you.”
Nicole wanted to hug him, but wasn’t sure if that would hurt him. He was a mess. He was covered in bandages, had several stitched up wounds, and three of his fingers were in splints.
“Daddy, what did they do to you? Oh my God. Are you alright?”
“Doc patched me up good,” Chuck said, his voice hoarse. “You’ve got a good man at your side, honey. I owe him.”
“He’s probably gonna collect on that soon,” Nicole said, glancing over at Logan, who gave her a slight nod. “You got yourself in some trouble, huh?”
“Wasn’t my smartest choice, selling out two MCs.”
“Two?” Logan asked, stepping closer. “Only two?”
“Only two,” Chuck repeated. “Ruiz asked me a little bit about the Crusaders, but nothing specific. Don’t look too relieved, Logan. I took that to mean he already had most of the info he wanted. You need to keep an eye out for trouble.”
“Any reason your man, Clay, was seen chatting up two Devil Kings late at night on Crusader territory?” Logan asked.
“Clay?” Chuck asked. “No… no, he wouldn’t. He owes me everything. I gave him a job and a place to live when he was two seconds from begging for his next meal on the streets.”
“It’s true, Daddy,” Nicole whispered. “It’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. Clay’s bad news.”
“The Kings must’ve cornered him there or something,” Chuck said, still refusing to believe it.
“They looked real buddy-buddy to me,” Logan told him. “Nicole has some more news for you where Clay is concerned.”
“Logan, no,” Nicole said, her voice a warning. “I’m not getting into that now.”
“Getting into what?” Chuck asked, pushing himself into a sitting position with a grunt of pain.
“Your trusted associate roughed up your daughter back at the diner,” Logan said, ignoring Nicole’s angry look. “Bruised her face, scared her half to death.”
“What?” Chuck demanded.
For the first time, he got a good look at Nicole’s face. His good eye went wide when he saw the bruise that corroborated Logan’s story.
“Oh, baby,” he murmured, reaching out to take her hand. “I’m so sorry. I knew the kid wasn’t all there, but I thought he was harmless. If I knew what he was up to, I wouldn’t have let him be in the same state as you, let alone the same room. Please believe me, sweetheart.”
Nicole pressed her lips together to keep from crying. She managed to offer her father a quick nod. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her into a hug.
“He didn’t hurt you too bad, did he baby? I mean he didn’t…”
“No,” Nicole said quickly. “He threatened me with a lot of unsavory stuff, but he let me go after that. I think he knows something, Daddy. I think he’s helping the Devil Kings.”
“I didn’t want to believe it,” Chuck said, releasing her from the hug. “But now that my eyes are open, it’s starting to make sense. Ruiz wouldn’t let me in on the specifics. Didn’t trust me, and he was right not to. I know he’s planning something big, though. He hinted he had some strong allies.”
“Got any guesses about the specifics?” Logan asked.
“Yeah, I got a guess, kid. My guess is Ruiz has his eye on Castillo. All of it. He wants the Crusaders and the Iconoclasts gone. The way he was talking, it seemed to me like he was pretty confident he’d be able to pull it off.”
“Killed Zeke,” Cork grunted.
Chuck looked from Cork to Logan. “Zeke’s dead?”
“Prospect found him in a Dumpster outside the Rust Bucket,” Logan confirmed.
“In a Dumpster?” Chuck asked, frowning. “What kinda message does that send?”
“Still trying to figure that out,” Logan said. “Whatever it is, I don’t like it. How much info does Ruiz have on the
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