by Khloe Wren
“I wish we had more time…”
I froze, my hands stilling. Was he breaking up with me? I tried to take a step away, but his grip tightened on my hips and he looked up, frowning.
“What’s wrong?”
“I can’t do this. I confessed everything to you yesterday and now you want to break up with me?”
I knew I had tears streaming down my cheeks, but I didn’t care. My heart was shattering.
“Whoa.” He stood in a rush, cupping my face and looking me directly in the eyes, holding me captive with that striking blue gaze of his. “Veronica, I’m not breaking up with you. You have me hooked so hard, I don’t think I could ever give you up. I was meaning that Keys will be here soon to pick me up so we don’t have enough time for me to lay you out and make a meal out of you, then get inside you.”
“Oh.”
As relief swept through my heart and my nipples peaked at his final words, heat bloomed in my cheeks at the fact I jumped to the wrong conclusion so quickly. He swiped the tears from my cheeks, then kissed me, pressing those delicious, soft lips of his against mine as he soothed me with his kiss. I slipped my palms up the smooth skin of his torso until my right one rested over his heart and I could feel the steady beat of his heart. He broke the kiss and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me in against his hard body.
“It looks like some shit has come up back in L.A. that I’m going to have to go check out. Not sure when I’ll head off, but it’ll probably be in the next day or so. I’m going to pack up my place while I’m there so I can get everything moved here. Hopefully it won’t take more than a couple of days, and I’ll be back in town. While I’m gone, the club will have someone watching you, making sure you stay safe. So if you see anyone with a Charon MC cut following you around, it’s nothing you need to worry about, okay?”
I stiffened in his embrace for a moment before I pushed against him until he loosened his grip enough I could look up at his face.
“Why would I be in danger? Is this something to do with your past, or mine?”
With a wince, he squeezed his eyes shut, then leaned down to press his lips against my temple before shifting to sit on the bed, taking me with him so I straddled his lap, facing him. His palms stroked up and down my arms and back.
“This one is on me, little dove. I don’t have time to tell you everything right now. The abbreviated version is that in order to leave the mob I had to take out someone powerful. It would appear someone else has taken his place and is coming after me.” He hesitated, looking like he didn’t want to tell me whatever came next.
“Tell me. I need all the information so I can know if I’m in trouble or not. You know all my past secrets, Blade. Trust works both ways.”
He nodded and winced again. Then he blew out a breath and spoke words that had my blood running cold.
“I was part of a team that took out the head of the L.A. mob. Antonio Sabella had been my personal boogie man since I was sixteen. It was freeing to take him out. Took out his fucking brothel. We burned it to the ground so no one else could get the information to start that shit up again.”
“Your burns.”
He nodded. “I slipped, spilling gas down my arm and side. The guys took me to a hospital for treatment when it happened. Keys told me last night that the news has reported a doctor and nurse have gone missing. The same doctor and nurse who treated me.”
My world spun. I wasn’t sure how the hell to respond to what he’d just said.
“You think whoever this is will come for me because I treated you?”
He shook his head. “They’ll come after you for more than that reason. If they know about you, they’ll know how much time we’ve spent together. They’ll know you’re mine. So, I’m going to head to L.A. to deal with this shit, and the club is going to make sure you’re taken care of while I’m gone.”
My heart was racing as my thoughts swirled. I should run. Move on to a new town. Maybe get another identity. Start over. Make sure to not ever get involved with a man again.
His eyes went hard a moment before he cupped my face again. “You will not run away, Veronica. If you don’t feel protected enough to stay here, you can stay in my room at the clubhouse while I’m away. One of the brothers or prospects will give you a ride to and from work and we’ll make sure you’re safe.”
I shook my head as much as I could in his grip. “No, I don’t want to be confined to the clubhouse. I’m comfortable here. I have lots of security and I’m always careful. Always check the cameras before I go outside.” I smiled at his shocked expression. “The silver lining to having lived on the run from my uncle for so long is that I’m kinda paranoid.”
He chuffed out a laugh. “You and Keys will get along so well. He has half the town wired with cameras. Man knows just about everything that goes on in Bridgewater. The guys down at the clubhouse were telling me he was the one who found Scout’s little girl when she ran off because he’d put trackers in her shoes and a few of her favorite toys.”
I grinned at that one as I gave him a nod. “That’s totally something I’d do.”
He leaned in to kiss me again when a loud knock on the door sounded, breaking the moment. He gave me a quick kiss before lifting me to my feet and heading out to answer my door while I grabbed my robe so I could go have a chat with Keys. I wanted to know how he’d placed cameras everywhere without anyone noticing them. Hopefully he’d be able to help me change out the ones I had around my house so if someone did decide to sneak up on me, the cameras would be well hidden and unavoidable. One of my biggest concerns was that someone well-trained would easily detect my amateurish attempt at home security.
