Page 13 of Brandishing Balance (Devil’s Psychos MC #3)

Nico

I woke up in a plush bed and slowly opened my eyes. Glancing around, I took in the opulent surroundings of my cousin’s guestroom. My phone buzzed on the nightstand, and I reached for it blindly as I rolled over in the large bed.

Marcos:

Nico:

10-4

I sat up in bed once I realized it was 8:05 and I still had to shower. I took a quick shower, washing rapidly, then put on the same clothes I’d worn the night before.

In the dining room, I found my cousin Leo sitting at the table with a large spread of food in front of him and an iPad propped up right beside him. “Morning.” Leo nodded.

“Morning. Marcos texted; Jack found something. Said to meet him at Kara’s.” I cut right to the chase.

Leo looked up from his iPad to meet my gaze. “That’s great. You gonna sit and eat?”

“No time. I’ve got to stop and pick up something to share for breakfast on the way. I’m assuming that came from Kara.”

Leo smirked and stood up, setting his napkin on his chair as a sign that he would be returning. Ever the gentleman, even in his own home. I followed Leo into the kitchen. “Gustavo, can you put together a tray of those chocolate croissants for Nico? He’s going to brunch.”

The chef—a portly man with a jolly face—turned away from the stove to face them. “Of course, Mr. Seratelli!” Gustavo shut off the burner and moved the pan off the heat before he walked over to the opposite counter.

I watched as the chef boxed up a dozen chocolate croissants in one of those fancy pastry boxes you’d get from a bakery. Of course, Leo’s personal Chef had them lying around the house. “Thank you, I appreciate it.” I nodded at Gustavo as he handed over the box.

“Not a problem! Happy to help.” Gustavo smiled broadly before turning back to the stove to continue whatever he was cooking previously, dismissing us.

I took the hint and left the kitchen, heading back into the dining room. Leo followed me and walked over to his plate of food. “Thanks for this.” I held up the box of croissants.

“Not a problem, cousin. Keep me updated on what Adams found. And if you’re going to move in on Hillcrest, let me know. We’ll back you up.”

Gratitude and relief rolled over me. I was constantly being surprised by the lengths my family was willing to go to help me.

The tips alone that had poured in the last week alone had been amazing, even if they were useless in the grand scheme of things.

The fact that people in the community were willing to help Leo Seratelli because he said he was looking for someone, was astonishing.

The man had authority, there was no denying that. Authority and ruthlessness.

The ride over to Kara’s house from Leonardo’s was about twenty minutes. I pulled into the long driveway just before Marcos and Jason. Jason still couldn’t ride his motorcycle yet, due to his healing injuries, but he was getting closer every day. He only slightly limped as he walked now.

I greeted my brothers with a nod as we all walked in the back door of Johnny Taylor’s house, each man carrying a bag of what looked like bagels from the local shop. We all took off our boots in the mudroom, knowing how upset Kara got when we wore our shoes in the house.

We were met by the three Ravager Knight men, plus Kara, and someone who I assumed was Jack Adams, Kevin’s brother and the resident tech guy.

He looked just like Kevin, but slightly scrawnier if that was a thing.

His face was narrower, sharper cheekbones, his shoulders didn’t have as much muscled packed on like his brother.

Jack also had a touch of gray around the temples of his black hair, showing he was probably older than Kevin as well.

Kara walked into the kitchen, barefoot and in cut-off shorts and a tank top.

Her precious baby Lilah was held in the crook of her arm cooing softly, and Kara quickly handed her over to Derrick.

“Morning,” she greeted them with a forced smile.

They knew this wasn’t a social call, but Kara was ever the hostess as she grabbed the box from me and started laying out food on the breakfast island.

Bagels and cream cheese, chocolate croissants, bacon and sausage, and scrambled eggs.

There were even jugs of juices laid out.

It was an amazing spread for a last minute get together and I was impressed, but Kara had that effect on most people.

Even on the weekend, dressed in cut-off shorts and a Harley Davidson tank top, Kara looked beautiful.

Her blond hair was pulled back into an artfully messy bun and there was a light sheen of makeup dusted over her cheeks.

