Page 89 of Blackout

With Bianci on board and on a mission to get Schwartz on our payroll, we parted ways. I head home and Lacey informed me she didn’t want to see Jack before he left. I understood her reasoning and part of me wanted to tell her that I had come up with a way that might get her father off on the charges. One that kept me out of the slammer and with her, but until I had everything sorted out I couldn’t. I wasn’t going to make any more promises I wasn’t sure I could keep. I kissed her goodbye and vowed to call her once it was over. Then I made my way to Jack’s.

I was the last to arrive and I’m glad I was. I couldn’t stand to watch him say goodbye to Danny. It was bad enough I had to witness Reina fall apart when he told her he didn’t want her accompanying him to the district attorney’s office. He ordered Nico to stay with her, and me and my brothers watched him straddle his Harley one last time. We followed him to Green-Wood Cemetery, where he said his final goodbye to his beloved son.

Throughout the course of our friendship, I’ve watched Jack talk to Junior’s grave countless times, and every time is a little more heartbreaking than the last. Whoever said time heals all wounds, never buried a child. That wound will never close. There will always be a hole carved in Jack’s heart for Junior.

I might’ve sworn off making any more promises, but as Jack broke down in front of the tombstone, I knew I had to make just one more. It was one I could keep no matter the outcome of my plan. I vowed to visit Junior’s grave every time I paid my respects to Christine. Knowing Junior would never be forgotten, Jack pulled himself together and started for his bike.

It was time for him to take his final bow.

And for me to throw this shit into gear.

I should’ve anticipated what happened next.

For every fucking high there’s a crashing low.

We were just about to mount our bikes when Wolf came rushing over with his phone to his ear and a grim expression on his face.

“There was an accident,” he revealed roughly. “It’s Reina and Danny.”

There was no talking Jack down after that, once Wolf told him which hospital they were transported to, his tires peeled out of the cemetery. We all followed him, none of us thinking about the consequences that would ensue when Jack didn’t surrender as planned. All that mattered was Danny and Reina.

Luckily when we arrived at the hospital, Nico was there with Danny. The kid was distraught but aside from a few cuts and bruises, he was okay. They discharged him and revealed Reina hadn’t been as fortunate. She had suffered a whole slew of injuries and was in surgery, making it clear the deal was off the table.

Jack isn’t going anywhere.

But someone is.

The district attorney isn’t going to let him off the hook.

I barely have a chance to process what that means before Lacey storms into the hospital like a bat out of hell. To say she’s surprised to see her father is an understatement, but again, there isn’t a chance to digest what any of that means.

Well, except the fact that we’re riding blind…again.

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