2

Demo quickly pushed that train of thought away. Bulldog hadn’t lost Abby. She was alive and healing, getting stronger every day. There was nothing weak about Bulldog. His love for his wife and children had only made him a better man.

But was that love worth the risk of losing it?

Steel started speaking again, and Demo forced himself to concentrate on his President’s words rather than his childhood memories. “I feel for Mrs. Hannigan, but I still do not understand what this has to do with us?—”

“Her parents are threatening to take the boys!” the former sheriff shouted. There was a desperation in Hannigan’s voice that did not match his words.

Clearly, Steel picked up on it too. “Why would her parents do that?”

Hannigan shook his head. “You don’t know her parents or the havoc they bring with them.” Hannigan ran a hand down his haggard face. “I’ve fucked up a lot in my life. Richard is dead because of me, I know that. You’ll never understand the pain that knowledge inflicts on me daily. But I have to make this right, Steel. I have to protect my grandsons. If they… If the boys are taken… There’s a reason Paige went no-contact with her family years ago. You don’t know what they’re like. You don’t understand what they’ll do to the boys, what they’ll turn them into.”

Steel’s eyes flew to Keys behind Demo. Out of the corner of his eye, Demo saw Keys lift his chin to Steel in acknowledgement before returning his attention to his computer.

Through all their dealings with cleaning up Richard Hannigan’s crimes, Demo could not recall seeing anything about Paige Hannigan’s side of the family. But above the anxiety and shame Hannigan was portraying, his biggest emotion was fear. Something about Paige’s family made the former sheriff afraid .

Demo shifted in his seat. His arm tapped the side of the bar and pain shot up to his shoulder. He had to bite back a hiss of pain, as well as keep his right hand from going to the healed wound. His eyes met Bulldog’s from across the room and he saw his SAA’s eyes narrow on his shoulder.

Demo forced himself to look away, ignoring Bulldog’s concern. He was fine .

“What do you mean?” Steel asked Hannigan without drawing any more attention to Keys. His voice deepened in anger. If there was one thing Steel would not stand for, it was women and children being threatened or harmed.

“They’re awful people. Paige hated growing up in that house. Her birth father died when she was three and her mom remarried. I don’t know all of the details but she told Cindy that her stepdad and stepbrother were horrible to her growing up. Not physically abusive, but mentally. Always putting her down. She was never good enough, never smart enough.” Hannigan shook his head. “I know what you think of me, Steel. Believe me, it’s no worse than I think of myself. I failed my son, but I refuse to fail my grandsons. Which is why I’m here, begging for your help. I no longer have the means to do so myself.”

Steel was silent for a long time. Then, finally, he nodded. “We’ll see what we can do.”

Though his answer was noncommittal, Demo knew his President would not allow anything to happen to Paige or her sons.

The VDMC officers sat around the long conference table. Keys set up his laptops and various equipment in front of him while Demo placed his trusty pad and pen before him. As soon as Hannigan had left, Steel ordered them upstairs.

Steel wasted no time getting to the point. “I thought we were sending her money each month?”

“We are,” Demo and Keys said together. Demo nodded for Keys to continue, since he was the one with the more accurate information in front of him. “She’s depositing the checks each month,” Keys informed them without looking away from his computer screens. His eyes were squinted as they darted around between devices, his fingers dancing across the keyboard like spider legs. “However, about four months ago, she started putting the funds into a savings account instead of her checking account. Once the checks are deposited, she never withdraws the funds. I don’t understand why. She has close to fifteen-thousand dollars just sitting there.”

Steel looked to Lucky on his right. “Has she said anything to you or Harper?”

Lucky shook his head. “We haven’t seen them since before the holidays. She was invited to dinner here with us on Christmas Day but chose to remain at home. I think Harper said something about wanting a day with the boys without the ‘festive hubbub’.”

Demo could understand that. The holidays were certainly a time for stress and not relaxation. He did not understand why so much time and effort were put into them when the end result was always too much exhaustion and a lot of holiday weight. Maybe he would feel differently if he had a wife and kids to spend the time with, but those were his current opinions.

Jumper spoke up, making Demo glance up in surprise. Generally, Jumper did not speak during Church meetings. He preferred to sit back and listen. “She donated to the community Angel Tree. I know because I happen to be the one who logged her donated gifts.”

“She has one credit card that isn’t maxed out,” Keys informed them. “It was in her name only so Richard would not have had access to it. However, she’s nearly to her credit limit on it and has only been paying the minimum due each month. She manages to pay her ridiculously high mortgage on time each month but she dropped her homeowners insurance to the bare minimum. The three credit cards she shared with Richard are all maxed out with interest eating away at the payments she provides. Her savings accounts for the boys have not been touched. They’re both 529 Accounts. She’s only adding the occasional dollar or two to both, but she is adding to them. The savings account she shared with Richard was practically emptied with only thirty-two dollars and forty-three cents left in it. Her checking account only has a few hundred.

