“When will we hear something?” Dakota asked Bill who had moved a curtain aside to look out the window.
“We’ll know soon. Hospital’s not more than thirty out,” Bill said, ending the conversation.
A phone buzzed and Dakota jumped, stopping in her tracks. She watched as Bill looked at his ringing phone. He gave her a quick glance and then answered. What if the worst had happened? Dakota thought. What if Adam or Joey or someone else had died or been hurt protecting someone who was miles away. They would have died for nothing. Dakota bit on her lower lip and watched as Bill took the call, but he remained as unreadable as ever. He just kept repeating the words yes and okay. It took all of Dakota’s inner strength to not rip the phone right out of his hand and demand answers in full sentences.
Bill hung up the phone and cleared his throat and Dakota wanted to scream. “They got the hit man. No one on our team was hurt. Other side has some injuries. The police have him. Adam should be here in twenty.”
Dakota let out a sob she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. She doubled over for a second before standing straight up and walking over to Bill and hugging him fiercely. The man was uncomfortable with the intimacy and he stammered for a moment before awkwardly patting Dakota on her shoulder. She released him and felt a tear slip down her cheek. But unlike so many of her recent tears, this one was born from happiness. They had stopped it they had actually done it. They had taken Andre’s advice and followed it to Lance Declor and from Lance to the pitiful Tommy. It had been a hunch--nothing more--that had led Dakota to assuming the day of her father’s release would be the attack date, but she had been right.
I could be a police detective, she thought as she raced down the hall to her father’s room, just like she had when she was a child. She stopped at the door and knocked gently.
“Come in,” she heard her father call. The contractors had done their job well. The room looked almost back to normal. It was only because Dakota had been raised in this house that she recognized the places where the wall had been repaired, where the wood was shinier and newer. But it was good to see the room looking normal again. The last time Dakota had been in here had been the night of the attack when she had held her father’s weak frame in her hands.
Now John Kane was sitting up in bed with the paper on his lap, smiling at his daughter. Minus the nurse and the bikers downstairs, this could have been any average day.
“Everything all right, Dakota?” He asked.
“Everything is perfect, Dad. They caught the guy, the assassin. Scarred Angels got him and handed him over the cops and nobody on our side was hurt.”
“And on their side?” John Kane asked.
“A few injuries, but nothing too serious.” She shook her head at her father who was worried about the health and safety of the men who had been sent to kill him.
“Good, good,” her father said with a sigh before continuing. “Dakota this is all so strange. I would never have thought that anyone would want to harm our family. Your mother and I, we always tried to live our lives in concert with God. We tried to live by the golden rule: to treat others as we wish to be treated. I guess we were hoping we could protect you, or at least not create any enemies for you. Yet here we are. Surrounded by bodyguards, imprisoned in our own home, having to use decoy vehicles. I’ll be honest with you; part of me feels like I’ve failed you.”
“Daddy, you didn’t-”
But John cut Dakota off and continued. “I’ve been thinking and thinking who it could be that I’ve angered to such a degree. Michael Martin in particular, I thought we ended on good terms. James and I have been debating this for weeks now, trying to figure out who it could be. But the world is such a large place; it could be someone we’ve never even met. I promised your mother I would protect you...”
“I am protected, Daddy. Nothing has happened to me.”
“You were attacked in this home.”
“Yes, but I’m fine now. You don’t have to worry; none of this is your fault. None of it at all. We’re going to find out who is doing this to us and we’re going to stop them.”
“I would rather you left.”
“What?” Dakota said; her heart had stopped. Was her father really sending her away?
“Paris, London, Dubai, the islands, Dakota these would all be safe places for you. We wouldn’t tell anyone where you were going. You would leave in the night and be free from all this trouble. And I would know that you were safe. I could finally stop worrying about you.”
“You want to send me away?” Dakota asked.
“I want you to be safe.”
“What about you?”
“I can’t leave, Dakota. I have far too much on my plate to walk away from it.”
“And I don’t?” Dakota asked. “Nothing that I do matters at all?”
“Of course not, but your life matters more than the things you do, Dakota.”
“So does yours and if you’re still in this city, so am I.”
“You remind me so much of your mother, do you know that? I can remember once your grandmother came over and she heard that Jasmine had spent the day in a halfway house in a terrible part of the city. My mother was furious. She said it diluted the family name to see us in such places, that it was too dangerous and not worth Jasmine’s time.”
“What did Mom say?” Dakota asked.
“She smiled and nodded and went right back there the next day.” John said smiling at his daughter. “I was always so proud of her, and I’m even more proud of you because I helped make you.”
“I won’t leave, Dad. And you don’t need to worry or feel guilty. I’m an adult. I can make my own decisions and look after myself. I need you to trust me.”
“I do, my dear. It’s the rest of the world I have come to distrust.”
