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Remi

I still wasn’t sure giving into him was the right thing to do, but I could no longer deny the inevitable. The fact was, Max had this hold on me I could no longer deny. Like an addict, he was my fix. I didn’t know what else to call it, but glutton for punishment came to mind many times. Regardless of the outcome, as long as he walked the earth, I knew I would follow him into hell every time.

Was it healthy?

Hell no, but at least this time I would be following with my eyes wide open. Only time would tell if he kept his word. A small part of me knew he wouldn’t. When it came to my safety, the man was unmovable, unrelenting, an unshakable force that not even God himself could move. Well, at least Max owned it. He had been crystal clear from the beginning. When it came to my safety, all bets were off.

Hearing my cell phone ring, I frowned, seeing the caller.

“Should you be calling me?”

“Tell Reaper to get ready. He has company headed his way. Montana is on the warpath, and so is Malice.”

“Legacy?”

“Safe for now.”

“Make sure she stays that way.”

“I will,” he said before the line went dead.

Pocketing my phone, I sighed. Getting to my feet, I headed for the clubhouse, knowing I would never get used to this shit.

I hated all this subterfuge.

Since our return from the camping trip, life within the club seemed to settle into a happy, comfortable lull. It was odd seeing all the brothers relaxed, enjoying the carefreeness of what the days offered. Like the kids, they soaked up the last remaining days of summer, almost like they knew that with fall, would come the realization that things were about to change.

Walking into the clubhouse, I felt a sense of contentment, almost as if the brand-new building welcomed me every time I stepped foot inside. The new clubhouse was nothing like the old one. Where the old place was marred with blood and death, the new club felt untainted, almost as if its soul was free. Well, if a building could have a soul. And considering the building had already seen its first death, the place still felt free of the past.

Not bothering to knock, I walked right into Max’s office to find him sitting at his desk as he talked with someone, and when both men turned, I gaped when I stared into a familiar face.

“Hi, Remi.” The young man smiled shyly.

“Oh my God,” I gasped, my hand going to my mouth as the young man stood. “Jason?”

The last time I saw him, we were all still in Tennessee. It was right before the crap with the Satan’s Angels kicked off. He wasn’t with the club for long, but he was from home and the club welcomed him with open arms.

Jason Seaver was the high school quarterback from Purgatory who took his team all the way to the State Championship and won, earning him a full ride to USC. Headed for the pros, he lost it all when he blew out his knee in his senior year. After finishing college, he returned home, took a job with the Purgatory police, and worked under Brian Connor, the former police chief, until Max killed the man for betraying the club. Jason then took over as interim police chief. He only got the job because the town didn’t want to hold another election. It also helped that the kid was born and raised in Purgatory and a football legend. But Jason was more than that.

He also had Golden blood running in his veins.

Jason’s father was a club brother in the days under James Doherty and also after Reaper took over. His mother was the baby sister to Nitro. Jason’s father died returning from a club run when a truck came out of nowhere. He died instantly. After that, his mother distanced herself and him from the club because she didn’t want the same fate for her son.

Running over to him, I threw my arms around him and hugged him, ignoring Max’s low growl.

Smiling up at him, I asked, “Where have you been? One minute you were in Tennessee, the next you were gone again.”

“It’s rather a long story.”

“That’s why I’ve called for a club meeting,” Reaper said, walking around his desk and gently pulling me back against his chest. “The time for secrets is over.”

The gathering room was quiet as brothers and wives sat waiting for Max to begin. Phantom, Matrix, and Player worked diligently to set up the television. It wasn’t often he held club meetings. The last club meeting was regarding Jessica and Savage, when the entire club learned that Roxy, Moonshine’s wife, was King, Gunner, and Pyro’s aunt on their father’s side.

Talk about a shocker.

With Jason sitting next to me, several of the brothers glared at the young man, who hadn’t said a single word since Max called the meeting.

I watched Player click the remote, turning the television on and the Tennessee Chapter appeared, women included.

It was good seeing them all again. Only one was missing, and when I saw her husband sitting quietly, my heart went out to him.

I made a mental note to call Jess and see what I could do.

“What the hell is he doing here, Reaper?” Ink snarled when no one said a word. “He sided with Chaos. He’s a traitor.”

“Not a traitor,” Jason growled.

“I was fucking there!” Ink roared, jumping to his feet. “You calling me a liar?”

Max shook his head. “Ink, sit down.”

When Ink finally sat, Max looked at me and I nodded when he turned to look at the men and women sitting around, waiting for him to say something, anything.

“When I took the Golden Chair back, I promised all of you that there would be no more secrets, no more lies. Well, now it’s time for me to atone for my sins. Only a few of you will remember. The rest weren’t around or hadn’t joined the club yet. You all know I took over the club after my Pops died.”

Bullseye shifted in his seat. This was going to be a touchy subject for him, considering everything that had happened.

“Shortly after James Doherty died, Ghost and four other club brothers took off and didn’t return for five years. When Ghost came back, he brought back information about how to bring down the Society , but that wasn’t all he brought back. Within the files was something else... a ghost file of sorts.”

“Reaper, I went over all those files, I didn’t see a ghost file.” Phantom sat up, looking confused.

“That’s because it wasn’t with what I gave you. Ghost gave it to me personally since it was in an envelope with my name on it. I saw Pops’ handwriting and thought it was a private message meant just for me. Only, when I opened the envelope, all that was in there was a thumb drive.”

“Another fucking thumb drive?” Savage groaned, shaking his head.

Max nodded. “When I plugged it in, there was nothing. Just a blinking cursor. I thought it had been wiped, that there was nothing on it, so I gave it to Sypher, thinking the kid could use it for school or something. However, it didn’t take Sypher long to realize something was off with the thumb drive.”

