And there it was, Mexican cartel moving against the Italian mafia. I wasn’t surprised. The Aces were just a battle in a bigger war.
“Why try to steal the drop? Why not all-out war?” Hawk said.
Lionel sneered but kept talking. “The Snakes are thugs, not soldiers. They would never survive a war with you. So I tried to have the Levino family destroy you instead.”
I was impressed with that one. If the Snakes had been successful in stealing either the drugs or the money, Vincent would have killed us regardless of whose fault it was. Lionel’s creative problem solving was inspiring. I see why the Snakes brought him on board.
“So why Isabel?” I asked, needing to know how she got involved with this shit.
Lionel looked up at me. “We needed someone on the inside. I knew you were too smart to trust some whore. We needed to send someone in who was innocent and oblivious to the real situation so you would trust her. It was just a matter of time before one of you came to care about her.” He smirked like the devil, knowing that part of his plan worked perfectly.
“How did you know?” Max said from behind me.
Lionel’s eyes stayed on me. “Your little whore, Amy.”
Fuck.
Hawk spoke up. “How did she get involved with this shit?”
Lionel moved from his knees to sit on the ground, clearly getting tired of all the questions. “She came to us.”
“What?” I said.
“I’m not sure how she came in contact with Chico, but right after you officially took Isabel as your old lady, she came to him and offered Isabel on a silver platter. Of course, we had to explain why we needed Isabel to stay.”
“Why not just use Amy to do your dirty work?” Hawk asked.
“Amy didn’t want to hurt the club, just be rid of Isabel. Chico eventually convinced her that planting the tracker with Isabel’s fingerprints on it would not only get rid of Isabel but make sure lover-boy here would hate her guts.”
I was fuming at this point, both at Lionel and Amy, but I needed to know one more thing. “Did Amy know what you intended to use the tracker for?”
“Chico told her we just wanted to know who your supplier was so we could contact them, too.”
I found it hard to believe that Amy would believe that horse-shit. But then again, I didn’t think she was capable of this kind of betrayal either. I would deal with her later.
Moving on from Amy, I asked, “Who was your contact in the cartel?”
“Chico set up the meetings. It was his cousin or something.”
I looked at Lionel for a few moments. He was a smart man, but he wasn’t a boss. We needed to know more, but retaliation from the cartel didn’t seem likely. I was almost certain that the cartel had not given Lionel and Chico their full backing yet. They probably wanted Lionel to prove that his idea could work before they made a real investment. Why else would they be using skinheads?
I told the guys to get Lionel back to the clubhouse and then we’d deal with him.
I walked outside and lit a cigarette, my last one.
Lionel Rochester may not have the balls to be a gangster, but he was smart enough to fool me. I’d fallen for Isabel very easily. He must have known that her beauty and innocence would draw an Ace in like a moth to the flame.
I would have felt like a dumbass, but I knew there were brothers standing in line if I hadn’t made the claim. Duncan, Max, even Jordan had started to like her.
Max came out leaned against the wall with me. He started shaking his head. “I feel like an idiot. We have been blind when it comes to these women. Isabel was just another pawn, but Amy…”
I didn’t say anything and just nodded toward our bikes. I needed to get away from this place before I took a match to it.
Chapter Fifty
Isabel
I sat next to my father’s hospital bed, just watching the saline drip into the little plastic cylinder that hung from the metal pole. It was quiet for the first time in days, at least in my head. When my father arrived a few days ago, he was quickly taken into surgery to stop internal bleeding. Once that was stemmed, they discovered a broken foot, two broken ribs, and he was severely dehydrated, not to mention all the surface cuts and bruises. Today the doctor said that he was officially out of the woods and would be able to go home soon.
Of course, physical therapy would be necessary, and he mentioned that cosmetic surgery could help with some of the deeper lacerations on Dad’s face. I knew those wounds were probably inflicted by Lionel himself. My father had always been the better looking of the brothers, and knowing Lionel as I did now, he wouldn’t hesitate to destroy all my father’s assets.
Now I had to figure out how to get him home. A six-hour car ride would not be good for him, but I don’t know if a plane would be better.
In those long hours before he woke, I had time to think about my own transformation. In the last few days, I’d become a liar and murderer. My feelings toward the club were a bubbling cauldron of hatred and love. I never felt better than when I was with them and Rem. And yet, my peaceful life was now in shambles.
What disturbed me the most was Chico. I should have felt something about taking his life. He was someone’s son. He may have been someone’s father or husband. But there was nothing. I gave Rem such a hard time for killing Breaker, but he was right. Chico deserved to die for what he had done. Maybe it would hit me later, but right now I was happy that man was dead.
Dad had woken up a few times since the surgery. He’d managed to explain what happened between his long naps. “I knew what we were doing was wrong, but I never thought it would hurt you,” Dad said after he confessed to helping the Snakes launder money. His handsome face was drawn from the trauma, but I could see the shame he felt with his downcast eyes and slow words. I held his hand and squeezed, knowing how easy it was to become someone else without knowing it.
