Chapter 70 Meeting Dante
Jaxon's POV
“I want a gun.” Sage asked as soon as she agreed to sit with Dante.
"Absolutely not." I shook my head before Ryder could respond. "If you're armed and things go bad, Dante could try to take the weapon from you and use it against you."
"Then what the hell am I supposed to do if he tries something before you guys can get to me?"
"You use what you already know. You fight dirty and you aim for the vulnerable spots." I moved closer to her. "But you don't go in there with a gun because that gives him too many options to turn this against us."
Sage looked like she wanted to argue but Ryder stepped in before she could. "Jaxon's right about the gun, but I'll give you a knife. Small enough to hide but sharp enough to do serious damage if you need it." He pulled a switchblade from his pocket and handed it to her. "Keep this in your boot. If Dante gets too close, you use it and don't hesitate."
She took the knife and tested the weight of it in her hand before nodding. "Okay, I can work with this."
"Good. Now let's go over exactly what's going to happen and what signals we're using if things go wrong." I moved to the table and pulled out a notepad. "We need a plan for every possible scenario."
We spent the next two hours going over details until I was confident that we'd covered every angle we could think of.
By the time noon rolled around, my stomach was in knots and I could tell that Sage was nervous even though she was trying to hide it. Ryder looked like he was barely holding himself together and I knew that if Dante so much as looked at Sage the wrong way, there would be bloodshed.
Dante showed up exactly on time looking way too confident for a man walking into enemy territory. He wore dark jeans and a leather jacket with a smug smile that made me want to punch him in the face before he even opened his mouth.
"Jaxon. Good to see you again." He looked around the clubhouse as if he didn't like the look of the place. "Hasn't changed much since you kicked me out."
"You've got one hour starting now. Don't waste it running your mouth." I gestured toward the office. "Sage is waiting inside."
"Where's the attack dog?" He looked around for Ryder.
"Somewhere you don't need to worry about unless you give him a reason to." I stepped closer. "And Dante, if you hurt her or scare her or do anything that makes me regret agreeing to this, you won't make it out of this building alive."
"Relax, I just want to talk. That's all." He moved toward the office door and paused with his hand on the knob. "Though I have to say, it's interesting that you're willing to trade your sister's safety for information about your dead daddy. Vincent would be so proud."
I grabbed him by the throat before he could finish the sentence and slammed him against the wall hard enough to knock the breath out of him. "Watch your fucking mouth about my father."
"Can't handle the truth?" He choked out the words with that same infuriating smirk. "Vincent traded Sage around and now you're doing the same thing. Like father like son."
I tightened my grip until his face started turning red. "You've got fifty-nine minutes left and you're wasting them pissing me off."
Ryder appeared beside me and put a hand on my shoulder. "Let him go. We need him conscious to talk."
I released Dante and watched him gasp for air while rubbing his throat. "Get in there and say what you came to say. The clock is ticking."
Dante straightened his jacket and opened the door to the office where Sage sat waiting behind the desk. She looked calm and composed but I could see the tension in her shoulders and the way her hand rested below the desk, much closer to her boot where the knife was hidden.
"Hello Sage. You're even more beautiful than I remembered." Dante closed the door behind him and I immediately moved to the adjoining room with Ryder right on my heels.
We stood in front of the two-way mirror and watched Dante settle into the chair across from Sage as if he was visiting an old friend instead of someone who could destroy him with a single word. He looked as if he had some leverage and something that protected him and made it impossible for us to want to harm him.
This was either going to give us the answers we desperately needed or it was going to blow up in our faces in ways I couldn't even predict yet.
Either way, the next hour was going to determine everything.
I already knew who killed my father, but I needed to be sure of what information Dante had before I made my next move.