Golden Atonement - Chapter 66

Chapter Thirty-Two

Reaper

This was bullshit.

I didn’t know if the fucker was lying or telling me the truth, but the resemblance between Grudge and Matrix was undeniable.

I couldn’t ignore that, and if I was being completely honest with myself, I didn’t have the time or patience to deal with this new fucking revelation. My head was already spinning with unanswered questions about shit that had nothing to do with me and shit that made no fucking sense, not to mention my wife. Everything was coming at me all at once. I couldn’t see through the bullshit anymore.

Holding up my hand, I calmly said, “That’s it. I’m done.”

Montana glared at me. “What do you mean, you’re done?”

“Are you fucking deaf, fucknuts? I’M DONE!” I roared.

See, Montana wasn’t the only one who could yell.

“I’ve had it. For years, I sifted through lies, manipulation, backstabbing deceit, and for what? To get pulled back into the fucking fray. I don’t fucking think so. So, I’m done. I will help you get the kids back, then I’m taking my ass back to California and never fucking leaving. And just so I’m fucking crystal clear. If I ever see your ass again, I will fucking gut you and make a fucking belt out of your entrails. You stay on your side of the country, and I will stay on mine.”

“It’s not that easy, Max, and you fucking know it. Whatever is going on involves both our clubs. You can’t just walk away.”

“Watch me!”

“My God,” Montana snarked. “After everything, now you’re gonna pussy out like a crying little bitch.”

I didn’t think as I rushed toward the fucker, only to have Grudge and a few others from the Birmingham club hold me back.

“LET ME GO!” I seethed. “I’m gonna fucking kill him!”

“Can’t let you do that, Reaper,” Grudge grunted while I fought him and the others.

“The fuck you can’t. MOVE!”

“You kill him, and you will start a war, and you know it. A war you can’t win.”

“Don’t fucking care as long as I take that motherfucker with me.”

“What about Remi?”

And just like that, I stopped.

Fucker said the one thing that would always make me stop.

Pushing the big bastard off me, I sneered, “If I ever hear my wife’s name come out of your mouth again, I will cut out your fucking tongue.”

Ignoring my comment, Grudge turned toward Montana.

“Biker law clearly states that if a sitting president fails or refuses to uphold a club marker, then he must atone.”

“What the fuck do you think I’ve been trying to do, Grudge?” Montana huffed. “That fucker doesn’t listen to reason.”

“Seems to me you’re not the one listening,” Misery, the Birmingham VP, stated, then grinned. “Because last I heard, Reaper’s already told you what he wants.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Vicious,” Grudge simply said.

“NO!” Montana jumped to his feet. “I can’t have a fucking Golden Skull sitting on my board.”

“But Vicious isn’t a Golden Skull. He’s a Soulless Sinner. He wears the club brand, like the rest of us. So, what’s the problem?”

I chuckled, shaking my head while I took a seat. “The problem is, fucknuts over there knows that if anything happens to Vicious or his family, it will cost him two of his chapters, of which I get to pick. Doesn’t matter if Vicious dies peacefully in his sleep. If anything, and I mean anything, happens, Montana loses. And just so we’re all clear, Vicious still wears the Golden Mark. My brothers would be loyal to both clubs, and that’s what Montana can’t handle. He’s got to control everything. Isn’t that right, fucknuts?”

“I really, really fucking hate you,” Montana seethed.

“So, he’s damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t,” Grudge said to no one in particular.

“Yep.” I grinned, then added, “He has no fucking choice, and he knows it, because all it would take is for me to bring it to the table to force his hand.”

“Then why haven’t you done that already?” Misery asked.

“Because he likes to fucking annoy me,” Montana grumbled.

Leaning back in my chair, I smiled. “That is a plus,” I said as we all heard a phone ping.

“It’s Lucky,” Terror spoke up, looking at his phone. “They’re moving the kids.”

“When?” Montana asked as I sat up.

“Now.”

Getting to my feet, I started barking orders, “Montana, go with Fedorov and Vladmir. Grudge, go with them and make sure they don’t do anything stupid, like get their kids killed. Everyone else, you’re with me.”

