As his mother, I owed Axel the chance at a normal life. I hadn’t been able to save Bee from it, but I was damn sure going to make sure my son had a choice.
What choice is there when he doesn’t even know what his options are?
This was an argument I’d had with myself hundreds of times over the course of Axel’s short life. But it was all irrelevant. Axel was too young to make that choice. I was his primary caregiver; it was down to me, and me alone, to make these decisions.
It's not as though Dante would give him much choice, anyway. The club would become everything for Axel because that life, and all it entails, would be all he knew.
Not on my watch!
“I need to leave,” I mumbled, more to myself than anyone else, but Karen still leaned closer to listen to me.
“Lisa, tell me what’s happened.”
“Stop!” I snapped, and then immediately felt guilt flooding me when Karen’s head jolted back, as though I had slapped her. “Stop calling me that. My name isn’t Lisa,” I whispered.
“What are you talking about? I’ve known you for over a year. What do you mean your name isn’t Lisa?” Her words were rushed, her tone taking on the same edge of panic I knew mine had.
“I don’t have time to explain!” All of a sudden, the coldness evaporated, and my mind escaped the state of fear it had been trapped in. “I need to get Axel, and we need to escape. Ring Hayley and tell her we need a place to stay for the night.”
Hayley would help. She had been my closest friend over the past few months. She had made the cake for Axel’s party… the cake that was now sitting on my hallway cabinet, waiting for the party that would no longer happen.
God! This was all so fucking messed up!
I was kicking myself now for having relaxed over the past few months. In the grand scheme of things, eighteen months was nothing. I should have planned for this. I never should have grown lazy and complacent. It wasn’t in Dante’s nature to let things go. I should have put a contingency plan in place!
But Hayley would help. Staying at hers would give me the respite I needed. I would have all afternoon to get our belongings together, and then I could escape under the safe cloak of darkness, never to be seen again.
“I need you to tell me what’s happening. Are you and Axel in danger?”
“Danger?” I said with a hollow, barked laugh, my voice almost hysterical. “You have no idea—”
“So tell me. I want to help. I’m your friend, Lisa. Please let me help you.”
“If you want to help, you’ll do as I ask and ring Hayley. But don’t use our phones,” I hissed as she reached down to retrieve the phone I had dropped. “They’re probably bugged. This entire house is more than likely bugged. Shit!” I gasped, a thought suddenly coming to mind. “Was this card stamped?” I bent down low to retrieve the card from the floor, scanning it for signs of postage.
“I—What?”
“Did the card have a fucking stamp on it, Karen? Yes, or no?”
“N-no, I don’t think so.”
“Shit!” I repeated, my eyes scanning the card again, even though I already knew the truth.
This had been hand delivered today.
This meant they were in the vicinity. Scotland was around a four-hour drive from Leeds—at least the part of Scotland we were in. If they had hand delivered this card, they were already here, and they were waiting for me.
I flew up the stairs, taking them two at a time, and raced down the hallway to my bedroom. I quickly peeked through the blind, half expecting Dante to be sitting outside on his motorbike, looking at me with that knowing, mocking smirk of his.
Thank fuck he wasn’t there. Deep down I knew he wouldn’t be, but I couldn’t escape the thought that the entire club had their eyes on my every move.
Karen was hot on my heels, arriving just in time to see me hauling a suitcase out of the wardrobe and haphazardly throwing clothes into it.
“I’ve never seen you like this! What could possibly have you this worked up?”
“The less you know, the safer you’ll be. Just trust me on this one. Please.”
“Trust you?” She laughed, as though it was the most ridiculous thing in the world. “Lisa…” She paused for a moment, stepping closer to me. There was a look of caution on her face, as though she were approaching a feral lion that needed taming and calming down. “You have twenty children arriving in less than an hour for your son’s birthday party, and now you’re looking as though you’re about to do a midnight flit. What am I supposed to tell everyone?”
