Chapter 4

Myles POV

The darkness concealed my movements as I walked calmly and headed towards the door. The city was alive with blinding lights in the dead of the night, and cars of late travellers, and all but this particular region remained quiet.

I knocked on the door in a rapid, rhythmic pattern. That was the password I knew would open the door now, so I stood back. The door finally unlocked from within with a loud click and slowly ground open.

“Good evening, Boss.” The doorman nodded and stepped aside as I walked in.

The neon lights within immediately illuminated my face. They revealed my outfit too, which consisted of a black leather jacket I wore over a black shirt with a flaming skull brightly illustrated on it.

I wore fitted jeans over leather boots with a pair of brown leather gloves tucked into my waist, but what clearly stood out in my outfit was the leather belt around my waist. Not your regular belt, but one that carried my 12-shooter cattleman revolver and extra bullets.

“President on sight!” I heard someone call out loudly, and the room went quiet.

The men who were drinking and talking loudly suddenly went quiet as all eyes turned towards the entrance where I stood regarding them quietly, the brotherhood, my second family.

“As you were, gentlemen,” I said, and headed up the stairs to the second floor and the VIP room.

The men immediately continued their chatter and drinking. I shot one last look over the group before climbing the stairs up to the second floor, where I didn’t hesitate to push the first door open.

“Hey, look who it is.” Trevor immediately exclaimed the moment I walked in.

Trevor was the vice president and my second-in-command. He was about the only person who could joke with me freely in the whole gang, but this was because he had a history together since childhood.

“Good of you to finally join us.” Trevor smiled and stretched out his hand.

“It’s good to be finally free,” I muttered as I gripped his hand firmly in a handshake.

The rest of the men around the table greeted, and I replied with nods, but no more handshakes were made as I finally dropped into my chair at the head of the table.

They were all there. That was good. Sitting around the table were the leaders of the Hellfangs MC.

To my right, there was Trevor as the vice president, and then there was Dean as the sergeant at arms, Bruno as the Enforcer, and Kennedy as the road captain.

All men had serious faces, grim faces even, but as tough as old boots from years of slowly working their way to the top of the gang.

“There’s something I needed to discuss,” I said after clearing my throat to get their attention.

There was no point beating around the bush or sugarcoating it, so I decided just to let them have it once and for all.

“I’ll be getting married before the end of the month,” I announced.

The room froze, and for a moment it seemed as if I was sitting with statues. Great, this was quite the opposite of the reaction I thought I’d get. Even Trevor, who never shuts up, was genuinely surprised.

“Wait... you’re sure about what you’re saying?” He finally broke the silence. “Hope this isn’t some kind of a prank.”

“No, it isn’t,” I replied calmly.

I knew he didn’t think that was a joke. I never joked.

“Well, congratulations, Boss,” Kennedy muttered awkwardly, and flashed a look at the others with his eyes, silently begging them to back him up.

“Congratulations. Congratulations, Boss.” Uncertain mutterings immediately went up all around the table as all the men spoke at last.

I wasn’t telling them so they could slap my back and call me a real man. I only wanted one thing: to solidify the lie I would be carrying for the next six months.

I was already breaking the rule of the brotherhood, but what Choice did I have? The gang had a strict rule on lies and deception, but I had to do this. It wasn’t going to hurt anyone anyway.

“Wow…” Trevor whistled lowly, which was annoying, actually. “Who knew that the toughest and coldest of them would fall in love?”

I scoffed inwardly. Fall in love? No. Everything was calculated and planned, but I couldn’t reveal my plans no matter what.

“I assume it’s going to be a great wedding.” Dean smiled.

“Sure...” Bruno already smacked his lips, I knew, at the thought of the booze he was already thinking of... “The celebration would go on for days and probably…”

“There will be no big celebration.” I cut off his imagination calmly.

All of them immediately looked surprised.

“What? You don’t mean it!” Trevor exclaimed.

“You’re the president of one of the biggest motorcycle clubs in the city! You’re the reaper of Hellfangs MC, and you don’t want a celebration at your wedding?!”

“I’m sure I made myself clear when I said so,” I replied calmly.

If only they knew how I felt. If only they knew the real situation, even they would not call for a celebration.

“That’s strange.” Trevor frowned.

“But boss...” Kennedy spoke up. “There’s always been…”

“I said there won’t be any celebrations.” I cut him off, too.

I didn’t snap or yell or anything, but they knew better than to push it. They didn’t want to risk it. The room fell back into an eerie silence, but not for long, when a loud knock sounded at the door.

“Come in,” I called loudly.

The door opened, revealing the doorkeeper escorting a man who wore our cut, the usual flaming skull with fangs vest that all our prospects wore. Upon closer inspection, I realized that he was bleeding, and the bandana wrapped around his head was also soaked in blood.

“Boss.” He quickly gasped and dropped to his knees. “They… they took the others. They killed my friend…” He stuttered uncontrollably.

