He stops talking and looks over at Shadow next to him, who just nods his head before he continues for Wrath.
“When myself, Wrath, and Flame were still in high school, a new girl started at our school, and she immediately befriended Wrath. Her name was Claire McGivens. What none of us knew at that time was that she'd been planted in our lives by her father, Ian McGivens. He wanted to take over some of our businesses and also kill Blaze in hopes that he could become President of Devil's Inferno. Obviously, the guy had no clue how an MC runs because if he did, he’d have known that if he did end up killing Blaze, he still wouldn't have been the one who became President. I found out what they were doing when I broke into their house one night and decided to snoop around. I never fully trusted Claire; something about the way she acted just never sat right with me, and I decided to investigate. That night, I found a lot of information in her Dad's office, including how they were going to use Wrath to lure Dad to them and then kill him. As I'm sure you can imagine, I wasn't happy with what I'd found."
Shadow stops for a moment as his voice becomes laced with anger.
"I managed to take photos of everything I found, which I sent to Flame, as I didn't want to worry my Dad until I had found everything I could. However, I didn't get out of the house before Ian and Claire came home, but I did manage to blend into the office and hide. They had no idea I was there, and when theystarted to discuss what Claire had done that night, I recorded it. Tech, can you play the file, please?"
Tech just gives Shadow a nod and clicks play. Immediately, I hear the recording I heard so many years ago.
“So, have you managed to get in with one of Blaze's boys?” Ian asks Claire
“Oh, yes, Daddy, Jackson. He believes my little innocent act, and he seems to be struggling with something internally right now. Not that I care about that, but I managed to use it to my advantage. I got him drunk tonight, totally took advantage of the situation, and slept with him. It's a good job he's hot, or I would've hated every moment of it. Anyway, what Jackson doesn’t know is that his little gay friend Hunter caught us in the act. He looked so heartbroken to see us going at it. So I think we can safely assume that I should be able to isolate him enough from his lapdog for you to use him to get to Blaze.”
We can all hear her laughing after she finishes speaking.
“Oh, child, you're good; you couldn't have planned it better if you tried. That should cause a decent rift, and hopefully we can isolate him enough for our plans to work. We need a way to lure Blaze, and his son's definitely the way to go. It's widely known that he'd do anything to protect either of them.”
“Sure, Daddy, it was no hardship for me. I can't wait for you to kill Blaze and take over as President. I’ll get to be an MC Princess, and everyone will be so jealous. I'm going to bed now. I need my beauty sleep before I see Jackson again tomorrow. Goodnight Daddy.”
“Goodnight, sweetheart. I promise you'll be a Princess soon.”
Tech ends the recording, and I know my face is blank. I'm not going to show any of these fuckers any emotion. What happened back then did fucking hurt me, but I got over it pretty fast when I found out what they had planned for Wrath and Blaze.
“I left after Ian did and took the recording straight to Flame, so he could hear the truth about what had happened. Then we both went and let my Dad and Wrath hear it,”Shadow explains before I take over the story.
Calmly, I begin to speak.“After the truth was exposed to us all, we made our play against them. A play they didn't expect. Blaze decided that we could be the ones to deal with them when we asked. Wrath came up with a plan that he wanted implemented. So, while Claire was at school with Wrath and Shadow the next day, I went to the McGivens’ house and caught Ian unaware. Claire wasn't suspicious about my absence because she knew I'd seen her and Wrath together, assuming it would cause issues between us. I tortured Ian for all the information I needed so there wouldn't be any surprises left behind once he died. Once he gave me all the information I wanted, I set him on fire, alive. I wasn't going to kill him quickly, not after what he planned to do. After I finished my part, I sent Wrath a text that it was done, and he confronted Claire.”
