Page 112 of Nevada

I smile, answering before Nevada, “They couldn’t afford me.”

Nevada shakes his head. “The MC doesn’t pay you, honey, you pay the MC with club coffers.”

I shift my eyes to his. “What does that mean?”

“It means, all the club’s businesses are put into a pot, and we all reap the rewards from the combined businesses. It’s how we all make a lot of money. It’s one big family.”

“More ol’ lady stuff I’m not privy to?” I sigh.

He taps me on the ass with the back of his hand for talking back. “Not like we’ve gotten around to it with bar room brawls, chasin’ down traffickers, and killin’ a man…”

I scrunch my face. “I see your point.”

We’re laying low in the back of Bane’s truck, waiting for the address which will come through at the eleventh hour.

“Jefferson will have guards everywhere,” Bane tells us. “So we have to make sure the exchange goes down without a hitch before any goddamn gun fire. I want that asshole alive.”

“We know the drill,” Hawk gruffs. “This ain’t our first rodeo.”

“Lucky we got snipers of our own,” Shadow quips. “If shit gets outta hand, we have that added security.”

“Just know that Jefferson may look like an oil-slicked Brillo pad, but the man has money, and with money comes protection,” Viking tells us from up front.

If anyone told me I’d be packed like a sardine in a tin can with seven bikers, I’d have laughed in their face. The only reason Bane okayed me even coming was because of what I did to Dave. Somehow I earned his respect, and that’s good enough for me. I get that he’s got an agenda, and my problems don’t really matter to him, but they matter to me.

“So who knows about these Stiletto Riders?” I toss out. Well, since we’re shooting the breeze, I figure why not. I also haven’t had a chance to run it by Bane yet. “That Dave asshole said you know Diamond, the club’s Prez.”

Bane’s eyes meet mine in the rearview mirror. For a handsome guy with pretty eyes, he also manages to look surprisingly haunted. “I know who she is.”

“Like we need a reminder,” Shadow mutters.

This piques my interest. “Nevada said he told you what Dave said, and that the Stilettos have a compound…”

“You believe the words of a dead man walkin’?” He snickers.

“So they don’t exist?”

He takes a long draw of breath as he sighs. “They exist, but trust me, this ain’t got shit to do with our operation. All he was doin’ was tossin’ names out there, tryin’ to throw you off scent.”

“It seemed pretty specific to me. He said some of the chicks were pretty fucked up, that they take women in…”

“They have some half-way house thing.” Shadow waves a hand in the air. “A modern day Mother Teresa, right, Prez?”

Bane side-eyes him and the look he gives him could kill. He cares about her. About Diamond. Who is she?

“So if Tilly isn’t part of this network, she could have been intercepted.”

“Don’t go runnin’ away with yourself,” Bane warns. “If they had’ve, then you’d have your sister back by now. They’re not prisoners at the facility.

“Wait, so they do have a facility?” Why is everyone being so hush-hush about this?

Bane takes a few moments before answering. “Diamond is… a troublemaker through and through. She lies. Cheats. She has no authority yet acts like she owns the fuckin’ world.”

“Did she lie and cheat you?”

“Watch your mouth.”

“So asshole Dave is just lying for the fun of it?” I ask.

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