Page 1 of Brandishing Balance (Devil’s Psychos MC #3)
Marcos “Killer” Candella
“ W e can’t just fucking go in there, guns blazing!
That’s my fucking son in there!” I yelled over the chaos around me.
My motorcycle club, the Devil’s Psychos—my brothers—were standing around Elaine Henderson’s garage and were screaming over each other trying to decide the best course of action on how to rescue my son from our enemy.
Dax fucking Hillcrest, leader of Las Serpientes, had kidnapped my son right out of the fucking school locker room after his football game that ended not even an hour ago.
My phone rang, and I pulled it out of my pocket and answered immediately when I saw it was Maya Henderson, the mother of my child. “Maya, I’m sorry about the yelling. We’ll be done soon.”
“Marcos,” she breathed my name. “I’m sorry.” There was something in her voice that immediately set me on edge.
“What do you mean, Mi Vida? This wasn’t your fault. Give me a minute to finish up with the guys and I’ll come in there.”
“I left, Marcos. I’m not there.” A pit of dread settled into my stomach.
“What the fuck you mean you left, Maya?” I shouted over the arguing voices, silencing them.
She sniffled as if she’d been crying. “I got a text from Hillcrest. He said if I turned myself over to him, he would release Luke. A simple trade,” Maya explained.
“What the fuck, Maya! It’s a goddamn trap! Turn around now!” I screamed through the phone.
“I’ll text you the address, but I’m already here.”
“Maya—”
Maya hung up on me before I could yell some more.
“MAYA!” I screamed into the phone as the love of my fucking life said she was going to trade herself to our enemy in return for our son Luke, and then hung up the phone.
I immediately called her back as all the men standing around me in the garage, who had been yelling just moments before, quieted down to listen.
“What happened?” Jason “Stone” Langford demanded, limping closer, pain and anger making his face pinch.
His gunshot wounds in his leg and shoulder were only a couple days old, and today was the first time Jason had gotten out of bed since he had been gunned down by Hillcrest’s men.
It was supposed to be family day at Luke’s football game, and was quickly turning into a living nightmare.
“Maya got a text from Hillcrest. He told her to trade herself for Luke. She went to him. She texted me the address. She’s already there.”
“Where?” Nico “Dagger” Gage demanded, stalking across the garage toward me.
“The address is in The Edges. Nico, call Seratelli. He’s closer; see if he can either get men there or back us up. We need to move fast.”
Nico was already pulling out his phone and dialing his cousin Leonardo Seratelli’s contact. The Seratelli family were family by blood on Nico’s mother’s side, and his recent reunion with them just might come in handy.
I turned to Jason. “I’m coming,” Jason said before I could say anything.
“You can’t ride.” It came out harsher than I intended. I didn’t have time to sugarcoat things for feelings right now. My woman’s—our woman’s—life was on the line here.
“Then I’ll fucking drive,” Jason snapped.
I nodded and tossed him the keys to my truck. We were wasting time here. “Let’s roll!” I shouted to the rest of my club. My MC brothers would follow me into battle anywhere, and it meant everything to me as president of the Devil’s Psychos that I trusted these men to have my back.
Maya Henderson
I hung up on Marcos before he could yell some more. I forwarded the text message from Dax so Marcos would have his phone number as well, but I knew full well that it was likely a burner cell and nothing traceable.
My phone rang immediately after, and I quickly silenced it.
I didn’t outright shut it off, but I turned off the ringer so I couldn’t be distracted from my mission.
Tucking the phone in my back pocket, I walked the final two blocks to the house and waited on the sidewalk in front of the run-down house that looked more like a shack than a home.
Huge sections of the roof were missing. Clearly, it hadn’t been lived in for quite some time. This was obviously just a meeting place, and that was it. They probably wouldn’t keep me here very long at all. I would likely be moved to a different location.
I would need to stop them from moving me. My life would depend on it. I had called Marcos, though. They were maybe five minutes away by motorcycle, so they would get to me before I got moved. I was sure of it.
Swallowing hard, I steeled my spine and then walked up to the front door.
It opened just as I stopped on the front step.
Dax Hillcrest stood with my son held in front of him and a gun trained on his head.
“You came alone?” he demanded, his milky white eye catching the light and making him look more deranged.
“Yes,” I muttered, my eyes on my son’s bruised face.
Hillcrest motioned me closer with the gun, but I held my arms out for Luke. Hillcrest pushed him into my arms, and I held him tightly, bending down to whisper into his ear. “My phone is in my back pocket. Grab it and run as fast as you can. Call your dad.”
“Mom,” Luke cried.
“You do this, Lucas.” I whispered fiercely into his ear. “Now.” I snapped a little louder and shoved him to the side. I felt my phone get lifted out of my pocket and then heard the pounding of Luke’s feet as he ran as fast as could.
Hillcrest aimed the gun at me and smiled wickedly. “You stupid bitch. You’ll pay for that.”
The gun fired.
And everything went black.