“Thank you, Kara. This looks fantastic.” I pressed a kiss to the side of her cheek.

Marcos looked on edge—shit we were all on edge—but he looked like he didn’t want to play nice and have brunch. I knew he was probably crawling for answers but couldn’t snap right out and ask for them because it was Johnny’s house, and Johnny wouldn’t tolerate bullshit.

“Jack, what did you find?” Kara asked, cutting to the chase as she began to make a plate.

Thank God for small mercies and for Kara , I thought.

Jack chuckled as he grabbed a plate. “The link was the best thing. I was able to track his IP address and then jump through the hoops. He was too well hidden before. Hacking the FBI hasn’t exactly been hard—but it’s cumbersome.

There’s no good way to search for anything regarding Hillcrest that might have been covered up, but I did find the case for when the Mayor of Creekton was killed ten years ago.

It led me to the agents that were working that case.

Particularly, Agent Rick Bolton, out of Chicago. ”

“Why the fuck is an agent out of Chicago dealing with shit down here?”

“Technically, it’s still his jurisdiction,” Jack said.

I shrugged a shoulder, cause what did I know? Jack was clearly the expert here.

“Anyways,” Jason grunted.

“So I started digging into Bolton. Turns out his brother is Illinois State Senator Bradley Bolton,” Jack continued.

“No fucking way,” Kara muttered.

Marcos tensed and locked eyes with his sister. “You know him?”

Kara shook her head. “D.A. Winters has mentioned him a time or two. He’s been giving her hell regarding my father’s case. She’s not letting it go, and he’s pushing for it to be thrown out.”

“What the fuck?” Nico asked.

“Yeah.” Kara nodded. “He went as far as to send the Attorney General down here. Thankfully Winters and AG McNeil went to U of I together, so McNeil smoothed things over with the Senator. But he almost cost me the firm.”

“I’m sure Hillcrest has been pushing Agent Bolton, who’s been pushing his brother,” Kevin surmised.

I nodded. I grabbed a paper plate and quickly stacked food on it. The conversation paused for a few minutes while everyone followed after me, loading up their plates with food, before we took a seat around the table in the breakfast nook. It was a tight fit for the eight of us, but we made it work.

“I’m surprised your father even made it to sentencing then,” I admitted, glancing at Kara.

She frowned, pursing her lips. Her father was a sore subject for her, their relationship having grown rocky over the last several years, but she still cared about him. “I know. And with this shit with Hillcrest and Maya, I have a feeling any move to rescue Maya means my father’s life.”

“Kara—”

“Rescue Maya, obviously,” Kara snapped, meeting Marcos’s eye. “I’m just preparing myself.”

Marcos clenched his jaw, the vein in his temple pulsing from the strain of gritted teeth. “Have to find her first.” Marcos met Jack’s gaze.

“Yeah. So tracking Hillcrest’s IP address has proved difficult, but I did find some dummy corporations and shell companies. I dug through all that and got a location for a warehouse down in Sparland,” Jack said.

“Sparland, where the fuck is that?”

“About an hour south of here. Along the Illinois river, middle of nowhere,” Jack replied.

“How’d you get his IP address?” I asked.

“Axel went to one of the underground fights last night and met some people. He got a link to a website on the dark web,” Marcos said. He hesitated and shared a look with Jason.

I stopped eating and watched my two best friends, my brothers. We didn’t keep secrets between the three of us, ever. Clearly, I had missed something.

“The website has videos posted of women being—”

“The videos are of Hillcrest assaulting Maya,” Jason cut off Marcos who was trying to say it gently.

My heart sank and Kara gasped.

“Dude,” Johnny snapped, glaring at Jason.

My stomach churned.

Tears immediately gathered in Kara’s eyes. “He’s raping her and posting the videos?” Her voice cracked.

“Yeah,” Marcos grunted, unable to meet his sister’s gaze.

I sat back in my chair in a daze, my eyes staring unfocused on my uneaten plate of food. Hillcrest was actively hurting my woman and we were sitting here eating brunch like fucking idiots. Snapping out of my daze, I jerked my gaze to Jack Adams. “You have a location?”

