by Sam Crescent
She saw tears in his eyes and she hated seeing him this way. Lewis was the hero.
“I think about that day all the time. That moment I heard you scream. I can’t get it out of my head.”
“It was a life-changing moment for both of us.” She smiled. “I wonder if I hadn’t been taken, whether you’d have still been that jock and married the popular girl. Had a couple of kids, and never done this.”
“What do you think you’d have done?” Lewis asked. “What did you want to do?”
“I loved writing. I loved making stories. It’s something that has never changed, not once.” She pulled away, tucking some hair behind her ears. “You need to learn to take a break, have some fun.”
“Fun, what is that?”
“I don’t know. I was hoping you’d tell me.” She smiled at him, giving him a wink.
She finally heard him laugh, and it was the sweetest sound in the world to her.
Chapter Two
Lewis finished signing the last of his contracts, and spun around to look out of the massive window behind him. Like his penthouse apartment, this overlooked the city, and he thought about the conversation he’d had last night with Mandy.
In all the years he’d been hunting kidnappers and traffickers, he had realized long ago it was a business to them, something that couldn’t be switched off no matter how hard he tried.
This was his palace in a way. A place for him to look out and try to find a sense of peace. After so many years, he’d finally found Mandy, and she was living with him. He could take care of her. She was also being tutored by a college professor, not that she was taking any college classes. The professor was trying to fill the gaps and helping her to play catch-up on the education that she’d lost. She could read and write, of course, as that was something that couldn’t be taken away.
Everything else was a blank, so the professor he’d arranged for her to see was more than aware of her gaps and was helping to fill them in. Lewis made sure there was a bodyguard with her, but she asked for him not to be constantly at her side so she was able to attend her lessons without someone else watching her.
“Sir, Jamie Breeland is here,” his PA said, speaking over the intercom.
“Send him in.”
He didn’t turn around, even as the door opened and closed.
“Wow, since when do I have to ask permission to enter here?” Jamie asked.
Finally, Lewis turned to smile at his friend. “You can never be too careful. Cameron follows everything by the book. I’ll let her know that you and the other guys from the club can enter without permission, unless I’m in an important meeting.”
“Cameron wouldn’t let me pass. She’s a hard-ass, so I don’t see anyone getting to you.” Jamie crossed a leg over his knee and stared at him. “So, how are things?”
“Mandy has already given me the lecture that you guys think I’m running myself into the ground.”
“Is this to prove you’re not giving up just because you found Mandy?” Jamie asked.
This was something that had hurt. For a short time, he’d simply basked in knowing he’d gotten Mandy back. He’d not given up on the other women, and never would, but his friends and fellow MC brothers had believed he had. It couldn’t have been further from the truth.
“No.”
“Look, we’ve all been talking, and I’m here to apologize on behalf of the club. We shouldn’t have pointed a finger at you.”
“It’s fine.” Lewis leaned forward. “There was a lot of stuff I had in place that you didn’t know about. Guys willing to find out information for a price.”
“Are you okay?” Jamie asked.
“I’m fine.”
“You seem tired.”
Lewis couldn’t sleep, and hadn’t been able to for some time. It didn’t matter though. He’d been surviving on little to no sleep since he was eighteen years old. At the time, his parents had wanted him to go into therapy to talk about his fucking feelings. He’d told them to shove therapy up their ass. The only help he’d ever get was if he found Mandy.
“You know it wasn’t your fault,” Jamie said.
Pulling out of his thoughts, he looked at Jamie. “What?”
“Mandy being taken. All the years she suffered at the hands of those monsters. You can’t blame yourself.”
Lewis ran a hand down his face, feeling like everything was heavy. “I watched them take her.”
“You were a kid.”
“I was eighteen years old, and I knew what I was doing.”
Jamie sighed. “The way Mandy looks at you, she doesn’t blame you, Lewis. You need to start believing in yourself and forgiving yourself. If not, you’re going to live a very miserable existence.”
The intercom sounded.
“Sir, erm, I’ve got a man out here claiming to be your father. He looks really angry.”
She was whispering over the intercom.
“I’ll be right out,” Lewis said.
“She’s a delight,” Jamie said.
“Cameron’s a hard worker. She needed a break after everything she’s been through.” It was a messy divorce, and a kid that the father tried to get sole custody of. Lewis had hired the best lawyers to help find her husband’s skeletons and make the mess go away. Since then, Cameron had been very loyal, and followed his instructions without any mistakes.
“Moving on from that little warning I see in your eyes. Your father is here?”
Lewis sighed. “It would seem that Mandy’s parents believe that I’m keeping her locked up against her will. This is their way of fighting to get her back.” He shrugged. “They said they’d find whatever means they could to get access to her. She wants to see them face to face, and tell them to fuck off.”
Until then, he had to deal with his dad. He’d not seen him in a long time.
