Finally, my resolve snaps and I lowly state, “It will be the last mistake you ever make.” All eyes swing to me when the last word leaves my mouth.
“I could arrest you for that threat alone,” Detective dipshit says to me.
“And he’ll be out within the hour. Don’t threaten my men,” Axe demands.
“I think it’s time you follow orders from your chief and vacate the premises,” Hatch advises him. “You’ve been given your orders, be a good puppy and do as commanded.”
“Fucking hell,” Lily whispers. “Can we just find my baby, please?”
“Oh, she’ll be found and home by tonight. Won’t she detective?” I disrespectfully spit out.
“I’ll do my best.” He stands and scurries out of the apartment with the uniformed officer trailing behind him with a smirk on his face. Seems his coworkers think as lowly of him as we do.
Lily
Mom and I stand there with our jaws hanging wide open. I’ve never seen the men in my life act like this before, and it’s a side of them I hope I’m never on the receiving end of. “Well, that was… interesting,” Mom says and I have to agree with her.
“Have you ever?” I ask, waving my hand in the general direction of where the men are standing.
“Never.”
“Me either,” I answer.
“I’ve never seen your dad so… scary,” Mom tells me.
“Nope. Not even that time Rae and I snuck out to go to that party Dad and Hatch said we couldn’t attend.” Dad had never really punished me before that day, but I was in big trouble and he not only took all of my possessions away from me, leaving me in a room with a bed and dresser only, but his disappointment in me, that hurt more than anything he could’ve done or said. “I feel like I need to be doing something other than just sitting here.”
“I know, baby, but there’s not much we can do,” Mom compassionately replies.
“Is there anything at all I can do to help, Lily?” Gypsy wraps her arm around my shoulder in support.
“I don’t think so.” I shrug my shoulders.
“Should I make everyone breakfast while the men come up with a plan?” Gypsy asks Mom more than me.
“I don’t think I could eat a bite,” I answer.
“That would be very helpful, dear. There’s no telling when the men will get another chance to stop and eat once they start searching,” Mom says to her. I feel bad, because all I was thinking about was myself.
“Sorry, she’s right,” I apologetically state.
“You have nothing to apologize for,” Maxum growls out as he comes up beside me and pulls me into his arms. “We will be getting her back, Lily. I vow this on my life.”
“I know,” I brokenly whisper. I know I’m a hot mess, with my bedhead hair and tears that won’t stop, but I simply don’t give a fuck.
Maxum
My phone begins ringing in my pocket. Pulling it out, I see Chief’s name flashing on the display. “You got something?”
“I’m watching the footage, there’s something familiar about this nurse. I just can’t put my finger on it. Can you grab the guys and head on down to the station?” he asks me.
“Be there shortly,” I respond. “Chief wants us down at the station as soon as possible,” I announce to my brothers.
“Did he say why?” Axe asks.
“Something about the nurse being familiar or something. I told him we’d be there quickly,” I tell him.
“Then let’s roll,” he replies. Luca, Axe, and I kiss our old ladies and exit briskly. We don’t have time to lose, she could be in another state by now.
“Son of a motherfucking bitch!” Axe screams out as we see a clear picture of the nurse’s face.
“Do you know who that is Axe?” I ask, pointing to the screen.
“That’s Daria, Lily’s mom,” he angrily spits out.
“That woman didn’t fuck with my old lady enough in life, now she has to steal her baby!” I scream, pissed and worried about my daughter and how Lily’s going to take the news.
Hatch picks up his phone and places a call. “Bandit, get with Jonas, find out everything you can about Lily’s mom's activities and whereabouts,” he issues the order. After Bandit says something, Hatch grunts and hangs up the phone.
“Where was the prospect guarding Violet at while all of this took place?” Tig asks. I had forgotten about him; the fucker better be dead. There’s no excuse to leave his post other than death itself.
“Don’t know, but I’m fixing to find out,” Hatch says, excusing himself from the room.
