Page 36

Chapter 36

Vito

Ash and Dom stand side by side inside Massimo's office. Ash's silver rings flash when he hooks his thumbs in his jean. Dom raises the eyebrow with the scar I gave him; his brown eyes level as we study each other.

The tension in the room is thick as we all stand silent and still. This isn't how we usually interact; like we're studying the person, trying to decide if they're for or against you.

Dom clears his throat. "We'll cut straight to the chase."

"By all means," Raf says in a cocky voice, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. His posture may look casual, but I know his hand is tucked under his bicep, gripping the gun in his inside jacket pocket.

"How many people did you lose in the attack today?" Ash asks.

I'm not surprised they know what happened at the medical building. Word travels fast in the criminal underworld.

"Three." Massimo's voice is low with anger. "Four are in critical condition."

"Ed was the target," Dom states, not as a question. "We know she's been taken."

I want to lunge at him, fist his throat, and demand he tell me what the hell he knows.

I force myself to remain stoic and still.

The threat to Eden isn't only from whoever has kidnapped her. When we get her back, she's still Gilly's owner-operator and neutral territory. Nothing has changed there; she's still my forbidden fruit from the Garden of Eden.

"And?" Massimo prompts, not willing to give anything away.

"We're here to help," Ash replies.

"Why would you come here if you're looking to help Ed?" Massimo's unreadable poker face is on point .

Dom narrows his eyes, but he answers calmly, "She was where your family was. There's a connection of some kind."

Ash runs his thumb over his bottom lip. "We're allies."

The Havoc Guardians were pivotal in helping to save Sophie. We've always worked well with Dom and the Saints.

"You've always trusted us," Dom reminds us. "Hell, you even reserved Nina for caring for Sophie and the baby here if needed."

Massimo and I exchange a look; neither of us is sure of the next step. If my suspicions about the Chamber are correct, Lixin and Amazu need a third leader on their side.

Which means one of them is against us.

Or both.

Even if it's not Ash, if he finds out about Cutt, we'll be up shit creek without a paddle and a hole in the boat.

Dom rubs his face. "It's time to come clean." He looks at Ash, who dips his chin.

My stomach drops. There's no way they know I love Eden; that I've been secretly sleeping with her these past months.

Massimo and Raf shift closer to me.

But it makes no sense that Ash and Dom would confront me here, on our fortified estate, surrounded by all our guards.

Unless they expect Massimo to side with them as the rules of our world dictate if any criminal crosses the line regarding Gilly's.

"Let's not be so fucking cryptic, Dom," I say calmly, deciding to face this head-on.

His jaw tenses, but then relaxes. "I've been getting subtly groomed."

Okay… That wasn't what I was expecting to come out of his mouth.

"Please explain, Dom," Massimo rumbles.

"Something is off regarding Ed." He shifts his weight between his feet. "My first commitment is to the Saints, followed by my commitment and protection of the Chamber. The Chamber benefits me, as well as all of us, for both power and money. I'm not going to fuck that up."

"Where does the grooming come in?" Raf prods.

Dom smirks. He's cunning and intelligent, although he's okay with people thinking he's only a street thug. "It's been subtle, but it has ramped up over the past weeks. My groomers are Lixin and Amazu."

His statement confirms my suspicions. I don't feel smug or validated, just a hungry desire to find Lixin and Amazu and make them fucking pay.

"Do you think they're the ones who grabbed Ed?" Massimo asks.

Dom rakes his teeth over his bottom lip. "I'm not sure. Like I said, they’ve been subtle and haven’t mentioned their end goal. I only know that they’ve been trying to get me on their side to influence the Chamber’s decision on something as the third vote, but I'm not sure for what. After today…" He runs his hands through his hair. "Maybe sabotage of some kind? But I don't see how controlling Gilly's would help with whatever they're planning. Either way, I suspect they had a hand in what happened to Ed last night; which lends weight to the possibility that they took her today."

Ash isn't reacting to what Dom shares, so these two must have already discussed this.

"You think Lixin is responsible for the attack on Ed last night?" Massimo asks. "He was there so quickly, but so were you, Dom."

A flash of guilt moves over his features. "There was a street race close by; that part was the truth. However, Hugo and I weren't there; we were following Lixin, but we lost him about half an hour before the attack on Ed. If I had any idea that Ed was a target, we would've headed straight for Gilly's after losing Lixin."

"What do you think his plan was?" I ask, keeping my tone neutral. "To actually take her out or to make him look like her savior?"

"I have two theories: he was trying to grab her last night or he was trying to gain her trust by swooping in to save her."

"It seems like they may want something from Ed," Raf chimes in, testing what they know.

"I think so, too." Dom drags his hand over his head. "But I'm stumped on what their end goal is."

"Amazu?" Massimo crosses his arms over his chest, looking at Ash. "And what happened with him last night?"

"The call for one of us to pick his drunk ass up," Ash grits. "Pretty sure we were played, Mass."

Dom looks between them. "There really is internal fighting happening with the Fire Clan. I think Bill doesn't like whatever Amazu is getting them involved in, and there are fires of rebellion brewing. I've considered going to Bill with my suspicions, but I need hard evidence for them to go through with mutiny and denounce their leader.

"But, yeah, I think the play was to distract you two so that whatever they're planning could get put in place."

"Which adds more weight that Lixin and Amazu are the ones who took Ed," Raf stresses. "Where are the most likely places they'd take her?"

