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)
In theory, we would sneak the women and children out of their abusive homes unnoticed, but there were ample instances when it didn’t go to plan and we had to fight it out.
Blood drawn and bodies put in the ground.
I’d taken to doing most of the dirty work.
But I was only one man, and I couldn’t stand in every position, though I had been giving it my best. Still wasn’t sure how any of this was going to play out. How we were going to keep up the way we’d been doing when it put my brothers and their families at risk.
Only thing I knew for sure was we would always stand for each other.
River looked directly at me. “What’s going on?”
Agitation blistering through my veins, I rocked in my chair. “Know this is outside our normal parameters, but Silas came to me, asking me to find his sister after he hadn’t heard from her in a few days.”
A ripple of unease rolled through my crew.
Silas might not have been a part of Sovereign Sanctum, but he was part of our crew. Our brother. A piece of us from back in the day. He and his MC, Crimson Crows, had helped to get Theo’s wife, Piper, out of harm’s way this last Christmas.
No way we weren’t going to stand up for him.
Worry whipped through Theo. “You find her?”
My nod was grim. “Kent Ellison has her.”
A shockwave of dread blasted through the tiny room.
“What the fuck?” River wheezed.
“Seems they were texting beforehand.”
A frown carved Otto’s brow. “You think there’s a chance she hooked up with that piece of shit on her own?”
I exhaled and sat forward. “Not sure, but I’m guessing he lured her in then nabbed her when she let her guard down. She went into his compound four days ago and hasn’t come out since.”
Fear blanched Kane’s face. “Could she be—?”
He couldn’t bring himself to say it.
“Got enough intel that says she’s alive and inside. Even have the room she’s being held in. But we need to get her out. Immediately.”
“You know that bastard has that place surrounded,” Kane spat.
“I can affirm that,” I said.
River roughed a tatted hand over his face. “Fuck.”
I glanced around at each of them. “It’s gonna be risky, and I’m going in tonight. Need two of you on patrol.”
Surprise filtered through Theo’s face. “Tonight?”
“Need the element of surprise. Silas will go in with guns blazing. We need this clean.”
“How is this gonna go down?” River asked.
“It’s a forty-five-minute ride. I have the floor plan. My informant gave me a way to get in and out without anyone knowing I’m there. I’ll get in, quick and quiet, and have her back in Moonlit Ridge two hours from now.”
Yeah, we needed to get Elena out, an effort I was wholly committed to.
But I also needed it done so I could get back to Daisy. So I could pour all my focus into protecting her and those kids. I couldn’t be stretched thin.
“I’m in.” Theo rapped a fist on the worn table.
“Me, too,” Kane said.
“Good,” I said, looking directly at River for the clear.
We were already three out of five, and Sovereign Sanctum was majority rule, not that River or Otto would reject the idea.
“Sounds like you have it covered, brother.” River dipped his chin.
“Just want it done.”
“Then let’s do this shit so I can get back to my girl,” Theo said.
River pushed his left hand into the middle of the table, and the rest of us followed suit, chanting along as he rumbled, “Our oath to the afflicted. Our oath to the forsaken. Our oath to Sovereign Sanctum.”
Chair legs skidded on the roughened floors as we pushed back our chairs and stood.
My brothers headed directly up the stairs, Theo, Kane, and Otto at the front. I held back, waiting for River to wind around me, only he paused and took me by the shoulder.
“What’s up with you, brother?” Worry filled his distinct features.
“Nothin’,” I grunted.
His midnight eyes darkened in speculation. He wasn’t buying my shit. “You sure about that?”
I shifted on my feet. “Just want to get Silas’s sister back.”
His head tipped to the side. “You know you’re not alone, right? You can trust us with whatever you’re going through.”
I itched, feeling those flames once again burning me alive, the way they would do forever. “Yeah, I know.”
It was me who couldn’t trust myself.
TWELVE
CASH
I stood in the cover of night on the backside of the building, hidden in the trees that surrounded the compound forty-five minutes outside of Moonlit Ridge.
We’d ditched our bikes about a half mile back on a beaten trail that I found during my surveillance.
The large metal building was in a secluded area, surrounded by an eight-foot-tall chain-link fence. Hazy lights glowed against the heavy darkness that reigned from above, a deep forest fog making it even more difficult to see.