Page 124 of Redemption

“Did Adelia get a second chance?” Victoria finally asked.

“She did and is one of the reasons Tex—that’s my old man—takes awful personally.”

“Because of Adelia.”

“Not relevant to the meeting at hand today, but that girl, he found her on the market with a supplier south of the border right after he patched in.” She gestured toward the ceiling. “First time he’d seen something like that. Mayhem does what Mayhem does, and that girl? She came home with him.”

“As his daughter?”

“That’s right. He’s a good man—even when he was young, like you. Never had much family. Always held the burdens of others.” Lenora’s voice drifted as the respect for her man took her from the tiny room. “Bet he’ll run the MC one day—but, again, not why I brought up a justice system outside the justice system.”

“All right. Why?” Victoria pulled a strand of hair and wrapped it around her finger, dragging it across her face. It stunk like cigarettes, and she found it odd that she didn’t notice until now. What else was she missing that was right in front of her face? “Why is Mayhem talking about Russian meetings in front of me?”

“You’re a good investigator. I get why people trust you over Lee Marrow.” Lenora chewed on her bottom lip. “Why weren’t you an attorney?”

“Easy. Never went to college, and if I had, this would probably be my senior year. Or maybe last year. I don’t know.”

“You seem older than you are.” Lenora flicked a piece of fuzz off the bed. “Very responsible and yet you’re lying in a Mayhem bed with another woman.”

She wrinkled her nose at the twist of a harmless situation. “That’s the attorney in you, taking perfectly normal circumstances and making them sound awful.”

“Speaking of normal circumstances that went awful...” Lenora flicked another piece of fuzz. “When we met at Sam’s, I said it could’ve just as easily been me. We deal with the same folks professionally. You remember that conversation?”

“I do.”

“Good. You need to know, it’s time for justice.”

Victoria propped up on an elbow. “Excuse me?”

“Today’s the day,” Lenora nonchalantly circled the air with a finger as though she were highlighting a date in her calendar. “For the club to enact their justice.”

Lenora wanted specific people at a meeting…“You’re talking about revenge against the Russians? For the trafficking? And for me?”

“It could easily have been me.” She repeated that with a viciousness that Victoria felt deep in her chest. “Those two? Their job lately has been to grab girls. They got you, the women you saw at that farm.”

“The meeting is a revenge hit.” Did she even want revenge anymore? Ivan was impossible, and this… what did this do to help her?

“Mayhem is delivering a sentence. Simple.”

Since Ivan had raped her and she’d been rescued, Victoria had focused on what she wanted to do in the future. She was done trying to prove her worthiness to her community as she had done because of her father since she was a little girl. But somewhere along this process of redemption, she realized that wasn’t needed. No one was asking anything of her, and she didn’t have a checklist or a burden to prove even to herself. As long as she could be happy and productive, she was fine. Maybe she wanted to do something more, like join the Rotary Club or volunteer on a city council committee because she enjoyed it, not to prove anything to anyone.

“Mayhem got a bad shipment from the Russians a few days ago. That’s what triggered this shitstorm.”

“Figured some of that out on my own,” Victoria admitted.

“With new leadership, the Russians are concerned about shoring up their future business ventures with Mayhem.”

“That’s why they’re meeting you? In good faith?”

“The criminal world is ugly and dangerous. You know this.”

True. Why did she sound aghast that the MC was luring in the Russians?Oh, because they were going to kill them. That whole two-wrongs-don’t-make-a right mantra that was drilled into everyone since preschool...

“Mayhem is sending a message about what we stand for and what we will not put up with. They were warned, and they didn’t listen. There will be consequences.”

“Lenora, you sound fucking insane,” Victoria hissed.

She rolled her eyes. “Give me a break. Two criminal organizations with their own justice systems are doling out what needs to be done.”

---