“A few hours ago,” I said. “They were looking for the Kid.”
“Why?” Nix asked.
I caught Dad’s eye. He sat back in his chair, scowling, clearly deeply disturbed by this update. Good. He should be. I needed them all to be as angry as I was. “They knew the Kid was working with us. He was an easy target—a way to get back at both us and Hell’s Ankhor at once.”
Tru nodded and exhaled an angry huff. He was reading between the lines, and he knew I was taking this as a personal attack—because it was.
The strength of my own anger had shocked me when I’d seen what they’d done to Heath. But when I’d gone to him, all riled up and guns blazing, ready to argue my way into being his security detail—he’d pushed back. Hard. It’d surprised me, and honestly, he’d been gorgeous all lit up with passion as he spoke his mind. Seeing that side of him made me feel dangerously hopeful about our relationship. He wasn’t afraid to make his needs known.
And he finally had—not just about the security detail, but about our relationship.
We both wanted more. I wasn’t exactly sure what that meant yet, but I was excited to find out. As soon as I dealt with the bastards that had hurt him.
“Those fucking assholes,” Star snarled. “They’ve got a lot of balls to pull something like that when they’ve already been banished from the territory.”
“Exactly,” I said. “And they didn’t just break the terms of their excommunication. They attacked one of our allies—and they’ve apparently been harassing him for a couple weeks now, too.”
“Where are you going with this, Dante?” Dad asked. “You have a punishment in mind?”
He didn’t look doubtful, though—he looked interested.
“Club justice,” I said.
Silence fell over the church meeting. Even Tru widened his eyes a little bit.
Dad sat back in his chair. “You think it’s time for that?”
I nodded seriously. “I do. We excommunicated them. They attacked an ally to prove a point. I don’t believe they deserve another chance.”
From the looks on the enforcement team’s faces, it was clear this isn’t what they were expecting to hear, and I couldn’t blame them. If this were a normal situation, I wouldn’t jump straight to club justice. I’d say we put the fear of God in them a little bit, maybe rough them up and give them one more chance to disappear for good. As such a small club, we honestly had little need for club justice, and even the need for intimidation wasn’t something we were used to.
But I wasn’t going to put Heath’s safety at risk. Those three hadn’t just betrayed the club—they’d come back for revenge. All they’d had to do to start a new life was leave.
And by refusing to do that, they forfeited their right to mercy.
Dad chewed on the inside of his cheek thoughtfully. “What do you think, Tru?”
Tru sucked his teeth, and then glanced between Dad and me. “I’ll back it,” he said. “We’ve given them a lot of chances, and they’ve fucking shot us the bird at every turn. We’ve been beyond merciful. If they’re going for Hell’s Ankhor members, that’s gonna threaten our relationship with their club. And honestly, we really can’t afford that. Not with our numbers the way they are.”
Dad’s expression darkened. I knew we were all thinking the same thing: if Blade wanted to, he could order us expelled from the territory. And none of us wanted to leave our home behind. If that happened, I wasn’t sure if the club would survive. We needed to do everything we could to fix this.
“Anyone else? Thoughts?” Dad asked.
“I think it’s a little fucked up,” Eli said, “but I don’t see another option.”
“Agreed,” Star said. “What other option do we have?”
Nix nodded, his lips pressed together.
“Good,” I said. “I know we don’t have the manpower to run full patrols right now, but, Tru, set up some more routes. I want everyone to keep their eyes open and alert for any word or sign of those three. And if they show their faces, you know what to do.”
Murmurs of agreement around the table. After a short, serious discussion about the logistics of the next few weeks, Dad dismissed the rest of the enforcement team, but he motioned for me to stay behind.
I followed him into the open kitchen. Dad pulled the fifth of good scotch out of the liquor cabinet—the stuff that only got broken out for special occasions. He