He’d cut off all contact, and right now he really didn’t want to have anything to do with him.
“Fine, fine, I’ll leave you to deal with family. Are you coming to the club tonight? Chill out, relax, take it easy?” Jamie asked.
The way he was saying it, Lewis couldn’t resist. “I’ll be there.”
“You know it’s going to be okay, Lewis,” Jamie said as they both stood by the door. “You’re not alone, and you won’t ever be alone. We’re all here, and we’ve got your back. You just need to ask.”
They were his friends as well as his club. To many the Billionaire Bikers MC was a joke, and maybe it was. They didn’t live or work like real MCs, but it was his life. He’d give his life for each of the nine other men that were part of the club.
“Thank you.”
“Is it bad that I want to see who your daddy is?” Jamie asked, making Lewis laugh.
If it was anyone, it was Jamie who could make him laugh.
“You can even be introduced to my dad if you stay away from my PA.”
Jamie groaned. “You’re a monster. Holding my needs to ransom.”
Lewis laughed, and it made him pause. He’d not laughed in so long.
“Yeah, now you’re seeing why we’re worried about you. When was the last time you had any fun?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he left his office, and there by his PA was his father. He’d have recognized him anywhere. The judgmental bastard stood out in a crowd, and Lewis had made sure he never walked in his shoes.
“Son,” he said.
“Jamie, this is my father.”
“Nice to meet you, sir,” Jamie said.
Before his father could speak, Jamie was already winking at Cameron. “See you around, sweetheart.”
Lewis rolled his eyes. “Sorry about him.”
“He’s harmless, sir.”
“Hold my calls for me,” he said. That was his code for if his father hadn’t left in five minutes, he wanted an excuse to get out of it.
“Yes, sir.”
Entering his office, he didn’t extend the invitation to his father, and knew the older man would enter even without one.
Going behind his desk, he grabbed his ball that he liked to squeeze to help relieve stress. This was the first time his father had been here in his domain.
Sitting back in his chair, Lewis watched as his father entered and took a seat.
“Do you know why I’m here?” Gordon asked.
“Yes.”
Gordon Cox had aged well, and it made Lewis feel a little better to know he would as well. Most of the Billionaire Bikers didn’t have a family. Everyone at the club knew he had a family that he’d walked away from.
They had tried to put him in a hospital because of his obsession with finding Mandy. Since then, he’d cut off all contact.
“You can’t keep her away from her family.”
“The family that stopped looking.”
“You can’t hold that against them. They were told to move on with their lives.”
“And yet I’m the one that found her, and you think I’m the one who’s stopping her from getting into contact with her parents?” he asked, squeezing the ball even tighter.
“You’re not?”
“She’s a grown-ass woman, Gordon. Mandy can do whatever the hell she wants, and doesn’t need me to tell her what to do.”
His father looked pained. “They want to see her.”
“She doesn’t want to see them. I’m helping Mandy. That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. Surely you remember that.”
“We made a mistake, son.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“You were obsessed.”
“For the right reason. She was alive, and they were hurting her. I saved her. That’s all I will ever do is save her, help her. You want to take me on, do it. I’ve got nothing to hide.”
“They just want to see her. To hold her, to know she was okay.”
“Then they’re going to have to wait. If you think for a second I’m going to force Mandy to do something she doesn’t want to do, think again. That’s all she has ever done since she was taken at ten years old, been forced to do what she doesn’t want to do.”
****
Mandy held her books to her chest as she made her way out of the college grounds. Watching the students made her wish she was like them, that she didn’t have a history like her own. None of them knew who she was, but that was fine. She didn’t want anyone to know about her past.
So much time had been lost with being abducted.
In all the time she’d been taken, she hadn’t been allowed to read a book, study, or do anything that helped improve her learning.
All she had was the basics that every ten-year-old had. Fortunately, she was working toward her education. At the moment, no one would hire her, unless of course she worked for an escort agency, which she really didn’t want to do. That was the education she’d been given. How to please a man, and even a woman.
Pushing those thoughts aside, she focused on what she had been doing. In her notebook, she’d been writing down a story. It wasn’t really a story, but her life. With each word she wrote, she felt like a part of her soul was being repaired.
What she was writing, she didn’t want to talk to someone about.
All of her life it hadn’t been all bad, which was probably what made it even worse. There had been good times and bad.
She’d been a kid for a couple of years, and during that, they had given her Christmases and presents, which helped her to trust them a little.
The pain would follow, then the lessons, and, if she failed, punishments.
It didn’t take her long to realize that if she was good at what she did, they left her alone, and she could blank everything else out.
Leaving the college grounds, she looked up, and there, leaning against a very expensive-looking car, was Lewis.
Every inch of him was the wealthy businessman, and just seeing him made her smile. He was her girlhood crush, and since being with him, she had fallen in love with him once again. He didn’t look at her with those sad eyes, trying to judge her, or wonder what she’d been through.