Blade
On the short drive over to the clubhouse, Keys stayed quiet as though he knew I was lost in thought. Thoughts about Veronica, about her past, along with my own, crowded my thoughts. My main focus was on who the fuck could have taken over for Antonio Sabella. He had a wife and two kids, but the son didn’t take after his father at all. He was more like his mother—gentle and not at all suited to mob life. I highly doubted he would have stepped up. I hadn’t seen his daughter in years. She’d gone to NYC for college and as far as I knew, had stayed there afterward, so I doubted it was her. It definitely wasn’t his widow. She’d hated what her husband did for a living.
When Keys pulled up outside the clubhouse, I hopped out and walked with him over to the door.
“Your woman is something else. She actually asked me to bug her phone and put a tracker on her shoes. Seriously, why the fuck did she ask me to tag her shoes?”
I chuckled with a shrug. “I mentioned how I’d heard the story about you finding Ariel after she ran off because you had tracked her shoes.”
“Ah. Right. Makes sense now. And yeah, I totally tagged her shoes. I’ve done the same to all the kids. Already got Ashlynn covered.”
Ashlynn’s father, Needles, had just patched in as a prospect, but like me, he was on the accelerated prospect program. He’d been a fully patched in brother with the Satan’s Knights MC up in New York before he got called home to Texas to deal with the con man that was trying to take his mother for all she was worth. That was who’d kidnapped his woman who we’d all gone in to rescue Friday night.
Never a dull fucking moment in an MC it seemed. As proven by the fact we were about to plan a trip over to California to help me deal with my past shit, while that fucker, Godfrey, who we’d caught Friday night, was still in the club’s basement, waiting for his judgment to be served.
And I thought my life in the mob had been intense. At least the Charons fought for the innocents. They might do some seriously questionable shit, but they did it for the right reasons. Like saving Needles’ woman, Bess, and the others that fucker Godfrey had been holding.
I shook my head. What that bastard had done to those young women and man would cause them a long, fucking time to recovery. If they could.
Again, the Charon MC had stepped in to help. Scout had declared all three of Go
dfrey’s victims were welcome to live in Bridgewater and could be secure in the knowledge they were safe and protected here.
I had no clue if any of them would take up Scout on his offer. All three were still in the hospital for physical and/or mental treatment. I shook those thoughts free. I had more pressing concerns right now.
I followed Keys inside and we headed to the kitchen and got ourselves a coffee each before we came back out to the main room. It was thankfully late enough all the stragglers from last night’s festivities had woken up and moved on. Early morning on the weekends the main room looked like a fucking frat house, with club whores and brothers all over. I was glad they’d cleared out already. The last thing I wanted to see this morning was naked club whores and men.
Scout stood as we came in. “Good, you’re here. Right, Blade, Bank, Nitro, Machete and Keys, get your asses into church now.”
I raised an eyebrow as I followed Scout and the others to the meeting room. A man didn’t normally get to enter that space until he was a fully patched in brother. Copying the others, I put my phone and other shit into a locker. Then I couldn’t help but feel the moment in my bones as I crossed the threshold.
The table up the front had seats for the officers, while the rest of the room was rows of seats facing the table. There was an aura to the place that made it so much more than the simple set-up it was.
“Take a seat, men, let’s get this party started.”
We all followed Scout’s order quickly. Along with Scout, Nitro and Keys took seats from behind the table and plonked them in front of it to sit in. The rest of us sat in the front row and waited for the club president to start.
He grinned at me. “Welcome to your first time in church, Blade. Prospects don’t normally step foot in here until after they’re patched in, but this room is the safest place to talk freely. Keys, explain what you’ve dug up.”
Keys cleared his throat and glanced at me before he started speaking.
“As you all know, we went over to L.A. a month ago and with Blade’s help, we took out Antonio Sabella, the head of the L.A. mob. Blade suffered some burns that required him to be hospitalized. We didn’t go in with our colors flying, but Blade set shit up so we knew the chances of some blow-back were high. I’ve been watching the media coming out of California, and yesterday I found something. The doctor and nurse who treated Blade have gone missing.”
Nitro interrupted, “How long?”
“Five days. There’s been no contact made with their families, no sign of them either online or out in the world. Their bank accounts are untouched.”
Scout cut in. “Someone is holding them, and not for ransom from their families. We’re thinking this is about Blade. Whoever stepped up to take over from Antonio is out for blood. Blade, anyone come to mind for who’d take over?”
I scrubbed a palm over the back of my neck while I racked my brain. “I can’t think of anyone that we didn’t take out last month.”
“What about his kids?”
I shrugged. “Son doesn’t have it in him. He’s not built for mob life. The last I knew about the daughter was she was living in New York, but who knows? Maybe, Antonio just made sure I never saw her around.”
I’d had no fucking clue he’d been holding Josefina for all those years, so maybe I was wrong about the daughter. I looked at Keys. “You find anything on his wife or either of his kids?”
He gave me a nod. “Rosa and Marco, the wife and son, cleared out of L.A. after Sabilla died. Guess his old lady was looking for an out and took the one we gave her. Marco is young, still in college. He’s studying architecture. From everything I’ve found, they both look like they’re moving on and not looking back.”
The hair on the back of my neck tingled. “What about Elita?”