“The business account she set up when she created her acupuncture clinic is in the red. She is behind on her rent payment by two months and received another Past Due notice this morning. Her utility bills on both the house and the business are past due as well. I just paid her electric bill for her house as it was on the schedule to be turned off tomorrow if payment wasn’t made. She owns the title on her car, so that’s something going for her at least.”

“If she has the money we’re sending her, why isn’t she using that to pay off her overdue bills?” Lucky asked Keys.

Keys shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s not like she wrote an email explaining her decision.”

Bulldog scratched his long beard. “I saw Paige last Tuesday for Abby’s appointment. She said her receptionist called out that day.”

Keys shook his head. “I can already tell you that’s a lie. She let her receptionist go before the holidays to help save on payroll costs. With her lack of customers, a receptionist probably wasn’t worth the payroll anyway. Besides Abby, she only has five other regular clients and the occasional walk-in.”

“She’s an outsider,” Bear said with a shrug. “It’s not surprising to me that the townspeople aren’t being receptive to her new business. They’re a small town and generally only trust those whom they’ve known since birth.” He made a gesture around the table. “Only reason the club was accepted as we were was because you had three of us born and raised here sign on as officers. They would not have been so open to the idea of a motorcycle club if they didn’t know that Lucky, Bulldog, and I would never stand for the guns, drugs, and general mayhem that motorcycle clubs usually bring to small communities.”

“With Carlos and Sheriff Longhill welcoming us, it backed our credibility even more,” Bulldog added, referencing his brother Carlos’s mentor and the town’s beloved sheriff prior to Hannigan.

“We should have backed her clinic as soon as she opened,” Steel said with recrimination. “She’s family,” he indicated his head towards Lucky, “regardless of who her husband was. But I don’t understand why she’s not using the money we’re providing for her.”

“She might be saving for something,” Demo murmured. “Trying to pay something off. Not everyone knows how to effectively ‘rob Peter to pay Paul’.” It was an accounting term used to indicate transferring funds to pay current balances that are actually allocated for other future balances.

“I’m wondering if that money is meant for something else.” Lucky’s tone brooked darkness. “What if someone from Castillo’s organization is squeezing her for money? When was the last time we checked on Juan Castillo and what he was up to?”

“Nearly every day,” Keys said as Bulldog said, “Probably not since Abby returned.”

Everyone looked towards Keys. The man continued to study his monitors as he typed away until he picked up on the silence of the room. Looking up, he straightened when he saw his brothers staring at him. “What?”

Steel was the one who spoke. “You check on Castillo’s organization nearly every day?”

Keys looked a little nervous, like he wasn’t sure if he messed up by his admission, but still nodded. “I wanted to make sure he was keeping his word. We had enough going on with the Heaven Haven community, Scar going rogue, and then the Pythons. I didn’t want Castillo to go back on his word and it come back to bite us in the ass.”

Sometimes Keys’ young face misled the quick brain it housed. The kid was the youngest VDMC member, but they would truly be lost without him and his skills. Only those in this room knew that he was the exception to their bylaw that they only allowed veterans who were honorably discharged from the military to prospect for them. As a teenager, Keys had been recruited to become an analyst for Navy Intelligence due to his incredible computer skills. He was the closest thing to being a spy without joining the CIA. Ghost, a former SEAL, had vouched for Keys when he’d been relieved of duty with a OTH discharge. Keys had disobeyed orders that would have cost civilian lives if he hadn’t. Though his superiors had chosen to punish him for his disobedience, Steel had not. Ghost knew of Keys’ situation and had tracked him down once he’d become a civilian. As far as Ghost was concerned, Keys’ Other Than Honorable discharge was bullshit.

Demo knew Steel was too big a person to allow someone else’s opinion of the kid to influence his decision. Keys had been with the club for nearly four years, having prospected for a year. Now at twenty-three, Keys was running the club security alongside Bulldog as well as his own cyber security business.

“Is he?” Steel asked, referring to Juan Castillo.

Keys nodded, seeming to relax when he didn’t get into trouble. “He’s sticking to the west coast as promised. He even abolished the Detroit syndicate completely. As far as I can tell, he’s gone above and beyond to honor his word to you.”

Demo turned his gaze back to Steel in time to see his slow nod. “Good,” the VDMC President said. “Things are finally settling down after September. I do not want to see that sort of drama start back up again.” Though he wasn’t superstitious, Steel reached forward and rapped his knuckles against the wood table. “Tell me about her parents. I did not like Hannigan’s reaction to them or that they’re threatening to take the kids away.”

