Chapter 27

King/Dante

I was worried, frustrated, pissed off, and disgusted with myself. I also felt guilty as hell.

The first three emotions I could blame on Pic. The last two though, well, the blame for that shit was squarely on me.

Hours later, I still felt sick to my stomach when I thought about what I had done, and my best friend for more than half my life still looked ready to kick my ass. I couldn't blame him.

"Skid called. He and Linc just got to the cousin's place. Camille's convertible is there, along with the cousin's car. Are you sure you don't want him to make contact and at least find out why the hell she hasn't answered her phone all damned day?"

I shook my head at Cowboy. "No. I don't want her to know they're there. I'm sure she just doesn't even realize her ringer is off or something, because she and Camille have been too busy talking." I cracked a smile as I remembered the one and only time I'd met Camille, when she'd joined us for lunch at the diner. I hadn't been able to get more than a few words in, because the two of them had gabbed for an hour without stopping.

"As long as she's there, Pic won't be able to find her. Hell, we could barely find her, and we knew where she was going," I grumbled. "Tell them to trade off shifts. I want eyes on her at all times, but they need to stay in the shadows. There's no sense in upsetting her."

I frowned as I ran my fingers through my hair for probably the three-hundredth time today. "I want her to enjoy her weekend, and if for some reason we haven't tracked that fucker down by the time she's ready to come home, I'll go up there myself and tell her, then bring her home."

"Are you forgettin' about the first message you left for her, when you told her there was a fuckin' threat and she need to come here? What are you gonna do when she hears that and freaks the fuck out?"

"I left another one a little while ago, once we knew she'd gotten out of town safely. I told her she was safe in Chicago and not to worry. Told her to call me and I'd explain as much as I could."

"She's still gonna freak the fuck out, you know."

I leaned back in my chair and sighed. "Yeah. I know."

Neither of us said a word for a while, and I reflected on what had been probably the longest afternoon of my life.

Trick and Linc had pulled up to Camille's condo not even fifteen minutes after she and Ella had left, according to a neighbor who had been out washing his car.

I'd ordered Skid to come back and grab the club's van and a change of clothes for himself and Linc, then sent them to Chicago, telling them we'd have an address for them to go to by the time they hit the Illinois state line.

When Bull had told me that he'd finally been able to ping Camille's phone, and we had proof that they were already halfway to Chicago, I'd finally been able to breathe a little easier. It didn't even matter at this point that Ella wasn't answering her damned phone. Now that I knew she was safe from Pic for the moment, I could fully focus my energy on finding that sonofabitch and putting him in the ground.

A quiet knock on the door was followed by a woman calling for me. I cursed under my breath as I recognized DD's voice.

Cowboy just scowled at me and shook his head angrily as I got up to answer the door.

"Hey, Prez, we're ordering dinner soon, and I thought maybe we could eat up in your room, since we got interrupted earlier." Yeah, the interruption had been a fake emergency text that I'd claimed to have gotten from Viking about a hazardous fluid spill in the garage. The bunny rooms were over the garage, so that excuse also worked to keep the women in the common room where we could keep an eye on them without telling them why.

DD had been in the process of shimmying out of her tiny excuse for a skirt in the middle of my room by the time I'd pulled my phone out of my cut and pretended I'd heard it go off. I had hauled her half-naked ass out of my room and locked the door behind me before she could even utter a single protest.

"Sorry, that's not gonna happen tonight. Cowboy and I are trying to get some work done."

She pouted, and I wanted to kick my own ass for starting this shit in the first place.

"OK, but it's just so quiet around here tonight. The girls and I want to party."

"You'll have to party by yourselves then, because the brothers aren't gonna be around. Now get going, I've got shit to do."

Cowboy waited a minute or two before pointing out that I was a fucking idiot.

"Goddammit, don't you think I know that?" I said, as I paced back and forth in my office. "I hated saying that shit about Ella, but I panicked. We had no idea where she was, and no way to reach her to even warn her, and I was fuckin' desperate to keep Pic from going after her. That was the only thing I could think of, and I had to make it believable." I sank down in my chair and shook my head in self-disgust.

"Look, I'll deal with DD once this is over, and make it clear it was an act. Now, where the fuck are we on tracking down Pic or Star?"

His update wasn't good. Star still hadn't responded to Bodhi's text to let her know she was fired. She also hadn't shown up to collect her things from her locker. We'd done a few drive-bys at her place, but there'd been no sign of her car, and no lights on in her apartment.

