Ruin’s Embattlement (Tenillo Guardians AIMC #19)

Desi Chapter 20

It seemed as if time was speeding by. Last week, after Ruin, Dad, and Executioner returned from seeing Isaiah’s dad, I’d asked him in private to show me the video. He gave me the gist of it and then showed me the video. I loved seeing it, and I was surprised, but pleasantly so, when I found out they included getting India away from her parents. There was no way we’d trust either of them with her.

We heard through the trusty Tenillo grapevine that Mr. Vargas had been attacked by some vagrants who broke into an old, abandoned house his family had just discovered belonged to a long-dead relative. Supposedly, he’d been there checking out the place. His years of spinning tales came in handy. He said he had no clue who they were or why they did it other than being scared at his unexpected arrival.

He was still in the hospital. Ruin had done way more damage than Isaiah’s beating had. Besides the bruises and cuts, his dad had four broken ribs, several bruised internal organs, a concussion, and a broken leg and arm.

When Isaiah and his brothers were informed of their dad’s unfortunate run-in, none of them shed a tear. Later, Isaiah asked me if the club was involved. I told him it was best not to ask questions and to take it as a good thing. He knew it was the case, especially the following day when Isaac called to let him know that their mom had brought India to his place and dropped her off with her things. She told him that India was his problem now. Mrs. Vargas ordered him to let the other two know that neither she nor her husband wanted to see or speak to any of them again. They had a celebration that night. Ruin, Shane, and I were invited over. We went and enjoyed seeing Isaiah and his siblings genuinely joyful.

Isaiah thanked Ruin for whatever he had done and asked him to tell the club the same until he was up and able to come to the compound and do it in person. Being the man he was, Ruin denied he had done anything and waved it off.

With the evil Vargases out of the way, life would be looking up for the four kids. As for Ruin, Shane, and I, it was more than good. A couple of days after the beating, we met with the builder to go over the house plan and ask him to work on the quote and timeline. He was great about it and told us to give him three days, and he’d have it for us. He was true to his word. When he called to go over it, we were more than ecstatic with not only the cost but the timeframe. He apologized for having to wait a month to begin, but he promised he’d have the house done well before Christmas.

However, any thoughts that the house was the last major thing were eliminated when Ruin and I were in bed two nights ago. Recalling what he said and the subsequent lovemaking made me grow extremely warm, and a huge smile broke out.

“Desi, we need to talk about something now that the house is all but settled,” he said. We were cuddled in the bed. We’d gotten Shane to bed not long ago and had moved to our room. I had a nice long bath, and I was so relaxed, it was unbelievable. The seriousness of his tone made me sit up.

“What do you mean? I thought we covered it all in that call with the builder.”

“We did, as it pertains to our house. That’s not what I’m talking about. There’s still one huge thing we have to figure out.”

“And that is?”

“Well, we’re living together, we have the house lined up, and we’re engaged. That means all we still need to do is actually get married. When would you like to have the wedding? Are you a summer, fall, or winter bride?”

I was stunned for a moment and had to think before I answered. “You forgot one. What about spring?”

He groaned. “I didn’t say that because if I have to wait until next spring, which is a year away, I think I might lose my mind. Please tell me you’re not going to torture me and make me wait until then,” he pleaded.

“Tanner, I’ve had my heart set on a spring wedding since I was a little girl,” I exclaimed.

His crestfallen face made it hard for me to hold in my grin and laughter. I wanted to play with him and see what he’d do or say. The real answer was I had no preference. He sighed before he went on.

“Fine, if you really want a spring one, we’ll do it, but I want it at the beginning of the season, not the end. It’s the end of March now. I refuse to go past a year from today. I assume you know what kind of theme, colors, cake, and dress you want. We need to get to work. I want you to have the day you’ve always dreamed of. This is your one and only wedding.”

“It’s not all about me. What about you? Aren’t there things you want? It’s not just my wedding. What if I choose things you hate? Should we be planning a fancy wedding, which sounds like what you think it’ll be when we’re building a house? Yes, the club is paying for our house, but we haven’t saved enough money to pay for an elaborate wedding. I’d rather save our money for our new home. We have to furnish it, you know.”

“Yes, we do, but that doesn’t mean we have to skimp on our wedding. Do you not know our mom? The ladies of the club? If you think they’ll let us run off to the justice of the peace, you’ve lost your mind.”

I groaned. “Don’t remind me. Okay, how can we do this the cheapest without causing mutiny among the women?”