Neither had Demo.

Keys reached into his bag at his feet and pulled out a pile of tablets. He passed them to Bear on his right, who started to distribute them around. Demo put his pen down on his yellow pad to accept the tablet handed to him. He ran his finger across the bottom lock screen that held a black and white image of their skull and rifles logo. He didn’t need to open an app or webpage, though, because Keys had all the tablets mirror his own screen.

The images of two men came up. They were clearly related with similar cheekbones, stern gazes, and hair coloring, though one was obviously older. Father and son, Demo would guess.

“Meet Thaddeus ‘Thad’ Barrington and his son Clifton,” Keys told them, confirming Demo’s suspicions.

Bear snorted. “Clifton Barrington? Guy sounds like a douche already.”

Others chuckled. Demo’s laugh was cut short by a sharp pain radiating from his left shoulder as his body shook with his amusement. Fuck! Demo snapped his eyes and jaw shut, clenching his arm against his side to hide the tremor overtaking it.

As Keys continued speaking, Demo forced his eyes back open to make it look like he was paying attention. The image on the screen changed to that of a woman in her late forties. Despite the obvious Botox on her face as well as what Demo could only assume to be a boob job to increase her size, the woman was no longer beautiful. Demo thought she could have been once, if she’d allowed her body to age naturally, but the cosmetics procedures done had given her a plastic, stiff look. “This is Velma Barrington, Paige’s biological mother. She married Thad when Paige was four years old.”

The screen changed to a posed family picture. Demo’s eyes landed on Paige’s wild brunette curls he would have recognized anywhere, even on the little girl that was maybe six or seven years old in this photo. A white mansion stood behind the family. Velma and Thad sat ramrod straight in white wooden chairs. Paige was in a white dress with a pink bow around her waist and in her curls. Despite what was probably professional effort, her curls would not be tamed, resulting in two corkscrew strands falling down her left cheek. Though she was smiling, the expression did not meet her eyes.

“Clifton is Thad’s son by his third wife. He has other children, but they are all older and most will have nothing to do with him. Clifton is eight years older than Paige. Velma is Thad’s fourth wife and I was able to confirm he’s keeping at least two mistresses on the side.”

Demo tried to recall how old Paige was from his research on her. She was thirty-three to his thirty-one, which would place Clifton at forty-one.

“The Barringtons come from old money. They’re like Detroit Royalty, but the cost of living in the city as well as some recent bad investments has significantly depleted their funds in recent generations. They tried to buy into the pharmaceutical industry and gambled on the wrong drug to back. When it did not get FDA approval and was rejected, the Barringtons lost millions. Their business is buying and selling Fortune 500 companies, rebranding and remarketing them, and then selling them for profit. They’re like professional house flippers but with mega companies.”

Pictures of different company logos and buildings came across their tablet screens as Keys spoke.

“As a stepdaughter, Paige was not welcomed into the family business or fold. Unlike her stepbrother, Paige did not go to private schools or an Ivy League college. Thad paid the bare minimum for her nearly her entire childhood. The exceptions were, of course, to appease the public eye. When Paige married Richard Hannigan, Thad would only pay for the wedding if he controlled everything, from her dress to the guest list.”

A picture of Paige and Richard Hannigan’s wedding appeared on the screen. Demo rubbed his shoulder as he stared at the picture. She looked happier in this one than she had in the family photo, her hair just as unruly as ever. A teenage Harper, dressed in a long burgundy gown, stood in line with Paige’s seven bridesmaids. Richard Hannigan, the bastard, looked like he’d just won the lottery with his chest out and a smug smile on his face. The only groomsman Demo recognized was a younger Clifton immediately to Richard’s left, indicating he had stood up as best man.

“Richard Hannigan’s first job out of college was at Barrington Holdings , which is where he met Clifton. The two men became friends and, years later, he married Paige. Richard was on the fast track to becoming CFO of Barrington Holdings until his gambling habits became a problem. Actually, we can thank Clifton Barrington for introducing Richard Hannigan to Mateo Castillo, who owned and operated out of Clifton’s favorite casino. About eighteen months before the Hannigan clan moved from Detroit to our fair town, Richard was let go due to an accusation of mishandling funds. No charges were brought against him, nor was anything proven, but the accusation was enough for Thad Barrington to let his stepson-in-law go.”

The tablet screen switched to what looked like an internal email from Barrington Holdings informing the company staff that Richard Hannigan was taking an extended leave of absence to spend time with his family. It did not say anything regarding misappropriation of company funds, which made Demo wonder how Keys knew the real reason behind Richard’s termination.

“Sounds like the Barringtons are rich assholes,” Bulldog said in a bored voice. “What does any of this have to do with Paige or Hannigan’s fear of them?”

