The truth will set you free (Bitter Roots MC Book 1)

by Penny Anglene

  Spider gets up and heads out. I just look at Bossman shaking my head.

  “How the fuck did you find out? Are you one hundred percent sure?” he asks me.

  “Trent called me to tell me what Whiz had dug up. I called Crane and asked him point blank. He cussed a little and then verified that he was her dad. Said he had planned on telling her when he gets back. He also said that’s why he told me and her that he needed to talk to us when he got back,” I tell him in disbelief. “This is not cool, brother, not at all. I can’t believe he didn’t tell her already. Cowardly bullshit is what that is. I don’t know the whole story, but this isn’t honor, man. This is bullshit. I’m going to kick his ass when he gets home,” I spit out. I am so fucking furious right now.

  “I can’t believe it. Of all the cockamamie bullshit I’ve ever heard of,” he states. “This also means that she has a half-sister,” he states with his eyebrow raised at me.

  “Yeah, I forgot about that too. This is just even more fucked.”

  Spider walks in with a bag. I look at him with a question on my lips but before I can say a word, he says,

  “It’s full of letters addressed to Samantha. A shit ton addressed to her from childhood to about two years ago. I would assume it’s because by then he knew where she was,” he tells me.

  I grab the bag, looking inside. The letters have rubber bands around them. There are several stacks. It looks like they’re from each year of her childhood as I go through the stacks of them. I bet there are twenty stacks, and not just one or two letters but like a hundred in each one.

  “What do I do? I have to tell her but how?” I whisper.

  “I don’t know. I understand you have to. It’s too bad he isn’t here to do this. Can you not hold off?” Bossman asks.

  “No fucking way. That would be the last straw with her. She has to come first and she will,” I snarl at him.

  He holds up his hand. “Fine, do what you have to do. We’ll take care of him when he returns. This is a fucking mess.”

  I get up from my chair, picking up the bag as I head toward the door.

  Spider stands up. “I’m here if either of you need anything,” he states.

  I nod to him and Bossman, not sure what lays ahead of us today.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Dog…

  I find Samantha in the kitchen. I grab her hand and head toward our room. She’s just chattering away, not even aware that I’m about to deliver life-altering news.

  I close the door behind us, setting the bag on the end of the bed. I pull her to me, hugging her like I never want to let go. I just need to rip this off like a Band-Aid and get it over with. I have no idea why I’m hesitating.

  “I have something I need to tell you, Sam,” I speak gruffly.

  “Okay. What is it?” she asks puzzled. Then she looks a little pissed off.

  “I think we need to sit down, and then I’ll to you about it,” I tell her.

  “Don’t you fucking dare tell me it’s over. You have pushed me for this relationship from the beginning. I refuse to walk away.”

  “I’m not walking away.” I sit and pull her in front of me, looking deep into her eyes. “I don’t know how to tell you this. I know who your dad is. I just found out. I swear, I just found out.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” She pauses repeating Dad, over and over again. “My dad. Where? When?” Who? she asks. Her voice sounds funny, like it’s being said from a distance.

  “Who is he? Brett, who is my dad?” she asks.

  “Honey, it’s Crane,” I whisper.

  “Crane? Crane who? The only Crane I’ve ever heard of is…” Shock shows on her face, then twists up. “Crane from this MC?” she asks.

  “Yeah, baby, Crane from the MC. He’s your dad. I double-checked and have even spoken with him,” I tell her.

  “Why didn’t he tell me? I don’t understand,” she says with tears running down her face.

  “He told me that’s what he wanted to talk to you about when he got back,” I tell her.

  “He could have told me a long time ago,” she sobs out.

  “Yeah, and I don’t know why he didn’t. I just know that he left you this bag of letters. He told me where they were and we got them for you. You’ll have time to sit and read them before he gets back. Maybe there are clues in there. I don’t know,” I tell her as I lift her and set her in my lap.

  She twines her arms around me and puts her face in my neck, sobbing gut-wrenching sobs.

