Chapter 9

Nine

Rook

T he entire pack came out with me tonight. Four other bikes drove with mine, along with Kane in a car behind us for transportation, and Evie on the back of Aiden's bike. She had demanded to come, and I wasn't going to fight it. The pickup shouldn't be too hard. One squirrely, drugged up messenger boy, who will hopefully tell us where a shipment of drugs disappeared to.

Aiden's bike roared before he picked up the front. I curled my lip, hitting the button on my phone that connected me to the rest of them. "Why the fuck do you lift the bike with Evie every single time?"

"It's fun?" Evie said. "Stop trying to ruin my fun."

"She asks me to do it every time. Are you insinuating I'm going to fuck up?" Aiden asked.

"I'm insinuating that if she falls off, you'll be dragged behind my bike."

"Oh, shut up," Evie said. "I know how to hold on to him."

Mason pulled up next to me, pointing at Evie and Aiden. "I'm thinking you know how to hold on to him a little too well, if you know what I mean."

"Don't you fucking dare, Aiden. Evie, you're riding home with Mason."

"I didn't do anything!" Aiden yelled, flipping me off.

Hero sped around us, swerving back and forth as we went down the highway. I could clearly see the gun strapped to his back, only partially hidden by his jacket.

"Why the fuck did you bring that big of a gun? It's one guy."

"You never know."

"Guns aren't part of the plan tonight. Don't get unhinged and pull it out for fun."

He groaned, dropping back next to me. "You really are a fun killer," Hero said as we turned on the road of the club.

We were told the guy came here tonight, tucked into a corner, drinking and getting higher than a fucking plane. It would be an easy place to pick someone up, and we used it often for business, never for pleasure. I made it clear to everyone we weren't mixing the two on our own ground.

The pulsating bass of the club's music spilled out into the street as we parked our bikes out front and made our way inside. Kane stayed in the car, Evie keeping him company as they kept a close eye on our bikes.

The lights inside were dim, a haze of neon lights and swirling smoke coating us, the pulse of the music reverberating through me. As we pushed through the crowd, a pretty girl with long, dark hair and a tight dress stepped in front of me, blocking my path. Her eyes were bright with interest as she smiled up at me.

"Hey there. Want to get a drink?" she asked, her voice dripping with flirtation.

I glanced down, barely registering her words. For a split second, an image of Regan flashed through my mind—her eyes, her smile, the way she kept trying to be rebellious. I shook my head, trying to dislodge the horrible thought.

"Not interested," I said, stepping around the girl.

She huffed, stepping closer."We could go dance instead."

"Still not interested," I said, trying to step around her again. The group had disappeared in front of me as soon as she stopped me, and I hoped they were already grabbing the guy. I liked going out usually, but not tonight. I had no reason to be somewhere that would constantly remind me of my attraction to Cameron Fletcher's daughter.

The bad taste in my mouth almost made me want to lean down and take this girl up on her offer, but I didn't. I didn't like how she looked just enough like Regan to remind me of her.

The guys came back down, one half-limp man being brought out with them.

"Rook, you coming?" Hero called out.

"Yeah, right behind you," I replied, pushing Regan out of my mind. There would be no time for distractions.

I followed them, my focus sharp again, despite the unexpected intrusion of Regan in my thoughts. We had a job to do, and I couldn't afford to let anything—or anyone—get in the way.

The garage was lit up bright inside tonight. We had left the door shut tight, the scent of blood, sweat, and gasoline filling my nostrils and making my nose scrunch. The guy strapped to the chair in the center didn't seem to mind, though. Hero stepped forward, the cruel grin on his face making the guy squirm more.

Hero reached out, grabbing his pinky finger and twisting until bones crunched in his palm. I grabbed for the other hand, choosing his pointer finger instead.

"Why a different finger?" Hero asked with a frown. "I don't like them not matching."

"Why the pinky? This one is more annoying if it's broken."

"Why would he care which fingers are useful if he will be dead before he can use them again?" Hero asked. The man screamed against his gag, and I smacked the back of his head.

"Tell us where you are hoarding millions of dollars' worth of drugs, and we let you go," I said. Our job would be getting him to reveal where his boss hid the drugs he stole from another drug lord, but my heart just wasn't in it today.

I still picked up the pliers, shoving a deep socket into the guy's mouth to force it open before getting a good grip on his front tooth and pulling.

We ran our own business in a lot of different ways, from playing messenger between bigger operations, to dipping our hands into gambling and counterfeit parts, but sometimes we were middlemen. The men in the middle of bigger businessmen when they couldn't play nice for five minutes. From finding out information to selling it, it worked perfectly for us. We made the money and never had a trail of evidence leading in our direction.

My mind wasn't here, though.

My mind felt stuck on Cameron Fletcher. The man I hated more than anyone, the one who burned my life to the ground and walked away with everything he wanted. There were no consequences for the terrible things he had done and continued to do.

Ten years ago, we had everything. My family wasn't anywhere comparable to the Fletchers, but we had everything we wanted and needed. Until one day, the business took a hit, and Cameron had been suddenly there to save us. My dad signed a partnership with Cameron with the hopes it would all be restored. They were art dealers, and I had come to learn Cameron was a fan of stealing art and selling it on the black market. What better way to do that than seeking out my parents and becoming their partner? But when my dad wouldn't give in to smuggling art through his business, Cameron stole it.

He stole their lives first. It made it easier to take over the business you owned with your partner when the partner suddenly went up in literal flames.

Everything we owned had been signed to Cameron before my parents' deaths, and he collected the moment he could. He had somehow even found a way to sway our custody since we were minors, and Evie and I had been shipped out of town before the funeral even took place.

