Page 159 of Golden Atonement

“Speaking of the boss man.” Smoke snickered, taking a seat while I leaned over and smelled the lovely flowers. “Got word that he’s personally bringing Bayou and my cousin home with him.”

“Great,” Ink groaned as his body shivered. “You tell that fucker he better keep his damn pets away from me.”

Smoke wasn’t the only one in the clubhouse who was a little wary around Viper and his slithering reptiles. The man was a walking caution, but he was harmless... most of the time.

As for his snakes, well, they were another story.

A knock at the back door had me turning around to see Phantom standing in the doorway. When she didn’t enter or say a word, I frowned, getting to my feet, leaving Ink to complain all on his own.

“Lena? You look like you’ve seen a ghost. What’s wrong?”

“When’s Reaper due back?”

“In an hour or so. Why?”

“Shit,” she muttered, looking around. The woman looked nervous, almost like she was scared, but I knew that was impossible because I’d never seen Lena scared. Even if I did, Bullseye would kill whatever was scaring the woman. So, she really had no reason to fear anything.

“I’ve got a problem.”

“Of course you do,” I groaned, walking out the back door, leaving Ink to fend for himself with Smoke egging him on. Even I had to admit I wasn’t happy about having snakes and other slimy, slithering reptiles around again, but this place was Viper’s home and with him came his babies, as he called them.

Walking with Lena back toward the clubhouse, I asked, “Just so I can brace myself, how bad are we talking? Like a slap on the wrist or...”

“Life in prison in an undisclosed off-site installation, never to be heard from again,” Lena finished as she looked at me.

Standing there, I gaped at the woman, then clipped, “Jesus, Lena, that’s a bit harsh.”

“You’re telling me. I’m gonna be the one doing the time,” she said, opening the back door, allowing me to precede her.

Making our way through the kitchen, I smiled at Maria, who had happily taken over the kitchen and all the cooking. Axel’s mom was in heaven, according to him and the rest of their family. The woman loved cooking for a big family and well, she had that now. A house full of men all clamoring and happy to eat whatever the woman cooked.

My husband included.

Entering Lena’s office, I took a seat on the small couch and asked, “Alright, Phantom. What’s going on?”

Pacing her office, the woman bit her thumbnail. Another indicator that something was bothering her. Lena didn’t have many tells, well, none that I knew of, but she never pegged me as a nail biter.

“You know about the thumb drive James Doherty left Reaper?”

I nodded. “What about it?”

Instead of replying, the woman sat at her computer, typed something into it, got up and pointed at the screen.

Saying nothing, I too got up, walked over and froze.

“Um, Phantom... isn’t that?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“I don’t know.”

“Wait a damn minute,” Massacre groaned, rubbing his forehead. “I thought it was just a regular thumb drive.”

“It is,” Phantom sighed.

“Then how the fuck does it have current information on it? Correct me if I’m wrong here, but James Doherty died before Reaper took the seat. Dead men can’t collect information.”

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