“Only a few days,” Cricket admitted.
“Why here of all places?”
“Cordy found Deke here. She caused some trouble and well, here we are,” Cricket whispered.
Sitting down near her, he leaned close and whispered, “Let’s get down to the business at hand, when your parents sneaked away from my home in the dark to begin their life together as lovers, they stole something from me. It had no value to them only to me. Orrin took it only because he knew I would miss it.”
“What did they take?”
“An heirloom from our grandfather. Something he passed down to me alone. Orrin had no right to take it. It didn’t belong to him it was mine.” Bane squeezed his fingers tight on her already bruising skin. “I want it back.”
“But I don’t know where it is,” Cricket cried out. Tears of pain welled in her eyes but she didn’t struggled against his hold.
“I have been looking for them for damn near thirty years. I found them once, but they ran off like thieves in the night yet again, before I could get the item back. They took you and Cordelia and disappeared again.”
Cricket shuddered but didn’t make a move. It was another little trick she’d learned over her years with Cordy “It was you that day.” She now knew her nightmare was very real and sitting next to her.
“Yes, it was me,” he ground out. “Orrin told me Grace wasn’t home yet and like a fool I told him I would be back. I would have allowed them both to live if they had returned what they took from me but instead they ran like thieves in the night.” He glared at her for a moment. “I missed my chance then, but I won’t this time. Now I have only you. The revenge I planned all these years will never happen. They both escaped my wrath by dying too soon.” Then he sat back and stared at her for a moment. His eyes glinted, and he got a weird kind of smile on his face. “But all may not be lost yet,” he murmured. Leaning toward her again, he fixed his stare on her. “Why are you still here? I would have thought you’d have been long gone by now.”
Cricket didn’t want to answer. Closing her eyes against the new pain he presented her, she bit her lip. Glancing over at Deke, she saw his worried gaze but shook her head when he tried to step forward. “Cordy kidnapped Deke’s children a couple of days ago. I helped return them after we were caught. We faced a tribunal where Cordy and I pled guilty. I have to serve the club for a year as my penance.”
“And Cordelia?” Bane asked as he cocked his head to one side.
“Her sentence was death,” Cricket told him quietly.
“Did she fear death coming for her?”
Cricket shook her head. “No, she welcomed it. She was like you and had no soul.”
Bane’s lips tightened and his fingers bit into her already tender wrist. “Just because that’s true doesn’t mean you can say the words to my face. I’ve already given you liberties no one else has dared to take. Do not push me or you will suffer my wrath.” He warned her. He turned his head and searched the faces of the men around him. Then he turned back to her. “As Orrin’s daughter you are family and Jessin’s are no one’s slaves.”
“My last name is Tannis,” Cricket insisted firmly. She wanted nothing to do with this man, not even his last name.
“Your last name is Jessin,” Bane corrected her grimly. “You may not want the name, but it means something to me and at one point, it meant something to your father too. He may have changed what they called him, but he couldn’t change what or who he truly was. Look around you. Do you see their faces? They look to be good men, all of them.” Leaning even closer his lips touched her ear. “Do you know what I am? What I’ve made my living doing to men like them?”
Cricket nodded.
“Then you understand I am very good at killing people. I kill without remorse and I can kill anyone I choose. Look at them closely my dear. I’m sure even in the short amount of time you’ve been here you have become friends with some of them, have you not?”
Cricket nodded again slowly.
“Then know one thing, even if you don’t know anything else, remember this one thing.” Bane backed up a bit and stared her in the eye. “I will give you seven days to find what your parents stole from me and return it to me. Seven days from right now and not a moment longer. If you fail, I will come back here and kill every one of these men and their families. They will all die. This ground will run red from their blood. They won’t see the bullet that kills them but kill them it will. They’re blood will be on your hands not mine. I may be the instrument that takes their lives but you will be the one to set it all in motion.”
Cricket gasped. “But how the hell am I supposed to find something and return it to you if I don’t know what it is?”
Bane shrugged. “That’s not my problem. It’s yours.”
“You’re insane,” she whispered.
“And they will all be dead in one week if you fail. If you tell them and they run I will find them and take them out no matter where they go. If you tell them my plan, I will have no mercy.” Leaning back a bit, he motioned between them. “This is to stay between the two of us, only you and I will know what this is about.”
Cricket began to shake. This man was insane. There was no way she could do what he asked. She lifted her head and glanced around the room. She gazed at the men of the Sin’s Bastards MC. She saw an angry Raine, his eyes never leaving Bane. She knew in her heart, Raine would die first. Looking toward the kitchen, she spotted their wives and children. Everyone was watching her.
Before she could agree or not agree the front door opened as Leon and Calderone Vincinti came inside. Following them was Dominic Marconi. A few of their soldiers followed them in and spread around the room.
Bane released Cricket to watch the newcomers and took note of where their men stood. He turned to Deke and raised his brow. “What exactly is all of this for?”
Deke shrugged. “I have no idea. I didn’t call them.”