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
Adam took a deep breath before stepping out of his car. The Kane mansion had turned into a biker rally as the members of Scarred Angels cheered their success. Adam knew he needed to talk to them, needed to tell them good job, but his ribs were screaming. The accident had slammed him against his seatbelt and he was sure he had re-broken a rib. It hurt to move, but not enough that Adam was going to miss this to go to the hospital.
“You all right, boss?” Joey asked, leaning into the driver’s side window.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Adam said wincing as he stepped out of the car and stood up. “Gentleman!” he cried to the assembled crowd. “Today was a good day. We did well and did what we were hired to do. Now everyone will know, when you hire Scarred Angels you get the best!” a cheer went out around the assembled men. “Now get out of here before we ruin this neighborhood.”
The men laughed as bikes roared around him and one by one the men not assigned headed back to the city.
Adam sighed as he turned to the Kane mansion. It felt so different from the first time he had spied it from his motorcycle. Back then, the mansion had seemed like a ludicrous display of wealth. It still was that, of course, but it was so much more now. It was where he had first met Dakota, first been with her. It wasn’t so imposing anymore, he knew his way around the mansion itself and the grounds, and it felt familiar to him, no longer so intimidating. He passed his Uncle Bill as he walked out of the mansion and towards his bike.
“How you feeling?” Bill asked him.
“A little sore, but I’ll survive.”
“Everything’s set up in there, guys on detail. You don’t need to stay; you should go home and rest.”
“I will,” Adam said. He felt his uncle’s heavy hand come to rest on his shoulder. It was a comforting gesture and Adam was grateful for it. Inside the house quiet fell as the members of Scarred Angels not assigned to duty all went home. The quiet felt strange after what had just happened, but it calmed Adam, made him tired. It had been a long twenty-four hours, but he couldn’t do anything until he saw Dakota.
He made his way towards John’s room, passing the nurse and the new live-in housekeeper and fina
lly Dakota herself who closed the door to her father’s room quietly.
“Hi,” she said, smiling at him. “How are you? I heard there was an accident.”
“There was, but I had my seatbelt on, so I’m okay,” Adam said.
Dakota walked towards him, a worried look on her face. She pressed her palm lightly to his chest and looked up into his eyes. “Your ribs were already broken from the fight. Are they worse now? Should you go to the hospital?”
“I’m fine,” Adam said, taking her hand in his, relishing in the warmth of her.
“I think I should probably stay here tonight,” she said. “I don’t want my dad to feel alone.”
“I understand,” Adam said. “You need your rest, too. We were out all night.”
Dakota stood on her tiptoes and kissed Adam gently, her hands by her side, avoiding the sore places that stretched across his chest. Her hand lingered in his, as they walked to the front entrance. Dakota kissed him one last time before he opened the door into the bright sunshine of the afternoon.
He left her in her mansion, assured that she would be kept safe. Joey and Bill were waiting in the car for Adam who gingerly got into the backseat. They traveled down the lane away from Kane mansion and back towards the city. As they drove, Adam thought about the man they had captured. An ambulance had taken the attacker to the hospital in handcuffs. He regretted that he hadn’t been able to interrogate the assassin himself. He could have gotten him to talk, made the man spill all of his secrets. But that was the darker part of him, the part of him that worked for mob bosses and drug dealers. Adam had put that side of him away a long time ago. It was better the attacker was in police custody, and he might still talk. The DA might offer a deal, anything could happen; now all Adam could do was wait and hope the assassin named his employer.
But it wasn’t easy for a man like Adam Mendel to wait and hope. He was a man who went after what he wanted. He had taken Scarred Angels from an underground illegal organization to a legit operation that protected billionaire heiresses and did it successfully and none of that had been accomplished by waiting. They had stopped the attacks, but more would come unless they found out who was paying for them. It was like playing Whack-a-Mole; assassins and attackers would keep popping up until they found out who was offering the money.
As he drifted off to sleep in the back seat, Adam had to admit that the best thing that could happen to the Kanes would be for them to leave. They needed to run and hide, to find a safe place where they couldn’t be found. But then I would never see Dakota again, Adam thought to himself. In order to keep her safe, he would have to send her away. Adam Mendel was strong, everyone said so, but he didn’t think he would be strong enough to do that.
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
Dakota Kane slept for fourteen hours and when she awoke she felt wonderfully rested. She felt strange when she first awoke in her childhood bedroom. For just a moment she wasn’t sure how old she was, she felt, for just a second that she was a child again, getting up for school. But she was no longer a child. She was a grown woman with responsibilities, and so she forced herself out of bed and into the shower.
It’s nice having a housekeeper again, Dakota thought as she walked back downstairs. There were fresh flowers throughout the house and it had been dusted and cleaned. It felt open and awake. For so long after her father’s attack the house had been cold, dark, and empty, but not any longer. In the kitchen, bagels and eggs had been set out and fresh coffee was brewing. She could hear two members of Scarred Angels eating in the security room and she smiled listening to them. It felt good to have voices in the house again; it made the mansion feel alive.