Now I found out the girl I'd been chasing around and trying to find ended up being his daughter? The thought of it made me sick, my jaw clenching as my stomach flipped. I put my lips on his fucking daughter and liked it?

I should cut off my own lips for it. It felt like a betrayal to myself, my parents, even Evie.

I let Hero take over, and he seemed happy to step up. He threw a punch, more bones cracking and popping beneath his hand, as I headed over to the couch we had against the wall.

"What's up?" Aiden asked, dropping on the couch next to me. "Don't like the view?"

"The view being a man getting tortured to death? It's great, but I have other things on my mind."

"Like the girl we had to track down the other night? Did you not get what you wanted?"

"Oh, I got what I wanted. I know exactly who she is now."

"So the problem is…what, exactly?"

I took a deep breath, trying to figure out how I could even admit this. "Her name is Regan. Regan Fletcher. She is Cameron Fletcher's daughter," I said fast.

Aiden's eyebrows jumped up as his eyes went wide. He knew the history there. He knew exactly why I hated the man.

Aiden glanced over at Evie, who sat behind the computer across the garage. "The guy who killed your parents and tried to burn you two alive, who you desperately want revenge on, now has a hot daughter you've been obsessing over, and you find this to be a problem?"

My hands balled into fists. Aiden's relaxed comment wasn't the issue, exactly, but saying I had been obsessing over Regan felt wrong. Maybe I had gone out of my way searching for her, and I had gone to town the other night partially to find her. I couldn't be obsessing, though.

"I wasn't obsessing over her. I just didn't know who she was and I'm sure as fuck glad I found out. Her father killed my parents. He took everything from me and Evie, and now here I am trying to fuck his daughter on my bike."

Aiden tried to stifle his laugh but failed. "The irony here is great. What's the problem, exactly?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, trying to play dumb. The problem is I had been obsessing over her. For the first time in a long time, I felt interested in someone.

"I mean, you've been killing yourself trying to get to Fletcher for years. Are you seriously not considering using Regan to get to him? What better in to his life than his only daughter? You've tried before and never figured out who she was. Isn't this a good thing?"

I had tried to find her before, years ago, and the moment I got close, he sent her off to boarding school for four years, then college for another four years. I didn't even realize he let her come home until now. For all I had known, he killed her off, too. Why keep an heir around when, even dead, he wouldn't want to let his fortune go?

The idea of who Regan could be to me had clouded my vision until I didn't even think of the option to use her. Now, I needed to see her for who she was, the daughter of the devil.

The guy tied to the chair screamed, interrupting my thoughts and making me coil with anger. I had too much going on to hear this shit.

I flipped my knife out. "I'm so fucking sick of you bitching when you're protecting one shitty man from another." I slammed down the blade, slicing through the back of his hand until it sank into the wooden arm of the chair. He screamed, his eyes wide, looking at what I had done. "Tell us where the fuck you're dropping everything. In exchange, I'll give you five grand and tell everyone you are dead."

The metallic scent of blood filled the air, and he bit at the gag again. I ripped it down when I realized he wanted to say something.

"They will want my body."

"Great, I'll give them a body. My offer stands. Take it or you will be chained in this garage until you die. I'll have a body to give him either way."

"Fine! Fine! I'll take the deal if you let me go."

"How kind," I said, standing up. "Zack, get the information, check it out, and then drop him off at the bus station." I grabbed five grand out of the toolbox and handed it to Zack. "He doesn't get a dollar until the location is confirmed. If he lies, kill him." I turned back to the guy. "And if you ever come back, I will personally gut you."

Aiden caught up to me as I headed to the back office. "So are you going to do it?"

"Do what?" I asked, already knowing exactly what he meant.

"Use Regan to get to Fletcher."

I sat back at the desk, thinking back to Regan at Hallows Night. She had asked me to stay, and I ran off. "She might be pissed at me now. It's not like she was my biggest fan in the beginning anyway."

"That doesn't answer my question."

"Of course I'm going to do it. The girl is na?ve to who I am and would give me unlimited access to Cameron Fletcher. I'd be stupid not to use her."

Aiden grimaced, looking me over. "You being stupid is really not out of the question here."

"Shut the hell up and go get Evie and the guys. Starting now, I want to figure out where Regan is going every day and what she's doing."

"What a way to woo the girl. Send a pack of bikers to watch her every move."

"Do you have a better idea?"

"Yeah, stalk her yourself. Lazy ass. We have shit to do around here," he said, grinning.

I grabbed my stuff, heading back out. "You're right. So congratulations, you're in charge of this shit show until I'm done."

"Wait, that is not what I meant."

I was already on my bike, shoving my helmet on and backing it out. "Don't care. That's what I heard."

"What did you hear?" Evie asked.

"That Aiden's in charge while I deal with something." I wasn't going to explain to her what I was doing yet. Evie had gone through her own trauma with losing everything and everyone besides me. I wouldn't get her hopes up that I could finally take down Fletcher until I knew for sure I could do it. Right now, I had to figure out more about Regan and see if I could get closer to her.

"Why does he get to be in charge and not me?"

"Because I know what the fuck is going on around here and you don't. Back to the computer, psycho. We need those files you're digging around for."

She glared at him, but I still backed out. Evie could be mad. When it came to her being safe, I didn't give a shit what she wanted. Aiden knew it and would always make her safety a priority.

I took off, heading towards the Fletcher mansion, but for the first time, I had a reason to go. The wind whipped past me as I raced down the dark streets. For the first time in a long time, I felt like I had a chance. This could finally be what I needed to get the revenge I'd wanted for so long.

Regan Fletcher would be my ticket to bringing down the man who had ruined my life, and I wasn't going to waste it.