Page 40 of Ruthless Redemption

He didn’t have time to explain. There was only one way to get clear. “Take us to JD. He knows exactly what’s going on.”

“Bullshit. JD would have told us if any of us was working with the cops.”

“Goddamn it, T. Just take me to JD before I grab that gun from you and shove it up your ass just because I can.” His patience had worn out days ago and this wasn’t helping. Club against club wasn’t handled lightly and it made for a trigger happy crew.

“Fuck you, Houston. You ain’t getting this gun out of my hands unless I’m dead.”

He refrained from telling him that could be arranged—barely.

“You.” He pointed to Rock. “Drop your weapon and slide it over to me.” When Rock complied, T-Bone grabbed it from the floor and stuffed into the back of his jeans. This time he rolled his eyes as T grabbed Rock by the arm and dragged him toward the middle of the warehouse and pushed him through the crowd.

Either T-Bone was a complete idiot, or he had gained more trust with the club than he’d thought as he followed them to the center.

“Jesus Christ,” Rock gasped.

When the last of the guys cleared the way for them to get through, he came face to face with JD standing over a barely recognizable Marco with a gun pressed to his skull, his face bloodied and swollen.

“What took you so long?” he asked, his eyes blazing in anger. “I’m at the end of my rope with this asshole and need to put a bullet in his brain.”

Of course in that moment as witness to JD’s declaration, Rock pushed his way through the men and stood facing the mobster and the club president about to kill him. Something I whole heartedly agreed with.

“What the hell?” JD glared at me. “What the hell is he doing here?”

“He’s taking your prisoner into custody, that’s whathe’sdoing,” Rock said, referring to himself. “By the way, nice to see you again too, Dad.”

Houston winced. He didn’t know if the entire club knew their fucked up roots, but if they didn’t, they certainly did now. Although anyone with two eyeballs in their head sockets could see that Rock was the spitting image of his father.

One mother, two fathers. It made for a fucked up life that eventually had led to his mother’s death and the alienation of his only half brother.

Houston’s stomach churned and he locked down the memories. He had to. They were in the midst of a crisis and getting bogged down with old lies and anger wasn’t going to get him out of this and back to Izzy any sooner.

“Son,” JD returned.

“Shoot him now and I’ll be forced to take all of you in,” Rock continued. “But you’ve got about thirty seconds to decide before my team breaches and its too late to prevent another disaster.”

Fuck, this was turning into a nightmare of epic proportions. In all the plans he’d been privy to, there had been no scenario in which the feds were involved. And especially not Rock.

“Or we could shoot you, shoot him and get the fuck out of here,” Axel provided with a smirk on his face.

Houston stood up straighter and took a step forward that put him between his brother and his former best friend.

“Easy, Houston. No one is shooting Rock today,” JD seethed. “But this dick is not walking away before we find that girl and so far he’s resisted.”

“What girl?” Rock asked.

“Long story. But this fucker has been operating a sex trafficking operation. He’s been picking off girls from local colleges left and right.”

Houston heard JD’s explanation, but his blood was already boiling so it was difficult to see anything beyond Izzy’s former fiancé and torturer.

“We’re well aware of his criminal operations,” Rock said. “We’ve been gathering evidence and waiting for the right time to make all of this stick with a judge.”

“You know what sticks?” he seethed, not taking his eyes off Marco to look at his brother. “Death. It fucking works every time. I should know.”

“You’re right,” JD said as he flipped the gun in his hand and offered it to him butt out. “And no one deserves this death more than you, son.”

“Wait. Houston, please, don’t touch that gun. You don’t want to be more complicit than you already are. This is a slippery fucking slope and you might not make it back. Let the justice system do its job.”

“And where was your justice system when this fucker took my Izzy, huh? Where was justice when he beat and drugged her?”

---