Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE

Doc

I pop the top on a warm bottle and start feeding Kash, while I slump back on the worn leather couch.

Turmoil is pacing back and forth, combat boots clomping against the clubhouse floor.

He runs a hand over his head, looking tense as fuck.

"What's eating you, brother?" I ask, taking a swig of my own beer. "You're wearing a hole in the damn floor."

Turmoil's eyes snap to mine, dark and stormy. "Sera. She was supposed to show up an hour ago. Not like her to be late and she's not answering her phone. No texts either."

I frown.

Sera is Turmoil's ol' lady, his ride or die.

They're tighter than a virgin's ass.

If she said she'd be here, she meant it.

"What do you want to do? Go out and look for her?" I suggest.

Sera is keeping her relationship with Turmoil under the radar, especially since she’s a double agent—reporting info back to the club that will help us take down her mother.

"What do you think?" he snaps. "Of course I do. Something's wrong, I can feel it in my bones. After the shit with her snake of a mother...I just don’t trust this, brother."

He trails off but I get what he’s saying.

If Sally figured out her daughter is working against her...god, who knows what she’d do.

I’ve heard some crazy stories about that woman.

I look at my little man, mind racing with the possibilities, each one uglier than the last.

How is the world so cruel when there are innocent creatures like this who depend on us?

It just gives me the urge to rip every bit of evil from the planet.

My stomach churns thinking about what could be going on.

Hopefully Sera turns up. Maybe she fell asleep, was exhausted from her day and crashed.

That’s the best thing to think about, not the alternative.

If Sera's been made, if her mother discovered she's the mole, there's no telling what kind of danger she could be in right now.

"Let's go, man. We'll track her down and figure out what the fuck is going on," I say firmly, standing up.

Turmoil shakes his head, his eyes stormy with barely contained rage and fear. "I gotta talk to Prez first. See what he wants to do. Can't just go off half-cocked, much as I want to burn rubber outta here."

I get it, I do.

There's protocol.

Damon is the one who calls the shots, and the last thing we need to be doing is pissing him off.

If Sally Bernard has Sera...that means she knows everything.

It means that the underground battle we’ve had with her is now being brought to the surface…and shit is about to get real.

My mind keeps circling back to Sera's involvement.

She took immeasurable risks and could have been caught at any time.

Slipping info to Turmoil, helping us uncover every move her mother was trying to make.

Sera would always show up to the clubhouse under the cover of night, when she could sneak away undetected.

Bile rises in my throat.

If anything happens to her because she chose us, because she fell in love with Turmoil and wanted to make things right…God, it just might kill him.

"Go find Damon," I urge him, my voice low and intense. "I'll round up the rest of the prospects, get everyone ready for when Damon gives the order. We'll find your girl, bring her home safe."

Turmoil looks at me, a fierce light in his eyes.

He clasps my arm. "Thank you so fuckin’ much, brother."

He turns on his heel and strides off to find our Prez, a man on a mission.

I watch him go, my gut twisting into knots.

I hope like hell we're not too late, and that Turmoil’s hunch is wrong.

Please, God, let her be passed out on her couch.

With a quick flick of my thumb, I fire off a message to the rest of the club prospects, then place my now sleeping son in the bassinet.

Once he's settled, I pivot on my heel and make a beeline for the kitchen.

The hollow echo in my gut's been growling like a caged beast for too long, demanding to be fed.

Camila’s in there, at the stove, cooking up who knows what.

I peek over her shoulder, my nostrils filling with the heavenly scent of simmering garlic and herbs. "Whatcha got there, Camila?"

She jumps, whirling around to face me, brandishing a wooden spoon like a weapon.

"Christ Almighty, Doc! Don't sneak up on me like that," she huffs, slapping my arm with said spoon.

"Sorry, mama bear." I hold my hands up in mock surrender. "Just came to see what smells so good."

She rolls her eyes but her lips twitch into a small smile. "It's chicken stew. Want some?"

"Do I ever say no to your cooking?" I listen closely to see if Kash has stirred in his bassinet, but he hasn't so I walk up to Camila, ready to stuff my fucking face with this deliciousness.

Camila spoons some stew into a bowl for me and I head back out into the main area of the clubhouse, where Kash is happily sleeping.

I shove a spoonful in my mouth and muffle out, “Thanks so much.”

Camila waves her hand in dismissal. “It’s nothing. I need to get a whole bunch more batched up and put in the freezer.”

“Still, I appreciate it. Boog’s a lucky man.”

Camila turns to me and raises her brows, “And you’re looking to be a lucky man too, with Mandy and all.”

I lick my lips, “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

We haven’t said what we are, and I doubt we fucking will for a while.

There’s no label on it, but there’s no doubt in my mind she belongs to me.

Camila’s laughter rings out, breaking the momentary silence. “Look at you blushing like a schoolboy. She must be something special.”

“Yeah, she is,” I respond, feeling a soft smile creeping onto my face as Mandy’s image fills my mind.

Her warmth.

Her laughter.

Her spirit.

I shake my head, trying to wrangle my thoughts back to the present.

Heading back into the main area, I’m midway into a bite of food when the door flies open and Damon strides in, his expression thunderous.

Turmoil is hot on his heels, a coiled spring of tension and barely leashed fury.

All eyes snap to them as a hush falls over the clubhouse.

It’s so quiet in here you could hear a pin drop.

Damon rakes his gaze over the assembled men, prospects, and patches alike.

When he speaks, his voice is a low growl. "Listen up. We've got a situation. Sera's gone dark—no communication, her location disabled. And we all know that isn’t like her."

Murmurs ripple through the room, guys exchanging uneasy glances.

My own pulse kicks up a notch as some of my brothers file into the clubhouse.

Damon holds up a hand, signaling anyone who has questions to be quiet.