I raised a hand to cut him out.

“Who’s they?” I asked.

“The Dead Revenants!” The Prospect replied. “We were riding through dead man’s alley and...”

“How many of you were riding through?” Trevor cut him off with a question.

“We... we were six.” The prospect stuttered.

“What kind of shit head travels through dead man’s alley at night without a good number of backups?!” Bruno snapped angrily, doing nothing to hide his frustration.

“We... we... we were late and wanted to take a shortcut.”

“It’s always the newbies doing this!” Trevor slapped the table angrily.

“Where did they take the others?” I asked.

“Probably to one of their clubhouses in town.” The prospect replied.

The Dead Revenants were another motorcycle club, and we’re our sworn rivals. Dead man’s alley was their territory, and they guarded it carefully. It was pretty unfortunate that my prospects would go riding through at night.

“Get him out of here.” I nudged my head at the doorman. “Get him patched up.”

“You heard the boss.” Trevor chirped in immediately. “Come on, get this riffraff out of here. You’re staining the rug!”

With a stern hand on the prospect’s shoulder, the doorkeeper led him out of the room with the door shutting behind them as they left.

“We need to respond. You know we need to.” Kennedy turned towards me immediately.

“I agree.” Bruno quickly added. “That was a disrespect to your name, the Reaper of Hellfangs MC, and you need to react. We need to show them who’s best.”

The men sat still with eyes trained on me as they waited to hear what I had to say.

I knew what needed to be done. Being the president of one of the biggest motorcycle clubs in the city, I knew that fear was necessary. I knew that it was best to wear that leash around the necks of the people and hold it tight.

“Bruno? Kennedy?” I turned to them. “Get men ready, I want you to pay a social visit to the Dead Revenants. Take a handful of men and make sure you bring back the boys.”

“Yes, Boss.”

Both men stood up and left the room after short bows, and I relaxed in my chair, heaving a big sigh. This was my alter ego and more of a life to me than the long conferences and room talks.

Serena POV

Ding Dong!

“Serena! The door.” The loud voice of my roomie, Becca, immediately followed the doorbell from downstairs.

I turned over in my bed and snatched my phone from the side table. It was already past 7 a.m. and I was still sleeping. I quickly jumped out of bed and headed downstairs.

Becca was in the kitchen already making breakfast. She always did that, even though I had always sung that she didn’t have to.

“Goodmoring Becca.” I was greeted as I walked towards the door.

“Get the door, will you?” Becca called again.

I dragged my feet across the rug towards the door and threw it open to chew out whoever it was that was calling this early.

“Good morning, Serena.”

Myles stood right there with a bouquet in his hands. It was early, and the man was already dressed neatly in a well-ironed three-piece suit with his hair stylishly combed to the side.

I froze, and my heart momentarily froze before it continued pounding loudly in my chest. I reacted even before I had the time to think about it. I shut the door in his face and turned with my back against it.

“Whose is it?” Becca called from the kitchen. “Who’s it?”

I couldn’t bring myself to tell her who it was. Why was he here? What was he doing here with a bouquet, too?

This was the same man who had told me repeatedly that the contract I had signed was going to be with no feelings attached.

“Whose is it, Serena? You’re scaring me!” Becca called loudly.

“One Moment, please,” I called back at her and turned to peek through the peephole on the door. He was still there.

I opened the door slowly as if I was scared that he’d suddenly lunge at me with killer intentions.

“What are you doing here?” I asked with my voice laced with annoyance.

“I’m here to see my fiancé.” He replied curtly with his face maintaining that Stony expression.

I gasped at the word fiancé.

“What? Is that necessary?” I asked. “I thought we…”

“Do you for one second believe that I’m here as a gesture of love or affection?” He snapped. “I want this to look as real as it can be. What better way to convince everyone that we’re genuinely romantically involved than bringing my supposed fiancé flowers? Besides, it’s good for the media.” He nudged across the street.

My eyes followed him to the other side of the road, where a couple of teenage girls had recognized him and were either taking pictures or recording him.

I immediately understood what he meant. Those pictures would soon go up on the internet, and once they do, everyone would believe that we were truly romantically involved.

With the realization came the sudden feeling of disappointment, but wait, what? Why was I disappointed? I wasn’t expecting Myles to start showing up with flowers, was I?

I pushed that thought to the back of my head and stepped aside for him to walk in.

Myles entered as if he were annoyed and unceremoniously tossed the bouquet onto the table.

I was about to shut the door after him when I thought I saw something, and then paused midway.

There was a man across the road staring at us, a man in a brown leather vest and a red sash around his neck with a pair of dark glasses on. When I noticed him, he quietly kicked the motorcycle he was sitting on and left immediately.

Okay, that was weird. Or maybe he was also with the media or something. I couldn’t tell, but I agree it was an unusual thing