“I’m glad you asked because I knew you’d want to go for something frugal. I tried to head off any arguments by talking to Dad and Mom about it.” He paused.

“And?”

“Mom said there was no way her daughter and oldest son were getting married, and she didn’t get to do the gorgeous wedding thing. She said she knew it was unlikely she’d get one out of Tyson, and Skye didn’t let her do it big, so we have no choice. I tried to use the excuse that we wanted to spend our money on other things, but she shot that down, too. That’s when they told me they had money for the wedding. The bride’s family is the one to pay for it traditionally, I was informed. They actually joked and thanked me for falling in love with you since it would save them some money.” He grinned as he said that last part.

“They did! Oh my God, please tell me you talked them out of it.”

“Nope. You know Mom. Then Dad looks at you with those crazy eyes of his, and next thing you know, you’re agreeing with him. It’s not fair. So, I was assured that other than us telling them the must-haves, the rest would be taken care of. As for me, I just want you to be happy and to be my wife as soon as feasibly possible. I’ll just have to hope I live until next spring.”

That’s when I lost the battle not to laugh, and I burst out cackling as I shoved him onto his back. “Look at the big badass Marine pouting like a ten-year-old girl wanting her first pair of high heels.”

This had him retaliating. He wrestled me playfully to the bed, then began to tickle me as he nipped at my neck. “Take it back. Say I’m the most studly man you’ve ever seen and that I do not pout like a girl. Other men shake in their shoes when they see me.”

I held out for as long as I could before I gave in. “Uncle, I surrender. You’re not a girl. You’re a manly man and a badass.”

He eased back and nodded. “That’s better. You know, telling lies like that one about me being a girl will make your nose grow. So, how soon can we get with the old ladies and begin planning this spring wedding?”

“I’d say next month if you keep insisting on us waiting until next year. If it were this fall, then I’d say tomorrow. I’ve always thought a fall wedding was the prettiest.” I looked at him innocently.

He blinked, then let out a growl. “I’m going to make you pay for that. You’ve been leading me to think you wanted to wait until next year.”

I winked. “Does that mean I might get punished?”

He paused a second before he answered. “Do you want to be punished? Is there something you had in mind?”

So far, while our lovemaking had been more than good, I’d sensed that he was hesitant to push things into other areas. Over the years, as Adara got me more comfortable with my sexuality and the natural desires one can have, I’d done some educating myself. Porn online was one way, but others were reading steamy books, like Sara’s, and listening to the conversations of the old ladies when it was just the women. They seemed more than satisfied with their sex lives, and there were a lot of different things going on with them and their men. They didn’t tell everything, but it was enough to know things were spicy at the Infidels’ compound. My gut told me that Ruin was more adventurous than he’d shown me.

“If it was you doing the punishing, then I’m open to try at least most things.”

“Baby, why are you bringing this up? Do you think I want more? Please don’t feel you have to offer to do sexual acts you’re not comfortable with or even want to try in order to make me more gratified. I love what we do together. You know I have no problem getting off from it.”

“I do know you get off, as you call it, but I also know there’s more to sex, and you’re holding back. I know it’s because you’re afraid to do something that’ll scare me or turn me off. We have to be honest with each other, Tanner, if we’re going to last. It’s true. I can’t promise I’ll never get frightened or hesitant about things we do in bed. It’s going to happen, but never trying isn’t the answer.”

“It makes me sick to think I might say or do something to make you feel afraid,” he confessed.

“If I get afraid, it’ll be of the unknown, not of you. Unless I outright tell you no or to stop doing it, I want you to proceed. Kinslee and I talked a lot about this. She told me about a few times she panicked with Cuffs. They were able to work through it, and in the end, she ended up more than liking what they did.”

He was quiet for a long minute before he said more. “Since you brought it up, I’d like to hear what you’re curious about. What have you talked about or know something about that you want to explore?”

“I’m not as na?ve as everyone imagines. I’ve watched videos online and read some very graphic books, plus heard conversations. I’m ready to leave the tragedy of my past in the past. I’m not broken. I’m slightly bent but straightening more every year.”

“So you’ve read and watched. Now you have me intrigued. Mon Désir has been hiding naughty thoughts and desires, I think. What do you have the most questions about?” He was giving me a sexy smirk.