“Yes.”

“We go tonight,” I ordered, turning to Marcos.

“We can’t just go in there, guns blazing,” Marcos tried to reason.

I stood up abruptly and slammed my hands on the table, rattling the silverware, as I leaned over the table to get my point across. “I don’t give a fuck, Marcos. I will take the fucking Seratelli family and get my fucking woman back without you.”

Marcos met my gaze evenly, but before he could say anything, Kevin spoke up.

“Easy now.” Kevin’s hands raised in a placating gesture. “You’re not going alone with the Seratelli’s. We’ll be there too.”

I finally broke my stare off with Marcos and turned to Kevin. Johnny and Derrick were watching me with varying degrees of contempt for causing a scene, but it was easy to see they were just as angry with Jason when they both glared at him.

As Kara got up from the table, Johnny watched her go, concern etched on his face. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” Johnny rounded on Jason.

I took my seat, watching the argument unfold.

“I fucking told you about bringing that bullshit attitude into my home. Now you upset my fucking woman,” Johnny growled, rounding on Jason. “After Maya is found, the three of you will answer for this bullshit in the ring.”

“Agreed,” Marcos answered immediately. Jason and I echoed the sentiment.

“Go home, gather your club. We’ll meet you at your clubhouse at nine.” Johnny made the executive decision for all of us. He turned to me, “Call your cousin. Have him meet us in Sparland. Jack will find us a safe place to meet up and discuss entry.”

I nodded once, meeting Johnny’s gaze. His natural dominance made him easy to follow.

No longer hungry, I stood up again and left the breakfast nook.

I slipped into my boots in the mudroom and headed out the backdoor.

I didn’t even bother to lace up my boots until I was at my bike.

Even then I only bothered to tuck them in my boots and started the bike.

Rage and anguish clawed at me as I rode away from Johnny Taylor’s home.

Betrayal and disbelief welled within me.

Marcos should have called me last night when he got the link, or even this morning at the very latest. Giving me the information for the first time while we were at an acquaintances’ was unacceptable.

Worst of all, it hurt. Marcos had left me out of the loop. Kept me in the dark. Purposely.

I didn’t know how long I rode for, didn’t know where I was going. Eventually I turned my bike around and headed back toward Creekton. I found myself outside of my mother’s house, staring up at the McMansion while lost in thought.

“Nico!” Gulia’s voice shouting over the engine snapped me out of my daze.

Jerking my head, I looked over to see the housekeeper staring at me with a worried expression on her face. I shut the engine off and put down my kickstand. Shutting off the bike, the deafening silence greeted me as I slowly pulled my helmet off.

“Nico, you’ve been out here for ten minutes with that engine roaring. Are you alright?” Guila asked, her hand on her heart.

“Not really.” I shook my head.

“Come on. I’ll put coffee on. Your mother’s in the sunroom.”

Of course she is , I thought, but I followed Guila up the grand stairway to the house wordlessly.

The house was as beautiful as always, Guila’s hard work apparent as there was not one thing out of place.

We strode down the hall and through the living room and out into the sunroom beyond.

My mother was already seated at the table, a lightly breakfast set before her.

I would have laughed at the idea of the leaving one breakfast to go to another one instead, but I was too far gone to care.

“Nico!” my mother greeted me with a smile. “What a pleasant surprise.” Her face fell as she took in the anguish that was clearly on my face.

I fell to my knees before her and buried my face into her stomach as a heart wrenching sob tore out of me.

“Nico.” My mother’s voice was soft. “What happened? What’s going on?”

“It’s Maya,” I choked out. “She’s been kidnapped. They’re hurting her.”

“Oh, Nico.” My mother’s soft gasp, paired with her shaky fingers in my hair made me lose control over my emotions. Heavy sobs wracked my bodies as I held onto her for dear life.

She didn’t say anything more, just held me and ran her fingers through my hair, stroking gently. I eventually stopped crying and caught my breath, but I kept my head on her lap, basking in her comfort.