Page 44 of Golden Atonement

“I wasn’t talking to you, Shadow. I was talking to Ghost. The vice president of the Golden Skulls.”

“Not the VP anymore, Remi,” Ghost plainly said.

“Don’t lie to me.”

“Not lying.” He sighed, all pretenses gone as he tilted his head at his brother, who quietly got up and left the room.

The second Shadow was gone, I slowly shook my head and said, “I knew something was wrong the moment he let those bitches back into the club. You played your part brilliantly. I will give you that. Had me and everyone else fooled. But I should have known better. You do nothing without him. But that got me thinking. The problem didn’t start with those bitches. It started before the Golden Wedding.”

“Remi—”

“I’m not done talking,” I sneered, looking at the man. “For months, one thing has been bugging me. Something I couldn’t get my head to make sense of. It’s been fucking with me tothe point I feared I was going crazy. So, I want you to explain it to me. You’ve known Reaper since you two were boys. Grew up together, did everything together. Survived hell and are still standing. No matter what fucked-up cockamamie scheme that idiot comes up with, you’ve always been there supporting him. Even when you disagreed, you still went along with whatever that fucking moron wanted. So tell me, Ghost, what was the plan? No. Let me guess and tell me if I’m right. You hand in your cut, distancing yourself from the club. You’ve done it before, so it was easy for you. Yet, you didn’t go straight home to Ari. She was already safe here in Oklahoma with the girls. You knew Shadow would protect them, which allowed you the freedom to do what he asked you to do. Then I learned about the blood pact fucknut made with Maxim Fedorov and Montana Stone, but you already knew about that, didn’t you? It’s why you took Ari and the kids away before the Golden Wedding. You both knew it wouldn’t work. So, while the club was recovering from that fiasco, you were in Arizona living your life. But you weren’t, were you? You were still helping him, weren’t you?”

Leaning forward onto the table, he groaned. “I fucking told him this shit wouldn’t work. He never fucking listens to me.”

“One thing I learned in captivity was to pay attention. I trusted no one. Everyone was the enemy. So that got me thinking. He’s still in his cage. He never really left, did he? Being held captive is a traumatic experience at any age, but for a fifteen-year-old boy who spent his entire life trusting his parents and the club to protect him, it messed with his mind and he never really recovered. Oh, he played a good game, but the damage was done, wasn’t it?”

Ghost nodded. “Yeah. When they brought him home, I knew he was different. Could see it clearly. His parents and the club just thought he was acting out, misbehaving because of what happened.”

“But you knew differently,” I added. “You knew your old friend was gone.”

“Yeah.”

“That’s when he started planning, wasn’t it?”

Ghost nodded. “Reaper’s smart. Smarter than me. Smarter than everyone gave him credit for. He never forgets a face or name. The second he hears or sees anything, he files it away. He was a lot like Kitty in that way. That’s why he called her his vault. When the club brought Max home, I knew he was different. I saw the way he looked at everyone, watching them, filing away every little thing they said or did. He watched his parents and William the most. He knew they were behind his captivity but couldn’t prove it. So, he decided to play their game.”

“If you can’t beat them, join them.”

Ghost smirked. “Yeah. The one thing he didn’t plan on was you showing up, but when you did, everything changed for him. It was no longer about revenge, but about protecting you. Everything he’s done has been to ensure your safety. He never told me about his time in the cages. All he would say was that an angel saved him, then he would quickly change the subject. Over the years, he followed every order, never deviating from his prime directive, and when his Pops died and he took the chair, well, that’s when the real games began.”

“You told him what James said the day he died, didn’t you?”

Ghost nodded. “Yeah. I did, and the next day, I left with some brothers to investigate.”

“It wasn’t James Doherty who ordered you to leave. It was Reaper.”

“Yes, and for five fucking years, I searched until I found what James hid.”

“Only it wasn’t just information about the Original Seven, was it?”

“No. It was much more than that. Files upon files about everything and everyone. He calls them his ghost files.”

“So, it’s true then. He’s known all along who the players were.”

“Yeah, and he’s been waiting, biding his time, taking them out one at a time. Say what you want about your husband, Remi, but the man is patient.”

“You said his plan changed because of me. What was the original plan?”

Ghost chuckled, then looked at me. “What do you think?”

Smirking, I replied, “To kill them all.”

“And now, he wants them all to pay. Reaper firmly believes that death is too easy for them. He wants them to suffer like you and he suffered, and only then will he allow death to claim them.”

February 15, 2024

Reaper

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