“With all due respect, brother,” Vienna said with a scowl. “You don’t know the history here.”
“Maybe if we knew—”
“On a need-to-know basis, I’m afraid,” Vienna shrugged, interrupting him with an easy smile. He had been the peacemaker before Crash’s death brought forward his promotion. But he had been in that role for so long, it was hard for him to discard it completely.
“Rachel took something that belonged to me. I want it back. That’s all you need to know. Or are you happy to continue to disrespect the president of the original charter?” I asked, raising one eyebrow. Bagpipes shrank back in his seat, shaking his head. “Good. That’s settled then. What time do we leave?”
“Give it an hour,” Hacksaw said, looking down at his phone. “Looks like she’s still packing.”
I grinned at his words. “Well, brothers,” I said, looking around the room, stubbing my cigarette out in the ashtray and picking up the gavel. “I guess we fucking ride in an hour.”
Run, my little kitten. Run. Because rest assured, I will catch you, and I will make you regret every one of those days you denied me my son.
Chapter 3
Rachel
“You’re sure she said it was okay?” I asked for what felt like the fiftieth time. I couldn’t help it. Even though I was doing everything I could to remain calm, my mind was racing ten to the dozen. It was all I could do to remember to breathe properly, never mind effectively planning to run for my literal fucking life.
“Yes, Rachel!” Karen practically hissed, rolling her eyes at me as she scooped a sleeping Axel out of his cot.
I exhaled heavily and nodded at her. “Okay. Sorry. Thank you. You keep rousing the little man. I’m going to run downstairs and grab our passports. Have you seen my car keys?”
“Oh, don’t worry about the keys,” she said in a sing-song voice, gently swaying and coaxing my son into waking up.
“I’m hardly going to fucking walk to Hayley’s, now am I?”
“My parents are going to give you a lift,” she said, raising one shoulder in a shrug.
“Your parents…?”
“I rang them. If the things I’ve heard about the Devil’s Disciples are true, then they already know everything there is to know about your life here. There’s a good chance that they knowwhat car you drive. There’s also a good chance that car has been marked and tracked.” She paused for a moment, and I realised she was completely right. My mind flashed back to the time I had tried escaping to my mother’s house, only to be tracked down hours later. I had sworn there wasn’t a tracker on the motorbike, but Vienna had winked at me and said, “we’re mechanics. You could tear that bike apart, and you’d never find it.”
It wouldn’t take them more than five minutes to put a tracker in my car. I mean, I hadn’t even noticed when Dante put a tracker on my phone, for fuck's sake!
“Are you with me, Rachel?” Karen asked, getting my attention again. “The last thing you want to do is to lead them straight to your safe zone. I briefly explained to my parents what had happened, and they were more than happy to come and help. They were on their way over here this afternoon for the party, anyway. I’ve emailed my mum the guest list, and she’s in the process of cancelling everything. You don’t need to worry about a thing. You know they’ve always adored you and Axel.”
They were coming for the party anyway. Now they’re helping me escape from it.
My shoulders sagged, the tension leaving my body. I sighed a breath of relief and closed my eyes, determined to grab hold of the calmness and force it to stay with me.
Karen’s parents would help. I didn’t have to do this alone.
Ever since I had employed Karen, her parents had been part of the package. They cooked food and told her to bring it to my house to freeze for a later date. They helped with Axel. Her mum even took me to get my car fixed when one of the tyres blew. She then spent the day chauffeuring me around when I had no other means of transportation. They knew we didn’t have anyone else, so they made sure we were okay and that we never felt alone. I had once asked her father why, and he said that he had to hope that if ever Karen decided to move away, that someone wouldbe kind enough to take her under their wing and show her some human decency. He was a good man. I was going to miss him—I was going to miss the whole family, in fact.
It fucking sucked that Dante was taking this away from me.
You took his son away from him
No. No!
I would not do this. Not anymore. I would not lay the blame at my feet and find ways to excuse his behaviour—I had done enough of that when I lived with him. Every single argument, every single doubt, I tried my best to see Dante’s point of view.
I spent months agonising over the way our relationship had ended. And yes, I can look back now with a clear head and realise I did not handle things the best way I could have. I was no longer in the thick of it, and having to rely on quick, rash decisions. I could see things with an element of hindsight and realise my mistakes.
Sometimes I was downright hardheaded and stubborn. But I had still tried to see things from Dante’s point of view. I had still excused enough of his shitty behaviour. Well, not anymore. Not this time.
Had I not tried to tell Dante about the pregnancy? Yes, I had! Could I have tried harder? Sure. I could have grabbed him and screamed it in his face. But what would have been the point? He threw me out. He called quits on our relationship.