“She’s in L.A. and it looks like she’s got her own little business going. My gut tells me this kidnapping shit is her. Looks like Antonio helped her set shit up a few years back and she’s been building her own little empire. Guess she was the one who took after her father, rather than the son, but the mob would never have accepted her as their head, so daddy dearest gave her a side hustle.”
“Fuck. I knew so little…”
Bank slapped my shoulder. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You knew enough for us to take him out and shut down that fucked-up warehouse of his. You knew enough to save Sparrow. Sabella wasn’t a fool, he knew you were only with him because he had you over a barrel. Of course he was going to keep shit from you.”
Scout nodded. “Exactly. What do you know about Elita? Ever been to her compound?”
My shoulders slumped in defeat. “I didn’t even fucking know she had a damn compound. I saw her a few times, but tried to ignore her. She’s an entitled, rich fucking brat.”
“With power. Just fucking great. Woman with a god complex coming after you, and us, looking to avenge her bastard of a father.” Scout paused to shake his head. “Keys and I are staying here, but the rest of you are heading to L.A. in an hour. Keys will keep digging into this shit, and keep you posted with any new information he finds. Take a van. You might as well pack up your shit and bring it back with you while you’re there, Blade.”
He stood, grabbed the gavel and pounded it once on the table. “Go say your goodbyes before your trip, men. No fucking clue how long it’ll take you, but we have a responsibility to find that nurse and doctor. Their current situation is on us. Let’s do what we do best and go deliver some fucking justice, Charon style.”
Chapter Eight
Blade
It had taken a day and a half to get to my hidden place in Moreno Valley and when we’d rolled up to the trailer, I’d been looking forward to getting inside and out of the blistering sun. Maybe find a little privacy to check in with Veronica. But the second I went to unlock the door only to discover the lock had been busted, I knew shit wasn’t going to be pretty.
“On alert, men. Someone’s been here, and no one outside of the Charons should know about this place.”
Nitro pulled his gun and flicked off the safety. “Machete—with me, around the back. Bank, stick close to Blade.”
I pulled my own side arm as did Bank, then with my back against the wall beside the door, I reached over and shoved it open with a quick movement that only left my arm out in the open for a few seconds. When no gunfire greeted me, I risked looking around the door jam and gagged as I cursed.
I stepped into my trailer and glanced around the main living room and kitchen, waiting for Nitro and Machete to come in from the back before I went near the mess on my fucking coffee table. Once all four of us stood in the hallway, I nodded to the living area.
“Found the nurse.”
“Ah, fuck. Dammit.”
Nitro was the only one who spoke out loud, but I was certain we were all saying worse in our minds. The poor woman had died hard for the crime of caring for my wounds that day last month. Her dead, glassy eyes were focused on the door, as though she’d died on my table waiting for rescue. Guilt tore through me and I turned and strode down the hallway and out the back door. Putting my gun away, I pulled out my phone and started making a few calls to the men who I’d worked with that weren’t evil, fucking monsters.
It took five calls before I got someone to answer.
“Man, you shouldn’t be calling. Go find a rock to hide under and don’t ever come out.”
It wasn’t much of a greeting, but it was what I’d expected from him.
“Can’t do that. Just found the dead nurse on my fucking table. You know where the doc is that she took?”
“Elita is rather fond of her new toy. There’s nothing you can do for him, Blade. His fate is already sealed. She’s got men out looking for you. Sent Nicolas to Texas to follow your trail.”
Panic lit my blood. “When? When did she send him to Texas?”
“Day after her father’s body was found in that car.”
“Fuck. I gotta go. Thanks.”
“Go bury yourself somewhere, ma
n. It’s the only way you’ll survive her warpath.”
I hung up. I couldn’t do that. Couldn’t leave that doctor in her hands, and there was no way I would leave Veronica vulnerable to Elita, either. She’d been through enough already, the last thing she needed was my past to come hunt her down.
I pulled up Keys’ number in the secure app he’d told me to use and hit dial. “Found the nurse.”
“Where and in what condition?”
His voice was all business, which I appreciated. “Dead on my coffee table here at my apparently not-so-secret place. Front door was busted open. We’ve cleared the property and no one else is here.”
“Fuck. I’m not surprised, but dammit. That woman was a fucking innocent.”
I couldn’t agree more with him and Elita would pay dearly for this stunt, but that wasn’t my priority right now.
“After finding her, I rang a man I know is solid. He told me Elita sent someone to tail me. He’s in Texas. I need to know Veronica is all right.”
“Have you tried to call her?”
I shook my head, even though he couldn’t see me. “No, I’m too worked up. She’ll know something’s wrong and panic, probably run off. She’s still skittish. I can’t spook her, but I need to fucking know she’s okay.”
“All right. Let me bring up the feed from the camera outside her place.”
I listened as he tapped at his laptop, pacing while I waited for him to say something. I stopped in my tracks when he cursed.
“Something’s up on her street. Cops and reporters all over the fucking place.”
“Can you tell who’s house they’re in front of?”