Page 44 of Operation Annulment (Silent Phoenix MC)

THE NIGHT OF DAKOTA’S WEDDING

Grey

G oblin paced the sidewalk just outside the event center, nostrils flaring wildly.

“Did we get somethin’?”

He loosened his collar and rolled up his sleeves before shaking his head. “Jarvis texted, said he hacked our mole’s computer and was going through his messages. El cabrón never came tonight. Someone tipped him off we were gonna be lookin’ for him.”

“Fuck,” I growled, catching the kid as he stumbled forward. “You drunk, kid?”

He held his thumb and forefinger a few inches apart with a nod. “ Sí , because I’m so happy for Caparina .”

I made sure he stayed on his feet before taking off toward the parking lot. He bounced along behind me, making small talk about Dakota’s wedding. I grinned at the appropriate times and responded as if nothing was wrong, but my head was spinning.

The mole had known not to show up because someone in my clubhouse had gotten to him first. I glanced back at Goblin as he patted at the air in front of him like it was a dog. He was out, for obvious reasons.

No, the guy who’d rolled over was someone with a motive.

I’d taken the club back from Bear after Celia’s attack, but never once gotten the impression he held it against me.

Plus, he’d been a patch longer than I had.

If anyone knew what our colors meant, it was him.

He might have had the motive, but wouldn’t have destroyed the club from within to take it back.

If love was a motive, then Jarvis should’ve been a suspect, but turning on the club wouldn’t guarantee him Kate. Not only that, he’d been giving me solid intel and stood to lose his entire career if the club went down.

It had to be someone who would benefit if Silent Phoenix fell.

I quickly ruled out Angel and Wolverine. The two had been riding since God was a boy and had made more than enough money for several lifetimes. One by one, I went down the roster, ruling out members.

When I got to Mikey, I paused. He’d been forced into club life by a man who’d lied about being his father. His motive for taking down the club was stronger than anybody else’s. And if my club disappeared, so did the crimes of his youth.

It wasn’t him, though.

I didn’t know how I knew it. But I did.

Convinced I’d gone through every member, I stumbled when it hit me.

The one man with the motive and means. I knew who my rat was. It had been right in front of my face all along. The biker who should’ve been a brother but had always been an enemy.

Comedian.

I’d been going about it the wrong way—trying to figure out who would have the most to gain financially.

It was never about money, though.

It was about revenge.

I’d just opened my mouth to tell Goblin when something shifted. The air around us felt as if it was suddenly charged with electricity. I glanced up, expecting to see lightning, but there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Still, the hair on my arms stood on end, warning me I was in danger.

A black suburban turned into the parking lot, engine revving and tires slapping against the pavement as it barreled toward us. Time seemed to slow down, drowning out anything other than the steady thumping from my chest and the sounds of my heavy breathing.

Goblin’s mouth fell open, and his hand dropped to his hip as the tinted glass on the vehicle rolled down with a hum. A rifle moved through the open window, a ring on the shooter’s hand glinting from the streetlight overhead as he shifted into position.

Only one of us was wearing a vest.

I didn’t hesitate, knocking Goblin off his feet as a deafening crack of thunder pierced the surrounding silence, echoing around us until I was convinced they surrounded us on all sides.

My back ignited, the flames bursting through the front of my chest like a fireball, dropping me to my knees against the asphalt.

The scent of gunpowder and burning flesh filled my nostrils as I collapsed onto Goblin with a sharp exhale, knowing the next explosion would be the one that sent me to the Reaper.

Only, it never came.

Tires screeched against the pavement, and smoke from the rubber coated my lungs, choking me with the knowledge that I was a dead man.

The vehicle roared out of the parking lot and sped off; the sounds growing fainter until the air fell silent again.

I’d prepared for everything but a slow death.

I should have known a monster like me would be forced to suffer before being sent to hell.

Goblin moved me onto my back, and I looked up at the stars with a grin, consumed by a memory that hadn’t taken place in this lifetime.

Maybe that was what the Reaper did.

Showed you how things could have been had you made different choices. It was like something out of a Dickens novel, only I wouldn’t wake on Christmas morning to right my wrongs .

“You see those, Mikey? They’re called constellations.”

“Daddy,” he said with a grin, displaying a mouth full of missing teeth. “Those are stars.”

I squeezed his little body and pulled him onto my lap.

“The stars create a picture when you put them together. See that one?” I traced the sky with my fingertip, his blue eyes tracking my every movement.

“That’s Perseus. If you look hard enough, you can see the head of Medusa in one hand, and a jeweled sword in the other. ”

His eyebrows drew together. “I see it, Daddy!”

“That’s my boy. He was a warrior who went up against the monsters and married the princess.”

Mikey stuck his tongue out. “Ew, I don’t want to have to marry a princess. Kissing a girl would be worse than fighting monsters!”

I tickled along his ribs until he was squirming. “Is that so? You gonna tell your mama that when she tucks you in tonight?”

He pulled his chin onto his chest and hunched his shoulders with a giggle. “Daddy, Mama doesn’t count as a girl. She’s just a mom!”

