“Tell them Axel has the chickenpox. Tell them we all have Covid. I don’t actually give a flying fuck what you tell them. It’s not as if I’m ever going to see any of them again.”
“Lis—”
“My name is Rachel!” I snapped, my temper finally reaching its peak. Karen didn’t look at all surprised by my outburst. I guess hearing that I was living under a false name was the least of her fears. No doubt with the way I was acting, she was imagining I was running from the mafia. She wouldn’t have been far off the mark if that was her line of thinking.
I might have preferred the mafia.
“Fine,” I sighed, scrunching the T-shirt I was holding onto and hurled it into the suitcase. “You want to know what we’re up against?”
She hesitated a moment before she nodded.
“Did I ever tell you about Axel’s dad?”
“No. Only that he wasn’t in the picture.”
“Have you ever heard of the Devil’s Disciples?”
“Yes… I mean, only in passing, but what does that have to do with… No…” I smiled sadly as her words trailed off, her hand coming up to slap over her mouth. Her eyes widened in shock, and then narrowed in sympathy.
“Yup. It doesn’t take a genius to put the pieces of this puzzle together. Axel’s father is the vice president. Actually,” I laughed, shaking my head. “That’s a lie. Dante is the president. There was a war just before I left, resulting in the president’s murder. Dante’s dad.”
“War?” Karen breathed.
“Yup,” I said, popping the P. “So now Dante is the president.” I finalised my words by slamming more clothes into the suitcase with a panicked, shaky breath.
“President of which charter?” Karen asked, and I narrowed my eyes at her.
“What do you know about the charters?”
“Enough!”
“Have you ever been involved?” I snapped, more out of suspicion than genuine anger.
“No. But the Scottish charter has been around longer than I can remember. So many of us during our romantic teenage years had the ridiculous notion of falling in love with a biker and being his old lady.”
“Yeah, and that was my reality. Trust me, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.”
“I know,” she murmured, her eyes softening with sympathy. “What charter?”
“Founding,” I said, feeling my heart skip yet another beat as Karen looked like she was going to be sick. If she was having this sort of reaction, Lord alone knew what was going through her head. The Devil’s Disciples had committed some heinous crimes over the years. Even I didn’t know the true extent of it. But judging by Karen’s reaction, she knew enough to be horrified at the thought of me and Axel being involved with them.
“I’ve heard of the Scottish charter, and they’re not guys you want to be messing with. I’m guessing the founding charter isn’t much better?”
“Worse, probably.”
“And I’m guessing by this,” she gestured to my frantic packing. “That he didn’t know about Axel?”
“Nope. But he sure as hell knows now. Fuck knows how he found out, but clearly he has. So, please, will you do one last job for me as my employee and go across the road and fucking ring Hayley for me? Please,” I repeated, softening my tone. None of this was her fault, and I felt awful that she was being dragged into the middle of all this.
“What shall I say?” She asked, biting down on her lower lip.
“Just tell her it’s an emergency and we need to stay with her for the night. She won’t question it. I’ll explain more when I get there.”
“Okay,” she breathed, her eyes bright with unshed tears. I was really going to miss her. Luck had rained down on me the day she had applied for the job to be Axel’s nanny.
“And Karen?” I said, as she went to leave. “I’m really sorry about this. I’ll make sure you’re paid for the next few months, but—”
“Stop. It’s fine. I get it, Rachel. Huh… Rachel,” she said with a soft smirk, rolling the name around on her tongue. “Funny. That suits you much more than Lisa ever did.”
