bedroom here, but it was mostly used by me. If I needed to recenter myself or work on some new meds for Jay, then I had my own space.
Walking into the room, I switched on the light and closed the door behind me. At least the spell I was about to do wouldn’t piss him off…I hoped. Taking down the ingredients I would need from the shelf, I placed them on my desk. I took out a bowl from my desk drawer and placed it on a stand. Placing a candle under it and lighting it, I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing. Opening them again, I looked into the candle.
“Goddess, I ask for your help. I need to see who is after me. I ask you to show me their intent and what they plan on doing. I ask to see who remains. I need your guidance. I am calling upon the ancient lines of my ancestors to help me now.”
