The Princess of Chaos

by Candice M. Wright

  The little girl that used to hide in the shadows is a thing of the past. Now Megan is full of fire and wrath and passion. She would far more likely swing a punch at me than hide in the fucking closet I’m searching through. I slam the door shut, frustrated.

  “What the fuck am I doing?” I mumble to myself. I’m acting like a lovesick fool and not like the president of a motorcycle club. Time to think with the other brain for a minute.

  She wouldn’t hide. She wouldn’t run unless she was in imminent danger and I know, despite my colossal fuck up, that she knows I wouldn’t ever lay my hands on her in anger.

  That leaves me with her licking her wounds somewhere before she comes back swinging a baseball bat. Besides, she wouldn’t leave Conner here if she was gonna run— “Fuck.”

  My phone rings in my pocket, and a flash of disappointment hits me when I see it’s Zero and not Megan.

  “You found her?” I answer.

  “Not yet. Prospects haven’t let anyone in or out of the gates except you in the last few hours so she’s here somewhere. She has Conner with her so she’s not going to do anything stupid like try to scale the fence,” he says sardonically. I take a deep calming breath and let the tension ease from my body.

  “I’m overreacting,” I state. It's a fact, not a question.

  “You and Grim both,” he mumbles as I head back to my bike.

  “But I suppose you had good reasons. Grim will always act like this because of losing his sister. You just reacted to his panic because it was your fault she was missing.”

  “Thanks for that, asshole.”

  “You're welcome. Now get your ass back here so we can find our girl. I’m going to enjoy watching you try to dig yourself out of this one.”

  “You know I could take your patch, right?” I remind him as I straddle my bike, playing the president card.

  The disrespectful motherfucker just laughs at me.

  “Nobody else would put up with your cranky ass. Plus, I’m Megan's favorite,” the lying sack of shit tells me before hanging up.

  I start the engine just as I hear something that makes my blood run cold. I turn it off and listen again, almost convinced my brain is playing tricks on me until I hear it a second time.

  I’m off the bike, heading toward the woods at the back of the property when I hear the same noise again, only this time it comes from behind me. A shard of white-hot pain steals my vision for a second, making my legs buckle, my body crumpling to the ground as I fight a losing battle to stay conscious. All I can think about as the darkness swallows me whole is my missing girl and the sounds that caught my attention.

  The sound of gunshots.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Megan

  I’d stormed away from Viper, swiping the tears from my eyes as I tried to get it together. I headed straight for the apartment, stripping out of my clothes as soon as I closed the door behind me and climbed into the shower. I turned the dial as hot as I could bear and let it wash down over me, cleaning the remnants of our lovemaking—I snorted at that—fuck session away. I dressed in black jeans, a black V-neck T-shirt, and a cropped black leather jacket. I didn't worry about drying my hair, opting instead to braid it before heading over to the diner to collect Conner.

  I pasted on a fake smile, pretending everything was okay to Grim and Zero, not being able to bear the thought of them taking Viper’s side and agreeing that it was my time to leave. Whether they believed that to be true or not, I don't know if they seemed happy when I mentioned getting a bigger house for future fictional babies but they would never go against what their president wanted. The MC was all about the brotherhood. Hell, hasn't Diesel said those very words to me once before?

  I was all too aware of where I sat in the hierarchy of things and unfortunately, having a pussy meant I would always be considered lesser than the dick-swinging assholes in my life who wore leather.

  Luckily, they got caught up talking to Trip so I made my excuses and brought Conner back to the apartment so I could plan my next move.

  Which brings me to now, sitting cross-legged on the bed while Conner watches a cartoon about a young girl dressed as a ladybug who saves the world.

  With Jenna and Wyatt moving into my place and being so settled, I wasn't about to go invade their space or ask them to move out, so my apartment wasn’t an option.

  I could head to Carnage. Conner has two brothers to meet but there’s a part of me that just can’t handle the thought of explaining everything, only to have to listen to their I told you so declarations.

  Stupid fucking bikers. I couldn't have just fallen for teachers or something, could I? I flop back and pull a pillow over my face, wanting to scream bloody murder into it but not wanting to traumatize the kiddo sitting at my feet.

  Talk of the devil. I look down at him when he taps my foot and watch as he points at the door.

  “Great,” I grumble, climbing off the bed, ready to snap at whoever’s brave enough to knock on my door. I know it's not one of the guys as they would have just barged in using their own key cards. However, that does not change that I have so much anger swirling inside me needing an outlet that whichever poor schmuck decided to knock on my door is going to regret it.

  I swing the door open and realize two things straight away. One is that I had grown too complacent living here. I forgot the number one rule about women's safety. Always check to see who is on the other side of the door before you open it. The second thing that slipped my mind because I had been too wrapped up dealing with Viper’s bullshit was that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, which is exactly how I found myself staring down at a gun pointed directly at my stomach.

  “Of course, my day could only get worse.” I sigh. “Wanda, you really don’t want to do this. The second you pull that trigger, a swarm of bikers will descend on you and what they will do to you will make you pray for death.”

