by Nicole Fox
“Don’t tell me to calm down,” I said. “Don’t you dare fucking say it. They took—”
“First of all, I wasn’t going to tell you that you need to calm down,” he interrupted. “I was about to ask if you were done throwing your tantrum so we could go get your girl and the little one.”
I could have been insulted by his words, but there was a fire in his eyes I hadn’t expected. It fired me up even more, only aiding the boiling in my blood and I nodded at him, and then nodded to the others before walking out of my ruined house. I could fix that shit. But I needed to get my family back, first.
# # #
I coordinated with the boys, getting them all up to speed. I wasn’t wasting time, and we’d been keeping tabs on a certain little mole. We rode to his little hideout, a trailer on the very outskirts of town. We rolled up, and I wasted no time knocking on his front door.
Jared didn’t answer, but I wasn’t taking no answer.
“Open the fuck up, you coward!” I snarled, banging again. “Or I’m busting in, and you won’t like me too damn much if and when I do.”
I heard movement on the other side of the door, and was rewarded with it cracking open a few moments after. I shoved my way in, rude as hell, but honestly I felt that I deserved it at this point. Jared squeaked behind the door as I let myself in and Pride boys started to fill up his pathetic excuse for a trailer.
“W-what are you doing here?”
“You didn’t actually think that we wouldn’t be keeping tabs on you, did you?” I asked. I didn’t wait for an answer when I took him by the front of his shirt and slammed him against the trailer wall, shaking it a bit as I did.”
“What do you want from me?! I haven’t done anything. I told you about everything—”
“They’ve taken Misha.”
Jared’s already sickly face paled even sicker.
“W-what?”
“Yeah. They took her. Her and Rose.”
“Oh … oh shit, oh shit—”
“Yeah. Oh, shit, is right. Funny how you blew in and suddenly they knew where to find us, though.”
Jared struggled in my hold. His face got red. It looked like it could pop off from the way that I held him, but I wasn’t about to let up on him, either.
“I didn’t tell them where you were!” he cried out. “I swear. I swear! Why would I, when I told you that they were looking for Misha and Rose? I didn’t want them to get hurt.”
“A lot of good that’s done.”
“It wasn’t me!”
He struggled, but it wasn’t very strongly. He didn’t want to get hurt—or killed, or whatever he thought that I was going to do with him, which at this point I truly hoped that he expected that I was going to kill him. It made me feel marginally better to have that power over him.
“You’re in luck, Jared,” I said simply. “’cause while you’re obviously a spineless little turd, I can at least see that you really don’t want Misha hurt.”
That seemed to make him a little relieved.“You-you do?”
“I do. Which is why you’re gonna come with us and show us where the fuck Rigger is running out of these days, and you’re gonna help us get Misha back.”
Jared’s relief was short lived.
“I-I don’t think that that’s a good idea—”
“I don’t really give a damn what you think is a good idea. You’re coming with us. You’re gonna show us where they’re lying, and you’re gonna stick around and help us while we get my family back, do you understand?”
Jared squeaked out something that might have been a yes, and I let him down.
“Get your shit and let’s go.”
He threw worried glances around at everyone that was there, watching him like they didn’t care about his discomfort—and honestly, no one really did. It wasn’t about him. This was about Misha, and we were working against a clock here.
We were back on the bikes and on the road as soon as Jared got his helmet. He didn’t want to go back to the Jackals, that much was evident, but the fact that it didn’t take a lot to make him come with us was interesting at the least, and reassuring at the best. He was a flighty little fuck, but I could see in his eyes there was love there for Misha—whatever kind it was, it wasn’t the time to think about it.
We were going to get my girls back.
We followed behind Jared for about an hour or so, and then two. I grew impatient, but as we got closer and closer to Jackal territory, I could only feel anticipation.
We’re almost there, Misha.
Jared led us off the main highway and eventually pulled off the main road and down through a neighborhood, which eventually got less and less densely populated. I had the boys looking out for anything that might be fishy; we weren’t in home territory anymore, and it was more than likely that we could run into people that we didn’t want to before it was time to run into them.
We didn’t get ambushed, however, and that was a plus. He turned us down a road and pulled off to the side. We followed and got off our bikes.
“Where the hell are we?”
“You’re not the only one that lives off in a cut,” Jared said, his eyes avoiding looking at me in any kind of way. “Rigger’s house is set back. We can take the bikes, but they’ll hear us approach.”
“You think I care if they hear us approach?”
“Misha and Rose might if it makes them do something stupid!”
He had a point there, and I held my tongue. I took in a deep breath and looked over at Brig for a second opinion. He chewed on his lip and thought on it for a bit.
