Page 124 of The Souls We Claim
Ari and Lola will live.
King will make sure they are taken care of and will see to it that everything of mine will become theirs.
“I’m more courageous in defeat than you will ever be in life. My brothers will see to it that everything you have built burns to the ground. And they’ll piss on you before they set you on fire.”
West grins. It strikes me that his smile is like Dad’s. Slightly lopsided and thin lipped. “Maybe. But you won’t be here to see it.”
“Tell me one thing. What’s in the sealed file? Is that what caused these daddy issues?”
The grin drops. As does his Adam’s apple as he swallows deeply and looks around to see how many of his men might have heard.
“I mean, you don’t carry this kind of anger as a full-grown adult unless your childhood was shit.”
“Be careful, Brother.”
“Or what?” I ask. “We both know you didn’t tie me to this tree for shits and giggles. For the record, Dad didn’t know about you, and you’ve clearly known about him for a long time. Why didn’t you just come look for him like a normal person instead of this?”
“Where would the fun in that be? Anthony Flynn was a man without morals.” West punches me again, this time in the stomach.
I bend forward as far as the cable ties will let me, unable to contain the gasp that escapes my lips. “Says the man who trafficks women.”
“We’ve become a nation of men left impotent by society. Equality has left the country without a clear rule of order. The Bible and history have shown that a man’s place is the head. Of the country, of business, of family. We’re marginalized, and thatdecision is running the fucking country into the ground. Don’t you see it?”
“Sounds like an incel manifesto, but go ahead.”
“Your dad’s part of the problem. Leaving kids without father figures around the country to be raised by their mothers or strangers who perpetuate the narrative that masculinity is toxic.”
Fucker took the red pill. I raise my head and roll my eyes as I try to decide whether he’s explaining his reasons or doing a shit job of trying to convert me. “Because this behavior is normal?”
“What you do is no better. You think I don’t know that Bonnie and Clyde showed up at my sister’s house tonight to take her?”
My heart stops and drops for a second. I hope nothing happened to Niro and Cat.
“Found the place empty because we’re a step ahead of you Neanderthals.”
I shake my head. “Pretty sure when you get back to Red Pill HQ in Texas, you’ll find we’re one ahead of you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
I don’t tell him that King called on three clubs to head to Fort Worth to reinforce the local chapter and ransack the Brotherhood. They’re killing members in their beds, burning down their properties.
“It means you’ll never win.”
“We’ll see about that. Hurt him,” West says as he steps back.
I barely have time to take a deep breath before fists make contact with various parts of my body.
One second.
Stay calm. Breathe.
Even as my cheekbones shatter and my ribs break.
I stifle the cries, until someone hits my kidneys with a Taser or cattle prod or some shit.
My teeth vibrate as the electric shock goes through me.
One second.
