Golden Atonement - Chapter 60

Chapter Twenty-Six

Reaper

“Someone better tell me what the fuck is going on,” I seethed, taking my seat at the head of the table. When no one spoke, I slammed my hand down and shouted, “NOW!”

Taking the lead, Phantom explained, “I decoded another file. Only it wasn’t like the others. The information was recent, Reaper. Like gathered months ago.”

“I’m waiting.”

“The file contained information regarding the Mitchell family. Everything, from Carly’s mother spearheading the Society to her death. However, there were also pictures of Carly Mitchell, her father, and brother living in Maine.”

“And?”

“Along with more pictures of their house burning down to the ground. Isaac Mitchell is dead, Reaper. He died in the fire. Carly and her little brother are missing. But that’s not the important part. As to why Bullseye is ready to go hunting, that’s because we know who started the fire. It was George Stone.”

“That fucker’s been dead for months now.”

“We know. But he’s clearly in the pictures, and from the timestamp on the photos, he, along with a few other Soulless Sinners and brothers from the Satan’s Angels, killed Carly’s dad and burned the place to the ground.”

“So, they have Carly then?” I groaned, rubbing my hands down my face. God help me. I was not ready to deal with the remaining Satan’s Angels yet.

“No. They don’t,” Phantom stated, sliding a photo toward me. “He does.”

Picking it up, I stared at it before shoving the photo back toward her. I snarked, “Well, this is just fucking great. The one person who knows where she’s at and I fucking killed him. What do you know about him?”

“Shame was born Justin Phillip Peterson, on February 26, 1983, in Brooklyn, New York. He owned and operated Peterson’s Inc., the foremost investigative service in the United States. The man was good too, notorious for finding anything or anyone. There wasn’t a single computer system on the planet he couldn’t get into. The man was a fucking ghost.”

“How good we talkin’?” Matrix asked.

“Better than me and possibly Sypher, and that’s saying something.”

“Gab later. What else do you have?”

“This is the part you’re not going to like,” Phantom warned before she continued, “Flashback time, boys. Justin Peterson is none other than the illegitimate son of Samuel Peterson. The same Samuel Peterson who this club killed during the war with the Society.”

“The fucking televangelist?” Player asked. “Thought that fucker married Ari’s aunt, then after she died, he married the granddaughter of the Disciples of the Word?”

“The very man. But that’s not the worst part.”

“Jesus fuck, Phantom,” I groaned. “Just get to the point.”

“Shame’s mom was a woman named Carolina Avery Sinclair.”

“Jesus fuck,” I groaned, closing my eyes. “Don’t fucking say it. Please don’t say it.”

“Crispin Sinclair’s sister.”

“FUCK!” I roared, jumping from my chair as Phantom continued.

“Unlike her brother, Carolina wasn’t raised at the Trick Pony. While she was conceived there, their father, Charles Sinclair, took Carolina right after she was born and raised her himself in upstate New York. According to what I found, Carolina had a decent childhood.”

“So, the dad only wanted the girl,” Ink stated.

“Yeah. Seems that was the thing at the Trick Pony. Boys were useless. Girls were gold. Only, I don’t know why.”

“Because women ran the Society,” I said, raking my hands down my face. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. After this club got involved in taking down the Society, those fuckers at the Trick Pony were trying to keep it alive. Think about it. Carly’s own mother groomed her from birth to take her place. Solomon and Kitty’s mom, Angela, was part of the Society. Hell, my own fucking bitch of a mother was part of that shit.”

“But why women?” Matrix asked.

“Who the hell knows?” I groaned, slowly sitting back in my chair. “All I know is I now have a fucking problem, because when Sinclair learns I killed Shame, he’s going to demand retribution.”

“Fucker is a nobody. Why do you care?” Player asked.

“Yeah, boss,” Massacre piped up. “Asshole ain’t even part of the table. We owe that suit nothing.”

“You want to prevent beef with Sinclair, then we need to find Thena,” Bullseye whispered.

Looking at my brother, I shook my head. “I can’t do that, and you know it. I promised Remi I would leave the woman in peace.”

“This is bigger than a fucking promise to your wife, Reaper. We can’t have some asshole causing problems if shit goes south with the Soulless Sinners. You know it and so does everyone else.”

Bullseye was right.

Crispin Sinclair had resources I couldn’t even begin to imagine. From what I’d learned so far about him, the man wasn’t one to fuck around with. Hell, if the rumors were true, he had already gone toe to toe with Montana and was still fucking standing. Add in the fact that Malice was once part of Sinclair’s little group as well as Pippen being the brother of a man working for Sinclair.

“Seems to me shit has already gone south,” Hangman spoke up, capturing everyone’s attention. The man still spent most of his days drunk in his room, still grieving the loss of his sons, so to hear him give his two cents was shocking. “I’ve spent a good portion of my life watching the powers that be fuck up everything good in this world. I will not sit around and watch it continue. I know I’m not an officer, but from my standpoint, you only have one course of action, Reaper. You want to keep your promise to your wife and this club, then you already know what you have to do. Stop being a pussy about it and just fucking do it.”

