I’ve just finished explaining the situation to Falc and Ruin, Axel’s older brother and the Club’s Vice President as Luca bursts through the door with a cheeky grin on his face.

“You took your time,” I say knowing he was already here because Noah had come in, but Luca was delayed for some reason.

“Man, those girls are having a great time, and they’re damn light weights too.”

Rolling my eyes, I shake my head. “Leave the girls alone, they’ve been through a lot of shit today.”

Luca scoffs. “Leave them alone? They were the ones that called me a ho!”

“If the shoe fits.” Axel chuckles.

Luca shrugs and nods in agreement while he takes a seat at the table.

“Now what do you boys want to do about this little problem we seem to have?” Falc asks.

“I want to take the fucking Syndicate down.” I clench my fists trying to calm the rage burning in my stomach. I can’t believe that after everything, I’ve put Lily in this position again, where we have to run and hide. I need to finally set things right, and this time Luca won’t be able to hold me back from being involved.

This is my fight, my team, my woman.

I feel as though it’s my duty to protect them all, and I’m failing.

Not only has Lily been dragged into this fight because of me, but so is my team and now they’re targets. The Agency has done too much damage, taken too many lives. Lives of people who were potentially innocent. I will carry that on my shoulders for the rest of my life. But maybe, just maybe, if I can make this right and extract the evil from inside The Agency, then we can turn things around. Liberate ourselves and find redemption.

When my life was ended, so did my loyalty and connection to The Agency. Now I answer to no one but myself. I have to face all the mistakes I’ve made in my faith and believing the wrong people. I struggle to look in the mirror. They have made me into a man I never wanted to be. They’d crafted and molded me to be their puppet, and to do their dirty work, in order to keep their hands clean. But now the strings are cut and nothing can wash away the impurities that mar their skin. In the darkness they are visible, but Lily has shone her light down and now there are no shadows for them to hide amongst. They created me, and now I’m going to make them regret it.

“How exactly are we going to take them down? We don’t even know where the hell the Syndicate are?” Luca asks.

“We’ll find them,” I state sharply.

“Aren’t these guys your Old Lady’s brothers? How does she feel about you going out to kill them?” Ruin asks. It’s a little distracting just how similar to his brother he looks, but he’s looking at me like he’s unsettled. Ruin has always been the level-headed one of the brothers. It was one of the reasons he makes for a good VP. He isn’t afraid to stand up and fight for his club. Axel had told stories of when Ruin had caught a guy that had raped a member’s Old Lady, and how he had literally torn him limb from limb. Ruin stands up for what’s right, but he’s more of an old soul who considers all situations as a whole and the repercussions they can bring.

“Lily doesn’t even know these guys,” I protest.

“But they’re still her brothers, her family.”

Luca scoffs. “Yeah, that tried to kill us.”

“Because they think their sister is dead, and that you’re responsible. Doesn’t that show you something about what kind of men they are?” Ruin replies.

I want to hear what he’s saying but there’s a red haze clouding my head and my judgment. He’s right. I haven’t considered Lily and how she feels about all this. Or even how she feels about finding out that she has these brothers, let alone having them come after us. She’s already carrying enough weight on her shoulders and I didn’t want to burden her with more bullshit that would just drag her down. I need to do what I promised I would do, protect her.

Turning to Noah, I flare my nostrils. “Do you think you could get into The Agency database without being detected?”

Noah shrugs. “They might be able to see that there’s someone inside it looking, but as long as I cover my tracks they won’t know who. They might be able to shut me down once they realize, though. So I’d need to be quick. Although, I do have multiple tricks up my sleeve. After all, I helped secure that program, and I sure as shit put in enough back doors to ensure I could never be shut out of it.”

“I hope you’re good at covering your tracks then,” Luca jabs.

Noah smirks and chuckles slightly. “Remember when you got suspended for having all that male porn on your computer?”

Luca throws his hands in the air exasperatedly. “Dude, I told you that wasn’t me.”

Noah laughs. “Oh… I know.”

It takes Luca a moment to click, you can see him processing it in his head and the instant he realizes his eyes bulge out of his head as I smirk and he glares at Noah. “You… fucking shit head! Did you see the way the girls around The Agency looked at me after that?”

I glance at Falc and Ruin who are attempting to hide their laughter.

