Ride To Vengeance (A Rough Riders MC Novel #3): A Rough Riders MC Novel #3 (The Rough Riders MC Series) (2 page)

DEDICATION

There are so many people who have helped me with this process and I am so very grateful.

Lea, my fierce book diva, thank you for pimping me and being there for me. More than that, thank you for being a fabulous friend and PR services, which I would be lost without.

Thank you, Juli Valenti, for your editing skills. You make my work shine like a diamond.

Dusty Rose, thank you so much for all your help. Between your funny stories of life as an old lady in a real MC, I can truly say that I feel my books are as close to the truth as fiction can get (with some over the top antics thrown in…
Haha
!!!!!).

All my girls in Elle’s Sultry Saints: Alexandra, Jennifer, Kelly, Amanda, Kristin, Aquarius JJ, Angela, Irene, Sheena and Tina. Thanks for everything you do. ;-)

Chelsea Camaron, love you to death! We’re soul sisters in so many ways and I can’t thank you enough for your support!

Tabby Coots, you’re the best! Thank you for your PA skills and pimping me on your lovely blog. Your support has been great.

Lisa
Watmough
, thank you.

Corinne Brinkley, Melissa Blake—thank you for your support . . . while it lasted.
 

Everyone else, you know who you are!

WDDR and all my Facebook friends, blogger friends and reviewers, thank you so much! <3

Cast of Characters

***Motorcycle Clubs***

Lucifer’s Saints

Dexter “Hardy” Cox – Las Vegas Chapter President

Ronan “Serial” Cox – Las Vegas Chapter Vice President

Christian “Cricket” Henderson – Sergeant at Arms (Las Vegas Chapter)

Desmond “Dizzy” Cox – Parent Chapter President

Cillian “Killer” Cox – Parent Chapter Vice President

Trey “Hacker” Lennon – Sergeant at Arms* (Parent Chapter)

Edward “Kink” Gillespie – Road Captain (Parent Chapter)

Brendan “Render” Henderson – Secretary

Sean “Gilligan” Gillespie – Treasurer

Kyle “Bookie”
Rourke
- Member

Demon’s Bastards

Evan “
Stix
” Hughes – Parent Chapter President

Costas “Preach”
Evangelou
– Parent Chapter Vice President

Adam “Sandler” Murphy – Road Captain

Bryce “Stone” Hart – Secretary

Jules “Johnson” Clinton – Treasurer

Lawrence “
Rab
” Krause – Sergeant at Arms

Marcus Hinton/George “Clooney” Fox – Member

White Knights

Nelson “Nel” Decker – Parent Chapter President

Jake “Slipknot” Decker – Parent Chapter Vice President

Brooklyn “Brookster” Decker – Sergeant at Arms

Stella “Cookie” Decker – Secretary

Norman “Bates” Decker – Treasurer

Brad “Cap” Decker – Black Oak Road Captain / Las Vegas Chapter President

Marian “Dee” Decker – Member

Reoccurring Cast Members

Naomi Washington – Ronan Cox’s old lady

Talia Viaro – Hardy’s old lady; lead singer of Winter’s Regret and mother to Jaden Cox’s son.

Layla Burns – Burns’ daughter from his first marriage; manager of Saints and Slappers; Madame at Heaven’s Saints.

Raymond Jackson – Local businessman/Original Gangster

Angelo Abandonato – Local businessman/Head of the Abandonato Mafia Crime Family

Maksymilian
“Max” Gillespie (aka Maxwell Cartier) – Associate and employee of Raymond and Angelo; professional assassin and “fixer.”

Magnolia Abandonato-Gillespie (aka Magnolia Reynolds) – Associate and employee of Raymond and Angelo; niece of Angelo; Max’s wife; professional assassin and “fixer.”

Erik
Kitaev
– Russian business partner and head of the
Kitaev
Bratva
. The son of slain Russian mobster-turned-legitimate businessman, Yevgeny
Kitaev
.