“Of course he did,” Trout piped up. “Brat is good at finding anything suspicious. What did he find?”

“Files. Lots of files.”

“Regarding?”

“Everything. It was a treasure trove of information that Pops gathered over the years, from the creation of the club to allies, enemies, even the decision to have me kidnapped. More importantly, information not just about this club. There are files that contain details of the very inception of every underworld organization, from the Mafia, TRIAD to the IRA. I’m talking about thousands of files on everyone, including us. When I was going over our club files, that’s when I realized what Pops had actually done. Because of him, I had everything I needed and then some, enough to ensure that our club and, more importantly, all of us stayed safe. But that wasn’t all I learned.”

Several brothers fidgeted while a few actually sat up, paying closer attention.

Looking at Bullseye, the man glared at Max. “Don’t you fucking say it.”

Max simply straightened his shoulders and said, “Pops was innocent.”

“MOTHERFUCKER!” Bullseye roared, jumping from his chair that flew across the room. “You told me he was guilty! Complicit with the rest of them! I believed you!”

“Oh shit,” I vaguely heard Savage mutter while most of the California Chapter hung their heads.

Getting to my feet, I walked over to Max, wrapping myself around him. This would not be easy for all of them to hear. Good men had died because of all this shit, and Max would suffer the brunt of all their anger. But for Dylan, this would be a hard pill to swallow because he was the one who actually killed James Doherty.

Bullseye had killed his own father on Reaper’s order.

“When?” Bullseye growled as he brushed off Phantom when she tried to console him.

“When what?”

“When did you learn the truth?”

“Sypher cracked the thumb drive shortly after my supposed death. It didn’t take the kid long to figure out I wasn’t really dead. Too many inconsistencies, according to him, and when he put two and two together, he waited and picked up where Pops left off, gathering information. He knew eventually Montana would fuck up. All Sypher had to do was wait and let everything run its course, all the while, he kept a tight lid on everything he learned.”

“I’m gonna beat that little shit’s ass,” Chipper grumbled. “He knows we don’t keep shit from family.”

“He didn’t.” Max smirked. “He went to the only person he knew who could help him that was not associated with us.”

“Ace.” Slaughter smirked. “The kid went to Ace.”

“Yeah,” Max confirmed. “Sypher knew I didn’t trust Montana. Fedorov was like me. He only cared about protecting Illyria. But Montana, well... all that fucker cared about was his precious fucking club. I shouldn’t have second-guessed myself. Pops always told me my first instinct was the right one. Instead, I let my fear of losing Remi cloud my judgment and it damn near cost me everything.”

“What was on the thumb drive?” Massacre asked.

“Everything, and I mean everything,” Max admitted when he turned to look at Ravage. “Pops had gathered information on all the biker clubs and anyone associated with the underground. He left nothing to chance. More specifically, Pops gathered information on George Stone and his involvement with Baranov and Devlin Scott.”

The club enforcer smirked, shaking his head. “Let me guess. Pops knew all along, didn’t he?”

“Yes.”

“FUCK!” Ravage roared, storming from the clubhouse as Karlyn chased after him.

“Don’t stop now,” Bullseye sneered. “What else haven’t you told us?”

“Everyone of us has a file.”

“Me too?” Romeo, Axel’s brother, spoke up.

Max nodded. “Yes, even your mother Maria.”

“I don’t understand,” Maria said. “I had nothing to do with the club until I moved here.”

“You are a member of the Valentinetti Family,” Max stated, sitting, as he pulled me down onto his lap. “Like I said, there are thousands of files. All compiled into one little fucking thumb drive. I didn’t know what it all meant, and Sypher is still sifting through all the information. It’s a lot.”

“What about him?” Ink glared, pointing to Jason.

“Jason showed up at a crucial point when I was second-guessing everything. My pact with Montana and Fedorov, my faith in this club, but mainly my ability to protect my wife. You all remember what life was like back then. I was constantly drinking. I brought the club sluts back to the clubhouse. I was out of my fucking mind, but when Jason showed up, he also brought me something I wasn’t expecting. Clarity.”

“Gonna need more than that, Prez,” Ink snarked.

“After the party. The night you all welcomed me into the club,” Jason said, speaking up, “I brought Reaper something I found when Mom gave me all of Dad’s stuff. Alex was off fighting a war, and Sarah had just started college. Neither of them wanted anything of Dad’s, so Mom gave it all to me. I was going through Dad’s footlocker one day and found a journal. When I started skimming through it, none of it made sense. It was just a bunch of numbers and letters.”

“A code.” Phantom sighed.

“Yeah.” Jason nodded. “I didn’t know how to read that shit, but I figured Reaper might, so the night after the party, I gave it to Reaper.”

“I didn’t know what it was, either,” Max informed.

“So you called Sypher,” Bullseye groaned. “And let me guess. The fucking genius knew what it was, didn’t he?”

“Yes,” Max muttered. “It was the keys to unlock the thumb drive.”

“Keys?” Massacre asked.

“Every file on the thumb drive has a special key code to unlock it and there are thousands of files. Just to get into the thumb drive, Sypher needed a special thirty-two-bit encryption key code, which was on the first page of Arsenal’s journal.”

“How many key codes are there?” Phantom asked curiously.

“The journal is two hundred and fifty pages. Each page has fifty lines. There are codes on every page, every line, front and back.”

“Jesus Christ,” Phantom groaned, shaking her head.

“Fuck,” Matrix sighed. “You said two hundred and fifty pages, front and back? That’s over twenty-five thousand lines of key codes. What exactly is on that fucking thumb drive?”

“No clue, because Sypher has only uncovered ten percent of it.”