29. Steel

29

Steel

Every time I take a step forward lately, it feels like I’m going back five. Tonight, that needs to change.

Ghost hasn’t been able to locate Tempe’s mom or the car she arrived at Tempe’s house in, but he was able to find an Iron Sinners safe house listed under the name Dimitri Stone. It’s a break when we haven’t had many of those in the past couple of weeks.

And right now, we need it.

After telling Tempe her mom’s alive, things have been tense. She’s still working through what to tell Austin, so for the time being, she’s keeping it to herself, burdened by the full weight of the information. She doesn’t want to give him hope when we don’t know what it means yet, and it’s weighing on her.

I need to get her answers.

I need to make this right .

Even if fixing this for them just means letting them go and carving a giant hole in my chest.

“How do we wanna approach this?” I hand Havoc the binoculars, and he lifts them to his eyes.

We’ve been staking out the safe house from a distance, and there are a couple of lights on, so I’m assuming someone is there.

Havoc reassesses the scene, humming as he scans the distance.

His special ops training comes in handy at times like this. Especially when there’s nothing but empty desert between us and them and nothing to mask our approach.

The lack of cover is something that comes in handy when we’re defending our own clubhouse. But out here, the open land is their advantage, not ours.

The moment we start in that direction, shit is going to hit the fan.

“Eastern entrance is our best shot.” Havoc hands me the binoculars. “There’s a turnoff past the main driveway that leads to a barn out back. The hill will keep us hidden on our approach, but either way, we’re going to have to gun it and hope we outman them once we make the final turn.”

At least this house is on the opposite end of Vegas from the Iron Sinners clubhouse. It gives us the upper hand when it comes to timing because even if the men inside call for help the second they hear our bikes, it will still take thirty minutes for backup to get here.

“You think Dimitri’s there?”

“Doubt it.” I shake my head .

As much as I wish Dimitri would be a sitting duck so I could rip him apart limb by limb, I doubt he’d be dumb enough to hide out at a house in his name. He has to know the first thing we’d do is search every database for him the second he offered his name to Tempe, and that thought alone means this could also be a trap.

Too bad we have no choice but to walk into it.

“We ready to roll out?” Soul asks, walking up behind me.

He and the second wave of men have arrived, and I look back to find them armed and ready. Whether we’re at a disadvantage or not, it won’t get better than this.

“It’s now or never.”

I climb back on my bike and rev the engine, knowing the men in the safe house might hear it, and we have no choice.

Tempe and Austin aren’t safe until I neutralize Dimitri. And even if he’s not here, I will burn every piece of property the Iron Sinners own to the ground, starting with this one.

My brothers follow me in formation on our bikes. We move in unison up the small hill that shields us momentarily from view. But the moment we turn around the other side, there’s nothing but empty desert between us and the house, so we gun it, not slowing down.

My bike eats up the pavement as we rush ahead. At fifty yards out, the first gunshot echoes in the desert, and my men immediately split off and start to circle.

Just like we planned.

Hit them hard and without mercy .

There’s no other option when they’ll go down fighting just like we will. So long as I can keep a couple of them alive long enough to get some information, this will all be worth it.

I roll my bike to a stop and jump off, already reaching for my gun. Someone shoots through an upstairs window, and I duck behind a shed with Legacy to avoid getting hit.

He peeks his head out for a split second before another shot rings out.

It splinters the wood siding on the shed as the bullet barely misses him.

“I’ve got a clear line of sight if you can distract him.” Legacy presses his back to the shed, holding his gun up.

He nods once, ready to move the second I take the heat off us.

We’ve been in this situation more times than I can count. At this point, battle is a choreographed routine.

I remember when Dad was in charge, and raids were more chaotic. We’d lose men every time, and there was no better plan than getting in and out to achieve our objective. I didn’t realize back then why that was, but after Helix betrayed the club, it became clear to me.

Trust.

This only works if you know everyone has your back and you have theirs. It’s the one good thing we have going for us after all the bad that happened.

There’s a break in shots from the upstairs window when the shooter reloads, and I pop up, shooting rounds at the side of the house. He’s out of view, so he won’ t get hit, but that’s not the point. I’m just creating cover to give Legacy the perfect opening.

The second I pull back, the shooter does exactly what we expect, popping back up to take aim.

