Sinner’s Redemption by Rebecca Joyce

Chapter Sixteen

Montana

“You want me to what?” Storm questioned, leaning forward on the boardroom table.

It was something I wasn’t proud of, but it was the only way I knew to keep tabs on her. I meant what I said last night. I didn’t want to stop her from being herself. She deserved to live her life and do what she wanted. I just needed reassurance. Something tangible to hold on to so I didn’t go stark raving mad with worry.

As it was, it still took me longer than usual to leave the house this morning. It wasn’t because she needed my help with anything; it was the fact I didn’t want her out of my sight.

Somehow, some way, Tessa had entangled herself deep inside me. I may have branded her with my mark, but she branded my soul.

The fear of losing her still rode me hard.

Her drugged-out face, naked on that nasty fucking mattress still ever present in my head, sent shivers of fear coursing through me. I wasn’t lying when I told her I thought I lost her. Seeing her laying there, that was an image that seared into my brain, and I didn’t like the feeling that accompanied it.

Failure.

For the first time in my life, I felt like I had failed at something. That I was useless to stop the inevitable. That even with all my power, I couldn’t protect my woman.

It was a formidable feeling. One that brought me to my knees.

So, yeah. I was going to keep her tracker on.

“Tracker stays active. I want a twenty-four-hour watch on her.”

Storm looked about the room worriedly as brothers hung their heads, saying nothing. Cautiously, he asked, “Distance?”

“Manhattan should cover it. Anything she wants, she can find in the borough. She leaves Manhattan without me for any reason I want to be notified.”

“Montana, you sure about this?” Happy questioned. “She finds out she’s gonna lose her shit.”

“You gonna tell her?” I snapped, challenging the chaplain of the club. I knew Happy had a fondness for Tess. They all did. Had no fucking problem with that, but Tessa was my woman. Mine. If Happy wanted to voice an opinion, then he could go find his own damn piece and leave mine the fuck alone.

I could see the uncertainty in my brother’s eyes.

It wasn’t something that was generally done, but after what happened while I was gone, I was not taking any more chances where Tessa was concerned. I wanted her ass locked down tight. Even if that meant someone followed her everywhere she went.

I didn’t give a damn.

Soon she would have my ring on her finger. With that came a whole slew of fresh problems. I was covering every base. No one was going to fuck with what belonged to me ever again. I wanted everyone to know that she was mine. Fuck with her and the Soulless Sinners would rain down hell.

“No, Prez,” Happy said, looking at Mercy for help, who shifted in his seat. I fucking knew what was coming.

Mercy was the voice of reason for the club. Somehow through everything life threw at him, Mercy stayed level and clear-headed. Not much ruffled my V.P.’s feathers and even on the rare occasion that happened, the man still maintained some sense of decorum.

“Montana,” my vice president and good friend cautiously whispered.

“No, Mercy. Whatever you are going to say, save it. I’ve made up my mind.”

“I get your concern, but low jacking Tessa is tantamount to treating her like a dog. Can’t speak for the other brothers, but this is wrong. There are other ways to protect Tess.”

“Like you protected Largo,” I snapped.

Fucker has balls telling me what to do with my woman, when he couldn’t even keep his.

No one in the room moved.

The second the words left my lips I knew I crossed the line. There wasn’t a brother in this room that didn’t know what was going on with Mercy and Largo. We all knew our brother still loved his wife. Well, ex-wife now. For Mercy, no piece of paper would ever tell him his marriage was over.

And as much as I regretted my words, I stood my ground.

Mercy slowly stood, steel fire raging in his eyes.

“None of us has a problem helping you protect Tessa. Hell, we’d all lay down for her, but you seriously need to think about what you are asking. You are asking this club to watch, monitor and follow a woman who is used to living her life as she pleases. A woman who is smart, capable and trained to protect herself. A woman who this club respects. What happened over the weekend was unfortunate and those who were involved are dead. You do this, and Tess finds out, she will never forgive you.” He retorted, then added. “And fuck you, asshole. You ever mention my wife again, I will demand retribution in the pit.”

Mercy said nothing more as he slid his chair back under the table and quietly walked out of the boardroom. It was the first time he’d ever left before a meeting ended.

