Page 21 of Demon's Angel

“That little girl’s had so fuckin’ much on her plate,” Hell glares at Pal. “Her mind must have been all over the place.”

“If this fucker’s as bad as she thinks, could well be he’d find her, and use her to trace the kid. No one disappears completely,” Cad puts in wisely.

I lower my head into my hands. “They do if they’re dead.”

Stunned silence greets my words.

“He’d kill her?” It’s Hell who tries to clarify my meaning.

My eyes meet his. “She was going to do the job for him.”Dead women tell no tales.I shudder, remembering the chilling way she’d said it. My eyes meet Paladin’s, who seems to have been shocked into silence. I nod. “You were right, Pal, she knew she couldn’t live without her son. But she thought she was doing the best for him. His sperm donor wouldn’t have been able to find her and beat the truth out of her. If we hadn’t been there, it would have been as if Theo had disappeared off the face of the earth.”

No one speaks for a while as that settles in. Knowing my brothers, these fiercely protective men, they’ll think as little of the solution Violet had come up with as I do myself.

“She gonna be yours?” Ink, quiet up to now, asks. Taking out his own pack of cigarettes, he passes them around.

I sit up with a jolt. “No, I told you. She’s Nathan’s little sister. Completely off-limits to me, and anyone else here. So get any ideas out of your head before they get planted.”As I should get it out of mine.

“The question none of you are askin’ is the one bit of info that the Prez should have started with,” Hellfire states, his voice as deadly as when he used to sit in this chair. “Who is the piece of shit that got that little girl pregnant?”

As all eyes land on me, I’m not surprised it’s my father who’s gone straight to the heart of the matter. I raise my chin. He’s not goading me, just taking me where I would have gotten to eventually.

“Hesitated to tell you this, Brothers, as this is a personal matter. Due to my debt to my friend, Violet’s under my personal protection. I know you’ll want to have my back, and this is somewhere I hadn’t planned on asking the Satan’s Devils to go.” I pause, I’ve certainly captured their interest. “We have to be smart about this. No raiding party, we’re circling the wagons until we have an airtight plan, and one that’s a fuckin’ improvement on Violet’s. The rapist is Angel Silvestri.” As I let the words leave my mouth, I look around the table, worrying I might have signed any of my brothers’ death warrant. Or worse, the whole club’s perhaps. The Silvestri organisation is not one any sane person would approach head-on. It’s the local Mafia. Already mouths are forming the handle Angel goes by.The Angel of Death.

“I’ve wanted an excuse to go after that little shit for years,” Rusty pronounces, his eyes gleaming as he nods at Bomber. His response is exactly the one I hadn’t gone looking for or wanted.

“Hold up.” I bang the gavel to get their attention. “No one’s going after anyone.”

“How can you say that, Prez?” Cad sits up straighter.

My fist hits the table. “This isn’t a small street gang we can use our muscle on. This is organised crime. I’m not proposing stepping back and doing nothing. But think for a second what happens if we go after Angel? They’ll come for us. I’m not convinced we can handle them.”

“Prez is right,” Mace puts in. “They heavily outnumber us. We know they’ve been itching to get rid of the club and take over our territory. One sniff that it’s war, and we’ll have a fight on our hands that we might not survive.”

“This would have come to a head anyway, Prez. I was going to bring it up at the next church. They’ve been getting blasé, stepping on our toes. Found a load of needles behind Tits Up the other night. I have no proof but wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to think someone’s dealing inside. Been on the lookout, but not spotted anything yet.” Ink looks annoyed. Since Taser has gone, he’s taken over running the strip club.

“Hate to say it, Prez. But that might go for Devil’s Pins too.”

Dealing at the strip club was something that we’ve come up against and had to knock on the head before. The bowling alley, though, I like to think that has more of a family vibe. We pride ourselves that women feel comfortable enough to bring kids there on their own. Get a reputation for drugs and we’ll lose a large chunk of our clientele.

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I ask, “They’re crossing the boundaries?”

“We have an arrangement with them,” Mace reminds everyone. “Goes back to the days when Furnace sat in that chair, Prez.”

Hell raises his hand. “Sorry, Demon. Knew I was going to have to deal with them, but, well, other shit blew up and it took a back seat. If you want me to lead on this, I will. Shouldn’t have left that shit for you.”

There’s the strange dynamics blowing up again. Hell’s stepped down from the head of the table, but he’s still here. If I accept his help, am I showing weakness that I’m not ready to be in the hot seat? Or am I failing if I let that possibility influence me? Hell has a wealth of knowledge and experience which I could tap into. As the previous VP and his right-hand man, I’m not entirely ignorant, but there are still matters where he probably knows more than me. I make do with raising my chin toward him.Offer acknowledged, but not outrightly accepted.

“I was stopped and searched a couple of days ago, Prez,” Sparky interrupts. “Obviously wasn’t carrying anything more than a bit of pot, but they were looking for something different.”

“You suggestin’ it’s not just us noticing increased activity? You think there’s more product moving into town?”

He might be our road captain, but when he thinks to use it, Sparky’s got a good brain, and not just for planning routes.

“Heroin’s cheap at the moment. So, yeah. Think the Silvestri might be upping their game.”

Possibly getting ballsy with it.

Thunder’s fidgeting and looks like he’s trying to get my attention.

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