Page 37 of Bishop

With lots of heavy sighs and grumbles, the room clears, leaving just Wyatt and me in the church. He gets up from his seat and walks over to where I am, only a chair standing between us. Both of us stare each other down. He's demonstrating his authority while I'm showing off my will. I won't be broken, not by him or anyone else in this club. I know what I have to do is the right thing.

"Bishop, I understand what you went through. I know how hard it can be to just sit back and wait for those who hurt you to get what's coming to them."

"No, you don't. You don't know anything about what I was going through. Sure, Rupert beat you. Tortured you. Made you fight in bloody matches people only hear about in medieval novels, but he didn't take the one part of you no one should ever be able to touch. He broke my woman. He made me fucking break her." My words crack at the end. I know it was Liam and Shade who held the gun to our heads, but it was my body that defiled Gabrielle over and over. It was me getting the most pleasure out of it. I'm the reason she tosses and turns at night, muttering for the pain to stop. It was me.

Wyatt looks down. There's nothing he went through that can compare to my plight. We both know it to be true.

"What are you saying? You want to just find every Faceless member and cut their heads off, shove them on a pike for the world to see?" Wyatt crosses his arms over his chest, shaking his head at the insanity of it. Though it's a good idea, I know it's not possible. We'd be in jail before I got to the head of the snake, and that's exactly who I want to get.

"Not everyone, just two people in particular. Shade and Liam." My words are crisp and clear. The sound bounces off Wyatt like a bullet, and I watch as he tries to hide his cringe.

"Oh? Is that why you don't want me to handle things? Is that why you're not doing things the way they need to be done? You don't want to kill Liam?" I get closer to Wyatt's face. He may be the leader, but right now he's not the only alpha dog in the room.

"Bishop, we're not going to do things that way. Liam will go back to jail to serve out the rest of his life sentence."

"Bullshit! He dies! I know that's your brother. I grew up with him too. We may not share the same blood, but we rode the same dirt paths. We laughed at the same shit. None of that mattered to him when he hung me from a meat hook and whipped me until you could see bone. It didn't matter when he turned those fucking cameras on and told me to choose between killing Gabrielle or raping her. That man is not the brother you knew. He's my fucking enemy."

"You need some time to cool off, Bishop. You're too invested in this right now." Wyatt reaches up and puts a hand on my shoulder as if he is going to push me out of the room. It's the wrong move.

I slap his hand away, hard. Wyatt surges forward, ready to throw blows, and I fall right into my fighting stance, ready to take him on.

Wyatt blinks a few times clear the testosterone fueled fog I'm sure is surrounding him and takes a step back. "I'm going to let this slide Bishop. You're a good man and an even better brother but I'm still the president of this club. My word is law and I've already spoken on the matter. If you want to stay in this club you're going to do what I say."

I drop out of my stance, disappointed that it's come down to this. "I guess for this situation, I'll be riding alone."

With a shake of my head I turn on my heel and walk out of church.

Before my time is done, I'll kill Liam. Wyatt is just going to have to get over it.

Twenty

Bishop

I made Gabrielle a promise and I intend to keep it.

Wyatt never said a word about what he and I argued about, but I know he's still thinking about it this morning. I can tell from the way he looks at me everytime I move around the clubhouse.

He's waiting for me to come unraveled, but it's not going to happen. I'll keep myself composed for as long as I have to.

I meant what I told him though about going at it alone. If I had to search, find, and kill both Liam and Shade all in my own, I will. Of course, it'll be that much harder. I tried to reach out on my own to all my FBI contacts, and every single one of them have told me all the same thing.

Let the authorities handle it.

After Rupert went down, the majority of the Faceless organization crumbled. Taking with it all the people that might have benefited from them. Now no one wanted to touch anything that had to do with the Faceless with a 12 ft pole.

"Mason, I wouldn't be reaching out to you if I had any more information." I pinched the bridge of my nose, and exhaled into the phone.

Mason is an informant I used to work with back when I was trying to get information about some mafia dealers flooding the streets. He wasn't much used to me back then, and he's no use now.

"Look, Bishop, you know I want to do right by you, but these Faceless pricks aren't people you want to fuck with."

"Mason, I couldn't care less what you or anyone else feels about the Faceless. If you want to be a chickenshit, do that on your own fucking time. I know what needs to be done. All I need from you is their location." I growl into the phone and hear the man sigh on the other end. I'm getting real sick and tired of people warning me off the Faceless like I don't know what they're capable of. I know firsthand. I'm not scared.

"Fine, Bishop, I'll do my best to get some information and get back to you."

It's not the answer I want to hear from him, but it's going to have to do. "You better make that fast. I know where you stay, Mason, and I'd hate to have to pay you a visit in my present state of mind." Before he can answer, I hang up the phone and lean back in my chair. Looking up at the clock, I see it's well past one in the morning. There's not much more I can do tonight. Not only because people are asleep but because I've been burning the candle at both ends. I don't remember the last time I've eaten or had anything to drink. I need to make sure I don't put myself at a disadvantage before it's time to complete my mission. I have to stay healthy.

Getting up out of the chair, I walk out of my room and towards the kitchen, sneaking a peek in the direction of Gabrielle's room. It's almost as if my body is attuned to hers. I feel her wherever I go. She's safe and sound. That's what matters to me right now. I'm just happy I'm able to give her this space for that.