Page 161 of Dagger

We had them on their knees, literally and figuratively, and judging by Bear’s slumped shoulders and set jaw, the realization was beginning to sink in.

“Lying bastard,” the mayor clipped out, turning back to Spencer. “You set me up.”

“No,” Spence replied, jerking his chin toward me. “He set you up. I just went along with it.”

Henderson emitted a low growl. “I’m gonna fucking kill you.” He lunged and launched his body toward me.

Shouts cut through the air, but I was ready. Bouncing on the soles of my feet, I waited until the last minute before spinning to the side just as Henderson flew into me.

The move sent him off balance, and he slipped and fell.

Grabbing the back of the collar of his button-up, I pulled his head up and threw a quick jab at his nose. I heard a satisfying crack as my knuckles connected, and blood flew everywhere.

With a roar, I punched again and again, holding him by the hair and directing a flurry of punches at his face. This bastard took my life from me. He took my woman and subjected her to years of hellish abuse. He made me miss out on not only the birth of my oldest child but also every milestone of her childhood.

A red mist descended, and I kept punching until Henderson’s face turned into a bloody mess.

This was the culmination of thirty-five years of rivalry, the culmination of all the blood, sweat, and tears that those bastards had caused my club and my community. My dad was a true, unadulterated cunt who, more often than not, operated on the wrong side of the law, but he at least had a sliver of honor when it came to looking after the town and all the people in it.

These poor excuses for humans lived their lives having no conscience and showing no mercy, so we would put aside our consciences and our mercy when we did the world a favor by putting them to death.

Strong arms banded around mine, and I watched Cash drag Henderson away. A muscle ticked in my jaw, and my breath sawed in and out, my top lip curling in disgust at the sick piece of shit.

“Get the fuck off me,” I bellowed.

“Killin’ the fucker’s all good, Prez,” Atlas murmured from behind. “But we need him lucid to question him; plus, we all wanna play.” He lifted his head and shouted, “Breaker. Get the women and kids outta the basement. We need to get these clowns down the Cell, but we don’t need an audience.”

Kit gave him a chin lift and marched to the clubhouse.

Cash tossed Henderson toward Bowie, and marched back to Bear, pulling him to his feet by his hair. “Get all those assholes on their feet,” he ordered to the men. “When we get the go-ahead, march ‘em down.”

Murmurs of assent went up along with calls of, “Got it, boss.”

My breathing evened out, and I flexed my pecs, glowering over my shoulder, only for my angry stare to clash with Atlas’s. “You can let go now,” I said pointedly.

His arms released me, and I rubbed at the discomfort in my chest. The big fucker almost busted a rib, squeezed me like a fuckin’ ketchup bottle.

A shrill whistle pierced the ether. “Yo!” Breaker yelled from the clubhouse doors. “Clear. Let’s fuckin’ go.”

My boys hauled the remaining Sinners up from their kneeling positions and yelled at them to get moving. Atlas grabbed Bear by the scruff of his neck and kicked his ass, making him stumble, and Cash hauled an unconscious Henderson up over his shoulder and made for the clubhouse.

Spence appeared beside me. “How the fuck do you get involved in this shit?”

I twisted my neck to face him. “This one was years in the makin’, Spence. We could’ve never got behind them after they went after Abe’s ol’ lady, and that was the day I knew we’d have to put them down eventually. They backed off some after we handed the illegal shit over, but then they made a huge mistake.”

His forehead furrowed. “What?”

“They got greedy, Spence. I knew thirty years ago that one day, it would come to this. The Sinners were never happy with what they had. They wanted to set up in Mapletree back then, and although my dad had misgivings, he had to allow it ‘cause it was out of our jurisdiction. They wanted in on our business and for us to introduce them to all the contacts it took us years to cultivate. We denied them until the time came when it suited us to hand it over, so we offloaded what we didn’t want, and they took it, but they always wanted more. I reckon we could’ve handed them the world, Spence, and they still would’ve demanded the universe. Then the fuckers came after our way of life and flooded our town with drugs designed to hurt people and, ultimately, us. They came after our kids, our women, and they murdered good people for the sole purpose of tryin’ to break my club. They couldn’t fuckin’ stand it, Spence, knowing they weren’t good enough to lick our boots. But instead of puttin’ in the work and evolving as an MC to try and get better, they got spiteful.”

Spence let out a snort. “Jealousy’s a terrible thing, John.”

Slowly, I nodded. “The Bible says, ‘you shall not covetyour neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.’ They coveted the fuck out of everything we had, Spence, and ultimately, it destroyed them.”

Fourteen Hours Later

Bear’s lieutenants had already been dead for a couple of hours.

Atlas recognized one of them as Sparky’s killer, so after we beat a confession out of him, he went out the same way as our kind, gentle, much-loved, and missed prospect did.

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