Chapter 19

Rage

I ’m huddled up in our club meeting room with a couple dozen of my club brothers. We’re brainstorming possible hotels that rich people would select in our small hometown, and we send a few brothers to scope out two. They have images of her parents’ vehicle, and our hope is that they find it in one of the parking lots.

Ven is set up in the middle of town, hoping to catch images on his drone. So far, he’s got nothing.

My phone jingles and I assume one of my club brothers found something. I pull it out to find that I’ve gotten a text from Mia.

My knees start to buckle underneath me when I read it.

Mia: I need you, Mommy needs you. I don’t feel safe here. They took Mommy’s cellphone but didn’t know I had one.

“Hold up everyone. I’m getting text from Mia. She’s in danger,” I shout.

The room goes utterly silent as I quickly type a message out.

Me: Where are you, sweetheart? Tell me and I’ll come get you.

Mia: I’m scared. Mommy said you’re my real daddy, is this right?

Me: Yep, I’m your daddy. Tell me where you are so I can come and get you.

Mia: I’m at a big scary house. I don’t know where.

Me: That’s fine. Turn your location on and share it with me. You know how to do that?

I wait for a minute and then her location shows up.

Me: Alright, sweetheart. It looks like you’re on the outskirts of Las Salinas. Does that sound about right?

Mia: Yes, we left town in a black car.

Me: “I’m on my way, right now. Tell me what’s scaring you there.

Mia: Conrad’s brother is scary. His dad is really angry and everyone’s saying my mom has to marry Uncle Ashton.

I let out a long string of curse words under my breath.

Me: I’ll put a stop to that the minute I get there. Did they give you a room?

Mia: Yes. Me and mom are sharing a room. I asked to be excused from the table to go to the bathroom.

Me: I want you and your mom to go to your room. Go into the ensuite bathroom and don’t come out until you hear my voice. Lock the door, okay?”

Mia: You’re really coming for us?

Me: Of course.

Mia: Hurry Daddy, they’re shouting at each other now.

Me: You and your mom need to go to that safe space we talked about. Tell her you’re sick or something.

Mia: Okay.

When the bubble closes, I hold the phone to my chest for a brief moment. My emotions are a jumble. My daughter reached out to me and called me Daddy for the first time when she was in danger and scared out of her mind. That was bittersweet. When I said I was her father I meant it with every fiber of my being. Being a father doesn’t mean sharing blood, and whatever the DNA shows, that girl is mine if her mom will forgive me for being an asshole.

I flip to the location app and share it with my club brothers in our group chat.

“Talk to us,” Siege says. “What just happened?”

“Priscilla’s parent took her straight to Malcolm and Ashton. They’re trying to leverage her into getting hitched to Ashton. Mia said they’re all screaming at each other, and she’s scared. She wants me to come and get her right away.”

Siege makes a circle over his right shoulder by pointing one finger in the air and says, “Gear up. We’re burning rubber in ten minutes.”

***

This is the fastest we’ve ever geared up since I’ve been involved with the club. We’re on the highway within half that time. It takes us a while to get to the house and it’s another huge one. It must be nice to afford huge houses for one or two people when there are families struggling to find housing. The Whitmores get on my nerves with their pretentious spending and always having to have the biggest everything. Rich assholes thinking they are above the law using people to get further in life. I hate scum like that.

So far, all their houses have been either empty or with the bare minimum of staff. Therefore, we surround his place and just crash right in without warning. There are two dozen of us and just a few staff. It makes me wonder what the old man was thinking in not keeping security in place. Though rich assholes always think they’re untouchable.

While my club brothers deal with whatever’s happening downstairs, I make my way to the second floor to look for my girls. I don’t have to look very hard because I can hear a deep masculine voice in a yelling match with Priscilla.

“Get out of the damn bathroom before I rip the door off the fucking hinges, you’re mine to control you fucking cunt and the sooner you accept it the better,” the man roars.

“I’m not marrying you, Ashton, I’d rather be dead than have you touch me again.”

“You damn well are and I’m going to make you pay for jerking me around and beat some obedience into my daughter.”

“No you’re not, and she’s not your fucking daughter!” I yell, as I take off running and ram into him with one shoulder. It’s a good old fashion football tackle and it sends him sprawling on his ass.

He rolls to his feet and charges at me. “Get the hell out of our house.”

I shove him hard, and he crashes into the wall.

