Page 174 of Golden Atonement

The woman sighed before adding, “Word of advice, Reaper. Trust the Devil you know.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“I’ve said all I can. Keep her safe, Reaper.”

And just like that, the line went dead.

The weekend had arrived, and the Sons of Hell were hosting a club barbeque for their visitors. While the women worked hard to prepare all the food and get everything ready, I sat in church with Maxim, Vladmir, King, and Antonio Valentinetti, who acted as the Valentinetti family representative, while we tried to make sense of everything.

“Everyone’s received files except the Golden Skulls?” King stated, then added, “Makes sense.”

“How so?” Antonio asked.

King smirked. “Because the Golden Skulls’ existence is an open book. Everything about the club came out in the war with theSociety. They’ve got nothing else to hide.”

Well, that wasn’t technically true, but I wasn’t going to start sharing now. Not until I knew everything myself. The fact was, the thumb drive Pops left me had quite a bit of information still on it that needed to be uncovered, and until it was, I wasn’t saying or sharing shit.

I’ve played this guessing game before and I learned my lesson. The problem I was facing now was the possibility of beingdragged into a war that didn’t concern me or mine, and after the last war, I wasn’t eager to jump into the fray.

“And we do,” Maxim groaned.

“Yeah.” King nodded. “What bugs me is the timing of it all. Why now? From what Scribe could find out, the files dropped after Reaper took back the chair.”

Vladmir slowly sat up and said, “And when my daughter returned home.”

Frowning, I looked at the man and asked, “You think this is because of Remi?”

“It’s a possibility. The files dropped the same day you took the chair and my daughter returned home. That is not a coincidence, Reaper.”

“It fucking better be,” I growled, not liking the implications, but the fucker made sense. No one knew when I would take the chair back or if my wife would return home. It just happened to be on the same motherfucking day. If Vladmir was right, then that meant someone was watching all of us.

“Remi’s scared.”

Vladmir sat up as Fedorov stiffened. “How do you mean?”

Time for some truth.

If Vladmir was right, then he deserved to know.

“She’s been to the Trick Pony.”

“Excuse me,” her father sneered.

Nodding, I reiterated, “She told me that Petrovitch took her to the Trick Pony. She’s scared. She keeps mentioning a monster. Someone more dangerous than Scott. I’ve tried to get her to open up, but she’s not ready, and I refuse to push the matter. My wife has been through enough already. I won’t cause her anymore pain.”

“You said monster.” Vladmir glared. “Was that the exact word she used?”

“Yes.”

“Aksana said the same thing,” he admitted, looking at Maxim. “Before, when I met her for the first time, I thought nothing of it. She said there was another hiding in the shadows. Someone stronger, someone so patient they were willing to sit back and let everyone else fight to the death, and when the last man was standing, that’s when he would make his move. She said he was the real threat.”

“Layla’s been to the Trick Pony as well,” Antonio added solemnly. “Gio didn’t want anyone to know, and he told me in confidence and ordered me to only mention it if it had anything to do with what was going on. According to Gio, Layla’s nightmares started up again after she killed George Stone.”

“Shit,” Maxim cursed. “I knew I should have killed that bastard myself.”

“Gio believes she saw something that night that triggered her. She flat out refuses to leave the island anymore.”

“Well, there is your starting point,” King said. “From a military logistical standpoint, you have three women that have been to the same place. Each with varying degrees of trauma.”

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