“Tanner, there are so many things I wonder about. I’m not sure if I want to try them all, but I do have questions. For example, there are some wild positions that I don’t think are possible, and if they are, how can you concentrate and enjoy what you’re doing? Do people truly experience pleasure being spanked, tied up, and things like that? What about the person doing that to them? Do they receive pleasure from it? And there are so many toys and equipment, I guess you call it, that can be used. I’ve seen Trident and Sara’s special room. She gave the ladies a tour. Oh my God, I couldn’t look at her or Trident for a month afterward, but it made me die to know more.”

“Shit, I would’ve loved to have been on that tour with you. To answer you, yes, there are things I get enjoyment from that we haven’t done. I’ll be honest with you, even though I have experience, I haven’t been a total manwhore, Desi. There haven’t been that many women, not compared to most of my friends or the guys here. With that said, there are plenty of things I’m intrigued by but haven’t tried. But if you’re willing, I’m more than willing for us to give them a shot if you want to do them, too.”

“So we’d be learning and experimenting together on a lot of stuff neither of us have encountered. Hmm, I love that idea. Truthfully, the idea of you being way more experienced in consensual sex compared to me is kind of intimidating. Knowing you’re not light years ahead of me helps.”

“Not light years, and even if I have done it, it’s completely different when it’s with you. I love you, and that makes a world of difference. I do have a suggestion on how we ease into this experimenting.”

“How? I’m open to suggestions.”

“Let’s ask Sara and Trident to give us a personal tour of their room, just the four of us. We can ask questions about everything that catches our interest. If it’s both of us asking, you won’t be as embarrassed. And you know, neither of them would ever say anything or tease you. Trident may piss with Sin, but that’s different. Brothers-in-arms do that shit to each other.”

This time, I thought before answering. “I believe I could do it if you’re with me. Yeah, let’s do that.”

“Good. I’ll arrange it. However, that doesn’t mean while we wait, we can’t play. How would my soon-to-be wife like to get off tonight?”

I lay back and spread my arms to the side. “Anyway you want to play, baby.”

He let out a soft growl, and then I was taken on a long journey to heaven. I couldn’t wait to see what else we brought to our bed.

???

It had been three days since my conversation with Ruin about touring Trident and Sara’s special room. He’d gone to see them the next day. I found out afterward when he came home and told me we were set to do it on Sunday. It would be the four of us, and no one else would be told. He swore they were more than willing to do it and were happy to help. I’ll be honest. I’d been nervous ever since. I wanted to do it, but there was that edge of discomfort doing it as well. He was wonderful about talking it out with me. I didn’t need to say a word for him to know how I was feeling.

I was thankful today was Friday. Not only because it was now two days away, and once it was done, we could move on, but I always looked forward to the weekends when Ruin and I didn’t have to work. We were able to spend it together. Most of the time, Shane was with us, which we didn’t mind, but we also got more us time in there, too.

The day seemed to drag along. Most of the women were at work. The kids were in school, and the little ones who weren’t school-age were at preschool, with sitters, or with one of their parents. Depending on their job, some were able to take them to work with them, which I thought was cool. I’d done it a lot with Shane. The men were all off the compound today, even Phantom, who typically worked from here. That left me, Skye, Lorelei, and Raine here. Skye, Lorelei, and I did our work remotely. Raine was here due to being pregnant and ready to give birth any day.

Phalanx and Bullet had been hovering, and one or the other had been staying home with her for the past few weeks. They were driving her crazy, so she threatened if they didn’t both go to work today, she’d have the baby without them when the time came. No way were they missing out on the birth of their child, so they reluctantly agreed. Feeling sorry for them, I volunteered to be on call for her. If she needed anything or if she went into labor, I’d take care of her and call them.

In order to keep my promise, I checked in on her every two hours and then sent them an update. It was eleven in the morning. Skye, Lorelei, Raine, and I gathered at the clubhouse to have lunch. We’d eat together. Skye helped me to make it. We made enough for Konrad and Niam to eat. Personally, I couldn’t care less if Niam ate, but I wanted Konrad to have something.

Niam hadn’t grown on me. In fact, over the past three weeks, he’d grown worse. I knew the month that Ruin had given him to prove himself was almost up. I didn’t see anything saving him from that fate. Right before we sat down to eat, I sent off a text to both prospects.

Me: Food in the clubhouse. Me & ladies eating now. Come get it when you can.

Konrad responded before I got my plate filled. I laughed when I read it, and I told the ladies what he said, which made them laugh too.

Konrad: Hot damn. I’m coming. Don’t eat it all, D.