20
Maxum
We’ve all reconvened at the clubhouse, making plans for when we discover where Daria’s been hiding out in town. What irks me the most is that she’s been living here, under our noses, making plans to destroy our lives. I haven’t shared this with Lily as of yet. I want to be there for her when she hears the news. I know she’s going to break down, needing to know why. I want to have those answers for her before sharing.
The office phone begins ringing and Axe answers, immediately putting it on speaker phone. “Silas, you’re on speaker.”
“Good, you all need to hear this,” he huskily responds. “I’ve had an issue I’ve been dealing with for a while now, seems we have a common enemy.”
“That would be?” I insert myself into the conversation. Axe gives me a wayward look but doesn’t reprimand me for my interference.
“Seems Lily’s mom is actually working with someone else. One who is into skin trading, drugs, weapons, kidnapping and selling babies to the highest bidder.” When the last item on his list leaves his mouth, fire burns in my gut. Is this why my baby was stolen? Fucking hell, I knew this woman didn’t give the first fuck about Lily, but this is her granddaughter and she’s going to sell her? What the actual fuck!
“Who’s this person she’s working with?” Axe questions Silas.
“We haven’t discovered who it is, yet. We were interrogating Rae’s ex and his dad, but they feared this person more than death. Whoever it is, they’re good, really good. Jonas and Raven have been searching high and low and still haven’t discovered who it is. They’ve worked on this night and day, but we have been able to link Daria to this person.”
“Why is it, that this the first time I’m hearing about a new player in town?” Axe bewilderedly asks.
“We thought we had it under control,” Silas says in an irritated tone.
“Being upset at each other is getting us nowhere,” Hatch interjects. “Let’s find Violet and hash everything else out later.” He’s in enforcer mode, which is rare, but when he is, you know heads are about to roll.
“Does this mean you have leads on where Daria is?” I interrogate Silas.
“Maxum?”
“Yeah, it’s me,” I answer.
“You’re not going to like this. It’s gonna hit home and hurt you deeply.” He prepares me, but nothing could ever help me get ready for the next words that leave him. “Her boyfriend is one Killian James Bass.”
Shock.
Anger.
Ghosts.
My past has come up to rear its ugly head. My father, he’s dating Lily’s mom? Is he in cahoots with her stealing my daughter from the hospital? I wouldn’t put it past him, he’s a monster hiding in human form.
I’m gonna kill him!
“Maxum, breath, man.” Luca comes up and places a hand on my shoulder.
“Did he help her take my baby?” I ask with a calm facade.
“Maxum —” Silas says.
“Tell me,” I quickly cut him off before he can say more.
“Yes,” he hesitantly answers.
“I want his head on a spike. I want him to suffer, to die a slow, painful death,” I announce. I begin pacing back and forth, feeling despair like I never have before.
“He will. I promise he will,” Silas vows.
“We have to find him first,” Axe continues. “Any leads we can follow?”
“I
have a few. Let me follow the leads and find the right one and I’ll call you back,” Silas informs.
“We’ll be waiting,” Axe says before disconnecting the line.
“I need a drink,” I say as I flop down in my chair.
“I’ll get you a shot,” Tig states as he walks over to the small bar area that resides in this room. Now I know why it’s here, I always wondered if anyone ever drank from it.
“Just the one, you need a clear head when we go hunting,” Axe orders me. “And there’s no place in this town that’s safe for them, not with all of us looking. I’ll burn this motherfucking town to the ground to find our girl.”
“One’s all I need to calm my frayed nerves,” I mutter. Right now, Axe is someone I don’t recognize, and the older brothers are as well. Most are former military, so I know they’ve seen some shit, but our club has always been on the up-and-up.
Lily
“What do you think is taking them so long to come back?” I ask no one in general.
“If they have a lead, they’ll follow it before coming here,” Mom replies.
“Wouldn’t they tell us first if they’ve found something out?” My mind is racing with question after question.
