Brick Brick (Knights Corruption MC - Next Generation, #4) - S. Nelson Page 0,69

Ryder, and Tag when we went to Erin’s house, Pike’s sister, the Reaper prospect who was responsible for what happened to Maddie in the first place. He was the one who brought her back to his club, and he was also the same one who shoved her toward Lincoln during a fight between us and them after one of his bouts.

Too much had happened, and it seemed it wasn’t gonna stop until we extinguished every trace of those bastards once and for all. But every second they had Zoe and Braylen could prove detrimental. Would they kill them outright? Would they torture them first? The thought alone made me want to vomit, but I had to keep it together if we had any shot of devising a plan to get them back safely.

“No, he didn’t say anything, other than he’d be in touch.”

“In touch for what?” Jagger mumbled, asking the same thing we all wanted to know.

A moment of quiet passed, a moment needed for all of us to gather our thoughts, if that was at all possible.

“We have connections here if we need them,” Owen said, severing the silence, glancing to his brother and then to Tripp. “We can get whatever you need.”

“Meaning?” Cutter asked, his expression deadpanned, his eyes dark and unsettling. The ol’ man unnerved me sometimes with his quiet intensity, but I was happy he was on our side and not theirs. His appearance was deceiving to those who didn’t know him. His short white hair and clean-shaven face made him look like someone’s grandfather, unassuming and not dangerous in any sense of the word. And while he actually did have grandchildren, he was as fierce and as lethal as they came. Tag bore the evidence of what the ol’ guy could do without a second thought.

“Guns, explosives… like I said, whatever you need.”

“Old military buddies,” Ford added. “We’ll help you any way we can.”

Marek nodded. “We need to get everyone here. Now. And I mean everyone. Zander and Luke included.” Prez’s stare landed on Ryder. “Where’s Roman?”

I thought for sure Ryder was gonna have an episode, the blank look in his eyes dwindling right before he looked frantic. He had no idea where his son was, but I did.

“He’s with your neighbor. They didn’t want him to go with them in case something was wrong.” Ryder’s shoulders slumped after I spoke. “Your boy is safe.”

“I want him here too,” Marek said. “And as soon as all the families are present, we can plan. But I don’t want to risk anything and put more people in danger by going off half-cocked.”

“Half-cocked? You’d be doin’ shit differently if it was Sully they’d taken.” Ryder stood so fast his chair skidded behind him.

Marek stood next, his composure strained, his jaw clenched so tightly I thought his teeth would shatter. “Did you forget I had to hand over my wife to get Addy and Kena back? Do you know what that did to me?” Every step he took toward Ryder was calculated and I wasn’t sure if these two were gonna come to blows or not. “I let him strike her right in front of me.”

“But you got your revenge in the end.” Ryder’s words were muffled but I heard him, as did our leader.

“And you will too.” Marek was next to him now, his hand on his shoulder in support for what the man was going through. I watched their interaction but the selfish part of me wanted to shout that I was affected as well. Zoe wasn’t just Ryder’s daughter… she was my woman.

Prez leaned in and said something else to him but none of us heard. Then he swiveled his eyes around the room. “Go and get everyone and come right back. Do what you gotta. Shut down the restaurant,” he said to Jagger. “And the salon.” He looked to Ace, then Lincoln that time since Chelsea and Riley were most likely working at Transform.

The sound of the gavel was amplified, and as men hurried from the room, I was left to stand near the door, wondering what was gonna happen next.

Ryder brushed past me, but I was able to grab his arm before he disappeared.

“Do you want me to come with you to get Roman?”

He didn’t say a word, but he didn’t have to. For as fucked up as my head was, I believed his was worse.

31

Drifting memories infiltrated as I rested against the wall, sunk into the corner of the room. I’d been in