Page 93 of Devil's Dilemma

“Prove yourself to her. Take it slowly. Show her you do really love her.”

I think back to how Skull had acted. “Skull did that, though. Fuck it, Red. We all thought he loved her.”

“She’s a loveable woman, Pyro. You’re a lucky man.”

I would be. If I still had her.

“This can’t be good for her or the baby.” I smash the wall again. “Christ, I could barely keep my hands off him, Red.”

He takes out his phone and looks at it. “I called church. Brothers will be coming in now. Demon’s just landed; he’ll be in on it too. Pyro, let’s sit and thrash this out around the table. You can’t do anything for now but give her what she wants. Space.”

“I’ve given her everything I can, Red. Support when Skull went missing. I’ve been with her every step of the way during this pregnancy. That baby she’s carrying? It’s more mine than Skull’s. I’ve proved over and over again my feelings for her. I don’t know what more I can do. Fuckin’ hurts she’s pushing me away.”

Again, his hand lands on my shoulder, patting it twice before he lifts it away. “And she’ll see that when she’s thinking straight. Give her space. She’s not alone, Rosa’s with her. Another woman is what she needs right now.”

I bow my head, putting my hands either side of my face. Taking a few deep breaths to steady myself.

“Got to update Demon,” Red reminds me. “Got to bring him in on this. We need to think what that fucker found out, and whether it was enough to bring down the club.”

Red is right. I can’t do anything about my woman right now, and my club needs me. With one final look at the door that had been closed in my face, I follow Red down the stairs and into the meeting room of the Las Vegas club.

The space around the table is cramped, six new chairs brought in. Sparky catches my eye. When I shake my head, he presses his lips together. Demon’s already seated in a space next to Red, and Beef is squashed in beside Crash. Both my prez and VP raise their chins toward me, but Red doesn’t give them a chance to speak.

“Let’s get this started.” Red bangs the gavel. “Gonna bring Demon and Beef up to speed.” He turns to the man on his right. “Had your man, had to let him go.”

That flare lights Demon’s eyes more than once as Red lays out the events of today concisely, being interrupted only by quick fired questions, snorts of derision and expressions of hatred together with promises of a painful death.

With the update completed, Demon’s gaze settles on me. “Skull indicate whether he left ‘cause the case was closed, or because he had enough information to take us down?”

“Considered that, Prez.” I notice all the Vegas members are listening avidly. As Red had said, we’re all Devils. Feds get a RICO indictment against one of our chapters, the others probably wouldn’t escape unscathed, or not without eyes being firmly placed on them. “The only thing I can think of is when we took out Taser. But Runt was locked in his room at the time with a prospect on him. He didn’t know what went down and left immediately after.”

“Always wondered why he came back,” Demon says.

“Well, now we’ve got our answer.” Beef provides his analysis, “He got patched in, which had been what he was after. Earned himself a seat at the table.”

“The Silvestri—”

“You didn’t kill Angel, Prez. He was already ninety-nine percent dead when old-man Silvestri brought him in,” I reassure him, having already revisited the events in my head. “He was beyond salvageable at that point. Sure, if you could have revived him you would have, if only to have struck the killing blow yourself. But fact is, Angel didn’t die by your hand. Skull did help bury him, along with Liz and myself. But we were burying a dead man on the instruction of his closest relative.”

“I agree with Pyro. I was there, remember? The Silvestri destroyed much of your clubhouse. You were simply standing your ground defending your home, any men killed were either them or you. Even if he wanted to build a case, there was no evidence to be found. The boss, Lucio took his men, both bodies and the living.” Red pauses as if he too is reliving that day. One of the Devils had lost his life defending our club, and he hadn’t even been from our chapter. The Utah crew had ridden home without one of their own.

“Skull left your club, what, four, five months ago?” Red continues in a reasonable tone. “RICO concerns organised crime. If you’d planned murder they might have been able to build a case against you, but the Silvestri came to you, and you were acting in self-defence. The Silvestri were the ones who planned the attack, they would probably have more to worry about than yourselves. I think the feds would have raided you by now if they had anything that would stick.”

“That’s my immediate thinking, Red,” Demon replies. “I’m hoping he found nothing to go on, so that’s why they pulled him out. Fuck knows what he’s doing now, but maybe they had bigger fish to fry.” I catch sight of Judge nodding. “I will warn the Silvestri, as you say, they were the ones who brought the battle to us, and Skull knows the ringleader is dead—as Pyro said, he helped clean up and buried him. I’ll also speak to Drummer and warn him. He needs to know as he’s the mother chapter prez.” Demon purses his lips as though he’s not relishing that conversation.

But Beef reassures him, “I know Drum, Prez. Look, in hindsight we always knew what happened with Skull raised questions. But I’ve seen him in the club, and his behaviour wasn’t suspicious. Any questions I may have had were allayed, and yeah I admit, I had watched him. He played his part too well. This isn't on you, Demon, or on Hell who patched him in, or anyone else in the club. He fooled us all. Drummer will see that.”

“No one could see this coming, Prez,” I back up the VP. I know Demon well. He’ll be second guessing himself that we had trouble within the club and he didn’t know it.

“Didn’t know him,” Red puts in, “but I know you, Demon. Hellfire patched Skull in, which needed a unanimous vote. Seems the facts speak for themselves. Won’t be the first time a cop has infiltrated a club and won’t be the last either. We deal with the outcome, can’t revisit what went prior except where there are lessons to be learned.”

Demon acknowledges what we’ve said but gives no indication whether he’s accepted the absolution or not. Instead he turns back to me. “How’s Mel coping?”

“Terrible,” I say without hesitation. “She’s completely broken up. Would have been better to have the confirmation he was dead.”

“She need Vi here? I can fly her down.”

I consider his suggestion for a moment. “Nah. Not right now, Prez. Let me see if I can handle her first.” And fuck I’m hoping she’ll start letting me in. Couldn’t stand to lose her. Just one more crime to lay at Skull’s feet.

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