by K. J. Dahlen
He sighed heavily. “I know,” Sam whispered as he patted her hand. “But this is bigger than just a little girl who’s lost.”
Quinn frowned and looked around at the group of men standing there. “What do you mean?”
“Well, from what Chance tells me that little girl’s daddy owes a very bad man some serious coin and he might try to get out of debt by selling her to him.”
“What the hell?” Quinn whispered in total shock.
Sam nodded. “Besides being a miserable excuse for a husband and a father, Lester Pearlman owes Jonah Rossi big money. Rossi is known for his fetish involving young girls. I won’t tell you what he does with them, I’m sure you can almost guess that. But just know that we aren’t going to let him get his nasty hands on this one.”
Quinn was stunned by this announcement. Then she got mad. “He wouldn’t dare!”
Sam scoffed. “Oh baby girl, he would.”
Quinn nearly growled. “Well, he isn’t going to, not with this little girl.”
“No he isn’t,” Sam agreed.
Quinn just stared at her father then lifted her eyes to the group of men standing around him. “That’s why we’re here isn’t it? You think he’s going to try and take her, don’t you?” Her voice was low, almost a whisper.
Sam nodded. “But he won’t come here and we have someone watching all the players. Rossi, Lester and Mona.”
Quinn nodded then sat there thinking about something. Reaching in her back pocket, she brought out her phone and brought up her pictures. Sliding the phone over to Sam, she told him, “I took those last night before and after her bath. From what I can see, she doesn’t have any reason to trust anyone.”
Sam stared into her eyes for a moment then looked down at her phone. The pictures on her phone showed Destiny as she looked yesterday. She was unkempt, her hair was all messy and hadn’t been combed for a long time, days maybe. He could see bruises on her cheeks and arms. Her clothes were dirty and hanging in disarray on her thin body.
Sam flipped through the rest of the photos and saw her cleaned up, hair combed and fresh clothes on. The haunted look was still in her eyes but there was something else there as well. In the later pictures, Destiny had a sliver of hope in her eyes.
Sam looked up and caught Quinn’s eyes. “We’ll keep her safe. We’ll keep you both safe.”
Quinn frowned. “You think he’ll come after me? Why would he do that?”
“You stopped him from getting his hands on Destiny.” Chance put his hand on her shoulder. “Rossi is going to want his pound of flesh, even if he can’t get Destiny.”
“Fuck a duck.” Quinn felt stunned.
“Don’t you worry Quinn,” Gator assured her. “We won’t let him anywhere near you or Destiny. That shit ain’t gonna happen on my watch.”
“Mine either,” several other men called out the same thing.
“Thanks guys, I appreciate it.” She nodded at the group of guys standing around the table. Dropping her head down to her hands, she closed her eyes. “How can people be so damn cruel?” Tears dripped down on the table. “She’s only a baby for god’s sake.”
“I’ll kill the bastard before I’ll let him take either of you,” Sam vowed. “You can depend on that.”
Chance nodded his head as he patted her hand.
Quinn wiped the tears from her cheeks and turned her head to look at Destiny. She saw her staring at the pages in front of her and trying so hard to color in the lines. Quinn studied her tiny little face and hands for a long time before she turned back to her father. “We have to save her from that life. We have to save her from going back to her parents as well. If we give her back, they’ll end up killing her. I just know it.”
“We won’t.” Sam patted her shoulder. “That little girl isn’t going anywhere. She belongs to us now. We take care of our own.”
Chance knelt beside her on the floor. “Nothing is going to happen to her or to you. Not while I draw a breath.”
Quinn cupped his chin with her hands and smiled. “I want you to know something. I happen to love you very much. You may or may not want to know that and maybe here, at this very moment, isn’t the proper place to tell you but I do. I just wanted you to know that. Just in case something bad happens to me, I want you to know.”
Chance grinned. “I love you too. And right here, right now is a good time to tell you.”
Destiny got off her chair and brought her coloring book over to Quinn to show her what she’d done.
Quinn peered down at the picture and was surprised at how good it was. Turning to Destiny, she smiled. “Wow, that’s very good.”
Destiny smiled. Her eyes lit up and she showed off her toothy grin. Then she turned and went back to the table and crawled up on her chair. Grabbing a color, she began coloring a new picture.
CHAPTER NINE
Across town, Wes pulled up to his friend Wyatt’s house. He found Wyatt in the kitchen drinking a cup of coffee.
Wyatt nodded at him and watched as Wes poured himself a cup.
“Anybody moving next door?” Wes finally asked.
“Nope, not yet.” Wyatt looked over the edge of his cup, “Do you really think old Lester would sell his kid to Rossi?”
Wes scoffed. “To save his own ass, you bet I do.”
“Are we gonna stop him?” Wyatt frowned.
Wes grinned. “You bet your sweet ass we are.”
“Well hot damn.” Wyatt smiled. Then he lost his smile. “And what’s gonna happen to that sweet little girl?”
“Destiny will be protected by the Sin’s Bastards. They’ll keep her safe enough.”
Wyatt nodded. “That’s a good thing cuz her mama and papa never watched out for her. Most of the time they didn’t even notice her. That poor child, maybe now somebody will give a shit about what happens to her.”
