Page 24 of Devil's Valentine

“Yes,” I growl, “and she’s mine.”

Driller’s words are filled with confusion, “Emergency Church was called for a claiming?”

Since Emery, his Old Lady, wasn’t part of the female posse that rolled up asking about protecting Scarlett in the first place—probably because she was working at Sacred Tattoos at the time—he probably doesn’t know what has gone down. If she was there, she would have filled him in.

“This is about more than Frenzy claiming his Old Lady, but let’s get this out of the way first,” Lucifer’s voice is filled with authority.

The vote is unanimous, which I knew it would be. No one wants to step between a Devil’s Saint and their Old Lady and meeting her is not always required. It’s preferred, sure, but her being new to the scene is better than her being a known problem. In all the years I’ve been with the club, I’ve never seen an Old Lady voted down.

Lucifer leans back in his chair and gives me a nod. Once her property cut comes in, we’ll make it truly official, but as of right now my woman is recognized as family. And that earns her even more protection than if she only had the loyalty of the Old Ladies. But really, that would have been more than enough.

“Not long ago, some of the Old Ladies came into the clubhouse fit to be tied,” Lucifer starts to explain. “Seems a baker friend of theirs found the back wall of her shop vandalized, and it wasn’t the first time. They came to me and wanted something done about it. I sent Frenzy to check it out and get the lay of the land.”

Scope barks out a laugh and grins at me. “Let me guess, it only took one look, and he was a fucking goner?”

“Damn straight. Did you see her curves? My Sugar is all mine. Just need her to catch up all the way.”

“Anyway,” the weight of Lucifer’s authority cuts through as he glares at Scope and then me, “Hacker installed some cameras inside and outside the bakery. He was waiting for some equipment to come in to get her security system updated and looped into his,” he pauses, technology clearly not his thing, “whatever he does.” Hacker snickers, but the sound dies when Lucifer cuts his eyes in his direction. “The parts didn’t come in fast enough. Early this morning, the bakery was broken into and everything that could be destroyed quickly, was. Nothing was taken, but the mess and damages are severe.”

My brothers sit up straighter, none of them liking the idea of a woman being targeted like this. Adding in that it’s my Old Lady? Rage is mirrored on the faces of all my brothers, and I’m fucking thankful.

“I thought the bakery was under surveillance?” Gallows’ question is valid, and I watch as Hacker’s jaw clenches.

“It was,” Hacker grits out through his teeth. “I was exhausted and had Billy watching the monitors tonight. I knew it needed to be watched because the cameras and security system weren’t synched yet, but we also weren’t expecting anyone to mess withthe bakery based on the previous pattern. I woke up to the motion alarm on my phone. Billy was asleep.”

The brothers groan, their annoyance and anger clear. It’s going to take a lot for him to work this mistake off; he might not ever be able to.

Scythe picks up the thread there as Hacker seethes, “Hacker called Lucifer and me as he raced out of the clubhouse and toward the bakery. By the time we got there, the two assholes were gone, and the bakery was ripped apart.”

“I arrived with my girl not long after. She gets there before fucking dawn.” I run a hand over my face, hating how early she goes into work even though I understand why. “She was devastated.”

“By now it’ll be boarded up,” Lucifer informs the table.

“I can free up my schedule to get whatever needs fixing done,” Hammer offers.

When I look over at him, he gives me a nod. This. This is the brotherhood I would fucking die for.

“I told Scarlett we’d do our best to get her fixed up to open tomorrow, but if it’s not possible then I’ll distract her.” With my words, my brothers chuckle; they know just how I’ll distract my woman. “I know she’ll want to open as soon as possible, but I don’t know if it’ll be a good idea until everything can be wired up completely.”

Hacker nods, his jaw still set and his whole-body tense. He feels like he let me, Scarlett, and the club down.

“That would be ideal,” Hacker agrees. “Show your woman the clubhouse kitchen and let her know Billy is her own personalbitch boy for anything she needs. If baking is her passion, it might be enough.”

I nod, thinking about that. The clubhouse kitchen is huge and set-up for anything she might want to bake. I’ll worry about that later.

Right now, there’s one question burning in my chest. “Do you have the footage?”

Hacker nods before tapping on the laptop open in front of him. The screens on either side of the room light up and then the camera feeds from the bakery start to play. They didn’t even bother breaking in with stealth. They break the front windows, and it took some effort. The two assholes walk into the bakery with crowbars, once they finally breath through. Then they just start wailing on anything and everything they can reach.

My brothers wince with every item that’s broken and my heart fucking bleeds for my woman. The two assholes look like guys, but it’s hard to tell in the black hoodies which are covering their head and the masks they have over their faces. If they are guys, they aren’t very big, Hacker was right about that.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say they’re just kids,” Feral, one of the older patched in members, muses as he tilts his head and watches the video intently.

Just as quickly as the whole thing started, it stops. The two people on the feed drop their arms like they’re exhausted, share a long look, and then leave the same way they came in. It’s only about two minutes later that Lucifer, Scythe, and Hacker step into frame. Then it’s less than ten minutes before Scarlett is lead into the bakery and starts to look around.

“Fuck,” Scythe fumes, “we just missed them.”

“My gut is telling me this isn’t over,” I force out between my teeth.

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