Leon walked over to where Bane and Cricket were sitting. “No Bane, he didn’t call us. We were coming here for a wedding anyway. Dominic’s daughter is marrying one of Deke’s men and we were going to surprise her with a wedding.”
Bane got to his feet and held out his hand and Leon took it. He turned to Calderone and nodded. Turning to Dominic, he held out his hand.
Dominic walked over and took his hand.
“I understand congratulations are in order. You found your daughter after all this time?” Bane asked.
Dominic nodded. “I did indeed.”
Bane turned to glare at Cricket. “I too, have been looking for someone I was once close to for some time, but it seems I am too late. My brother and my wife are both dead.”
Dominic glanced at Leon briefly then looked back at Bane. “I am sorry to hear that.”
Bane shrugged. “At least now, I know for sure and can stop searching.” Glancing over at Cricket, he introduced her to the men, “I’d like to introduce my niece, Cricket.”
Dominic and Leon nodded in her direction.
She nodded back but didn’t say anything.
“I also just found out she was sentenced to serve this MC for one year for something she had nothing to do with.” Bane growled as he turned to glare at Deke. “I understand it was her sister that did the crime and her sister that paid the price.”
Deke nodded. “It was Cordy’s doing.”
“I want Cricket released from her service,” Bane demanded.
Cricket shook her head as she got to her feet. “I won’t do that.” She took a step away from him. “I didn’t stop her, so I share her guilt. This is a matter of honor for me and I will serve my time.”
Dominic raised an eyebrow. “But my dear, you did nothing wrong and Bane is right. As a member of his family you shouldn’t have been blamed in the first place.”
Cricket turned her head to stare at the man. “I never had much but I still have my honor. You of all people should understand that. I was tried and sentenced to serve this MC for one year and I will ser
ve each and every single day. I do not recognize the Jessin name because it isn’t mine. I was born under the name Tannis.” She turned to Bane. “I want nothing from you, not even your name. You have darkness and death all around you exactly like Cordy did and I finally have a choice. I choose to walk away from you.” Cricket turned and began walking toward the hall that would lead her to the bedroom she had.
She took more steps away from him when she heard a whirling sound and pain shattered her shoulder. She wanted to cry out but she had learned over the years not to show her pain. If she did, Cordy only made it worse. She felt the bite of a red-hot sting and when she turned her head, she found herself looking at the hilt of a small dagger in her skin. She raised her eyes and stared at the man who claimed to be her uncle. “You really are a bastard, aren’t you?”
“And you would do well to never forget that fact.” Bane growled.
Raine moved toward her in concern.
“Go to hell!” She roared, worried that Raine would still get in the middle of this, she grabbed his arm.
He looked down at her and saw the blood on her upper arm. He motioned to the hall.
When they got into her room, Cricket sat on the edge of the bed and waited while Raine removed the small dagger. She whimpered when he cleaned the wound and bandaged it.
Raine glared down at her tears. “What the fuck was that all about?” he demanded. “What does he want?”
Cricket shook her head. She couldn’t tell him. Bane had made that very clear. She wouldn’t put his life or anyone else’s in danger.
Raine squatted down, so he could look into her eyes. “What did he want?” he repeated his demand.
Cricket could feel the tears rolling down her cheeks. Her world had been shattered beyond all she believed in and she didn’t have the strength to pull it back together yet. Everything she believed had been a lie. All of the childhood memories she had were tainted by Bane’s version of the truth.
She closed her eyes and tried to remember what was real. The love she’d seen in her parents’ eyes had been real. The warmth of their embrace when she was young had been real. The goodnight kisses and hugs had been real.
But now she knew it had all been lies. They’d moved around a lot when she was a kid and now she knew why. Bane had been looking for them. The girls hadn’t been allowed to go to school because that would mean paperwork. And paperwork meant a trail he could use to track them. Instead, Grace had taught them at home until she got too sick to do it. Even changing their names had been a lie. Her last name had never been Tannis…it had always been Jessin.
Then she got a horrifying thought. Dusty was that monster’s grandchild. She gazed at Raine with terror in her eyes. Grabbing his arms, she whispered, “You have to call your brother and tell him to run away. Take Dusty and run as fast and far as he can. Bane can never know about the boy.”
Raine frowned. “Why? Why does he frighten you so much? Has he threatened Dusty?”
Cricket shook her head. “He has no idea Dusty exists and he can never know. He’ll tear the boy away from everyone he’s come to care about and kill anyone who stands in his way. Dusty has a chance at a good life with your brother and your family but if Bane discovers he exists, he’ll become just like him. The man has no soul. He can never know about him.”
“Why did he come here?” Raine asked. “Was he telling the truth earlier when he said your mother was his wife? And that your father was his brother?”
Cricket nodded. “She and Orrin ran away together. They had a life as man and wife and all the whole time she was still married to Bane.” She closed her eyes again. “It was all a lie. My whole life was built on a lie.” Tears streaked down her cheeks.
