Page 70 of Sophia, Property of Tracker

I don’t reply. Instead, I pass them and head into the clubhouse with Sophia. The women are sitting on the couch, consoling Lexi. With all this going down, it must be bringing back some dark memories for her.

She looks up when she hears us approaching and gets up off the couch, making her way to us. Hugging me to her, I’m forced to let go of Sophia’s hand and embrace her.

“Shhh,” I say when I notice she’s crying.

She looks up at me, her eyes full of tears. “I’m so sorry, Ryan. I’m so sorry they’ve got Tate.”

I grab her by her arms and pull her back so she can look at me. “Lexi, this is not your fault. Get that out of your head. It’s that fuckin’ Lawrence. He’s gonna get what’s coming to him. I’m gonna make sure of it!”

“But… he has men, lots of them.”

“We do too, Lexi. Don’t worry… we’ll get Tate back. This is not on you,” I state, making sure she understands my words.

She sniffles. “I’ve decided I’ll go. He can take me back as long as he lets Tate go.”

“Like fuck you will...” Rhyder steps in, grabbing her by the arm and forcing her away from us to have a conversation. I let them go. She feels guilty about the whole situation, but she needs to realize that she couldn’t have changed what happened. Lawrence has people in his pockets, so who knows what we’re up against. What I do know is I can’t take any risks, not with Tate as his prisoner.

Turning to Sophia, I say, “Baby, I’m gonna be a while. Go rest in our room if you want. It’s been a long night and drive.” Kissing her on her forehead, she looks up at me.

“I want to be with Lexi. I’ll make sure she’s okay.”

Smiling at her, I say, “How did I get so lucky?”

Leaning down, I give her a swift kiss, then look at my boys, giving them a chin lift, letting them know I’m ready for church.

We enter church and take our seats at the table. The Sinners stand around the room, and with the president and the VP of the Sinners away, it’s now up to the sargeant-at-arms to step in, and that’s Flame. He’s the only one who gets a seat at the table as we all wait on Rhyder.

Finally, he enters and shuts the door behind him before he sits opposite me. He looks tired, fucker probably didn’t sleep much, just like me. This must be hard for him too. Lawrence wants his woman in exchange for Tate. Tate may not be from our clubhouse, but he’s still a brother to us all. He’s helped us through some dark times, and we can’t let him suffer for this.

Fuck! He’s my blood brother.

He means everything to me.

I need to get him back.

But we also can’t trade Lexi for his life.

I have no idea what we’re gonna fucking do, but time is ticking.

We look at Prez, and he places his hands together on the table. “Brothers, I’m open to any ideas. I have no fuckin’ clue how we’re gonna get out of this one so that neither Tate nor Lexi suffer in any way.”

“How do we know he has him?” I ask.

Rhyder digs into his pocket, checks something on his cell, and then slides it to me. When I look at the screen, it’s a video, so I press play. It’s Lawrence and behind him are two large men holding down my brother who’s tied to a chair, and beside him is his VP, Luke, with two men beside him as well.

Wait a fucking minute.

Pinching the screen to zoom in. “Fuck me! That’s Matt, the gardener, next to Luke.” Prez’s eyes narrow as I turn the screen toward him pointing at the motherfucker who tried to touch my woman.

“That fucker is dead!” Prez growls.

I don’t dwell on that too long because right now Tate is my concern.

Zooming in on Tate, I can see that he’s been beaten badly.

One eye is swollen, and he’s bleeding from his nose and mouth. Luke’s head is hung forward, and although I can’t see his face, I’d say he’s been beaten too.

I listen to what Lawrence says, which is basically what Prez told me. He says, “If we want to see our man alive, meet at the marina with Lexi in replacement for Tate’s life. But Lexi needs to come alone, she can be escorted by one other person. Men will be watching if we try anything stupid—” Not wanting to listen to another word, I cut it off and slide the phone back to Rhyder, ready to do just about anything to get Tate back

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