Chapter 39 Deal. We have both lost men
Viper
Hey, it’s me. Please get in touch. Jenna told me she has not heard from you in a day. I miss you. I am worried. I need to know you are alright.
Catalina, two days now. Please, baby, answer your phone. If you do not want to talk to me, then talk to your sister. She says this is how you are, but I am losing my mind over here. I need you.
Angel, for fuck’s sake. Five days is too long. I can not eat. I can not sleep. I need to hold you. I have to know you are safe. Baby, this is killing me.
We ride for Daytona in the morning. No one has heard a word from you in ten days. Your father called me after Jenna called him. I hope you are okay. I love you.
We are leaving the clubhouse now. I will be gone a week. If you come home, please wait for me. I do not know what to do without my Chaotic Angel, my Catalina, my Celeste. You are my whole heart. Jenna taught me how to say this. I hope it is right. Ti amo, mia bellissima donna.
Catalina
Twelve days. Twelve days of pouring all my anger and pain into my work. After I finally met with the Taskmaster, he gave me a small apartment. I had just enough time to leave my bag, clean up, and put on new clothes before my first job began. I broke my father’s most important rule. I was never supposed to work alone. I was always supposed to have my sister with me. But I needed to be alone. I had a fucking death wish. If I could not be with the man I love, then I did not want to be here at all. But the men I was sent to kill would not do me the favor of finishing me instead. I suppose I am too well-trained to let myself die. I have twenty-four new names to add to my list. I should get a tattoo for all of them. Maybe vines, with a leaf for each one. Or flower petals. Oh, I know. A black panther, stretched across my shoulders on a tree branch. I will have her claws out, with drops of blood falling down my back. Each drop could be for a life. Yes, I like that.
A few days ago, I bought a laptop, since I left mine at the club. Now I am sitting on my bed, checking in on my real jobs, doing some web design, making sure the security for my clients is solid. Between my regular work and my other jobs, I have saved up a good amount of money.
I look at the phone beside me. I guess it is time to check in. I am a few days late. I was supposed to call on day seven. My father and Jenna are probably furious.
When I turn on my phone, my eyes go wide at the sound of all the messages coming in. Over fifty missed calls. More than a hundred texts. Some are from Jenna and my father, but most are from Viper. I should have known Jenna would give him my number. I read the ones from my sister and father first. They are ordering me to call, asking if I am okay, my father giving me a long talk about making everyone scared. Papa texted that he is watching Jenna, but he noticed other men are watching her, too. From his description, I know it is that man and his friends from the supply store. He says he is watching the men who are watching my sister, and he will tell me if anything happens. Looks like my time feeling sorry for myself is over. I can not leave Jenna without protection.
Jenna’s texts beg me to come back. She says what happened between Viper and me was just a big mistake. I almost laugh at that. She did not see the look on his face. Finally, I open the first text from Viper. My heart beats faster and my eyes fill with tears. Message after message is him begging me to come home. He sent about four a day, telling me how empty he feels without me, and how much he loves me. The last few sound less desperate, more sad, like he is starting to believe I might never return. A deep pain cuts through me when I think about how much I have hurt him. He says he does not hate me, but I know what I saw on his face. His last message says they are on the road to Daytona.
Time for me to go. I pack my things and take a car back to the clubhouse. The prospects at the gate stare at me with their mouths open as I walk up to the door. Inside, the place is empty and quiet. Two club brothers are playing pool. They look over when the door opens and I walk in.
“Well, look what the cat dragged in,” Mace yells, throwing his pool stick on the table and running toward me. He picks me up in a huge hug and squeezes me tight.
Then a giant of a man pulls me from Mace’s arms and crushes me against his chest.
“Good to see you, Catalina,” Bear says as he sets me down.
“I am not staying long. Just dropping my stuff off and then I am leaving again. I am going to take a vehicle and head to Daytona.”
“Viper will be over the moon. So will Jenna,” Bear says.
I nod, give each of them one more hug, and head to the bedroom I share with Viper. After putting my things away and packing a small bag, I take a quick shower, get dressed, and walk out the door to go find my man and my sister.
Atlas
It has been a brutal fight. I have lost fifteen men, but the Caruso family has lost three times that many. Not that it matters. They have a fucking army.
Today, they sent me a message. One of my men was beaten until he was almost dead, with a letter pinned to his forehead. The Don wants to meet. I caught one of his men, beat him just as badly, and sent a letter back with a time and a place.
Two days later, I am standing in front of a man. He is as tall as I am, six-foot-three, but he has a thin frame. His black hair is slicked back, and he has a small, thin mustache above his lip. He looks like a greasy weasel.
“Why are you attacking me? And who the fuck are you?” he snarls.
“Like you do not know. You started this.”
He stares at me, confused.
“I am Atlas. National president of the Jackals MC,” I tell him.
“Why would I attack some small-time motorcycle club? I am the fucking mafia. Your little group is nothing to me.”
I growl at the insult. “I do not know why you attacked my chapter here in New York. I am paying you back for the disrespect. Did you think you could wipe out a whole chapter and face no consequences?”
“I have no idea what you are talking about! I have never attacked any MC.” He looks at his men, and they all seem just as confused, shaking their heads.
I keep my eyes on him. “My chapter in NYC was attacked. All my men are dead, their throats or wrists cut open. Someone claiming to be the Caruso family left a note telling us not to fuck with them, and your family crest was left on one of the bodies.” I take out my phone and pull up a picture that was sent to me. We are sitting in a diner in the middle of nowhere. I slide the phone across the table. He picks it up and lets out a cold laugh.
“We do not cut throats. We use guns. And I, or anyone in my family, would never be so stupid as to leave a calling card like that. Wait… were any of the bodies missing their heads or hands?”
“Not that I was told.”
“Then it definitely was not the Reaper.”
“The Reaper?”
“Yes. A man who betrayed me. I have been hunting him for years. He just showed his mark here in New York City. We have been turning this place upside down looking for him. But his way is to take the head, not to cut the throat.”
“So you had nothing to do with this?”
“No. But now I am interested in finding out who is trying to blame my family.”
“Then we work together to figure it out. I need to find who killed my men.”
“Deal. We have both lost men. I will call us even.” He holds out his hand. I do not really trust him, but I take it and we shake. I am not done with him, but he does not need to know that right now.