Page 72 of Iron Heart
“Sshhh! Look, it’s not what I set out to do, okay? And I’m not doing it anymore. Like I said, I’m gonna do what I can to get you out of here and help Dante and the club.”
“I don’t believe you,” I say flatly.
“You don’t have a choice, Tori!” He insists. Frustrated, he blows out a puff of air, then starts speaking quickly, eyes locked on mine.
“Look. Listen to me. The reason I showed up in Ironwood is I was on the run from some guys I owed money to in Cleveland. Think a branch of the mob. It wasn’t a huge amount of money — not for them, anyway — so I was hoping they’d let me disappear without working too hard to track me down. I was planning to pay them back the money with the interest I owed them as soon as I could, and then back the hell out of that life for good.
“Well, they came after me.” Dominic shakes his head ruefully. “I figured they would probably just rough me up a little. After all, if they offed me, they weren’t gonna get their money, right? But in the meantime, in the process of tracking me down, they figured out I had a connection to the Lords of Carnage MC. It turns out, that connection was even more valuable to them than the money I owed them.”
“Why?”
Dominic looks like there’s a death sentence over his head.
“These guys have connections to some of the major cartels down south. And I guess one of those cartels is in a turf war with another, smaller cartel the Lords do business with.”
Shit.This is heavy, dangerous stuff. I knew Dante’s club was probably involved with things I would rather not know about… and now here I am, in the middle of it all.
My head is still pounding, but the thud feels like it’s coursing through my whole body. I realize I’m starting to feel panicky. In my chest, my heart does a jittery little dance, and I send up a silent prayer that I won’t have an attack.Not now, please, heart. I need you to beat strong. I have to get out of this!
“So… why do they want me?” I ask in a small, petrified voice.
“They figured out you were with one of the officers, so they’re planning to use you for leverage.”
“But I don’t mean anything to the club!”
“They don’t believe that. You showed up at the meet-up I had with them that day. They’ve seen you with Dante, and at his house. And then they saw you at the Lords’ clubhouse, too.”
“They’ve been following me?” I gasp.
“Yeah. And they’re convinced you’ve been spying for the club.”
“But I haven’t been!” I protest, even as I know it’s useless. “What do they think I can give them?”
“They think they can use you to lure the club out into the open. I don’t know what their plans are after that. They didn’t tell me.”
“But… I don’t understand. Are they using you for that, too? After all, you’re Dante’s brother.”
Dominic shakes his head. There’s a slight tremor in his voice when he speaks. “Maybe. But they’re wrong. Once Dante realizes how badly I’ve betrayed him, he’ll never defend me.”
“You can’t know that,” I counter.
“Yes. I can. And what’s more, these men know that, too. I’m useless to them.”
“So, what are they going to do with me when they realize I can’t get them what they want?” I hiss.
He hesitates.
“The same thing they’d do with you if you did get them what they want. I’m pretty sure they’re planning to kill you, either way,” he says. “And then, they’ll kill me, too.”
29
Dante
As soon as I’m back inside the clubhouse door, I yell for Axel and Rourke. The prospect in the bar motions toward Yoda’s command room, where I find all three of them, grouped around one of his monitors.
“You get anything more off that phone?” I ask Yoda, half out of breath.
“Nothing much,” he says. “It’s barely been used. Looks to me like Dom bought it just for this one purpose.”