And their unborn baby. Nobody knew how far back I went with Belle and Jim. In a way, they were my first family.
Trev finally stuck his fingers into his mouth and whistled loud. “My turn to talk.” The table was all his. “Everyone is right. The bottom line is that the Hell Five are looking to expand. They were looking at this piece of land long before we knew. They arranged to attack us as a way to get money to show faith on the purchase. Do I have proof of that? Fuck no. But I think we all can agree it lines up nicely. So that’s what I’m going to assume. That means someone ratted out our deal with the Russians. Is that worth exploring? Probably, but not now. Right now, I need you, Cade, to get on the phone with anyone you can to figure out the backdoor of this land deal and how we can stop it. I need to know if money is in escrow and how far along this is. Duke, you’ve got twenty-four hours. I expect you back here at this exact time tomorrow with something. I’m going to take Jasper and we’re going to call our brothers down in Frelen to fill them in. Just in case anything pushes down at them. We cannot let the Russians push us around and we cannot let them assume us to be part of anything we’re not.”
“What about the rest of us?” Cash asked.
“I want everyone out there. I want every fucking street corner, back alley, and dive bar checked and made well known that Back Down Devil is in fucking control. And if you find anyone in that shit crew, you send them a message.”
Normally we’d all cheer for some action. But I could sense the tension in the room. Trev was throwing me a favor that didn’t need to be thrown. In a way, he was making himself look a little soft and that was a huge risk. If the table turned on him… fuck, it would be as bad as when Ripper was at the helm.
“Brothers, I’m going to say this once,” I said. I slowly walked to my chair. I put my hand to it and looked up and down the table. “I was given this cut, this chair, all for a purpose. I’ve fulfilled that purpose. I’ll forever fill that purpose. If I found out that this was done on purpose to hurt this club, whoever did it will be hurt. Severely hurt. This isn’t about some old war buddy or some chick I used to fuck.”
“I knew you fucked her!” Kye said. “Saw it on your face. You fucked her the night before you saw the Hell Five.”
“So… in some fucked up way, we can all agree that pussy helped the club,” Cash said. “This could set precedent.”
“I didn’t know you could speak words that big,” Cade said.
“I’m asking for your trust,” I said. “There has to be more happening behind all of this. If we crack whatever the fuck the Hell Five is doing here, we can be on the lookout elsewhere. What everyone should do now is think why they want that land. What are they planning on building there? Guns? Drugs? Pussy? Are they the ones in bed with the Russians? Or maybe our Irish friends are pushing for them to do this. Whatever it is, we need to stop it.
“That goddamn chair is yours,” Jasper said. “Until the day we strip you of your cut and your ink, you’re part of this club. It’s just not easy dealing with Ivan and Peter showing up with his thugs, demanding answers.”
“Which means they’re watching us,” I said. “They want that cash.”
“We better figure that out soon,” Trent said. “They’re going to get worse with their visits and orders.”
“So we have a plateful here,” Trev said. He nudged the gavel. “I guess we should get out of these fucking chairs and make something happen. Right now.”
The table roared to life for a few seconds.
Trent stared me down from across the table. He was the last to stand up and leave, making it just me, him, and Trev in the conference room.
“Something you need to say?” I asked Trent.
“I know how it feels,” he said. “Willing to fight for someone while trying to fight for your club. You have my support all the way, brother.”
“You have my support too,” Trev said. “But I can only go so far. I can’t