Ace, predictably, was pissed off that I'd "gone over his head" and fired one of his employees. Since I still didn't trust him, he'd only been told she was fired for missing her shift. He'd confronted me shortly after the fake scene in the kitchen, and I'd been in no mood for his fucking bullshit. I'd reminded him that my position as club president was "way the fuck over his head ", and that if he didn't like it, he knew where to find the goddamned door. He'd stormed out, and I hadn't seen him since.

"Bull also checked the footage from the kitchen cameras and got proof that Star planted that fuckin' bug. Since he figured it might be her, he started with the night you kicked her out and went back from there. She planted it the day before, but it looks like it was a replacement. He said the ones she used are battery operated, so she probably removed the one because it died, and stuck a new one on there in the same spot. Christ only knows how long she's been doin' it, but at least now we know how he stayed two steps ahead of us."

I rubbed at my temples as my head started to pound. I was probably going to end up having a fucking stroke before this was all over with.

My phone pinged with a text at the same time Cowboy's did. I sagged with relief when I saw the group text that Ella had sent. Not only was she safe, but she clearly hadn't been able to access any of the messages yet. I had a little bit of a reprieve where I could pretend that my relationship with her wasn't going to be ripped apart by threats, secrets, and club business.

A little while later, I got a text from Jagger that they'd all arrived at the cabin, and the women and children were safe and having fun.

Sinner had decided to join us here at the clubhouse until the threat was over, to help Viking keep an eye on things since the younger members were all out scouring the city. Brick had decided to send his wife and their girls to stay with his brother, since he didn't like his daughters to hang around the clubhouse too much. Tom was a lawyer who did work for us when the need arose. He was also a former Green Beret who was almost as big as Brick was, so he wasn't too worried about their safety.

Lucky and the rest of the club members were either at work, in the clubhouse, or out with a group of riders. Michelle was here with Cowboy's two youngest kids, so I didn't have to worry about them either. Ella's kids were probably the safest out of everyone, since they had set sail for the Bahamas earlier this morning.

Lola and her kids were safe with at the Rossi estate. Cyn was on a bus to Florida. The only people associated with Pic and me who weren't accounted for at this very moment were Ace, who could handle himself, Star, and Christy. I doubted Pic would try to go after her, since he knew that the boys and I didn't want anything to do with her, but I honestly couldn't bring myself to care even if he did.

As the evening dragged on, we ended up with almost every club member riding the streets in shifts, leaving a handful of brothers to watch over the compound, while the rest of us searched for any sign of Pic or Star.

I was glad as hell to be able get out on the streets myself. Riding always cleared my head and helped me think things through. I had already accepted the fact that I was in love with Ella and wanted to spend my life with her, but if today had crystallized anything in my mind, it was that I wanted it to be official, and soon.

I wanted her to be my Ol' Lady. I wanted to see my Property of patch on her back. I wanted to see my ring on her finger, and my last name in place of fucking Chadwick .

I wanted to watch Mia and Hunter mature into the amazing adults I knew they would become. I wanted to watch the grandkids with her, however many our collective children would end up having. I wanted everything, and I wanted it with Ella.

I headed back to the clubhouse a little after ten o'clock. I was tired, hungry, and missing Ella like hell. We had already agreed to call off the search at midnight so everyone could get a good night's sleep and ride out again in the morning. The odds of us stumbling across two people who seemed determined to hide from us were slim to none, anyway. I was counting on Bull's hacking skills to come through with a lead that would point us in the right direction.

Luca Rossi had reached out earlier to say he had his men working on it, too, so I hoped that something would shake loose soon. He had also offered the use of his " cleaning service ", which included a one-way trip to his family's pig farm.

"No body, no crime, my friend," he'd reminded me with a chuckle. As long as I didn't have to see the pigs in action again, I was happy to have his help.

Someone had ordered enough pizzas to feed half the county, and I was grateful as hell for it as I chowed down on a few slices. DD made her way over and tried to flirt with me, but I shut that shit down and sent her over to spend some time with Saint instead. I tried calling Ella again, but it went straight to voice mail.

"Hey, sugar. It sucks that your phone is acting up, because I'd love to hear your voice right about now. Call me if you can."

I waited until the last of the riders returned before going upstairs to try to get some sleep. I had just gotten to the top of the damned stairs when Bull called me from his office.

"I've got something."

I ran back downstairs, signaling for Cowboy, Irish, and Trick to follow me.

The four of us entered Bull's office to find him smiling grimly.

"Pic turned his phone on about fifteen minutes ago. He called a burner phone, talked for less than three minutes, then shut the phone off again. The program I used showed the phone pinging between two cell towers on the southeast side of town, giving me about a two-mile radius to work with," he explained as he pointed to some kind of map on his computer screen.

