“I’m still not talking to you.”
“Seriously? It’s been five years?”
“And it will be another five before I say shit.”
I just rolled my eyes as Viper and Smoke picked up where they left off so long ago, over the stupidest argument on the planet. Well, technically, it wasn’t an argument, more like Viper got caught leaving one of his pet snakes in Smoke’s room, all because Smoke wouldn’t stop burning his incense, which was causing Viper’s pets to get sick. Who knew snakes could get sick. Well, when Viper left his pet in Smoke’s room, the reptile bit Smoke and caused Smoke to go into anaphylaxis shock. None of us knew Smoke was allergic, most of all Viper, who felt terrible about it all. But apparently, Smoke wasn’t done punishing Viper and still held a grudge after five years.
“If you two bitches are done gabbing, I would like to get started.”
“Sorry, boss.” Both said in unison.
“Now, before I get into what the fuck is going on, I have a question. Can you explain this?” As Ghost passed a folder towards Chaos, I asked who’d been my right-hand man for five years now. A man I trusted with everything in my life, even Remi. I said nothing as Chaos looked at the contents of his file, looking for any tell that he was unfaithful, any tick that would give himself away. Anything that would warrant me shooting the fucker dead where he sat.
Instead, Chaos looked at Ghost as he said, “Is it time?”
Ghost nodded but said nothing.
Chaos then turned, looked me in the eyes, and sighed. “Thank fuck. Do you know how long I’ve been wanting to tell you? Tell all of you. Do you know how hard it is to know something and not say it because it would cause a domino effect and get too many people killed? Well, I do, and it sucks!”
“Chaos, just tell him,” Ghost sighed.
“I was six years old when your father Reaper found myself and my twin sisters living in an alley. My mother was dead. She overdosed in front of us. I didn’t know what to do, but I knew better than to call the cops. When your Pops showed up, I thought he was the devil himself, come to take my sisters and me to hell. Instead, he picked us up, fed us, got us some clean clothes, and even gave us a house to live in with a guardian to protect us. Over the years, your Pops would come and visit to make sure we were doing okay. I was indebted to him, always would be. Your Pops was something else, man. As I got older, I asked to prospect for the club, and your Pops said I could on one condition that I would protect you above all the others when the time came. I agreed. I loved your Pops. He was more of a parent to me and my sisters than our own junkie mother was, and I was never going to disrespect him after everything he’d done. So, when your Pops died, I didn’t know what to do. That was until I went home, and Ariella said a package was delivered. Inside were photos of the man who killed your Pops along with instructions that I was say nothing about anything until it was time. That I would know when it was.”
“What about the file?”
“It’s all true. My mother was a cut-slut back in the day that got in deep with a local drug dealer. He pimped her out until she got pregnant with my sisters. I was never able to find their biological father, and probably never will.”
“And your father?”
Chaos looked down at the file and whispered. “One of the brothers.”
“Who?”
Chaos looked at Ghost, who just nodded.
“Hellhound.”
The room went electric. I knew it would. I read the damn file and saw the damn DNA report, but hearing Chaos say the words kind of solidified that my Uncle was not who he seemed to be.
“And the drug dealer who pimped your mother out?”
“It was Hellhound.”
I looked at Ghost, who just nodded in confirmation. The rest of the room was silent as everyone digested what was said. I know it wasn’t right to out Chaos as I did, but I needed the others to hear the words from his own mouth. It was a hard pill to swallow.
“Does Hellhound know?”
“No. From what I was told, my mother was never exclusive to Hellhound. She was a cut-slut. She fucked anyone, anytime. So, when she started showing, the club made her leave. Your Pops kept tabs on her over the years. He tried getting her help, but she didn’t want any.”
“Reaper, what’s going on?” Player asked.
“What’s going on is that we’ve been lied to for the last five years. We’ve been doing all this work to rid the world of sick bastards, only to find out, we’ve been working for the same sick fucks we’ve been trying to take down. As of right now, we are on our own. No more FBI, Homeland, etc. All of them are out. They get no more help from us. As of right now, we have become the hunters. We take matters into our own hands and exact justice as we see fit—the files before you hold intel on everyone we need to take care of. Let me say there are many files, and it’s going to take planning and consideration before we hit them. Everyone in those files is a dead-soul walking, including this one,” I said, throwing the file on top of the others. I said nothing as the file opened, showing everyone a picture of a brother, they thought they could trust.
“Son of a bitch,” Player said, grabbing the file first. “Are you sure about this?”
“Yes.”
“When do you want to cull him?” Ghost asked, stretching his arms over his head as if he were bored. Reaper had to give it to his V.P. The man was a rock. Nothing ever phased him.