Page 33

Dante

“You sure about this, brother?” Hacksaw asked as we gathered outside the club.

“I’ve never been more sure of anything,” I responded firmly, waiting for everyone to gather around.

As soon as I left the hospital, I went straight to the clubhouse – at least what was left of it.

Vienna, Shark, and Hacksaw had managed to put out the worst of the fire, but what wasn’t burnt was either badly damaged by the smoke or buried under the remains of the house.

The whole thing was fucked, and it would be months before we were back in there.

I hadn’t even bothered with church. I told Crash that we were gathering every brother that wanted to remain a member, and we were going for revenge tonight.

If someone wanted to leave, now was the time to hand in their patch and go.

If they stayed, they were taking part in what had to happen tonight.

I put a call through to the four men at the hospital, and there hadn’t been any hesitation. They all wanted justice for Bee, but they understood they also needed to be her protection right now.

Her’s and Rachel’s.

Crash didn’t argue. He agreed this needed doing. Vienna had got word that the Riders had left their usual hideout. They’d be back, but revenge on them would have to wait. Sure, we could burn their clubhouse down, but it wasn’t possessions I was looking to take away from them.

I was out for fucking blood.

There’s one thing in this world that you don’t fuck with, and that’s a man’s child.

“I’m with you every step of the way,” Vienna grinned at me, before pulling his black balaclava over his face.

“You all ready?” I said, addressing the rest of the men here. No one said a word. They simply pulled the covering over their faces and nodded at me.

We were ready.

“Let’s go.”

I didn’t cover my face. I didn’t give a fuck who knew I was coming. In fact, I’d rather they know it was me.

I kicked down the door to Ben’s club, pulled out my gun, and fired a warning shot into the air.

“Listen up,” I yelled above all the noise, firing another shot to get them to shut the fuck up.

“If you’re here on a night out, just looking to get pissed and have a good time, then I’m sorry you’ve been dragged into the middle of this.

Come forward, show your stamp to the men here, and we’ll let you out.

If you’re an owner, a part owner, a friend of the owner, or anything other than someone just looking for a fun night out, I suggest you take a seat, because you’re going to be here a while. ”

Everyone remained frozen, looking at me in stunned, terrified silence. I saw a man head for the door at the back – the same door I had dragged Ben through only a few weeks earlier, and I rolled my eyes with a sigh.

“What did I just say?” I asked, firing my gun and shooting him in the back of the head.

“Shut the fuck up!” I yelled, banging my fist on the bar.

“Yes. He’s dead. And I’ll kill every single person here if you don’t do exactly as I asked.

Every exit is armed, so don’t try anything stupid like our dead friend over there.

If you have a stamp of entry, show the men and you will be let out.

No harm will come to you. Otherwise, sit the fuck down. ”

It didn’t take long for people to realise I was serious. Within minutes, we had everyone’s hand checked, and those who were just here for a good time were let out, with the stern warning to keep their mouth shut.

All that remained were around twenty men and women, all of whom were either throwing filthy looks our way or avoiding making eye contact.

“Right,” I said, scraping my gun along the bar as I walked towards them. “We’ll cut to the chase. Everyone left in this room is dying tonight.”

The entire room erupted as some screamed, some scurried for the doors, and some moved for attack.

Vienna stepped forward and shot a man between the eyes and smacked a woman around the face with his gun, sending her spiralling to the floor in an unconscious heap.

“That’s two down already,” I said, aiming my gun at the woman’s head without giving her a second glance, and shot two rounds into her skull.

“I’ll tell you what. We’ll make this interesting.

Let’s play last man standing. One of you will survive.

Whoever gives me the most information on Macbeth, Callum, and their ridiculous plan with the Rough Rider’s motorcycle club will get their pardon.

Everyone else will…” I ran my finger across my throat and pulled a sad face. “Who wants to go first?”

“Me,” came the voice of a woman with brown hair, pushing her way to the front of the crowd.

“Hello ‘me’,” I mimicked. “What’s your name?”

“Sophie.”