None of the brothers said a damn word as the Vice President of the Soulless Sinners walked away, quietly closing the door behind him.

Rubbing my hands down my face, I didn’t know what else to do. I needed Tessa safe. Soon, she would be a mark. A target for those who wanted toeliminate me. They would use her to get to me.

Clearing his throat, Storm spoke, changing the subject. “You asked me to look into who is blacklisting, Tessa. It took some doing to trace the donation, but it originated from the JP Morgan Chase Bank on 5^th. I used my connections and learned that the donation made to St. John’s Presbyterian Hospital came from a non-profit account named Mon Châtiment.”

“It’s French. My Retribution,” Malice whispered.

“Exactly,” Storm nodded. “I looked into this charity and though it’s registered with the government, there is no information on them. Not even a website. The charity or nonprofit, established three years ago, has been quiet until a month ago when it started making large donations to several hospitals in the greater New York City area. All with one stipulation. To receive the donation, the hospital must refuse to hire general surgeon Tessa Jackson.”

“What kind of donations are we talking about?” Fury asked.

“Depending on the hospital, anywhere from fifty million to five hundred million. These hospitals are clamoring for the money. With the strain of Covid, a lot of these hospitals are understaffed and in desperate need of funds.”

“You would think hiring a general surgeon would be at the top of their lists,” Payne muttered.

“Not when the large donation could hire several nurses and other staff. Money talks. These hospitals may be understaffed, and thanks to pandemic bleeding them dry, they need the funds to replenish their coffers. Three of the hospitals were on the verge of bankruptcy, but thanks to this nonprofit, they are still open. Whoever is behind this nonprofit is making it so these hospitals, while understaffed, look the other way.”

“By blacklisting my Tess.” I growled.

Storm nodded. “Yeah. It wouldn’t matter if Tessa was a world class surgeon, Montana. No hospital will hire her and forgo a donation of that magnitude. It’s bad business.”

“This makes no sense,” Vicious said, leaning forward. “I know I’m the newbie but hear me out. Storm, you said the nonprofit started three years ago. If my memory serves, wasn’t Tessa scheduled for her residency program at St. John’s Presbyterian? She was a student back then. What changed?”

“Her mother,” I replied, sitting up. “She got a call that her mom’s cancer took a turn for the worse. She withdrew from the program and moved back home to be with her.”

“What else?” Vicious persisted, shaking his head. “That can’t be the only thing. No one could predict her mother’s cancer would get worse. No. It must be something else. Because with that information alone, and correct me if I’m wrong, Storm, if Tessa stayed, she’d be a resident at the hospital.”

“She would have been, yes. A resident student places with hospitals depending on grades, skill and so forth. Tessa was at the top of her class. She could have gone anywhere, yet she accepted St. John’s Presbyterian,” Storm stated.

“But that never happened because of her mother. I’m betting this nonprofit was getting ready to make its first donation back then but didn’t because Tessa withdrew from the program before they could. Which begs the question, ignoring her mother, what was happening in Tessa’s life three years ago?”

“I branded her,” I muttered.

“You claimed her?” Vicious stated, smirking. “That’s got to be it. The President of the biggest M.C. in the United States, with charters in several countries around the world, not to mention the fact that you are a billionaire. I’m just gonna say what we’re all thinking here, Prez. This blacklisting has nothing to do with Tessa. It’s about you.”

“Vicious is right, Prez,” Fury agreed. “I remember the branding ceremony. The club partied for three days. We had brothers flying in from all over to celebrate. It’s not every day that the President of a National Chapter brands a woman.”

“There’s more. Isn’t there, Prez?” Happy asked, steadily looking at me. “You wouldn’t just brand Tessa. You wanted to marry her, too. Didn’t you?”

I nodded. “After the branding, I was going to wait a few weeks before introducing her to Mom and Dad. I planned on asking Tessa to marry me at dinner with the family.”

“Who else knew your plans?” Fury asked.

Leaning forward, I linked my fingers together and sighed. “No one. I didn’t tell anyone.”

“You said you were going to ask Tess to marry you at dinner. I know your mother. She’d expect to see a ring. Did you go look at rings?” Happy asked.