Me: Too late. It’s all gone.

Konrad: :(

I wasn’t surprised when Niam didn’t bother to reply. Asshole. We’d just sat down when the door opened, and in ran Konrad. He whipped his head from side to side, then yelled, “Where’s the grub!”

“I told you you’re too late,” I teased him.

He gave me a sad, pathetic face. “Please, Desi, don’t do this. I thought we were friends.”

I pretended to consider it, then sighed. “Fine, there might be some scraps in the kitchen you can have.”

“Yay,” he yelled as he took off again.

“He’s not all there, but I do like him. He’s fun and still does his work,” Skye said, grinning.

“True. But he’s been a good friend to Ruin. He said out of all the guys he served with, he’s the closest to Konrad,” I told them.

“Then it’s a good thing you stopped dating him and chose Ruin, or that guy would’ve killed his buddy,” Lorelei added.

“Konrad doesn’t act as if he holds it against you,” Raine said.

“He doesn’t. He knew our second date was as friends. As much as I like him, he’s never going to replace Ruin.”

Our conversation was halted when Konrad arrived at the table with his plate piled high with food. He dropped into the chair next to me, and I eyed his plate.

“Prospect, if you eat all that, you’ll have to work double to burn it off,” I warned him.

“Hey, I’m a growing boy. I need fuel. I’ll have this burned off in two hours,” he boasted.

As we got to eating, there was light chatter back and forth. He was comfortable with all of us, which was a plus in his favor. We’d been eating maybe five minutes or more when the door came flying open again. Glancing up, I figured Niam had finally decided to grace us with his presence and eat. I was half right.

It was Niam, but he wasn’t here to eat. In his hand was a gun, and it was pointed at the five of us. I blinked to clear my vision. I thought I was hallucinating, but the gun didn’t disappear. Next to me, Konrad shifted.

“Don’t move! The first one who does, I’ll shoot. If you do as I say, then you’ll be fine,” he snapped. He was coming closer to us.

“What do you want?” Skye asked.

“Are you insane? Do you know what the club will do to you for this?” Konrad asked.

“Shut up! I’m not scared of this fucking club. If they know what’s good for them, they’ll leave me alone.”

“Then tell us what you want,” Lorelei said softly.

“Simple. I want what I came here for.” An evil-looking smirk spread over his face.

“And that would be…?” I asked.

“You,” he answered. It was the last thing I thought he’d say. Sure, I had no trouble seeing him wanting money, valuables, and guns, but me? Why?

Maybe I’d lived through, seen, and heard too many things over the last several years, but whatever the reason, I found his admission that he wanted me, and the fact he was holding a gun on me didn’t frighten me nearly as much as it should have. As long as he didn’t hurt the others, especially Raine and the baby, I’d be alright. She was pale and breathing a tad heavy. She had to be terrified.

“Why the hell do you want, Desi?” Konrad asked.

“Because I’m owed.”

“Owed?” Skye murmured in confusion.

“Enough talk. No more stalling. Get up. You’re going to tie them up, and then we’ll leave. If you try anything, I’ll shoot them. Understand?” he snapped at me.

I slowly came to my feet. Konrad hissed, “Don’t,” but I ignored him. Niam took a backpack off his other arm. I hadn’t even noticed it. He threw it toward my feet.

“There are zip ties in there. Hurry. We don’t have all day. We need to put distance between us and this club. I can’t wait to get out of here.”

I picked it up and placed the pack on the table. Unzipping it, I took out several zip ties. Some were larger than others. Those were the ones to tie legs together, and the others were for your hands. My captors had used them. For a moment, I flashed to a scene in my past. However, I pushed it away. I had to stay in the here and now. I had to find a way to save us.

“Tie the ladies first while I get his gun,” Niam ordered. I went to my sister first. I knew if I went too slow, he might start shooting people, so I did it as slow as I dared. I saw him pocket Konrad’s gun. I saved Raine until last. She was shaking and sweaty.

“It’ll be alright,” I whispered to her. She whimpered.

“Get over there and tie him. I’m done waiting. Move it!” Niam shouted.

I did as he demanded. I tied Konrad’s wrists to the chair first. When I bent to do his ankles, I got a shock. I felt something hard and bumpy around his right ankle. I glanced up at him, and he gave me an imperceptible chin lift. Heart pounding, hoping it was what I needed, I eased up the leg of his jeans. Konrad had a second gun, a smaller one strapped to his leg. Why Niam didn’t search him, I didn’t know, but it would work in our favor. The table was between me and him, so he couldn’t see what I was doing. I snagged the gun and slipped it into the waist of my pants. My shirt slightly hung over it.