“Patience, grasshopper,” Keys scolded with an eye roll.

Their tablets went black but for a silver arrow in the middle of the screen. However, when Keys pressed play, the recording did not come from their multitude of tablets but the surround sound speakers throughout the room.

“…listen here, bitch. If your fucked-up husband does not return the money he owes, I will call every lawyer at my disposal and have them take those fucking brats from you. Have them work off their loser of a father’s debt on their hands and knees scrubbing my floors like the fucking servant you were…”

There was a small click followed by another recording.

“…you think a measly thousand dollars even comes close to paying off your debt?! I wipe my ass with that after taking a shit. You have six months, bitch. Your husband might be able to run from his problems, but I will hunt you down to the ends of the earth. GET ME MY FUCKING MONEY!... ”

The tablets went blank after that.

“Was that the father or the son?” Steel’s voice held a dangerous tone that said no matter what, he would stand between Paige and the Barringtons. From the faces on the men around the table, he would not be the only one.

“Father,” Keys replied. “There are others from the son, though. Just as nasty and just as threatening.”

“How much does Hannigan owe them?” Demo asked the computer nerd, trying to keep a leash on his own anger. There was no way in hell Demo would stand back and allow her stepfamily to take her sons away from Paige and force them into servitude to pay off their father’s debt. He’d pay it back himself if he had to.

Keys’ jaw was tight as he admitted, “Over seven hundred thousand.”

Jaws dropped at the number. With Hannigan’s debt of three hundred thousand to the cartel, the man owed a million dollars in gambling debts.

“We killed him too quickly,” Lucky growled.

Demo agreed. So much for his thought of paying it back himself to clear Paige’s debt. He had savings, but not that sort of savings.

“Even with the checks she’s saving, she’ll never get the amount she needs to pay off the debt because we don’t have that sort of money,” Demo reminded the room. Clearly, Paige was using the money she thought was coming from the insurance company to help pay her debt by the six month deadline.

Steel demanded. “When’s the deadline? The message said six months, but how long ago was it sent?”

Keys did not look happy as he said, “She has less than two months.” Meaning, she needed seven hundred thousand by the end of March and she only had fifteen thousand.

“Like fuck am I going to allow that dirtbag take her kids away,” Steel snapped. “We failed Paige by not taking her under our wing more. She’s family,” he repeated, nodding to Lucky, “and we failed her.”

Turning to the table at large, Steel said louder, “From this moment on, I don’t care if you need treatment or not, you are going to make an appointment at her clinic. Buy your friends, family, anyone you can think of gift certificates for her clinic. Most of all, though, you spread the word: Paige is ours .”

“We can offer discounts at the dealership if they provide a receipt from her clinic,” Demo suggested.

Steel nodded. “Speaking of which, you’re going to be her first Via Daemonia customer.” His eyes narrowed as he added, “Get your fucking shoulder looked at.”

Demo swallowed audibly. “I’m fi?—”

“You are not fucking fine ,” Steel snapped, speaking over him. “You’re slouched over in pain. You think I can’t see it? You’re not that good an actor. Get your ass to her clinic first thing on Monday or I will drag you there by your ear myself.”

Knowing Steel wasn’t bluffing, Demo nodded.

“I added you to her schedule for nine Monday morning,” Keys told him from across the table.

Demo glared at Keys, the fucking traitor.

“We’re all going,” Bulldog reminded Demo. “Abby has her appointment on Tuesday. I’ll go with her and see if she can see me too.”

“According to Google ,” Bear said while looking down at his phone, “acupuncture can work wonders for pregnant women. We’ll take the girls.”

Lucky nodded his agreement, but then said, “Even if everyone in town makes an appointment, it won’t be enough to pay them back. Even with the money we took from the Pythons, we don’t have that sort of scratch.”

Jumper cleared his throat. “We might not, but the Grovetons would.”

The Grovetons were like Mount Grove Royalty. They came from old money and claimed to be the founding family of their small town. Some were skeptics on that fact, but no one questioned it more than a passing wonder. The Grovetons were good people and did not allow their money to rule their town as so many other families would have. Sophia, Jasmine’s best friend, was the only daughter of Beatrice and Darnell Groveton and she, along with her two older brothers, were the heirs to the Groveton fortune.

Steel, though, shook his head. “I don’t want us to be in debt to the Grovetons. A family like the Barringtons? They have to have skeletons in their closets.” To Keys, he said, “Find them. Find all of them. CPS won’t take her kids once they’ve heard that voicemail. Let’s see how easy it will be to go after Paige and her sons when they’re putting out their own fires.” After catching the eye of everyone at the table, Steel slammed his gavel down and then pointed the hammer end at Demo, “Get your ass to the fucking clinic.”