Page 45 of When Kings Fall

“It’ll require your help too,” she told him.

Without looking up from typing away like a machine, he responded, “Got you always, baby.”

“How about me?” Colt asked, sitting forward in one of the armchairs and bouncing his elbows on his knees, evidence of his increasingly restless state.

Bree pulled her gloves off and stuffed them in the pockets of her puffer jacket, then shrugged it off to reveal a sexy off-the-shoulder top with a pastel-pink and silver crisscrossing design on it beneath. She looked to the side of me at Colt, telling him, “We’ve got this, but any input is helpful too. The melding of minds and all that. I need your help with something else after we finish sorting this.”

I smiled at her handling of Colt.

His forte wasn’t strategizing and planning missions or tasks like it was for Levi and me, but he had other strengths, and she was making sure he wasn’t left out. That had happened more than I cared to admit when it had just been the three of us before and usually he’d gotten distracted by something else quickly, or barely had the attention span for this sort of thing to pay it much mind. But us being here in this safehouse with the shit hanging over our head made it impossible for him to just walk away from it and go off and do his own thing with his band or fuck around with his Mythic Cry groupies, as were his usual ways. This time he was feeling it.

“Perfect!” he said, brightly, that sweet side of him warming me.

The smile on Levi and Bree’s faces made it clear they were feeling the same way too.

I turned my attention back to her. “So, tell me about Vixen.”

“You may have heard of club girls when it comes to motorcycle clubs.” She grimaced. “They’re unfortunately called a lot of other things too, much more derogatory things, just because they have a biker fetish, or whatever.”

“Oh, club bunnies, club whores?” Colt commented.

Levi chuckled. “No tact, cupcake. But, yeah, that’s what she’s getting at.”

“Anyway, yeah,” Bree went on. “I developed friendships with some of them over the years. In that time, I got to know women from all different walks of life. Different ideals, professions, dreams, and all of that. I fostered those friendships and it occurred to me that we could help each other. So, I formed Vixen on the down low. Steel Dawn MC and my father had no idea. Before I knew it, I had a small network of reliable and resourceful women who had reach in different areas.”

“A source of power,” I realized aloud.

“In essence. Information is power.”

“Absolutely,” Levi commented, still typing away and fixated on his laptop screen as he pulled that amazing multitasking of his and managed to participate while still immersed in that.

“Now, I have three of my girls in place around Peter Hall, currently in what I call a neutral state. Meaning observation and recon only. If you agree, I’ll activate them.”

I did a double take. “Excuse me? You have three in place already?”

“I put them in place when you came at me, just in case you proved unable for me to handle one-on-one.”

“Damn,” Colt exclaimed.

“Hot as fucking Hades, huh?” Levi commented, looking up for a moment, pride and desire shining in his eyes.

I blinked past that and focused on Bree.

“After you told me about your predicament with your father, I kept them there.”

“And where exactly are they positioned?”

“One took the place of your father’s former assistant who finally grew a backbone thanks to some persuasion from my asset, and quit. Your father is a real slimy bastard. He’d been harassing her for a long time and she was too scared to quit and lose her job which she desperately needed to support her twin toddlers. Fortunately, I was able to offer her a lucrative severance that will tide her over until another one of my girls is in place to offer her a job at her firm—a legal aid outfit.”

“Jesus, this is… intricate.”

She merely smiled then went on, “I have another asset who is now in position in your mom’s society circles, who Shirley Hall believes she’s taking under her wing, schooling an up-and-coming socialite. My asset is actually a very talent actor with falsified society ties that somebody like your mom looks up to. She’s formed a bond with her. She’s been inside the Hall estate several times and she’s acquired a very good lay of the land.” She tossed her jacket down on the couch, cocked her hip, then told me, “And the third is prepared to bring a big-time case to Peter Hall. She’s a real lawyer herself, but she’ll pose as someone with a beef against a major corporation that’s encroaching on her small business. But I’ll require Levi’s help to be able to pull off a smokescreen that detailed to make the fake case appear completely legitimate.” She cocked her hip. “They’re all in prime positions to find the evidence he’s holding over you and destroy it, as well as finding dirt on him to secure your position and leverage against him going forward.” She smiled. “To free you, Mason.”

I stepped back a little and scrubbed my hand over my face. “This is… it’s remarkable what you’ve created here. Are these assets on call and working for you as needed, on a case-by-case basis?”

“Yes. Exactly.”

“And how do you finance all this if it’s off your father’s radar? The guy’s made a mint with his small business ventures and chains of—”

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