The truth was this club was a family, but we were more than that. We went on runs that took us away from our loved ones for days, sometimes weeks. We constantly put ourselves in danger. We got hurt. Our families were always targets. There was nothing ordinary about living in a motorcycle club. It was hard, and sometimes it was painful. Not many could endure it. Many have left.
“He’s an officer. I can’t just kick him out. He’s done nothing wrong,” I stated.
“You can give him the option,” Ghost offered as I shook my head. “No. If I do that, he will think he’s being punished. I won’t do that to him.”
“What if he asks?” Lorenzo asked, looking at both of us. “What if he comes to you and asks to leave the club. What then?”
“That’s different. If he comes before the club and asks to leave, I would grant his request. But he must be the one to ask. None of us can advise him. It must come from him. His idea.”
“If he does that, Reaper, I’ll have to take his patch. I won’t do that. He’s part of this club, and he’s my brother, and I won’t take this club away from him.”
“I know,” I said, sighing as I leaned back in my chair. “But if he asks to leave, I won’t have a choice. I can’t have him here if he can’t handle going on a simple run, Ghost. What will happen if I send him on an assignment? Do you honestly think he will be able to leave her? Cause I don’t. In the last few days, Player has gone from a fun-loving brother who only cared about the club to a man whose only single purpose on this planet is a woman who is currently sedated in the infirmary.”
“You’d seriously take his patch? Cut him off from the club forever. Turn you back on him? Cause that’s what you’d be doing. You do that, and I will guarantee that several of the brothers will be pissed.”
“What if there was a way, he could still be a member of the club and still have the life he’s always wanted?” Lorenzo suggested.
“How?”
“Request that he become a liaison between the Golden Skulls and the Family. He will, of course, have to move into the compound, Gio will insist on it, plus with him as a member of the family, we would get our cousin back, and you would still get to keep your officer and brother. Of course, when he was needed back here in California, we would make sure he was here, but he would worry less knowing that Catarina was safe and guarded within the confines of the family compound.”
“That could work. We will need someone we always trust with Giovanni. Who better than Player?” Ghost stated. “Plus, with Layla there, it would be added security for her.”
“That could work. Lorenzo, do you think Giovanni will agree to this?”
“He already said yes,” Lorenzo smiled as he held up his phone, showing the both of us.
“I ought to take that phone and smash it into a million pieces. I don’t allow cell phones in church.”
“You could try,” Lorenzo grinned as the cell started ringing. Answering it, he said, “Hey Gio. Yes. Sure. Okay.”
Placing his phone on the table, he hit the speakerphone.
“Reaper?”
“Gio.”
“She has agreed. We are leaving for Italy in three days.”
“She ain’t leaving the country without me, asshole. Until Bullseye is up and walking around, she is under my protection.”
“Then pack a bag. We are leaving in three days. The Capribella family has agreed to meet on Ischia Island. They are bringing five family members. I am bringing Sal and Antonio. You can be my third and represent Layla. I will need one more.”
“Massacre will come with me.”
“Great. The mouth.”
“He will behave.”
“Make sure he does. This meeting will either give us the men we need or start the war immediately. I can’t have Dwayne going off the rails.”
“You worry about getting the Capribella’s to agree. I will handle Massacre.”
“Lorenzo told me the news. How are you going to find an infant?”
“I will get Sypher, Phantom, and Matrix on it. They will find the baby.”
“How are they?”