Page 32 of Unmask (Crew of Elmwood Public #2)

Me: Everyone.

Raine: Should I be concerned?

Me: I’ll fill you in later tonight.

Shoving my phone back into my pocket, I took a swig of my beer, my eyes searching out Kaylor.

She was staring into her half-drunk glass of what I thought might have been bourbon Josie had poured her.

I didn’t want to leave her, but with a house full of people, she wouldn’t be alone.

Dropping my barely touched beer into the sink, I strode across the kitchen, bending down to murmur in her ear. “I’ll be back.”

She grasped my arm. “You’re leaving?”

I nodded. “Just for a few hours. You’ll be safe here.”

“Where are you going?”

I brushed a kiss against her cheek, just below her eye, where the skin was still soft and a little flushed from the bourbon. “To earn your trust back, little raven.”

The night air bit through my hoodie as I pulled it closer around me, but it didn’t touch the fire burning in my chest. Not tonight. Sliding into the town car’s back seat, I met Evan’s gaze in the rearview mirror. “The club,” I said, giving him no other direction or information.

The Rooftop wasn’t just a name. It was the top floor of my father’s club with floor-to-ceiling windows and a private elevator coded with fingerprints and blood. A place where decisions were made, dealings were arranged, laws were broken, and lives were threatened.

Raine leaned against the bar when I stepped inside, flipping a butterfly knife between his fingers. The steel flashed under the overhead lights, but his eyes were dark and focused. “Are you going to tell me what this is about?” he asked without preamble.

I nodded once. “Everyone here?”

Raine smirked. “Even the old-timers showed. They’re curious what could drag Kreed Corvo out of the dark.”

The Rooftop was dim, lit only by the overhead pendant lights swinging slightly in the draft like a noose waiting for a neck. The air smelled of old cigar smoke and stronger liquor, and the floor-to-ceiling windows reflected back our silhouettes.

Every chair around the long, black glass table was filled.

Crew from all corners of Elmwood, some still in their varsity jackets, some in weathered leathers, scarred hands folded or fidgeting, the smell of blood still faint on a few, sat shoulder to shoulder.

Ex-cons, hustlers, and legacy members who’d grown up under Raven rule just like me.

The Ravens didn’t do temporary. You didn’t walk away from the brotherhood unless you were in a box.

Even then, they found a way to drag you back.

I hadn’t stood in this room since the day I told my father I was done being his damn puppet. That was before he brought Kaylor into our house. Before she tore everything I thought I wanted to hell.

Now I was back because of her.

Mason slouched to my right, tapping a ring against the table. Maddox leaned against the edge, arms folded. Raine was on his phone near the bar, only half paying attention but somehow listening to everything. Nash sat next to his father.

I didn’t waste breath. “We’ve got a problem,” I said, letting the room fall quiet. “What do we know about the missing girls?”

Heads turned. Conversations cut short. Chairs creaked. All eyes found me.

“Who’s taking them?” I continued. “Where are they being held?”

Slate, one of the oldest at the table, gray at the temples, but still mean as hell, tilted his head. “Since when do we have an interest in human trafficking?”

“We don’t,” Huntley added. “It’s never been our business or our style.”

I pulled out my phone, slammed it face up on the table, and tapped the screen. The picture I’d forwarded to myself from Kaylor’s cell glared back at us, Kenny pale and terrified, dressed like bait in a barely there minidress, eyes wide with silent screams.

Curses whispered around the table.

“She’s the latest girl to have gone missing, and she just happens to be Kaylor Steele’s best friend. Coincidence?” I arched a brow. “I don’t think any of us would buy that.”

“Shit,” Briggs hissed under his breath. He leaned forward. “You think the Vipers?”

“I don’t think,” I snapped. “I know. This isn’t a one-off. It’s organized. Someone’s running auctions in our city and making bank while they do it.”

“Why do we care?” Cash asked. “You screwing the girl or something?”

Mason choked on a laugh. Maddox just lifted his chin, daring Cash to keep talking.

This was personal for me, but the crew didn’t realize just how personal Kaylor and I were.

I wanted to keep it that way. The less involvement she had, the safer she was, not just from the Vipers but from these guys sitting around the table.

Once my father found out about this meeting held behind his back, I’d have to deal with the repercussions, but I was willing to pay them, regardless that it would put me deeper into Raven business, the very thing I’d been distancing myself from.

“No,” I lied smoothly. “We care because it’s a direct threat to our hold on the city. The Vipers are escalating. They’re poaching from our streets, our clubs, our kids.”

Raine finally slid his phone into his jacket. “We’re losing face. That auction brings in high rollers. If we don’t shut it down, they’ll start thinking Elmwood belongs to them, and the Vipers will move into our territory.”

“Which is the exact opposite of what we’ve been working toward,” I said plainly, no bullshit.

“This girl isn’t their target.” I picked my phone back up and held Kenny’s picture up, forcing them to look at her.

“She is a tactic to get Kaylor, which interferes with our plans.” My father’s plan that was, but everyone in this room knew the game, knew it wasn’t just revenge my father sought.

His grand scheme was to be the only crew in Elmwood, and taking out Kaylor’s father was only a piece of the pie.

Hector cracked his knuckles. “You think someone inside is involved?”

“I think someone’s talking. Or too scared to admit they know something. Either way, we’re going to find out.”

Raine stepped forward. “So we start rattling cages?”

“No.” I held his gaze. “We start flipping them. I want ears on every block. You hear anything—anything—about missing girls, new players in town, side doors opening, whispers of movement at the docks, warehouses…I want names. I want locations. I want leverage. They’re bold enough to try and force her hand by coercing her to walk into their trap on her own. We can’t let that happen.”

Raine placed his palms on the table as he leaned over it. “They’re testing us. Seeing how far they can push. I’m done letting them play in our shadows.”

“I think someone in the Vipers is running the operation,” I said. “And someone in our backyard knows more than they’re saying.”

“The first step in getting the Vipers out of Elmwood is to take down this ring. No more underground auctions selling minors. It’s bad for our business,” I stated.

“Is this coming from you or your father?” someone from the back asked.

I didn’t flinch. “I wouldn’t be here if he didn’t agree.” A lie, but I’d worry about Daddy Dearest later.

Mason glanced sideways at me, lips twitching. He knew. They all did, but no one called me on it.

“This started personal,” I continued. “But it’s not just about Kaylor anymore.

If this auction ring keeps expanding, drawing in buyers with sick fucking fetishes and deeper pockets, it cuts into every business we own.

Strip clubs. Casinos. Trade routes. The next girl they take could be someone connected to this table. ”

That landed like a blow.

Some of them had daughters.

Most had sisters.

All had something to lose.

“Shit,” Slade muttered.

I let that sink in. They had families, and what we all had in common was that we were here to provide for them, to keep them protected.

“Word is the next auction is in two weeks,” Raine informed, straightening. “We need to shut it down before it happens.”

I looked around the table. “They think they’re untouchable. Let’s prove them wrong.”

Hector nodded. “I’ll call in my guys.”

Slate cracked his neck. “You’ll have eyes on the docks by midnight.”

Briggs muttered, “I’ll check the southside clubs. There’s a new face working security, too clean for the job.”

A flicker of agreement passed through the room.

Mason’s knuckles drummed against the table. “We’re going to blow up their little kingdom.”

“Start with the shadows,” I said, already turning for the door. “That’s where they hide their monsters.” And one by one, they stood.

Old blood. New blood. United for one thing. Not because I asked but because they finally saw it, too.

The Vipers were coming for us.

And we were ready to bleed them dry.