Page 84 of Truths

“Ivan.”

“That's what triggered the memory for me. Ivan was the name Red mentioned to Scarface when they had me in the basement,” Lex says. “I thought Ivan said she would break.”

Reaching out to touch her, Lex knows Colt needs the comfort. Talking about the three days she was held captive never gets easier for him, and he says, “Which explains why Ivan wasso resistant when it came to helping us with the Slashers. He worked with them as well as ordered my wife's abduction.”

“And gave me the extra special gift of an obsessed stalker who also worked with the Kingsmen,” she adds.

“Motherfucker,” Jennings mutters, his voice low and angry.

“Ryan Graves,” Brock says.

Dani and Psycho both snap their heads up to look at him from either side of Jennings along the wall behind him. Lex points at Brock. “That's the name Grayson found with all the shell companies when he looked into the houses the Kingsmen had that we knew of. Ryan Graves.”

“He's the President of the Kingsmen,” Brock says.

“Oh, God,” Dani says, and she crouches down to hug her knees, rocking slightly next to Dax. “I can't breathe.”

“What?” Dax asks, looking around with panicked eyes as he crouched down next to her. “Dani, what is it?”

Psycho's growl fills the entire room, and if Lex didn't know any better, he could have been a grizzly bear. “Fucking motherfucker.”

“Hey, uh, clue the rest of us in here. Who's this Ryan Graves guy?” Lex asks when no one seems to have the strength to voice the question to the man with fury in his eyes.

“He was the VP of the Havoc Outlaws,” Psycho says, his teeth clenched. “He should've been dead with the rest of them when we slaughtered my family.”

“He was in prison,” Dani says, her forehead resting on her knees and muffling her voice. “Remember? Got twenty years, and that's how I got away.”

Holy shit!“That's why it felt like something the Outlaws would have done. And that's why you know him as his real name. You knew Psycho when he was an Outlaw,” Lex says.

“I was a stupid teenager trying to rebel against overly strict parents. I ended up dating Ryan, and it was bad. It was reallybad, and the only reason I made it out alive was because of Carson and then Ryan’s prison sentence.”

“I didn't fucking check if they were all there that night,” Psycho says. “So Ryan built his own little club from behind bars, huh?”

“But how does this tie into the RIO and the Slashers?” Jennings asks.

The pain of her face and knuckles disappears, but it could also be due to the nauseous feeling in her stomach. Tossing the ice, Lex looks at the table while Colt continues to rub her leg.

“We're thinking it was opportunistic,” he says.

“Lex?” Dani asks, her voice small.

Looking up, she stares into her brown eyes. “Yeah?”

“I remember... I remember Scarface asking if they had or could get any blondes. Preferably ones with curly hair. They told him they don't take requests.”

Shuttering, she dry heaves. “Gross.”

“He really wanted you.”

“Okay, let's talk this out. Ivan needed help pissing us off,” Psycho says, “which is why he worked with the Slashers and framed Dimitri. Ryan would be able to get back at me by taking out the Drifters, plus he had Dani, which I think is what he really wanted. But what did the Irish get?”

“Scarface would have Lex?” Venom offers.

No, that doesn't sound right. Lex thinks for a few moments while the men all spitball what the motive could be for the trifecta of terrible partnerships.

“The Irish were always going to fuck over the Russians,” Lex says aloud.

“What?” Jennings asks.

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