Page 52 of Dagger

“Stone!”

I stopped and turned to face Henderson.

“She’s easy to keep to heel,” he drawled. “A hard slap keeps her obedient. You can control her through food, too,” he added. “She likes her desserts but be careful how many you allow her; she runs to fat very easily. You’ve got to keep an eye on that.”

I sucked air in through my nose and mounted my bike, fantasizing about all the inventive ways I could kill the motherfucker. The urge to shove my arm through the gate and squeeze his neck until it broke almost overwhelmed me.

“Get on your way now, Stone,” Henderson continued, glancing toward one of the men guarding the property. “My security team might get a little trigger-happy if you and your gang of misfits hang around much longer.”

My throat worked as I bit down a retort. Then, after cracking my neck from left to right, I took my helmet from the handlebars and shoved it on my head. “I’m gonna stab that bastard to death,” I vowed under my breath.

“John,” Abe warned, his tone purposefully low to keep the words out of earshot. “We’ve got what we came for. Be smart.”

“He’s right, Prez,” Atlas murmured from beside Abe. “What’s done is done. Stafford needs you to keep your head.”

Shaking the murderous thoughts from my mind, I fired up my bike, vowing to myself that one day soon, I’d wipe the smug piece of shit from the earth. I wouldn’t rest until Henderson was a mere afterthought. I’d make sure the memory of him faded into obscurity along with his sick, twisted bloodline.

I glanced down at the line of bikes, taking in Billy, Atlas, Abe, and Bowie before slowly riding over to the SUV. Craningmy neck, I jerked my chin at Abe, who gave me a nod and rode up the other side of the car. One by one, Bowie, Atlas, and Billy surrounded the vehicle.

Raising my hand, I twirled my finger in the air, and we set off.

I waited as Elise turned the SUV around, and we headed for the clubhouse, me and my boys staying in formation around the SUV. As we got further away from Henderson’s house, I swiveled my head toward Elise, and our eyes caught before I turned my face back to watch the road.

Elise had just run rings around Henderson. What made it even better was that the stupid prick didn’t have the first clue about how skillfully he’d just been played.

I couldn’t work out how she hadn’t found enough to lock Robert up and throw away the key. If the scene she’d just played out was any indication of her skills, Henderson didn’t stand a goddamned chance.

Elise showed me new facets of her personality every damned day, and I could’ve kicked my own ass at how badly I’d underestimated her. The woman was a force to be reckoned with.

Not for the first time, the realization of how perfect she could’ve been for me, and the club, made my gut churn with self-loathing.

We’d had everything, and I threw it away at the word of my dad, which was fucked up when I considered how the bastard never believed Elise was good enough for me.

I was a biker, the son of a notorious one percenter who taught me everything about the ruthlessness it took to run an MC; therefore, I had to ask myself how I could have been so naïve?

All the way home, my thoughts were consumed with Elise and everything that had gone down in the last couple of weeks until we finally turned into the clubhouse gates.

My gaze caught on Colt. He stood talking animatedly to Cara and Cash, who had his arms full of a wriggling Wilder.

They stopped gabbing when we drove through the lot and parked in our designated spots. I hoofed on my kickstand, dismounted, and jogged around to the driver’s side of the SUV—that Elise had parked adjacent to my bike—and opened the door to help her out.

Leesy’s gaze darted up to mine, and we smiled brightly at each other.

“You deserve a fuckin’ Oscar for that performance,” I told her. “Even I felt a stab of guilt for frightenin’ your ass, and I was in on the act. Thought you were gonna sink to your knees and start sobbing.”

My beautiful woman’s green eyes danced. “You were convincing as all hell. Did you see Robert’s smug face when you told him you were putting me under armed guard?”

Footsteps sounded from behind us. “How did it go?” Cash asked.

“Better than we could’ve hoped for,” Atlas declared as he lumbered over to join us. “Elise put on a show. I swear to God, when she started trembling, I almost hulked out at Prez.”

Elise shrugged. “It was a team effort. We all had a hand in it.”

“I’ll call Hannigan and let him know our man’s back undercover,” Colt muttered. “With any luck, he’ll get back on the case soon, and we’ll start gettin’ updates in. How did Henderson react?”

“Smugly,” Atlas stated. “He didn’t suspect a damned thing.”

Colt squeezed Elise’s arm, gave us all chin lifts, and turned for the clubhouse.

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