Chapter Forty-Nine
Rem
Jordan tracked Isabel’s cab to the spot I was standing with Max and Hawk. We all looked around, trying to find where she could have gone. This was an older part of Watertown, and a lot of the store fronts were empty.
This feeling of dread was growing in my stomach with every second that passed. Isabel was in danger, I could fucking feel it. While we did not know why she’d come to this part of town, I was almost certain that it had something to do with her father. She probably felt the need to end this on her own. I could kill her for putting herself in harm’s way, but what choice did she have? I was the one who’d abandoned her, who’d made the club abandon her.
I was just about to suggest we split up when I heard the rumble of a bike. I walked to the corner just as a Harley disappeared behind a brick building standing by itself down the block.
“Was he wearing a cut?” Max asked as he came up behind me.
“I don’t know, but it’s the best lead we got,” I said.
I started to head to the building. “Hold up,” Max said. “Give me your cut.” All three of us stripped off our cuts and handed them to Max.
He took them to his bike to put in his saddle bag so I motioned to Hawk. “You head to the back.”
Hawk nodded and jogged across the street to head behind the buildings.
I tried to be casual as we crossed the street and headed toward the building. We could only see one man inside through the windows.
“Jimmy’s?” Max said.
I nodded.
Max pushed open the door like he was looking for someone. I stayed behind him. “Hey is this Jimmy’s bar?”
“No, dumbass,” said the prospect.
“Too bad.” Max swung to his right, and I lifted my gun. The prospect went down without a sound.
Max pulled his weapon, and we each approached the back of the bar from different sides. We were halfway across the space when we heard a scuffle in the back. Hawk came out of the hallway, dragging a man in a suit behind him. The skinny guy held his nose as it bled. Hawk shoved the man down onto his knees. I recognized Isabel’s uncle from his picture in the file back at the clubhouse.
“Where is she?” I roared.
“Upstairs,” he said and spat blood at my boots.
I ran for the stairs with my brothers cursing behind me. There were three doors, but only one of them was closed. When I found it locked, I slammed the door open with my foot.
I was ready to start shooting, but there was no threat, just Isabel sitting on the bed with her hands over her ears.
Relief like I’d never known flooded into my veins. I didn’t realize that the uncertainty of never seeing her again was hanging over my head like a guillotine. But my happiness was cut short as I knelt in front of her and pulled her hands away from her head. There was blood all over her arms and chest.
“Isabel,” I said gently, cupping her face. Her eyes moved slowly across my face before finally meeting mine. Even then, she seemed to look through me, her gaze ghostly. A soft whine was coming from her throat, and her face was wet with tears.
Isabel’s tears were always painful, but these were different. I pulled her to me, and she cuddled herself against my neck. My eyes closed, savoring the warmth of my woman in my arms again, swearing to God I would make things right.
When I opened my eyes I was shocked to see something next to her. There was a man lying on the bed. It was one of the Snakes with a knife sticking out of his neck.
At least that explained all the blood. His jugular must have gushed when she stabbed him. My thoughts did a full stop at the sight. Isabel had killed a man?
Little ways down I noticed that his fly was down and his boxers were showing.
I held her a little tighter than I intended as pure fury took over my mind. “Did he…” I said the words through gritted teeth.
Suddenly, her crying stopped and she leaned back. Her eyes were clear as she looked at me. Her brow furrowed and then she looked around the room, as if she was taking it in for the first time. When her gaze finally settled back on me, our eyes met for only an instant before she looked away again. In that moment, I wasn’t sure if it was fear or anger that I saw in her eyes, but I knew it wasn’t relief.
Abruptly, she stood and crossed the room. “It didn’t get that far,” she said, her voice hoarse. She crossed her arms over her chest and rubbed her biceps. She only had on a tank top. Looking at it now, it was the one I saw her in yesterday, when I’d thrown her out of my club.
When Isabel looked at me again I felt the weight of her eyes like a cannon ball to the chest. They were red and puffy but sad and guarded. “What are you doing here, Rem?” she asked, licking her lips.
I stood up slowly, not sure where to start. How do you properly apologize for throwing your lover to the wolves? For allowing a man like Chico to touch her, to hurt her? What can I say to make it okay?
I decided to explain before I started to apologize. “It was Amy. She set you up to take the fall because she wanted me to hate you. I guess she thought we had something going before you arrived.”
Her lips clamped together, clearly trying to hold back more tears. I suddenly realized my mistake. She must not have known that Amy was the one to set her up.
“I’m sorry.” I tried to get closer, but she backed away again.
She still looked at the floor. “It’s okay, Rem. I have no cause to be angry. She wouldn’t have been able to do it if I hadn’t lied like I did.”
