“Nope. Looked pretty spooked, though, according to this guy.”
“More than likely, he went straight from Ben’s club to the Riders,” I said, turning to face my dad.
“Fuck,” Crash said, rubbing a hand over his face. “Alright, listen. Now is not the time to pussyfoot around. If Macbeth has been under the Rider’s protection for almost a day, that means they’ll have got all the information out of him. They’ll know about Dante’s escape, they’ll know we have Callum, and they know damn well Dante will have told us everything about what they were up to. Macbeth was there for Callum’s confession?” He said, directing his question at me. I simply nodded my head in response.
“Right. Then that settles it. We attack tonight. As soon as this meeting ends, the club is put on lockdown. And I mean full fucking lockdown. I don’t want anyone leaving church. Do I make that clear? Tell Mama she can serve up meals in here and tell the rest of the old ladies to get as many blankets, water bottles, and games for the kids as their hands can carry. No one leaves until we return.”
“It’s already dropping dark, boss,” Zach said. “When are we leaving?”
“In an hour. Sooner if possible. Monster, Chicken, Rooster and prospects, I want you to stay here and guard the women. There're cameras set up in the back there,” he said, pointing tothe office only he and I used. “Anyone comes in, it’s shoot on sight. We’re taking no risks. I don’t care if it’s a civilian, a delivery driver or the damn cops. You shoot, and you shoot to kill. Understood?”
“Understood,” Monster said, whilst the rest of the guys nodded.
“Everyone else, go and say goodbye to your loved ones and get the plan in motion. We attack before we’re attacked. We leave in an hour,” he slammed the gavel down, ending the meeting, and we all got up without a word.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I snapped at Vienna as he got up and wrapped his arms around himself.
“Saying goodbye to the one I love the most,” he replied, looking at me as though I was stupid. He brought his hand to his mouth and started kissing the palm. “We’ve been through some good times together, you and I.”
“You,” I snapped, grabbing his wrist to still his movements. “Need fucking help.”
“Tell us something we don’t know,” Monster called over his shoulder.
Chapter 23
Rachel
Dante had dropped us off at home and immediately went to church, so I settled Bee at the dining table with some of her homework. We sat together and went through her math work for the week whilst we waited for the pizza I had ordered for dinner to arrive.
“You okay there, honey?” I asked, tapping my finger on her paper and giving her a huge smile of encouragement, letting her know she had got the answer right.
She nodded at me. “I’m okay. Can I have a drink, please?”
“Sure. Milk?”
She nodded again. “Thank you, Rachel.”
Shit.
Dante had said we would wait to see how she continued to address me before we spoke to her. But surely this was the perfect opportunity to broach the topic – even if it was just a gentle questioning before Dante and I spoke to her together. He wouldn’t mind, I was sure of it.
“You’re welcome,” I replied, pouring some milk into one of her plastic cups and brought it over to her. “Can I talk to you for a second? Would you mind putting the pen down?” I sat back in the seat opposite her and watched her closely.
She did as she was asked, and I took a deep breath before I spoke again. “When you called me Rachel just now… is that what you want to call me?”
She nodded again, looking down at the table. “That’s okay, sweetie.” I reached across the table to hold her hand. “I want you to be comfortable. I know you called me ‘mummy’ earlier, and I just wanted to let you know, you don’t have to call me that. I would love it if you did, but I also want you to be happy. If you want to call me Rachel, that’s okay.”
“The lady called you my mummy…” she whispered.
“She did. How did that make you feel? Can you remember?” I prodded gently, stroking my fingers over the back of her hand.
“Happy.”
“It made you happy?” she nodded her response. “That’s good. Because all me and your daddy want is for you to be happy, you know that don’t you?”
“But I also felt sad,” she said so softly I barely heard her.
“How come?”