  She pushes the gun harder into my stomach, forcing me backward until she is able to step inside and close the door. “Do you really think I care? I have nothing left to fucking lose thanks to you,” she spits. Her eyes look around the room, making my skin crawl. If she touches Conner, I’ll kill her.

  “Where is he?” she asks. I look behind me and see that Conner has made himself scarce. Thank fuck for smart kids.

  “I don’t know who you're talking about. With the number of guys I have living here, you’ll have to be more specific than that. Either way, they will be here any minute,” I tell her, hoping like hell she’ll leave.

  She walks around the room, never moving the gun away from its target, before stopping on the other side of the bed. If I were alone I could make a run for it but I don't know where Conner is so I won't risk it.

  “You couldn't just stay gone, could you? Everything was fine until you showed back up. Why the fuck do you and your mother always have to ruin everything?”

  “I guess we're just talented like that. Just putting this out there, Wanda, I was dragged back here even though it was the last place on earth I wanted to be.”

  “I should have just gotten rid of you when I had the chance. So fucking stupid.” She starts banging her head with her free hand, making me swallow as my bravado starts to slip. There is no reasoning with crazy and something tells me this woman is as batshit as they come.

  She bends down, making me tense and ready to take any chance I might get to wrestle that gun away from her. Before I get the chance, she smiles a cruel-looking grin of victory before standing and showing me what the bed had been hiding from my view. Conner. He must have climbed underneath when he heard her voice at the door.

  I step towards them but for the first time since she got here, she turns the gun away from me. When she points it at Conner, I step back and raise my hands in defeat.

  “Always the same. He used to hide under the bed when he got scared at home. I figured he would grow out of it eventually but I guess he’s more like you and your pussy mother than I realized.”

  She pulls
his back to her front and keeps the gun aimed down at him as he cries out my name. I don't need to hear his voice to feel his fear. It’s beating against me from across the room like a barrage of relentless waves threatening to drown me.

  “Let him go, Wanda. It's me you want. He’s done nothing to you for Christ’s sake, he’s just a little boy.”

  “I don't think so. You don't get to call the shots here. Now, I want what I came for, then you can have this kid back. He means nothing to me anyway. He was always just a means to an end.” I swallow down the rage at her words, praying this will all fade into the fuzzy memories in the young boy’s mind as he gets older.

  “What do you want?”

  “What do you think I want? I want the money that should have been mine. I was his old lady. You aren't even his daughter. Give me the money and I’ll be gone.”

  I sigh, wondering how she even knew about the money to begin with. “He didn't leave me any money, Wanda. The trust fund came from my mother and my maternal grandparents’ side of the family.”

  “Lies. That bitch was nothing but a biker whore.” I bite my lip and swallow it down while she still has Conner, although the gun is now pointed back at me, which is better.

  “My mom came from old money. She inherited it from my great-grandfather. She might have turned her back on that life when she fell in love with King but she was still entitled to her trust fund when it kicked in,” I explain to her patiently as I edge closer, hoping to get myself between her and Conner.

  “Fucking King,” she snarls, her anger so palpable the gun shakes in her hand. “He was mine, but she had to come along and rub her pussy all over him. He was mine. Mine. Mine.”

  “You knew King?” I ask, taking another step closer, hoping to keep her distracted. I must admit I’m a little curious about how she knew the former president of Carnage and my brothers’ father.

  “I was King, Joker, and John's favorite girl. They were going to make me their old lady, I just knew it. I was this fucking close. Then Melinda came along and King didn’t see anyone but her. Even Joker and John pulled back for a while until they realized she didn't feel for them what she did for King.

  “She broke them apart like Yoko-fucking-Ono. When John left, I went with him, showing him where my loyalty lay, and he made me his old lady. I had two kids from a drunk deadbeat father but John took care of him for me. He loved me and I loved him. All I wanted was for a man to take care of me and I finally had it all. Until she came back.

  “John became obsessed with her. His hatred was so vast, he loved that he now had King’s favorite toy to play with. She ruined everything,” she says vehemently, leaving me in stunned shock. I never knew any of that part.

  “Now he’s gone. Everyone’s gone.” Her eyes are haunted, showing me just how broken this woman really is before her face hardens again and her sneer returns.

  “Melly owes me. I want that money or I’ll take the life of her son just like she did mine,” she tells me, her voice devoid of all emotion as she points the gun back at Conner. I believe her. She’s right, she really doesn't have anything left to lose.

  “I have a copy of John's will. It was mixed in with my mother’s things that Rock gave me that day at the hospital.”

  “What! What will? There wasn't a will, I searched everywhere,” she yells.

  I gesture for her to calm down. I speak again, hoping my voice sounds quiet and even. “He left the compound to you. That's why I hid it. I didn't want you to have it because you were always so mean to me.” I try to make myself sound small and scared, mimicking the memory of what my voice sounded like when I was younger and she belittled me.

  “You selfish bitch. I knew you were just like your mother. Where is it? I want it now!” she demands, reminding me of that awful child from a Roald Dahl story I loved as a child.

  “It's in the time capsule I buried here as a kid. I didn't know what else to do with it when I got back here and I didn't want anyone else to find it. It's in the woods in mine and my mother's favorite spot near the cabin.”