I want to kiss my best friend because he's so urgent about getting my woman back. We've wasted too much time already.

But I have to remind myself that this is time well spent. Because if we have the Havoc Guardians and the Saints behind us, we're more likely to get Eden back alive.

"Bane and Hugo are both leading our crews to look into it," Ash reassures. "But so far, everywhere we’ve looked have been dead ends."

Both the Triads and Fire Clan's power bases are within San Francisco; they don't have much hold outside the city.

The USB could help us, but can we trust Ash and Dom with that? Especially since it opens a whole can of worms about how we know about it and have it.

Ash cuts in before I can silently try to communicate with Massimo to determine the strategic play. "Before we go any further, there's something else that needs to come out into the open."

More cryptic talk. But nails of apprehension rake down my spine when he turns to me. "I know about Cutt."

What… The… Fuck.

Massimo steps closer to me.

Ash puts up his hands. They're heavily tattooed, and his fingers are full of thick rings—he likes to wear those when he pounds the life out of his enemies. "I come in peace." He smirks at me and Raf. "You two did me a huge favor."

Massimo, Raf, and I exchange a wary look.

"I've been looking for a way to end Cutt, but fucking MC politics," Ash growls, then shrugs, looking at me. "Bane and I were following Cutt that night because we were trying to get proof that he and Jax were working on side hustles and against the MC. We saw them break into Ed's apartment and would've intervened if you two hadn't shown up."

"And why did you two show up?" Dom raises his scarred eyebrow at Raf and me.

"Ed had been here for our father's funeral and forgot a package our mother wanted her to have as a thank you for coming," Massimo interjects, lying to protect me. "I told Vito to call Gilly's."

I pick up smoothly and finish Massimo’s lie off with the truth. "I spoke with Gus; he was concerned that Cutt and Jax were missing from the bar after the altercation with her. Raf and I promised we'd go check it out."

"Yet, you never breathed a word about what went down." There's an accusation in Dom's words.

"It's done," Ash grunts. "They did me a fucking solid. We're good."

"Is this blackmail?" Massimo's tone is quiet, but the warning is clear that he'll protect his family if it is.

Ash cocks his head. "Not at all. I'm revealing my hand to show that I'm all-in. "

There's a knock on the door, and Alfonzo pokes his head in. "Don, sorry to interrupt, but Gus and Frank are at the gate wanting," he clears his throat, " demanding to be let in to talk to you."

"Let them in." Massimo comes to stand beside me, sensing my slipping control. I need to do something to get to Eden. "Settle," he murmurs.

The tension is still high in the room, but the tension between us as Chamber factions specifically is gone.

My phone buzzes in my pocket. I grab it, not wanting to miss another call, especially if it is somehow from Eden.

It's not her but a blocked number. I answer, expecting Axin's voice. The accented voice makes me stop.

"Vito Santoro. I truly hope you love my daughter."

Ohith .

"More than I ever thought possible." The words almost catch in my throat as it closes with emotion.

"Good. Because I need you at your worst."

Massimo and the others are staring at me.

"I'll do whatever it takes." I'll use every ounce of violence I'm capable of. "Do you know where she is?"

I have no idea how he knows Eden is even missing. His next words answer that.

"Axin followed Eden when she left Gilly's with a drone; he's been following her since she was taken."

I ignore Ash and Dom's increasingly quizzical looks as excitement at the hunt and kill ripples through me, awakening the unhinged beast that lives within me.

"They're headed toward San Jose," Ohith says.

"Toward San Jose," I repeat, and Massimo's eyes widen. He moves to Raf and Alfonzo, talking with them quietly. "Our enemies, Mancini and Novak, just happen to be holed up there as well. What a fucking coincidence."

One where they both have connections to the attack on Eden through the tattoo on the assailants matching Morales and Novak's soldiers.

We've already assessed that Novak and Mancini—even with Tocci's possible reinforcements—wouldn't be able to overthrow us. But if they were also working with Lixin and Amazu, who were trying to recruit Dom as their third Chamber vote in whatever their end goal was…

This could be the play here. However, I still couldn’t figure out how Eden or Gilly’s factored into it. But now wasn’t the time to unravel this mystery.

Now was the time to get my woman back. And making those who dared to take her bleed and scream.

"Come prepared for a full-on assault," Ohith orders. "I'll be in touch."

He hangs up, and Ash asks me, "Novak… As in, the head of the Czech mafia?"

I nod, and Dom frowns. "Who the fuck is Mancini?"

"A rival Don from Boston."

"The conspiracy against Gilly's and Ed overlaps with Santoro business and enemies." Ash's jaw works.

"Looks that way," Massimo says.

"Who the hell were you talking to, Vito?" Dom demands.

I straighten my jacket. "Eden has her own circle of people protecting her."

He narrows his eyes. " Eden? And how the fuck do you know this?"

Massimo knocks his knuckles on the desk. "We can discuss those details later."

He'd prefer never; however, if Dom and Ash accompany us to recover Eden, they'll know it all by the end. They'll witness my ferocity in attacking; they'll see Ohith and Axin in the flesh.

"I need to know if you're in or out," Massimo grits. "Because we can't delay much longer."

Ash and Dom exchange a look, then say in unison, "In."

My grin is unhinged and feral. "Buckle up, boys. We're going to soak the ground in red."