Page 52 of Scorched King

I frowned. “The Serpents?”

“Can’t confirm. Numbers were burners, but the timing lines up with when Mazzeo would have been planning the hit.”

I rubbed my temple. “Zook’s been with us a long time.”

“Yeah, and he’s also been making regular cash deposits. Ten grand each time.”

My gut twisted. Zook had helped me rebuild this club. But then, so had most of the others.

I was so frustrated by all of this I could barely think straight and I had a fucking mission to coordinate. “Send it all to my phone and I’ll read through it as soon as I have a chance. I need to see it all in black and white. In the meantime, this stays between us and keep digging. We need a definitive answer. Oh and make sure Axel has all three of them with us tonight. Not taking any fucking chances.”

“Of course.” Tel turned back to his computer and I slammed the door behind me hard enough to shake the fucking walls. It was a goddamned miracle my anger hadn’t taken down the whole building by now. I needed to get this under control.

Not looking where I went I nearly crashed into Axel outside Tel’s door. I glowered at him and he took a step back, holding his hands out in front of him.

“Forget the meeting. Brief everyone with the plan we talked about and meet me out front in ten. We’re going now. If we don’t finish this tonight, preferably right now, I’m going to kill someone.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

The Traitor

The boss was pissed. He’d stormed out of Tel’s little fucking lair with blood in his eyes. The fact he’d blown off the club meeting and taken off like a bat out of hell did not bode well for my future.

I could feel the walls closing in despite everything I’d done to stop it.

I had half a mind to break into Tel’s office while they were gone to see what I could find, but everyone knew that was suicide. That paranoid little fucker had his shit locked down tight with booby traps and alarms everywhere. That left only one option.

The girl.

I’d hoped the boss would fuck her out of his system by now and she’d be gone. His women never lasted long after sex. But he had a hard on for her young pussy and I guess as long as she went for the old dick then she wasn’t going anywhere.

Obviously she hadn’t remembered seeing me that night in the poker room or I’d already be dead. Whether she’d forgotten from the trauma or hadn’t seen me clearly that night remained to be seen. It was time to figure it out for sure and secure my position.

I had no desire to hurt her, but I wouldn’t risk everything I’d built for some piece of ass either. I’d sacrificed enough and no woman was going to take me down. Not even her.

As the bikes left the compound and their roar faded into the distance, I headed toward s JD’s cabin. Since I’d been left behind as part of the security detail, no one would question my presence out here. I could send the prospect on a dinner run, and she and I could have a little chat.

I adjusted the loaded gun at the small of my back and flicked away my cigarette. Following the trail through the dark, I stepped onto the unlit front porch of JD’s place and found a massive brother blocking the door.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Bear growled.

Fuck. Not the prospect.

I plastered on my most innocent expression, ready to bullshit my way through this. “I came to relieve the prospect so he could get some food. Where is he? What are you doing here?”

“I’m taking over here until JD gets back.” Bear eyed me like he could see through me and all the way to my now black heart. But unless Sasha suddenly had a flash of memory, my secrets were still safe. For now.

I’d planted some evidence for Tel to find, not only so I could see if he took the bait, but to buy myself this time to check on the girl. I needed to know one way or another if she was a threat.

“Okay then. You need anything from the kitchen? I’m sure one of the bitches wouldn’t mind taking care of you.”

His frown deepened. “Have a little respect. Those women work hard for our club.”

I barely refrained from rolling my eyes. “No offense meant, man. Swear it. The ladies do take good care of us. I just wanted to make sure everyone got dinner while I was on patrol.”

I might be newer than some members, but I wasn’t some lame prospect, and I wasn’t going to take shit from Bear. For some reason he’d always rubbed me wrong. Dude didn’t seem to like me and I’d done nothing to make him doubt me. Well, except for that night he got hurt in the explosion, which he didn’t know was because of me. Kind of felt bad about that. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

I raised my hand and covered my smirk.

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