  “I love you, Sam. We will get through this. If you want me to kick his ass, I will. If you want me to bury him, I will. If you want me to strip him of his colors, I will find a way. Just tell me what you want and need, honey.”

  “You can’t kill him. I know some of what he went through all those years ago. We did a lot of talking while I was recuperating. He didn’t have it easy but to not tell me back then, I don’t know how I feel about that,” she whispers.

  I reach over and hand her a Kleenex off the nightstand. She reaches over and grabs the bag, then looks up at me. “I want to talk to him now, Brett,” she tells me.

  “Let me dial his phone,” I tell her and she shakes her head no.

  “I’m going to call him from my phone. He needs to answer his daughter’s phone call,” she states.

  “I understand. Do you want me in here with you or do you want to be by yourself?”

  “Do you mind if I call and talk to him by myself? I need to do this,” she asks me.

  I nod and answer, “Yes. I’ll go get something to eat while you’re talking to him. Come get me when you need me. Just remember I’m here.”

  She raises up, giving me a hug like I’ve never gotten from her before. Her eyes are rimmed red from crying. She looks like a calm has come over her–one I have never seen before from her. It looks good on her. I kiss her, then turn and walk out of the room. I feel good about this.

  Walking into the bar, I see several of the men sitting around. They all look at me, eyebrows raised. “She’s calling him. She’s upset but seems to be handling it well,” I tell them.

  I walk into the kitchen and grab something to eat. I didn’t get a lunch, and it feels like my gut is eating my spine right about now.

  “How’s our girl doing? She going to eat something?” Mrs. Franks asks.

  “She’s doing okay. She’s on the phone right now. Not sure about eating though,” I say.

  “She needs to keep up her strength for you.” She snickers.

  “Mrs. Franks, now’s not the time. Maybe later,” I say with a chuckle.

  “I know. Just trying to lighten the mood. It will be okay. She will be too and she’ll be stronger because of it.”

  “You are a hundred percent right. She is a tough cookie. She has been dealt a life of bombs and still has the heart of gold.”

  Mrs. Franks gives me a plate full of chicken, dressing, mashed potatoes and veggies too. I’m not going to be able to fit into my pants if she keeps feeding us this well. I need to start running on the treadmill. I’d deny ever using one though.

  “Thank you, Mrs. Franks. Keep this up and I won’t be able to fit in any of my clothes,” I tell her with a laugh.

  “That little girl will help you work it off.” She cackles.

  “You are a riot.” I tell her. I take myself into the sitting area and sit down, ready to tuck into the food, when I see Samantha running toward me. She’s screaming for us.

  I jump up, wondering what the hell happened. “He’s hurt. Oh God, he’s hurt. The car was hit. I heard the crash. I heard him yelling for help.”

  I see Bossman and Spider running toward the office. I get my phone, and call Ghost, telling him to get here ASAP. He needs to light up the laptop for coordinates on my car. I have a tracking device on it.

  I holler for Jenny and she’s there taking Samantha from me.

  “Let me go find out what I can, Sam. Try to calm down. Honey, do you hear me?” I ask her as I tilt her head upward. “Do you
hear me?”

  “Help him, Dog. I just found him. I just got him. I need him. I can’t lose him when I just got him,” she sobs.

  “I will bring him home, honey. You understand. I will bring him home.”

  I walk away at a fast pace. As I enter the office, I already see the location boards popped up in the other room as I make my way there. It shows the location of the accident and they’re trying to pull up other shit from the device. I keep looking at all the screens. I still don’t see my GPS device as showing up. I need for Ghost to get here, like now. Just as I think that, I see him pull up on the screens. He jumps off his motorcycle and comes in fast. I have the door open before he gets here.

  “I need a spot on my car, as soon as you can. I need to know what kind of damage was done and anything else you can pull up. Samantha was talking to Crane when he was hit. She said he told her he was hurt and needed help. We need to get to him as soon as we can. I also need to know if he had his other daughter with him,” I tell him.

