was Carlos. Carlos killed Emma. “Carlos,” she whispered.
“We don’t know that,” Steele said.
Sage did. It made sense. Carlos hated Alex. He would view killing someone Alex cared about as the perfect revenge. Carlos killed Emma; she would bet her life on it.
Chapter Fourteen
AX WAS FURIOUS with Sage. He knew she was going to tell him something about Carlos, but this? Christ, it was bad enough she went to Mexico with him and that the fucker abused her, but to find out she married him? This was more than he could handle. He needed space, some time to think—to get the fuck out of there before he said something he’d regret. With that thought, he headed out the door to his bike. On his way home, he was stopping at the store for a pack of cigarettes and a twelve-pack of beer. Then he was going to smoke every one of those fuckers while getting hammered.
Tiny stepped out as he approached the gate. He motioned for Ax to stop. Fucking hell, what now?
“Steele called a meeting. He wants you back at The Cave,” Tiny told him.
The words, “Fuck off,” dangled dangerously from Ax’s lips, but he managed to swallow them back. It wasn’t Tiny’s fault he was pissed off. As much as he wanted to hang it on Sage, it wasn’t hers either. Fucking Carlos. He’d never even met the guy, and he hated him.
“Thanks,” Ax grumbled before turning the bike around and heading back to The Cave.
In an attempt to avoid another confrontation with Sage, he headed straight to the meeting room, where he took a seat and waited for everyone else to arrive.
Within a matter of minutes, they started rolling in. Buck, their Sgt. at Arms, came first. Next was Taz, one of two enforcers. Loco had been the other until he betrayed the club. After his death, they voted for Sledge to take his place. Ax assumed Sledge was still at the hospital with Aimee and would be listening in by phone. Ink, their Secretary and Treasurer, came next. He was followed by Arson, their Road Captain, and Chopper, their oldest member and voice of reason. Last, was Steele.
Everyone took their seats, and Steele started the meeting. “I’m sure all of you have noticed Sage’s return to the club. You’re probably wondering, if you haven’t already been told, what the hell happened to her. Carlos Diez is what happened to her. I fucked up. I meant to look into the guy when I found out she was seeing him. By the time I got around to contacting Martin, Sage and Petal were already in Mexico. Martin didn’t find anything. He said Diez was clean. As you can see, he was wrong.” Steele laid it out for them. He explained how Carlos abused Sage and how he manipulated her with Petal’s life in order to keep her in line. As expected, this set everyone off. Ax gritted his teeth through Steele’s recount of the murder and how Carlos forced her to marry him, and was relieved when he finally got to the escape and rescue part.
Buck asked the first question. “Does this have something to do with what happened to Aimee?”
“Fuck yeah, it does,” Sledge growled from the phone. Ax forgot he was there.
“We’ll get to that in a minute,” Steele said.
“Who is Luca, and why would he help her escape?” Ink asked.
Now that was a good question, one that Ax still hadn’t figured out.
Steele answered Ink’s question. “Sage said that Carlos has four bodyguards with him at all times. Luca was one of them. Apparently, he liked Petal and became their protector.”
“I bet he’s a plant,” Arson commented. All eyes swiveled to him.
Shit, that makes sense. “You think he’s undercover?” Ax questioned.
Arson shrugged. “Probably, either DEA or some Mexican version of it.”
Steele caught Ax’s eye. Ax felt it, too. They were on to something.
“There’s more,” Steele said. “Emma was found dead in her house earlier today.” Several gazes shot to Ax. “As you already know, Aimee was jumped this evening in her garage. Three men were involved, and one of those men was Carlos. He had a message for Ax.” Steele relayed the message, and the room erupted once more.
“So, the fucker’s going after our women?” Taz asked, once the room had settled.
“I don’t think we should rule it out. We shouldn’t leave our women or families vulnerable right now. I want to call a lockdown.” Several shouts of agreement rang through the room. “So, we’re all in