Page 27 of Steal

My relationship with Cass didn’t fucking stand a chance because she wasn’t willing to fight for us, for me. She wasn’t willing to smack me and put me in my place, and I know again that is my fault, but it’s a hard pill to swallow.

I took her love for granted.

“Brother?” a voice calls, but I don’t look up from my finger.

“Anything?” I question and Anchor sighs before plopping himself down in the armchair opposite my desk.

“Nothing, brother. I’ve spent all night with Piston going through the facial recognition he set up in four different states where you think she may have run to, and nothing.”

I nod and look to my right toward the wall safe where Cassidy’s cut is waiting, resignation filling me.

“Maybe she’s moved on from the club, from me,” I look up at him. “Maybe it’s time I allowed her to live the life she’s built for herself, most likely with someone else. I mean, she was going to leave me anyway, right?”

Fuck, I feel like I’m having a pity party for one.

“Fuck that!” he snaps. “We both know she wouldn’t have stayed away from you for long. She loved you, Colt. Don’t fucking give up just yet.”

I nod once, then ask, “What has Piston learned regarding Brute’s messages?”

Anchor groans. “The fucker was sick. So far, we haven’t found anything to suggest he was going after Cass, but the messages he sent some whores, begging them to call him daddy and to tie them up while he carved into their backs, including naked selfies with Faith….” He shudders, and I snort. “How sure are you he did something?” Anchor asks.

I tilt my head, my eyes going to the picture of Cass sitting sideways on my bike, head lifted to the lit night sky.

She’s always wanted to go to the countryside and see the stars without the city lights to hide them, and I fucking failed her by not taking her. I plan to rectify that if I ever find her again.

“This is Cassidy Halliwell we’re talking about, brother. She loved healing people, not killing them.” I look at him. “She was leaving me, something the brothers don’t know, other than Piston.” Anchor nods once. “So why in the fuck would she kill Brute on her way out, a brother she always avoided?”

It’s something I noticed over the years.

“It doesn’t make sense,” he offers.

I nod. “And how come the only person who witnessed it was the same person who has been trying to get Cass out of the club and my life.”

“You think Brute and Faith planned something?” Anchor inquires, his voice heavy.

I look back at the picture of Cass, the serene smile on her lips mesmerizing, and I rasp, “I think they planned for him to attack her, that they’d try and make out like she came onto him, but let’s face it, it’s not the first time Brute got carried away and assaulted a girl.”

Anchor’s eyes darken, and he nods. Anchor’s wife accused Brute of trying to rape her but, of course, he denied it, and with Anchor only being a prospect at the time, Brute’s word carried more weight than a woman only wanting a patch—their words, not mine.

Heaven was the sweetest girl anyone could meet, and the day she left Anchor, everyone saw her in a different light. She wasn’t willing to look the other way for his patch. She took their kid,whom no one knew about, and left him, club property, and her property cut on the bar where Ginger sat, looking full of herself, thinking she’d get the future VP of the club as her old man.

Anchor’s been trying to win her back ever since.

“You think he tried to rape Cass as well?” he asks with a growl, and I nod once.

“Yeah, I do,” I admit, “and I think she couldn’t fight him off. He didn’t get the name Brute because he was small, after all, he was large, and built like a fucking wrestler. I think she saw the knife and, on instinct, stabbed him. I think Faith stood by and laughed until Cass stabbed Brute, and then she panicked.” I sigh and lean back in my chair. “But that’s a lot of ‘thinks’ without proof. I just need Piston to find the evidence, because if Cass comes back into this building, then I know certain brothers will lose their lives when they try to go for her, Bull being the first. But hey, let’s face it, the man is only allowed on club property out of respect for his service within the club.”

Anchor nods, pride shining in his eyes, knowing I mean every fucking word. He confirms, “And in the meantime, you’re going to continue to act like the dubious idiot with the brothers?”

I roll my eyes at his smirk and reply, “It’s for the best. Only you and Piston can know, and right now, Acid being in the dark is for the best.”

“Yeah,” he agrees, “there will be a fucking blood bath if he finds out what we’re speculating.”

That he fucking will.

Acid’s a dark horse. Every brother believes Piston’s the one with the anger issues but they’re wrong, Acid is. I know he sufferedmore from his father’s abuse than Piston did. I don’t know how much more, though Piston believes his brother left him to fend for himself when Acid moved onto club property, but I’m not stupid, I know Acid was running drugs for his father behind the club’s back, to ensure his brother didn’t have it as bad as he did. I’m well aware the Killers, the pathetic gang that’s a pain in my side, is now being run by their father.

The fucker has already threatened Natalie, Piston’s wife, something she decided not to fucking tell anyone about.

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