But Legacy is on it, and the moment his forehead comes into view, Legacy hits straight in the center of it.

He isn’t ex-military like Havoc, but he’s the best shot in the club.

“Nice.” I grin at another Iron Sinner’s soul going to hell where it belongs.

Soul and Ghost turn the corner of the house with a few others. “We’re clear on the west side. Havoc and Sonny are clearing the house now.”

It doesn’t take long before Havoc waves us in, and I find three Iron Sinners tied up in the living room. A fourth lying in his own blood in the middle of the kitchen, and it’s ironic, given Dimitri painted the same puddle of blood in Tempe’s house.

Unfortunately, Dimitri isn’t here.

Walking up to the men tied up in the living room, I assess them, searching for the weakest link and pointing to a kid who looks barely eighteen.

“Him first.”

I make my way down the hallway that leads to the back of the house, and Havoc drags the kid with us, while the rest of the guys stay up front.

“In here.” I point to a nearly empty bedroom, and Havoc drags him in .

There’s nothing more than a mattress on the floor and a bag of clothes in the corner. The Iron Sinners treat their men as well as they do anything else—like shit.

“This your room, kid?”

He shakes his head, trembling.

He might not realize it yet, but he isn’t cut out for this life. His eyes are too wide, and he’s too damn scared when we’ve yet to do anything to him. Lucky for us, it makes him the perfect mark when I need someone to break.

I face the kid with my arms crossed over my chest. “I’m gonna make this real simple for you. Tell us where Dimitri is, and I’ll let you walk out of here.”

Just because I’m planning on burning Titan and his crew to the ground doesn’t mean I’m starting with a damn teenager. Especially one who is bound to be weeded out of this life the moment he actually has to choose between himself and his club. If anything, I’m doing him a favor, testing his loyalty before Titan sniffs him out.

“I don’t know where Dimitri is.”

I plant the barrel of my gun on the center of his forehead, and his eyes slam shut. “Don’t bullshit me. This is Dimitri’s house. Where the fuck is he?”

“I swear.” His voice shakes. “They don’t tell us anything. We guard the guns out back, and Dimitri comes by once every few weeks to check in. But then he leaves again.”

I lower my gun, and the kid blinks his eyes open.

“What does he do when he’s here?”

“Not much.” The kid shakes his head. “Checks inventory and lets Mastiff know about any new shipments. Most of the time, he’s locked in the basement, but no one else is allowed down there, so I don’t know what he’s doing.”

“All right.” I nod at Havoc. “Keep him here while I check it out.”

Making my way back down the hall, I head to the door that I assume leads to a basement.

“Ghost, Soul, you’re with me. Legacy, keep an eye on things.”

Legacy nods while Ghost and Soul head downstairs. At the bottom of the steps is a separate door that takes a pair of bolt cutters to get through. The room is mostly empty and hot. There’s no air circulating, and every surface is covered in dust.

I make my way to the table at the other side and find stacks of pictures and plans. The blueprint for our tattoo parlor. Printouts of codes and building regulations.

It confirms what Ghost found on the drive. They’ve been using our own secrets to shut down our businesses on the Strip.

Flipping through the stack of photos and building plans, a folder at the bottom catches my attention, and my gut plummets when I open it.

The picture on top is one of Tempe walking out of Dirty Drakes. Beneath it is one of her getting in Sonny’s truck.

One after another, the pictures follow her every movement. Some of her working, some of her getting home. A few of her and Austin in the backyard from before she started staying at my club.

Dimitri has been watching her and Austin’s every move for longer than I realized .

My fists clench as I stare down at the photos.

“What’d you find over—” Soul doesn’t finish his sentence as he sees what’s in my hand.

It’s a picture of Tempe sitting on my lap outside at the clubhouse. Her eyes are closed, her head is tipped back, and I know exactly what moment this is. It’s a picture that could only have been taken by someone on the inside.

“Fuck.” Soul drags his hand through his hair. “What do you wanna do, Steel?”

I crinkle the photo and toss it to the ground. Every bone in my body feels like it’s grinding together. They’re watching my girl. They’re watching Austin. And worse, one of my own men is doing it.

“I want to send a message.” I look Soul in the eyes. “We’re going to remind these traitors what happens when they fuck with what’s mine. And then we’re going to burn everything Titan owns to the ground.”