Zero Regret (Lost Kings MC 13)

If an officer isn’t doing what’s in the best interest of the club, there are plenty of options to remove him, even a stubborn bastard like Sway, without shooting him in the head.

Cowardice. There’s no room for it in this club.

Steer corralled everyone into the underground chamber out back. It was renovated with this in mind. I’ve only seen it once or twice since Sway remodeled.

A steel door in the basement’s concrete floor leads to a flight of stairs. Above us, the filters for the pool hum and churn. Dampness clings to the walls.

To the left, there’s a room with an elevated tub and barrels of chemicals. We have a similar room at the upstate clubhouse.

The tunnel’s low enough that I have to duck to move through it as do most of my brothers.

The next room is empty. It’s too small for this sort of interrogation.

At the end of the tunnel, there’s a much larger room with a higher ceiling. All the members of the downstate charter are spread around. Back to the wall, facing the accused.

This gets done with the full knowledge and consent of all the brothers. No secrets. No wondering what went down. No fear that brothers are being executed for no reason. Everyone on the same page.

Shadow’s on a metal folding chair in the center of the room. Steer stands behind him. Shadow isn’t tied or cuffed to the chair. Nothing silly or dramatic like that. There’s no point. Where would he run?

Murphy, Teller, and Dex fall back, mixing in with the rest of the brothers.

“Come to execute me, Prez?” Shadow sneers as I step in front of him.

I glance at Steer. “Get him up.”

I was wrong, Shadow’s hands are restrained by two zip-ties holding them together. Blood seeps through his shirt and he groans as Steer yanks him out of the chair.

“The club voted to strip your patch,” I inform him.

To his credit, Shadow doesn’t seem incredibly surprised.

“For touching your bitch? After she all but gave me the green light?”

“We already know that’s not how it went down,” Rooster says.

Hustler shifts forward. “You still pulled a knife on a brother.”

“He was beating the shit out of me for no reason.”

“So, you didn’t try to choke the mother of my kid?” I ask, already tired of his bullshit.

He shrugs. “She likes it rough, so what?”

“It doesn’t really matter how she likes it or what she said to you,” Teller says from behind me. “Z made it clear she was his property—”

“She wasn’t wearing no patch.”

“A technicality, asshole,” Jigsaw grumbles. “Everyone knew it.”

“Everyone knew she was with our prez,” Suds says. “Don’t matter if she hiked up her dress and put a free sample sign over her cunt.” I glare at Suds and he holds his hands up. “Just trying to make a point.”

“Putting hands on her went way too far,” Smoke says. “Leave it at that.”

He’s probably trying to distance himself from Shadow at the last minute, but Smoke’s condemnation of Shadow’s actions—no matter how lukewarm it might be—finally shuts Shadow up.

“Take his cut.” I nod to Steer, who holds Shadow while Hustler and Jigsaw strip off Shadow’s cut. They hand it to me.

Slowly, I pull my knife out of the sheath resting against my thigh. It’s a different knife than I carry every day. This one’s for special occasions.

Shadow’s eyes widen as I use the heavy, curved blade to slice off his VP patch. Overkill, but it gets the job done.

“Burn it,” I order, handing it off to Rooster.

Now that his patch has been taken, Steer throws Shadow back in his seat.

I circle the room once, considering how this should go down.

“While we were at the table, some disturbing information was brought up.”

Shadow doesn’t seem to care. He sits back. “If you’re gonna kick me out, just do it.”

“You think we woulda brought you down here if you were only getting kicked out?” Steer rumbles.

The gravity of the situation seems to sink in for Shadow. He squirms in his chair.

“What’s wrong, Shadow?” I ask. “Were you thinking, even if you got kicked out of LOKI, you’d run to the Vipers and they’d patch-in your disloyal ass?”

He cocks his head and glares at me but doesn’t open his mouth.

“Or were you thinking you’d help the Vipers infiltrate our club and you’d patch them over to us?”

His mouth twitches. Jesus Christ, was that really what he wanted to do?

Steer must have the same reaction. “How many of us were you planning to kill to make that happen?” he rasps out.

