Page 66

Dante

Within half an hour, cars arrived to take us to The Greasy Spoon.

We couldn’t return to the clubhouse yet.

It was still littered with bodies and the last thing we needed was to run into any rogue police.

Our guys were working hard in the background to scrub this from the database, but nothing would erase the memories of those cops.

They already had it in for us. This was just going to make things a million times worse.

“I heard Bradley came to see you,” I said to Rachel, in order to break the awkward silence. I could tell she was still pissed at me for our earlier argument before shit had literally hit the fan.

“Did you?” She murmured, pursing her lips. “Well, if you’ve already been informed, there’s no point in me repeating it. No doubt you’ve already been given an intricate play-by-play.”

“Really?” I sighed, shooting a quick glance at her before focusing on the road again. “Are we back to the attitude?”

“What attitude would that be? We’re back to how things always are, Dante. Do you think I’ve forgotten the way you treated me? Or is this another thing that I’m expected to brush under the carpet and never mention again?”

“I’m not going to argue with you—”

“Shocker. We only ever argue on your terms. I forget I’m meant to be the dutiful old lady, never speaking out of turn.”

“As much as I’d love to indulge your little brat kink and put you in your place…” she scoffed, interrupting me. “Putting you in your place again , I actually need to hear from you what happened with Bradley,” I finished, ignoring her scoffs and eye rolls.

“Nothing happened. It was the same old, same old.”

“What do you mean?” I shot her another glance. “How many times has he approached you? ”

She smirked. “Seems you don’t know everything after all. How does it feel, knowing you have cameras on me, your cronies watching me, and a tracking device on my phone, and yet I’m still able to keep secrets? I’d be feeling pretty embarrassed if I were you.”

“I’m feeling pretty fucking irritated,” I said through clenched teeth, my hands tightening on the steering wheel.

What was it about this woman that drove me so fucking mad?

Anyone else I was able to ignore without losing my temper, but something about her had me going from zero to a hundred real damn quick.

“So, what’s new there? You’re always irritated. And irritating.”

“It’s been a long fucking day. Can we put a pin in this argument and resume it later? I’d just like to know the details.”

“Fine,” she said with a sigh, surprising me with how easily she gave in.

Which didn’t actually make me feel any better.

In fact, it caused a knot to form in my stomach, because whenever Rachel was being easy, it usually meant I wouldn’t like what she had to say.

This was just like her revelations during the drinking game all over again.

She had given up that information far too easily, and I hadn’t liked that either.

“He basically said that he knew I had murdered Alex, and that there were wounds on his body that indicated self-defence. There was some of my DNA under his fingernails, and the wounds he had indicated he had been attacked by someone of my height.”

“What else?” I asked, doing my best to keep my voice calm. This could be really fucking dangerous if Bradley chose to pursue this.

“He said he knew Macbeth was dead, and that Ben had been murdered too. He also mentioned Callum and how he was missing. Oh, and do you want to know what the cherry on the cake is? He said that one wrong move from me, and he would have my dad thrown back in jail for perverting the course of justice and throw me in jail for being a mass murderer. So, that was a fun conversation.”

“Right,” I said slowly, thinking over my words very carefully before I voiced them. “This isn’t the end of the world. ”

“Nope,” she said, popping the P. “Just the end of my freedom.”

“The information he has on Alex isn’t ideal.

I’ll admit that. But we can spin it to make it look like Bradley has a grudge against us – which he does.

We’ve enough on him to press for harassment charges should he try to take his information any further.

The police don’t like dealing with the Devil’s at the best of times, so now that you’re a part of us, I can’t see them wanting to investigate.

It just makes things more difficult for them. ”

“Problem solver, Dante!” She muttered sarcastically.

“Well fuck me then, I guess. I won’t bother reassuring you,” I snapped back. She shrugged, turning her head to look out of the window.

I recognised her body well enough now to know the signs of her being nervous.

She might look blank, but there were tell-tale signs.

One of those being her index finger tapping against her thigh.

She only let it tap once before she forced it to remain still, but she would lose focus, and it would tap again out of habit.

There was also a tick in her neck. A very subtle tick, but when you knew to look for it, it was easily noticeable.

She also had a habit of keeping her lips tighter than normal.

Again, a very small detail, and nothing that would be noticeable to others who weren’t overly familiar with the shape of her full mouth, but I was, and I noticed the tightness to her lips as she forced herself not to chew her lip.

And like the fool I was, despite her shitty attitude, I had to reassure her. I had to offer her a moment of peace. Even if the signs were subtle, they screamed loudly at me.

“Don’t worry about Ben and Callum,” I said softly.

“Ben’s body was fed to pigs' miles away weeks ago. Even if the cops knew where to look, he’s long gone now.

Macbeth was cremated when the Riders sent him back to us, and they kept Callum.

Whatever they did with his corpse, the trail leads back to them, not us.

Besides, the Riders are more likely to form an alliance with us than they are to work alongside the police. ”

“Even after what went down tonight?” She said quietly.

“That was revenge. It didn’t involve the police.”

She scoffed again.

“Right, what do you know that I don’t? ”

“You mean Vienna didn’t tell you?” She looked at me then, a strange expression on her face. “Shocker.”

“Tell me what?” There was that knot again.

“I killed their new president.”

“I beg your fucking pardon?”

