Page 146 of The Echo of Violence

“Whatever you do is going to take time, right? That building is going to need to be torn down and rebuilt.”

I nod. That much is true. I had hoped we could save it, but it had been deemed structurally unstable.

“There is enough land there to build a clubhouse made to our needs and specifications. More than that, though, we can build additional buildings within the compound’s safety. Houses for Mercy and the baby and Shredder and his boy. This place is big enough for a women’s center. It’s in a great location and is as secure as the Pentagon, thanks to Wizz. We can renovate so it fits all your—”

I hold my hand up to stop his sales pitch. I’ve never seen Scope look nervous about anything. Oh, I’ve seen him mad, sad, and absolutely destroyed over what happened to Mercy, but never nervous.

“This means something to you.”

“I’ve neglected Mercy’s needs for too long. She needs a home. Our baby needs a home.”

I nod. “Baking cookies in the kitchen, movie nights in the den, big old playhouse in the backyard.” I smile. “Okay. If Mercy's fine with it, then I am too.”

I stand up and offer him my hand, but he tugs me in for a quick hug.

“Thank you.”

“If you really want to thank me, you can make me godmother.”

He rolls his eyes and opens the door. “As if we’d ask anyone else.”

We both walk out into the noise of the main room. I walk over to my guys and stand between them, looking around at all the pink and blue balloons and streamers and all the smiling faces.

“You, okay?” Eightball asks.

I smile. “Yeah. I am.”

“She’s here,” someone yells, and we all go quiet.

We wait patiently. When the door is pushed open, Mercy is complaining about needing to pee, and everyone shouts, “Surprise!”

Mercy squeaks before she finds herself wrapped in her men’s arms. I watch them with a soft smile on my face before my phone chimes. I pull it out and see a message from Rex. I open it up and laugh when I see a picture of Toto wearing dinosaur slippers. Knight grins when he sees the picture, shaking his head.

A whistle catches my attention.

I look to the front as Mercy waves me up. “Showtime.”

“What’s going on?”

“You’ll see. I’ll be back in a second.”

Mercy has maneuvered her guys into the right place, just under the giant gold balloons. Wizz had complained about them not going with the theme, but he eventually let it go. I reach behind the bar for the hidden confetti cannons and walk over to stand beside Mercy. Megan smiles at me as I pass her, and I slip one of the cannons into her hand.

“Thank you for this,” Mercy starts, capturing the attention of the room. “There was a while when I didn’t know if we would get here.” She rubs her belly before shaking the memory away.

She turns to me and grins before pulling out her gun.

“You guys are always one-upping me. I mean, how can I compete with all this?” Her men look a little smug, though Scope is eyeing Mercy’s gun with confusion. “But then I remembered I know something you don’t know.”

“What’s that?” Kaz frowns.

“The sex of our baby.”

She waits for the shock to steal over their faces before firing at the gold balloon. Pink confetti rains down over Scope, Kaz, and Wizz as Megan and I point the confetti cannons at them—which are filled with pink glitter—and fire.

The roars and cheers are so loud that I cover Mercy’s ears, knowing she is still prone to nasty headaches.

Scope, not missing a thing, orders everyone to shut the fuck up. He walks over and pulls her into a hug, burying his face in her hair. When he pulls back, I look away as if I don’t notice the tears in his eyes. Kaz drops to his knees in front of her and cradles her belly, planting a kiss on it as Wizz cups her face. “You’re giving us a daughter?” he chokes out, Mercy nodding through her tears.

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