Total pages in book: 174
Estimated words: 172061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 574(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 172061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 574(@300wpm)
They got married last fall and had a baby girl, Luna, just two months ago.
More proof that this family—this crew—was growing in ways that I didn’t know how to handle. The threat we lived amplified the farther we got away from the commitment we originally made to fly solo.
Couldn’t stop the flash of Daisy and her children’s faces that sailed through my mind.
I itched to get back. To make sure they were whole. To dig in and find the motherfucker who’d inscribed that fear in her expression.
I couldn’t wait to bleed him and do it slowly.
But I couldn’t focus on that right then. Silas was there and watching over them. He swore an oath to keep their presence on the down-low since I wasn’t ready to confess to anyone that I had company. Last thing I needed were my brothers getting wind of it.
More than that was the oath he swore to protect them with his life, not that there was a chance that anyone could get through my cabin that might as well have been a castle, anyway.
I trusted him, the same as he trusted me to get his sister out.
“Cut the shit and let’s get downstairs,” I rumbled. “Have something we need to address, and we need to do it quickly.”
In an instant, their demeanors shifted. Each of my brothers hardened to steel.
Their bodies vibrating weapons.
Kane moved to the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves that lined the left wall, and he shifted some books around to get to the hidden keypad.
He tapped in the code, and a section of the bookshelf gave, opening to a stairwell concealed behind it. A dim light glowed from the depths.
He angled his head toward the narrow opening. “Then let’s get this party started.”
Otto ambled by. “Let’s do it.” He ducked through the opening, and River made a low sound as he followed.
Theo edged around me where I stood stock-still in the middle of the room, dude casting me an inquisitive glance as he passed. Kane waved his hand behind Theo. “Your turn, brother.”
My feet felt heavy as I took to the steps, laden with dread, and I wound down the narrow staircase to the dingy basement buried far below.
The cramped room was made of raw bricks and the floor was concrete, a long-forgotten hideaway that served as the perfect meeting spot for our secret society.
No chance of anyone hearing or finding us.
We all took seats at the worn round table. A single, yellowed bulb hung from the ceiling and cast a hazy glow over our faces.
It never failed that the second we sat around this table, the mood shifted. The easiness the rest of my crew wore evaporating into the shadows. Instantly replaced with the grim fervency this job required.
River stretched out his left fist that was tattooed with the same design we all shared, but at the top of the hilt of his dagger sat a crown since he was the one who had set this whole thing into motion.
Our secret society borne in the depraved streets that we’d ruled when we rode with the Iron Owls MC.
We all put our fists out to meet with River’s.
“I call to order this meeting of Sovereign Sanctum,” River intoned as he looked around at our mismatched family.
Each of us so different yet so much the same.
For years, we each had a specified role.
River, a dark deliverer who extracted the women and children from their dire situations and brought them here before they forever disappeared.
Their identities changed so they could live out a life in peace without the monsters who tormented them.
Otto, a burly motherfucker who would be the one to transport the families to their new homes.
Kane, our launderer. The four bars he owned used as a cover for the money we bled dry from the fiends who had harmed their families. That was if we left them living.
Theo, who owned and lived at The Sanctuary. The protector who watched over those under our wing in the interim while they were given time to readjust. To hide and to heal the best that they could.
Then there was me.
The hacker.
The one who could create new identities like the flip of a switch and erase the existence of others with a few strokes of my fingers across my keyboard. One who could siphon, pilfer, and steal every cent from the corrupt so we had the funds to support the projects that we did.
I was also responsible for filtering through the submissions and messages from the few trusted counselors and crisis lines that we’d brought into our fold. The ones who reported to us the direst of situations.
But since every single one of my brothers had gotten tied to their women, their families, the roles had shifted a bit. Each of us stepped in for each other whenever necessary since we wanted to keep those who had families out of the line of fire the best that we could.