  “I’m not going to ask any questions right this second. We’ll wait until I pull up what I can. I’ll know more in a few. Give me five minutes, and I should have a slew of information for you.”

  “Great,” I tell him as I walk over to Bossman and Spider.

  “This is fucked. Someone is doing this on purpose. Tell me I’m wrong,” I snarl out.

  “You’re not wrong. We wait for Ghost to let us know what shows up,” Bossman states. “How is Samantha doing?”

  “Scared. Afraid she’s losing him already. I don’t know what would happen to her if that happened now. She just found him.”

  I see Ghost pluck a few more keys and the printer goes crazy. The printout should show us the damage to the vehicle, point of impact, speed and all that other shit. He glances up and sees the screen with cops everywhere from a remote city cam. Although it’s a distance away, you can still see my vehicle and the accident scene. My car looks like it’s on fire, or what’s left of it. “What the fuck?” I say.

  “Fuck me, is that your car?” Bossman asks.

  “Yep, it sure is. No way he survived that,” I say.

  “I don’t see how. Where’s it at Ghost?” Bossman asks. “Anything?”

  “It’s somewhere in Tennessee, down by the Georgia state line it looks like. I have a call out for details already. We’ll see what comes back.”

  I hear a noise behind me and see Samantha, taking in the screen. Her mouth is open, tears running down her face. I step over to her, taking her in my arms.

  “That’s my dad, isn’t it?” she gasps.

  “It’s my car. I don’t know anything else, honey. We have feelers out. We’re waiting to see if we can get any news.”

  “Why would God do this to us? I know what he went through. We talked for hours. I just wish he would’ve told me before now. I feel sick,” she whispers, then begins to heave. Spider grabs the trash can, holding it under her head as I hold her hair back.

  After a few minutes, she quiets down. I glance down, then pick her up in my arms. “I’ll be back in a minute. I’m going to lay her down. Let me take care of her and if you hear of something before I get back, call me on my phone,” I tell the guys.

  They nod as I leave the room. I see them looking at the wreckage as I clear the room of people with my arms full of Samantha. She has her arms around my neck and is not letting go.

  I open the door to the bedroom and set her in the chair as I clear the bed off. Her phone is sitting there, so I plug it in and lay her in the bed, covering her like she’s the most precious thing in my life. She is.

  “I’m so fucking sorry, Sam. I would take all this away if I could,” I tell her as I sit beside her in the bed.

  “Not your fault, Brett. I’m just cursed. Are you sure you want me?” she asks me.

  “You’re mine. No matter what, you are mine. We will get through this. I pray he didn’t have your sister with him,” I say not thinking.

  “He didn’t. He was picking her up in a couple of hours. What do I do, Brett? She can’t stay in the system. I won’t let that happen. I need to figure out what I need to do to go get her,” she tells me hoarsely.

  “I’ll get ahold of Llaw and see what we need to do. We’ll need to get married, so it’s easier to go and get her. She won’t stay in there any longer than necessary. Understand me. I promise you that we will get her as fast as we can,” I tell her.

  “Thank you, Brett. I don’t think I could let her stay there for long. I won’t have history repeating itself.” She pauses, thinking. “We can move into my home until we decide what we’re going to do, and until we find out how my dad is.”

  “You know he may not be alive. That car was toast. There wasn’t anything left of it,” I whisper with sadness in my voice.

  “I have to think positively until I know for sure one hundred percent. You understand?” she replies with a short sob.

  “I do. I wouldn’t want it any other way,” I tell her. “We will think positive. I may have to go out of town for a few days.”

  “I understand. I’m going to see if I can get rid of my headache. It’s starting to hurt pretty bad,” she tells me.

  “I’ll be in the office. I’m going to send Jenny down to check on you. Okay?” I tell her.

  “Okay. Love you, honey,” she whispers again as I wipe the tears away with my thumb.

  I lean in and kiss her lips, then squeeze her hand and walk from the room.

