Chapter 14

Amy

B y the time I finally get up, it’s early afternoon. I fully expected Ven to be sleeping off his all-night sleuthing operation but he’s long gone. I can tell, because his side of the bed is stone cold. I’m dying to know what kind of information they got out of Edmund, so I rush through my morning routine with the intention of finding Ven. He’s not sent me any texts, so I’m assuming that means that he’s still in the clubhouse.

After heading downstairs I take a look at the bar area, there are a few brothers and club girls drinking, but no sign of Ven. He told me that they hold prisoners in the basement, I’m not sure if I’ll be allowed down there but it’s worth a try, so I saunter back to the staircase and head down. When I reach the bottom, there’s a huge empty space with doors off to one side. On the far side of the room there’s a metal door with a window, a bit like ones that you see in TV shows about prisons. Evan is sitting outside the door intently drawing. He looks up when he sees me and jumps to attention.

I cautiously approach him and ask, “Is everything okay, Evan?”

He automatically steps in front of the door, blocking my view of the window. “Yes, ma’am. Everything is fine. The other prospects have breakfast ready if you want to go back upstairs.”

“Why are you down here? Are you guarding Edmund?”

The moment the words fly out of my mouth, I know that’s exactly what he’s doing. I can tell by the look on his face that I wasn’t supposed to guess that. “Aren’t you a little young to be guarding prisoners?”

“I’m almost eighteen. My dad said I’m old enough to stand in as a secondary guard.”

“What’s a secondary guard?”

Suddenly, the door flies open, and another brother steps out. “You are not supposed to be near the lockup. But since you asked, the secondary guard is a backup. If the guard on the other side of the door gets overwhelmed by the prisoner, the secondary guard is supposed to raise the alarm and ensure he doesn’t make it through this door.” Leaning forward slightly, he says, “That would never happen because the door is steel, filled with concrete and has a deadbolt. In other words, you’re perfectly safe in this area as long as you don’t distract the guards with a bunch of useless questions.”

I throw up both hands in a gesture of surrender. “Sorry I asked.”

Evan glances at the other man. “Talon, is it really necessary to be so rude to our guest?”

“Mind your business, prospect.”

“You know I have to report this to Ven, right?”

Talon shoots me an easy grin. “Sorry if I came off as rude. I’ve been up for forty-seven hours straight, and I’m probably crankier than usual.”

I force myself to smile back. “Sorry to hear that. I’ll just mosey on upstairs and get out of your hair.”

“Appreciate it, Miss Amy.”

Without another word, I make for the stairs. Talon kind of scares me a bit. The whole main floor is in a ruckus which is in stark contrast to the calm just before I headed to the basement. I wonder what’s happened in the space of five minutes. The women are running around packing up stuff and the men are apparently preparing for some kind of violence because they’re all wearing weapons. I shove my way through the crowd to find Ven. I catch him coming out of the back offices and run to him.

“What’s going on? The place is utter chaos.”

He grabs me and pulls me close. “We sent a message to your grandfather that we’re willing to trade Edmund for your mother. We believe he’s going to say, ‘hell no’ to that idea, and come with men and guns to take Edmund back by force.”

“You know where my mom is?” my voice sounds shrill.

Venom puts his hand on my shoulder, “Sorry babe, I wanted to tell you earlier, but we needed to make sure our intel was correct and come up with a plan.”

I open my mouth to protest, but he stops me.

“I know I should have told you, but I didn’t wanna get your hopes up until we knew what we were gonna do. But your grandfather has forced our hands.”

Shock roils through my gut. “Holy shit. I’m sorry that I brought this kind of trouble down on your club.”

He doesn’t seem at all upset. Instead he tells me, “You brought down nothing, sweetheart. It’s all down to that old bastard. To tell the truth it’s better if we stand our ground and let him come to us, than have to take that farmhouse apart. Things could go sideways pretty damn quick, and we don’t want your mom near when bullets start flying.”

I glance away as I try to process his words. “Oh, that makes sense. I just hope no one from your club gets hurt. My grandfather can be real asshole when he wants to be, he might not have all his marbles, but he’s still crafty as a fox.”

For some reason that makes him laugh, “That old man will have to get up pretty early in the morning to catch me unawares.”

I stare up at him, my hands fisted in his shirt as I try to explain my grandfather to him. “That old man is cunning and sly. Don’t turn your back on him in a fight. In fact, don’t let him out of your sight full stop. He’ll sneak around and attack you from behind if he gets half a chance.”

His hands come up to wrap around my upper arms. “You’re really worried about me, aren’t you, sweetheart?”

I nod my head, lowering my eyes. “I just found the man of my dreams. I don’t want to lose him trying to get my mom back.”

His expression turns indulgent. “Don’t worry, you’re not gonna lose me.”

Someone calls his name, and he yells, “Be right there.”

Turning back to me, he says, “All the women are relocating. Evan has agreed to escort you to my mom’s place. You’ll be safe there while we deal with your grandfather. After he’s been neutralized, we’ll go and get your mom from his place. We interrogated Edmund while you were sleeping. He says there’s an abandoned mill on the property, and they stash her there when they suspect someone is going to come looking for her.”