“Who the fuck put you in charge?” Montana snipped, getting in my face.

“You did, the second your kid was taken. Now get the fuck out of the way.”

“Come on, Prez,” Grudge said carefully. “You know you can’t run this one. Not with your son in the middle of the fire. Let Reaper do his job. Fucker may be meaner than a snake, but he ain’t gonna let anything happen to those kids.”

“Where the fuck is my son!” Montana roared while he threw chairs across the room, turned over tables, and broke glasses. The man was throwing a fit, and he had every right in my opinion. After day two, Maxim stopped talking, which was new. Didn’t know if a silent Bloodletter was a good thing or bad, but I did notice that even Vladmir was steering clear of the volatile man. As for Vladmir himself, he tried to be useful and help when he could, but the longer his daughter stayed missing, the harder it became for him to concentrate.

The fact was, all three men were ticking time bombs, and if we didn’t locate their kids soon, all hell was going to break loose.

“They don’t leave your sight,” I whispered to Vengeance, the Birmingham enforcer, who silently nodded when I headed back to church to find several men going over maps of the area while Grudge sat looking at the live feed.

Taking a seat next to him, I noticed he was frowning.

“What’s wrong?”

The man sighed, rubbing his hands down his face as he answered. “I think I’m seeing things.”

“What do you mean?”

“Look,” he said, turning the computer toward me. “That’s the live feed we’ve been watching since the kids went missing. What do you see?”

“Three kids sitting on the floor.”

Grudge looked at me. “You’re a father, Reaper. Have you ever known your son to sit on the floor and not move?”

Shaking my head, I smirked. “Jesse can’t stay still for more than a minute. He’s always moving.”

“Exactly. It’s been three days now and yet those kids are staying put.”

“Drugged?”

Grudge shook his head. “No. I think whoever took the kids looped the feed.”

“If you’re right, that room could be anywhere.”

“I hate saying this, but we need Ravage.”

“Which is why I called him after we raided the first warehouse and the kids weren’t there. If anyone can find those kids, it’s him. Ravage is damn good at what he does but we need to give him time.”

“Reaper, I need to speak with Zane.”

Frowning, I sat back in my chair. “Why?”

“Lucky keeps checking in, and he swears he’s got eyes on the kids, and I believe him. But this feed is our only clue. Zane is good at seeing shit others don’t. At least he was.”

“When is the last time you’ve talked with your brothers?”

“Been over ten years now. We had a falling out and we went our separate ways.”

Wanting more, I said nothing as I stared at the man, waiting for him to continue.

“It was my fault. I let my temper take over and I did something I shouldn’t have. Our parents had just died, leaving me to finish raising Zane. Jon had already left for the Marine Corps, but Zane, he was sixteen and hell on wheels. Always getting into trouble, skipping school, drugs, you name it. The only thing that kid cared about was getting his next fix. God, Reaper, Zane was so fucking smart. Too smart. He could have been anything. The shit he knew how to do was fucking unreal. Did Zane ever tell you he scored a perfect sixteen hundred on his SATs? Kid had scholarships coming out of his ass. Could have gone anywhere, done anything, been anything. Instead, all he cared about was the bitch that got him hooked on drugs. It all came to a head when the police showed up with an arrest warrant. According to them, Zane and a few others broke into some pharmacy looking for drugs. My brother was looking at five years for armed robbery, amongst other charges. His life was over, and I lost it. When I found Zane, he was off his rocker and could barely throw two words together. I didn’t really have a choice. I knew if Zane went to jail, his life would be over, so I called George. I was already a brother in the Soulless Sinners by then, and when I told George what happened, he said he would take care of it. If I had known what George had planned, I wouldn’t have called him, Reaper.”

“What did George do?”

“He beat my brother within an inch of his life and left him to die in some alley in Denver. Fucker told my brother to never contact me again. That if he did, he would put a bullet in his head.”

“And yet, you stayed with the Soulless Sinners. Why?”