  Walking down the hall, I see Jenny and ask her to watch Samantha. I’m worried about her and there isn’t a damn thing I can do about it at the moment.

  I get back to the office and the room is full of members.

  “Update?” I ask as I sit in my chair. “I also need to talk to Llaw as soon as possible. Is he close by?” I ask Bossman.

  “He’ll be here in two hours. A body was found burned to a crisp in the car. Looks like it may be Crane. His wallet was found beside the door of the car. Witnesses say that two men were tussling. One went back to the car and it blew up. The other took off in the car that hit yours. The description of the man that went back to the car fits Crane,” Bossman states.

  “We need to make sure it was him first. I have to know positively it was him,” I state.

  “We have someone going after our members. We need to pull people into the clubhouse. No one goes anywhere by themselves—even family members. We run the bomb detection devices to make sure transportation isn’t tinkered with. I won’t have anyone else hurt.”

  We hear banging on the door. When it opens, Jetter Boy is standing there. “Fig was hurt in an accident,” he says loudly. “Cops are out front. They want to talk to Brett and Bossman,” he says.

  We all look at one another. “We’re going on lockdown, immediately. Bring the families in. Now!” Bossman speaks so softly it’s loud. When he yells, it’s like a time bomb ready to go off.

  We walk out of the room together going toward the front door where we see Pete and a couple more deputies.

  “Hey, man. What’s up?” I ask first.

  “There was an accident. A car was going down the road when it slowed down. Witnesses state that it just lit the sky up. Someone was able to pull the occupant from the vehicle but there was no saving him. Driver’s license states it was a Leon Smith. The car was registered to the MC shop,” he tells us while looking me in the eyes.

  “Fuck, I’ll need to call his uncle. He’s the only family the kid has. Problem with that is he’s got dementia and doesn’t always remember shit. Can I claim the body after the autopsy?” Bossman requests.

  “It shouldn’t be a problem. I need to ask if there are any problems with the MC. You know my affiliation with my brother. They sent me to ask so that you all wouldn’t take offense. I told them that it wouldn’t make a difference but he won’t listen to me though,” he tells us uncomfortably.

  “We don’t have any information that will help you, Pete. If we come across anything, we’ll make sure to let you know as soon as we know,
” I tell him.

  “Thanks, Dog. I’ll have you put down as his family. The vehicle is a total loss.”

  “We’ll need to pick the vehicle up when you release it,” Bossman tells them.

  “Thank you for letting us know, Pete. You are welcome here anytime for any reason,” I tell him. He knows that he is and knows what I’m telling him. Even though he’s a cop, he is family.

  He nods to me. “Thanks, man, I really appreciate that, and so does the sheriff. He was busy at the scene or he would have come himself.”

  He turns and nods his head to the other officers to follow him. He is a good man. There’s no judgment of any of us.

  We look at one another and head back toward the office. We can hear the men talking.

  “So what’s happened? As your enforcer and sergeant-at-arms, I need to know this shit. What the fuck is going on?” Spider asks.

  “Spider, Fig was blown up. We’ll need to claim the body when it’s released to us. I’ll get ahold of his uncle. I doubt he’ll remember, but I still need to try. Ghost, see what you can track down. We need to look at people who have a vendetta against us in the last five years. I would start with the most recent events though. This started with a vengeance not long ago. We need a direction to go,” Bossman states. “Now, we all have jobs to do when we go into lockdown. Let’s get rolling now. I’ll have Jenny make a list of things we need. Then I’ll have Nick and Jetter Boy go pick it all up. Dismissed,” he orders as he slams down the gavel.

  “I’m going to need to go at some point and claim Crane. Need some peace, man, my ol’ lady needs some too,” I tell him with regret in my eyes. “Capone is the latest problem we had, but he didn’t have any family, did he? What about Crane? We need more information on him. Did something happen while he was in prison?” I ask.

  “I’ll talk to Jenny. He has a brother, but he hated Capone. He hasn’t spoken to his brother in many fucking years.”