Ice stopped himself from shaking his head. Czar was right. He knew it, but the idea left his insides tied up in knots. He couldn’t look at the reasons too closely, so he turned the subject back to what he was most comfortable with. He was a hunter, and he was at his best when he was hunting.
“We need to find the connection between the two rings, and I need to pay Fred from the Venomous club a little visit.”
“The run is coming up,” Czar reminded. “Their club will be one of the clubs there. You want to take care of Fred before the run or during? We’ll have to put that on top of the list just due to time constraints.”
“During. We won’t chance cops singling us out, putting us in the same space as his fuckin’ dead body.”
“Sounds good.”
Ice nodded. The door opened, and Savage and Absinthe walked in. Savage glanced at his brother first and gave a small nod, letting him know he was fine. Both men immediately came to their president to report.
“Were you seen on your way back?” Czar asked.
“We were riding together on an old logging road not far from here, and a man in an SUV was out cutting wood. He wasn’t supposed to be there, and we kept going and he pretended not to see us,” Absinthe answered for both. “Even if he’s asked, we were close to home and just out riding the roads like we normally do.”
“That’s good,” Steele said. He’d joined them. The other members were pushing closer as well.
“Let’s take this into the other room,” Czar said. He signaled to Fatei, one of their most trusted prospects, to watch the door, ensuring Soleil suddenly didn’t take it into her mind to make a break for it, and then went into their meeting room.
“There’s a tie-in between the ring we’re looking to take down and these con artists that target wealthy women,” Czar announced to everyone when they were seated around the table.
“What in the hell would pedophiles and men looking to murder wealthy women have in common?” Keys asked.
“I can start looking,” Code said. “Get the computer to search any commonality between the names we have. Soleil gave me a few names, and we have a good number in the pedophile ring. I’ve started a database. The search might turn up a connection somewhere.”
“How’s Soleil holding up?” Master asked.
“She’s shaken up,” Ice conceded. He didn’t want the others to think she wasn’t a good old lady. She was. He had known she had no experience with violence. They’d grown up in it. Brutality was a way of life for them. “She’s never witnessed anything like that before.”
“You killed them right in front of her,” Steele reminded. “Each of you put a bullet in one of their heads. If the cops come around, and a good investigator might uncover that they were searching for her, will she be able to stand?”
Ice honestly didn’t know. He wanted to believe that she would, but how could he know? If she told the cops the truth, he and Savage and Absinthe would be going to prison for a very long time. Inwardly he cursed. He needed to do what Czar said. He should have already been giving himself to her in the way he’d insisted she give herself to him.
“I don’t know.” He was honest. He had to be. It wasn’t just his life, it was the lives of the two men he called brothers.
There was a long silence while most looked down at the table. There was a pretty big threat hanging over their heads, and normally the club removed all threats. Ice’s stomach began to churn. No one was removing Soleil. If the suggestion even came up, he was walking out, grabbing his woman and taking off.
“Hopefully the women will do their jobs,” Czar said. “Ice, you get a handle on this—and fast. We can’t expect her to know our ways just because you’ve been fucking her brains out for the last month. You instruct her. Teach her. Her loyalty has to be to you and the club. You get me?” There was a ruthless note in Czar’s voice. One all of them recognized immediately.
Ice nodded. “Absolutely. Consider it done.” He’d been the one to make the mistake, not Soleil. She hadn’t done anything wrong. He had to make certain that she didn’t.
“Have Lana and Alena help you. Soleil seems to trust them, and they like her. Alena is already hoping for a niece. That’s another thing,” Czar continued. “You were big on telling Steele to keep Breezy knocked up; get it done if that’s what it’s going to take. Soleil is married to you, that makes her one of us. No one wants anything to happen to her, but I can’t have a sword hanging over the heads of any of you.”