Earl had mentioned something along the lines. Back then, the main chapter in Texas had still been involved in sex trafficking as well, but eventually, they got too much heat from the Russians and Mexicans, so they stopped. Luckily that happened years before I became a part of the club. “Don’t pretend you killed my father because you felt sorry for the poor sex slaves. You were out for blood that day. You just wanted to kill and my father and his club brothers were a convenient target.”
“I don’t deny it. And I sure as hell won’t apologize for it. Your father deserved to die and he wouldn’t have hesitated to kill me either. In hindsight, I would have made sure you weren’t there to watch.”
I supposed that was as close to an apology as Luca Vitiello ever got. Marcella had mentioned that her father wasn’t in the habit of apologizing. We fell silent and just stared at each other. His eyes reflected the same distrust and loathing I felt. “Fuck, this feels wrong.”
“I don’t need a fucking oath from you, but I want your word that you won’t hurt Marcella and will help us with other bikers.”
“You have my word. I’m surprised you care for it. Is a biker’s word worth anything in your eyes?”
Luca shrugged. “If you don’t stand by your word, I can still hunt down your brother Gray.”
I got in his face. “He’s off-limits, Vitiello. He’s minding his own business and that won’t change.” I sure as hell hoped that was really the case. Gray needed a strong support system, and I worried he’d seek it in another MC, or maybe in a rebuilt Tartarus.
Luca only smiled coldly. Fuck, Marcella, how am I supposed to do this?
“Where’s Marcella?”
A muscle in Luca’s cheek tautened. “At home. She knows I’m here to talk to you but I didn’t think it was a good idea to have her around while we still needed to settle things.”
“In case you’ll have to shoot me.”
He didn’t say anything.
“If you let me go, I’ll have to take care of a few things first, especially talk to my mother, then I’d like to talk to Marcella. How can I contact her?”
“Come by the Sphere and I’ll arrange a meeting.”
I had to bite back a comment. This was a bitter pill to swallow for Vitiello, so I cut him some slack, but I sure as fuck wouldn’t ask him every time I was going to meet his daughter.
“Are you sure none of your men are accidentally going to shoot me because they thought I was on the run?”
“My men do as I say.”
“I bet,” I said. “Your reputation keeps them in line.”
“It’s more than that. The Famiglia is based on loyalty. That’s not something you’d understand.”
“Loyalty should never be given blindly. Loyalty must be earned, and my uncle and many of my club brothers chose a path I couldn’t support.”
“What about the rest? We didn’t kill every member.”
“Like I said, my brother is off-limits. He’s a kid and he won’t cause trouble without Earl. Knowing him, he’ll become a mechanic and mind his own business in the middle of nowhere Texas with my mom. She’s off-limits too.”
Luca smiled grimly. “I’m not sure I trust your assessment of your brother’s harmlessness. But Marcella asked me to spare him and your mother, so for her, I’ll do it, until your brother gives me reason to see him as a danger to my family.”
“He won’t be. Gray isn’t vindictive.”
“Are you sure he won’t mind you killing his father?”
I hadn’t seen Gray since he’d managed to escape. I wasn’t sure how much he knew, definitely not that I had killed Earl. “Unless you’ve spread the word, no one knows that I killed Earl.”
“So you don’t plan on telling him.”
Gray deserved the truth, but I worried it would set him off, not to mention that it would make my work of looking for rogue bikers out to kill Marcella all the more difficult. Though, word about me becoming a traitor was probably already making the rounds, so it was only a matter of time before there’d be a bounty on my head.
Luca motioned at the door. “You’re free to leave.”
Surprise washed through me. I’d still thought he wouldn’t go through with it. I still wasn’t one-hundred percent sure I wouldn’t end with a bullet in the back of my head the moment I turned my back on him.
“I suppose my bike’s ash, right?”
“We burned down everything.”
I nodded, not really surprised. “What about the dogs?”
They weren’t my dogs and I’d never quite trusted them, but it really wasn’t their fault that Earl had turned them into fighting machines. They deserved better.
“One of our enforcers, Growl, took one in and found a place in a shelter for the rest. Don’t ask me where. He’s the one who has a heart for beasts like that.”