He lets out a long string of curses as I run past him to knock on the bathroom door. “Mia, you and your mom can come out now.” When they don’t immediately unlock the door, I glance at Ashton and raise my voice an octave. “Mia sweetheart, I told you I’d come, it’s Daddy.”

The door flies open, and Mia tries to come charging out, but her mom catches her just before she screams, “Behind you, Rage.”

I step sideways to miss whatever the asshole had in store for me, only to discover it’s a knife. No, it’s a large letter opener. I step out and disarm him with very little effort, tossing the long skinny piece of metal shaped like dagger away.

Ashton immediately reaches inside his pretentious dinner jacket and pulls out a gun. Unfortunately for him, I realize way before he even opens his fucking jacket that he’s going for a weapon and get mine out first. “Do not make me kill you in front of my daughter, asshole.”

He looks like he’s going to continue pulling on that gun, so I step into his personal space and hit him in the face with the butt of my pistol. “Hands off the gun, pretty boy.”

I only say that because Ashton clearly got all the looks in his family right along with most of the crazy. The moment his hand goes to cover his bleeding nose, I fish the gun out of his inner pocket and step back. If Priscilla and Mia weren’t standing there I’d have no second thoughts about shooting the bastard. But they’ve both been through enough. I’ll deal with the asshole later, that’s if my club brothers don’t get their hands on him first.

“I’m gonna give you a five-minute head start and then I’m going to hunt you down and beat your ass for thinking you could steal my woman and daughter away.”

“I didn’t. They came to me.”

Mia shouts, “Liar,” and Priscilla makes an indignant noise.

“You got four minutes and thirty seconds and you’re not making good use of it.”

“I’m not turning tail and running away from my own fucking house.”

“Fine by me, I can do this all day. I’ll just wait for my club brothers to be done with the assholes downstairs, then once my girls are away, you and me will have a little talk.” I say as I stuff his gun in the back of my pants and keep mine trained on him.

“They’re not your girls, they’re mine,” he says.

“Oh, I know enough about you to realize you don’t need to be around women and children.” I pause before adding, “Or animals.” The way I stress the word clues him in that I know about his past.

He points one bloody finger at me dramatically and says, “Shut the fuck up before something bad happens to you.”

“Give it up. I’ve already broken your nose and disarmed you twice. You don’t have an ego left to bruise.”

Suddenly, his mask slips and I see for the first time exactly what I’m dealing with. “I train people, not just animals. Some learn to adapt, and others fall by the wayside. Brute strength is no match for an analytical mind.”

I bring one finger up and make the gesture for crazy at the side of my head. “I’m sure that dumbass shit sounded better in your head that it did coming out of your mouth.”

“Seeing is believing.”

“Give up already. All I’ve seen so far is you bullying women and children and making an ass out of yourself. Surely to God you aren’t stupid enough to think that you’re running the show right now?”

“No, I’m just wasting enough time for my partner to show up.”

Ashton is a lone wolf. He doesn’t have a partner. That’s why I’m confused when I suddenly realize there’s a second set of footsteps coming up the side steps and it doesn’t sound like the heavy shit kickers my brothers wear.

Lo and behold, Harold comes skidding into the room. I don’t know how this clown got past my club brothers downstairs, but I do know that neither of these pricks are getting past me to my girls. How did we miss his involvement? The fucker told us to come here, did he think he was leading us to an ambush? I step out to close off their line of sight into the bathroom, pull out Ashton’s gun from my pants and aim one gun at each of them, “Who’s first?”

Ashton stares at Harold for a second before pointing at me. “Shoot that asshole. He’s on my last nerve and standing between me and my new bride.”

Harold opens his jacket with both hands, presumably to show he doesn’t have a weapon. “Like those members of the Savage Legion downstairs are just going to let me wander around with a loaded weapon.”

“Fine, we can both take him, if we work together,” Ashton says decisively.

“You’ve got the wrong idea about why I’m here, Ashton.”

“Don’t call me by my first name. You know I hate that.”

Rolling his eyes, Harold corrects himself, “Sorry, Mr. Whitmore. I actually came here because Emily is right. This shit between you and Conrad was fucked up but what’s even more fucked is you being allowed out of hospital.”

Ashton sneered, “Fuck off, Harold. I don’t take advice from the hired help. I’ve been declared mentally competent so no one can get me back in there.”

I jerk my chin at Harold. “Go downstairs and tell my club brothers that they need to come and get Ashton before I beat the living shit out of him.”