Apparently, when he tried to back out, Lionel threatened me in order to keep things going. But when Dad found out what Lionel had planned for the future, he threatened to go to the police. Lionel had the Snakes kidnap my father and keep him prisoner so he could be used against me.
After his admission, I told him my whole story, from the dismantled house, going to the Aces, becoming a Heart, falling in love, being kidnapped, my betrayal, Amy’s betrayal, almost being raped and finally killing the rapist. I even told him about Breaker and Rem’s father. My confession was so cathartic that I was crying by the time I was done. Like the loving man he was, my dad pulled me onto his bed so I could cuddle into his side. That was yesterday.
Today I was faced with a new problem. I’d managed to put off the police for a while, giving them vague answers as to how my father and I came to be in Watertown. I simply didn’t know how to explain things without getting my father or the Aces in trouble.
I was still sitting there thinking when there was a knock at the door. A man walked in before I could stand up. It was Jordan dressed in jeans, a t-shirt, and a baseball cap. I almost laughed because he looked like a frat boy.
I turned back to my father as I spoke, keeping my voice low even though he was in a medicated sleep. “So, what do you want me to say?”
When he didn’t respond, I looked back at him. “I’m assuming you’re here to tell me what to say to the cops.” I turned away again, trying to play it cool even though he was an answer to my prayers.
With a sigh, he sat down in the chair on the other side of the bed so he was sitting across from me. Then he turned his ball cap around so I could see his face. The scruff on his face was a few days old, but he looked good, relaxed.
Jordan always managed to maintain a cool demeanor. That was probably why they’d sent him to see me. There was no emotional investment between us.
“We’ve been keeping tabs. The club isn’t sure how to feel about everything. Sophie talked about coming,” he said.
“She was right not to come.”
Jordan’s brow furrowed, and he looked worried, like he
’d made a horrible mistake. I rolled my eyes. “I’m not mad at the club, Jordan. I’m not going to say anything that will hurt you, but it’s best if we cut ties now.”
He licked his lips and cocked his head. “So, you don’t plan on coming back?”
“Why would I?”
“You’re an old lady.” His voice was a little deeper now, as if he was getting angry.
I shook my head. “No, I’m not. I’ve already shown how incapable I am of handling that life. I would be a liability.” I looked down at my hands because I didn’t want to say this, but Jordan had to understand. “And I was hurt, too. The way Rem turned his back on me when it all went down just makes me scared for the next time I make a mistake.”
He leaned back in his chair and stared at me for a few moments. “He knows he fucked up. Let him fix it.”
I shook my head. “Even if he forgives me and I forgive him…” And I know I would. “You said it yourself, the fish and the bird, right? We would never last.”
“I was wrong—”
“Just forget it, Jordan,” I said, trying not to yell. “Tell me what you want me to say already.” I needed him gone before he changed my mind about Rem.
I was surprised at the look of disappointment on Jordan’s face. But it disappeared as he began to explain the story.
Apparently, my father had a gambling problem no one knew about and he got in deep with a loan shark. When he failed to pay on the loan, he was kidnapped and brought up to Watertown where they beat him. A week ago the kidnappers sent me a phone through the mail and demanded a ransom. I came up to Watertown a few days ago and gave them banking information so they could access my father’s business accounts. I met them in a field outside of town, and I never saw their faces. They took the phone and the information and gave me my father.
I told Jordan that no one would believe that story, but he guaranteed to back up everything online. He’d already set it up to make it look like my father was personally broke and that the accounting firm’s accounts were the only ones with cash. In reality, my father’s money and the firm’s money was still there, but Jordan made certain the police wouldn’t see that.
“How is that possible?” I asked Jordan, completely amazed at his talent.
Jordan shrugged and got up to leave. “Smoke and mirrors.”
Chapter Fifty-One
Rem
What the fuck is taking so long?
I checked my phone again. Exactly two minutes had gone by since I last looked. My toe was banging against the bar, and the stool groaned every time I shifted impatiently.
Greyson had sent Jordan to see Isabel to “feel her out”. I’d wanted to go, but Greyson said that Jordan should go alone. “She trusts him,” he said. My anger flared at the comment, but I held it back because I knew he was right.
So now all I could do was sit and wait. I’d actually been doing that ever since we got back from the Snakes’ clubhouse a few days ago. I waited around long enough to bring everyone up to speed, but when I tried to go to Isabel, Greyson stood in my way.
“Let her have some time,” he said. “She is not going anywhere without her father.”
It felt wrong, but I listened to his advice, not wanting to push Isabel further away by putting our shit before her father.
The only bright spot in the last few days was watching Amy pack up and leave. We didn’t need a vote to banish a Heart, and it was important to make an example of her. Unlike Isabel, we all watched her walk of shame out of this club. She’d manipulated the club and put a brother behind bars, all for her own purposes. Amy was now blacklisted. No club within the Midwest would take her in. Surprisingly, she didn’t try to cry or beg, just walked her lying ass out the door and straight to the curb.
Jordan found texts on her phone from Chico, telling her what to do with the tracker.
That was another thing I felt guilty about. I kept wondering what I did to make Amy believe we could be more than fuck buddies.
