It was a good thing I was disturbed as they came.
Chapter Eight
Luc
I watched as former Sergeant First Class Victor Marino nervously looked around at his surroundings, waiting for the call to be connected. The second it did, I heard him say, “I need an extraction. I’m on the corner of 5th and Broad.”
“I know,” I growled. “Now stand really still.”
And just like that, he lowered his phone quickly, turning as I pulled the trigger. I didn’t need to look to know I hit my mark. From my vantage point, I felt nothing when the back of his head exploded mere seconds before he dropped to the ground, dead. People screamed, running away. Some stood in shock, uncertain of what they had just witnessed. He had to have known this day was coming after the shit he pulled, which led to me being incarcerated for twelve motherfucking years. But kidnapping and raping a Mafia boss’s daughter, then stealing millions from said boss, well... let’s just say I did the guy a favor.
Nobody got away scot-free. Though I gave him credit where credit was due. Fucker played a good game of hide and seek, but like all my prey, nothing escaped Indigo when he was on the hunt. Didn’t take my brother long to find him either, and when I called to let Vic’s former Mafia boss know we found what he was looking for, well, the Mafia boss offered me twenty thousand dollars to take care of it.
Apparently, that was the going rate for rape these days.
However, he was willing to pay one million if I could recover the missing ten million that Victor Marino stole. Which, of course, Indigo did. Only I told the client we recovered half. Fucker cared more about his lost revenue than his own damn daughter. Fucking piece of shit would never win the father of the fucking year award.
I hated assholes like that.
Money didn’t mean shit if there was no one around to share it with. Couldn’t take it with you when you died. Some people would never understand that family was everything.
Apparently, the Mafia boss didn’t get that memo.
It didn’t matter, because in the end, the daughter got her justice.
The deadbeat father got a portion of his money back, and the club was now 5.5 million dollars richer.
It was a win-win in my book.
After disassembling my rifle, I headed back to my bike before climbing on, only to pause when I received an incoming text. Reaching into my cut, I swiped the screen to see my granddaughter Soleil smiling at me.
And just like that, everything I was feeling seconds ago evaporated.
I still found it strange that one little girl could evoke such strong visceral emotions out of me. I never let that happen before, but I knew I would happily kill anyone in the world for my granddaughter.
When I embarked on my life, I never imagined kids. Children were a hinderance in my line of work. An obstacle I couldn’t afford. I spent the majority of my life in danger, fighting and killing those the government told me to kill. For a while, I was very good at it. I knew what I was getting into because I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to be the one who stood between good and evil.
I had my reasons, not that anyone knew what they were.
Then, like everything else in my life, it all came crumbling down. One decision changed everything; however, I would do it again in a heartbeat.
No questions asked.
Tucking my phone back into my cut, I secured my rifle, then fired up my bike and headed back to the clubhouse.
Riding the coastline, I knew I’d never get over the scenic view when I headed home. The east coast had nothing on the west coast. The Pacific Ocean was raw, unfiltered, dangerous. A playground for all the nasty this world created. From big business to politics to Hollywood, California was nothing more than a cesspool for everything wrong in this world. And I now lived in the middle of it.
I felt restless. Like the calm before the storm. A feeling I was familiar with from my time in the military. Generally, I felt this way before a mission or deployment.
It was an odd, strange feeling.
One I couldn’t shake.
Something was coming.
I knew that for sure.
Whatever it was, remained a mystery. All I knew was the longer I felt this way, the more hypervigilant I would become.