Chapter Nineteen Dixie

I feel Delphine stiffen in my arms and, by the look on Hex's face, I'm fairly certain the love of my life is shooting her son a death glare. Sliding my hand up and down her back, I try to soothe her, but I'm uncertain it's working.

"Delphine…" Hex starts, but she raises her hand to stop him.

"Don't. Nothing you can say will make this situation any better. In fact, I'm fairly certain you're about to make it worse," Delphine says. Cleo, Sasha, Shayna, and Olivia, who are still in the room, shift their heads between mother and son as if watching a tennis match. "I know this was club business. So save me the lecture. I accept that you're the President and you do what you need to do, but I'm not one of your men. I don't have to accept it. In fact, I'm fucking pissed at you for this."

"As are we," Shayna says, which draws her brother's ire. But she channels Delphine perfectly. "Save it. Do you know Mom felt the pain you inflicted on Dixie?"

Hex's anger turns to horror as he swivels his attention back to Delphine. I ignore everyone as I turn Delphine so I can look at her. "You felt it?"

She nods as a single tear pools in her right eye. "I didn't know what it was, but I felt the burn, right here." She holds her hand over her left breast, exactly where I wear the brand. I pull her into a tight hug and lock eyes with Hex over her head. Hex comes into the room and approaches Delphine as if she's a wounded animal.

"I'm sorry, Mom," he whispers to her as he places a hand on her back. "I didn't think."

Delphine sighs in my arms as she turns so she can see Hex. "I know you didn't expect me to feel the pain, but I did. That's not the problem. You're both part of the club and you have your rules and your club business. I'm just saying, don't expect me to be okay with this. You hurt the man I love. One day, I will forgive you. But it won't be today. Tomorrow's not looking good, either."

Hex winces at her words, but I can't suppress my chuckle. Having Delphine standing up for me tells me she's forgiven me. I feel the guilt finally release its hold on my heart. Which means I can finally breathe.

Hex shakes his head and gives his mother a small smile. "I understand. I'm sorry that you had to feel the pain. If I'd had known that would happen, I probably would have come up with a different punishment. But the important thing is we can move on. Dixie will heal, and he's still my VP. He's no longer hiding secrets from us, so I think he'll be happier." Hex glances at me, and I nod while giving Delphine a squeeze.

"Everything is back to normal now. You can stay mad as long as you need to, but as far as the club goes. We're good," Hex says. "Speaking of the club, I came to get you for Church. Vladimir is calling in for the meeting."

I nod at Hex before turning my attention back to Delphine. "I'm sorry you had to feel it. The primary reason I agreed to take the brand was because I couldn't stand the thought of losing you. I thought if Hex kicked me out of the club, that I'd lose you, too. I'll suffer through any level of pain to keep you in my life." After giving her another kiss, I follow Hex and Lake out of the room and down to where we hold Church.

Inside, I find the rest of the guys already waiting. Pirate has his laptop open so he can take notes. Zip has a pencil and is doodling on a scrap of paper. Abra has a coin that he's sliding through his fingers to keep his hands nimble. These guys are my brothers, but I realize something as I look around. We barely have enough brothers to fill one end of the table. Our club is small, we need more members. We only have three prospects. Only one is ready to wear the patch. I consider suggesting to Hex that we reach out to the other clubhouses to see if they have members who would like to patch over. Either permanently or temporarily. I have the feeling we're going to need more members soon.

Before I can bring it up, Hex announces the meeting has started, and he's already dialing Vladimir's number.

"Are you trying to make up for lost time?" Vladimir asks once he accepts the call.

Hex snorts. "No, we have some news that you need to know." Hex nods at me to take over.

"This is Dixie. I'm not just a member of the Demon Dawgs, but I'm also a paid assassin. I work for Sigil and have my base here in Louisiana," I start.

Vladimir whistles. "Impressive. I've heard of the organization, but never dealt with them or a member. That explains why you no longer have an accent. I'm guessing you lost it in order to blend in more completely?"