Their conversation was interrupted by the sounds of a vehicle pulling up out front. Wes and Wyatt got up and peeked out the window. A dark blue sedan was idling at the curb. There were two men walking to Lester’s front door.
Wes grabbed up his phone, took a photo of the car’s license plates, and emailed them to Chance. Chance would know who the car belonged too, or at least he could find out.
They both looked over at the front door when Lester opened it and began yelling at the two men standing there. He didn’t appear to be very happy about being woke up.
One of the men reached out and slapped him. Lester glared at them but kept his mouth shut. The other man shoved him back into the house and in the next few minutes, they heard a woman scream. Her scream was shut off short and Wes glanced over at Wyatt and shrugged.
A few minutes later, both men dragged Lester out of the house and over to the vehicle at the curb, Lester didn’t seem to be in very good condition. Wes could see blood all over the other man’s face and he didn’t seem to be too alert.
Wes dialed a number and spoke quietly to Chance. When he hung up, he looked over at Wyatt. “We need to follow that vehicle and find out where they’re taking Lester.”
Wyatt grinned. “Got a better idea. If we leave here now they’ll know we’re following them. Bart Carter lives three blocks away. We can call him and have him trail the car. They won’t even know he’s there.”
Wes nodded, “Call him then before they leave.”
Wyatt made the call while Wes kept his eyes on the vehicle.
The two men pushed Lester in the back seat then they got in behind him and the car pulled away from the curb.
Wes turned his head and saw Mona standing in the doorway of her house.
She was holding a cloth to her mouth and she had a black eye but she never cried out as her husband was driven away. Then she turned and went back inside her house quietly closing the door behind her.
CHAPTER TEN
Deke swiped his phone ending the call and looked over at Cassie. “Chance says Rossi just made his move. Sam thinks Mona will show up for Destiny.”
Cassie shook her head. �
�She’s crazy if she thinks I’ll turn her daughter back over to her. She abandoned her.”
“Honey, she thinks just being her mother is good enough. I don’t think she’s smart enough to know what’s going to happen next.”
Cassie got to her feet and stomped over to where Deke was standing. “I don’t give a shit. There’s no way even if Destiny was here that I would allow that woman to just come in and take her back.”
Deke wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer. “I love it when you get all territorial on me. I think it’s sexy as hell.”
Cassie grinned and snuggled closer. “I think you’re sexy as hell,” she whispered in his ear.
“Should I lock the door?” He rubbed his hard cock against her pelvis.
Cassie sighed. “I wish we had time for that, oh good lord I wish we had time for that but I don’t think we do.” She brushed her hand across his cock.
Deke sighed. “When this crisis is over you and I are going to lock our front door and fuck for three days. The only ones allowed in the same house will be our kids.”
Cassie chuckled. “Three days? Is that all?” she teased.
Deke leaned down and crushed her lips under his. “That’s long enough to take the edge off.”
Before Cassie could respond a knock came at the door. She groaned and leaned her head on his chest briefly before she pulled away. She gave him a smoldering look before crossing over to the door and opening it.
Mona Pearlman stood there with terror in her eyes and wringing her hands.
Cassie stood back and allowed the woman to enter. Mona rushed in and began talking before she noticed Deke standing there.
“Please I need to collect my daughter. I need…” Her eyes opened wide and she couldn’t speak.
Cassie walked over to her desk and sat down. “Please sit and we can talk about it.” She motioned to the chair across from where she sat.
Mona sat down and looked at Cassie. “I know I left Destiny here yesterday. Lester called me and told me to get my ass home. I didn’t have a choice. But I need to take her home now.”
Cassie just stared at the other woman for a moment. “Mona, you know we try not to judge people here. You wouldn’t have come here if you didn’t need our help and everyone needs help at some point in their lives. But when you didn’t come back for your child, we called DSS. They came and picked her up last night. She isn’t here anymore.”
Mona began crying at that point. She wrung her hands so hard they became red. “You shouldn’t have done that,” she whispered. “Oh god, Lester is going to be so mad.”
Cassie just stared at her for a moment. Then she leaned forward, “Mona, I don’t think you realize what’s going on here. You abandoned your daughter. We had to call DSS. Now she’s in the system. Now you have to prove you can take care of her before they’ll even think of giving her back to you. I didn’t want to do it but you left me with no choice.”
Mona pulled at her hair. “No...” she cried out. “I have to talk to Lester. I have to get her back. Time is running out.” She turned to dash out the door.
After she was gone, Cassie looked over at Deke. “Well, that went better than I expected.”
Deke shook his head. “I don’t think she has any idea what’s going on. I can’t imagine a worse mother. She wasn’t even concerned about Destiny. All she was concerned about was how mad Lester was going to be.” He scoffed. “It was like nothing else mattered to her.”
Cassie nodded. “She isn’t the worst mother I’ve seen,” she said quietly.
Deke felt shattered by her words for a moment then stomped over to where she was sitting. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her hard. “Oh baby, I’m sorry, I forgot for a moment.”
