Chapter Thirty-Two

Storm

I had just walked into the clubhouse when Pippen frantically jumped up from the seat he was sitting in, causing the chair to crash to the floor.

"About damn time you two showed up!" the young intern shouted anxiously. I got he was under a lot of stress taking over Shame's duties, but if he was going to break at the first sign of trouble, he would never make brother status.

Kid seriously needed to chill the fuck out.

"Boy, I am not in the mood for your shit," Montana grumbled, walking past the kid, only for Pippen to jump in front of him, stopping him dead in his tracks. I wasn't sure what the hell was going on, but I was pretty sure the kid was about to get his ass beat.

"You need to make time!"

"What is his problem?" Montana asked, looking around the clubhouse.

"Don't know. Kid has been like this ever since we got here. Fucker won't say shit. Only that it's bigger than we all thought," Payne sneered, as he glared at the young man.

"Because it is!" Pippen shouted at no one in particular. "Holy shit! It's like momentous!"

"Is that even a word?" Payne leaned over, whispering to Fury, who shrugged, as he too looked annoyed with the newest intern.

"Think the kid's losing it. Maybe we promoted him too soon," Mercy said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Will all of you just shut up!" the kid damn near screamed, causing the room to go deathly still.

Yanking the kid away from Montana before he snapped the young man's neck, I grabbed his shoulder, snapping my finger in his face. "Breathe, Pippen. What the hell has your panties in a wad?"

"Sypher."

"What about Sypher?"

"The drive he gave you."

"Got it. It had information on Delany and her connection to the Golden Skulls. We already know that."

"No," Pippen gasped, shaking his head furiously. "That wasn't all that was on the drive. There was more."

"Get to the fucking point, kid. We have an arsonist to find and kill" Montana griped angrily.

Pippen growled. "The arsonist can wait."

"Storm," Mercy groaned. "Make the kid make sense before Montana kills him."

Looking around the room, I frowned. The clubhouse was open. Several eyes looked on, all interested in what Pippen needed to say. Even Silver leaned against the bar, curious.

"Montana, maybe we should take this into the boardroom?"

"Why the fuck not?" the angry man snarled. "No one seems to listen to me anymore, anyway. Brothers are off doing their own damn thing. My woman isn't talking to me. The fucking Rejects are in the wind, oh... and I have a mess, not of my making, to clean up, thanks to my fucking dad, or we're at war. But sure ... let's shelve what the kid needs to say so we can all hear it behind a closed door."

Storming over to the bar, Silver moved quickly, grabbing a full bottle of whiskey just as Montana yanked it from her hand, storming past her into the boardroom with Mercy following, as we all heard him say, "You know sarcasm is the lowest form of whit, right?"

"Shut the fuck up, Mercy!"

With a tight grip on the kid's collar, I dragged him into the boardroom, shoving him into my seat as I glared down at him. When Payne closed the damn door, I watched Pippen grab his phone and punch a bunch of numbers into it. In the next instant, I heard the doors automatically lock as the glass partition separating the boardroom from the rest of the clubhouse went dark.

"What the fuck?" Fury said, sitting up. "Did the windows always do that?"

Looking at Montana, I saw Mercy frown as he too sat up straighter. Montana only glared at the kid as he unscrewed the cap off the whiskey bottle.

"Everything's off. What I'm about to say you don't want recorded."

"Okay, I'll say it," Vicious admitted. "Kid has me worried now."

Montana growled. "I'm waiting."

"I know why David and Donna were killed."

"So do we," Fury spoke up. "He knew Gale Stevens was the arsonist."

Pippen shook his head. "No. Well, yes, that's part of it, but not the real reason he died."

"Still waiting."

Taking a seat next to Pippen, I gave him my undivided attention when he began.

"When Storm gave me the drive Sypher compiled with all the information regarding Delany, I thought all I would find would be her connection to the Golden Skulls. But that's not all that was on there. Sypher gave us everything. And I mean everything regarding Delany. Yes, her dad, David, is the son of Xavier Goldman. But it's her mom that he left out. I thought maybe Sypher may have gotten it wrong, so I did a small dive to confirm everything. The second I did, the club's computer system was breached."

"What the fuck do you mean, breached?"

"Hacked. We were hacked," Pippen clarified, before quickly adding, "But don't worry, I shut that shit down fast. No one hacks my shit and gets away with it. Anyway, that breach only confirmed what Sypher gave us. Delany isn't just a Golden Legacy. She's the heir to the St. James family."

Vicious cursed loudly, getting up from his chair and pacing the room.

Montana slowly sat up in his seat and sneered, "Tell me you are fucking lying?"

Pippen gulped. "I'm not. I checked three times. Even called Sypher. He confirmed everything. Delany is the heir to the St. James family."

Looking from Pippen to Montana, I asked, "Want to fill me in?"

"Gideon St. James," Vicious began, rubbing the back of his neck. "The slimiest, evilest motherfucker on the planet. Reaper caught onto his game too late. By the time Bullseye put a bullet in the fucker's head, the bastard had already done the damage."

"His mother, Sylvia, was worse. She made Gideon look like a fucking boy scout. I never liked the fucking prick. Always brown nosing, trying to find a way into my club. Thank God Dad had already turned the club over to me because I would have killed that fucker with my bare hands if he was here. That whole family was sadistic and major players in the Society ," Montana added before asking, "How is Delany related to those sick fucks?"

