by Nicole Fox
More ringing came from her phone.
Goddamn, she thought. Get a grip, Xander.
Soon, she arrived back at her apartment. As soon as she shut the door behind her, Daphne couldn’t help but notice just how quiet the place was. With Xander gone and Jack over at Caroline’s, her home was just like any other lonely home, still and empty. As she leaned back against the front door, longing for both her son and Xander flowed into her heart.
Wanting to rid herself of these feelings immediately, she put on some music and popped open a bottle of wine. Checking her phone, she saw that there were a dozen texts from Xander, along with a handful of missed calls. Her heart raced as she wondered if this meant that Xander had lost his mind, and that he was ready to do whatever it took to get his son back. Another text popped on the screen as she held her phone. Like the rest, it was from Xander.
Daphne! Answer your fucking phone! This is important!
Daphne took a deep breath and turned her phone off; angry texts from Xander were the last thing she wanted to deal with at that moment. She sat down on the couch and took a long, slow sip of her wine.
Turning the TV on and flipping it to one mindless reality show or another, Daphne did her best to tune out the outside world.
But a pair of heavy boots trudging up the stairs snapped her back into reality. She recognized those boot steps—they were Xander’s.
A series of bangs sounded from the front door.
“Daphne!” came Xander’s voice from the other side. “Let me in! It’s fucking important! I’m serious!”
Daphne’s heart pounded. At first, she stayed perfectly still, as though she could simply convince him that she wasn’t there.
“I know you’re there!” he shouted. “This isn’t about me; it’s about Jack!”
I’m sure it is, thought Daphne, as she rose with careful steps from the couch and towards her purse where the gun was hidden.
More bangs sounded.
“Daphne, please!” he shouted. “Open this fucking door!”
Once she reached her purse, Daphne slipped her hand into it and removed her gun. She held the weapon in her hands for a moment, taking in the fact that this was an instrument of killing.
Would I really shoot Xander? she thought. If it came down to him or me, what choice would I have?
“This is your last warning, Daphne!” shouted Xander. “Open the door or I’m gonna bust it down!”
Daphne realized at that moment that Xander was going to get in whether she wanted it or not, and that she might as well not have her door smashed in the process.
“Fine!” she said. “I’m unlocking it now.”
Carefully, she reached towards the lock and turned it. A split-second later, the door flew open revealing the hulking form of Xander. Daphne raised the gun with shaking hands and pointed it at his head.
But to her shock, all Xander did when he saw the weapon was laugh.
“Put that thing down,” he said dismissively. “You’re gonna hurt yourself with that.”
“I’m not screwing around,” said Daphne. “You try anything and I’ll … I’ll fucking shoot!”
“Might want to take the safety off first,” said Xander.
Then, with a lightning-quick motion, he snatched the gun from Daphne’s hands and took the ammunition out.
“Not the first time I’ve had one of these pointed at my face before,” said Xander, handing back the empty gun.
Daphne looked at the now-useless weapon in her hands for a moment before putting it down.
“What the hell are you doing here?” she demanded. “You’ve got some nerve banging on my door like that after I explicitly told you to stay out of my life.”
“You don’t get it,” said Xander. “It’s Jack; they took him.”
“What?” asked Daphne. “Who took him?”
“The Devil’s Spawn,” he said.
“But he’s with my Aunt Caroline!”
“Have you been checking your phone?”
Daphne picked up her phone and looked at the most recent missed calls and texts. Sure enough, several of them were from Caroline, all about how Jack was missing. She fired back a quick text letting her know that she knew and was on it. But as soon as she sent it, her heart began to pound harder than it ever had before. She felt dizzy, and had to steady herself against the kitchen counter. The phone dropped from her hands and landed on the floor with a thin clunk.
“I … I ...” Daphne said, unable to form words.
“They said that they’d kill him if I didn’t turn myself over to them.”
“Then … what are you going to do?”
“What do you think?” said Xander. “I’m gonna kill every last one of those motherfuckers.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Daphne
Daphne staggered over to the couch and fell on top of it. Her mind was a swirl of emotions and she could hardly hold a thought straight.
“What … what are you going to do to get him back?”
“I’m still working on a plan,” he said. “They told me that I needed to give myself up for taking out the Devil’s Spawn. The rest of those fuckers joined up with the other MC, and their first order of business is getting revenge.”
“Starting with my boy.”