“Hangman’s right, boss,” Ravage added, staring me down. “You know my truth. While I won’t speak for anyone else, I will tell you that if you want to keep the past from repeating itself, then you have to cut the head off the snake. To do that, you need to find Thena before anyone else does. You can keep your promise to Remi and still give Thena the peace she needs. You already know everything going on stems from the Trick Pony. Like the Society, secrets are stumbling out of that place faster than anyone can contain them. You do nothing and war will most definitely ensue and, brother, this is a war no one will win.”

“I agree.” Player nodded. “The war with the Society was about us, this club, but this shit with the Trick Pony doesn’t involve us. But like most things in the underworld, we will soon find ourselves having to make a decision, and I don’t know about anyone else, but I fucking refuse to lose any more brothers because of some fucking family rift, and that’s exactly what this shit is. A fucking family feud.”

Matrix sighed, shaking his head. “My brother Jonathan is out there right now in hiding because of what Ace and the rest of his team found at the Trick Pony. I know my brother. He plays it straight. Jon will follow orders to the letter, but if it compromises his team or family, then all bets are off. I can only assume that Ace felt the same, considering what he’s done. So that begs the question. What exactly did Ace find? Because I’m telling you straight, boss, I’d bet everything that Ace found concerns either this club or someone in this club.”

I said absolutely nothing as my eyes locked on Ravage. My brother didn’t even fucking flinch. Not that I thought he would. There was a lot about Jackson Williams that no one knew about. Shit that this club, and more specifically Pops and Moonshine, kept hidden from everyone. I would continue to do the same until Ravage was ready to tell his story. But in the meantime, my brothers were right. There was only one way forward in the coming war, and to ensure that my brothers survived it, I was going to have to step into the political arena, so to speak. While I never had any aspirations of doing so, it was clearly the only thing to do. Everyone involved was doing their part. Now it was time for me to do mine.

Leaning forward in my chair, I said, “This is what we’re going to do.”

With my brothers all on the same page, the only thing left to do was talk to Remi. While I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of going back on my promise to her, I really didn’t have any other choice. The only way to ensure Thena’s safety and Remi’s peace of mind was to locate the woman and move her to a place where no one would ever find her. And to do that, I needed Remi to tell me everything she knew about the woman.

“I don’t know what you want me to tell you, Max. I only knew Thena for a few brief weeks before she helped me and another girl escape. She could have escaped too, but she stayed behind to give us the time we needed to run. It’s not like we exchanged life stories or phone numbers.”

“Baby, anything you tell me will help. Right now, we know absolutely nothing about this woman other than Crispin Sinclair is looking for her and she hails from the Trick Pony,” I said as I watched my woman look down at her hands before turning away from me, bracing herself on the kitchen sink.

Cautiously, I stood, walking over to the love of my life. Standing right behind her, I whispered, “Baby, you were there too, weren’t you?”

When she hung her head, I knew the answer.

Wrapping my arms around her, I held her close, and she leaned her head back against my chest, breathing heavily as she closed her eyes.

“Does Vladmir know?”

“No. I never told anyone. It’s something I’ve tried extremely hard to forget about, and I wish you would too. That place is evil, Max. I mean really evil. The things that go on there, the stuff I’ve seen, only the very sick and depraved venture into that hell. You know, when I learned Ivy was raised there and that her father was Devlin Scott, I actually sighed in relief.”

“Why?”

Turning in my arms, my wife looked me dead in the eyes and said, “Because Devlin Scott was not the monster that lurked in the darkness. He was just the warden.”

“What does that mean, Remi?”

“It means now that the warden is dead, the monster is running free,” she said ominously, before adding, “I’m tired. I’m going to go lay down.”

“Okay, baby,” I muttered as she walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs. The second I heard our bedroom door close, I walked out onto the back deck and sat on the steps, looking up at the stars while my mind whirled with what she just said.

I knew my time in the cage was nothing compared to what Remi endured. What bothered me was how all this shit was still affecting her. From the moment she came back to me, it was like she knowingly stepped back into the hell she escaped and this time I wasn’t sure how it was all going to end.

Reaching for my phone, I dialed the only number I knew that could possibly give me the answers I needed. I couldn’t fight what I didn’t know, and if I was going to protect my wife, I needed answers, because I was not above burning down the whole fucking world to protect her.

“What the hell do you want?”

“Answers.”

“Get in fucking line.”

“I’m serious, Montana. You fucking owe me.”

“I paid my debt to the Golden Skulls.”

“Not to me, fucknuts.”

“That excuse won’t work much longer, asshole.”

“It will work until I feel you’ve atoned.”