Not wanting to think about the road that led me here and reliving the betrayal of the club, I push forward. "Yeah. I got a call from handler and he gave me a new target. You."

"I see," Vladimir says calmly. "Are you going to take it?"

I share a look with Hex, who smirks when I tell Vladimir that I took the job. I follow that up with explaining why I took it.

"I appreciate your not wanting me dead," he says. "I'm guessing that might put a kibosh on your sex life with Delphine."

"Don't talk about sex and Delphine," Hex grumbles, which only makes his brother chuckle loudly.

I tell him about the deadline before explaining about the other hits given to other operatives.

"Do you know those men?" I ask him.

"I do. Each one is the heir to their pakhans. They all control large territories on the Eastern Seaboard. I suspect this ties into Maxim's plans."

"Do you think he's the one who ordered the hits?" Hex asks.

"Maybe, but I doubt it. He has no reason to want me dead and every reason to keep me alive. Unless he knows you're the one who is supposed to kill me and he's planning on you not going through with it. But I think that's too risky for Maxim. He wouldn't take that level of chance. But I think there is a connection between Maxim's shipment and the hits."

"How so?" Hex asks.

"This is just a theory, but I'm almost certain that I'm right. In a week, a major player in the Bratva is hosting a birthday party for himself. His name is Alexandr Stepanov. He's responsible for assigning territories. His decisions can make or break families because he can take away territories from those who aren't meeting expectations. He can also assign profitable territories to those whom he selects."

"He's a kingmaker," I muse.

"Exactly. Stepanov is an old man. This birthday he'll be seventy-five. He's considering retirement because of his health, but he needs a successor. Alexandr has two children, both conceived late in life. A son and a daughter. I've never met the daughter, but I have met his son, Alexi. Alexi was his heir and primed to take over for his father. However, the Russian Army drafted him in their war against Ukraine. Alexi disappeared and Alexandr believes his son is dead."

"I'm surprised the Bratva let their men get drafted," Hex says. "Seems like that's something they'd try to prevent."

"It is. There is some speculation about what really happened to Alexi. One rumor is that someone within the Bratva set Alexi up for the draft. The other possibility is that Alexi joined on his own. Alexandr believes someone put Alexi in harm's way so he'd die. He suspects the three top pakhans in Russia. Alexandr has stated that he's looking for an heir and that he'll be selecting someone younger, and one without ties to the Russian pakhans."

"Who is under consideration?" I ask, but I have a feeling I already know the answer.

"Me and two other men. I'll give you one chance to name them," Vladimir says, confirming my guess.

"You think someone from the Russian Bratva is behind the hits to force Stepanov into selecting one of them?" Hex asks.

"I do. Whatever Maxim's sending to Russia is a bribe. He wants Stepanov to declare me his heir."

"I have a list of all the requested accommodations for each ship scheduled for a stop in Russia," Pirate says, striking a few keys to display data on the screen.

Vladimir dismisses each entry until the one that lists a change to transport several vehicles. "That's the one. I recognize the business as being one of Maxim's. For the past three months, he's acquired several rare cars. I thought he was adding them to his collection, but I think he's planning on presenting them to Stepanov. I know the man likes flashy cars."

"Why didn't he just say this was what he was shipping?" Hex asks. "Unless you think he stole the cars?"

"He might have stolen them," Vladimir admits. "He could have wanted to make sure you didn't look too closely at them and call the police to investigate. But I'm certain that's what he's shipping. However, I'm still wondering about why he kidnapped Delphine and the girls. If it were closer to the date, I'd suspect that he wanted to include them as gifts."

"You said Maxim didn't delve into human trafficking," Hex protests.

"He doesn't. However, he's always interested in the valuable and the unique. Delphine and the girls aren't like the women you would find walking around in any city. They have gifts, and that's one thing Maxim regrets about walking out on Delphine. Losing access to her gift."