MOBSTER’S BABY_Esposito Family Mafia

by Nicole Fox

  “Mama—”

  “Shh, baby, shh.”

  I could hear them tearing up the house. Glass shattered and broke. I heard them turning over furniture. Hastily, I sent a text message to Trip, not willing to risk them hearing me talking on the phone.

  Message Sent – Trip: Jackals are at the house. Inside. We’re hiding. Send help.

  I clutched the phone in my hand and held Rose close to me as she shook in my arms. The front of my nightgown was soaked; she was crying silently, and I rocked her back and forth as I heard them making their way up the stairs.

  “Come out, come out, wherever you are.” There was a sing-song voice, one I recognized as Rigger’s right hand man, Callum. My heart sank as what I had just been surmising was confirmed.

  I scooted farther back into the closet with Rose, keeping her head pressed to my chest as I felt her continuing to shake. I tried to steady my breathing so that she wouldn’t pick up on my panic. I had to be strong for both of us.

  The noises got louder and louder, until they were in my room. I listened to them talk.

  “Messy bed. Wonder if he’s been laying it to her good since she came back,” one of the men said.

  “Rigger’s gonna be mad his girl’s been putting out on top of scuttling off.”

  “I’m sure he’ll set her right.”

  My jaw clenched at the words and I held Rose even tighter. Though she shook, she didn’t speak; she knew being quiet was key. They were tearing everything up. I could see through the thin spaces in the slats of the closet.

  I glanced at my phone, hoping to see an answer from Trip. Nothing. I shook a little and hoped that whatever had gone on with Travis and the wild party they’d beenasked to break up wasn’t a part of all of this.

  “Oh, Miiishaa …” Callum called, entering the room.

  “I don’t think she’s in here.”

  “Can’t be too many more places she can hide in this house—”

  Beep-beep! Beep-beep! Beep-beep!

  My eyes widened and I tried to silence my phone as a call came in.

  No, no, no—!

  “Found you.”

  The closet door was pushed open as my phone continued to ring, and I pushed Rose behind me as a pair of hands reached in and grabbed me. I kicked and threw punches at whatever I could, but thick arms wrapped around me, staying my struggle.

  Callum was a big man, always wore shades, and was as kind as a pit viper and loyal as a dog to Rigger. I hated him almost as much as I hated Rigger, because he was the same kind of deviant shit that Rigger was; it was Callum that had come up to Rose at the park the day she’d been out with Travis and Trixie.

  “Let go of me!” I bucked against him, and he laughed.

  “Woah, woah there. I don’t think so. I went through a lot of trouble to be the one to find you for Rigger. Now, you’re gonna come with me. Or—” He nodded to one of the several Jackal men that were in the room, all in their kuttes with very visible guns strapped to their thighs. The man stepped toward the closet, pulled his gun, and pointed in. I heard Rose whimper from within.

  Any struggle that was left within me died when I heard that. I knew that begging was out of the question; Rigger had a bounty on me, and no amount of begging would work. I had to cooperate.

  “Fine. Fine. Just don’t hurt her, please. She has nothing to do with this—”

  “Perhaps not. But Rigger wants the both of you, you see—”

  “I thought the bounty was only for me!” I tried to twist and turn in Callum’s arms, but he held me steadfast.

  “You hear that from your friend, Jared? Rigger always knew he was a little slimy son of a rat. He kept most of the information from him while giving him a little bite. Kinda funny, really, when he cut and ran and we knew he was gonna go to you. I followed him; got a li’l drop. Followed a trail. Now I found you, and you’re both coming back and it’s up to you if it’s in one piece or a whole bunch, so make your next choice wisely, Misha.”

  I sighed, and knew I’d been had. “Okay,” I said. “I’ll go.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Trip

  “Next time, I’m seriously not bailing your ass outta doing some dumb shit like this, Travis.”

  “I’m sorry, man. I didn’t mean to start any shit—”

  “I don’t wanna hear it.”

  The night had been interrupted sorting out Travis and his little fight, sending people over to Big Mama’s to deal with whatever crazy ass disturbance. I was getting all of that wrapped up when I looked and saw that there was a message from Misha. When I read it, my heart fucking stopped in my chest.

  She didn’t answer my phone call. Not the first one, not the second one, not the third.

  As I stood in the middle of my house, seeing it ransacked like I’d never seen before, I wished I had never left. I should have let Travis deal with his own shit, let Big Mama deal with her own shit, and stayed with my girl and my daughter. At least then—

  I kicked my overturned couch. This felt too damn much like it had when I lost Misha the first time, only this time, this was real. This was so real and in my face and I knew it.