When I was done securing Konrad, I stood up. “What now?” I asked.

“You walk over here. We’re taking a trip. Get over here. We’ve got to go,” he said urgently.

As I went to him, Konrad and the women protested. He ignored them. He pushed me ahead of him, so I had to find a way to get him in front of me.

We were almost to the door when Konrad shouted, “You cocksucking prick. You wait until Ruin gets his hands on you. He’ll tear you apart for trying to take her. There’s nowhere you can hide, you little worm!”

I glanced over my shoulder when he began to shout. It was as if it was happening in slow motion, like in the movies. When Niam swung around to face Konrad, his gun wasn’t pointed at them, but his arm was rising, and he wasn’t watching me. I felt like I was in a dream as I palmed the gun at my waist and brought it out and up. My finger was pressing the trigger before I even thought. The sound of the bullet was loud. The ladies screamed. Niam groaned and hunched forward.

I was on autopilot as I swept his legs out from under him. When he hit the floor, I was there to scoop up his gun so he couldn’t grab it. He was cursing and writhing on the floor, holding his upper shoulder. I hadn’t shot him in the head. Instead, I hit the arm he was holding his gun with. It made him drop it.

“You bitch!” he screamed.

“Fucker,” I replied, then I kicked him in the head. It dazed him long enough I was able to get to the forgotten backpack and pull out more zip ties. I didn’t help the others until he was secured. They were practically crying in relief. Konrad was attempting to break his restraints.

“Hang on. I’ll cut those,” I said before running to get a knife in the kitchen. It didn’t take long to free them. I did Konrad first and then Raine, Skye, and Lorelei.

“Send out a group text to the men. Tell them we need some of them here ASAP. Don’t tell them exactly what’s wrong. That info shouldn’t be in a text. Just tell them we’re okay, but it’s urgent,” Skye ordered Konrad.

As an officer’s old lady, it made sense she was taking control. On the other hand, I had my own work to do. I walked back over to Niam. He was coming around. I crouched next to him, so it was me he saw first when his eyes opened. He glared daggers at me.

“Seems to me this bitch got the best of you. How’s your shoulder feel? Sore?” I taunted him. Anger pumped through me.

“You won’t be smiling when I get free, and you’re mine,” he promised.

“How do you think you’ll be able to do that? I wouldn’t hold my breath. You said you were taking what you came for, and it was me. I want to know what you meant.”

“I’m not telling you shit,” he snapped as he spit at me.

My fury ramped up another notch. I was momentarily distracted by Konrad. “Desi, the guys are coming. Move away from him. They’ll take care of this piece of shit. I can promise him that when Ruin is done with his ass, he’ll beg to die.”

“Sit him up in one of the chairs. I want him tied to it, just the way you were,” I demanded.

Konrad didn’t argue, although he did give me a worried look. Niam tried to fight, but it was no use. Even if he wasn’t shot and tied, he was smaller than Konrad. Once he was secured, I was ready with a bar towel I snatched from behind the bar. There were gloves back there, too, so I put on a pair and removed my belt. I used the towel to pad his wound and my belt to hold it tight.

“Why are you wasting your time trying to stop the bleeding? He’s a dead man,” Konrad asked.

“She’s doing it so he doesn’t die before his time. He has to pay for what he tried to do, and we need to find out why he did it. I don’t know how long he’ll last, even with that, Desi. We need to question him before the guys get here, just in case,” Skye advised.

I’d been thinking the same thing. It would take at least twenty minutes for the first ones to get from town to here. It was more than enough time for him to bleed to death. It made me wish Luciana was here. She was a nurse and could patch him up enough to stop it. Saint had been teaching her combat medicine for a long time.

“I agree, which is why we are. Before you tell us to leave and let you handle this, Konrad, the answer is no. He tried to kidnap me. I’m doing the goddamn questioning,” I snarled.

“Whoa, calm down, Desi. Ruin will kill me if I let you do this. If you want to watch, that’s fine, but let me do the interrogating. It might have to get ugly,” Konrad warned me.

Skye waved aside his comments. “Forget it. She needs this, and it’s not as if the rest of us haven’t been involved in conversations that got bloody, except Raine has to sit. Honey, are you alright?”

“I’m fine. Just get to it.”