A distant memory jumps forward in my mind. I remember going there as kid. It had an old-fashioned water pump with a rusty metal handle. When we pumped the water, it came out dirty at first but ran clear after a few minutes. We always drank from it because it was best tasting water ever. I don’t tell Ven that I know where the old mill is because I plan to go there and rescue my mom while these men duke it out with my grandfather. Ven would never allow me to go there on my own but I’m not going to let anyone, or anything, get in the way of me rescuing my mother.

“Alright. That’s great news. You and your club are doing a bang-up job of figuring this whole thing out.”

“Yeah, it’s been a trip. I gotta go. You go straight to The Serpent’s Den, alright?”

He kisses me goodbye, and I watch him head back with his club brothers and gear up.

I don’t wait to hook up with Evan because I already know he’s standing guard in the basement. I just rush out, get into my car, and take off. I’m not quite stupid enough to go straight there and risk running right into my grandfather and his men. Instead I go gas up my vehicle, buy a cup of coffee and park up behind some trees so I can see if, and when my grandfather and his thugs branch off on the road that leads to the Savage Legion’s clubhouse.

I sip my coffee and wait. A few minutes later, I get a text from Ven.

Ven: Where are you? Evan can’t find you.

Me: I couldn’t find him, so I just took off.

Ven: You shouldn’t be traveling alone at a time like this.

Me: It doesn’t matter, because I’m almost there already.

Ven: Oh, okay. Drive safe and I’ll let you know when the conflict is over.

Me: Call me right away. I’m really worried something will happen to you. I want to know when you’re safe.

Ven: You got it, baby.

I slip the phone into my cross-body bag and take another sip of my coffee. I feel bad lying to Ven, I know what I’m doing might seem reckless, but I have to get my mom out. While I have every faith that Ven and his club brothers would defeat my grandfather, I couldn’t risk something happening and one of my grandfather’s men going back to hurt my mom before the Savage Legion rescued her.

Suddenly, I spy half a dozen rag-tag vehicles headed towards the clubhouse. Two of the vehicles I recognize as belonging to my grandfather. They are all filled with men. I can’t make out all of them, but I do see Big Joe, Dan, and Hal. With Edmund in lockup, that means there’s no one at the farm to keep me from getting my mother and getting the hell out of there. I wait until they are all the way out of view before pulling out and heading to the farm.

As I drive out of town, my mind begins thinking over where my mom is most likely to be, the farmhouse or the mill. My gut tells me that my grandfather would have locked her up in the mill, but I don’t feel like I can drive by the farmhouse without having a look there first, since I’m fairly certain there’s not going to be any of my grandfather’s men there. Some small part of my mind thinks he may have locked her in the basement or attic, chained her to something heavy so she can’t get away.

When I get to the fork in the road and have to choose to go the Grayson ranch or the mill, I take the left turn, to my grandfather’s farmhouse. My stomach is churning, and it’s almost making me nauseous enough to throw up. I have a really bad feeling about all this, but I don’t stop because this might be my only opportunity to find her.

I pull my car right up to the front door and get out. I walk around the back of my car on shaking legs and open my trunk. My trembling hand reaches for the small caliber handgun that I’ve had stashed away in one place or another since I came of age. It’s been ages since I last touched it. I fumble around to find the clip, slam it into the grip of the gun and stuff it into the waistband of my jeans. Standing there, staring into my trunk, I feel heavier, even though the gun is small. It’s the burden of carrying a lethal weapon, a little voice in the back of my head whispers.

As I approach the house, I see an axe lying abandoned on a chopping block. Reaching out, I wrap my hand around the handle. In for a penny, in for a pound, I tell myself, as I pull off the plastic safety cap and stalk up to the front door. I’ve got a lot to do and little time to get it done. I give the door handle a twist and find that it’s open, I guess when you’re out in the middle of nowhere stuff like home security doesn’t matter, either that or my grandfather is just so arrogant that he wouldn’t even consider anyone would try and break in.

Stepping through the front door, I call out my mother’s name. “Carol Grayson, if you’re here, yell out.”

When I don’t hear anything, I rush into the living room and begin searching behind furniture, in closets, and anywhere else that makes sense. Moving to the dining room and kitchen, I yell, “Mom, it’s Amy. I’m here to rescue you. If you can’t scream, make some noise, so I can find you.”

The house is still eerily quiet. I don’t let that stop me. I keep moving and searching upstairs, the attic and even the basement. By the time I’m convinced she’s not there my lungs are burning from repeatedly shouting her name.

When I don’t find any trace of her at the farmhouse, I stagger back out to my car, toss the axe into the passenger seat and drive out to the mill.

In the quiet of the car, I realize my phone is beeping. Wiping the sweat from my brow with one arm, I wonder if I should see who’s calling. I already know it’s probably Ven. He’s likely figured out I didn’t go to his mother’s place and is trying to find me. I can’t let anything get in the way of my one opportunity to find my mother, not even the man the love.