Raine wrapped his arms around her. Her words were so heartbreaking he could feel her pain. “It wasn’t all a lie,” he whispered in her ear. “The love they had for you was very real. And the love they shared with one another was very real as well.”
Cricket sobbed in his chest. Before either of them could say anything else, there was a knock on the door.
Raine bid them enter.
Deke opened the door and stepped inside. He studied Cricket for a moment then said, “Your uncle wants to see you.”
Cricket snarled, “That monster is not my uncle! My family is dead.”
“Regardless, he still wants to see you.” Deke’s words were softly spoken, concern and uncertainty were also present.
Cricket nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes. Getting to her feet, she walked to the bedroom door. Raine was right behind her.
When she got to where Deke was standing, he laid his hand on her arm. “We’ll get through this together. We’ll stand behind you. You may not think so but you are one of us now and we take care of our own.”
Cricket stared at him for a moment while inside her heart was heavy. If he only knew what wrath this man could bring, he might not say what he had. Then she remembered the sting of the tattoo on her shoulder and hung her head. “But I’m not one of you. I have to serve this club for a year. My future is unknown after that.”
“That no longer applies.” Deke shook his head. “I never should have sentenced you to begin with. You proved your worth when you brought my children back to us. You proved your worth when you insisted the truth be told. You stood tall and proved your honor all the way through. That brand on your shoulder makes you one of us, not someone to serve us.”
Cricket frowned as her thoughts were muddled. “I belong here then?”
Deke nodded.
Cricket glanced over her shoulder at Raine and saw him smile slightly. When she turned back to Deke she growled, “Bane is still not my uncle. He’s a bastard.”
Deke chuckled at her outburst. “Well, that bastard wants to speak to you again and he grows impatient. I know who he is. I knew the minute he stepped in here.”
“Then you know what harm he can do.”
He nodded.” It’s why I want this solved in a peaceful way.”
Cricket rolled her eyes. Peaceful would be the last description for Bane. She sighed and went to the door.
Deke opened it and led the way down the hall to the main room.
When she entered, she found Bane glaring at her. She glared right back. She knew she should fear him but for some reason she didn’t. She went over to a table near his but she didn’t sit at his table.
Raine took the chair next to hers. “Remember, I am right here with you.”
Cricket closed her eyes for a moment the whispered back, “All my life I’ve been taking orders from someone. Most of them were from Cordy and if I didn’t obey them, I got the brunt of her rage. Now there is no one to order me around. I have choices now I never had before. If he wants to talk, he can come to me. He may be a killer but right now, he won’t kill me. Maybe later he might but right now he won’t.”
Raine looked concerned and angry.
Cricket placed a hand on his arm. “Don’t do anything, please?”
He shook his head. “I stood for his mistreatment of you before this, but no more. He’d better not hurt you anymore.”
Cricket felt panic. She couldn’t allow Raine to stand up to Bane and catch his attention. He would end Raine on one dark night out of the blue. She knew he would. “Please Raine. Please stay out of it?”
He glared at the assassin across the room.
Cricket and Raine sat there alone for a few more minutes before Bane got up from his chair and joined them at their table.
Cricket pleaded with Raine. “I need to speak with him alone.”
Raine released a frustrated sigh. “Ok, but if he touches you again, I will put a stop to all this shit!” He got up and moved a few tables over.
Bane sat down leaned toward Cricket and snarled, “Do you want a blood bath here today? If you piss me off any more than you already have that’s what will happen. They will die today rather than a week from today. Their blood will still be on your hands.”
Cricket slowly turned her head and glar
ed at him. “If you kill even one of them you will never get what you want. I will walk away from this club and from you or die by your hand. If I do that, you will never find me again and you will have lost the only chance you will ever have to reclaim what my parents took from you. You’ve waited thirty years to get it back but if you hurt anyone here, you’ll have lost it forever.”
Bane’s lips tightened in his rage. He placed a business card on the table and got to his feet as he whispered, “You have one week to get me what I want. If you fail, I will kill them. I will enjoy killing your boyfriend the most. I’ll take my time with him. He will die cursing your name and it won’t be an easy death. I have become well versed in the arts of torture and giving pain to others. In fact, I get a deep thrill from their screams of agony.” He stood up, looked around the room and said, “I think my business is done here for now.” Then he straightened and walked toward the front door.
Everyone in the room watched him go, everyone but Cricket. With trembling hands, she reached for the card he left. As her fingers closed around it, she heard the front door slam shut.
The questions in her mind were how the hell she was going to find something hidden so long ago? What was it her parents had taken from Bane? Why had they taken it in the first place?
Chapter Three
Bane got into his car and drove away without looking back. He knew his job here was done. Although disappointed to find out Orrin and Grace were both dead, he wasn’t disappointed he’d found Cricket.
She might not know what her parents took from him but she might be the only one who could find it and return it to him. He wasn’t a stupid man. He knew there wouldn’t be any blood shed today. He might have gotten one or two, but these men would have killed him if he started shooting inside that room. He’d read death in their eyes. MC men weren’t like normal men. They lived violence and were fast to react to it.
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