“Went to Harry Winston’s. Bought a nice rock for Tess. Wanted something to match her eyes.” I muttered, remembering seeing the ice blue diamond. It was damn near a perfect match. I didn’t even glance at the damn price. Just told the sales agent I wanted it and handed over my card.

“Who has access to you banking information?” Storm asked.

“You, you fucker. You monitor and maintain everyone’s accounts.”

“I encrypted those accounts, Montana. Did you give Tess your card for anything? Let her buy something online? You gotta help me out here, Montana, because right now, I’ve got nothing. I agree with Vicious. Whatever is going on stems around you. Tessa is just the victim.”

“A woman posing as my mom was in my room with Tessa before she took her runner. Told her she wouldn’t let a gold-digging whore marry her son.”

Happy shouted angrily. “Virginia would never!”

Raising my hand, I nodded. “I know. Told Tessa the same thing. Plus, my parents weren’t even in the country at the time. When I asked, Tessa told me the woman had black hair.”

“I can work with that,” Storm grinned. “I can get Shame to go through the videos of your room right before Tessa left.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Don’t want a club brother looking at my woman, Storm. Bad enough I have twenty-four-hour surveillance in my room. There’s video of…”

Storm grinned. “Got it. I’ll fast forward past all your nasty parts.”

“Hate to burst your bubble, Storm, but you are the nastiest fucker here.” Fury chuckled.

“Hey,” Storm retorted. “Ladies volunteer for my nasty intentions. I’m a gentleman.”

Brothers groaned, while a few laughed out loud.

Moments later, Storm got really serious. “Prez, the rules of our charter are very clear. If we find evidence that someone is out to eliminate you, then the board is honor-boundto lock you down…with or without your permission. That means no contact with anyone until we remove the threat.”

My eyes snapped to his.

Growling, I sneered. “Not gonna happen.”

Malice shook his head. A small menacing grin appeared on my enforcer’s face as he whispered. “Not your choice, Prez.”

Payne, my other enforcer, shook his head. “While I don’t relish the thought of locking down my Prez like my buddy Malice over here, the fucker is right. You don’t have a choice. You are the President of the largest M.C. You are worth billions. If there is a threat to you, then Malice and I will act, even if we have to knock you the fuck out to do it. As it is right now, I am calling for a protection detail.”

“You can’t just call for a vote. You need a…,” I countered.

“I second the vote,” Malice grinned.

Motherfucker.

I was going to beat his ass.

Fucking Malice wasn’t happy unless he was making someone’s life a living hell.

“Fury, go get Mercy,” Happy ordered.

“I don’t need a fucking babysitter!”

I heard the laughter before I walked into the kitchen to find Tessa, my mom and Mrs. Alice laughing as they all talked around the kitchen island. Whatever they were cooking smelled delicious. My father and the Retirement Rejects were sitting at the small kitchen table playing cards as my son York sat in his highchair, chewing on a card in his hand.

“Hi son,” my mother greeted.

“Mom,” I groaned.

Tessa walked over and hugged me.

Holding her, she must have sensed my mood because when she stepped back and looked at me, she whispered, “What happened?”

“It’s nothing.”

My father chirped, right before he threw down his cards. “Take that, you fuckers!”

“Son of a bitch,” Snoopy moaned.

“How the fuck does he do it?” Popeye asked.

“He cheats,” Happy laughed as York squealed, slapping his hands down on the tray of his chair.

“I do not!”

Rolling my eyes, I ignored the old bastards, as I glared at Happy, who smirked at me, before shuffling the deck of cards. How that fucker got here before me, I would never know. After the damn vote, I left and hightailed it home. Unless he teleported his ass here, we should have arrived at the same time. Yet, there he sat at my kitchen table, drinking my beer as he played cards with the dad and the Rejects.

“Montana?”

Diverting my attention back to Tessa, I sighed. “It’s nothing babe. Really.”

“You’re lying,” she whispered, narrowing her eyes.

I lightly nodded the mouthed…Talk later.

Kissing her forehead, I greeted my mom before heading over to my son, whose face lit up like the fourth of July upon seeing me.

After everyone left that night, I sat in my home office, staring into the fire as I held a tumbler of scotch in my hand. Tessa walked in, sitting on the couch, curling her legs up. She said nothing as she watched me.

