Page 68 of Brandishing Betrayals

“Hey, hey, hey!” I shouted, pushing between Jason and Nico. “Come on! This isn’t us! We don’t fight over pussy!”

“Maya isn’t just pussy, and you fucking know it!” Nico growled, pushing at me.

I allowed it, my back pressed against Jason’s chest, until Jason backed off and walked a few steps away.

“Marcos, I’m telling you man, Maya is being threatened! I believe that with everything I have.”

Taking a deep breath, I nodded slowly. “I hear you, Nic. I do. But there’s nothing I can do about that—”

“So we kill Hillcrest!” Nico shot back. “Something we should have months ago! When Las Serpientes kidnapped your god damned sister! When they killed our fucking President! We’ve let them get away with everything for too damn long!”

I nodded, feeling every bit of Nico’s rage. “I know, Nic, I know! I talked to Kara about that too. I told her the club is getting restless and seeking retribution. She said that she needs her father to accept a guilty plea deal. The board for the firm—”

“Fuck the board!” Nico shouted. “Since when do we give a shit about a bunch of corporate monkeys?!”

“Since my baby sister—the one YOU vowed to protect—asked us to!” I yelled, getting into Nico’s face. He wasn’t listening anymore and I needed him to.

Nic stepped away, breathing hard.

“Kara needs a guilty plea agreement signed, so the board will transfer the firm to her. Without the plea agreement, it goes to trial, which could take months if not years. With the plea agreement we can finish this maybe next week!” Marcos yelled.

“And he won’t sign?” Stone asked, his voice calm.

“No. And Johnny said they can’t ask the Bratva, because there’s friction there after Mac reached out to the Seratelli’s. The Knights need things smoothed over with the mafia and to back out of that agreement before things can be smoothed over with the Bratva.”

“So we need a sit down with the Seratelli’s,” Stone deadpanned.

“Yep.”

“FUCK!” Nico yelled. He turned to the work bench full of tools and shoved everything off of it in a fit of rage.

I gave him a minute to rage. Nico already knew what was expected of him; how much now rode on his back.

When he caught his breath, his back tense, he hung his head as he clung to the side of the tool bench.

“I’ll call my mom. She never got back to me after I went to see her. Leo was not open to talking the last time I saw him. She said she would try, for Maya, but the family was upset with me. She’s been asking him for the last three weeks to talk to me and he’s refused every time.”

I nodded, knowing this already. “We need you to try again.”

Nico

I didn’t end up calling my mother, instead I called my cousin directly. I half expected to be sent to voicemail, so I’m caught off guard when Leo’s gruff voice answered the phone. “Hello?”

“Leo, can we talk please?”

Leo’s heavy sigh is audible through the phone. “I answered, didn’t I?”

I rolled my eyes and gritted my teeth; my cousin could be a real asshole sometimes. “Can we please talk in person?”

“The restaurant, Thursday night, 8 pm. Come alone.”

“I was hoping we could set up a meeting with the club.”

“No. You will come alone. You will answer to the family first, before I will agree to any sit down with your little bike club.”

“I appreciate i—”

Leonardo hung up the phone before I could finish speaking. Shaking my head, I grabbed a pre-rolled joint and walked outinto the clubhouse. I found Marcos and Jason in the president’s office, both men kicked back on opposite couches, each smoking their own joints.

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