“We roll the bikes up, we have a decent way of getting out,” he said. “We’ll have quick transportation. We let them know we’re coming though, that’s bad for us; gives them time to prepare.”
I nodded.
“Let’s go, then.”
We pushed the bikes up along the road and it wasn’t too long of a walk before we saw the outline of a two story in the distance, seeming to be surrounded by a couple smaller ones.
“I thought you said it was only Rigger that lived out in the cut,” I said, approaching Jared and grabbing him by the shoulder.
“Rigger and a few of those close to him live here. They call it The Compound. Most of the operations come out of here, between the drugs and guns and other shit that they do. I thought you were keeping tabs!”
I snarled a little, but tossed him away. “Keep leading.”
We had been keeping tabs. Or at least I thought we had been keeping them enough.
As we continued a little closer, pulling up as near as we dared without getting in sight of people, Brig came up to me. I saw the look in his face and slowed my own pace as Jared led us on, so we could talk quiet without him hearing us.
“Something feels weird.”
“You think so too?”
I glanced over, seeing him nod.
“He’s offered up all this information to us so far, but failed to mention that they’re living in a compound and we’re going to be dealing with more than just Rigger and maybe a couple other goons? When he wants to save Misha so bad?”
My jaw clenched. “You think it’s a setup?”
“Could be. Hard to tell. Thought he was pretty forthcoming when he came around the first time, but now I’m not so sure.”
“Stay on him,” I said. “We can’t afford to fuck this up. We need to end this. Once and for all.”
“Aye.”
Chapter Seventeen
Misha
“Mama, I’m scared.”
“I know, hun.”
We’d been sitting there for about an hour, in his room. It was the one on the top floor, the biggest, with a huge bed and a large window. It’d have been a nice room—ideal, even—if I hadn’t known who it belonged to. It smelled like his cologne, a piney scent that I had come to loathe in the last five years.
I was scared, too. But I couldn’t let Rose know that. I had held her all the way into Jackal territory, had kept her close a
nd safe, and I knew that the only way that she was going to stay all right was if I stayed all right. I knew that Trip had gotten my text message, and I knew that he would be on his way. Whatever happened between then and now would have to be prioritized in terms of what was best for Rose.
While I was lost imy thoughts, the door opened. I scooted further onto the bed as Callum came in, smirking like he’d won the lottery.
“Rigger can’t wait to see you, you know,” he said. “He’s real excited.”
“I’m surprised that he isn’t here right now,” I said snidely. “With as excited he is. Makes a guest feel unwelcome, you know.”
Callum laughed. “A guest. Heh. That’s what you think you are. I see why Rigger likes you so much; you’re so mouthy. He’s going to have fun putting you in your place. So am I.”
He turned, shouting out the door. “Hey, Hellen! Get your ass in here.”
Hellen?
My brows furrowed as she walked in—Holland’s old lady. She was an older woman, still shapely and naturally beautiful though. She had honey blonde hair and brown eyes. She also looked tired as all hell. I wondered why Callum was talking to her in such a way; that’s not how things were run. Hellen was always given the utmost respect being Holland’s old lady. Then again, Holland was out, Rigger was in, and she was probably in the minority at this point.
She carried a tray with her, holding a couple of sandwiches and some water. Callum gave her a snide smirk and a pop on the ass as she set it down. Her face twisted in a grimace, but she said nothing.
“Y’ll catch up and you lay out the law of the land around here for her,” Callum said. “Rigger’s setting some things into motion; he’ll be up in a little.”
With that, he left. As soon as I was sure he was gone, I turned to Hellen.
“Hellen—”
“How on Earth did you get yourself caught up in these boys again, girl?” she asked. “When you hightailed it on out, I thought you’d be gone for good.”
“So did I, Hellen.”
“Holland was gonna eventually leave, too.”
“I—” I paused. “He was?”
Hellen nodded, handing me the plates with the sandwiches. I took one, and gave one to Rose so she could have something in her poor stomach.
“He had been thinking about it before the wreck, as Rose got older. He felt bad keeping you for so long when he knew all you were trying to do was get away from the chaos of the life. Before your boys cleaned up their act and straightened themselves out, at least.”
“Little late to think about what Holland was or wasn’t going to do, though.”
“Yeah, well, ain’t that just the way.”
I nibbled at the sandwiches and saw that Rose was doing the same. Good. I turned my attentions back to Hellen.
“What’s happened since I left, Hellen?” I asked. “Why are you being treated like this?”
She laughed a little bitterly. “Because I stood by Holland even when he was in a coma, I wouldn’t do what Rigger wanted just because he was trying to be macho and a piece of shit. I stood up for the club girls, too. It’s one thing to pass them around and screw their brains out, another to do half the shit those boys were allowed to do to them. Had too much of a big mouth.”
