Page 15 of Pope's Penance

“Catch you at a bad time, brother?”

There are masculine and feminine grumbles in the background even as Cypher says, “No.”

“Need you on something.”

“One sec.Let me get set up.”It only takes him a few minutes before he’s back on the line with me.“All right, we’re secure.What do you need?”

“I need everything you can find on a Frankie Sullivan.He’s married to Birdie.When I say everything, Cypher, I mean down to the fucking time he takes a goddamn shit.Am I clear?”

“You told me five years ago to leave it be, Prez,” he cautions.

“Circumstances have changed.She showed up on our doorstep today with my children in tow.He put his hands on her.No one touches what’s mine.Do I need to be any more clear than that?”

“Understood.When do you need it by?”

“As fast as you’re able to dig it up.”

“I’ll work around the clock, Prez.I’ll get what you need.”

“Appreciate it, brother.”

“Anything else you need me for?”he asks.

“No.How quickly can you and Bugsy be here?”

“Couple hours at most.”

“Be on standby.We’ll reassess once we know what we’re looking at.”

I end the call and turn back to the council.They wait for the meeting to start with grim faces, nobody enjoying why we had to call church today.Violence simmers throughout the room, all of us on edge without an outlet.The unattached brothers will leave here and find a club whore to work it out while the rest will find another channel.

“Until we hear back from Cypher, we need to get protection in place for my family.I don’t believe Birdie will feel safe here right now, so I’d like to set them up in my house here at the compound.”

“What about Valkyrie?”Cyanide asks.

I grimace.“They won’t like it, but she’ll stay with Manic.”

Manic’s face doesn’t show his thoughts one way or the other, but I can tell from the tight way he holds his body what he thinks about it.Wonder if he’ll finally claim her ass this go-around, or if he’s still going to pretend she doesn’t mean what she does to him.As much as he cared for Emma, and how much it fucked him up when he lost her as she was giving birth to their son, his feelings for Valkyrie went deeper.No matter what the hell Manic says, they were on the verge of building something before I fucked up and caused her and Birdie to leave.

“Neither of them will like that,” he says emotionlessly.

I shrug.“Not my problem.My only concern is keeping Birdie and my kids safe.The other shit, they can figure out.They’ve been gone a long time, but that doesn’t mean this club still doesn’t run the same way.They came to us, they’ll follow our rules.”

“You really believe they’ll listen to you?”Cyanide asks.

“Does she look like the same woman to you?That one out there is scared of her own goddamn shadow right now.If she wants to leave here because she doesn’t like what I have to say, then they can go, but my kids stay.”

The words are sour on my tongue, but I’m still fucking pissed that she kept my kids from me.I know I did her wrong, but I deserved to know they were mine.

“You’re an asshole.”

I gasp, clutching my chest as if his words wounded me.“Say it isn’t so.Whatever shall I do?”I shake my hair out of my eyes and laugh.“You act as if that’s news to anyone, brother.I don’t give a fuck how pissed at me she gets, as long as they’re breathing, then I’ll deal.”

Cyanide smirks and folds his arms over his chest.“It’s your funeral, Prez.She may not be the same woman right now, but my sister is still in there.When she shows up, she’s going to fist your nuts so hard, they’ll hear your bitch cry states over.”

The smile I aim at him is malicious.“Looks like you get to help watch over Kyrie then.”

He groans because he knows that while Birdie isn’t her old self, her twin sister sure as hell is.If the deathly looks she was aiming at us were to go by, she’s gunning for us all.Her brother will be her first target.

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