Just then I heard the door open from the offices. Greyson and Jordan walked in and headed straight for me. I instantly stood and met them halfway.
“So?” I asked simply.
Jordan slid past me and went to the bar for a beer. After he took a gulp, he turned back to us. “She isn’t mad at the club and she is on board with the story, but she thinks it’s best that we leave her alone going forward.”
My fists clenched. She can’t be serious.
Greyson looked at me, his eyes light with amusement. “What are you going to do?”
I didn’t bother to answer him, just went to the door. Greyson knew the answer. That woman was mine, and she was coming back.
It was a mistake to give her time. Patience and subtlety were not the way to Isabel’s heart. I figured that out when I bent her over that pool table in the clubroom for our first time. She only responded to strength and action. Too much time in her own head made her doubt herself. It was my job to set her straight.
The ride to the hospital felt like forever, but I was there in twenty minutes. I saw Isabel walking down the street, probably on her way to the hospital’s motel a block away. I pulled up onto the side walk in front of her. She froze in place while her eyes widened, her mouth hanging open.
“I want to talk to you,” I said over the noise of my engine.
She shook her head. “Leave me alone, Rem. Please.”
She quickly walked around me, effectively dismissing me. Her defiance pissed me off, but it was the edge I needed to keep going.
I put my kickstand in place and left my bike on idle. She let out a yelp as I grabbed her elbow and spun her around so I could pull her against me. She didn’t fight me, but she turned her face away from mine.
I growled. “Isabel, you are mine, damn it. I won’t let you walk away.”
“Let me go,” she whispered, but I could tell there was no conviction in the statement.
By the sound of her voice, I knew what had to be done. Pushing her backwards into a small alley, I made sure her back was to the wall before I lowered my head and took her lips. The effect was instant and exactly what I wanted. Her body softened into mine, and her mouth opened like a flower to the sun. I took possession, meshing my mouth to hers and putting all my lust between us. One hand fell to her ass where I squeezed and cupped her beautiful flesh. My other hand caressed her neck and into her hair. She breathed heavily between my kisses, but her lips were yielding and they tasted like heaven beneath my tongue.
When I knew she was feeling the same overwhelming need that I was, I gripped her hair and yanked it back. Her eyes stayed close as I moved my mouth to her ear. “Remember the last time you thought there was nothing between us, Isabel?” I said, I wanted her thinking about our first time, when I took her virginity like a stallion mounting a mare. Her fingers squeezed into my skin, and she arched her back, moaning as her breasts brushed my chest. She remembered.
I smiled to myself as I asked, “Do you want me to do that again? Right here? Right now?”
Chapter Fifty-Two
Isabel
God yes, Catwoman screamed. I need him right here. Right now. Deep. Hard. Rem.
I cursed my body and my mind. He shouldn’t be able to do this to me. We were not meant to be together.
But he was so strong and he tasted so good, like chocolate, whiskey, sex, and love.
No.
I swallowed and tried to push Rem away. Of course, he didn’t budge.
“Rem, this won’t work,” I said, lifting my eyelids to look at him through the lusty haze.
“Bullshit,” he growled and kissed me again, turning my brain to mush with his dominating mouth and hands.
“We’re too different,” I whispered when he let me up for air.
He leaned his forehead against mine. “No, we’re not different. Let me prove it to you.” Suddenly, he picked me up bridal style and went back to his bike. He set me on the back without a word and climbed on.
It felt so good to be on his bike again. My a
rms went around him naturally, and I felt that familiar feeling creeping back into my heart. I wanted to push it away. Too much of this good feeling would make me forget how he hurt me.
The sun was setting as we set off down the street. We drove for about twenty minutes when Rem pulled off into a quiet neighborhood. It looked like a newer development. The houses were nice but conservative. He stopped in a driveway of a house that didn’t have any sod in the yard. It was newly built.
“Come on.” I let him help me off the bike and then lead me to the front door. He had a set of keys that let us in. I walked in and was greeted with a large family room. There were stairs leading to a second floor on the right and a kitchen and dining area beyond the family room. It smelled of paint and new carpet.
“What is this?” I asked, not letting myself believe.
Rem looked at me and licked his lips. “I bought this house at the beginning of July.”
I turned all the way to face him. He couldn’t be serious. “Why?”
He came closer but didn’t touch me. “You remember the night that I fought Warren and you mentioned us having a baby.”
I blushed, remembering how I’d begged him to fuck his kid into me. “Yeah.”
“Talking about putting a baby inside you turned me on. That in itself is something that I’ve never felt for another woman. But even after we were done, I still wanted it.”
“Rem—”
“I know what you are going to say. You don’t believe that I could want something as mainstream as a house and kids.”
I shrugged, not wanting to admit it.
“Three months ago, I didn’t want that. I never understood why a man would give up his freedom to be trapped in the suburbs.” He gave me a small smile as he reached out and took my left hand in his right. “Then you came into my life and now I get it.”
“What do you mean?”
“I want you more than anything.” He looked down at our hands and brought his other up to caress my fingers. “I need you to have more than my brand. You need my name.”
Reign Over Me (The Covenant Book 1) Page 24