“Because like you, I’m a legacy. Our dad was a brother. This club is all I’ve ever known.”

Taking a deep breath, I sighed. “What George did had a significant impact on your brother, Grudge, because I remember the day Zane walked into the Golden Skulls’ clubhouse. He was black and blue from head to toe. Barely weighed a hundred pounds and was sick as a dog. Zane spent damn near a month in the hospital. My Pops never left his side, and when the hospital released him, my Pops threw a cut on him and Zane’s been Golden ever since.”

“Is he happy?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Not gonna lie. There were moments when the club wondered if we could trust him. But your brother has been Golden to the core. His son keeps him centered.”

“Son?”

“Samuel. Nice kid. Smart too, like his dad.”

Grudge hung his head and whispered, “I’ve missed so much.”

“Time is a funny thing, Grudge. It can heal old wounds if you let it,” I said, reaching for my phone, laying it on the table. I dialed Matrix’s number, putting it on speaker while I whistled, silencing the room.

“Busy, brother. Can’t talk.”

“Get un-busy. Need your help,” I groaned, rolling my eyes.

“Call Player. He’s sitting on his ass doing nothing.”

“Language, Dad,” I clearly heard Sam say as Grudge sat up straighter.

“Sorry,” Matrix groaned. “What do you want?”

“Sending you something. Take a look and tell me what you see,” I said as I typed in Matrix’s email address, attached the live feed, and hit send. Seconds later, I heard the ping.

“What am I looking at?” Matrix asked.

“You tell me.”

Giving my brother a few, I sat back and didn’t have to wait long. “Okay, whatever this is, it’s fake.”

“Gonna need more than that,” I groaned.

“It’s three feeds meshed together,” my brother muttered, clicking away on his computer. “Give me a second and let me see if I can clear this up.”

“Hey, Matrix, Maria wants to know—” I heard Ink say when he added, “Why in the hell do you have cameras in my old home?”

Grudge snapped his fingers, getting everyone’s attention as brothers ran from the room.

“You get that, boss?” Matrix asked.

“Sure did, brother, and thanks,” I sneered, disconnecting the call.

Not even thirty minutes later, we pulled up to the large mayoral mansion to find the place surrounded by police and paramedics, all being directed and ordered around by a fucker in a suit.

“What the fuck is he doing here?” I vaguely heard Montana sneer, when his eyes landed on his son. Running toward the boy, Maxim and Vladmir took off as well. The fucker in the suit walked over to me and introduced himself.

Extending his hand, he said, “Silas Sharp, and you’re Maxwell Doherty.”

Taking the offered hand, I sneered, getting right to the point, “How the fuck did you find them?”

“Oh, I didn’t. Mr. Sinclair did.”

“Don’t remember calling him for help.”

“Malice did. My brother knows when to ask for help.”

“Uh huh,” I muttered while the fucker smiled at the scene before him.

“It’s always a good day when children are united with their parents. Don’t you agree, Mr. Doherty?”

Refusing to reply, I stood my ground as the fucker turned to me and said, “Mr. Sinclair has requested another meeting with you.”

“I’m busy.”

“It wasn’t a request.”

Smiling, I replied, “Well then, my answer is fuck no.”

“You don’t want to do that, Mr. Doherty. Mr. Sinclair doesn’t like to be told no.”

“Funny. I don’t give a fuck what he likes,” I snarked, walking away.

I wasn’t buying that bullshit for one second.

For three motherfucking days we’d been looking for those kids. Every place we searched or raided turned up nothing. Then, the second I make a call and bring in someone else, the kids miraculously appear.

Yeah, I called bullshit.

If I didn’t know any better, I’d say someone was watching us the entire motherfucking time, and when they knew we were close, they jumped in and saved the day.

That told me two things.

One we just got played.

And two, the fucker grinning at me was the mastermind.

When I was out of sight, I reached for my phone and dialed Ghost.

“Yeah?”

“Change of plans. Find Thena Hartley, fast.”

“What changed your mind?”

“Let’s just say I don’t like the motherfucker doing the asking.”