Dimitri
Koslakov
– Head of the
Koslakov
Mafia

Zusha
Koslakova
– Member of the
Koslakov
Mafia/Dimitri’s sister

Maeve “Misty” Cox – Desmond “Dizzy” Cox’s daughter

Bronaugh Cox – Desmond “Dizzy” Cox’s Old Lady/Wife

Trista Lennon-Carter – Trey Lennon’s sister

Lennon “
Linx
” Carter – Trista Lennon-Carter’s husband

Kaelan
“Jaden” Cox – Desmond “Dizzy” Cox’s son

Chantal Gillespie – Sean Gillespie’s daughter

Lacey Henderson – Brendan Henderson’s daughter

Lorna Hughes – Tom “Jonesy” Hughes’ Old Lady/Wife

Keren Hughes – Tom “Jonesy” Hughes’ daughter

Playlist

“Dirt Off Your Shoulder/Lying From You” – Jay-Z/Linkin Park

“Telepathy” - +++ (Crosses)

“West Coast” – Lana Del Rey

“What You Want” - Evanescence

“Numb/Encore” – Jay-Z/Linkin Park

“The Animal” – Disturbed

“Until It’s Gone” – Linkin Park

“Seen It All” – Korn

“Sleepwalking” – Bring Me The Horizon

“Parasite” – Disturbed

“Points Of Authority/99 Problems” – Jay-Z/Linkin Park

“Alone I Break” – Korn

“Burn The World” –
Seether

“Lost In The Echo” – Linkin Park

“Get Up!” – Korn featuring
Skrillex

“Fly On The Wall” – Thousand Foot Krutch

“Wrong Side of Heaven” – Five Finger Death Punch

“Live Again” – Ashes To New

“Devour” – Disturbed

“Gotten” – Slash featuring Adam Levine

“Big Sky” – Annie Lennox

“Photograph” – Ed
Sheeran

“Eye Of The Needle” –
Sia

“We Remain” – Christina Aguilera

“Halo” – Beyoncé

“Diamonds” – Rihanna

Listen to the
Ride To Vengeance Playlist
on Spotify!

Prologue

Ronan

R
onan couldn’t believe the move had finally taken place.

After all the bullshit—the time, energy and effort he and Hardy had invested in trying to make the Glendale chapter a decent club—they were uprooted. Both the Vegas charter President and VP were getting older and no longer sought the excitement or the issues they constantly had to deal with. They both wanted to retire soon though running a quieter club until that time came suited them just fine.

Thorne and Walker, former President and Vice President of the Vegas charter, gladly took Glendale in return for Hardy and Ronan agreeing to run the charter in Sin City.

He looked around the large compound, hidden in a decent area of North Las Vegas where no one would be looking for them. A pig farm, plenty of gated communities and schools surrounded it and the fenced-in building where a legitimate business, which belonged to the club, ran without issue. Finally, they no longer felt like nomads; they had a legitimate chapter to call their own.

The guys before them owned a restoration shop—chiefly for classic American automobiles and custom motorcycles—but it was also the perfect front. Although part of the business had been relocated to Glendale, they’d left them with enough capable members who could run the legitimate side of the club with no problems what so ever.

Ronan stepped out into the warm Vegas sunshine, lit a cigarette and looked around in awe, his unusual violet-blue eyes scanning the area that wasn’t necessarily copacetic. Other industrial buildings along with a Lowes down the street and plenty of places to eat within a one-mile radius surrounded the property.

Naomi failed to surprise him as she wrapped her slender, deeply tanned arms around his waist. “Well, what do you think?”

He turned toward her and failed to hide the smile in his voice. “I’m just glad to be back in Nevada to tell you the truth. Cali wasn’t for me. Too close to the cartels—”

“Yeah, but now we have new enemies here. Apparently, we’re on good terms with the Knights—
what ever
that
means—but now that
Aztecas Infierno
is longer a source, where will go to get what we need?”