“Is that so? And what about your sisters?”

He scrunched his nose. “Katy and Dakota? No way! I’ll fight the monsters and keep them safe, but I’m not kissing them. They have to find a prince for that.”

“Boys, time to wash up for dinner,” Celia called through the open kitchen window.

“What if I wanna kiss your mama?”

He hopped off my lap with a shrug. “I guess, but don’t do it in front of me. That’s gross.”

“Mikey, someday you’ll realize that killin’ the monsters and fallin’ in love with a princess ain’t a bad gig. Maybe that’s all Perseus wanted… maybe that’s all any of us could want.”

“Sure.” He grinned. “When I’m a hundred.”

The vision faded, leaving me in darkness. If the Reaper wanted to torment me, he’d failed. I’d made a million mistakes, but even while dying, I knew the things I hadn’t accomplished didn’t matter.

They never had, because I’d had the love of a woman I didn’t deserve and three kids who had turned out better than I ever could have imagined.

Even if we’d never been under the same roof.

“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus sanctifying. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”

I knew the voice, but the sound was muffled, like talking to someone underwater. A clock ticked loudly from somewhere above my head, and my heart raced, steadily pumping blood through the wound in my chest. I was no longer lying in a parking lot but was being thrown around in a cage.

Had it just been one bullet?

I didn’t remember.

My only instinct had been to keep the bullets away from Rick. I didn’t even know if I’d been successful.

The truck swerved, and I gasped in pain at the movement. Staying awake was agony, but my body refused to let me pass out. Fire burned its way through my chest, every breath like the stab of a hot poker.

A sheen of cold sweat bathed my forehead—the blistered skin on my chest felt as if it had been ripped away from the muscle and bone beneath.

It was as if the goddamn sun itself had taken a baseball bat to my body.

I kept waiting for the numbness to set in, but it never came, leaving me painfully aware of every bump and jerk of the steering wheel.

So, this was what dying felt like.

“Jamie? Jamie, look at me!”

I tilted my face up toward the sound and forced my eyes open.

My girl.

“You can’t be here,” I forced out. “It’s too late for me, princess. ”

She shook her head and pressed down on the wound. “No, I won’t let you. You promised me, Jamie. You swore to keep us safe!”

I took a shallow breath and struggled to reach her hands. The pressure made it impossible to breathe.

“Gotta stop now. It’s done.”

Someone continued praying in the background, and I closed my eyes again. I didn’t want to see the love of my life kneeling over me, frantically trying to stop the bleeding.

“You were supposed to wear the vest! You told me you would!” Her tears hit my face, and I mashed my lips together to keep from joining her.

I had worn the goddamn vest, just like Mikey had asked me to, and the motherfuckers had used armor-piercing bullets. I took at least one to the back, and it had gone all the way through.

“Our baby girl,” I gasped, forcing my eyes open again. “She looked so good, didn’t she?”

“I’m here, Daddy. I’m right here. Do you feel my hand?” Dakota squeezed, and I nodded, my own tears sliding down my cheeks.

“I feel you. Is—is anyone else?—”

Mikey answered. “We’re all here, Grey. We’ll stay with you until it’s over.”

“I’ve got you, Dad.” Katydid’s fingers brushed the tears from my face. I was grateful to be surrounded by family, but they didn’t need to see me like this.

This wasn’t how I wanted to be remembered.

“I know—I know who’s responsible,” I whispered.

I should have seen it from the beginning, but I didn’t want to believe that my sins could ever catch up with me.

“None of that matters now.”

I didn’t recognize the voice and briefly wondered if I was already dead. The stinging in my chest was my only reminder that I was still clinging to life.

Barely.

They weren’t here; I knew that. It was a dream I didn’t want to wake up from, though. The ticking slowed, ready to stop at any moment.

This was it.

No second chances—no time to make amends.

“Listen to me,” I whispered as a firm hand gripped mine. “The girls—you have to tell the girls everything.”

The sacrifices we’d made for them.

The threats we’d kept hidden.

Instead of words of wisdom, I was leaving my family in no man’s land, forced to fight a war they never started for a man they never really knew.

I panted, each shallow breath pulling me away from the pain. If I had to do it over again, I never would have deserted them.

Wolverine had given me the name Grey, but Jean hadn’t just become more powerful as the Phoenix. She’d been corrupted; turned into something else. Something that made her a danger to the ones around her.

The power I’d held within the club was second to none. I’d thought nothing else would ever come close. Until Celia. My actions had almost destroyed her, but maybe me giving my life now would set things right.

Jean Grey was most known for her suicidal sacrifice and not how she’d failed the ones who loved her. Instead of living as a god, she’d chosen to die as a human.

I was no hero, but if they knew the truth, they could be different.

Better.

Maybe my pathetic existence would serve as their origin story. The best I could hope for at this point was that once all the cards were on the table, they would better understand the enemy we were up against.

Thank you for reading OPERATION ANNULMENT! I hope you loved Nate and Kate.