“Those bastards are going to die,” I announce, stilling her hands. The fear and anger firing through my veins are a dangerous, heady mix.
“Vinnie—”
“No,” I say, not wanting to bother with her trying to talk me out of it and all that shit. I don’t care about the danger, I don’t care if I get hurt, as long as she’s safe. I can handle myself; she can’t. I can protect myself, but all she has is me.
And the men who just tried to shoot her—they will pay with their lives.
* * *
“I’m fine, Vinnie,” she says, over and over again, from where she’s lying in our bed. I, on the other hand, am pacing up and down while trying to call Talon, and of course the bastard isn’t answering. We can’t just sit here anymore, idly, waiting for them to make their moves. Talon and I have taken out two people who wanted to hurt her, but we need to do more, and we need to do it faster. I don’t care how high the death count goes, one innocent woman is worth more than any amount of corrupt, dirty men.
“Vinnie, will you come and sit down, please?” she asks, worry dripping from her tone.
For her, I stop, squeezing the phone tightly in my hand before coming to sit on the edge of the bed. She intertwines her fingers with mine and brings my hand to her lips to kiss my knuckles.
“I’m a little shaken, but I’m okay. It’s not like I didn’t suspect something like this would happen, Vinnie. I’m extremely lucky this is only the first time, or that they didn’t get me. I feel lucky right now, more than scared. I’m here, breathing, you by my side, and I for one am happy about it.” She looks down at her hands and takes a deep breath. “Do you think it’s time I left here? They know where I am, and I don’t want anyone here to get hurt, I’ll never forgive myself. What if Clover was out front when they decided to do the drive-by? Or Faye, or one of the other women? I wouldn’t be able to live with myself, and as much as I love it here, I can’t stay. I need to talk to Talon, he can set me up somewhere else.”
I wait for her to mention what she thinks I’ll be doing, going with her or staying, but she doesn’t. Obviously, I go where she does, but I want her to know that too. Her line about Clover hits me hard, because if anything happened to that little girl, the whole club would die with her. I don’t know what to do, how to keep everyone safe, but I do have an idea that might work.
“Don’t worry about all that,” I tell her, kissing her forehead. “All the necessary security measures will be taken now, no one will get hurt. I messaged Sin, and he’s on his way here, along with all of the other men.
“Either the clubhouse will go into lockdown, or everyone will stay at their private residences—I think in this case that will be the best option, because it’s you they’re after, but that’s Sin’s call, not mine.”
No one would bother going to Sin’s or anyone else’s private residence. Even though the Kings MC are involved, I don’t think they’d be stupid enough to come at the Wind Dragons head-on, although I’m sure they don’t give a fuck who gets hurt in the cross fire. I hope they realize just what kind of enemies they’re making though, because we’re known to hold grudges.
“I hate that this happened,” she says, sighing sadly. “I really thought for a while that they’d just gotten over it, with my father’s death, maybe forgotten about their stupid revenge for everything he did, especially since I had nothing to do with it, but I guess their pride or whatever wins out over logic.”
“No one was hurt,” I remind her, lifting her chin in my fingers. “That’s the main thing. They struck at us and missed, but when the Dragons strike, we never miss, so they just made a huge fuckin’ mistake. We’ll identify them from the surveillance cameras and go from there.”
And by that I mean get rid of them.
I’m not usually so bloodthirsty, but for Shay, I’d do anything.
After I find out some information, like how they knew where Shay was and who else is after her.
Tracker is right—I’ve never been this cold before.
But I’ve never had anything to lose before either.
* * *
“There were two in the car,” Sin tells the table, then slides two pieces of paper to Arrow. “We managed to print out still shots of their faces. Tracker, you and Arrow will find them.” He waits for them to nod in agreement before looking to me. “What do you want to do next, Vinnie? The clubhouse isn’t safe until we take care of these two men.”
“I can take her away somewhere,” I say, leaning back in my chair and studying each man. “But they might think she’s still here and attack anyway. I don’t think the women and children should be here until I sort this shit out.”
“I agree,” Sin says, sitting back in his chair, a contemplative look on his face. “We need to see what information we can get from these men, and if the Kings are directly involved. Vinnie, I’m leaving that up to you. Trace, I want you to make sure our weapon supplies are ready, in case shit goes down. I want men protecting the women and children at all times—no one goes anywhere alone, just in case. Everyone can just stay at their houses and avoid the clubhouse until this shit is sorted. I don’t think they’ll bother hurting anyone unless Shay is with them. They’re not stupid enough to want a war with us, but that’s exactly what the motherfuckers are going to get.” His blue eyes narrow to slits. “No one shoots up our clubhouse and gets away with it.”