"Most of that area is industrial, but there are three hotels. Two are low-to-mid range places, but one is a shithole that is known to rent rooms by the hour and has frequent police runs due to drug activity and overdoses. Ding, ding, ding…we have a winner, folks," he joked as he handed over a slip of paper. "That's the address of the one that gets my vote, along with the other two places in case I'm wrong about the first one."

We quickly assembled all the club brothers in the chapel for a briefing before we rode out. I assigned teams of riders. Trick and Lucky were with me at the shithole. Cowboy, Saint, and Hawk were taking one of the regular hotels, and Irish, Brick, and Joker were taking the other.

"We need to be smart about this. Leave your cuts and cell phones behind and grab one of the helmets on your way out so you can't be identified on any surveillance cameras." We had helmets that we kept at the clubhouse for general use, mainly if we rode into one of the neighboring states which had laws requiring their use. "Cowboy, Irish and I will each be carrying a burner phone that we'll use to communicate."

"Double check your weapons now, and make sure you have your leather gloves with you so there are no damned fingerprints left behind. We don't want to attract attention, and we sure as hell don't want Pic to hear us coming, so separate a mile or so from your target location, and ride in from different directions at that point. Park at least a block away and finish up on foot."

I looked around the room, confident that each and every man here had my back, as well as each other's. "You are just to confirm if Pic is there, but don't make contact unless absolutely necessary. I need to be notified the second you find any sign of him. Understood?" As they all nodded and agreed, I brought the meeting to a close just as I always did. I banged my fist on the table and told them all to stay safe and keep their asses out of trouble.

I breathed deeply when I stepped outside and the humid night air filling my lungs. Jesus, I hoped this lead panned out.

It only took a minute or so for everyone to mount up, and then I led the way as we pulled out of the compound. Tony, the prospect who was tasked with manning the guard shack tonight would close the gate again as soon as the last rider passed through.

It took almost twenty minutes for my group to reach the shithole. Factoring in the time to get everyone assembled and briefed, it had been a little over an hour since Pic's phone had pinged from this vicinity. I could only hope he was actually staying somewhere in the area and hadn't just been passing through when he turned the damned thing on.

The motel was a single-story building, with rooms that opened up directly to the parking lot, and a small office at the end of the building. It was probably built back in the seventies and didn't look like it had been painted since. Calling it a shithole was being generous.

I parked along a darkened street behind the motel and made my way around to the side of the building, where we'd agreed to meet. Trick and Lucky were waiting in the darkened shadows at the edge of the parking lot, which looked just as rough as the motel itself. It was filled with potholes and had weeds growing up through the cracked concrete. From where I stood, I could see empty liquor bottles, beer cans, used syringes, and most disturbing of all, two used rubbers.

Despite the nasty-ass surroundings, I smiled as I approached them.

"Good news, brothers. He's here." I explained that as I'd walked around from behind the building, I'd spotted Pic's bike – the same one he'd ridden for years – parked next to the dumpster in the back corner.

I pulled out the burner phone and sent a text to both Cowboy and Irish that simply contained a thumbs up emoji, just in case the phones were discovered before we could destroy them. Irish responded with a smiley face. Cowboy asked if they should head to the party.

"Don't know yet. I'll let you know if it's going to be any fun." I assumed they could figure out that I was telling them to stand by and decided that the next time we did this shit, we would work out some kind of a goddamned code beforehand. I slipped my phone back into one pocket and pulled my gloves out of the other.

"I don't think the fucker would park his bike anywhere he couldn't see it, so I'm guessing he's in one of the five rooms along the back." We started walking that way, sticking to the shadows as much as possible. Since most of the lights in the parking lot and on the building's exterior were burned out, that was fairly easy to accomplish.

"There were no lights on in any of the rooms, but only one had the curtains pulled. The others were open, so I would imagine those are vacant for the night," I told them quietly.

We made our way to the room, slipping our gloves on as we walked. When we got to the door, I realized that it wasn't closed all the way. There was no sound coming from inside as I bent to pull my gun free from the ankle holster that I rarely had the need to use. I eased the door open, then waited for a reaction from anyone who might have been inside.

I'd remembered to grab the small flashlight from my saddlebag, and I was fucking grateful for it now. There was no sound or movement from inside, so I flicked the button to turn the flashlight on and peered around the doorframe.

I motioned for Trick and Lucky to stay where they were, and took two steps into the room, keeping the flashlight's beam low so it didn't shine through the window. I could see the entire room from there, including into the tiny bathroom by the door.