“I didn’t need to kill anyone,” Shadow says. “Sway just needed to stop being a pussy.”

Sway’s many things, but he’s not a coward.

“It wasn’t just Sway,” Rooster says. “None of us wanted to go after the Vipers. We all voted on it.”

“Because you’re all scared of National coming down on us.”

“You thought patching over some Vipers would get you out from underneath National?” Can he really be that stupid? Priest would’ve come down even harder on them. “If the Vipers took over this charter—which never would’ve happened, by the way—Priest would’ve sent in every damn charter he could. All you would’ve done is spark off a war.”

“You’re weak,” he spits out. “Pushing DeLova away. Been neglecting the Demons. How long you think that goes on before they take us over? Vipers could handle those two threats.”

“Neither of them are a threat. Our relationship with Stump’s club is solid. Always has been.”

Shit, we partied with them right before National. Rode with them for a while too. We’ve done business since then.

Shadow’s full of shit.

Even if the Demons had an issue with downstate, they’ve been close to upstate for years. They wouldn’t go after one of our other charters without serious cause.

It doesn’t matter. “We’re getting sidetracked. So, you admit you were working with the Vipers MC? A known enemy of this club.”

“I’m not admitting anything.” He sits back, smug as a child who stuck out his tongue.

“Who shot Sway?” Steer asks.

Shadow’s calculating stare slides between Steer and me. Finally, he shrugs. “Don’t know. I was inside.”

“Are you sure about that?” Rooster pipes up. “I got records showing you renting a black caddy with the same last three digits of the one that tore ass out of here after Sway was shot. Not to mention a few other details.”

Shadow’s head snaps up. “What records?”

Jigsaw steps forward. He has his own knife out and slaps his open palm. “Myra gave you up.”

Shadow’s eyes widen for the briefest second, then he snorts and looks down. “Like fuck she did.”

“I had to give her some encouragement.” Jigsaw closes the distance between them and gently digs the tip of his Bowie knife into Shadow’s chin, forcing his head up. “Then she had all sorts of stuff to say.”

“You’re down here stripping my patch because I felt up your old lady’s tits?” Shadow yells at me. “But you gave him permission to carve up my wife?”

“No one even knew you had a wife,” Steer reminds him.

“Some civilian piece on the outside isn’t my concern,” Jigsaw says.

I glance over at Jigsaw, not happy about how he may have gotten his information. But I’ll have to address it later.

Jigsaw pulls out his phone and hands it to me. A beautiful but terrified brunette stares back. Except for being duct-taped to a chair, she seems unharmed.

Someone off-camera, Jigsaw, I assume asks about the night of the shooting.

“I don’t know,” she cries.

“Think hard. ”

“You don’t understand what he’ll do to me.”

“Trust me, sugar. It won’t be an issue.”

/> She’s silent. Probably weighing her options. Rat out her husband or get carved up by Jigsaw? If Shadow treats her with the same respect he treats other women, I think she’ll choose the first option.

“I didn’t do anything,” she whispers. “And I didn’t know what he had planned.”

“What didn’t you know?” Jigsaw snaps. “Stop fucking around.”

“He wanted me to,” she stops and licks her lips, “drive this car he rented to the clubhouse. He was going to give me a signal to peel out.” She stares at the camera. “It’s best if I don’t ask Jimmy questions.”

"Get to the night in question,” Jigsaw prompts.

“I pulled into the parking lot where he told me to so I’d avoid the cameras. He was outside arguing with the tall, older guy.”

Jigsaw must flash a picture to her off-camera. “That him?”

She nods.

“Go on.”

“The other guy turned to go inside and Jimmy…”

She sobs and hiccups at the same time.

In a gentler tone, Jigsaw asks, “What did Shadow do?”

“He…he…pulled a gun and shot the older man…in the back of the head.” She bursts into tears. “I didn’t need a signal. I slammed it in drive and floored it out of there.”

“Fucking bitch,” Shadow mumbles.

“Actually, she was quite sweet.” Jigsaw grins. “Once we got to know each other.”

“Motherfucker!” Shadow roars and launches himself at Jigsaw, hitting him head-on in the gut.