Antichrist

“Did I miss anything? Do you still want to have that mother-daughter chat? Because we can still do that if you want. Or—” I grit my teeth and turn to face Nik, who is already watching me with wary eyes.

His left eye twitches with the curve of his lip and his tongue slides to the side as he flicks his thumb across his neck to signal death.

I shake my head, turning back to her. “We’re going to let you go.”

“What?” both Niko and her say in unison.

I unlatch the lock and widen the door. “The boys will blindfold you and drop you somewhere far away from us, but hear this—”

I step into her cell now, and being this close to her only pacifies my anger. I feel nothing for this woman. Not one thing.

“If you step foot back in my life, I’ll kill you next time. I know you’re wondering why I would let you go, and the answer is simple, but definitely a list.” I lean down until my lips touch her ear. “Les beaux voyous, The Knights MC, the national league of assassins, Ghost, and finally.” I smirk around her ear. “Antichrist.” I pull back and search her eyes. “This is your warning.”

Snatching the walkie-talkie that’s sitting on the table, I say into the little black box, “Send The Knights down.” Before placing it back onto the table, I watch Niko.

He shakes his head, keeping his eyes on her unmoving body. “Still should have let me kill her.”

“I’m still me. That will never be my first answer.”

“Motherfucker, you have been fucked every which way around death.” His eyes widen as footsteps come down the stairs.

I pat him over the chest, smirking when he yanks me into his arms. “That was our foreplay, it doesn’t count.”

He laughs, his head tilting back and flashing me his wide, toothy grin. “That foreplay is going to get me killed one day.”

It just might…

Sunday service is a little different these days, and since the whole let-my-mother-go thing last week, I’m in desperate need of girl time.

“Aha! Royal flush!” Lila slams her cards onto the table and throws up her hands.

Cece glares at her, swiping up her drink before flicking her cards across the table. “You little shit. This is all Lester’s fault.”

Both go back and forth with each other, and I watch as Jess moves around the room. I can see her taking everything in, so I push up from my chair and meet her in front of the photo wall.

“This is cool,” she says, gesturing to the Polaroids stapled to the wall. “I can’t believe I’ve never been down here before.”

I roll my lips between my teeth to hide my smile.

“Well, that’s because I wasn’t sure how much I was going to tell you.”

“And you know now?” she asks, turning to face me.

I look back at the photos and then turn and lean against the wall. I got the vision for the gallows around the same time I found out I was pregnant. I knew I needed a space, like a club, but just for women. This place took everything from the ones who came through, so this is my way of feeding back the soil. If men can do it, why can’t we?

“Well, I know that I trust you.”

I ruffle her hair and move back to the table, swiping up Mira’s empty glass and refilling everyone’s drinks at the bar in the corner of the room. There’s a bar, a poker table and cigar dispenser, a stripper pole, and pink-and-white LED lighting around the furniture. I replaced the walls with glass and turned them into fish tanks filled with all kinds of different fish. It took six months to finish the gallows alone, but now that it’s done, it’s my favorite room.

I snatch the cigarette out of Cece’s fingers and pick up my deck of cards. “Okay. You bitches are going down.”

Six Months Later

The deep sound of rumbling bikes vibrates the walls of the compound, and I flick my cigarette between my teeth as I make my way out. It’s just hitting sunset, so there’s a burst of violet-and-orange hues that penetrate the sky, the warmth hitting the edges of my cut.

Once the brothers are parked, I nod my head toward the inside of the clubhouse. “Got some news.”

Lester squeezes my shoulder. “I love you, brother, but we really gotta do this now? I can smell food and pussy.”

He ain’t wrong. It’s the first cookout since all the shit with Meraki, so it’s an important one since my kid is also here with us.

“That will still be there once we’re done. Fucker.”

Fanta, Smoke, and the rest all pile into Temple, and I take the head of the table, flicking the ash off my cigarette.

I wait for everyone to be seated before leaning forward. “No one has been getting whacked off since we caught Meraki’s mother. I did more research into it, using Jer, Ari, and Cece obviously, and we found that it wasn’t actually Luca and his shitty father like we initially assumed, it was her who was working her way through the mob bosses. She was hiring people from the league of assassins and offering her services as payment, which they obviously took. Apparently, paying in Bitcoin is the new thing now, and since she’s a hacker, she has endless access to it.”