Chef

*Henry*

I was happy to be back in the country house. Satisfied with being in the kitchen again cleaning up after watching everyone enjoy their meal. Sandra and Jo had gone into his office and Zeus sat staring at his tablet. Always researching, hungry for information. "Hey Z did you find anything?" I dried my hands with a towel and sat back down at the table. "Looks like to me the cop was taking trips to the north more often than we knew. I never even thought to check with the amount of time he spent in the South." He looked down at the table. I could tell he was taking on the blame for what had happened. "Bro, listen, you wouldn't have thought to check for a connection between Ark and that monster. Ark was a leader, trusted. He was supposed to be loyal." He looked up at me. I watched as the guilt turned to rage in front of my eyes. "I get it, bro, I am mad as hell. If I see that fuck I'll put a bullet in his dome myself." I felt the anger rising inside of me as well. We will find them, you can't hide for long from the brotherhood. I heard the lock on the office door turn. A minute later Sandra walked in looking disheveled. I chuckled at her which made her blush some. She mouthed "Shut up" as she headed towards the stairway. I have grown to appreciate her presence. She does bring sunshine into our lives. Zeus stood up walking towards the office so I followed. "Jay head to the office." I head in my ear. Jo added him to the team which I think will come in handy. He is highly trained, he's smart and loyal. I have watched him in the past, with the other guards, if they smirked or glared at one of us, he handled it. After a while, he walked into the office shutting the door. I sat down in my usual chair in front of the desk. Zeus pulled a chair to the desk between us and sat in it, motioning for Jay to sit in the one on the other end. He is too big to sit between us, Sandra was right, he was like The Hulk.

"What have we learned Z?" Jo was sitting in his chair. It was nice to see him happy, well happy for him. It's not like giddy happy, like a normal person can be, his happiness was more like a calmness. A peace that I haven't seen in him. Especially when she is in the room, his face visibly lightens. I have never loved someone, but I would imagine that's what it looks like. Zeus was telling him what he had told me about not noticing the trips to the north. "Are they friends? Did I have a leader that could associate with a monster like him?" Now it was Jo who was eating the blame. "Listen, Boss, I will tell you like I told him," I said pointing at Zeus, "Ark was supposed to be loyal, he was a member for such a long time we should have trusted him like we did. We can't blame ourselves for his mistakes. We can take him out and show the other territories we don't tolerate that kind of behavior." Jo looked up at me and smirked. I know he was thinking about me shooting him due to my lack of control. It's true my anger sometimes got the best of me, I would lash out with violence quicker than most. I grew up in an unforgiving foster care system. I had to be strong and mean, to survive. "I am sure I can count on you to eliminate him when he is found." I nodded at him, "Absolutely boss, My pleasure." I almost couldn't wait to beat him to death. He was no better than Ryan with the women, or the drugs. To sell that poison to someone should be an instant death penalty for anyone. We don't sell that stuff in our territories thanks to Mason. He always paid close attention to the drugs being peddled into our territories. We did allow some, but not that poison shit Ark was making. That shit is a curse. The hardest battle I have fought. Thanks to Jo and the brotherhood, I didn't have to do it alone. I would die for the cause, and he knows that. They saved me. I was just 18 when I met Mason, well I knew him as Mighty then. He saw me stealing food from the local gas station, walked up to me, and reached me 10 bucks. I was terrified, I had heard of him, of the brotherhood. I was sure he was going to kick my ass. Instead, he watched me pay and followed me into the alley, offering me a job. He told me I had to get clean but they would help me. They brought me to the city house first, but I was trying to leave every time the withdraws got bad. Jo had told him to sedate me. He did and I woke up here, in the country house.

I started cooking all day every day. Eventually, after I was clean for a while, Jo brought me into the inner circle. I am still not sure why. I wasn't in the brotherhood long, but he kept telling Zeus the "kid" had potential. He believed in me, for the first time in my life, someone believed in me. It made me stronger. I chose the name, Henry, it was my real father's name, and I didn't know him. I haven't looked back since. I heard a pecking on the door behind us. The lightening of Jo's face told me Sandra had returned. Her hair was wet and she was wearing a baggy hoodie over some leggings. She was beautiful. Naturally though, unlike most of the fake-looking chicks, I have seen Jo bring to the city house. "Hey there Sunshine, feeling better?" I winked at her as she looked straight at Jo blushing. He scolded me with his eyes, he hardly needed words to do that. I shrugged. Jay stood up awkwardly as she walked by, maybe to offer his chair, but she walked around kissing Jo on the cheek. She sat in the chair closest to him. He updated her about everything Zeus had found. "We think they were friends. We also think Ark always planned to release him, but when we searched his buildings, he left early." I could see his anger rising again. "Z, Check bank accounts and card usage." he looked down at the monitors on his desk. "Jay you can go update the guards on your new position. You need to work on the rotation as well, you won't be doing any of them. You will concentrate solely on my queen." Jay nodded. I could see a spot of jealousy on him, but he quickly shook it off as he walked out the door. I looked at Jo and he smirked at me discreetly telling me he already knew. Zeus wasn't looking up from his tablet when he started to speak again. "I think they are heading to the city Jo." He told us that they had bought some sort of bus pass from the top of the peak to the city. "Do we need to call Luca?" I asked. "Maybe he can intercept them. He may hold them until we can get there." Zeus agreed. Joseph stared at his monitors. I could tell he was thinking hard weighing his options.

Sandra spoke up so softly at first that we couldn't understand her. Joseph turned towards her in his swivel chair rolling in her direction. "You have to speak up my Sunshine, Your opinion is valued here." He smiled softly at her. It was still strange to see that with her he was someone we hadn't seen before. Someone calm. She spoke loudly this time with a smile, "I don't think we should trust Luca either."