She didn’t know if he even realized that he looked at her with a smile.
“Wow, am I getting escorted home now?” she asked.
“I wanted to see you. I saw my dad today.” He opened the car door for her.
Climbing inside, she held her books in a death grip and waited for him to climb behind the wheel.
“Are you going to make me go and see them?”
“No. Not a chance.” He cupped her cheek and turned her head so she was looking at him. “I would never make you do anything that you don’t want to do. I hope you believe that.”
“I do.” She smiled. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have thought that for a second.”
“I promised you that you could do whatever you wanted, and if that means you don’t want to see them, then I’ll handle it.”
“He’s going to cause you trouble though, right?”
“Don’t parents do that?” he asked.
She shook her head. “No. I don’t want you to get into any trouble because of me. It’s not worth it.”
“You’re worth it, Mandy. Always.” There were a few seconds of silence, and Mandy tried to think of something to say that would at least make him see reason, but she was coming up with nothing. What could she say?
Her parents had given up on her. They’d had another kid not long after, and learning that, she had felt they’d replaced her.
She didn’t want to go and see them, talk to them.
Yet, they were forcing the issue. Why did everyone feel the need to push? She knew it had been two years, but still, she’d been gone a lot longer than that. Surely they could give her time. All of her life that was all anyone had ever done to her. Push, push, and more pushing. Her own family wouldn’t even grant her any peace, and that in itself hurt.
“I’ve got to head to the clubhouse tonight. Do you want to come?”
Mandy couldn’t help but smile at him talking about a clubhouse as if the Billionaire Bikers MC was like every other club. He’d explained about other MCs and what they did.
The clubhouse was a luxurious building. The club women were paid thousands of dollars to be on hand. Everything about an MC, only branched out for billionaires. It was really funny. He’d told her once that they were not really taken seriously, and she believed him. The thing was, he made sure the world took him seriously with everything that he did. Saving women, taking out traffickers, or bringing them to justice.
The Billionaire Bikers MC may be a joke to a lot of people. To the women they saved, they were the real deal.
Heroes, just like Lewis. Her man.
“Can I come with you? I don’t want to be alone at your place right now.”
“Why not?”
“In case your father turns up, or worse, my parents. What if they get someone to snatch me or order me to talk to them?”
“That won’t happen, Mandy. You’re a full-grown woman and can make your own decisions.”
“You yourself said they could make things difficult.”
“Yes, but only by spreading rumors. They can try to take me on, baby. It’s not going to happen. I won’t let it.”
“I’d still rather go to the clubhouse with you.”
She liked being surrounded by the men of the club. They were fierce men, loyal, and above all, nice. She liked being around nice people. They all helped her to believe in a better world.
Each one of them was there for a reason. It was a brotherhood, and she liked that.
Lewis changed direction, and she knew they were heading toward the clubhouse. She was one of the few people to see it.
What they did kept their identities in check. Only a few people knew of what they actually did, and none of them searched for credit for what they did either.
“How was college?” he asked.
“It was okay. It’s not really college, though. I’m more like a high school kid being tutored. Some classes are boring. Others fun.” She shrugged. “Leaving the professor’s office, I
must look like the odd one out, leaving the grounds that way.”
“You’re a beautiful woman, Mandy. Don’t let anyone get to you. You’re where you need to be. You’ve got this air around you. Like an aura. You’re kind of untouchable.”
She burst out laughing. “Is that a line?”
“Nope. That’s the truth.”
She didn’t have time to ask any more questions as he pulled into the parking lot. Climbing out of the car, she held onto her bag, and together they made their way up on the elevator, and entered what she considered paradise.
It was so clean.
Classical music played throughout the rooms, and that let her know Malcolm was in residence. If heavy metal was playing, that was pure Jamie.
Mandy took a seat at one of the tables and pulled out her books, flipping them open. Staring at the math equation, she wrinkled her nose and moved on to the worksheets she’d been assigned.
Tucking her black hair behind her ear, she continued to work through her sheets. Lewis had gone off, heading toward the back. That was where the main set up of the club was. He dealt with information gathering.
She jumped as someone sat at the table.
It was John, another of the billionaire men.
There was Russell, known as Russ, Richard, John, Dave, Jamie, Sean, Malcolm, Blake, Jackson, and finally Lewis.
Those were the ten men of the club. They were fierce, loyal, rich, and handsome.
“How are you doing?” John asked.
“I’m doing good.” She lifted up a textbook. “Seems kind of mundane to learn it after everything, you know?”
They all knew what had happened to her. What she’d done to survive, and how she kept giving them information to help them find who they needed.
She’d been part of that world to the point she’d known where they’d hide women, what certain words meant, and how to catch them out.
Lewis called her a well of information.