Wrath then takes over the story once more.“I confronted Claire when we left school that day. I'd spent the entire day playing along like I knew nothing about what they'd planned. Even though I couldn't stand her being anywhere near me. As I was walking her home, I told her that we knew what they were planning and what she'd done. When we got to her house, which was engulfed in flames, I whispered it was over; her father was gone, and she needed to run. We never heard from her again. Until now, it seems.”Wrath concludes.
I've been watching Spot this whole time; he's now white as a ghost and swallowing hard.
“Tech.”Wrath says, indicating he wants Tech to take over and tell us what he's found out.
“So far, I've found out quite a bit since Prez asked me to specifically research Claire. Claire lives two towns over in Royal Creek, where we know the person behind everything's based. She's also got a little crew courtesy of her drug dealer boyfriend. They're small-time thugs with long arrest records. According to what I've found on the dark web, they're looking to hire someone to take all three of you out who won't fail but haven’t had any luck yet. It seems no one is willing to take out Devil's Inferno's President, Vice President, and one of our Enforcers.”He stops talking to chuckle, which causes everyone else to chuckle too.
Once everyone is quiet again, he continues,“She's got quite a bit of money, which she inherited after her father died. She's using it to fund her vendetta. She's also got a half-sister on her mother's side who no longer has anything to do with her after Claire threatened to kill her after she tried to save Cam from a beating he was getting in front of her. Don't ask me how I found that information, as it wasn't easy and I won't tell you. Jasmine, that's the sister; lives here in Devil's Point if you want to send someone to talk to her. That's all I've got so far, but my programs are still running.”Tech informs us all.
“Thanks Tech. What you've told us lines up pretty well with everything Cam's written that he remembers; the only major difference is the information Cam provided about our traitor Snake. As you're all aware, Snake attacked Cam. It turns out Snake's the brother of Claire's boyfriend and has been betraying us for years. He's going to severely regret that. That's all for now. Watch your backs out there and work your contacts; you never know what they might hear. Dismissed.”Wrath says before slamming down his gavel, indicating the end of the meeting.
Everyone gets up and files out of the room, collecting their phones from Jake. I slowly follow behind Spot at a distanceso that he doesn't see me. I really want to see what he'll do after what's just been said in Church. Spot slips outside The Clubhouse, walking towards the back of the parking lot.
As I follow, I see that he's already got his phone up to his ear, talking to someone.
“They know everything!”He shouts down the phone.
“No, shut up a minute and listen to me! They know it's you behind the attacks! For fuck sakes, woman.”He mutters, going silent while listening to whatever she's saying.
"Yes, I know Cam's missing! Well, I wouldn't say missing, as he's fucking here with Wrath! You fucked up!”He tells whoever he's talking to, who I'm guessing is Claire by what's being said.
He hangs up the phone, muttering something under his breath that I can't hear.
He starts to walk off back towards The Clubhouse, having no idea he's being followed. It seems that I wasn't the only one suspicious of Spot, as out of nowhere Shadow appears in front of an oblivious Spot and injects him with something. My guess is a sedative, given how quickly he drops to the ground. Shadow must've asked Doc for it at some point. Now that was smart thinking. Personally, I was looking forward to knocking him out the old-fashioned way, but this is just as handy. I walk over to where Shadow's chuckling, bend down to scoop Spot over my shoulder before following behind him to our holding area.
When we enter the holding area, I see Blade's already here waiting for me, as we're going to question Snake. He raises his eyebrows when he sees who's over my shoulder. I just shake my head and drop the traitor in the empty cell beside Snake’s. Now Snake doesn't look happy about Spot being here at all. Did he think Spot would come to his rescue? It looks like that hope's shattered now. Shadow nods at us both, turns, and leaves. Clearly, he's not interested in watching what we're going to doto Snake, which I find a little unusual but don't comment on. He obviously has something to do with how quickly he's leaving.
Eyeing up Snake, I ask Blade,“Where do you want to start?”
“I want to string him up and play with my new knives; I want to see how sharp they are. This is the perfect opportunity to test them out.”Blade gleefully says.
