Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20

ARIES

We pull in front of the building where the fight club is held ten minutes late. I didn’t give a fuck so long as he was still gonna give us the information we needed him to give. Glancing around, I spot only two cars close by. At the doors, two men were standing there, eyes in our direction, expressionless expressions on their faces.

“Let’s get this over with,” Viper states as we park and shut our bikes off.

“The sooner we get this done, the faster I get to Rory,” I mutter, toeing the kickstand down in place.

I hadn’t had time to search out Rory before leaving, and I wanted to. I wanted to be back in bed with her, enjoying her sinful body. Teaching her that I wasn’t going to do anything that was going to fuck up what the two of us are going to have.

“Hell, you want to get to her, I’ve got to get back to Jade in time to take her for an ultrasound appointment she scheduled. We’re finding out what the baby is and she’ll kill me if she has to reschedule,” Viper gripes and swings his leg over, climbing off the back of his bike.

“She’s got you wrapped around her little finger.” Cyprus snorts.

Chuckling, I follow suit, knowing my VP is right. We all know Viper will do anything for Jade, including killing to protect her. She means everything to him, and I get it. It’s the same for me when it comes to Rory. She’s the part of me I knew was missing for so damn long that it darkened my world, hardened me against the world. No longer am I the nice guy my family and friends knew. I still care for my family and will do anything for them, but the rest of the world, minus those in my club, can go fuck themselves.

“The boss is waiting for you,” one of the two guys at the door states as we approach.

“Yeah, we know,” I grunt, not really giving a damn. “Where is he?”

“Follow me,” the second guy says, opening the door and stepping in.

The four of us follow the guard into the building and down a long hall leading away from the arena where we all competed the last time we were here. That had been a brutal night. Each of us had to take a match where we each killed a man. It was fucked, but we’d done it to get Rosemary back. And Kevlar since he’d made the damn deal that put his ass on the line to free his woman.

We all stop just outside an open office door. From where I stood, I could see Izaiah sitting behind a desk, head bent forward, pen in hand.

“Come on in here and have a seat,” he calls out, not looking up.

Together, my brothers and I step into the office and claim the seats situated in front of the desk Izaiah’s behind. Only then does he lift his head and look at each of us. His eyes came to me last.

“You know our mutual acquaintance had a lot to say about you. He sincerely doesn’t like you.”

“Feelings mutual,” I grunt.

“How about we skip the bullshit and get right to it,” Viper suggests.

“Agreed,” Cyprus mutters. “We don’t have all day.”

Izaiah straightens in his seat, looking like he’s some type of ruler. “You’ve had your man looking into my business. I don’t appreciate this.”

“Vulture was looking into Roger, and it tied into your business,” Viper states, not backing down or denying what Vulture had been doing. “Your business is tied into him, and we need all the intel we can get in order to deal with him.”

“I can see this, and it’s the only reason I agreed to this meet. I don’t like people looking into what I do here. I have an iron-tight security system that not only keeps people out but also keeps them in. The same goes for my computers. I work hard to keep things from being hacked. Vulture needs to stay out of it. He does it again, and I’ll see it as a personal attack on me.”

“Long as you give us what we want, he’ll stop trying to get in your computers’ back doors.”

I nod,’ agreeing with Vipers words. I didn’t give a flying fuck what Izaiah did with his business so long as it stayed out of our own.

Izaiah nods, readjusts in his seat, and leans back. “Roger wants to make a deal with me. I would prefer to cut ties with him. I’ve been working to do just that. Enyo and Dominic were the ones who put us in business with him. They thought it was a good way to wash our money. I didn’t agree, and he’s in my opinion, a flea that should be squashed.”

“So, why haven’t you cut him out yet?” I question out of curiosity.

“Because I’ve had to ensure I have somewhere else to wash the money that comes through this establishment. I’ve been working on that diligently to make sure my other partners and I are covered when shit hits the fans when we cut Roger and his personnel out completely.” Izaiah waves a hand around as if waving away a pest and clears his throat, eyes locked on me. “Roger wants his property back, as he calls your woman. I will assume she’s your woman.”

“Rory’s mine,” I confirm, fury rising inside me at the mention of her being someone’s property. She’ll end up with a cut that says ‘Property of Aries,’ but that doesn’t mean she’s physical property. Just means she’s damn well mine.

Izaiah nods. “She’s a lovely woman, your Rory. I’ve heard her sing many times over the years, and I’ve got to admit she’s very beautiful. I think her looks rival your friend Kevlar’s Rosemary.”

I bite back the need to curse. We need to know what he knows, and telling him to shut the hell up and go fuck himself isn’t the way to go.

“Can we get past the provoking and get right to what we want to know?” Wolf growls impatiently.

With a snort, Izaiah finally gets down to it. “Roger asked that I work with him. That I help him, in return, he’d see to it that my business isn’t hit with any blowback with our cutting ties.”

My stomach tightens as these words leave his mouth. If he set us up . . .

“I told him to give me a day to think about this. That I needed to speak with others.” He snorts and shakes his head. “I don’t have to speak with anyone. I make the decisions, and my partners get their money, simple as that. I run this place, and I wasn’t going to let him grab me by the nuts to do what I’m doing. Just before you got here, I informed my partners that we were officially cutting those ties. I made a deal with another launder to handle the money for us in house rather than us outsourcing.”

“Good plan,” Cyprus grunts. “What else did fuckwad have to say?”

“That he needs her back. She’s his prize, and he refuses to lose her too as he claimed.” He nods in my direction, “He wasn’t losing her to some son of a bitch. That he worked too hard to make sure she was his, and if he didn’t get her back, then others were going to pay the price.”

Others were going to pay the price?

I let those words circle in my head. Who the hell will he go after for them to pay the price?

The answer comes to me, freezing the blood in my veins as it does so. “Fuck.” I jerk my phone out of my pocket, find Cordelia’s number, and touch the phone icon as I pull the phone up to my ear. It goes straight to voicemail.“Call me back, Cordy.”

I yank the phone from my ear and search for Fox’s number. I won’t be able to get ahold of Tempest. She refuses to carry a cell phone, even though she has one. No matter how many times I’ve told her she needs to carry it ‘cause you never know what the fuck will happen.

Dialing Fox’s number, he answers on the second ring. “What the fuck you calling me for now?”

“You talk to Tempest or Cordy?” I ask, ignoring his snarky attitude. “Cordy’s is going straight to voicemail, and you know Tempest.

“Cordy’s fine,” Fox remarks. “She’s out doing a photo gig right now. Got a man on her. Tempest is fine. She’s gone off hunting.”

Great. She’s out hunting, which means no one will be able to find her until she’s ready to be found.

“Right.” I hang up on him, not bothering with anything else. He answered my questions.

Jerking to my feet, I look at Viper and the others. “We need to get back to the clubhouse. Now.”

“Why?” Viper demands, getting to his feet along with the rest of my brothers.

“Because Roger is going to make sure others pay the price. It’s not Cordy or Tempest he goes after, it’ll be the next best thing.”

“Your brothers?” Wolf growls, sounding nearly animalistic with the fury filling his voice.

I shake my head and tell them all, “Their women.”