Page 78 of Sinner's Malice

“How do we help him, Torment?” Payne asked as my brother hung his head.

“I’m not sure.”

“What the fuck do you mean, you’re not sure?” I challenged. “You are the fucking expert here. This is what you do for a fucking living.”

“I know, Montana!” Torment shouted at me. “I fucking know it’s my job to know, but contrary to your fucking belief, I don’t know everything. What I do know is that, like Ivy, Malice needs extensive therapy, but the problem I’m having is getting him to sit down and talk. I’m not sure if you’ve been fucking paying attention where Malice is concerned, but the fucker doesn’t talk!”

“Then I will order him to talk.”

Sinclair smirked, shaking his head. “You do that and you are no better than Devlin Scott.”

“Fuck you, asshole!”

“Sinclair’s right, Montana,” Vicious spoke up. “Think about what Torment just said. What Sinclair said about Malice’s past. You order Malice to sit and talk and you are basically doing the same thing Devlin Scott did. Malice has to want to talk. We can’t force him.”

“Vicious is right,” Fury moaned. “We force Malice to talk when he’s not ready and we are no better than that sick fuck. I hate this as much as you do, Montana, but we need to come up with something else. Something that will induce Malice to get the help he needs.”

“What about Silver?” Mercy said. “He claimed her. We all know he cares for her. He’s shown us that. What if we talk to Silver and see if she can talk him into speaking with Torment?”

“That won’t work.” Torment shook his head. “Because if he ever finds out that she went behind his back, he will never trust her. Their relationship is already teetering on a fine line. That will tip the scale.”

Glaring at Sinclair, I asked, “What about you? You grew up with him. Helped him escape that fucked-up world. How did you keep him from going off the deep end?”

“What I did won’t work anymore. Torment saw evidence of that today.”

Torment sighed, leaning back in his chair. “So, the BDSM world is out. We can’t order him, and we can’t ask Silver to help.”

“I say leave him alone,” Payne muttered, crossing his arms over his chest. “You want Malice to get help, then give him space and time so he can come to that decision himself. Malice is more than capable of making an informed decision. He knows to ask for help when he needs it. I get that all of you care. I do too. He’s my brother. But this decision needs to come from him. Not the club. Him. Malice needs us to trust him, and we need to trust that Malice will do the right thing.”

In the end, the board voted to do nothing.

After the vote, I cleared the boardroom, leaving only me and Sinclair. I wanted to know the truth. I didn’t give a damn about protocol or client privilege. Malice was my brother. My club enforcer, and I needed to make sure he could handle his responsibilities in this club. Mainly, I wanted to make sure he wouldn’t hurt Silver any more than he already had.

I still wasn’t sold on the idea of the two of them together, but my hands were tied. She bore his mark and there was little I could do. But as someone who considered her my daughter, well, there was a whole hell of a lot I could do. Because no one was going to fucking lay a hand on her and live.

Getting up from my seat, I asked, “Want a drink?”

“No, thank you.”

Walking over to a small bar, I poured myself a whiskey. “I don’t like you, Sinclair.”

“Feeling is mutual, Stone.”

“So, what do we do about it?”

From the corner of my eye, I saw the fucker lean back in the chair and smirk. “Give me what I want and you will never have to see me again.”

“Okay. I’ll bite. What the fuck do you want?”

“My niece, Gideon, and your assurance to never contact them again.”

It was my turn to smirk. “That is never gonna happen.”

“Then we have a problem.”

Sitting back down, I happily informed, “Got a mouse in your pocket? ‘Cause from my perspective, you are the one with a problem. First, your relation to Silver is still undetermined. Until I have proof, you have no claim. If the bloodwork comes back showing she’s Bane’s daughter, then she’s a fucking MC Princess, making her untouchable. Relation be damned. As for Malice, he is Soulless, and good luck getting her away from him. You got the Playground. Be happy with that.”

“You protect your family like I do, Stone. So let me be clear as well. Gideon was mine long before you branded him. You can’t control him. Once he unleashes the monster within him, good luck putting him back in the bottle.”