Page 12 of Ruthless Reign

“We have to turn the other gangs back to our side,” Zade said. “We let them enter our territory on the condition that they bent the knee to you and paid us a fucking fair share for being allowed to run their operations on our greener pastures. If we turn them back to our side, there goes all the eyes and ears the Sons of O’Sullivan are no doubt using to watch our every move. They become our eyes and ears again. And when it comes time to fight, they fight with us.”

A muscle in Dad’s jaw ticked. “Of course we need to turn them back, but it’s not going to be fucking easy. He took out the Warden’s entire group and word of that has spread through SoCal. The Sons have everyone running scared. We can’t use scared.”

Zade stood. “But we can use angry. We know that to turn each group against us, to make them obey him, he took a life in cold blood. Like you said, a show of brutality in exchange for obedience. Fuck yeah, they are scared. But you can bet your ass they’re angry too.”

What we needed to find out was if they were more angry than they were scared and it would need to be done delicately.

“We’ll need to be careful,” Dad said, echoing my thoughts. “It’s going to take time. Time we don’t really have. If he finds out what we’re doing, he’s going to try to take another one of us. And if he finds out one of the smaller fish is back in our pond, there is a damn good chance he’ll take another one of their men or worse, he’ll wipe them out. If that happens, none of the others will stand with us.”

It wasn’t much of a plan. The amount of patience and finesse it would take to turn every smaller gang in the area back to our side meant staying under Séamas O’Sullivan’s thumb longer.

“What about Mayor Costa?” Ma asked. “And the senator? Could we take them out discreetly?”

Fuck, I almost forgot how ruthless Ma could be when she was pushed to the edge. They weren’t exactly innocent men, aligning themselves with a deranged gangster, but still.

“The mayor is a lost cause,” Dad replied. “He’ll have to be dealt with, but the senator still may be able to be used to our advantage. I have no doubt Séamas used the same scare tactics on him, possibly threatened his family. If we could offer him protection, he may flip. And if not, blackmail is always a strong motivator, and I just happen to know a few things about our dear senator that he wouldn’t want getting out. I’ll handle that. Zade, you head up a team to start bringing the smaller guys back to our side.”

“We need more firepower,” I said. “Diesel up in Thorn Valley can help us with that.”

“They can help us with a lot more than sourcing arms and ammo,” someone muttered.

“They still aren’t whole,” Damien growled. “I won’t ask them to sacrifice more of their men or leave themselves open to another attack while they’re still trying to rebuild their ranks. And this fucker is a wildcard, we still don’t know the extent of what he’s capable of. I won’t throw that mad dog in their direction, not until I know I have them on a leash.”

“We can ask for the guns,” I pressed. “Let me pitch it to the crows. They come down this way a couple times a month. They can deliver and it won’t look like anything out of the ordinary.”

“You would bring your cousins into this?”

My teeth clenched. “Where do you think the Sons will look to when they’re finished with us? They aren’t safe up in Thorn Valley either. Do you really think he’ll stop taking our territory? We need to take care of the problem here before the problem spreads further and to do that we need weapons. I don’t see any of the smaller gangs risking their necks to get them for us, and I don’t see us being able to approach the Mexicans further south without Séamas catching wind of it. Diesel and the Crows are our best bet to get what we need.”

A vein jutted from my dad’s temple, and through the rage in his eyes, I could see he knew I was right. “Fine,” he hissed, tipping his head back to take a deep breath in through his nose. “You do it carefully. You do it quietly. And you do not tell them what’s happening here. I won’t put Diesel and his family at risk, not until we gain the advantage.”

I nodded.

“None of this helps us right now,” Ma said, tapping her fingers on the table as she considered other options, her eyes shifting back and forth. “We need our own eyes and ears and we need them now. We need to know their movements. We need backup. We’re vulnerable. Our families are vulnerable.”

“So then we do as he says,” Dad said through his teeth. “For now. As long as he’s getting what he wants and we appear docile, he may not strike us again.”

May not.

It wasn’t good enough, but for now I guess it had to be.

“We meet again in a week,” Dad announced. “Same time, same place. I want results. If anyone else has anything to offer, speak now.”

Silence filled the room.

“Dismissed.”

Hushed, low conversation began as the Saints gathered for the meet started to rise and filter themselves out of the room with Zade at their helm, barking for certain men to follow him out to the parking lot to discuss their next steps.

I watched Becca studiously not looking at any of them as they passed her on their way out. Hardin and I stayed in the room with Ma and Dad, who slumped into his chair, releasing a shuddering breath as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

In a rare show of emotion, he reached for Ma’s hand atop the table, and she squeezed his tightly, offering him some of her strength.

A soft tap tap sounded against the open door and Becca let herself in, sweeping it closed behind her. Her shoulders lifted tensely as she turned to face us, looking awkward as she cleared her throat.

Dad lifted his head, arching an eyebrow at her.

“So, I don’t know if you’re aware but this room isn’t exactly soundproof.”

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