The parking lot is deserted, all the windows on the bottom two floors are smashed, and the building is covered in graffiti.
“This is bullshit,” one of the Reapers barks when we all come to a stop, staring up at the building.
“We’ve got to check it out,” Ray instructs. “One floor at a time, let’s go.”
A rumble of agreement flows around me as I climb off my bike and pull my gun from my waistband.
“If you do find him, don’t kill him. I want that pleasure,” Ray adds before a few of the Reapers go ahead. “Savage, with me.”
“You got it, Prez.”
“You think we’re gonna find him?” he asks as we follow the rest of the group into the building.
“Nah, he’s playing us like fucking puppets.”
“Yeah.”
“We’ve got to get ahead of him,” I say. “We’re playing right into his hands. This building is probably laced with explosives and is gonna go up any second.”
Ray looks around, taking my words seriously. “We’d better fucking hope that ain’t true.”
“All clear,” someone shouts from down the hall. “Let’s go up.”
The heavy fall of boots on the stairs makes the floor vibrate beneath me, but just as Ray and I are about to follow, his cell starts ringing. He pulls it from his pants and stares down at the screen, his brows pinching as he looks at whoever is calling.
“What is it?”
He turns the screen to me. “Unknown. You think it’s him?”
“Only one way to find out.”
He nods, swiping the screen and putting it to this ear. “Dalton,” he barks in his scariest voice. As a young kid, it used to fucking terrify me. But I know Ray better than to be scared of him now. Even after he’s discovered me, Stray, and Pretty Boy are sleeping with his daughter. I respect him too much to be scared. If he wants me dead for touching Sadie, then he’d have pulled the trigger before now.
Someone speaks on the other end, but I can’t hear any of it.
“Yes.” Silence. “Fuck. Okay, we’re coming now.”
My heart hammers in my chest as I watch his expression fall, the color draining from his face before he hangs up and pockets his cell once more.
“What’s wrong?”
“We need to go,” he grunts.
“I’ll call the others.”
“No,” he says quickly before I’m able to call up the stairs. “Let them search. This is just me and you.”
“Okay. Where are we going?” I ask, taking off behind him when he suddenly bolts for the door.
“Nolan’s place.”
“Nolan’s?”
“Yeah. Shit’s gone south. Come on.”
He doesn’t hang around long enough for me to ask any questions. I jog behind him as he runs ahead of me and climbs on his bike, the engine immediately coming to life.
I’m barely on mine when he’s speeding out of the parking lot. Gunning my engine to catch up with him as he takes a left, we head deeper into Red Ridge.
I’ve been here a few times over the years, but I’ve never been to Nolan Creed’s home. I follow Ray all the way to a huge ranch that’s surrounded by rolling hills in the distance.
The second we pull to a stop beside Nolan’s bike, the front door opens, and his old lady appears.
“Come on,” she says, sparing no airs or graces. “He’s inside.” She gestures for us both to enter her home.
Dread sits heavy in my stomach as Vivienne leads us to the back of the building. We find Nolan in a hospital bed in the middle of the room, overlooking the view of the countryside in the distance.
He looks nothing like the man I’ve met in the past. His face is slim, his cheeks hollow and his skin pallid. If we needed evidence that what we’ve been told about his health was true, then it’s right here.
“I’ll leave you to it. Call if you need anything,” Vivienne says, quickly ducking out of the room.
“Nolan, it’s good to see you,” Ray says, lowering himself into the chair beside the Reapers Prez and taking his hand when he just about manages to lift it from the bed. “You remember Rhett?” he asks, glancing at me.
“Of course,” Nolan rasps. “Welcome.”
“What do you know?” Ray gets straight down to business. “Your old lady said that something happened and you needed to discuss some things with us before—” He cuts himself off when he registers what the end of that sentence is.
“Our brothers got ambushed earlier.”
My heart jumps into my throat. “Micky? Dane?”
“Ritz is dead,” Nolan says, sadness bleeding into his expression.
Holy shit. All the air rushes from my lungs as I think of my brothers. Of Dane.
We lost two men yesterday because of that car bomb. Now this?
“Fuck. I’m sorry, Nolan,” Ray says softly, once again taking his hand in support.
“Darren, he’s… he’s going to destroy my club.” His voice is broken. “I can’t let that happen. With Ritz gone, I—”
“What can we do? How can we help?”
Nolan stares at Ray before his eyes flick to mine briefly, although I’m barely registering the conversation because my head is spinning with the fact that we’ve lost more brothers.
I think of Sadie, emotion clogging my throat. I can’t go back to the compound and tell her that Dane is gone. I just can’t.
Lifting my hand, I scrub it down my face, trying to gather myself together enough to focus on the here and now.
For all I know, Dane is fine. He could have gotten away. He could have—
I shut down my own thoughts, knowing it’s useless hoping. Ritz is dead. I have no reason to believe anyone walked away.
“I can’t have Darren take leadership, Ray. It isn’t an option.”
“Agreed.” Ray nods. “We’re trying to find him. We want him gone as much as you do.”
“No,” Nolan says, his voice suddenly harder, more serious than only seconds ago, and it catches my attention. “There’s something you don’t understand.”
“Okay.”
“You have the answer.”
“The answer? What do you mean?” Ray asks, frowning, as we both sit forward in our chairs.
“Your boy. Dane.”
“What about him?” A protective edge I usually only hear when he’s talking about Sadie enters his voice.
“You really don’t know where he came from, do you?”
“N-no, I—”
“He’s a Reaper,” I blurt out, the pieces of the puzzle finally falling into place.
Nolan nods, confirming what I only just realized. “He’s my brother’s kid. It’s a long story, one I don’t have time for right now. But if we can get rid of Darren,” he says, “Dane is next in line to take the gavel.”
“A Reaper… I don’t understand…” Ray stutters, completely blindsided.
“Your prospect isn’t a stray, Ray. He’s a Creed. And it’s time he took his place within my family.”
Despite seeing it coming, my chin still drops in shock.
Dane is a Creed.