“She’smyold lady!”
“As I said, you know the history. All Vienna wants is physical proof that Gabriella is alive and well. And that’s all I’m asking for. I realise you had a pretty sweet deal with the police, so in return, I’m willing to call my guys off the border and let you take Belle Isle.”
“Belle Isle?” He said suspiciously.
“There’s the Meth clinic there. You’d be able to up your supply tenfold. You know the people would rather come to one of us than use a state run clinic. The choice is yours,” I shrugged again. “But that’s my final offer. You’re coming out the victor here. You’re gaining territory and losing nothing.”
“And why would you do that when you think we’ve betrayed the current ceasefire?”
“I’m doing it for my vice. I know how important Gabriella’s safety is to him. It’s something I’ve been meaning to approach you about for a while now, and after the events of the past few days, it seemed like the perfect opportunity. I am going to need something from you, however.”
“I knew it. Name your price.”
I stepped to the side, giving Nico a full view of the dying man behind me. “End it. End it in a way that your club will know it's you, and let them know that’s what happens when they betraythe ceasefire. Without that guarantee, I can’t go ahead with any truce.”
Nico looked at me for a moment before he reached into his cut and pulled out a knife with a large leather handle. He took the time to show me that the handle had his name engraved on it, as well as the Rough Riders' logo. He picked the jacket up off the floor and pulled the stitching away from the patches and placed the material on the Rider’s chest.
He then moved forward and carvedRough Ridersdirectly beneath theDevil'scarving I had done earlier. He ended it all by taking his knife and driving it straight through the skull of his club member, directly between the eyes.
I watched as he pulled out his phone and took a picture, turning the screen to me so I could see he had sent it to the Telegram group chat.
“There,” he said, pulling the knife back out with a squelching sound. “Not only have I aided the murder, I’ve pardoned it in front of everyone. I’ll have a prospect send you updates every Sunday,” he said, scowling at me.
“Then we have ourselves a truce.”
Chapter 61
Rachel
My head was still fucking killing. And the hangover on top of it hadn’t fucking helped.
I had been out early morning, taking Axel to one of those stay and play sessions, even though it was the last fucking thing on my mind. But it meant there was no chance I would run into Vienna. And that made it worth it.
I still couldn’t believe how fucking stupid we had been. The man was hot. Insanely hot. There was no way a woman with eyes could deny that. I had once joked that it was a good job he was so fucking stupid, because it just wasn’t fair for a man to look like that and contain all the brains as well. His response had been to spit in my cereal and then dunk my face in it.
But even knowing he was hot… I had never felt an attraction to him. He was like my annoying big brother. The type of big brother that was responsible for looking after you when your parents were at work, so he’d turn up to your school blasting “A2M—I Got Bitches” out of the car speakers as loudly as possible. That unique type of annoying that crept under your skin until you couldn’t help but love them.
In a very platonic fucking way.
So what the hell had I been thinking?
I didn’t want to be one of those women that blamed alcohol. That wasn’t fair. And Lord knew Dante drank way more than I did, and he would never have done this to me.
You also didn’t do half the shit to Dante that he’s done to you.
Which was a very good point. Was I subconsciously trying to hurt him?
Or maybe I was subconsciously looking for a way out.
At this point, who knew? None of my actions made sense. And I knew exactly why.
It was because of this weird, uneasy truce I was in with Dante. This wasn’t us. We were the violence and the chaos. We were the fire and the storm. This placid, kind, almost nurturing team wasn’t us. We didn’t respond to it.
We had fucked up. We had made a shit situation somehow worse. Because we always worked best when we were borderline hating each other. Even if that sounds like the most bizarre thing, it was the truth.
It wasus.
I shook my head and watched Axel as he drove cars along the wall, completely oblivious to the other children. So long as he had his cars, he was happy as a pig in shit.
