Page 118 of Sinner's Malice

Wiped clean. Minus a small box that sat in the corner.

There was nothing left of Shame.

Nothing to show that my brother was even here.

“What is that?” I asked, pointing to the box.

“Shame’s personal effects. I didn’t know what to do with them and I didn’t want to throw them away. Was going to give them to Montana or Mercy, hoping they would have an idea.”

Walking over to the box, I opened the lid and frowned as I picked up an old flip phone.

“Thought you said Shame’s personal effects were in here?”

“I did. All I could find was that phone,” the kid replied.

“You mean to tell me that all he had in here was this damn phone?”

“Yeah,” the kid confirmed. “Thought it odd, too. All of you have pictures, personal mementos to show your likes, family, hobbies and interests but not Shame. When I cleaned out this office, that was all I found.”

Flipping the phone open, I checked the contacts list to find none there. Frowning, I then checked the call log and saw that no one had called. It was odd because I knew that Shame always used his iPhone. Brother had that damn thing attached to his hip.

Why the fuck would he have an old, outdated flip phone?

“You run a diagnostic on this?”

“Yeah. Nothing came up.”

“So, he never used it?”

“Not that I could tell. Those old phones are only good for one thing, Fury.”

“Yeah, burner phones. But that begs the question, why would Shame have a burner phone?”

“I don’t know. You want me to run some more tests?”

Shaking my head, I pocketed the phone and said, “No. By chance, did you find any relatives for Shame? Parents, siblings, a cousin? Did he have any family?”

“Montana told me not to. Just to consolidate his company and absorb it into the club.”

Yeah. I remembered that part.

I understood the club had a lot on its plate, but we could have taken five fucking minutes for Shame. He was our fucking brother, after all.

Saying nothing more, I left Pippen to whatever it was he was doing.

It was late, and I was tired.

After the clusterfuck of a day, all I wanted to do was go home and see my girls.

Epilogue Two

One hour before the meeting at the Gentleman’s Club...

Sitting at my desk, I leaned back and watched the city that never slept come alive for another night of debauchery. Everything was going according to plan, and no one was the wiser.

I needed to ensure that everything stayed that way until I got what I wanted.

Then and only then would I reveal the cold, hard truth.