“Hi, Sophie,” I nodded my head at her. “You understand the rules of our little game, don’t you?”

She nodded at me, trying not to show how scared she was, but the tremors running through her body betrayed her.

“Alright, good. What do you have to say?”

“I get to live if I tell you what I know?” she asked, as Hacksaw came forward and whispered something in my ear.

“Hold on a second, love, will you?” I murmured, turning to listen to what Hacksaw had to say. I pulled out my phone and pressed video call.

“Everything okay?” Came Rachel’s hushed whisper.

“Alright, Darlin’?” I grinned at her. “Just some club business— ”

“So, why are you calling me?” She interrupted, a scowl on her face. I heard Vienna laugh behind my back, and I stuck my middle finger up over my shoulder.

“Wow. No response to the ‘alright, darlin’’? No’ I’m fine Dante, how are you?’” She just blinked at me.

“You rang me, Dante. I’m not playing twenty questions. Is this going to take long or…?”

“I wanted to see if you recognised anyone, that’s all.”

She sighed heavily. “What is this, some fucked up version of gothic ‘Where’s Wally?’ Here’s a hint: he’s usually the one in the stripy red top. But I guess in your current surroundings, he’ll be the one in the black top. Hope that helps! Bye!”

The fucking bitch actually hung up.

One of these days I would legit kill her. Why she couldn't just be civil for five seconds was a mystery only a therapist could get to the bottom of.

My men snickered behind me again, and I shot them a glare, silently warning them to shut the fuck up. “Sorry, boss,” Shark said, but then burst out laughing again when Vienna nudged him with his shoulder, a smirk on his stupid bearded face.

That sent Hacksaw off, wheezing as he said, “the stripy top!” which set the other men off.

Assholes.

I rang Rachel back, my temper hanging by a thread. “Dante, it's cheating if I help you.”

“Can you just shut the fuck up for a second?”

“I was, but you keep ringing me, begging for attention. A phone call doesn't work if you expect the person answering to be silent. Do you just want to look at me? Because that's weird.”

“I swear to fucking God—”

"Right, well, if you're swearing, I'm not participating. Your daughter is asleep next to me. Ring me back when you've found some self-control."

And then she hung up again. Even members of Ben's club were starting to chuckle now, and that's when I really lost it.

I rang her back a final time. “Don't say a fucking word, and maybe I'll resist the urge to rip your throat out. Do you recognise her?” I turned the camera around to the woman in front of me.

“Are you just looking for ways to upset me? First shouting, now this. Of course I fucking recognise her. ”

“And who is she?”

“Tell me what you're doing first.”

“I don't have time for this, Rachel- don't you dare!” I hissed when I saw her finger coming towards the screen. “Hang up on me, and I swear I'll make burning your mother's house down look like a bastard holiday compared to what I'll do next.”

She pursed her lips at me but had enough common sense to stay silent.

“So?”

“Yeah, I recognise her. She's the cunt that used to pin me down and spread my legs when Alex sold me. She pocketed some hefty money off me.”

The laughing and snickering stopped.

“Thank you. Was that so hard?”

“No. But for the record, I didn't answer you back, not because I give a shit about your threats, but because I happen to be busy dealing with your daughter, who is trying to sleep. I’d rather her not hear me make her dad cry when I put him in his place in front of all his bitch men.”

“Sure, Rachel, sure,” I laughed at her. “Before I let you go, since you’re so busy, let me just ask… Are you sure?” I asked, turning the camera back to me.

“I’m not likely to forget,” she said with an indignant sniff. Vienna grabbed the woman as her face paled and she tried to run to the back of the club. He pinned her arms behind her back and pushed her to her knees in front of me.

“Give Bee a kiss from me. I’ve got work to do.”

“Will do. And cut off her tits for me, won’t you? It’s the least she deserves.”

“Will do.” I grinned at her before she hung up.

“Seems you know my old lady,” I said to Sophie, pocketing my phone.