I never forgot about her role in this, but I just didn’t care anymore. She was this clueless girl thrown into a den of thieves and murderers. Does anyone truly come out without some kind of guilt? I would find out how to make it right with the club, and whatever the consequences were, I was ready to face them with her. Before I could say another word, she spoke again. “I need help getting my dad out of the basement and to a hospital, if that is okay?”
I nodded quickly. “Yeah. Of course. Skinny is bringing the van, and I’ll take care of everything here.”
“Thanks,” she said and walked out the door and down the stairs before I could say anything else. My apology for my part would have to wait.
We got her and her dad off to the hospital. She didn’t look at me the entire time.
I really fucked this up.
I watched the van drive away with Max at my back. “She’s just hurt and scared, Rem. She’ll come around,” he said, reading my mind. “After a lot of groveling, of course.”
I let out a breath and turned back to the bar. It was time to settle things here so I could think about where to start with the groveling.
Inside, Hawk still waited with the uncle on his knees. I nodded to my friend and he walked up behind Lionel. Quickly, he took one of the accountant’s hands and broke his pinky.
Lionel screamed. It was the sweetest thing I’d heard all day.
“Why are the Snakes setting up labs in our territory?” I asked after the whimpers quieted.
Lionel shook his head as if to clear it. “The cartel, they are paying them to do it,” he said between heavy breaths.
“Why would the cartel want to fund labs this side of the border?”
“They found smuggling in the ingredients is easier than trying to smuggle in the complete product. And they are tired of the Italians claiming all the business in the Midwest.”
And there it was, Mexican cartel moving against the Italian mafia. I wasn’t surprised. The Aces were just a battle in a bigger war.
“Why try to steal the drop? Why not all-out war?” Hawk said.
Lionel sneered but kept talking. “The Snakes are thugs, not soldiers. They would never survive a war with you. So I tried to have the Levino family destroy you instead.”
I was impressed with that one. If the Snakes had been successful in stealing either the drugs or the money, Vincent would have killed us regardless of whose fault it was. Lionel’s creative problem solving was inspiring. I see why the Snakes brought him on board.
“So why Isabel?” I asked, needing to know how she got involved with this shit.
Lionel looked up at me. “We needed someone on the inside. I knew you were too smart to trust some whore. We needed to send someone in who was innocent and oblivious to the real situation so you would trust her. It was just a matter of time before one of you came to care about her.” He smirked like the devil, knowing that part of his plan worked perfectly.
“How did you know?” Max said from behind me.
Lionel’s eyes stayed on me. “Your little whore, Amy.”
Fuck.
Hawk spoke up. “How did she get involved with this shit?”
Lionel moved from his knees to sit on the ground, clearly getting tired of all the questions. “She came to us.”
“What?” I said.
“I’m not sure how she came in contact with Chico, but right after you officially took Isabel as your old lady, she came to him and offered Isabel on a silver platter. Of course, we had to explain why we needed Isabel to stay.”
“Why not just use Amy to do your dirty work?” Hawk asked.
“Amy didn’t want to hurt the club, just be rid of Isabel. Chico eventually convinced her that planting the tracker with Isabel’s fingerprints on it would not only get rid of Isabel but make sure lover-boy here would hate her guts.”
I was fuming at this point, both at Lionel and Amy, but I needed to know one more thing. “Did Amy know what you intended to use the tracker for?”
“Chico told her we just wanted to know who your supplier was so we could contact them, too.”
I found it hard to believe that Amy would believe that horse-shit. But then again, I didn’t think she was capable of this kind of betrayal either. I would deal with her later.
Moving on from Amy, I asked, “Who was your contact in the cartel?”
“Chico set up the meetings. It was his cousin or something.”
I looked at Lionel for a few moments. He was a smart man, but he wasn’t a boss. We needed to know more, but retaliation from the cartel didn’t seem likely. I was almost certain that the cartel had not given Lionel and Chico their full backing yet. They probably wanted Lionel to prove that his idea could work before they made a real investment. Why else would they be using skinheads?
I told the guys to get Lionel back to the clubhouse and then we’d deal with him.
I walked outside and lit a cigarette, my last one.
Lionel Rochester may not have the balls to be a gangster, but he was smart enough to fool me. I’d fallen for Isabel very easily. He must have known that her beauty and innocence would draw an Ace in like a moth to the flame.
I would have felt like a dumbass, but I knew there were brothers standing in line if I hadn’t made the claim. Duncan, Max, even Jordan had started to like her.
Max came out leaned against the wall with me. He started shaking his head. “I feel like an idiot. We have been blind when it comes to these women. Isabel was just another pawn, but Amy…”
I didn’t say anything and just nodded toward our bikes. I needed to get away from this place before I took a match to it.