Chapter 12

Mace

I t had been six glorious days since Alicia and I started sleeping together. She was as sweet as she ever was to me, and thankfully always eager for my touch. However, I sensed something was on her mind. My gut told me it was more than just being worried about her mother because she’d been getting calls from her aunt who was taking care of her mother. Their conversations were private of course, but besides talking in hushed whispers, Alicia didn’t seem particularly upset by the conversations.

It was at other times, when I had to leave her to attend church or to meet with my tribal elders, that she fell apart. Rosie told me that Alicia got tearful a couple of times for no apparent reason when they were spending time together at the bar. And I found her crying in our room when I came home yesterday. She didn’t really have any explanation, so I let it go.

My worry was that she was homesick and wanted to return to Mexico. If that was the case, it might be the end of whatever relationship we were beginning to build together here in the States. Losing her would hurt, but I’m not sure I could give up my tribe, my family, and my club to follow her to a foreign country. Here in Griffinsford, I earned with my club working in the garage. I belonged here.

The whole situation worried me. I cared about Alicia, and I wanted her to be happy, even if that meant returning to Mexico and leaving me. What scared me was that her father might be there, waiting for her. I had no doubt he’d still want to press her into marriage with the man who threatened to rape her.

Going back home or staying with me had to be her choice, and her choice alone. I couldn’t stop her from leaving, but if she went, I wouldn’t be there to protect her.

This morning, I woke up before the crack of dawn. Laying here with Alicia cuddled up on my chest was the only place I want to be. So, when my phone vibrated, I was pissed that I had to get up and answer it. I didn’t hesitate though, because I had a lot of things going on in my life right now and I couldn’t risk anything falling into the cracks. Worry niggled at the back of my mind that someone in my family got seriously injured or died, that was the only reason we called each other at such an ungodly hour.

After I got out of bed and pulled the blankets up around Alicia, I stepped out of the bedroom to see who had called. I was confused to discover it was Storm. He left a text.

Storm: Come downstairs to my office. Hacker and I want to have a word with you.

I texted him back.

Me: On my way now.

After pulling on a fresh pair of jeans and a t-shirt and shoving my feet into my boots I went downstairs to see what was so urgent that my club president was calling me to a meeting so early in morning and found the door to his office open. Hacker and Grit were sitting around, drinking coffee and chatting, when Storm noticed me at the door and motioned me into his office.

I slid into the only empty chair. “What’s so important that it has three club officers up so early?” Technically, Hacker wasn’t a club officer, but he was always present when the officers met, so I counted him as one in my mind.

Storm frowned at me. “We have a bone to pick with you, Mace.”

“What’s the problem?” I asked. Yesterday my prez was all smiles and congratulating me for a job well done, I wondered what the fuck had happened. “Whatever it is, I’ll answer honestly. You gotta know I have nothing to hide.”

“It’s not you we’re worried about. It’s that woman of yours.”

Shock roiled through my gut. “Alicia? What’s she done? She’s the sweetest woman I’ve ever met.”

Storm shot back, “She’s also working as an informant for the US Marshals service.”

My mouth dropped open in pure shock. “What? Are you sure my Alicia is working for the feds?” I made a disbelieving face. “That doesn’t sound like something she would do.”

Hacker spoke up from his wheelchair, his voice rough and edged with anger. “Yeah, I’m sure. I hacked her phone and found messages between her and an agent from the US Marshals service.”

I flung back, “You should have come to me directly if you had any suspicions.”

Storm interjected, “Just calm the hell down for just a minute, Mace, and hear what we have to say.”

Turning to pin him with an angry glare, I said roughly, “I’m not calming the hell down. How would you like it if I hacked your old lady’s phone? That would piss you off, right? Turning back to Hacker, I demanded, “How about you? How would you feel if I started messing with your old lady? You wouldn’t like that very fucking much, would you? What I want to know is who in the hell gave Hacker permission to intrude on Alicia’s privacy that way?”

Storm raised his voice, “I did. We do it to everyone who comes here to stay, unless they’re a patched member of the club.”

My eyebrows shot up, “You do it to everyone? Visitors, prospects, club girls? Everyone? Is that what I’m hearing you say?”

Storm froze for a brief second as if he were just now understanding the full implications of his actions. He took a moment to order his thoughts before speaking. “Look, this is a private club. Our women and children come to the clubhouse. We have a fucking right to vet the people who are staying here.”

