Page 48 of Ryder's War

Darkness stepped forward to greet the other man. “I don’t want to, but it seems you hold all the cards.”

Ever the narcissist, Ratchet spoke up. “Hard time calling on a man to make tough choices. Not many men would give up a child if it could be avoided.”

“Since I never thought I’d have a kid, you’d be right about that part.” Glancing over his shoulder at Abby, who was straining to get out of Ace’s hold, Darkness sighed. “The bitch I can live without, though. She ain’t nothing but trouble.”

Ratchet responded casually, “Most are. Let’s get on with it. I can’t say I like being on your turf.”

“We drop our weapons on the tarp before we go inside. Don’t need anyone getting a twitchy trigger finger during the deal.” Reaching up to touch the wound that was still slightly tender to the touch, Darkness frowned. “We both know how that turned out last time.”

“We took care of that little problem.”

Ryder nodded. “We saw the autopsy report. Fuckin’ addicts are always a liability.”

Darkness gestured to the tarp. “Unload, and we’ll sit down with my lawyers. You know how the straight arrows are. Most of them ain’t never seen a real gun before.”

Devil chuckled. “Ain’t that the truth. Ours acts like just lookin’ at a gun will brand him a criminal forever.”

Unloading the gun from his inside his cut, Darkness also pulled out his backup weapon and a couple of knives. Laying them in a neat little pile, he waited for his visitors to follow suit. They did so only reluctantly. As they stepped up, Ryder frisked everyone and gave the all clear.

Darkness led them to the warehouse. “We set up a desk inside with some chairs, so we can all get comfortable and read through the paperwork. My attorney is ready with a notary. Follow me.”

Devil and his father followed, with their men close behind. The entire group came to a staggering stop inside the building when they realized it was packed with brothers from other chapters and even allied clubs. The door slammed shut quickly behind them.

Devil’s shaky voice rang out, “What the hell is this, Darkness? We had a deal.”

Turning on his heel, Darkness faced off with his counterpart. “I’m modifying it. You are ape-shit crazy if you think I’d ever give your club a quarter of million dollars. I’d give the lot of you a dirt-nap first and just be done with it.”

“You are going to regret double crossing us, asshole,” Ratchet’s rough voice threatened with a level of certainty that didn’t even make sense in this particular situation.

Darkness jerked his chin to someone on the catwalk above. A single shot rang out from that direction. Everyone jerked, looking around to see who just took a bullet. As if melting, Ratchet slumped to the ground.

Some deaths changed everything, others changed nothing. Ratchet's would do both, clearing the way for Devil's return to power while sending a message about crossing Blind Jack territory.

In their world, even mercy came with teeth.

Devil shouted, “You are one stupid fucker! I can’t believe you killed our club president.”

“I didn’t,” Darkness drawled. “I just rotated the only Seven Devils president who makes any sense back to the head of the table. That crazy fucker was gonna get your whole crew killed, and you damn well know it.”

Bending down to look at his father, Devil cursed under his breath. “I told him this was a bad idea. He was so sure he had every angle covered in this stupid fucking deal.” Coming smoothly to his feet, he took a step toward Darkness. “The thing that he didn’t take into consideration is what an unpredictable fuck you are.”

“I’ve got a new deal for you.” Darkness was as calm and oddly cold as ever.

“I’m listening,” Devil said, his eyes shrewd. Power shifted like tides in their world. One moment you were drowning, the next riding the wave. Devilknew it as well as any of them. The trick wasn't just surviving the shift, but controlling which way it broke.

None of his crew dared make a move. Everyone knew Devil had no other choice but to play ball. Otherwise, the lot of them were gonna wind up dead.

Clearing his throat, Darkness presented his new offer. “Abby signs divorce paperwork and custody of my daughter over to me, immediately. I give you fifty grand and let you all walk out of here alive.”

Devil immediately stated, “No, the deal was for five times that.”

“You got no cards left to play, man. Take the deal.” The cautionary tone of voice Darkness used was clearly evident.

Looking around at his men, Devil shook his head. “We’re between a rock and a hard place. I need at least a hundred grand for my club to survive the shit my old man got us involved in this time around.”

“Look, we don’t have that kind of cash lying around. My crew pulled some private stock together for you from our own armory. We’ll throw in thirty hot AKs and a couple dozen reliable semi-automatic handguns,” Darknesstacked on. “Fifty grand and flush armory. Fuck, I’d take that deal if someone offered it to me.”

“Yeah, how about if the crazy fucker just gunned down your old man? Would you still take the deal?”

---