He lifts his chin in response and meets my man as he’s coming through the door. “What are we doing with the prospect?”
“Fuck. Yesterday was so good I’d forgotten about the piece of shit.” James sips his coffee. “Was just about to head out for our trip, but I can’t leave until I settle this bullshit.”
“Holy wanted a word with you too. About your niece.”
“Right,” he mutters. “Babe.” I can already hear the apology in his tone.
“I know who I married. Why don’t you handle your business? I’ll go home and have breakfast. Maybe I’ll see if Lily wants to help me clear more shit out of your old house.”
“How about you sit your ass at the bar. Not changing my plans. Give me ten minutes. Holy can wait until I get back.”
“So bossy.” I plant my ass on a stool. This is what I signed on for. I’m Murder’s Old Lady now and sometimes that comes with sacrifices. James and Viking disappear to the basement. I’ve not been down there since he killed Lion. The evil man who violated me nearly twenty years ago. That prospect, Rio. James says he is believed to be the son of that piece of shit. What the kid did was wrong there is no doubt about that, but does he deserve to die?
I’m probably crossing a line that will have James tanning my ass later. I get off my stool and open the basement door. The stairway is dark and haunting. Like the stairway to Hell. The last time I walked down these stairs I was certain it was to my death. One step at a time one foot in front of the other I descend to territory that is meant to be off limits. To a hidden room where men are tortured and killed. Men who usually deserve it. I don’t owe this guy anything. He’s that cunt Ruthie’s half-brother. Spawn of the evilest man I’ve ever known. I shouldn’t care what happens to him, but he’s not much older than Wylla Mae. He has his whole life ahead of him.
I enter the room as flashes of the past dance in my mind. Visions of Lion’s bloody end. James fucking me in his blood. Rio, the prospect hangs
from chains hooked to a rafter in the center of the room. I can hear the little plops of blood splattering on the cement floor.
I bump into a metal table and it grates against the floor. Beaten to a bloody pulp he lifts his head. His eyes are swollen shut. His lips are split, and blood leaks from the corners of his mouth.
“One question.”
He nods with a wince.
“What was in the water you gave me?”
Rio attempts to smile. “Cloud Nine.”
“What did I ever do to you?”
“Ruthie was my sister. She’s dead because of you.”
I stare at him trying to see of there’s any resemblance the more I look at the lion’s head covering his chest. The more I study it the stronger my repulsion toward him grows. I’ve seen that tattoo before but at a much smaller scale. It’s uncanny. A larger scale replica of the tattoo Lion had on his hand.
“Lex,” James booms so loud from behind me I jump and let out a weak yelp. “Told you to stay put. Never fuckin’ listen.”
“He said there was Cloud Nine in the water.” I wrap my arms around my belly. The fucker could’ve killed me and our baby. “I came down here thinking I was going to talk you into giving him a second chance. Maybe somewhere else with a different club.”
“And now?”
“I hope you send him to Hell with his old man. Look at his tattoo. You have to kill him.”
James wraps his arms around me and kisses the shell of my ear. “Plan on it, babe.”
“Good. Anyone who would want to harm a woman and child is pure evil.”
“You staying for this or you gonna be good and wait upstairs?”
“How many times are you going to kill for me?”
“As many as it takes, pretty girl.” He presses his lips to mine and releases me.
I take his hand in mine. “We’re a team. He came after us both. I’ll stay.”
“You sure?”
I nod and glare at the spawn of the devil. “He wanted to take away my future. He wanted to take me from you. End him.” I swore when I was still a lost girl unsure of the world that for Murder, I’d risk it all. That I’d be his ride or die, because even though I was stupid to a lot of things there was one thing I did know. That for this man I’d travel to Hell and back. And I did. Nothing or no one will ever tear us apart again. No matter the cost. I’m keeping my biker till death do us part.