“Yeah, that’s why I did it. Your ego was getting a little too damn big,” Noah quips with a giant grin.

Shaking my head, I chuckle to myself. Sometimes being in charge of this team is like trying to herd cats. “All right, will you two shut the hell up and get on with it. I need information now.”

“What do you want to know?” Noah asks.

“I want the names of anyone who’s associated with the Sinclair Syndicate. Then we’ll pay them a little visit and hope like fuck our powers of persuasion gets us some details, or even better an address.”

Noah snaps a salute and leaves the room on a mission.

“You know we’ll back you up if you need us,” Falc tells me.

“Thank you, but I’d rather not bring my bullshit down on the club.”

A knock on the door surprises us so we look toward the door.

“Come in,” Falc calls out. The door opens slightly as a prospect peers his head through the gap and nods toward me.

“Your crew is here… Eli and Tanner, I think.”

I stand up with a curt nod and step quickly toward the door eager to find out how Blair is doing. I rush past, through the door and out into the main clubroom. Only having a moment to prepare myself before Daisy launches herself at me, her weight throwing me off balance, but I retain my footing and catch her in my arms. She’s obviously over-excited as her tongue darts out slobbering up the side of my face.

“Hey girl, it’s good to see you, too,” I say holding on and basically hugging her close to my chest. She’s just as I remembered. It’s been so long since I’ve seen her, but not long enough that I don’t remember how much she weighs. I glare at Molly while she smirks at me and I shake my head. “What the fuck have you been feeding her?” I ask as she has obviously gained weight, a lot of it.

Molly shrugs. “I dunno, the usual. She loves donuts, did you know that? ‘Specially the chocolate ones.”

My eyes widen dramatically. “Dogs can’t eat chocolate.”

She laughs evilly. “Just kidding, special agent man. I’m not a fucking idiot.”

“The jury is still out on that one,” Luca mutters, and I don’t miss the evil glare that Noah shoots from across the room at Luca. I certainly haven’t missed the chemistry between Noah and Molly when they’re together. I’m not sure if something’s going on there or not, but I know there’s definitely an attraction between them. I’ll need to keep an eye on that.

With Daisy still in my arms, I bend down and place her gently on the floor then move over to a seat.

“Lily,” I call out for her to join me. Seeing as I might be about to head out to do something horrid, I want to be as close to her as I can be for now. She comes over and sits on my lap and I wrap my arms around her as Tanner moves over toward me. I can see the worried look in her eyes as she sits down next to me. I take a deep breath and ask, “What’s happening with Blair?”

“The tree branch punctured the skin and muscle tissue but didn’t hit any vital organs. He has a broken rib and the others are bruised. Also he got a pretty good hit to the head, but they did a scan and it appears like it’s just a concussion. The blood in the ear was a cut inside the actual ear and it will heal itself. Nothing vital,” she explains.

Sighing with relief I’m glad that Blair will be okay and that the recovery time won’t be too long.

“He’s refusing the damn painkillers,” Tanner says, frustration clearly evident in her voice. “He’s in so much pain, but he’s so fucking stubborn.”

“You know why he’s like that,” I tell her, understanding Blair’s reasoning. Addiction is never pretty, but having it forced on you would fuck with anyone’s head. Blair is very cautious about taking any drugs from people he doesn’t trust because of his history. Blair was drugged to make him stronger and more aggressive by a guard from juvie, who turned out to be an underground fighting coach. Blair’s detox was brutal and now any kind of medication he won’t take a chance on, in case of relapse. I understand his hesitation. He doesn’t want to be that man again. But Tanner watching him suffer in pain is hard too. It’s a tough situation.

I glance to Noah who’s typing frantically on his laptop, he’s making satisfied grunting noises, piquing my interest when he looks up with a great big smile and announces, “Found them!”

I place Lily next to me and rush over to where he’s sitting, slipping into the seat beside him and focussing on the laptop screen.

“We’ve gotta do this quickly before they realize someone’s inside and kick me the hell out before we get what we need,” Noah explains. “Once they know I’m in here it’s easier for them to set up defenses to keep me out.”

“I thought you could get through anything?” I comment.

“I can, but we’re sort of on a time crunch here.”

Nodding, I look back to the screen as I scroll down the list of associates.

