The Devil’s Vow: A Motorcycle Club Romance (The Silent Havoc MC) (Owned by Outlaws Book 1)

by Zoey Parker

  Jace squinted at me. It took a moment to realize that his face was still angry, that he was still incredibly mad at me. “Are you fucking kidding? Katie, you are the most manipulative little bitch I’ve ever known,” he said. “You drag me in here because you want to apologize, and then you turn it around and accuse me of doing something wrong?”

  I blushed scarlet red. “Well, you were an asshole to me!” I yelled hotly. “And I don’t deserve to be treated like that!”

  Jace stared at me for a long, horrible moment. “You don’t deserve to be treated like that?” Improbably, he smiled and shook his head. “You’re right, Katie. You don’t deserve to be treated like that. You come to me for help, begging for help, saying you think that Troy asshole is going to kill you. You remember that?” He looked at me with his eyes wide. “You remember how you came crawling to me for help?”

  I nodded. “But, it’s not—”

  “Shut up, Katie,” Jace said. “I’m not fucking finished with you yet. So, let’s get back to the story, shall we? So, you come to me for help. I repeat, you tell me that you think Troy is going to kill you. You said those exact fucking words to me,” Jace snarled. “And don’t you forget it. You said, ‘Troy is going to kill me.’ Remember that?”

  I nodded. “I did, but that’s—”

  “Shut up,” Jace snarled. His voice was low and deadly serious. For the first time, a trickle of fear wormed its way down my spine and I realized just how angry Jace actually was. “Shut up,” he repeated, even though I hadn’t attempted to say anything else. “So, you tell me that you think he’s going to try to kill you. And I, out of the goodness of my fucking heart, offer to marry you and help protect you.” He shook his head in disgust. “I helped you, Katie,” he snarled. “I fucking helped you. And this is how you repay me!”

  “Jace, I—”

  “I’m not fucking finished talking yet,” Jace snarled again. “You sneak out of my fucking house, after I have one of my own men guarding you. Kenny could have been killed! What if Troy snuck in here after you left and shot him? You ever fucking think about that?”

  “No,” I stammered. Tears rolled down my cheeks and I raised my hand to cover my eyes. My heart was slamming against my ribs and suddenly I was more afraid than ever of losing Jace. “Jace, I’m really sorry, I really am. I shouldn’t have snuck out! I know that now!”

  Jace sighed. “And, Katie, let me fucking remind you that this isn’t the first time we’ve had this talk. You asked me twice—twice!—if you could leave without a bodyguard. And what did I tell you both times?”

  “I don’t remember exactly.”

  “The fuck you don’t,” Jace snarled. “The fuck you don’t remember, Katie. You remember exactly what I fucking said to you, don’t you?”

  I took a deep breath. I was so upset that I was starting to feel nauseous and I was worried I’d throw up. “You told me no,” I said, my voice shaking with fear. “You told me not to go, that I wasn’t allowed to go.”

  “Bingo,” Jace said, nodding. “Do you remember what else I told you?”

  I blinked. “No,” I said softly. “What?”

  Jace leaned down in my face, so close that I could see the small pores on his nose. “I told you never to ask again, Katie,” he replied. “Don’t you fucking remember that?”

  Shit. I did remember, I’d just forgotten until now. “Um,” I said softly. “I don’t remember. I’m sorry.”

  Jace slapped his hands down on his thighs and turned around, facing the wall. “You get your shit together,” he said under his breath. “I don’t want to deal with you anymore right now.”

  “Jace, wait!” I yelped, reaching out for his hand as he walked out of the room. But Jace was quicker and he pulled his arms close before I could touch him. He turned around and gave me one last venomous glance before slamming the door shut behind him. I heard his heavy boots clunking on the floor and eventually, Kenny’s laughter that carried all the way from the living room.

  I hated him. I hated Jace Carver so passionately at that moment that I could have run away again and stayed away forever. For a moment, I had the smallest desire to call the police station and say I was being held against my will. Then I remembered the gold band on my finger—I wasn’t a captive. I was a wife. The cops would laugh at me. I could just now see their sneers in my mind as I explained that yes, Jace and I had slept together, more than once, but I wanted to leave. I shuddered as I imagined the cops promising to help me and then calling Jace behind my back. “Uh, sir, we have your wife here…”

  My phone buzzed in my pocket. Shit, Troy, I thought. But when I pulled it out, I realized that I didn’t recognize the number. I didn’t even recognize the area code.

  “Hello?”

  There was the slight sound of female laughter. “Hi, is this Katharina?”

  “Katie,” I corrected automatically, assuming it was a bill collector or someone who didn’t have any reason to be calling me. “What do you want?”

  The laughter sounded again, small and slightly cold, like snow. “Well, Katie, I have some news for you,” the unknown female said. “And I want to meet you in the Center Park Hotel downtown,” she added. “Room 714. I have some information you may be interested in hearing about.”

  I blinked. “Like what?”

  “Are you this stupid all the time?” The sound of high laughter reached my ears and I cringed.

