Page 10

Fury

November 28 th , 2024...

It was game time.

Looking at the items on my bed, I double-checked everything, making sure I left nothing to chance.

Diapers... check.

Snacks... check.

Tracking devices... check, check, and check.

“There you are.” Linsey sighed, walking into my room. “The girls are eating dinner, wondering where you are. Do you have everything?”

Rubbing the back of my neck, I stared at the items on my bed and said, “I think so.”

Laughing, Linsey walked over and smiled. “Well, you don’t need to worry about the snacks. I’ve talked with Largo and Tess. They have those covered, and I’ve packed enough diapers for a month.”

“Are you sure? Charlie even looks at a juice cup and she will need to be changed.”

“Trust me, Christian. This isn’t my first rodeo. Everything will be fine. We are all going to have a good time tonight and watch the city herald in the holiday season. It’s going to be a night to remember. Now, we have a few hours before we all meet at the clubhouse, so I’ve prepared a healthy dinner, considering all the junk food the girls will be eating tonight. Gregory cooked steaks for the adults, so let’s go eat.”

Nodding, I grabbed the three bracelets I bought for my girls and followed one of the nicest, most loving women I’d ever had the privilege of knowing, out of my penthouse.

“You know,” I teased, closing my front door. “If you ever decide to divorce your old man, I’m throwing my hat into the ring. You are too damn good for him.”

“I heard that, asshole.”

“Good.” I smiled warmly, seeing Vicious standing in his doorway. “You were meant to.”

Laughing joyfully, Linsey blushed, walking over to her husband. Wrapping her arms around his waist, she replied, “Well, as much as I appreciate the offer, Christian, I think I better stay with Gregory. He doesn’t like to share... at all.”

“Damn straight I don’t,” my brother said, kissing the top of his wife’s head. “Now, stop flirting with my wife and come eat before the gaggle gets restless.”

Rockefeller Center was a madhouse. There was no other way to describe it. From a tactical standpoint, it was a logistical nightmare. To make matters worse, there was no fucking breathing room. The crowd, packed like sardines, created a sea of faces and bodies, the air thick with sweat and murmuring voices.

“This is crazy,” Linsey groaned as some bystander bumped into her for the third time.

Growling, Montana roared, “Make a fucking hole!”

Shaking my head, Vicious smirked. “I was about to say the same damn thing.”

Tugging on my coat caught my attention as I looked down and saw Andi looking up at me. “Daddy, can I go play?”

“No, baby. I need you to stay close to me and your uncles. It’s not safe with so many people here.”

“But I will be with uncle Malice. Please?”

Looking up, I spotted Malice standing with several of the club brothers, ordering them to form a circle. Within minutes, he cleared a small area, and I could finally breathe again.

“Let the girls play,” Montana said, walking over. “Malice won’t let anything happen to them.”

“Please, Daddy!” Andi and Bri cried up at me.

Relenting, I nodded as I reluctantly watched my girls run off to play with Malice, Elizabeth following closely behind.

“We need to talk,” Montana whispered close.

Nodding, I handed Charlie over to Vicious before walking away with Montana. Far enough from listening ears, I didn’t have to wait long before Montana started talking.

“Need you to keep your ears low to the ground. I don’t want the brothers talking.”

“Too late for that,” I stated, keeping my head on a swivel. Since we arrived here, something felt off. I couldn’t explain it, more like a gut feeling. “They’ve been talking since the Golden Skulls were in town. What are you afraid of?”

“I fucked up.”

Looking around the area, I spotted Mercy talking with Vladmir several feet away, near the Bratva stronghold, along with Bane and Payne.

Something was definitely wrong.

We were being split up.

I fucking knew there was no fucking way Montana would allow the club to be split in a crowd like this. Too many things could go wrong.

“Fury, are you listening to me?”

Turning back toward Montana, I muttered as every hair on my head stood up, “Just so we’re on the same page. What the fuck are you talking about?”

I could feel it in my bones.

Something was about to go down and it was going to be big.

“I need you to back my play.”