Although I didn’t like this secret policy the club officers had put in place, I wasn’t stupid enough not to grasp the benefits of double-checking who we allowed to walk among us. “Okay, yeah, I get it. I don’t like it, but I get it. I just can’t imagine why Alicia would rat out her own father. He might be a sick twisted fucker but he’s still her old man. I don’t believe she’d do something like that.”

“Of course she fucking would. The feds clearly want to get their hands on that drug running son of a bitch. He’s working for the cartels, and they’ve made stemming the flow of drugs over the border a priority over the last few years.”

“You know she’s an illegal, don’t you?” Hacker said.

I was silent for a moment, truthfully it hadn’t crossed my mind. She told me her mom was American, so I guess I’d assumed she’d come over the border legally, even if her father was up to no good, “No, though I never really asked,” I admitted.

“From the gist of the text messages, it looks like that’s what they’re using as leverage. She was born in the US, her mom is a US citizen, so in her case citizenship should be automatic. But thanks to her father taking them both out of the country when she was a baby, she’s undocumented,” Hacker’s expression is severe as he said this.

“So she could seek legal advice? There are attorneys who deal with this kind of stuff all the time, right?”

“I’m guessing that time is something she doesn’t have much of. The feds are wanting her to get back in with her father, but she’s refusing.”

I leveled a cold stare at Hacker. “I have no doubts that the feds would love to bust anyone with links to the cartels operating on American soil. What I don’t understand is what my woman would get out of putting herself in that kind of danger.”

Grit grumbled, “Yeah, I don’t get that either. She seems way too timid to be involved in backstabbing a Mexican cartel.”

“I think they’re blackmailing her,” Hacker said.

“Who? The feds?” I asked.

Storm spoke up again, asking the most obvious question, the one we were all thinking. “Why don’t we ask her to come down and explain herself.”

I swallowed thickly. Storm was right. We should ask her. I started to stand up, just as Thunder walked in. Storm motioned me back down and jerked his chin at the oldest member of the Dark Slayers MC. “Thunder, would you ask Rosie if she would wake Alicia and ask her to come down and talk to us?”

Thunder stopped dead in his tracks and nodded, “Of course. Gimme a second. She’s setting up the bar right now.”

Storm glanced towards the door. “Tell her this is a priority over prepping the bar. Come back. I want you here for this.”

Thunder’s expression went from confused to blank in an instant. “Okay Prez. I’m on it,” he said before doing and about face and strolling out of the room.”

Hacker spoke up, “I have some other ideas on why Alicia might be working with the feds.”

“Fucking stow it, Hacker,” I spat out. “We don’t know for sure that she is working with the feds, so let’s not speculate about her motives quite yet.”

Hacker slammed the screen down on his laptop and pointed at me accusingly. “I know you’ve got a thing for this woman, Mace. But you can’t let that cloud your judgment. If she’s working for the feds, they probably think they’re getting a twofer. They will be trying to pry information about our club as well as her old man. Think on that while you’re doubting a club brother in favor of some woman you just met a few weeks ago.”

I opened my mouth to tell him to fuck off when Storm stopped me. “We all need to shut the fuck up until we know for sure what’s going on here. One of our bylaws is not letting outsiders tear apart the brotherhood. You all agreed to that when you joined. I shouldn’t have to remind you of the fucking vows you took when you joined our club.”

My lips pressed together into a firm line. Shutting up sounded pretty good about now. I still didn’t believe that Alicia was narcing on her old man to the feds, much less dragging our club into the mess going on in her family, no matter what shit Hacker found on her phone.

Each second that ticked by felt like an hour. It wasn’t long before I came to the conclusion that I just didn’t want to admit to myself, that she lied to me by omission. A sick feeling twisted in my gut as I considered the possibility that she really was working for the feds.

“Alright, let me see what you found,” I said to Hacker.

A lopsided grin jumped onto his face as his hand went to pull up the screen of his laptop. “Aren’t you gonna say please,” he teased. I know he didn’t mean to be rude. Dude was just awkward as hell.

“No, but I might beat your ass if you don’t stop aggravating me,” I grumbled.

He held the laptop out to me. When I grabbed it, he didn’t let go. “I wasn’t trying to rile you up, Mace. I honestly think she’s a nice lady, but good people are forced to make tough decisions when their back’s against the wall. I told you, I think they’re blackmailing her into working for them.”

“Thanks, brother. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

He let go of the laptop and when I turned it around, I saw that he was not joking about there being a chain of text messages between Alicia and some US Marshal. I flipped through, scanning each message to find there was no mention of our club from her. The agent she was texting with mentioned our club in passing but didn’t seem to be pumping her for information. They clearly considered the Dark Slayers MC peripheral to their investigation into her father’s business with the cartels.

