The man they dragged in minutes later was by no means small. A hardened man who'd ridden for the past twenty years or more, he'd made his bones by serving his old leader well. His mistake was in thinking the son was like the father. Sure he might have some of his ruthlessness, but it was never aimed at the weak. The son didn't seem to differentiate.
Gabriel stood up from his seat at the head of the table in the council room where he'd been listening to the latest account of this scourge's actions. The man, Sam by name, at first thought, to look the younger man in the eye. After all, he'd been a lieutenant in the chapter for the past ten years and was due respect.
Bad enough, he hadn't been promoted after the death of the old leader but instead was expected to follow this wet behind the ears educated asshole. Now the much younger man thought he could tell him what to do, with his own family no less.
“So, Sam, I see you refuse to follow my orders again." He walked back and forth in front of the man as the others sat still, waiting to see what he would do next. Sam was sure that he'd get off with another warning, which he had no plans of obeying. What business was it of this usurper's what he did with his own family? If he wanted to knock his wife and kid around every once in a while, so be it.
“She deserved it…" A strong hand came out quick as a snake and grabbed Sam around the throat. For the first time, Sam got to see first hand the strength in the man he'd thought of as weak. Behind them, at the table, his old colleagues looked on wordlessly as they had already learned what Sam was about to find out. The kid is not to be f****d with.
“No woman deserves to be hit; there's no excuse." Gabriel barely held onto his leashed anger. He pressed hard with his fingers until he saw fear in the other man's eyes. “Now, someone stronger has you at their mercy; how do you like it?" He shook the man like a rag dog, a man who had him beat by at least thirty pounds, and the onlookers saw up close and personal just what they were dealing with.
Some sat up in their chairs, while some at that moment gained a new respect for their late leader's son. The son they'd laughed and joked and taken bets as to how long he would last. Who would've thought the university boy would have it in him?
So far, his decisions, though different from what they were used to, seemed to pan out. He'd come in guns blazing with a razor-sharp knowledge of the workings of the place that seemed almost uncanny. He'd weeded out most of the bad seeds within days to the surprise of many, and from the looks of it, he was far from done.
They'd only just finished licking their wounds after the last ass chewing, and now this—his first show of physical strength. “Leave; if I see you within a hundred miles of this town in the next twenty-four hours, you won't walk again. Do not return to your house. Do not contact your wife and daughter. You're to leave with the clothes on your back and nothing more. The bank accounts you had hidden have already been confiscated. Your family will be cared for. Now get out of my sight."
The room was silent as the man turned and fled, still clutching his throat and falling all over his feet in his haste to escape. Gabriel inclined his head for two of his men to follow and make sure his orders were carried out. They know what to do if that were not so.
He looked down at his hand where.