There was no one here…unless you counted the dead sonofabitch on the floor with a fucking bullet between his eyes. There was an empty, clear baggie with a familiar bone printed on it, laying right in the middle of his chest as if it had been deliberately placed there.

I flicked the flashlight off and stepped out, quietly pulling the door shut behind me without bothering to lock it. I turned to Lucky and Trick who were both scanning the area.

"He's in there, with a bullet in his brain and one of T-Bone's baggies laying on his chest," I told them in a low whisper.

"Damn," Lucky muttered quietly.

I motioned for them to follow me. When we made it to the far edge of the parking lot, I stopped walking and turned around to face them.

"All right, we need to the fuck out of here. I doubt anyone around here bothered reporting a gunshot, but I don't want to chance the cops showing up while we're in the vicinity. Keep your head on a swivel, both of you. Get back to your bikes, and back to the clubhouse as fast as you can without drawing attention to yourselves. I hate to split up, but three riders together are going to stand out too much at this time of the night, and that's the last fucking thing we need." I stopped and looked them both in the eye. "Stay safe and keep your asses out of trouble."

I pulled each of them in for a hug – one of those one armed, clap-on-the-back kind of hugs that men did because we didn't want to look like pussies – then sent them on their way.

I called Cowboy as I hustled back to my bike, since I was too tired to figure out some stupid code words to describe what we'd found.

It barely rang on his end before he answered, "Do you need us?"

"No, man. He was already dead when we got here. Head shot. Looks like it was T-Bone, but we can talk more at the clubhouse. Do me a favor and call Irish and Bull and let them both know. I need to call Rossi and arrange for clean-up, so this doesn't blow back on the club in any way."

Luca Rossi sounded half-asleep when he answered, which wasn't surprising given that it was almost two in the morning.

"We found him, but somebody got to him before we did. One to the head," I greeted him when he answered,

"Any idea who?," he said, sounding much more alert.

"I'm guessing T-Bone, a low-level runner who skipped out on K-Dog's crew to start his own side hustle last year. One of his baggies was laying there like a damned calling card."

"I've heard of him. He's becoming a pain in my ass, although I do appreciate him taking care of business tonight. Where do I need to send the cleaning crew?"

"The Open Road Motel, on Stanton Street. Room 7. The door's unlocked."

"Consider it done. I'll reach out to my contact at IMPD and make sure that any reports of gunshots in the area are erased. I'll let Lola know in the morning as well."

The mood was somber when I arrived back at the clubhouse. I was glad to see that both Lucky and Trick had already made it back.

The other two crews walked in the door shortly after I did, and we all met in the chapel to discuss everything. Sinner joined us, taking the seat that Ace normally used. I didn't bother asking where the hell he was. After his fucking tantrum earlier over me firing Star, I just hoped he would decide to stay gone.

It didn't take long to tell them what happened, and afterward there were very few questions. It seemed like most of us wanted to put this clusterfuck behind us. I know I sure as hell did.

Sinner and I were the last ones to leave the chapel.

"You doin' OK, son?"

"I've had better days, that's for fuckin' sure. But yeah, I'm all right. Honestly, I'm a little relieved it went down this way. I've spent months hating the bastard, and I definitely would have put him in the ground for threatening Ella. But, for a hell of a long time, he was a friend and a damned good brother to this club."

"Yeah, he was. It blows my mind how much those damned drugs can fuck with people's minds. It totally fuckin' changes them," he heaved a deep sigh, then clapped me on the shoulder.

"You look like your ass is draggin' boy. Go get some sleep. Oh, by the way, after Bull got the word from Cowboy, I let Jagger and Rome know, so they didn't have to worry overnight. I think they're gonna stay the weekend anyway. Ethan caught a pretty-good sized bass this evening. Jagger caught his own thumb on a hook, and Rome almost lost his father-in-law's favorite pole in the lake," he chuckled.

"Rome got lucky," I laughed. "Randy still hasn't forgiven him for fuckin' up last fall. Losing that fishing pole would have been the final nail in his coffin, and he would have shot Rome's ass for sure." Randy was a cop, so he could have probably gotten away with it, too.

I headed upstairs to my room, then called Skid to update him, and let him know I was pulling him and Linc off of protective detail. Since it was so late, they were just going to grab a room for the night and head back home later.

After a long, hot shower to wash away the tension of the day, I slipped into bed and reached for my phone. Even though it was almost three, I sent a text to Ella. I knew she wouldn't get it, but at least she would see it once her phone was fixed.

I snapped a selfie, making sure to show off my bare chest that Ella seemed to love.

ME: I miss you, and wish you were lying here next to me. I hope you're having fun. Goodnight, sugar.