  “No,” I said softly, beginning to feel offended. “I’m not stupid. I’m just confused.”

  “Right, well, I want to help you clear some of that confusion up,” the voice replied softly. “I want to tell you some information about your father’s death. You up for that?”

  I almost dropped the phone. “What?”

  “You heard me,” the voice said, not so softly this time. “I have information about what happened to Matthias, and who was responsible for it.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, and right now I could read everything you’re telling me in the paper,” I said.

  “Did you know he was warned against the drug deal?”

  My jaw dropped. “Um…”

  “Yeah, that’s what I said,” the female voice said smugly. “So meet me tomorrow morning, downtown. Center Park Hotel. Don’t forget.”

  “Room 714,” I replied, feeling dazed.

  “Bingo,” the voice said. Then there was a small laugh, and she hung up.

  I felt dazed as I slipped the phone into my pocket. Center Park Hotel, room 714, I repeated to myself over and over. It became a mantra.

  Despite my anger and feelings towards Jace, part of me felt elated. Finally, after all this time, I was going to discover who was responsible for my father’s death. Finally, I was going to learn who had killed him. I felt a shiver of fear when I realized sneaking out again meant risking Jace’s wrath.

  But I knew what I had to do, and that meant finding out the truth about my father.

  Chapter 22

  Jace

  When I left Katie’s room, I was so angry I could have spit. I knew I had to get over it, that I had to just act like it wasn’t a big deal. I’d always thought Katie was kind of a pushover but after our incredibly bitter argument, I was starting to realize what a spitfire she actually was. Part of me was proud of her—in a way, I liked that she was standing up to me. The other part of me wanted to slap some sense into her, but I figured that after a while she’d calm down and things would be fine. After all, I didn’t want to stay angry with my wife. But she was acting like an ignorant bitch, and I wasn’t going to reward her bad behavior.

  “Women,” Kenny mumbled as I sat back down on the couch with a stony face. “Can’t live with ’em, can’t live without ’em.”

  “More like can’t live with ’em.” I smirked, reaching forward and grabbing an ice-cold beer. The feel of the chill bottle in my hand was soothing, like an old friend that I’d missed desperately.

  “What happened?”

  I shot Kenny a dirty look. “I ain’t getting into t
hat shit right now,” I said. “I’ve got some errands to take care of.”

  Kenny nodded. “I’ll keep an ear on her door,” he said. “You don’t have to worry about her trying to sneak off again.”

  Just thinking about Katie sneaking out of the house again made my blood pressure skyrocket. “You’d better not let her go,” I warned with a snarl. “Or you’re gonna find out about what it takes to be a mechanic outside of the MC real quick.”

  Kenny held up his hands in the air. “Hey, trust me, she ain’t going anywhere,”

  I clapped him on the back. “Good man.”

  Heading to my bedroom, I pulled on my leather jacket and a fresh pair of jeans. I had business to take care of it, and damned if I was going to do it looking like a slob. The shirt I was wearing had a streak of blood on the front from Troy and I was covered in grass stains and dirt from where I’d wrestled him down on the ground. Remembering the fight made the whole incident seem fresh again, like it had only happened a few seconds ago.

  As I walked down the hallway, I thought about knocking on Katie’s door and telling her I was leaving. No, better not do that, I thought to myself. Better not get her riled up again. To my surprise, she was being very quiet—I’d half expected to hear her sobs filtering out into the hallway. But she was silent.

  The drive to Rosa’s house took almost no time at all. I was nervous—half because I didn’t want to find out the truth about Margot, and half because I actually did. If Margot were still alive, that would change everything. My whole life would be different. I was dying to ask her why she’d faked her own death, what had happened to make her do that?

  I would have made you happy forever, I thought, Margot’s face floating in my mind. If only you would have allowed me to do that, I would have always loved you. None of this fighting shit, none of this awful arguing.

  “Hey, Jace,” Rosa said when I pulled into her driveway. “What can I do for you?”

  I shook my head. “Hey,” I greeted her, leaning in for a hug and kiss on the cheek. Rosa smelled good, like yeast and honey, almost like she’d been baking bread. I took a deep breath as she showed me into her slightly messy kitchen.

  “What can I do you for?” Rosa winked at me and I felt my body flood with familiarity and comfort. The longer I was away from Katie, the more my anger started to fade.

  “I need you to help me find Margot’s death certificate,” I said slowly. “I did some recon work the other day, went to the hospital where her body was taken. And you know, they didn’t have any record of her body?”

  Rosa shook her head. “I can’t say I’m surprised,” she said softly. “Yeah, give me a few minutes. I’ll look.”

  I watched as she bustled around the kitchen, pulling out her laptop and clicking away frantically on the keyboard. Watching Rosa work was like nothing else I’d ever seen. To an outsider, she could have been writing a letter, updating a blog, anything that wasn’t of real importance, but I knew how sharp her mind was, how laser-like, how precise. She could have been hacking into a world bank or transferring hundreds of thousands of dollars into my account with the blink of an eye. Rosa was a true master, someone who was really useful. I made a mental note to make sure we stayed close.

