Page 24 of Bound By Temptation

Getting my things, I checked the front door to make sure it was locked. It was, of course. My sister wouldn’t forget something like that. The bakery was clean, and all the tables and chairs where they should be.

I loved that I could count on her. Leaving the lights on, I called out goodbye to my sister and went out the back entrance, locking the door behind me as it closed.

The night was beautiful with the moon shining bright. Exhaustion hit me as I made it to my car. Stopping briefly, my brow furrowed. A sheet of paper lay beneath my windshield wiper which was not there when I parked earlier.

That uneasy feeling came over me again. The one that sent shivers up my spine and told me I wasn’t alone.

I did not go around my car and grab it. Instead, I got in my car and locked the doors, ignoring it completely.

I listened to true crime stories sometimes, and from that I learned this trick to get you to stop so they could nab you. So if my senses were right, I wasn’t going to give anyone the chance to do just that. Starting the vehicle, I pulled out and looked around to see someone.

Only darkness stared back at me. The more I scanned, the more I saw nothing. But I still couldn’t shake the feeling.

It wasn’t until I got into my garage and the door was shut securely that I got out of the car. Shutting the door and moving to the paper, I picked up the note.

Opening it…

Tick tock goes the clock.

As it moves, I will not stop.

Have no fear.

My darling dear.

I will make him disappear.

Air chokedmy throat as my hand started to shake. This couldn’t be happening again. I wouldn’t let this happen again.

9

AX

“You do realizeyour brother is fuckin’ dead?” Cruz asked, but it wasn’t really a question. It was a statement of fact. “Thought I made myself perfectly clear to that motherfucker years ago. His affiliation with this club—there is none.”

“He’s been told numerous times, brother. He just can’t get it through his thick skull,” my father responded.

I was sitting at the church table with Cruz, our President, GT, our Vice President, Uncle Breaker, Raid, and Dad. Dad told us to meet him here because he’d changed his mind, and we all needed to talk to our President about this fucked up situation.

It looked so fucking bad for all of us Monroes to have Nick putting the club’s name on the line for his debts. Everything he did fell on our backs. Pissed didn’t even come close to the feelings coursing through my body.

No one fucked with my club.

No one made me look like a fool to my brothers.

No one put my family at risk. No. One.

“His skull will be on my fuckin’ mantle before this is over,” Cruz growled.

Maybe I should feel something because the man in question was blood, but I was stone cold inside. I wanted the same damn thing. Ravage didn’t get where it was today by letting shit like this slide, and Nick knew not to do it. He’d been warned over the years that he had nothing to do with Ravage. It was his choice to tell Old Red that he had the club’s support. He had to pay the consequences for that.

“He knows we’re pissed, but he still wants a meet. We could set it up, grab him, and make sure he doesn’t breathe again,” Raid suggested, and I felt my head nod.

“First, let’s try to contact Old Red, see what we can do from there. We kill Nick and Red still wants his money, it doesn’t solve our fuckin’ problem,” GT said his first words since the meeting started. “Got his number?” he asked.

Raid held up a piece of paper between his two fingers. “Here. Don’t know if it’s direct to him or his go-through, but it’s all I could find. And I fuckin’ searched hard for it. Man has his shit locked up tight. Don’t know how people find him for money.”

“That just shows how much pull Old Red has,” I responded, feeling in my gut that this wasn’t going to be good. Nick put us on the line. My gut was screaming it.

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