Harold turns to go. It’s a good thing I never fully took my eyes off Ashton because he charges at me knocking me off balance and sending my weapon skittering along the corridor. I thought he was coming for me, but he makes a beeline for the bathroom.

The moment his head turns to look at them all my protective instincts come rumbling to the surface. Something about the smirk on his face sets me off because he’s still trying to intimidate Priscilla and Mia. It works too because they both move back slightly.

I’ll be damned if I was gonna let him fuck with them right in front of me. Pissed, I spin around sweeping his feet out from under him and am on him in a matter of seconds, beating him over the head with the barrel of his own fucking gun. I want to shoot that fucker so badly, but I’ve gotta hold in my anger so I don’t scare my daughter. I hear the bathroom door slam shut and knowing they can’t see, makes me never want to stop punching this fucker. I earned my name in this moment by unloading all my anger and frustration on him. I don’t know how long I whale on the stupid fucker but at some point, Siege and Rigs are there pulling me off him.

Ashton was truly batshit crazy because he just laughs and gives me a big bloody smile. That just makes me want to kick his crazy ass all over again.

When I try to go after Ashton, my club brothers grab me and shove me in Venom’s direction. Siege points towards the door Venom has just walked through. “Take your damned brother outside for a breath of fresh air. He needs to walk this off. He’s no good for anyone when he’s like this.”

I shove my best friend aside. “Fuck that. I need to check on Priscilla and Mia.”

As he’s putting cable ties around Ashton’s wrists, Siege growls, “You’re a bloody fucking mess.”

I ignore him and shoulder bump the locked door open. They’re both huddled on the far side of the spacious bathroom. Priscilla is telling Mia that everything would be okay.

The minute they see me, both of them reach for me. I hurry across the room and kneel down in front of them. Relief surges through my body when they both move forward and fling themselves into my arms. I hate how scared they are.

Mia stammers, “You came for us.”

Before I can answer, Priscilla speaks soothingly, “Of course he came for you sweetie. He’s your dad and that’s what dad’s do.”

When her eyes lift to mine, I can see she regretted not telling me about Mia and her worries. After both my girls almost getting harmed on my watch, all my angst about being left in the dark melts away. I lean forward and pull them in for a hug.

“I’m always going to protect my old lady and my daughter. The two of you have become my whole fucking world.”

Mia lets out a laugh. “You owe the swear jar a buck.”

“C’mon kid, you won’t let your old dad off with that, given the circumstances?”

She giggles and my heart sings. Whatever they’ve been through today, my little girl seems to be okay. I don’t know about her mother though.

Priscilla glances towards the door, where they’re still trying to get Ashton under control. “I don’t think Ashton is going to give up easily.”

I tell her in no uncertain terms. “I guarantee you that he’ll give up whatever crazy thoughts he has about forcing you to marry him. The Savage Legion has ways of coercing cooperation, you won’t see him again.”

Her expression morphs into one of not quite believing.

I add, “Trust me, we’re fucking crazy whisperers.”

I wait until my club brothers haul Ashton downstairs and then coax Priscilla and Mia out as well. They’ve already taken Ashton and Malcolm away, but Priscilla’s parents are still in the living room.

The minute her mother sets eyes on us, she gets up and starts moving towards us. “Priscilla, I thought I told you to stay away from these bikers. They’re nothing but trash.”

She doesn’t make it more than three steps before Tex grabs her by the back of the neck and forces her face down over an armchair. I watch with satisfaction as he slaps cuffs onto both her wrists and begins reciting her Miranda rights to her. Although he’s no longer a Texas Ranger, he’s believable enough for the awful woman to start paying attention. That couple are unbelievable, they pretty much sold their daughter to the Whitmores ten years ago, and they were willing to come out of hiding to do it again. What was Malcolm offering this time? Some sort of fucking retirement plan?

I glance at Priscilla, “What do you want to do here, Prissy girl?”

The woman I’ve already decided is mine lets go of Mia and walks confidently into the living room to face her parents.

Her mother struggles uncomfortably in the cuffs while glancing back and forth between Priscilla and Tex. “Priscilla, can you tell the officer to let me go. I haven’t done anything to merit being treated this way.” Her husband is suspiciously quiet, just watching and listening.

I come up behind Priscilla and share the shenanigans that went on behind her back. “Your parents colluded with Malcolm Whitmore to commit insurance fraud by faking their own deaths. Malcolm was listed as the primary beneficiary, and they split the money. If you want, we can turn the evidence over to the cops.”