Confused, I looked at the man when I spotted several blacked-out cuts making their way through the crowd. Slowly turning back to Montana, I sneered, “What play?”

“I didn’t have a choice. It was the only way to protect the club.”

Stepping closer to him, I grabbed his fucking jacket and snarled. “What the fuck did you do?”

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered as people started screaming and running in different directions.

Shoving him away, I turned and reached for my gun when I spotted Arizona and Dakota rushing Tessa and York away from the crowd as the truth hit me like a fucking wrecking ball.

All the lies, all the backstabbing, all the deceit was for nothing because, in the end, that motherfucker had taken the path of least resistance. Instead of accepting Reaper’s offer of help and doing the right thing by owning up to the club’s failures and admitting his father was behind everything, that son of a bitch couldn’t see past his own fucking ego.

And now it was going to cost him dearly.

“Get the kids out of here, NOW!” I shouted, holding my gun.

“Baby, just look at me,” Vicious said. His voice trembled, laced with fear unlike anything I’d ever heard. Slowly turning toward him, heart-stopping fear laced my body as my eyes finally saw what scared him. “That’s it, baby. Only me. Nothing else matters. Just me.”

There, standing before the unlit Christmas tree, was Steele, the President of Satan’s Angels, and in his arms was Linsey, with a knife against her neck, and it was in that instant, I fucking knew Montana lied.

He lied about everything.

“Chris,” Vicious implored, as the police officers in the NYPD tried to hold him back.

“I know, brother,” I muttered. I felt as if my world was slowly closing in around me. Linsey was our little family’s entire world. She made everything better. Nothing worked without her. I needed her to survive this, and when she did, I was getting her, Vicious, and the kids so fucking far away from this city and the Soulless Sinners.

“I love you, Gregory,” we all heard Linsey cry as Steele tightened his grip on Vicious’ pregnant wife.

“I love you so much, baby.”

Turning to Montana, I threatened, “She dies, I will fucking kill you myself!”

Ignoring my comment, he aimed his gun at Steele as the NYPD surrounded him and us and roared, “Let her go, you sick fuck!”

Shit, this was bad.

Really fucking bad. Not only did he set this shit in motion, but he was also playing his part beautifully.

No one would believe he had anything to do with this.

Motherfucker was hedging his bets!

“We have you surrounded. Let the woman go!” several police officers shouted.

Steele laughed before licking the side of Linsey’s face, as she whimpered while police officers tried valiantly to hold me and Vicious back.

This was turning into a massive clusterfuck.

A logistical fucking nightmare.

“Steele, you aren’t walking away from this. Let her go!” Crispin Sinclair shouted as he walked over to stand next to Montana, brandishing his own gun, pointed directly at Steele.

What the fuck was he doing here?

Did Montana call him?

What game was he playing?

Was he in on this, too?

“Fuck you, Sinclair!” Steele roared. “This is all your fault! All you had to do was let me keep her, but you had to interfere!”

“Let my wife go!” Vicious shouted, fighting the men holding him as Steele tightened his hold on Linsey.

Petrified, the woman dared not move while she looked at her husband. All around, men and women pointed guns at Steele. There was no way for him to escape. He would leave this place in a body bag.

I knew that everyone else knew that, but more importantly, Steele knew that too. Then, the one person on the planet who none of us ever expected to show his face pointed a finger right at Montana, just as Gray Greer appeared behind Steele, causing a cascade of events that would forever change everything.

Because in that moment, Malice roared, breaking the police line as he started firing, which caused Linsey to scream out, right before Steele grinned and slit her throat. Vicious screamed as he shot the officer next to him, then snapped the other’s neck to get to his wife as everyone else opened fire.

Standing there, I couldn’t move as I watched my brother, the man I had become so close with, who stood by me and helped me become a father my girls could be proud of, held his dying wife in his arms.

I didn’t know how long I stood there with total chaos going on around me, but when Montana grabbed my shoulder and turned me around to face him, I didn’t think.

I raised my gun and shot the motherfucker.