  “Cabin? Gettie’s old place? Fine, let's go but no funny business or I’ll shoot him. Climb out the back window and head over to the tree line so nobody can see us. Remember what I said.”

  I reach for my boots where I tossed them on the floor earlier but she screams at me to leave them. She smiles at me, getting a kick out of the fact that she’s about to make me trek through the woods barefoot but I don't bother to argue. She’s too unpredictable and I won't put Conner at risk.

  I slide the window open and climb out, holding my arms open to Conner. Wanda all but tosses him to me and climbs out behind us. She keeps the gun leveled at us but I feel better having Conner in my arms.

  I hitch him up on my hip, breathing in his comforting little boy scent as we trudge through the forest. I block out Wanda behind me and concentrate on the path ahead. I know this route like the back of my hand but over the years the undergrowth has grown wilder and more unkempt. Trying to navigate it in nothing but a pair of socks is a nightmare, a painful one, but I refuse to show her that, knowing she would enjoy my suffering.

  Thorns scratch against my legs, making me thankful I opted for jeans after my shower. I trip over the wayward roots and stumble to make my way over them, knowing the slickness I can feel on my soles is blood.

  It doesn't matter how many times I stumble through, I refuse to fall. I stay on my feet and don't lose my hold on Conner even as my arms begin to burn and shake from carrying his weight for so long. He might be small for his age but he’s still extra weight I’m not used to carrying.

  Finally, we stumble into the clearing. I take a deep breath and slide Conner to the ground, keeping a tight grip on his hand. I lead him to the woods on the opposite side of the cabin, which now looms before us. An unexpected kick to the back of my leg has me tripping. Thankfully, I catch myself before I can fall and drag Conner down with me.

  I turn to face Wanda, who is huffing and puffing like she has just climbed Everest as opposed to walking for twenty minutes. “What?” I snap.

  “Where is it?”

  I point in the direction I was heading.

  “If this is a setup, I swear I will make you watch as I empty this gun into him.” She indicates Conner, who cowers behind my leg.

  “He’s just a little boy. How can you hate someone you helped raise, who is truly innocent in all this? I just don't understand. When you tried to stop me outside the diner from taking him, for a moment I really did think it was because you loved him. What a fool I was.”

  She cackles and laughs as if I have just said the funniest thing she has ever heard, making me want to rip her ratty hair from her head. “Love? You thought I loved him?” She dissolves into laughter again, tears escaping her eyes as she struggles to catch her breath. “I didn't keep him because I loved him. I kept him because he’s my trophy,” she tells me, her face twisting into an evil sneer.

  “A trophy?” I choke out incredulously.

  “Do you know how old he is?” She smiles and there is nothing friendly about it.

  “Six,” I answer the age he told me earlier as something inside me warns to brace myself.

  “Ah, yes, that's correct,” she tells me with a giddy clap. Even though I was right, everything in this moment feels wrong.

  “Conner, tell Megan when your birthday is,” she barks at him, making him cower even farther behind me.

  “Christ, you are so fucking stupid. Didn't you even question why you hadn't noticed Melly was pregnant? No, of course not. You were too busy leading my son around by his dick.” She shakes her head at me and rolls her eyes. “Stupid fucking girl,” she mocks but I’m getting ridiculously lost in the latest plot twist of my life.

  “Look, do you want this fucking will or not?” I yell at her, wanting this over with, knowing instinctively I don't want to dig any deeper into whatever she is trying to explain to me.

  She gestures for me to continue onwards. I do but my unease is growing the c
loser I get.

  When I finally find the tree marked with my initials, I bend down next to the little mound of earth that has recently been disturbed. I take a deep breath and blow it out, sending up a silent prayer of thanks. If I get out of this in one piece, I’m buying Oz and Zig a fucking Lamborghini each for Christmas.

  She stands over us to watch me dig but that's not going to work. I need to distract her. Despite every single neuron in my brain telling me I’ll regret this forever, I speak. “What were you talking about before, about my mother? I don't understand.” I continue digging with my hands but keep my eyes on Wanda, who smiles big.

  She moves away and starts pacing as she gears up to tell me with a dramatic flourish. She spins in a circle for a moment like a child playing before leaning against a tree opposite us. With the gun in her hand pointed at her feet, she stares at me without seeing as she loses herself in her memories.

  “I couldn't have any more babies after my boys. There were complications and they had to remove my ovaries. That's probably the thing I hated your mother for most. She could give John the one thing I couldn't. A son by blood. But I showed her.” She laughs, making me want to scream at her to shut up just as my hand hits plastic. I slide my fingers over it until I find the opening, feeling around inside until my hand finds what it’s seeking. I manage to keep the bag hidden within the hole I had dug as I work to get the gun out one-handed.

  “Tell her when your birthday is, Conner,” she must scream it, because the little boy crouched beside me jumps.

  He stares at me, fear evident on his face as he mouths the word “Christmastime,” before hiding his head against my shoulder. His words are enough to carve my heart to shreds and leave me bleeding out on the floor.

  Now I understand what she was inferring and I wished I had listened to my instincts that told me to run. “She died in July,” I tell her, but I know. I know what she’s going to say.