Page 71 of Sinner's Storm
“No. The press is having a field day with this. They are splashing pictures of Delany’s father all over the pages. The murders are front page now, along with that child killer.”
“What child killer?” Malice inquired, sneaking back into the room.
“There is some fucknut loose in the city, killing homeless kids. Storm’s sister, Robin, is leading the investigation. Fucker has killed four kids already.”
Malice growled, reaching for his phone. Everyone knew Malice had a soft spot for kids. Growing up in the system hardened him to what kids had to endure. Hell, his own charity, the Foundation, devoted time, money, and resources to children of all ages. Anything to help them get off the streets.
“Take a seat, Prospect,” Montana ordered, as we all looked at the prospect. Pippen was a good kid. Solid and hitting all the benchmarks to becoming a branded brother. Only the strong survived here. Kids like Pippen made their way to the Big Apple with dreams and hopes of making it big. Unlike most who failed miserably, Pippen was one of the few who survived. His little start-up hit it big right before graduation and when he landed in the Big Apple, the kid was already worth millions. Needing a bit of direction, the kid sought out the Sinners and never looked back.
As a club prospect, Pippen was required to devote twenty hours a week to the club while maintaining his business. He had one year to double his net worth while paying his dues to the club. Fail to accomplish that, the club would cut him loose. If he could pull off the impossible, then Pippen would become an intern, where a branded brother would sponsor him for five years, during which time he would be required to devote thirty hours a week to the club while tripling his net worth and expanding abroad. If he could accomplish that, then and only then would Pippen become a branded brother.
The Soulless Sinners didn’t want slackers, weak pussies who couldn’t succeed. The Soulless Sinners weren’t for everyone. It took a certain breed of man to succeed in business while maintaining their allegiance to the brotherhood. Only brothers with the determination and drive to succeed in life reaped the rewards.
“How long have you been prospecting?” Montana asked, as the kid looked around the table before saying, “Hit the year mark last Monday.”
“Storm, how’s his business?”
Reaching for my phone, Pippen quickly confirmed, “Doubled my net worth three months ago, Prez.”
Seeing that he was correct, I nodded.
“Need a volunteer,” Montana said, looking around the room when I raised my hand.
“It’s my turn.”
“You gonna have time with everything else going on?”
“I can do it.”
“Prospect, you’re off probation. You are now an intern. Anyone got any objections?”
The brothers all shook their heads.
“Good. Hate to throw you into the deep end, kid, but with Shame gone, you are the only other person in the club who runs an investigative service. Gonna need you to comb through Shame’s computers and get yourself caught up on the jobs he was working on. Storm, get with Fury and consolidate Shame’s businesses, sell off what you can, then transfer the funds into the club accounts.”
“Don’t you want to wait and see if he had family?” Fury asked.
“No.”
“Malice, call Father Dominic and have him set everything up for Shame.”
“What about fucknut?”
“Bastard is going straight to the crematorium. I’ll have the company put out a release. No funeral.”
“That’s gonna raise eyebrows, brother,” Mercy said.
“Don’t give a fuck,” Montana bit back. “Everyone, get out. Storm, stay.”
As the boardroom emptied, Montana waited until Mercy closed the door behind him. I didn’t know what the fuck Montana wanted to talk about, but whatever it was, I knew it had to do with Delany.
Rubbing his hands down his face, he took a deep breath before saying, “The club rules are clear, Storm. When you married Delany, you did so without permission from Reaper. Now, I gotta deal with that fucker again.”
“Let me stop you right there. Mercy has already given me the options.”
“The only option is for you to get her pregnant again, and fast, because I don’t see Reaper letting this slide. Not after my fuckup. Plus, this shit with her dad isn’t helping. You need to get with Pippen and have him do a deep dive. Maybe he can find out what the hell really happened. Shit Shame found was already shady.”
Leaning back in my chair, I took a chance and asked, “Does the name Mirage mean anything to you?”