She spoke in code and for that he loved her. Naomi was a “Ride or Die bitch” if God ever made one. She was fiercely loyal, protective to a fault and loved him more than any douchebag ever deserved but he couldn’t feel any different for her. The feelings she expressed freely with him were the same as what he felt for her.

 
“Apparently, we gotta get cozy with Abandonato and Jackson. They gotta fill us in on some issues we have to iron out but for now, the Russians are a no-go—at least
Koslakov
is. I have to meet with some new guy who is running the
Kitaev
Bratva
,” Ronan explained after he dragged on his cigarette.

Naomi turned his body toward her. “What are you so spooked for? The
Kitaev
Bratva
and
Koslakov
Mafia aren’t exactly on speaking terms. But they have some of the sweetest connections when it comes to certain plants grown in countries like Pakistan and Colombia. They are—and will continue to be—an extremely valuable asset.”

“If you say so, babe. You know more about these criminal enterprises than I do. Me? I just follow orders.” He smirked before he held her close and kissed her forehead. “Listen, I don’t like you bein’ out here in the open. Go back inside. We can talk about this later.”

Naomi’s amber eyes searched his before she replied, “That’s why I came out here. We’ve got company and she doesn’t exactly like to be kept waiting.”

Ronan finished his cigarette and ground it out with the tip of his steel-toed boot. “Let me guess: Eve Kerrigan?”

She cocked her head to the side as she rolled her eyes. “The one and only.”

He’d avoided the hard-nosed agent long enough. If she wasn’t family—sort of, after all, Trey Lennon was her son and Ronan’s half-brother—he would have told her how he really felt and would have improperly remarked she could go “fuck herself with a corkscrew.”

Making nice with the Feds wasn’t new for the Lucifer’s Saints. It was compulsory if they wanted to continue to operate as an outlaw motorcycle club with minimal government involvement in the illegal activities they continued to actively participate in and be a part of. In fact, Naomi was a mole inside their organization, planted there to assure they straightened up and flew right. However, her bosses hadn’t planned on her falling in love with Ronan and becoming more loyal to the club than the agency that paid her paycheck.

She walked side-by-side into the clubhouse and followed Ronan inside where Eve and Hardy already sat down in the large office reserved for chapel. They talked with one another in hushed tones before the two looked toward them.

Eve was a gorgeous woman of indeterminate age with smooth olive skin, dark hair styled in a professional bob and an expensive suit. She looked more like a high paid attorney than an overworked FBI agent. Then again, it wasn’t like she was a field agent; she actually ran a whole unit.

Her hazel-green eyes stared at Ronan with cold indifference as he sat down across from her. Naomi sat down next to him and glanced at the woman across from her with respect. She was her superior even if they worked for different agencies. Naomi was part of the Drug Enforcement Agency but her superiors worked hand in hand with Eve.

Ronan stared at the agent as he placed his hands behind his head.

“Mr. Cox, nice of you to finally join this meeting,” Eve greeted in a cool voice.

“My pleasure, Ms. Kerrigan. How’s your hubby and son? What about our cousin he’s married to?” Ronan asked out loud.

Hardy shook his head. “Listen up, Eve’s not here to play happy fookin’ families, Ronan. This is a
serious
meeting.”

“That goes without saying,” Naomi replied smoothly. “Really, what we should be concerned about is how Carlito is still on the run and Fernando is out on bail. Should we be worried at all about whether there will be any retaliation against the Saints on their end?”

Eve raised one of her perfectly shaped eyebrows. “It’s always a possibility but I would think they’d have their hands full trying to decimate the ranks of the Demon’s Bastards.”

“Yeah, about that,” Ronan cut in. “Is it true? Did Evan really strike a deal with the
Koslakov
Mafia?”

“You would know more about than I would. I thought Dimitri was buddy-buddy with you until Cillian and Desmond bothered to inform me that the relationship between
Koslakov
and the Saints has been sketchy for a while. I was a bit disappointed to hear this. After all, I need to be kept informed of these issues,” Eve explained in a chastising tone.