Bane leaned forward and revealed what we all wanted to know. "Delany's mother was Donna St. James before she married David. Donna was the only daughter of Sylvia St. James and the older sister to Gideon. When Donna learned that her mother had her whole life planned out, Donna refused. Like Delany, she wanted nothing to do with anything. David and Donna were making arrangements to disappear when 9/11 happened. Like everyone in the city, they were stuck. Donna couldn't get out and David couldn't leave his brothers to rebuild alone. So, David stashed Donna and Delany at my place. I was basically living at the hospital back then. I rarely went home. When I did, I made sure they never saw me. But when the murders started, David and I knew it would not end well. It didn't take a genius to know that a firefighter caused the murders and fires, ‘cause only someone with training would know to cut off all access to escape. When the second family died, David got suspicious when Gale insisted on knowing where Donna was. Fucker said he just wanted to make sure she was safe. But when the third family died, Gale demanded to know. Even going as far as having the Battalion Chief order that all firefighters confirm the whereabouts of their families."

"The sick bastard was in love with Donna. Wasn't he?" I asked, putting things together quickly as Bane nodded.

"Yeah. He was. When David refused to give the whereabouts of his family, the fourth and fifth fires happened. All in a three-day span."

Fury muttered, "A jealous fit of rage."

"That's when David learned Gale opened an investigation into him at the bequest of Sylvia St. James. Claiming she believed David was the arsonist and murderer. Even going as far as to plant evidence at the last fire to incriminate David. In reality, Sylvia was trying to get her daughter back, because like with Linsey's family, only the female inherits. Anyway, when David learned who was really behind the murders, he didn't waste time. He picked up Donna and Delany and fled. I never saw them again."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Bane, but Sylvia St. James was a sitting member of the Society . She ran the Sunshine Foundation, right?" Vicious asked causing Pippen to pick up the story.

"Sylvia St. James wasn't just a sitting member in the Society . She ran a division of the Society and created a charity in 1990 called Sunshine Child. On the surface, the charity was legit. It helped children from troubled homes. It was her sub-charity, Sunshine Kids, that was different. On the outside, the charity homed orphaned kids, but in truth, it was linked to several adoption agencies and hospitals around the world. The charity searched for remarkable children. The higher the I.Q., the more valuable they were. She took those children and created Poseidon Innovation. Poseidon Innovation's function was twofold. One division dealt with the many military contracts with the federal government and the other was pharmaceutical. Her company specialized in the latest modern urban warfare technology. Everything from drones to computer technology for fighting the world's current wars. As for the pharma side, they, along with three other pharmaceutical companies, got the bid to create the vaccine for the current pandemic. Today, the company is worth trillions."

"Jesus Christ," I moaned, leaning forward, my head in my hands as I tried to absorb everything.

"I'm sorry, Storm. But there is more."

"Of course there is," Montana clipped, taking a long swig out of the whiskey bottle.

"Delany isn't just related to Sylvia St. James. She is also a first cousin to Donatella Valentinetti."

"Which explains why Illyria said what she did at the Fireman's Ball," Fury groaned. "Anything else, kid?"

"Only that David and Donna both died protecting their daughter. They didn't want her anywhere near this shit," Pippen stated, looking at Montana, who saluted, then nodded when Pippen added, "Also, George Stone knew who the Campbells were when he ordered the Arizona club to burn them. He was a member of the Society , too."

"Motherfucker!" Vicious roared as he punched a hole in the nearest wall.

"I'm still compiling all the information Sypher gave us, Prez. It's a lot, and I'm going to need a few more days to go through it all, but that's the gist of what I found so far."

The room was eerily quiet as we all let Pippen's words sink in. Even I had to admit it was a lot. Not only was I married to a Golden Legacy, but a direct cousin to the wife of a Valentinetti Family member and the heir to one of the world's most corrupt businesses.

Talk about a trifecta.

Now everything made sense. Why Sypher was so angry, Remi's words, Illyria and Maxim's threats. I married the one woman on the planet who needed to stay hidden. They all demanded I protect the one woman on the planet that held the keys to everything.

Only she didn't know it.

"We can't tell her," I said, looking up at my brothers. "She won't be able to handle this. She's barely hanging on with what she knows."

"You want to hide her birthright? Her inheritance from her? Storm, Delany is the sole heir to a trillion-dollar company. If she takes control, she can change things for the better. You can't keep this from her," Fury petitioned adamantly.

"That same company is connected to the Society . Who knows how many still loyal to that fucked-up group still work there. Besides, let's not forget the fact that the second she claims the company, she puts a bullseye on her back. The press will rip her apart. I won't put her through that. No."

"Storm's right," Mercy said, agreeing with me. "We can't tell her. You all heard what she said earlier today. She wants nothing to do with any of this. She just wants to live free and raise Harlow in peace. I say we give her what she wants. While she will never really be free, we can give her the illusion of freedom."

Bane groaned. "How the fuck are we going to accomplish that, because last I saw, Storm lives at Davenport Tower? His own family lives in the city."

"I have an idea. But you're not going to like it, Bane," Montana stated, rubbing his hands down his face. "Sign over your house to Storm. The club will buy up the surrounding land and properties. We form a barricade around her. Tess has been on my ass about finding a home in the country, anyway. We create the most secure compound in the world. Bring in Harbor Security and let them do their thing. Then we hire the best security force on the fucking planet to watch over her and Harlow."

"Consider it done," Bane said, shocking the hell out of everyone. "Fury, draw up the papers and I'll sign."

"That was too fucking easy." Montana narrowed his eyes at his former best friend. "What fucking game are you playing, asshole?"

"No games. I promised David and Donna that if anything happened to them, I would look after Delany. If that means giving up my home so she can live free of this fucked-up mess, then so be it. Storm, I will take your penthouse at Davenport Tower. It's closer to the hospital anyway and I'm getting tired of the long drive."

"We still have one fucking problem." Payne yawned before saying, "We have an arsonist to find and kill."