Page 143 of 23 Hours

A familiar address I sent flowers to once upon a time.

“You’re the reason my woman got kidnapped and raped and...” The vein in my forehead pulses as I take a step closer to the traitor. He’s the reason Niki is dead. He’s the reason Beth lost her innocence. He’s the goddamn reason Jade and Loretta…

Red clouds my vision as I slam my fist into Malcolm’s jaw, sending him sprawling into the grass. He lands on his hands and knees, blood flowing freely from his mouth. Not givin’ a single fuck who sees me, I kick the slimy bastard in the ribs. Dropping onto his back, clutching his side, Malcolm cries out in pain. Looming over the piece of shit, I step on his throat and apply pressure, not enough to do much, but enough to communicate he’ll die soon. Very, fucking soon.

“How long have you known?” I rumble, speaking directly to our prez.

Re-holstering his gun inside his cut, Big widens his stance and crosses both arms over his chest. “I’ve had my suspicions for a while.” He lifts his stubborn chin.

“And you didn’t tell me.” Fury thrums through my words.

“No. The less you knew, the better.”

“Why?”

“’Cause you weren’t ready.”

Right.

“Ready for what? The truth?” I thunder.

Ever the mediator, Bonez steps out of the crowd into the open circle and spits on the rat. Then he turns to face me. “The club was attacked, brother. The day after, you find out you had a kid you never knew about. Then Kit was kidnapped while you’re on a run, along with Niki and Beth. You were fucked up. You didn’t see what you were like at the farmhouse the night shit went down. Or what followed for weeks after. Then you were shot when they were rescued. Not to mention Adam, Niki dyin’, the infection, Kit healin’, and all the other shit.”

Look… I fuckin’ get it. It was a shit show. I was a mess.

“Fair. But what does that have to do with this?” I gesture to the traitor. The goddamn narc.

“I couldn’t tell you,” Big explains as if that’s somehow okay. It’s not. None of this shady shit is. He kept this from me on purpose.

“So, you tell me on my wedding day, instead?”

Big nods toward the phone in my hand. “Look at the last message he sent.”

Goin’ back through the burner, my foot still on the asshole’s throat, I read the latest text aloud,“They’re riding in today. Wear the cuts to blend in. After the ceremony, you know what to do.”

Shouldering his way through the crowd, Kade enters the party with his old lady in tow. Decked out in all black, her blonde hair covered in a matching black beanie, Rosie dumps a small trash bag upside down next to the rat. Four human hearts bounce across the grass. One hits him in the ribs, leaving a bloodied mark on his flesh.

Malcolm trembles in wide-eyed horror as he observes the gifts they’ve brought.

Ever the showman, Kade extracts a still-bloodied knife from its sheath and twirls it between his fingers. “We had fun together, me and my old lady. It was a great bonding experience, wasn’t it, Swan?”

Not one to show emotions, Rosie nudges the organs toward the rat with the tip of her boot. “These belong to you.”

Malcolm moans in distress and tries to squirm away from the body parts.

Fuckin’ pussy.

I press down harder. He starts to choke and gasp for air. It’s annoying. I let up when I tire of hearing the disgusting, pitiful sounds.

“And soon there will be five,” Kade cackles like a sadistic motherfucker, pointing to Malcolm with the tip of his blood-caked blade.

“Remy sent four men?” I ask Rosie, the saner of the two.

“Seven,” Kade replies, bouncin’ on the balls of his feet, jacked up from his kills. “But I—”

“He got a little too carried away,” Rosie answers, side-eyeing her man.

“Whoops.” Wearing the widest and craziest of smiles, Kade mimics what he did with the other hearts by squeezing his fist together and shaking it in the air with manic flourish.

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