“Listen, the only reason we didn’t say anythin’ is because it wasn’t our place. Dizzy was adamant that he would tell you what was going down between
Koslakov
and him. He’s been backing away for a while now and it’s only lately the situation has come to the point it’s become unattainable.

“Dimitri is a first class douchebag, unreliable, unstable and a fuckin’ psychopath to boot. Did you hear about the massacre he caused?
Killin
’ Raymond’s girls like that and slicing up the few he sent back as a message? We can’t do business with animals like him.” Hardy placed his hands on the table where they held church as he shook his head. “If it were up to me, he’d be dead but . . . Dizzy has other plans for him.”

“Yes, I’ve heard. A little bird has also informed me that you all are making nice with the
Kitaev
Bratva
and their new
Krestnii
Otets
, Erik.” Eve pursed her lips before she continued, “If something becomes of this new relationship, I would like to be informed about it. We’re willing to make deals with
Kitaev
especially since they have so much to lose with this new venture.”

Naomi smirked. “Well Erik seems to want to bring
Kitaev
back into the criminal fold his father worked so hard to actually get the family
out
of. He’s selling all his father’s legitimate businesses except the soccer teams his father owns in England. He’s quite passionate about the sport—or so I’ve heard.”

“That’s no problem,” Hardy responded as he sat up in his chair. “I’ve got contacts in Essex and Newcastle. I’ll keep an eye on his football teams in England but meanwhile, I have to know that the deal you have with Dizzy goes for us too, Eve. I know you two have a special relationship and I’m only his pain in the ass little brother but I can’t have your guys
bustin
’ my arse every time they get the urge. Do I have your word I can trust you and we’ll report any new information we come across
if
it pertains to
Koslakov
or
Aztecas Infierno
?”

Eve smiled almost girlishly. “I think you Vegas boys can do better than that. I want hard evidence of where Carlito is and I know you have the manpower here to get it done. You don’t get to go to Dizzy and ask for help on this one either. Think of it as a test to see how hard you boys . . . and girl . . . are.”

Ronan breathed loudly as he glared at Naomi before he turned toward Eve again. “Are you fucking insane? How the hell are we supposed to get that kind of intel?”

The Fed stood and smoothed down non-existent wrinkles in her black pantsuit. “You’re the bikers, guys—not me. Figure it out. Start
kickin
’ some ass and takin’ names on the streets. This is Vegas, baby—someone’s gotta know something.”

“Eve, Hardy and Ronan have to establish themselves here. The guys who ran the club before—Thorne and Walker—were known by everyone in the Valley. The
Abandonatos
, Brad and the White Knights chapter, the local Demon’s Bastards’ chapter—”

“Not my problem, Naomi. You’re DEA for Christ’s sake. Get your boss to have you assigned specifically to the case. There is one being made as you know. The whole case falls under RICO and
every agency
wants a piece of
Aztecas Infierno
. You want to make a name for yourself and retire with dignity so you can play house with your biker? Now’s the time to do it before they snatch you out and you find yourself on your ass.” Eve tossed a business card on the table between Ronan and Naomi.

“What’s this?” Ronan questioned out loud.

“It’s what Naomi will need to give to her superiors so she can be reassigned to work with my unit. My ass is being pushed by my superiors who are being pushed by the Justice Department who’s being pushed by the U.S. Attorney General who is being reamed by the President. They want this cartel shut down. Now! So, I suggest you guys stop bitchin’ to me about what you can and can’t do and start to show me some results. Otherwise I will send my guys in here to bust shit up—just ’cause I can. And North Las Vegas Police Department will be all over your asses like white on rice. They are particularly fond of drug busts by the way.”

He glared from his old lady to Eve and back again. “We’ll get you the info you want but don’t ever threaten my woman like that again. She’s worked her ass off for you fuckin’ guys even though some of the brothers
still
question her loyalty. It’s bad enough she has some of the old ladies lookin’ down on her because she doesn’t have blonde extensions
flowin
’ down her back and doesn’t act like some fuckin’ hood-rat.”