Cassie buried her face in his chest. “Don’t even think about that, I made it despite the obstacles thrown at me. I’m tougher than that. I found my way to you and you have always been there when I needed you. Now we have to get Destiny to a safe place. She’s the one who needs our help now.”
Deke kissed the top of her head. “And we’ll be there for her. Rossi and her parents aren’t going to get their hands on her. We got her now.”
“Thank god,” Cassie whispered.
“I’d better call Sam and let him know what went down here.” Deke stepped away and made his call. While he was on the phone, Amos came to the door.
“I need to tell you guys something,” he stated as he walked into Cassie’s office.
“What now?” Cassie asked almost tiredly.
“Rossi grabbed Lester this morning. He took him to a warehouse down by the old paper mill.” He nodded at Deke. “We had a guy follow him and as soon as our man picked up the trail, he backed off so no one would make him. We’ve been watching the warehouse for the last two days.”
“We know about the snatch, we had someone watching the Pearlman house.” Deke frowned. “But why have you and your men been watching Rossi? Do you know something about the man that we don’t?”
Amos snorted. “Did you think you were the only ones keeping an eye on this town?” When Deke didn’t answer Amos went on, “We been hearing rumors about Rossi for a while now and they aren’t the good kind. So we’ve been watching him and a few other players in this town. Then yesterday when we heard his name mixed up in this, we put more men on him.”
“Do you know what he uses the warehouse for?” Deke asked.
Amos glanced quickly at Cassie then turned to Deke. “Well, from what we’ve been able to determine, he uses it as his office outside the race course. All we can do is speculate mind you but we don’t think the business he conducts there is strictly legal if you get what I’m saying. People are coming and going all hours of the day and night. The only way in or out is through a gate that he has manned at all times and we think he’s got the back part of the warehouse set up as a brothel. The cars and men that go to that part of the warehouse are usually high rollers.”
Deke thought about this for a moment then asked, “How long have you been watching this guy to determine that and why have you never mentioned it before now?”
Amos scoffed. “I never mentioned it because the man is too smart to be caught out in the open breaking the law. Some of the space in the warehouse is used to conduct business.”
“How do you know that for sure?” Cassie questioned. “What kind of business does a man conduct in a warehouse anyway?”
Amos stared at Deke as if he were hesitant to say then turned to Cassie. “Miss Cassie I won’t tell you that. It’s not the type of business a woman should know about.”
Cassie bristled and turned to Deke to bitch about this statement then caught the look in his eyes and settled down. Maybe she didn’t want to know about it after all. Instead, she asked, “What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking we need to get our women and kids in lockdown,” Deke stated.
“Lockdown? But why?” Cassie was startled.
“Because this Rossi guy thinks he’s got muscle and he’s going to come after whatever he wants and he wants that little girl. He thinks he’s going to walk right in here and take her by force if he has to and I don’t want to get caught unawares.” He looked over at Amos. “Can you and some of your men get Cassie and the kids back to the clubhouse? I don’t want her to be alone until she gets back there. I have to make some calls and set some protection up.”
“You bet we will,” Amos agreed.
Cassie reached out and laid her hand on her husband’s arm. “Are you sure about this?”
Deke looked down at her. “I’m not taking any chances, not with you or those kids in the nursery. You’re my entire world and there’s no way I’ll risk losing that. Please just go back to the club and wait for me to join you.”
Cassie nodded. Leaning toward him, she kissed him quickly. “Don’t be too long.”
He nodded. “I just have to make sure everything we own is protected. If this idiot wants a war, he’ll get one. If he thinks he can take something we protec
t, he’s going to be sorry.”
“Come on Miss Cassie,” Amos urged. “Let’s get you and your babies somewhere safe.”
Cassie left the office to collect her babies. Amos, Frankie and Joel met her there and hustled her and the kids out to the SUV. Moments later, they were on their way to the clubhouse.
Deke watched them leave while he was on the phone to Gator and Sam. He’d gotten the phone coordination going and the women and kids on their way back to the protection of the club. The women knew the protocol and they knew Deke would only call for a lockdown if it were needed.
Within the next two hours, Deke was on his way back to the club. He had his men watching the city. At the moment, everything was quiet but he knew it wouldn’t stay that way. Whispers of unrest had been reported to him through some of the men watching Rossi and Deke knew before long, the man himself would make his move.
He wasn’t surprised Amos and his men were watching the players in this drama but he’d been surprised when Chance’s mechanic had touched base with him. Apparently, he and his friends were looking out as well.
Deke wasn’t sure what they were watching or how much help they would be but they seemed to know what they were doing. He just hoped they didn’t get themselves killed by being somewhere they shouldn’t be and getting caught. Jonah Rossi wasn’t known to be a forgiving man when someone stuck their nose in his business.
Deke didn’t think the man was connected with the Family as he knew it, he didn’t think so but he wasn’t going to dismiss the man altogether either. Before he left Redemption House, he placed a call to Leon.
“Hello Deke, to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?” Leon asked.
“I have to ask a question. I don’t ask you about your business, I don’t want to know but I have to ask this time.”
Leon paused then said, “Why are you asking?”
“We have a possible threat coming down on us and I need to know if Jonah Rossi is part of your organization.”