“With our boy,” said Xander. “And they’re not gonna get away with it. I was ready to let them off the hook with an ass-kicking, but now that they’ve brought my son into it, they’ve started something that’s only going to end one way.”
Daphne looked up at Xander, seeing that rage was boiling behind his eyes. But his body was still and calm, as though he were taking all of the anger that roiled inside of him and was turning it into calm, focused wrath. Daphne could easily imagine him walking into the MC’s headquarters and taking each of them apart one by one, that same still, blank expression on his face.
“I know that you’re fucking pissed at me,” said Xander. “And I get it. I was stupid and reckless with our boy. But what’s going on right now is bigger than the both of us. And we’re going to need to stick together if we’re gonna pull this off. I … can’t lose both of you in the same day.”
A tinge of emotion crept into Xander’s otherwise calm exterior. To Daphne’s shock, a wet glistening formed on Xander’s eyes.
“I … I don’t know. Up until a couple of days ago, when I found out that I had a boy, I didn’t know what I was doing with my life. Just running with my MC, thinking that nothing else mattered besides myself. But when you told me that Jack was mine, that I had a little son … everything changed. Right then and there, I realized that my life was about something bigger than me. It was like some kind of switch flipped inside of me.”
Daphne couldn’t help but be moved by Xander’s words. In her years of knowing him, she’d never seen him even come close to showing this kind of emotion, and she could sense that he was using every bit of restraint he had to hold back the tears.
“And those … fuckers, think that they can use my son to get at me,” he said, anger returning to his voice. “They’ve got another fucking thing coming. I’ll kill them all if I have to.”
It was all so shocking to Daphne to see Xander act this way after only knowing Jack for such a short period of time. Seeing him put his emotions on the line like this caused her to instantly reconsider her decision to forbid Xander from seeing Jack again. Xander clearly was a man who cared about looking out for his own, and she knew it’d be foolish to turn away a man like him, especially when she needed his help the most.
“Fine,” said Daphne, still trying to keep some measure of calm distance, not wanting to let Xander think he was totally off the hook. “Caroline told me that he’d been playing at the park near her house when he was taken.”
“Did she call the cops?” asked Xander.
“Yes,” said Daphne. “Of course she did.”
“Damn it,” said Xander.
“What’s wrong with that?” asked Daphne. “Can’t the cops help us ge
t Jack?”
Xander snorted.
“You kidding me?” he asked. “Cops are just gonna get in the way. And by the time they manage to find their asses with both hands, who the fuck knows where the Spawn will have taken Jack.”
“So what do we do?” asked Daphne.
“We go to the park where they took Jack and see what he can find out. Hopefully the cops aren’t swarming all over the place.”
“Then let’s do it.”
Minutes later they were both on the back of Xander’s bike and tearing down the road. Daphne knew that she normally wouldn’t want Xander to drive as fast as he did, but she didn’t want to waste a second. After a time, they arrived at the park. Sure enough, a small group of squad cars was parked nearby, and a handful of police officers were at the scene.
“What’re you going to do?” asked Daphne.
“Well, the cops aren’t exactly going to be offering up any info to a guy like me.”
“I’m the mom,” said Daphne. “They’ll have to tell me something.”
“They won’t,” said Xander. “They’ll give you some BS about how it’s an ongoing investigation and that they’ll let you know when they find anything out.”
Then a thoughtful expression crossed Xander’s face.
“But maybe we can use that to our advantage.”
“What do you mean?”
“Here’s what we’re gonna do: you go to the cops, tell them who you are, and demand that they tell you everything they know. Now, they’re gonna say exactly what I just said, and you’re not going to accept that. You’re gonna throw a fit, demand that they tell you everything, and that you’re not going anywhere until they let you know everything they know about where your boy is.”
“That sounds like a pretty flimsy plan,” Daphne said. “It all rests upon them just throwing their hands up and telling me about their ongoing investigation.”
“No,” said Xander. “What you’re going to be doing is making a distraction. While every detective on the scene is trying to calm you down and get you out of the way, I’m going to be scoping the place out and finding out what I can.”
“I see,” said Daphne, a little more convinced.
“Now,” said Xander, “get to it. I want to see a hell of a show.”
Taking a deep breath, Daphne climbed off of the bike and headed towards the officers.
Here goes nothing, she thought.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Xander
Xander watched carefully as Daphne made her way over to the police officers. Once the officers laid eyes on her, they gathered around quickly to usher her from the scene.
Come on, Daph, he thought. Get ’em good and distracted.