He clears his throat and looks around the room, "Normally I'd call an emergency church session, prospects excluded. But shit's different now."

He looks at each of us prospects in turn, with something like respect or maybe even pride in his eyes. "You've all proven yourselves. Shown your loyalty to the club, kept your noses clean. I know damn well none of you is the rat that's been fucking with us."

Damn straight.

We might be newer to the club, but we’d ride or die for it.

To most of us, this club is the only family we’ll ever truly have.

Damon's jaw clenches. "We already know the threat is coming from outside the club’s doors. I’ve already told y’all Sera is missing, and I’ll put money on the fact her mother has something to do with it. Some of you know, and some of you don’t, but Sera’s mother is the one who’s been trying to fuck with the club’s money, take us down, and do damn well anything she can. "

Turmoil makes a low sound, halfway between a snarl and a groan.

His hands flex at his sides, like he's imagining wrapping them around Sally Bernard's throat.

I can't blame him one bit.

If that evil cunt has laid one hand on Sera, I know he’ll rip her mother’s throat right out.

"So here's what we're gonna do," Damon continues grimly. "We're gonna turn over every rock, shake down every source. We will find Turmoil’s girl and bring her back home where she belongs."

His eyes blaze with barely contained violence. "And then? We'll burn the whole fucking world down around Sally Bernard until nothing's left but ashes and dust. The empire she built in the wake of Lunatic’s death will crumble, or be given to her daughter. The choice is hers."

Damon's cold, hard gaze travels the room, marking each face.

When it lands on Turmoil, there's a flicker of sympathy, but his voice remains as authoritative as ever. "Turmoil, you know Sera the best. I need you to dig deep, brother. Any place she might go, people she'd turn to. We have to retrace her steps, find out where she was last seen before she went dark on us."

Turmoil drags a hand over his face, looking like he's aged a decade in the span of an hour. "The casino, for sure. Her condo. Probably her grandfather's place."

His expression twists with a mix of rage and anguish I feel in my own gut.

If this was Mandy in Sera’s shoes, I don’t know what I’d do.

"I swear if that cunt Sally has touched one hair on Sera's head..."

Widow rests a heavy hand on Turmoil's shoulder, steadying him. "We'll get your girl back, and make that bitch pay. But we gotta keep our heads, go about this the smart way. None of us can help Sera if we're seeing red."

A hollow opens up in my chest when I think about what could be happening to her.

We take care of our own, and Sera is ours, down to the fucking bone.

I can still see her teasing smile as she sassed Turmoil at the bar, the way her eyes danced with secrets.

She’s one of the toughest women I've ever met, and she’s his perfect woman.

She has to be okay. I refuse to consider any other possibility.

We'll rip the city apart until we find her.

As for Sally Bernard…well, her mother better know now is the time she should run, because we’re coming for her and hell is coming with us.

Turmoil straightens up, his jaw set in determined lines. "Her grandfather is the reason she found out the truth, about her father being a shitbag."

All our eyes turn to him, waiting for Turmoil to keep going. "Sera said the old man didn't approve of the way her mother was helping her avenge a man who didn’t deserve it, wanted to give Sera an option to stop. He told her who Lunatic really was, which isn’t hard to imagine."

Damon rubs his chin, wheels clearly turning behind those keen eyes. "Sounds like Gramps might be our best shot at getting a lead on her then."

Turmoil nods, his voice growing weary. “It's a long shot, but fuck, I'll take any shot we can get right now. I need to get my girl back.”

I pipe up, "I say we pay her grandpa a visit. We all know her mom's evil as fuck, but the old timer seems decent, from what Sera's said."

I remember Sera mentioning how her grandfather doted on her growing up, shielding her from her parents' fucked up world.

The man's got balls, I'll give him that.

Damon nods slowly. "You're right, Doc. Gramps could be the key." He fixes us all with a steely gaze. "But we need to be smart about this. Do our homework before we make a move."

Zoe gets up from a couch in the corner, Spark eyeing her nervously as she walks right into the center of the room.

She swallows hard, her soft voice cuts through the tense silence like a blade. "I shouldn't be saying this, because Sera wanted to tell you herself, but..." She fixes her gaze on Turmoil, eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "She's pregnant."

Wait, what the fuck?

I want to think she’s joking, but there’s no way in fucking hell Zoe would joke about something like this.

The words hit me like a sledgehammer to the chest.

I can only imagine how hard they’re hitting him.

Turmoil goes dead still, his face draining of color.

Jesus Christ, this changes everything.

Sera's not the only one in danger. We have to think about her and Turmoil’s little one now too.

The gravity of the situation falls over the room like a suffocating blanket.

I can practically see the wheels turning in everyone's heads as they process this game-changing revelation.

This just made everything that much worse, and we have to try to find her, and fast.

The stakes just got a hell of a lot higher.

Turmoil clenches his fists, a muscle ticking in his jaw.

I half expect him to put a hole through the wall.

Instead, he takes a deep, shuddering breath, visibly reining in his emotions.

There has to be a tornado ripping through his head right now.

Fear, rage, desperation—a toxic cocktail threatening to boil over.

But beneath it all, I catch a glimmer of something else in Turmoil's eyes.

Something fierce, primal, and protective as fuck.

He's not just fighting for his old lady anymore.

He's fighting for his family.

Internally, I know shit is about to pop off with the club.

We thought we might have some peace for a while, but now that Seraphina is AWOL, it means one of our own is in imminent danger.

And she's carrying precious cargo.

We need to work fast.

Every second counts.

Every heartbeat brings Sera closer to God knows what horrors.

Failure isn’t a fucking option.

Especially not now.

We'll rain down holy hell on anyone who stands between us and bringing Sera and the baby home safe.

That's a goddamn promise.