“I—”

Her words were cut off with a panicked scream as I pushed my gun between her tits and pressed it firmly against her chest. “My girl doesn’t like you. That means you don’t get to play last man standing. Night, night.” I said as I fired the gun and kicked her lifeless body away from me.

“Right. Who’s next?”

“Look,” came the voice of a man from the back. “Most of us had no idea what was happening. One minute Ben was in charge, the next Callum was back, and he was telling us we were getting justice for what happened to Alex. That’s all we knew.”

“You think Alex deserved justice?” I asked coolly.

“He was our friend. No one deserves to be stabbed to death in the street.”

“And you all feel this way?” I asked, my eyes scanning the room. Most people either nodded or murmured their agreement.

“Fair enough. Kill them all.”

My men didn’t hesitate. They ignored the terrified screams, the gasps of denials, and the brave fuckers who charged them. They simply raised their guns and fired off round after round until the floor was painted red, and nothing remained other than a pile of dead bodies.

I looked around in disgust. What a waste of fucking lives, and for what? Because they would rather befriend monsters who preyed on innocent woman? They deserved all they got.

“Chop off their hands and take them to the Rider’s clubhouse. Break in and put the hands along the length of the bar. Leave them a note, letting them know it was us. If they’re willing to give up Macbeth, and forget this club ever existed, then that’ll be the end of it.”

“And if not?”

“Then we go to war. I know we haven’t held church, and I know war will be fucking bloody. But are we all in agreement?”

“I’d go to war with the entire world for that little girl,” Tools said.

“We love her, brother. We’re with you,” Zach agreed. The other men gave their agreement.

“Then let it be done. Vienna, you’re with me.”

“Right-o, boss. What are we doing?”

I smirked at him. “There’s someone else that needs delivering to the Riders.”

Vienna and I drove straight to the garage whilst leaving the rest of the men to hack up the bodies .

Callum had been tied up in here since the moment he was brought to the club. Hard to believe it was just a little over twenty-four hours since I had escaped him, yet here we were.

And twenty-four hours was far too fucking long for him to still be breathing.

The overwhelming stench of bodily fluids greeted us as we pushed up the garage door and ducked under, slamming it down after us.

“Jesus wept,” Vienna said, bringing his arm up and burying his nose in his elbow. “One man made that smell?”

“Alright, Callum?” I asked, ignoring Vienna. It was always best to ignore Vienna.

“So, you’ve finally come to deal with me, have you?” he said weakly, spitting at my feet. I noticed his face was covered in dried blood, and his lip was split open.

“Seems my men have been dealing with you in my absence.”

“That sadistic fucker there,” Callum nodded angrily at Vienna. “Comes in here every hour, on the hour.”

I twisted my neck to look at Vienna, who was grinning like a maniac. “What the fuck have you been doing to him?” I laughed.

“I’ve been exercising. He kept getting in the way,” he shrugged.

“He’s tied to a chair…”

“Yeah and taking up a lot of space.”

“What have you been exercising with?”

“This,” he reached under the table and pulled out a heavy-looking sock.

“A sock?”

“A sock,” he repeated, grinning a grin that was even more evil than before.

“What’s in the sock, Vienna?”

“Err… hold on,” he said, pulling it open. “There are a couple of rusty nails, a screwdriver, a few razor blades, a rock or two, a pocketknife, and a couple of small ankle weights. Oh, and a packet of mints.”

“Mints?” I laughed.

“I get hungry when I work out.”

I just shook my head and turned back to Callum .

“I just thought I’d let you know – the club has gone. As we speak, my men are burning it to the ground, erasing all evidence it was ever there.”

“Bullshit,” Callum hissed. “You can’t get justice for that whore of yours if you’ve burnt all the evidence.”

“Oh, we got our justice,” I said, turning to nod at Vienna. He pulled out his phone and pulled up the video of us slaughtering every member of Callum’s club. He closed his eyes, but he couldn’t close off the noise of the screams and begs for mercy.

“So, it seems like we’re done with you now. There’s just one more question I need to ask you.”

He opened his eyes, and this time it was my turn to grin evilly.

“Tell me, have you ever heard of the Doll Maker?”