Page 4 of Saint's Sinner

“I got ahold of Holden and had him do a bit of digging. Place was purchased two weeks ago by LMX production, an independent film company. Holden said they were given several tax breaks and a handful of permits to get renovations going. Judging from what little I saw of the downstairs, I’m willing to bet that they’ll bring that floor up to code first, then gut up here once they’ve got enough film to work with.”

“Which is my brother’s long-winded way of saying they’re legit,” Saint snapped, annoyance mixed with a healthy dose of fury, like a brittle mask that forced Night to look away. “Let’s get the fuck out of here. The whole areas been a waste of time.”

“We don’t know that yet.”

“Done told you leaving Rabbit back to watch that old candle factory was a waste of time.”

“True, but I’m doing it anyway. Maybe there is nothing going on in there that’s related to Sinn, but I know you caught a whiff of that chemical smell the same as I did. Something to the left of legit is going on over there. I know you don’t give a shit at the moment, but this patch on my shoulder means I’m responsible for more than just one lost boy. If someone is manufacturing drugs out here, you and I both know the PD’s first assumption will be that it’s us and we’ll rocket back to the top of their watch list.”

“How’s that differ from any other day?”

“It’s an election year, remember,” Mark pointed out.

“Shit.”

“Yeah, and if it’s anything like last time, they’ll raid us at least once before they move on to the degenerates running that slaphouse over on Forrester Street.”

“You only call them degenerates because you didn’t think of the idea first,” Creature pointed out.

For the first time since Sinn had gone missing, Night heard something remotely like amusement rumble out of Saint in the form of a rough chuckle.

“He’s got you there, bro.”

“Fuck you both,” Mark growled as they headed back down the wide staircase to the first floor.

Chapter 3

(Sinn)

Liability

“I’m gonna fuckin’ kill each and every last one of you!”

Sinn was pissed, seething, seconds away from losing his shit completely and the worse part was, the dumb fucks his family had sent to snatch him up off the street didn’t give a damn. They laughed, cracked open beers, and passed him one like this was a god damned party and he was the guest of honor.

Okay, so the chair they’d unceremoniously dropped him inwasoverstuffed and comfortable, but that wasn’t the fuckin’ point. It had been three days since they’d grabbed him from the alley behind the piercing shop, and he knew Saint was losing his shit. All hell would break loose if Sinn couldn’t find a way to contact him soon. Shit like this had meant war between clubs in the past. That was the last thing he wanted to have happen between his lover’s family and his own.

Hell, that bunch of stubborn, bullheaded bastards were likely to clash like a crash of rhinos before any words were exchanged. The Jokers would have no way of knowing it wasn’t an actual kidnapping. According to Zero, the leader of this merry little band of misfits, his family had intended it as a message, one that could be interpreted several different ways.

Zero chuckled, sounding entirely too smug. “Relax. Your people already told us you ain’t no killer.”

“Maybe not, but the guy who’s gonna be wrecking shit to get me back won’t hesitate to end you,” Sinn snarled.

“He’ll have to find us first, and that’s not gonna be easy considering how far outside of their territory we’ve moved. If they’d trailed us from the jump, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation, I’d have kicked your ass out the side door the moment I saw bikes in the rearview and told your folks they had nothing to worry about.”

“Joy. So, where the fuck are we?”

“Don’t tell me you’ve been gone so long you’ve forgotten Texas?”

That big, booming voice had Sinn rolling his eyes. “Hi Gramps.”

“You don’t sound happy to see me, boy.”

“Gee, I wonder why.”

“Little else I could do when you failed to listen to reason.”

“Normal people don’t go from a phone call disagreement to arranging to have someone kidnapped.”