“That’s not true,” her mother protests indignantly.

“It is. The payout was 4.3 million dollars. Your parents have been living like the millionaires they are in the Caribbean, not on the East Coast like they claimed.”

Priscilla mulls it over for a few seconds.

Before she can come to a conclusion, I turn her around and I look deeply into her eyes. “These people ruined your life, I know about Ashton, about what he did to you. Any normal parents would have gone to the cops but yours took a payoff and married you off to your abuser’s brother.” I stopped and glanced at Mia and back to Priscilla, “I know about Mia and what you thought—I don’t know the whole story but we can talk later—and I understand why you didn’t tell me when we reconnected, because you honestly didn’t know. But these two people almost ruined both our lives. If they hadn’t told you I was dead, then I know you’d have asked for my help.”

Her eyes drift from me to Mia and she turns back to her mother so fast, she almost loses her balance. Her expression is hard. “I think you should turn the information over to the police so they can do their job.”

Her mother gasps, “You wouldn’t dare!”

Priscilla folds her arms across her chest. “You took advantage of me when I was young and vulnerable, made me cover up a crime, lied to me, and manipulated me into marrying a man who almost killed me. We don’t speak for seven years, and what’s the reason for you getting in touch? To marry me off to my abuser. How much did they promise you this time?”

Her mother’s expression turns panicked as she realizes her attempts at emotional manipulation are falling flat. “We did it for you, Priscilla, because we loved you and wanted what was best for you.”

“No. You did it for money. I’m not a naive little eighteen-year-old anymore and I’m not going forgive and forget all those years of misery.”

“We’re your parents. Are you going to turn against us because you fell in with outlaws?”

“The Savage Legion isn’t an outlaw biker club, mom. I’ve told you that before.”

The older woman keeps trying to slip her wrists out of the handcuffs as she talks. “Your judgment is impaired because of everything you’ve been through. Let us help you, sweetie. Ashton is a changed man.”

I speak up. “Seriously? I’ll not say what he is and what I think of him because my daughter is listening. But do you seriously want your daughter with a man like that, even if he’s a changed man. Which, for your information, he is not. Aside from what he left on my doorstep, we found some pretty nasty stuff on his flash drive. He likes to hurt animals and stalk women. I don’t think he’s anyone you would want around your daughter or your granddaughter.”

Mia speaks up from behind us. “My dad is right. Uncle Ashton is creepy and weird. Conrad wouldn’t let him in the house. I don’t want him anywhere near us.”

Her mother turns to look at Mia as she takes a step closer. “Children should be seen and not heard. Close your mouth, child. This doesn’t concern you.”

Before anyone can respond, Priscilla makes her decision. “I think it’s high time my parents answer for their crimes. Maybe then they won’t ride around judging people by appearances and calling them criminals when they’re in a cell.”

I jerk my chin to Tex. “Get with Siege about taking them to the Las Salinas PD. You’ll need whatever evidence they uncovered to make any charges stick.”

“You got it, brother.”

As we walk away, I see him cuffing her father who has blessedly remained silent the whole time. Venom follows us outside.

“Want me to transport Mia on my motorcycle?” he asks solemnly.

I glance at Mia. She’s got her sparkle back pretty damn fast. She brings up her hands in a prayer pose and says, “Please, I want to go home right now, and I like bikes.”

Priscilla shakes her head. “You’re a bit young and inexperienced to be on the highway on the back of a motorcycle.” Glancing at me, she says, “Hold on, I’ll be right back.”

I glance over my shoulder to see her race back into the house. She comes out moments later and tosses a set of keys in the air. “We’ll take my parents’ car. They’re not going to be needing it where they’re going.”

I offer, “If you want to warm the engine up, I’ll go upstairs and grab your personal effects.”

“There’s just my purse and Mia’s toy cat. Oh and my dad has my cell phone.” She wraps her arm around Mia and leads her to the car, giving me a grateful smile as she passes. Priscilla’s smile warms me from the inside out.

Once I’ve grabbed their stuff, Venom and I escort them, with me in front and him behind her vehicle. I glance down at my hands on the handlebars and realized my knuckles are still bloody from beating the shit out of Priscilla’s abuser. I spent the whole ride back home thinking up ingenious ways to force Ashton to leave Priscilla alone. Guy might not know it, but his days are numbered.