“Or is it vice president? Was he even sworn in yet? I don’t fucking know. Whoever he was, I killed him.”

Shit.

Shit!

“Tell me exactly what happened.”

“Some woman held me at gunpoint. Vienna intervened. Some man came along and shouted to Vienna that he warned him to stay away from his sister—”

“Gabriella was there?” I said, swallowing down the lump in my throat.

This was an absolute fucking disaster.

“So, you do know who Gabriella is,” she snapped at me.

“Of fucking course I know who Gabriella is!”

“When I asked you—”

“That’s not important right now, Rachel.”

“Oh, no. God forbid we address your constant lying and bullshit.”

“Rachel…” I warned.

“Fine! The bloke screamed at Vienna and pulled a gun. What was I supposed to do? Let Vienna die? Don’t be so ridiculous. I shot first.”

I didn’t reply to her. I quickly pulled out my phone and rang Vienna, the dialling noise coming through the car's Bluetooth.

“Sup, Boss?” Vienna answered on the second ring.

“Damien’s dead?”

“Sure is. That’s one wicked aim on that girl of yours.”

“Do we know…?”

Vienna stayed quiet.

“Vienna. Do we know who has taken over as president?”

“Before you lose your cool, I want to remind you that nothing is official yet—”

“Just fucking spit it out.”

“I’m hearing talk of Nico.”

“ Nico ?” I hissed back. “Tell me you’re fucking kidding.”

“I wish I was, brother. Things are about to get a lot more interesting around here. ”

“And Gabriella?” I asked, hearing his immediate intake of breath. After everything that went down between Vienna and Gabriella, there was an unspoken agreement amongst those that knew to never mention her name again.

“Claimed,” he said simply.

“Shit. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah… Listen, I’m just turning into Greasy now. I’ll see you soon,” he hung up before I could respond.

“Are you going to explain what the fuck that was all about?” Rachel demanded. “And I’m warning you now, Dante, do not dodge the question.”

“What do you know about the Riders’ hierarchy? I’m not dodging,” I quickly added as her eyes flared at me. “I’m trying to explain.”

“I know I killed Damien… is that what you said his name was? And that’s it.”

“Okay. So their president as of yesterday was Harley. He’s been president of the Riders as long as Crash has been president of the Devil’s.

They’re rival gangs, so obviously they didn’t like each other, but there was an element of trust there that comes from years of familiarity.

Of course, both clubs pushed their luck, but for the most part, Crash and Harley have kept things amicable until Macbeth gave them hope of our downfall. ”

“Fucking Macbeth,” she muttered.

“Fucking Macbeth, indeed. Harley had two children – Gabriella and Damien. The issue we had with Damien was that we didn’t know him. There wasn’t the familiar trust, and there was certainly not any respect. Crash can grudgingly admit he had a sliver of respect for Harley.”

“Understandable,” she nodded. “You don’t keep control for as long as those two have without earning some respect. Even enemies have to admit that.”

“Exactly. But with Damien dying, it leaves a power vacuum. If I was to die, we wouldn’t go looking for a distant relative. I have already said that Vienna would take over if I was incapable of doing so. It doesn’t have to remain in the family – at least not blood relation. Vienna is my family.”

“I get it. I take it that’s not how the Riders work?”

“No. Leadership has been in the same family for generations. Which, I guess, is the same as us, but instead of them appointing someone else upon Harley and Damien’s death, they’ve gone looking for someone blood related. And that someone is Nico.”

“Okay,” she said, swallowing hard. “And who is this Nico?”

“Simply put, he’s bad news. Nico is Harley’s nephew. He was arrested a few years back and was almost cast out of the club entirely. He’s been living in the London charter for the past decade or so, but after his arrest, he moved to the Manchester charter.”

“What was he arrested for?”

“There’s no nice way to put this. He was the lead suspect in the rape and murder of his sister.”

“Fuck off,” she breathed. “If one of the Devils did that—”

“I know. We’d kill them ourselves. But that’s not how they work.

They’re a dangerous gang, Rachel. Although Nico’s dad was understandably pissed about it, that was his daughter after all.

They had a fight to the death, and Nico won.

That’s why he was sent to the Manchester charter.

Killing his dad earned him back the respect he had lost murdering his sister, and they positioned him as Manchester vice president. ”

“That’s messed up.”

“That’s the Riders for you. It’s one of the reasons we’re so hard on them. If we left them unchecked…”

“I know,” she said, surprising me. “Vienna explained some of the history.”

“Right,” I nodded.

“What did Vienna mean when he said ‘claimed’?”

“Nico,” I began, swallowing down my distaste. “Has made no secret of the fact that he has a thing for Gabriella. It doesn’t matter to him that they’re cousins.”

“Please tell me you’re not about to say what I think you’re going to say,” she breathed.

“Yep,” I nodded. “Nico hasn’t wasted a second. He’s accepted his role as president and forced Gabriella into the role of his old lady.”

“Shit.”

“Shit indeed. Listen, you don’t need to worry about any of this. I—”

I was interrupted by my phone ringing. “What’s up?” I snapped as soon as I pressed answer.

“Change of plan,” Vienna said, his voice cracking as he rode against the wind .

How fucking fast was he driving?

“What now?”

“Hospital. Your dad—”

“I’m on my way.”