I tried to act normal. I tried to engage with the others, but by the end of the night, all the laughter faded. My family looked cautiously at me. My dad just stared in worry. My mom hovered close to Dad. The Rejects ceased all talk. Even Tess refused to leave my side. The only one oblivious to my mood was York.

In the end, I excused myself and hid out in my office until everyone left. It was the coward’s way, I know, but until I could come to terms with the fact that Tessa was in danger because of me, I wasn’t going to be good to anyone.

“Tell me?”

“Going to have company for a while.” I muttered, slowly turning the tumbler in my hand. How the fuck was I supposed to tell her what was about to happen? That our semi-quiet life, a life we were still trying to navigate, was about to be open to everyone.

“Okay.”

The silence was deafening.

I knew Tessa wanted to pick and prod at me until I told her everything. What the hell could I say? That someone from my past is fucking with your future? That the reason you haven’t found a hospital to hire you is because of me. Until this mess is over, I’m going to have Storm keep the tracker I didn’t tell you about in your shoulder active, so I know where you are at all times?

Yeah, that last one was going to go over well.

Not.

Regardless, I had no choice.

To keep Tessa safe, I would do what I had to.

With a unanimous vote, I was in lockdown while the club dropped all commitments to find whoever was behind the blacklisting. Not only my life, but Tess’ was about to become an open book. Every detail of our personal lives and club dealings was about to be discussed, broken down and investigated.

“The club put us both on lockdown.”

“I don’t understand. I thought you only did that when there was a threat to the club?”

“Generally, yes. But when there is a threat to me, there are rules set in place to ensure that I stay alive.”

“A threat? What threat? Montana, what is going on?”

“I’ll tell you. Only because you are involved, but you need to prepare yourself. What I am about to say, you will not like. I’m asking you to let me get it all out before you decide to leave me. Okay?”

Tessa nodded, giving me her undivided attention.

Leaning forward, I turned to face the woman who held my heart in her hand and began. “The club found out who is blacklisting you. The club believes they know why the surrounding hospitals won’t hire you. It’s nothing you’ve done, baby. It’s me.”

Looking up at her, she questioned me with her eyes, staying silent as I continued. “Remember the party? The night I branded you. We were so happy. I claimed you in front of all my brothers. I declared you were my woman. You never cried when the iron touched your skin. I was so fucking proud, baby. Knew you were it for me. All the chapters sent emissaries to celebrate. The party lasted for three fucking days.

“What you don’t know, and I never told you, was that becoming the ol’ lady to the President of the National Chapter is a big deal. It’s also a dangerous one. With my brand on your back, I knew I was putting your life in danger. So, I took measures to ensure that you would be safe. Then you got the call about your mom and left. I should have gone after you. I know that now. Instead, I acted like a fucking scorned pussy bitch and carried on. Now that you are home and we’ve picked up the pieces, there have been concerns. Not about you, but about me.

“The board discovered evidence that suggests the blacklisting you’ve been experiencing is targeting me, not you. That someone wants to hurt me. One way to do that is to use you. All the hospitals you were applying to won’t hire you because a non-profit charity is giving them millions in donations to refuse you.

“The woman who came to visit you in my room. The one who claimed to be my mother. Storm went through the video recordings. We know what she looks like. We thought she was a one off, a disgruntled piece from my past. I remembered Barney telling me that someone broke into your locker at the club. Called and had him send us the video. It wasn’t the bitch Stacie. It was the same woman you met three years ago. Storm broke into a few of the hospital surveillance feeds. We have seen the same woman at three of the hospitals you’ve applied to.

“To make matters worse, Mercy contacted the owner of the building you and Tia live in. Security cams on the outside of the building show the same woman on the phone. Moments later, cops show up. We saw her talking to them. Moments later, the feed shows you running towards them. I saw what that motherfucker did to you. He will pay for that, baby. The front gallery showed the two fuckers exiting the building. We have their identities and know who they are with. We believe this woman hired them.

“Everything you’ve gone through since you returned to New York City, every obstacle you’ve overcome, wasn’t because of something you’ve done, baby. The club believes it’s a piece from my past and she wants to hurt me.”

“And to get to you, she is using me?”

I nodded. “That’s right.”

“Who is she?”

“I don’t know.”