“I doubt it,” Gypsy states. “If it was me, I wouldn't. I’d follow all leads before giving Luca false hope.”
“This is so jacked up!” I scream. “Who is crazy enough to steal another woman’s baby? I just don’t get it.”
“That’s because you’re a caring, loving human being, Lily.” Mom sits down next to me. She pulls me into the embrace of her loving arms. This usually comforts me, but it’s not working today.
“I just want her back safe and sound, Mom.”
“I know you do, baby. We all do,” she chokes out. I look up and see that both my mom and Gypsy are silently crying.
“This is a nightmare I can’t seem to wake up from. I need it over, I want whoever stole my baby to pay. But most of all, I need to place my eyes on her. Make sure she’s safe, unharmed, not full of fear because Maxum and I aren’t with her.” I begin bawling uncontrollably.
Mom simply holds me, rocking me in place. I cry myself to sleep, but Mom never once lets me go.
I slowly come awake to voices in the background. They’re hazy, then it dawns on me that Mom is on the phone with someone. “Who is it?” I ask, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.
“It’s your dad. They’re waiting on a few leads to pan out. Maxum has been trying to get a hold of you, he’s been continuously calling your phone and is frantic because you weren’t answering. Dad called me to check on you for him.”
“I didn’t hear it ring,” I hazily say.
“I just went and checked, it’s silenced,” Gypsy says, handing my phone over to me.
“Thanks,” I gratefully say. “Tell Dad to let Maxum know I’ll call him back after I use the bathroom.” I stand up and walk away, my bladder screaming in protest.
Once I use the bathroom, I take a few minutes to get myself cleaned up then get dressed. Closing the bedroom door, I call Maxum. “Do you know anything?” I ask. I feel my leg jumping because of the nervous energy flowing through me, but I can’t stop.
“Tracking some leads, baby. Got the Nelsons working on it as well.” I nod even though he can’t see me. I don’t know the Nelson brothers, but I do know, from things I’ve overheard, that they deal with the dregs of society and ‘take out the trash’ which is what Tig was saying one day when I was walking by. As soon as they saw me, they changed the subject, but that’s okay.
“Maxum? Is it awful of me that I want them to pay? I want them to hurt? Hell, I don’t know that I want the authorities to deal with it all, either,” I confess. Since getting the news, all I can think about is flaying the person’s skin from their body piece by piece. Gory? Probably, but right now, they’ve got my sweet baby girl and I have a sinking feeling it’s for nefarious reasons.
“They’ll pay, sweetheart,” he vows. “And trust me, they better pray that the cops find them and not us or the Nelsons, because they won’t bother anyone ever again.”
“Good.” If that makes me an evil bitch, so be it. “When y’all find them, I want my time with them too.” I may be small, but I have skills that my family has taught me for self-defense purposes and I want to use them so I can make whoever took Violet hurt.
“Not sure that’d be a good idea,” he cautions.
“Will y’all be there too? Yes, of course you will, so I’ll be perfectly safe,” I advise. “But I need this, Maxum. I need to look that person or those people in the eye, hurt them then spit on them and tell them they lost.”
I hear him sigh and know he’s running his hand through his hair. “If that’s what you need, that’s what you’ll get. I’ll be sure to tell your dad, okay?”
I laugh but there’s no humor laced behind it. “I’m sure he’s ready to burn the town down.” I saw how angry he was earlier and as protective as he is with all of us, the kidnapper has no idea that they’ve unleashed a roaring beast.
“You have no idea,” he replies. “Baby, go get some rest but keep your phone on you. And please, eat something.” My man knows me too well; I haven’t been able to eat anything because I’m afraid I’ll throw it right back up and with the beginnings of a headache, I don’t want to risk it.
“I will. I’m sorry, Maxum,” I say.
“Why are you apologizing, Lil?” he asks. I can hear the confusion in his voice.