Axel stands behind us and points at one in particular. “Locust Grove isn’t far from here, little over an hour.” I examine the mug shot of the guy in Locust Grove. Jimmy Lowe. A man with gray hair, bug eyes, pale skin and a weasel complex. He looks like a douche. Nodding my head, I clench my jaw from side to side.

“What do you wanna do?” Luca asks.

I glance across to Lily who’s watching me intently, her eyes filled with worry. But I know what has to be done and this means slipping back into the darkness, even if only for a brief moment. That’s where I work best when there’s no feelings or emotions present within me. But will Lily be able to understand that?

“I want to find him, and I want every piece of information he can give me.” Standing up, I walk over to Lily cupping her face in my hands. “But first, I need a minute. Get all those details in order,” I direct and then grab Lily’s hand and lead her toward our bedroom.

Her hand is trembling in mine slightly and even though she’s completely silent her silence speaks volumes. She is terrified. Lily has no idea what’s happening, but I know she’s petrified right now at the seriousness of the moment. Leading her to our bed, I sit her down on the edge. Her eyes are glistening as I bring my hand up and caress her face. Her cheek leans into my palm and I caress her a little more.

“I love you. That above everything else you should know…”

She nods and weakly smiles. “I know.”

“I’m doing this for us. I’ve been trained this way, and there’s a chance I’m going to need to do some shitty things tonight.”

She exhales licking her bottom lip. “I understand. I don’t want any more people to get hurt. But I realize that in order for good to prevail that sometimes it needs to sink into the level of bad.”

“It does…” I give her a half-smile, “… but I want you to know that even though I might do some bad stuff tonight, it’s all to make things safe. To make it safe for you… for us.”

She nods weakly as her eyes twinkle with unshed tears. “Is there a chance you could get hurt?”

Shaking my head adamantly, I look into her glistening eyes. “I don’t think so, baby. It’s a simple dash and grab. He will be there either alone or with a couple of others. I’ll have my team with me and we can take them. We need a simple information exchange. I won’t be in any danger. I promise.”

She sniffs looking down to her hands in her lap. “Kace, if I ever lost you…” she pauses and my chest tightens.

“That’s not gonna happen, Lily. You and me… we’re forever, okay? We’re gonna grow old on a farm with a cabin, it’s gonna have a little stream out the back with a big barn where you can have a vet practice. It’s gonna happen, you just have to believe.”

She looks back up at me and nods. “I believe you. I just don’t know how many people have to get hurt in the process. Are you going out to find my brothers?”

Swallowing hard, I take a deep breath. “No, we don’t know how to find them, but we’ve found someone who might. We’re going to find him.”

“And you’re going to hurt him?”

Wincing slightly, I tilt my head. “Maybe it’s best if you don’t know.”

A single tear falls down her cheek and I quickly wipe it away. “Hey, I’ll try my best. But we need to know where Ares and Ezra are. We don’t want them surprising us again. I… I need to know you’re safe, Lily.”

She nods and takes my hand in hers. “It’s fine, I understand. I just hope that once we do find my brothers we can talk to them rather than… sort them out.”

Nodding, I lean in kissing her forehead and pull her to me embracing her tightly. “That’s what I’m aiming for.” I pull back and move my hand to her chin forcing her eyes up to look at me. “I will do anything… anything to protect you.”

She nods. “Just don’t lose yourself completely in the process,” she whispers another tear falling down her cheek.

I nod, wiping it away and lean in to press my lips to hers forcefully. In all honesty, I have no idea what I’m going to be heading into tonight. Jimmy’s house could be surrounded by goons and we could be massively outnumbered. But it’s a chance I have to take. Lily just doesn’t have to know that. My tongue moves with hers as I kiss her like it could be our last time. Let’s face it, it very well could be. I pull back looking into her glistening eyes. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Be safe.”

“Always.” I press my forehead to hers, kissing her nose softly, then stand up and walk out of our room not looking back. I know she’s crying but I can’t watch her fall apart right now. I have to have my game face on and do the job that needs doing. Jimmy Lowe is my prime target, so my energy is now focused solely on getting to him.

Walking out to the main room I see Tanner and Noah suited up.

“You guys ready to head?” I ask and they both nod.

Taking a deep breath, I swing my backpack over my shoulder as Noah throws a rifle at me. I look over at the two man team going with me and simply nod. “Let’s go!”