Page 20 of Unveiled Wounds

“This isn’t good,” Pretty said, and if he didn’t shut the fuck up, I was going to kill him when this was all over.

“The banker’s wife. Her husband is dead, but even in death, you must still pay your debts. Diego will kill her and use her body to make the other women afraid to search for their babies.”

A growl vibrated against the walls of the Playroom. If I didn’t move this along, Sabre would rip this man apart.

“You said women,” I prompted.

He tried to take a deep breath, but it was shaky. “The designer. Diego knows she’s on the property paperwork. He had us tail her when she lived on her own, but it was obvious she wasn’t involved. She was like a lost little puppy. You couldn’t kick her down any further, but she has to pay because Diego trusted that pencil-pushing weasel.”

I couldn’t hold back my growl. Sabre and I were a lot alike.

“There’s one more. The woman that was supposed to have the baby for Manny but didn’t, and then had a baby anyway. She’s running on borrowed time, because she agreed to the deal and then didn’t make it happen.”

“What the fuck?” It slipped from my lips before I’d even had a conscious thought.

“Diego put bounties on their heads, but Manny told him no. It would cause a war that Manny would lose. He’s already dealt with a coup from the inside, and until he can rebuild, he’s not strong enough to take on El Sombra Roja.”

“Why would the bounties cause a war with El Sombra Roja?” Wreck asked, standing up straight from the wall. His hands clenched, and I braced for whatever the next shitty piece of information was going to be.

“No one knows why El Sombra Roja put out protection orders on the first two. If Diego ignores those and takes the women, it’s war. Manny will be obligated to take a side.” More piss leaked down the drain. Fear gripped the soldier.

“Dead or alive?” Wreck asked the man.

“Manny has been pressuring Diego to leave California and head back to Mexico. It’s not worth the trouble, but Diego won’t let it go. He was supposed to call the bounties off, but he’s not listening. Most of the soldiers were alright with returning. We have families, and this life isn’t voluntary most of the time, but Diego dangled El Dorado in front of us. It was the only reason most of us stayed.”

“How did you know where the women were today? They didn’t make plans until this morning.” I had asked three times, but we were finally getting somewhere.

“You still allow your women to leave. There are enough soldiers, and your women don’t travel outside of a ten-mile radius. Diego made a list of potential places they frequent, and each morning, he assigns a team to watch. The banquet center is on the list, as well as all the medical places and your bar. Today, we got lucky.”

“The place sits on a hill, and there are trees lining the drive up. How did you know they were there? I didn’t see the SUV until I was almost on top of it.” I had been the first brother to turn into the drive, and I would have known they were there from the road. We needed to know if there was a plan outside of the surveillance.

“We saw them turn in. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have known. The biker turned in with them, and that’s when we knew they only had one guard. It took us an hour to plan our attack. It was supposed to be an easy grab. The designer fought back, and when I found the mother, her guard overtook me.”

I turned towards Sabre. “Grace is the first woman with the baby. Meredith is the designer. Who’s the third?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know, but it’s not Aunt E.” He rubbed at his bottom lip, thinking. “We need to call an emergency church. If you’re done with them, just slit their throats.”

I took out my knife and thanked the soldier for telling us what we wanted to know. He nodded his head and waited for his fate. Popping open my knife, I let it puncture his skin before sliding it all the way in to the hilt. Guiding the knife across his throat, I watched as blood spurted from the open wound all over my chest and down my pants, running from the soles of my boots into the drain. He took a few gurgling breaths, and then his eyes rolled back into his head. Within two minutes, it was done. The soldier was dead.

I’d come into the Playroom hot, but hearing Meredith had a bounty on her head had made my skin crawl. Stepping up to the first soldier, I shoved my knife into his heart and waited.

“Twig, Berry, grab Pint and prepare them for transport. They’re going back to Diego Lopez tonight. The rest of you, grab a cup of coffee. Emergency church is in a half hour.” Sabre stood from the table and walked out of the room with Pretty on his heels.

Standing at the sink in the Playroom, I washed off the blood, letting it drip onto floor and run towards the nearest drain. I wasn’t sure how I was going to tell Meredith she was on lockdown until further notice.

Chapter 9

You're It For Me

Meredith

It was hard to breathe in the main room. The men were on high alert, waiting to be called to their emergency church meeting. In place of dumb jokes, there was silence. The pool balls weren’t even moving, and I couldn’t remember when I’d ever seen the tables empty.

I sat next to Dead, pretending to watch TV, but when neither one of us were paying attention, he had turned it off. I had slid my legs to the side and watched the rest of the room over the back of the couch. Each person I landed on was watching the room, waiting for the next pipe bomb to drop.

I hadn’t seen Grizz since we’d walked back into the clubhouse, but then he appeared at the top of the stairs. I might have noticed the change in clothes first, but his long hair, laying against his shoulders, gave it away. Grizz was as hardcore about his man bun as some women were with their makeup. He never put it up when his hair was wet, but whatever had happened downstairs had forced him to shower.

His eyes were jumping around the room, and when they landed on me, his lips tipped up into a small smile. He crooked his finger at me.

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