AsIjumpedintoRyker’s Jeep with Jace, Braxton, and Luca, the rest of our men followed behind in the SUV. Boykov didn’t like this plan at all, but I didn’t think Big was going to shoot me the second he saw me. He was a man who wanted to teach me the errors of my way, so I’m betting on some monologuing happening first.
Reaching to my left, I made sure that the gun had the safety off so the second I pulled it, I could fire off a shot. When we pulled up to the warehouse, ten bikers stood outside, but the number of bikes told me there were five more. I assumed they were inside the warehouse looking for the mythical drugs we were withholding from them.
Ryker parked, but before I could get out, he grabbed my arm. “Astin, please don’t get hurt,” he begged.
“Wasn’t planning on it. Trust me, I want this over as fast as possible. There’s still a lot that needs to be done before drinks tonight, and I’m not going to allow a man namedBig Timeto fuck up my revenge,” I said, giving him a wink and hopping out.
The clack of my heels on the concrete caught their attention as I approached. One broke off and headed inside presumably to tell Big Time I was here. I walked through the maze of bikes that littered the area until I came to one that had obnoxious lime green flames withBig Time Funwritten on the fuel tank. Pretending to look it over, I bent over, taking in all the custom details that the president had invested in his prized possession. Taking a step back, I kicked out and knocked the bike over so it slammed onto the concrete.
“What the fuck, woman,” a man bellowed.
I looked up, scanning the men to figure out who it was that said the words, but all of them looked equally mad. So I continued my approach to the warehouse entrance just in time for Big Time to emerge.
“What the hell happened to my bike?” he demanded.
“Oops,” I said with a shrug. “Looks like I might have knocked it over.”
The man’s now clean-shaven face and still bruised nose charged at me. Before he could get more than three steps, I pulled my gun and shot him right between the eyes. Crow was next, his gun at the ready, but I’d already fired another shot, knowing he’d be coming. He hit the ground face first next to his boss, stunning the rest of the crew. All my men had their guns raised at the ready while Big’s crew was still absorbing that their leaders were dead.
“How many did you kill?” I asked.
No one answered, so I shot the foot of the one closest to me. He screamed and dropped to the ground clutching his leg. “Motherfucking son of a bitch.”
“Do I have your attention now?” I questioned, and they all nodded. “How many of my people did you kill?” All of them looked at each other, but no one answered. “Silence isn’t an option, fellas. Tell me how many, or I’m just going to kill you all right here right now.”
“Four,” a man blurted. “We killed four of your men.”
“Ralph, can you send one of your men to check?” I asked.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted someone in all black jogging into the building. While we waited for confirmation, I paced back and forth in front of the Red Tigers.
“So who’s in charge now with these two gone?” I inquired. “I know there are like what, five of you who are leaders or whatever.”
A man got shoved forward with a leather vest that said Guppy and Road Captain under it. “That would be me, ma’am.”
“Guppy, that’s an unfortunate choice now, isn’t it,” I commented as I poked his name patch with my gun. “So here’s the thing, I’m going to take out the same number of people you took from me, and I’ll call it even. Big and Crow needed to go, they would never be able to handle me being in charge, so that’s an unfortunate loss for you guys. What I need to know from you, Gup, is are you going to be a problem?”
He gulped loudly, making me wonder if that’s how he got his name or not. “No, we don’t want any more trouble with you or the Caprioni Family. Just tell us what you need from us, and I’ll make sure it happens.”
“Right, the problem is I don’t think you’re going to be who they make the next president. You’re far too weak to pull the job off. I’m not really sure how you got this job,” I remarked. “This is what I’m thinking… you tell whoever your new president is that he needs to come see me once he’s elected. Then we’ll negotiate terms, but you won’t be the main group distributing our goods anymore. That will be handed off to another MC who will learn from you not to fuck me over. That work for you?”
Guppy nodded, his shoulders relaxed, believing that I’d let him off the hook. If only that were all it took for him to survive the next few days. His crew wasn’t going to like any of this, and I was still undecided if I was going to let them live or not. If I ended this now, I would have less to deal with later, but did I want to wipe out a whole MC that had been around for thirty years?
“Mistress,” Boykov called, drawing my attention as he walked over. He leaned down and whispered in my ear, “They killed them all and tore up the office. A total of seven of our people… it was brutal. They tortured them trying to get information.”
“I see,” I murmured. “None of them leave here alive, and I want the rest of the Red Tigers to be put on notice… if they don’t getthe fuckout of my city, then I’ll hunt down every last one of them. Burn down the building with the bodies in it and send the bikes to the chop shops to get rid of them.”
“Yes, Mistress,” Boykov answered as he gave a signal, and in a matter of minutes, all the Red Tigers were dead as I climbed into Ryker’s Jeep.
“I think it’s time we get back to the estate,” I said when the others joined me. “We still have a lot to cover before tonight.”
“As the queen commands,” Ryker said in all seriousness, gunning it out of the warehouse complex.
After a shower, fresh clothes, and a meal, I felt much more settled than I had in the past few hours. I headed to the second floor and down the hall to Atticus’s room, where he’d asked me to meet him so we could look over a few things. Luca was holed up in his room working on the letter having a guess at what the code might be. Even if we didn’t crack it before tonight, I knew we had more than enough to bury them. Any extra was just the icing on the cake to my revenge.
Daddy checked in on me, and I caught him up to speed about my meetings with Cherry and Alfie. It seems that Alfie had been asked to relay information, but the thing of it was, Alfie already knew the dark side of the Caprioni Family. He was a smart man and knew better than to fuck us over now that he’d been freed from his contract with us. Alfie even went as far as to share with Braxton and me some other people we should talk to who are doing favors for outside clients. I made sure he got a bonus for being so helpful before we left to deal with the Red Tigers.
I rapped on Atticus’s door and waited for him to answer. If it had been any of the others, I probably would have walked in, but I understood my Atty wasn’t like the others. This was his space tailored to his exact needs, and I was a guest. He only kept me waiting a moment before the door was opened, and I stepped in.