She was far enough away that Xander couldn’t make out what she was saying. But he could tell from her body language that she was amping up the drama and waterworks. She stomped her feet, pushed away nearby officers, and otherwise made as big of a scene as she could. Soon, nearly every cop there was attempting to calm her down while also trying to not anger the mother of the boy for which they were searching.
Nice, Xander thought.
The coast clear, Xander made a quick run around the perimeter of the park, looking for anything he could find. After a little searching, he found a large pile of cigarette butts behind a nearby tree. Taking a position behind it, he saw that it gave a clear vantage point to the park. And judging from the number of butts, it had been more than just one person acting alone. Xander then went to the nearest parking lot and found several tire tracks that were clearly from motorcycles.
Then it’s not just Scar acting alone, he thought. They’ve got the whole crew on this operation.
Turning his attention back to the scene that Daphne was in the process of making, he saw that the cops had finally had enough and were shuffling her from the area as quickly as possible. Once she was away, she headed back to the bike, and Xander trotted over to meet her there.
“Nice work,” said Xander. “You really know how to put on a show.”
“Well, even if I weren’t, it was still frustrating talking to them; they didn’t care that I was the mom, they just wanted me gone.”
“Then good thing you’ve got me on the case,” said Xander with a grin.
“We’ll see about that,” said Daphne.
“Well, I’m thinking that so far you and I make a pretty good team.”
Daphne made a half-smile. “Maybe. But I don’t know how useful I’m going to be at facing down a biker gang.”
“Leave that to me,” said Xander.
Xander took a few steps away from Daphne, bringing in a deep breath as he did.
“What now?” asked Daphne.
“I’m gonna call Scar and let him know that I’m ready to give myself up.”
“Are you serious?” asked Daphne. “They want to kill you!”
Xander hesitated for a moment before speaking.
“That’s … what I’m gonna let them think. But I’ve got a plan, don’t you worry about it.”
“Oh … okay,” said Daphne, seeming to not be put totally at ease by Xander’s words.
Walking away out of earshot, he pulled out his phone and brought up the number for the contact he had at the Devil’s Spawn.
“Who the fuck is this?” came the gruff voice on the other end.
“Xander.”
A long moment passed.
“Then I’ll repeat the question: what the fuck do you want?”
“I wanna talk to Scar.”
“Oh, yeah? And what the fuck do you have to say to him?”
“Put him on,” said Xander. “Stop fucking around.”
The line was silent, and moments later a different voice spoke on the other end. It was a sinister, thin voice that Xander recognized as Scar’s immediately.
“Yes?” he asked.
“This Scar?”
“Why, yes, it is.”
“This is Xander. I want you to know that I’m agreeing to your terms; I’m gonna give myself up.”
“Just like that?” asked Scar. “I would’ve thought the great Xander Ricci would’ve put up a little more of a fight.”
“You kidnapped a fucking kid,” said Xander. “Not sure what kind of play I can make after that.”
Xander was careful with his words; as far as Scar and the rest of the crew knew, Jack was just the son of a woman he’d been involved with.
“Glad to see you’re smarter than you look,” said Scar. “So, you know the terms: you give yourself up, let us put a bullet right through that head of yours, and we’ll give back the kid. Simple as that.”
“How do I know that you won’t go back on your word?”
“Because what the hell would we want with some brat once we’ve used him to get to you? Rest assured, the last sight that you’ll see before going to the great beyond will be this whiny little fuck climbing into the back of a van to head back to his mommy’s.”
“Fine,” growled Xander. “Then tell me where you want to meet.”
“You know where we are,” said Scar. “Come alone and unarmed. And come soon. You try anything, you show up with anyone other than yourself, and the deal’s off.”
Then the line went dead.
Xander sighed and shoved the phone back into his pocket.
“What’s going on?” asked Daphne.
“Just getting everything sorted out with the Spawn,” he said.
But he knew how the handoff was really going to go. Unlike what he was leading Daphne to believe, Xander wasn’t coming back. There wasn’t going to be any last-minute brilliant plan that saved him from the death that the Spawn desperately wanted to deal to him. Xander was going to show up, take a bullet, his last thoughts being a prayer that the Spawn were going to let Jack return safe and sound, just as they’d promised.
But Daphne didn’t need to know any of that.
“When are you going? And I want to come with you.”
“I’m going now,” said Xander. “And y
ou’re not coming with me. No fucking chance.”
“But he’s my son,” demanded Daphne. “I’m not going to just hope that he gets home in one piece.”