Garrett's defense crumbled fast. He tried to justify it.
Tried to claim the club was going soft. That legitimacy was killing what they were.
That he was trying to preserve the outlaw spirit.
Magnus listened without expression. When Garrett finally ran out of words, Magnus spoke.
"You sold out my wife for money. You put a target on her back."
"You gave professional killers her location, her route, her timing. You did that."
His voice was quiet, controlled, which made it more terrifying than if he'd shouted. "We're not criminals pretending to be a club, Garrett."
"We're a brotherhood first. Honor first, loyalty first."
"You broke that. You broke us."
The vote was called, unanimous. Not a single hand raised in Garrett's defense.
Excommunication. Immediate, total.
They stripped his patches. Cut them off his vest with knives right there in the chapel.
The leather fell to the floor like dead skin. Garrett's face went pale.
This was worse than death in his world. To be excommunicated.
To be erased from the brotherhood.
But Magnus wasn't done. "You're lucky Cass is alive."
"If she died, you'd be in the ground right now. But she's alive because of a starving kid with more courage in his little finger than you have in your entire body."
Magnus leaned forward.
"There will be consequences you won't forget. Then we're going to drive you to the edge of Vegas territory and leave you there."
"You can explain to Vaughn why his money bought him nothing but failure."
Garrett was dragged out of the chapel. Finn stepped back from the window.
He didn't need to see what came next. Didn't want to.
This was club business. Dark justice.
An hour later, a black van pulled out of the compound. Garrett Sloan was in the back, beaten, broken, branded with the mark of traitor across his chest.
He would be deposited at the edge of Vegas territory with a message. A warning to anyone else who thought they could buy their way into Hells Angels business.
Cass found Finn sitting on the steps outside the main building. She sat down beside him wincing slightly as her injured shoulder protested the movement.
"You okay?"
"I don't know." Finn looked at his hands.
"I've never seen justice like that before."
"That's because you've lived in a world where justice doesn't exist. Where the strong prey on the weak and nobody does anything about it."
"This world is different. We take care of our own."
"We protect our family. And when someone breaks that trust, there are consequences."
She put her good arm around his shoulders. "You saved my life, Finn."