  “Man, I’m so sorry. If I’d known it was a distraction—I didn’t mean to take you away—I fucking—”

  “It’s fine,” I said. I couldn’t listen to him try to apologize for his stupidity or his actions. “Just drop it.”

  All the boys were here, looking through everything for a trace of them. I walked away from Travis, going into the kitchen where an abandoned cup of tea was, steeped so black it settled that dark reminder in my chest that Misha had been taken from me.

  I swiped my hand across the counter, slinging the cup and its now cold tea into the wall, shattering it and sending tea everywhere.

  “Goddamn it!”

  I paced. I knew I was being watched, warily at that. Like I was some kind of animal to be feared, rather than a man with an amount of dignity left in me. This was fucking ridiculous. I was fucking livid. I—

  “Trip.”

  I turned what I knew were probably crazy, deranged eyes to Brig. He’d come up to me when no one else would. He put his hand on my shoulder.

  “Don’t tell me to calm down,” I said. “Don’t you dare fucking say it. They took—”

  “First of all, I wasn’t going to tell you that you need to calm down,” he interrupted. “I was about to ask if you were done throwing your tantrum so we could go get your girl and the little one.”

  I could have been insulted by his words, but there was a fire in his eyes I hadn’t expected. It fired me up even more, only aiding the boiling in my blood and I nodded at him, and then nodded to the others before walking out of my ruined house. I could fix that shit. But I needed to get my family back, first.

  # # #

  I coordinated with the boys, getting them all up to speed. I wasn’t wasting time, and we’d been keeping tabs on a certain little mole. We rode to his little hideout, a trailer on the very outskirts of town. We rolled up, and I wasted no time knocking on his front door.

  Jared didn’t answer, but I wasn’t taking no answer.

  “Open the fuck up, you coward!” I snarled, banging again. “Or I’m busting in, and you won’t like me too damn much if and when I do.”

  I heard movement on the other side of the door, and was rewarded with it cracking open a few moments after. I shoved my way in, rude as hell, but honestly I felt that I deserved it at this point. Jared squeaked behind the door as I let myself in and Pride boys started to fill up his pathetic excuse for a trailer.

  “W-what are you doing here?”

  “You didn’t actually think that we wouldn’t be keeping tabs on you, did you?” I asked. I didn’t wait for an answer when I took him by the front of his shirt and slammed him against the trailer wall, shaking it a bit as I did.”

  “What do you want from me?! I haven’t done anything. I told you about everything—”

  “They’ve taken Misha.”

  Jared’s alrea
dy sickly face paled even sicker.

  “W-what?”

  “Yeah. They took her. Her and Rose.”

  “Oh … oh shit, oh shit—”

  “Yeah. Oh, shit, is right. Funny how you blew in and suddenly they knew where to find us, though.”

  Jared struggled in my hold. His face got red. It looked like it could pop off from the way that I held him, but I wasn’t about to let up on him, either.

  “I didn’t tell them where you were!” he cried out. “I swear. I swear! Why would I, when I told you that they were looking for Misha and Rose? I didn’t want them to get hurt.”

  “A lot of good that’s done.”

  “It wasn’t me!”

  He struggled, but it wasn’t very strongly. He didn’t want to get hurt—or killed, or whatever he thought that I was going to do with him, which at this point I truly hoped that he expected that I was going to kill him. It made me feel marginally better to have that power over him.

  “You’re in luck, Jared,” I said simply. “’cause while you’re obviously a spineless little turd, I can at least see that you really don’t want Misha hurt.”

  That seemed to make him a little relieved.“You-you do?”

  “I do. Which is why you’re gonna come with us and show us where the fuck Rigger is running out of these days, and you’re gonna help us get Misha back.”

  Jared’s relief was short lived.

  “I-I don’t think that that’s a good idea—”

  “I don’t really give a damn what you think is a good idea. You’re coming with us. You’re gonna show us where they’re lying, and you’re gonna stick around and help us while we get my family back, do you understand?”

  Jared squeaked out something that might have been a yes, and I let him down.

  “Get your shit and let’s go.”

  He threw worried glances around at everyone that was there, watching him like they didn’t care about his discomfort—and honestly, no one really did. It wasn’t about him. This was about Misha, and we were working against a clock here.

  We were back on the bikes and on the road as soon as Jared got his helmet. He didn’t want to go back to the Jackals, that much was evident, but the fact that it didn’t take a lot to make him come with us was interesting at the least, and reassuring at the best. He was a flighty little fuck, but I could see in his eyes there was love there for Misha—whatever kind it was, it wasn’t the time to think about it.

  We were going to get my girls back.

  We followed behind Jared for about an hour or so, and then two. I grew impatient, but as we got closer and closer to Jackal territory, I could only feel anticipation.

  We’re almost there, Misha.