I’m all ready to ignore it and continue with my mission, but then I realize it could be that Ven has intel for me on finding my mom. Maybe she was in one of the vehicles I saw? That thought motivates me to pull out my phone and check the messages.

There are no messages, but my phone is littered with missed calls from Ven and even one from his mother. I remember that hardened tone of her voice when she gave him advice on this situation. My instincts tell me to call her first.

I try and keep my voice as light and breezy as possible, “Hey Meli, It’s Amy. I saw that you called. What’s up?”

“You were supposed to come to me,” There is something about her voice. Not angry, but flat and deadly serious, nothing like the bright bubbly tone she used when we first met.

“Yeah, sorry. There’s been a change of plans.”

“ Non ,” she states firmly. “Stop driving. Do it now.”

A chill creeps up my spine. “Um, how do you know I’m driving?”

“Because I can see you, ma petite .”

I break hard and it’s a good thing I do, because a dark colored SUV pulls right in front of me, cutting me off.

The window slides down and Meli shouts, “Get in. We go together.”

I open my door and tell her in no uncertain terms, “You can’t be here, Meli. It’s too dangerous.”

Her eyes are strange, cold, defiant but her tone is light, “This is not my—how do you say? First rodeo. Get into my car.”

Turning around, I grab the axe from the passenger seat and stomp over to her vehicle. I jerk the door open and ask, “You sure you want to go on this wild ride? Things might get ugly, but I’m not leaving without my mom.”

Finally there’s a hint of a smile on her face. “Of course not. Why do you think I came? You are like me, you will not let a man tell you what to do.”

I jump in and rest the head of the axe on the floor between my legs. The minute the door closes, she hits the gas, leaving me scrambling to get my safety belt snapped into place.

I ask, “How did you find me?”

“Serp put a tracker on your phone, he knows when you run away to save your mother on your own. It took me a while to get here, but I came for you.”

“Do you even know where you’re going?”

“My son sent me the coordinates.”

Shock roils through my gut. “I’m surprised Ven approved you coming to help me out when he didn’t want me anywhere near this farm.”

“My Serp is a smart man. I teach him everything I know, make him strong and resilient.”

Glancing at the speedometer, I see she’s tearing down this dirt road doing almost sixty miles an hour. She must have the shock absorbers straight from hell because what should be a bumpy ride is anything but. Something strange is going on here, something I can’t quite put my finger on.

“What… what did you teach him exactly?” I ask her, more shocked than anything.

Her tone is sad as she explains, “I once had a man. He was everything to me, friend, lover, husband, and father of my child. I was na?ve back then, so he teach me everything I need to know to live in his world. He teach me self-defense, how to shoot straight, tread lightly so I am not seen or heard, and how to track animals and my enemy. He was a man of the land, and I was a city girl fresh off the plane from Paris. I learned his ways, lived side-by-side with him for many years before our son was born. We taught our son together until…”

Her words drift off. I swallow thickly, fully aware that she sees herself in me. That’s why she told Ven to train me. I thought she just meant martial arts. Now, I’m starting to think she means everything. There’s more to this story, Ven hasn’t told me much about his upbringing and something tells me it has a sad ending.

“Can I ask what happened to him, your husband? Ven hasn’t told me anything about his father.”

She shifts gears and speeds up to the point where I’m uncomfortable with how fast she’s going. There’s a long silence, but she finally answers my question. “His truck was hit by a tractor-trailer, the driver was drunk. Both he and my son were injured. He was strong, my Barron. He lasted for five days before he died but the injuries were too bad. My Serp was only a child, a boy of eight. He had to go through so many surgeries and so much pain.”

Oh God, that’s why he doesn’t drink. It’s because a drunk driver killed his father. It makes so much sense. “I’m really sorry you lost the love of your life. I can’t imagine what that must have been like.”

Barely glancing at me, she keeps her eyes on the road. “It was something I do not wish on my worst enemy. I only wish my Serp could have known his father as a man. But I see him, and even without his father’s influence he grows so similar.”

When I don’t immediately respond, the tone of her voice lifts and she gives her head a little shake. “But life goes on and so must the living. I take care of what is mine, and what is dear to those I love. My Serp cares deeply for you, when he realized what you do, he call me. I came for you, for us women must stick together during times of strife, n’est-ce pas ?” One hand lands on her hip and I see she’s got a gun three times the size of mine holstered there.

I’m seeing Melusine in a new light. When I’d met her at the restaurant, she had seemed so sweet and innocent, but it’s clear that Ven’s mom is one kickass woman. “Thank you for coming out today. I don’t know what we’re going to find at the old mill. I hope my mom is alone. I think she is because I saw my grandfather and all his men headed for the Legion’s clubhouse, and there was no one at the farmhouse.”

“Then all is well. You are safe because you are with me. Unfortunately, your grandfather and his men will rue the day they attacked the Savage Legion MC, for they have deal with those kinds of men many times before.”

The truth of her words calms my fears. I hope and pray that it all goes down just like she thinks it will.