Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 105803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
He’s clearly agitated, and I don’t understand why he is so pissed about this. She is club born. She belongs with the Knights.
“Where has she been all this time?”
“Right under our fucking noses. Apparently her uncle took her out of town immediately after the accident. He had some job with the government in Florida. But they returned a few years later when Belle was older.”
“How long have you known all of this?”
“Only a couple of days. They flew under the radar when they returned to St. Bon all those years ago. Lived a quiet life. Then she ran away with some boyfriend when she was eighteen. Came back recently to look after the old man.”
“How do you know all of this?”
“The old man approached the club for a loan.”
“And you gave it to him?”
“With interest.”
I can’t describe the relief I feel.
Bluebelle is alive.
When she died, I cried myself to sleep for months until my father smacked me across the mouth and told me to man up and get over it. People died, he snarled. She was better off dead.
But I never believed she was better off dead. She was my best friend and she belonged at the clubhouse with me.
I always believed God got it wrong when he took Bluebelle away.
“This is a good thing,” I say.
But Dodger snarls. “Are you fucking dumb, asshole? This isn’t a good thing. It’s the complete fucking opposite. Her very existence is a threat to this club.”
I frown. “How is she a threat to the club?”
In the dim light, Dodger’s eyes glow with menace. “She’s a loose end I thought I’d taken care of.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end and my gut twists because I don’t like the slope we’re sliding down. “What are you talking about?”
“When I ran her parents off the road.”
At first I think I misheard him. “You caused the accident that killed her parents?”
“The brat was supposed to die too.”
I take a step back. I can’t believe what I am hearing.
Dodger killed Hangman and Lucy. And tried to kill Bluebelle too.
A darkness claws at my insides trying to get out. I grit my teeth. “You’d better start explaining, old man. Was this a hit?”
He gives me a warning look, not appreciating my tone.
“Not sanctioned. But done to protect the club. That’s what you have to do when you’re the president, son. You have to make decisions to protect the club. They’re not always pretty. But this wasn’t the hardest. He was a direct threat to the club. And you can bet your life I’m always going stop any threat to the club.”
“You fucking killed them.”
“Yes, and I’d do it again and again to anyone or anything that is a threat to the club.”
“You psychopath—”
“Calm down.”
“Don’t fucking tell me to calm down. You’re telling me you killed a Knight and his family. That breaks every fucking rule in the book.”
“Not when it is to protect the club.”
“You’d better tell me how the fuck annihilating a family—a child—protects the club.”
“Hangman had a hobby. Genealogy. He spent hours poring over old documents and researching his family history. It was just dumb luck he came across a document showing that he was the true descendant of the rightful owner of the clubhouse.”
“How is that even possible?”
“Turns out his family and another family owned the land but sold it during the war, but with only one signature on it. So legally, it still belongs to him. Asshole knew he had the club over a barrel.”
“So the land was illegally sold to the Knights?”
“Nice to see you’re catching up.”
“So you killed him.”
“He got greedy. Started talking about lawyers and rightful ownership. Wanted money. Even got the land valued. Knew it was worth more than what we had in the coffers to buy it back. We would’ve lost the land. The clubhouse.”
“But why his old lady and kid?”
“What would’ve happened when his old lady decided she wanted to take the land? Or little Bluebelle when she grew up? They were risks that needed to be annihilated. The Knights have fought to keep this land for eighty years. I wasn’t about to lose it under my watch.”
I stare at him in disbelief. “So you murdered an entire family.”
“Not all of them.” He turns his head to look at the beautiful woman inside the house. She’s serving up soup for dinner. “There is still one left.”
I can tell from the tone in his voice why we are here.
He wants to finish what he started twenty-five years ago.
He’s going to murder Bluebelle.
“You’re not going to hurt her,” I say through gritted teeth.
“You’re right, I’m not.”
The relief hits me in the chest.
But it’s short lived when Dodger looks me in the eye and I can see the malevolence there.
“I’m not going to kill her—you are.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”