“I’m so sorry.”
Hellen waved her hand at me and shrugged.“Don’t be. For Rigger? He was a piece of shit when he joined and Holland should have never taken him in. For everything that that man ever did, he always had a shitty soft spot for people, even when he shouldn’t have.”
I shifted.“I’m sorry he’s gone, Hellen.”
“Ah, yeah, well. So am I, Misha.”
She stared at me a little, her brows furrowed. She’d never hated me, even with the way Holland had taken me. I’d always found that odd, though it was nice that she hadn’t. I supposed it was part of her being a practical woman. Hellen was nothing if not practical.
“Your man coming to get you?” Hellen asked suddenly. I glanced at her and she gave me a raised brow.
“It ain’t like I’m gonna tell Rigger, but you should know that if your man is coming, Rigger’s got boys here and that little weasel Jared—”
“Jared told me about Rigger looking for me to begin with.”
Hellen laughed. “Honey, who do you think told him to go out and drop that information? Jared’s gotten into a lot of trouble … They thought that he helped you escape, for one, but he’s also been skimming money from Holland for years, then come to find he thought he was going to do the same with Rigger. Holland wasn’t ever stellar with numbers, but I’ll hand it to Rigger, he’s smart like that, saw right through. Told him he’d spare his life if he dropped a couple of little hints to scare you up, maybe make you come back on your own, then hang around in town for the finale. He knew your boys would come looking for him to see where they’d be taking you.”
I drew in a breath, and shook my head. I could hardly process any of this.
“I thought Jared was my friend.”
“Jared is your friend, but he’s also a raging coward, baby.”
I couldn’t even argue with her on that one. I knew that Jared was a coward. I didn’t think that he would betray me like that, though. Just for himself.
Hellen put her hand on my shoulder. “Don’t dwell on it, Misha,” she said. “It’ll only make it worse. Hunker down until your man comes. I don’t know all of what Rigger has planned, but it won’t do you any good trying to run out.”
Hellen left, and I weighed my options. Jared had had a hand in all of this. I shouldn’t have felt so bad—but I did. It twisted something ugly in my chest and it legitimately hurt.
I finished off my sandwich with gusto, and looked to Rose. I needed to get her out of here. She could run, and run, and run, but the Jackals had bikes … Unless she ran into the woods.
My phone was still in my pocket. Callum hadn’t taken it; I’d silenced the ringer and slipped it into my pocket, letting him think that it had been left behind. I pulled it out and tucked it into the little PJ pocket that she had.
“Honey,” I said. “When the time is right, I’m gonna tell you to run, okay? You need to run as fast as you can, into the woods. Don’t stop until you hit the road, okay? You remember how we left?”
She nodded at me, though she was still shaking.
“Mama, you’ll come with me, right?”
“I’ll follow you, sweetie.”
“But, Mama—”
“You have to trust me Rose, okay? Please.”
She sniffed but nodded, and tucked her face into my chest. I didn’t know if it was the right choice to make, but it was the choice that I was making nonetheless for my daughter.
I waited as patiently as I could, then. It was maybe ten minutes after that the door opened once more, and it was Callum that came in.
“Rigger’s here. Wants you downstairs.”
His smirk told me that something gross was likely up, but there was something positive in that; it would be easier to get Rose out of this goddamn house down there as opposed to up here. Rigger could do whatever he wanted with me after Rose was gone, but I needed her out and in the woods and I needed her calling someone for help. I stood and took Rose’s hand. Callum tried to touch me to nudge me out of the room, and I dodged his touch. He only laughed.
“You can keep doing that all you want; it’s not gonna change a damn thing, Misha.”
With that, we made our way down the stairs. Each step echoed nervously in my heart, but I steeled myself for my daughter. I had to keep my nerve and my wits about me.
Downstairs, there were a few Jackals about—but I knew it wasn’t all of them. They were the ones that had always been somewhat in Rigger’s pocket. They’d probably been all too happy to jump Holland’s ship and throw their support in for Rigger once Holland was out of the way. They were scattered about the downstairs, leering, with Rigger in the middle of them.
He was tall and built, and would probably have been handsome if he wasn’t such
a disgusting human being. His hair was black as pitch and his eyes were clear blue. Dreamy, to a lot of the club girls, before he got his hands on them, at least.
“Misha. Nice of you to return.”
“I didn’t really have much of a choice, Rigger.”
“You had plenty of choice! You came back willingly rather than trying to fight your way out. You had a choice to stay here, too, but I suppose you had an itch that needed scratched. You should be grateful that I let you scratch it for as long as I did.”