I had just finished reading the last text message when Alicia walked into the office with Rosie at her side. She was pale and looked anxious as hell.

Storm dismissed Rosie curtly. “You can go, Rosie. Club business isn’t for an old lady’s ears.”

Rosie folded her arms over her chest. “I’m staying.”

“Rosie.” Thunder said her name with a clearly note of warning in his voice, “Sweetheart. Don’t do this.”

The pretty redhead shot her old man a stubborn look. “Alicia’s all alone. She’s got no one in her corner. She has the right to a support person.”

I spoke up, “I’m here for her, so you don’t need to stay.”

Rosie snorted a laugh. “Yeah, you’re here for her alright. That must be why you didn’t go upstairs and bring her down yourself.”

Storm’s steady voice broke into our conversation. “That was my decision, not Mace’s. And you can stay if it means that much to you. You’ve been a good and loyal old lady for a long fucking time. I’d trust you with my life.”

Rosie’s arms fell to her side, and she relaxed a little. Thunder came up behind them with a chair in each hand and said, “Have a seat, ladies.” Taking a minute to give Rosie a kiss on the forehead, he squatted down beside her, making it clear that he was still her protector, no matter what.

Storm cleared his throat and opened his mouth to explain but I came to my feet and knelt down in front of Alicia. “I’ve got to ask you something important and I want you to be honest with me, darlin’.”

She nodded, looking incredibly anxious. “Alright. What do you want to know?”

I turned the laptop around so she could see the text messages. I gave her minute to understand what she was looking at before asking, “Are you passing information to the feds about your father’s cartel dealings?”

Her eyes lifted from the screen to me, and I could see the worry etched on her pretty face. “Yes. Is that going to be a problem?”

“Maybe and maybe not. You wanna tell us what’s going on?”

She shrugged and launched into a long and detailed explanation. “My mother was always paranoid that my father would take me away from her. She’s American, I was born here too but he took us back to his hometown when I was two. She tried to make the best of her life, but she was always afraid that he might take me away,” she paused and looked at my club officers before continuing. “I know to you it sounds crazy, that no one could do that to another person, but you don’t know what life is like for us under the control of the cartels. We had no rights, we had no way to escape. So we made a plan.”

“A plan that involved the feds?” I asked calmly.

“Yeah. She told me that if my father ever took me to the US that he might try to traffic me.”

“She doesn’t trust your father at all, does she?”

“No. Only a complete idiot would trust Juan Ramirez. I’ve always been scared of him and his men, I spent my entire childhood trying to stay out of his line of sight.”

Storm spoke, his voice polite and coaxing, “Tell us about the plan you and your mother made.”

She glanced around nervously and began answering his question. “She told me that if he ever took me that I was to keep calling federal agencies and offering to trade information for protection until one of them took me up on it. That maybe that way I could get ICE or the Department of State to look into my case.”

I snapped the laptop closed. “This is all about you thinking you needed protection. You have me and my club protecting you. Why make a deal for what you already had?”

She reached out to move a strand of hair that was hanging over my eye and tucked it behind my ear. For the first time, I remembered that I left my hair loose.

“I made the deal with Marshals before I ever met you. When I first came to America, I was scared and didn’t know what my father had in mind for me. So, I followed the plan my mom came up with. The first federal agency I called jumped at the chance to work with me. It was my only way out, until I met you and you whisked me away to safety.”

It was Hacker who asked the next logical question. “So, why continue to communicate with the feds after Mace rescued you and you accepted protection by our club?”

Her head lifted to look across the room the room at him. “Mostly I did it for my mother, I was scared if she was left there, that my father would beat her as punishment for me leaving him. I assumed the feds would want to advocate on her behalf and see that she was rescued too. When I was with my father here and my mom was in Mexico, I wasn’t worried, but since I escaped…” she paused, and looked down at the floor before glancing at me. “How could I live happily ever after with Mace while my mom was still trapped in a living hell with my father? I needed safety for both of us, not just myself.”

I reached out to cover her hand with my own. “I volunteered to fetch your mother and bring her here, but you said no. Remember?”

“One of our main worries was us getting swept up in my father’s illegal activity if or when he gets arrested. My mom and I were never involved, but my father is a vindictive man. If he’s ever arrested, he won’t just leave us to our own devices. He’d want to make sure we’re locked us as well. He might marry me off, but he wouldn’t want anyone touching my mother. He’s honestly jealous enough to implicate her just so she’ll end up rotting away in a women’s prison somewhere. At the very least, he’ll say we’re accessories after the fact or something along those lines.”