  Jared led us off the main highway and eventually pulled off the main road and down through a neighborhood, which eventually got less and less densely populated. I had the boys looking out for anything that might be fishy; we weren’t in home territory anymore, and it was more than likely that we could run into people that we didn’t want to before it was time to run into them.

  We didn’t get ambushed, however, and that was a plus. He turned us down a road and pulled off to the side. We followed and got off our bikes.

  “Where the hell are we?”

  “You’re not the only one that lives off in a cut,” Jared said, his eyes avoiding looking at me in any kind of way. “Rigger’s house is set back. We can take the bikes, but they’ll hear us approach.”

  “You think I care if they hear us approach?”

  “Misha and Rose might if it makes them do something stupid!”

  He had a point there, and I held my tongue. I took in a deep breath and looked over at Brig for a second opinion. He chewed on his lip and thought on it for a bit.

  “We roll the bikes up, we have a decent way of getting out,” he said. “We’ll have quick transportation. We let them know we’re coming though, that’s bad for us; gives them time to prepare.”

  I nodded.

  “Let’s go, then.”

  We pushed the bikes up along the road and it wasn’t too long of a walk before we saw the outline of a two story in the distance, seeming to be surrounded by a couple smaller ones.

  “I thought you said it was only Rigger that lived out in the cut,” I said, approaching Jared and grabbing him by the shoulder.

  “Rigger and a few of those close to him live here. They call it The Compound. Most of the operations come out of here, between the drugs and guns and other shit that they do. I thought you were keeping tabs!”

  I snarled a little, but tossed him away. “Keep leading.”

  We had been keeping tabs. Or at least I thought we had been keeping them enough.

  As we continued a little closer, pulling up as near as we dared without getting in sight of people, Brig came up to me. I saw the look in his face and slowed my own pace as Jared led us on, so we could talk quiet without him hearing us.

  “Something feels weird.”

  “You think so too?”

  I glanced over, seeing him nod.

  “He’s offered up all this information to us so far, but failed to mention that they’re living in a compound and we’re going to be dealing with more than just Rigger and maybe a couple other goons? When he wants to save Misha so bad?”

  My jaw clenched. “You think it’s a setup?”

  “Could be. Hard to tell. Thought he was pretty forthcoming when he came around the first time, but now I’m not so sure.”

  “Stay on him,” I said. “We can’t afford to fuck this up. We need to end this. Once and for all.”

  “Aye.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Misha

  “Mama, I’m scared.”

  “I know, hun.”

  We’d been sitting there for about an hour, in his room. It was the one on the top floor, the biggest, with a huge bed and a large window. It’d have been a nice room—ideal, even—if I hadn’t known who it belonged to. It smelled like his cologne, a piney scent that I had come to loathe in the last five years.

  I was scared, too. But I couldn’t let Rose know that. I had held her all the way into Jackal territory, had kept her close and safe, and I knew that the only way that she was going to stay all right was if I stayed all right. I knew that Trip had gotten my text message, and I knew that he would be on his way. Whatever happened between then and now would have to be prioritized in terms of what was best for Rose.

  While I was lost imy thoughts, the door opened. I scooted further onto the bed as Callum came in, smirking like he’d won the lottery.

  “Rigger can’t wait to see you, you know,” he said. “He’s real excited.”

  “I’m surprised that he isn’t here right now,” I said snidely. “With as excited he is. Makes a guest feel unwelcome, you know.”

  Callum laughed. “A guest. Heh. That’s what you think you are. I see why Rigger likes you so much; you’re so mouthy. He’s going to have fun putting you in your place. So am I.”

  He turned, shouting out the door. “Hey, Hellen! Get your ass in here.”

  Hellen?

  My brows furrowed as she walked in—Holland’s old lady. She was an older woman, still shapely and naturally beautiful though. She had honey blonde hair and brown eyes. She also looked tired as all hell. I wondered why Callum was talking to her in such a way; that’s not how things were run. Hellen was always given the utmost respect being Holland’s old lady. Then again, Holland was out, Rigger was in, and she was probably in the minority at this point.

  She carried a tray with her, holding a couple of sandwiches and some water. Callum gave her a snide smirk and a pop on the ass as she set it down. Her face twisted in a grimace, but she said nothing.

  “Y’ll catch up and you lay out the law of the land around here for her,” Callum said. “Rigger’s setting some things into motion; he’ll be up in a little.”

  With that, he left. As soon as I was sure he was gone, I turned to Hellen.

  “Hellen—”

&nb
sp; “How on Earth did you get yourself caught up in these boys again, girl?” she asked. “When you hightailed it on out, I thought you’d be gone for good.”

  “So did I, Hellen.”

  “Holland was gonna eventually leave, too.”