“What are you going to do if he refuses to talk?” Konrad asked.

“Simple. I’m going to use this knife I cut you free with to persuade him.” I held it up.

“You don’t have the guts,” Niam challenged.

“I guess you’ll find out, won’t you? First question: why did you come here? You said it was because of me. Why? I don’t know you. I’ve never seen you before in my life.”

He smiled and said nothing. To show him I meant business, I slashed a shallow cut along his cheek. He hissed, and it bled, but it wasn’t deep enough to pose a risk. “I think you should reconsider answering,” I told him.

Back and forth it went. Konrad kept trying to get me to let him take over, and I kept asking Niam questions. He’d either not answer or swear at me and make more threats. I’d had enough. The guys would be here any minute. I knew they’d want to deal with him, so instead of putting another cut on him or stabbing him, which was what I wanted to do, I took my gloved hand and dug my thumb into his bullet hole.

His scream of pain was deafening. The bleeding increased, but I was out of patience.

“TELL ME WHO YOU ARE AND WHY YOU WANT ME!” I screamed in his face, and then I punched him in his wound. I jumped back in time to avoid the vomit.

He took a couple of moments to settle enough to talk. What he said horrified me. “Enough. I’ll tell you. You were supposed to be mine. I’ve waited years for you. If this goddamn club hadn’t interfered, we would’ve been together years ago. It’s their fault. Hector promised when I got back to the States from deployment, you’d be mine.”

When the name Hector was mentioned, I stumbled back. Konrad’s arms came around me. “Desi, what’s wrong?” he asked worriedly.

“Oh my God,” Skye whispered.

I couldn’t speak. My throat had a lump in it. The roar of motorcycles caught our attention.

“You’re in for it now, fucker,” Konrad said gleefully.

The noise outside died down, and then the door swung open. Several guys tried to enter at once. Sin and Executioner were in the lead, but Talon, Bullet, Ruin, and Phalanx weren’t far behind. All of them wore anxious looks. They came to an abrupt halt when they saw Niam.

“Would someone mind telling us what the fuck is going on here? I get a mystery text to come home that it’s urgent, but nothing else from you, Prospect. No other texts were answered by any of you. We have to talk about proper protocol,” Sin snapped, mostly at poor Konrad.

“Sin, it’s my fault. I was the one who told him what to send, and then we got caught up in what was happening here,” Skye explained.

“Baby Girl, someone needs to tell us what happened before we lose our minds,” Executioner growled.

“Desi, why do you have blood on your hands?” Ruin asked.

At the same time, Bullet and Phalanx asked Raine, “Are you alright, Pixie?”

“I’m not harmed, but we need to call my sister.”

“Why?” Phalanx asked.

“Because I’m pretty sure I’m in labor. She’s got to be there,” Raine said as she grimaced.

Chaos reigned for a couple of minutes as everyone exclaimed, and things were sorted out. Lorelei and Talon volunteered to go to the hospital with them until Piper and Saint got there. There was no way anyone would allow those two to drive her there. They were a bundle of nerves. With them out the door, a message was sent to alert others to the impending new arrival and the request for the rest of the men to get back to the compound except Saint, then it was back to the matter at hand.

My head was spinning and pounding. “Desi, why do you have blood on your hands?” Ruin asked again.

“Because I was torturing this motherfucker for information. He came in here with a gun, had me tie everyone up, and he was going to kidnap me. He claimed he was taking what he came for… me. I wanted to know what he meant. I never saw him before he came to join as a prospect.”

Ruin let out a loud snarl. He would’ve lunged at Niam, but I grabbed his arm. “Hold it. I was afraid he might bleed to death before you got here to question him, so I did it.”

“Why the hell didn’t you do it?” he snapped at Konrad.

“I tried. She refused, and I was told not to. When the enforcer’s old lady gives an order, I do what she says. Isn’t that what you told me? Even the old ladies could give orders as long as they didn’t counter one given by a member.”

“Well, yeah, but this is different,” Ruin said.

Before I could tell him the shocking part, I heard additional motors, followed shortly afterward by more men coming in. Finally, I had enough. They were all talking and asking for explanations, so I whistled loudly to get their attention.

“You can all get caught up later. What I haven’t been able to tell you is that he claims he was supposed to get me years ago when he came back from deployment. Hector promised him.”

I stressed the name Hector. This electrified everyone. I stood there as my man got in Niam’s face. I knew it was now out of my hands.