  “So it says here that Margot’s certificate was signed by a Dr. Jeffery Collins,” Rosa said softly. She turned her laptop towards me and pointed at the screen. “You see? He’s an older doctor,” she added, pulling up a browser and showing me a photo of a classy-looking private practice just outside of Marquette. Rosa gave me an odd look and I couldn’t tell if it was a smile or a frown. “And it looks like he recently came back from the brink of financial ruin,” she added softly. “It looks like he declared bankruptcy but then had it reversed, and then bought this swanky new office.”

  My mouth went dry. “Oh my god,” I said. “So you think he forged it?”

  Rosa let out a long sigh. “Jace, I know this is painful for you—”

  “What do you think?” I commanded in a low voice. “Tell me, Rosa. I need to know I’m not crazy. I need to know I’m not alone here.”

  “You’re not crazy,” Rosa said slowly. “But I don’t think you should jump to any conclusions, Jace.”

  I rolled my eyes. “That time passed a long time ago,” I muttered. “Give me his address.”

  Rosa blinked. “Who’s?”

  “Dr. Collins’,” I said through gritted teeth. “I need to pay him a little visit.”

  Rosa looked at me with soft eyes and a sad smile on her face. “Jace, you need to know that this isn’t going to change anything. I didn’t know Margot, and I can’t speak to why she did all of this, but you have to know that something is very wrong here.” She reached out and touched my hand. Her touch didn’t inspire any lust or desire in me, but there was something comforting about the feel of her skin. “You have to know Margot didn’t do this just to get you to chase her,” Rosa said. “Something else, something bad, must have happened.”

  “I know,” I replied. “I know something bad must have happened, and I’m fuckin’ sick with worry over it. What if Margot was blackmailed into faking her own death? What if she was in danger?” My mind went spinning to all those bad places, all those foreign places where I’d lurked in the immediate days after her death. “What if someone was threatening her? What if someone hurt her?”

  Rosa let out a soft sigh. “Jace, please don’t be angry with me,” she said slowly. “But I think it’s possible that Margot knew more than she let on. I think it’s possible that she orchestrated everything, you know? I mean, what reason would anyone have had to blackmail her?”

  I shrugged. “That’s the hard part,” I admitted. “I don’t actually know.”

  Rosa nodded. “You’re the head of a really powerful MC,” she added. “But that doesn’t mean Margot would be able to get any leverage out of your position.”

  Her comment left my head spinning. I was starting to feel like this whole situation was a prank, a joke meant to confuse me and ruin my life. “I don’t get it,” I said again, raking a hand through my dark hair. “Margot loved me. She agreed to marry me. And then this? Why? Someone must have put her up to it.”

  Rosa shrugged. “People change, Jace,” she said softly. “People change for no reason, and sometimes they give you no warning. Margot could have had her eye on anything, and maybe she saw this as a chance to get out.”

  I felt like my heart was breaking all over again. “But she didn’t have anything to get away from,” I protested hotly. “I loved her! She was happy with me!”

  Rosa pursed her full lips. “I know,” she said sadly. “That’s why I’m hoping you’ll get the answers you deserve.”

  She got up and printed a copy of Margot’s death certificate for me—I could barely look at it without feeling like I was going to cry all over again—and then made us some tea spiked with whiskey. I closed my eyes and knocked the whole mug back in one gulp. The alcohol felt good, soothing.

  “Good luck,” Rosa said. She leaned in for a tight hug. “I know everything will work out in the end.” She gazed up at me and for a moment, I could see a flicker of something in her eyes. Attraction? Love? Desire? Whatever it was, I couldn’t tell. But I knew Rosa would always be a faithful, helping friend.

  “Thank you,” I said into her hair, holding her tightly. “I needed that. Thank you so much.”

  Rosa kissed me on the cheek. “You be safe,” she said softly. “I know everything’s going to be okay.”

  I went home that night and got blackout drunk, passing out alone in my bedroom. Katie didn’t try to come in and I didn’t try to go see her. Kenny stayed in the living room all night, keeping watch like a faithful friend.

  In the morning, I got ready and left to go see Dr. Collins. His office was even bigger than it had looked in the photos, just outside of Marquette. It was in a brick building that had been painted white with a glass and metal awning—kind of futuristic but also classic. In the lobby, everything was white—the furniture
, the walls, the carpet, even the secretary was wearing a white dress.

  “Hi,” she chirped, a girl no older than Mickie, the hospital clerk. “Do you have an appointment?”

  “Here’s the thing, Cassandra,” I said, leaning down to look at the nameplate on her desk. “I don’t have one, but it’s very important that I see Dr. Collins right now. How do you feel about that?” I winked at her, trying to work my charm. I could feel Margot’s death certificate in my pocket, burning a brand on my skin.

  “Um,” Cassandra said. “I don’t exactly know.” She pressed a button on the intercom. “Hello, Dr. Collins?”

  A deep, sonorous voice came back at us. “I’m with a patient right now, Cassandra,” he said in a tired-sounding voice. “I don’t have time for any walk-ins today.”