“Because we couldn’t bring her home. If we had been able to, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“Lily Callahan, soon-to-be Bass, you are not responsible for this!” he roars into the phone.
“Did… did you just propose?” I question.
“Well, kind of, but you’re missing the point, dammit! The blame is on the kidnapper’s shoulders, not yours and not mine. Do you understand?”
Oh, I love when his voice gets all masculine, dark, and growly, then I let out a sob because here I am, getting turned on by his voice and our daughter is in the hands of a madman!
“Baby, why are you crying?”
“B-b-because that’s the voice you use when we’re making love and it turns me on. I feel guilty right now because I shouldn’t be thinking like that with Violet missing,” I cry. I must be hearing things! The blasted man just chuckled for fuck’s sake! “Maxum? Are you laughing at me?”
“Not really, Lil. It’s just that you do that to me whenever you’re around so it’s good to know I’ve got that same effect is all.”
I roll my eyes even though he can’t see me. “You’ve always had that effect on me, Maxum, and you damn well know it! Now, quit stalling and go find my baby!” I insist.
“Love you, Lily,” he says.
“Love you more, Maxum.”
Maxum
I hang up the phone and sigh. I didn’t tell her who has Violet because I need to have her in my arms before I shatter her world. I don’t understand what her birth mother wants with our baby; she sure as fuck hasn’t been around Lily since she was a tiny baby. I know Axe did all he could and Nan was undoubtedly a huge help, but my woman didn’t have a real mom until Cara came into the picture. I smile when I think about how that particular woman became the glue for that family. Not only that, but with her standing beside Axe, I’ve seen him calm significantly over the years. Well, except for right now, but fuck, that’s his little girl’s baby and I feel confident that if he feels he has to burn the town down, he’ll do so without any hesitation.
Walking back in to where everyone else is sitting, I say, “She’s holding on, but barely. Do we have any kind of a plan yet?”
Law looks at me and replies, “The Nelsons are on their way here so we can hash out a plan of action.”
I bite back a groan because the three brothers are forces of nature, and if I’m being truthful, mostly assholes. But right now, I’ll take all the help we can get if it allows me to bring my baby girl home to her momma. Speaking of which, I see Axe off to the side and
motion for him to follow me outside. Seeing as I kind of told Lily she was going to be my wife, I need to get his permission. “What’s up, Maxum?” he asks as we step outside.
“I want to get your permission to ask Lily to marry me,” I reply.
“I was wondering when you were going to talk to me about making her an honest woman,” he states, folding his hands across his chest.
“Planned to do it before now, honestly, but with the appointments with Dr. Graves and the homework she had us doing, it went to the back burner. I didn’t mean to offend by not asking sooner, Axe.” At this point, I’ll fucking grovel if I have to because she’ll be my wife one way or another.
The grin that crosses his face throws me off, especially when he says, “I’ve got Nan’s original engagement ring from my dad; would you like to have that to give her? It probably needs to be sized down since Lily’s hand is smaller than Nan’s.”
“If you think she’d like that, then yes, I would. Thanks, Axe.” He pulls me in for a man hug, slapping my back a few times. “Speaking of Nan, how is it that she’s not here?”
“I called Gino and told him what was going on and asked him to keep her busy cooking stuff. She’ll be here soon, I imagine, so be prepared.”
I nod because Nan is like a tornado and you can always feel the whirlwind whenever she’s around. Since she was so instrumental in raising Lily, this is probably killing her too. “How is… how did she take it?”
“She was all set to take Gino’s gun and go out looking herself, but he managed to talk her down and tell her that the best way she could help was to make sure that we had food.” His words force a chuckle out of me because I can visualize her saying that very thing.
Axe looks around and asks, “You two planning to stay at the townhouse long?”
“No, been working with Jaxson on a place. It’s not too far from the clubhouse, but is out in the country. It needed some renovations and updating, so he and his crew have been working non-stop to get that done for me.”
Maxum & Lily: Rebel Guardians Next Generation Page 13