“I promised to help you, Alicia. Our club could have gathered evidence to prove your innocence. I told you we were all in. I feel like there’s something you’re still not telling us that’ll make all this finally make sense.”

She nodded but her mouth snapped closed, and her head tilted back so far, she could look at the ceiling. She stayed that way, as if ignoring me and my club brothers would somehow make the question go away.

I gave her hand a squeeze. “Talk to me, sweetness. I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s going on.”

Rosie reached over and put her arm around Alicia. “Stop haranguing her. Give her a minute to think, damn it.”

A long silence spun out in the room as Rosie told Alicia to take as long as she needed. It took her a few minutes, but she finally brought her head back down to stare at me. “You… you’re too late. My father has already returned to Mexico. He’s beaten her again and is holding her prisoner just like he has for years. Only this time he’s punishing her for me escaping, my greatest fear has come true.”

She snapped her mouth closed as if she realized she’d been on a little rant but grudgingly added, “He told me to meet him when he returned to the US or he would hurt her every day that I didn’t show myself.”

Stone cold fury spiked in my chest and a long string of curses spilled out of my mouth. “It’s great that he’s bringing her to the States, that’s one less problem to deal with. Now, all we have to do is figure out where they are and rescue her.”

Thunder spoke up. “When are you due to meet him?”

“Two weeks’ time. I don’t want to go back but I can’t leave my mother in the lurch. And my handler is really pressuring me to link back up with my father. It’s the only way they’re gonna figure out where he is. They want him bad after those five gang members he killed. They have it in their mind that if they can nail him, they’ll not only bring down the cartel he’s working with, but he’ll give them information on the Latino gang he attacked.”

Thunder whistled, “Your handler is pretty fucking ambitious. If you’re not real careful he’s gonna keep pushing until you wind up dead.”

I saw a spike of panic surge in Alicia. Her hand started trembling beneath mine and her expression morphed into one of terror.

I took both her hands in mine and asked, “Why didn’t you come to me, darlin’? You know that I’d give my life to keep you safe.”

She choked out, “That’s exactly why I didn’t want to come to you with this. You already got shot protecting me. I didn’t want to drag you and your club into all the dark shit my father’s into. I know all your wives and kids. They don’t deserve to be husbandless and fatherless because my family is a hot, dangerous mess.”

Seeing her tear up really got to me. I laid Hacker’s laptop aside, reached for her, wrapping my arms around her and tugged her out from under Rosie’s arm. Once she was in my lap, I held her tight, tucking her head underneath my chin. “Shush, sweetness. Everything is going to be okay.” None of my club brothers said anything, probably afraid that more questions would make her cry harder.

Finally, she added. “My mom and I are never going to be free until my father and his right-hand man are behind bars.”

“Or six feet under,” Storm said darkly. Murmurs of agreement went around the room. It was strange how in sync me and my club brothers were on this issue. I’d like nothing better than to break that old man’s neck and watch the life drain from his eye. If there’s one thing I hated, it was a man who abused women.

Rosie finally spoke up. “Clearly, we can’t allow Alicia to go running back to her father. There has to be a better way to gather intel on these criminals that putting her in harm’s way again.”

Thunder’s hand came out to land on his wife’s shoulder. “Perhaps you forgot about how her asshole dad is going to keep hurting her mother every day until she shows up.”

Rosie’s voice broke with emotion as she said, “There has to be another way, Thunder. Tell me there is another way.”

He gave his old lady a hug and murmured, “If there is, we’ll find it, darlin’.”

Grit complained, “And this is why we don’t have old ladies involved in club business. Softhearted females cry all over the damned place. Even my Alison. It’s why I keep her far away from club business.”

I pulled back and looked down at Alicia. “Don’t worry. We’ll find a way to keep you safe if you meet up with your father. I’ll be with you every step of the way.”

“I know I’m nothing but trouble, Mace. And I apologize for it.”

“Nonsense,” I said as I gave her quick kiss on the forehead. “Why don’t you and Rosie go out to the bar and have some breakfast while we brainstorm ways to make sure this whole situation lands in you and your mom’s favor, okay?”

She nodded and slipped from my arms. Rosie wrapped an arm around her and led her back to the bar. Alicia stopped at the doorway and turned back to look anxiously at me. Seeing the worry and doubt in her eyes tore a gigantic hole in my heart.

I looked her in the eyes and told her how I felt about her for the first time. “I love you, sweetness. Trust me to take care of this for you.”

She nodded, relief flooding her face. “Thank you, Mace. I love you too.”

Rosie pulled her away and Alicia went only very reluctantly.