Coffee in hand Dakota walked to her father’s room and entered just as the nurse was leaving. “How is he?” she asked.
“Very good, Ms. Kane. His blood pressure and heart rate are both where we want them. I think we can begin physical therapy tomorrow,” the chipper nurse said taking a handful of linens with her has she left.
“Dakota, just who I wanted to talk to,” John said as Dakota entered. He looked good, really good; his eyes were bright, his face had color, he looked strong, and for a moment Dakota could pretend nothing bad had ever happened to him. “Come and sit with your father,” he said, patting the bed.
Dakota smiled at sat down next to him, “How are you feeling?” she asked.
“Fine, fine,” he said with an impatient wave of his hand. “But I don’t want to talk about me. I want to talk about you. Specifically you and this Adam Mendel fellow.”
Dakota sighed and looked out the window. “Don’t you think I’m a little old for the boyfriend conversation with my dad?”
“You’re never too old. No matter how old you get, I will always be your father. I will always look out for you,” John said. There was a pleading look in his eye that made Dakota nervous. Her father would only have this conversation with her if he didn’t approve of Adam.
“He’s nice, Daddy.” Dakota pleaded. She needed to make him understand that Adam was more than the biker he had met. “He works really hard, he owns a nightclub, and started a security business, all of which he started from nothing. I think you would like him if you got to know him.”
“I never said I didn’t like him. He saved your life and for that he will always find himself in my favor. But, Dakota, you need to realize that his club and his security company both started as a biker gang. That’s a dangerous element, Dakota. A very dangerous one. James and I have spoken about him and I just want to be sure that you have all the information,” John said.
“What information?” Dakota asked.
“Scarred Angels has been involved in some illegal activities. Several members of their gang are in jail for drug possession with intent to sell, and four are serving life sentences for murder.”
“But not Adam,” Dakota said.
“No, not Adam. But he is in charge of the gang. He’s their leader, Dakota. They only would have done what Adam said. Scarred Angels was responsible for helping to transport thousands of dollars’ worth of cocaine into the city. Plus other things: intimidation, kidnapping, prostitution, the list goes on.”
“You hired them, not me,” Dakota said. She didn’t know what else to say. She had always known Scarred Angels was a biker gang at its core. But there was no desire to learn the details of it. She hadn’t wanted to know; she still didn’t want to know. But she had seen something the night Adam had questioned Tommy. There was something savage in his motions, something unbridled and dangerous. Dakota had stopped him before he had caused any real harm, but what if she hadn’t been there to stop him? How far would he have gone? “They aren’t like that anymore. Adam demands everything be legal and above board,” she argued. “Besides, you and I both know how hard it is out there for people who aren’t us. People can work hard, get up every day to earn an honest living and still not have enough to get by. They may not have always been perfect, but they’re trying now. Doesn’t that count for something?”
“It counts for everything,” John answered. “It’s why James hired them in the first place. He liked their entrepreneurial ways and the fact that they were not the typical bodyguards you see every day and there is no denying they’ve been effective. But hiring an employee is one thing; entering into a relationship with someone you barely know is quite another.”
Dakota wanted to cry. She couldn’t look at her father; she didn’t know what to do with this information. It shouldn’t matter that Adam had once been involved with criminals. The past was in the past and she wanted to leave it there. She wanted to move forward with a blank slate with Adam. She liked him for who he was now, not who he might have been in the past. But Dakota knew life could never be that simple. And she couldn’t just overlook the things he’d done.
Dakota spent her time working with the poor and disenfranchised. Single mothers, orphans, the homeless, she knew better than anyone how the drug trade tied into and around all of that. It hurt so many people. Not only the addicts it crea
ted, but also the violence those addicts would perpetrate to get what they needed. Even worse was the violence those who sold the drugs created. They had power and needed to keep it, needed to consolidate it. Had Adam helped them? Had he created the people that Dakota worked so hard to save?
“In most ways our lives are easier, Dakota. You will never have to work a job you hate or live in a dangerous neighborhood. You will never want for food or entertainment or any material goods. But we pay a price for all of that. We must be so careful with whom we allow into our inner circle. Adam comes from a poor family and you have a lot of money, Dakota. When you look at your life with Adam, what does it look like? You two are so different. You have different histories, different frames of reference.”
“I don’t know...” Dakota said. But that wasn’t true. She had imagined a life with Adam, a life in his row house in Philly, a life where she got up and went to work every day and they were just a normal couple. But that had just been a fantasy. Dakota didn’t live in a small row house; she lived in a mansion and an apartment in the best part of the city. She didn’t get up and go to a job in the morning and neither did Adam. They weren’t normal, no matter how much she pretended they could be.
HANDS OFF MY WOMAN: Padre Knights MC Page 62