A hard knock on my bedroom door irritated me because I didn’t want to be interrupted while I was having a good time with Reid. But the person on the other side was impatient and opened the door without me inviting him in.
Colt walked in, my little brother right behind him. Two seconds later, Rory followed them in and bent down to scoop up Reid. “I’m just going to take him into our room, Tanner,” she said with a grim smile. “Don’t worry about him, okay?”
Before I could say anything, she was out the door again, shutting it behind her.
“What’s going on?” I demanded, my gaze still on the closed door, already missing my son.
“Fontana took Lexa,” Colt bit out. “Hospital security cameras showed the bastard sneaking into the radiology department through a back door and taking her. He killed the tech and took Lexa while Raven and Jet were in the waiting room right outside.”
I was already on my feet before he’d shut his mouth. “Let’s go.”
“Raven ambushed Bates, and now she and Bash are taking him to some meetup with Fontana,” Colt continued.
“Why do you keep trying to sell this?” I asked, both brows lifted. “I said, let’s go.”
“Rory still had Raven’s keys,” Matt said as we took the back exit. “I’ll drive.”
Colt climbed in the back, giving me the front passenger seat while my little brother got behind the wheel of the Charger. The powerful engine purred to life, and then Matt was burning rubber as he hit the gas and sped through the gates and out onto the road.
“Jet and Trigger are on their way south,” Colt announced. “Bash texted Jet the address, and Trigger picked him up. Raider and Hawk are on their way too.”
“Tell me you already packed the trunk,” I gritted out.
Matt snorted. “Raven keeps all her vehicles loaded, brother. You should have seen the arsenal she pulled out when Fontana ambushed the memorial service for you and Warden.”
“Momma bear was pissed, huh?” I muttered.
“You think she was mad then… She has to be about a million times worse now,” Colt said with ice in his tone. “Rave will blow up the world to protect her kids, man.”
I was beginning to understand that feeling.
My phone ringing pulled me from my inner musings. Seeing Jos’s name on the screen, I muttered a curse but lifted it to my ear. “Baby, something came up. Rory has Reid.”
“I was just in the fucking main room working!” she exploded, but even though she sounded upset, just hearing her voice calmed something in me. “You didn’t think to tell me where you were going? Or even that you left, period?”
“Lexa was taken,” I told her. “I had to go.”
She was quiet for a long moment before blowing out a harsh breath. “You better be careful, do you hear me, Tanner Reid?”
“Yeah, sweetheart. I hear you.”
A shuddering sigh left her. “I love you, dummy. Be safe, okay?”
“Love you, Jos. I’ll be back before you even miss me,” I promised.
“Too late,” she muttered. “I mean it. Be careful.” She hung up before I could comment.
It took over an hour to meet up with Bash and Raven. No sooner had Matt turned off the Charger than Trigger pulled up behind him in his truck, Jet in the passenger seat. Hawk and Raider followed suit moments later on their motorcycles.
I glanced around, not seeing buildings or so much as a shack. This place was off the beaten path, but it didn’t look like there were any signs of life other than us.
Bash jerked Bates out of the back seat of Quinn’s car by his shirt collar then slammed him up against the side of the car. “You better not be fucking with me, Bates, you little bitch. Anything happens to my daughter, and I’ll make you eat your own cock.”
“The house is a mile up the road over there,” he rushed to assure the vibrating beast who had his hands at his throat. “I told you this place was in the boonies. The road is overgrown, but it’s there, regardless.”
“What’s the layout of the place?” Trigger, who rarely spoke unless spoken to, demanded, already pulling one of his rifles from its case. “One-story house? Two? How many windows? Where is he most likely to be?”
Bates stuttered out the answers while Jet sketched out a crude draft of the details and Hawk and Colt unloaded the artillery from the trunk of Raven’s Charger. I caught the Glock they tossed my way, then the three magazines that followed.
“That’s all I can offer you in order for the rest of us to have some too,” Colt said with a grimace. “Make every bullet count.”
“Only need one,” I growled and lifted my gun to Bates’s forehead.
He made a pitiful sound in the back of his throat, his fat, squashed-in face shaking in terror.
“You tried to kill Jos last night, didn’t you?” I snarled, getting up in his face. I flipped the safety off and put my finger on the trigger. “You ran her off the road. Didn’t you?”
“N-No,” he said, shaking his head adamantly. “It wasn’t me, man. I swear to you.”
“Then who?”
“I-I don’t know. But…but I read the report the deputy wrote up. It sounded a lot like Fontana’s truck.” He was trembling now, and the memory of him standing over me back at Fontana’s place in Eureka flooded through my head.
Raven’s hand wrapped around my arm. “Tanner, please, don’t kill him yet. If Lexa isn’t there, we need him to help us find her.” Her voice was imploring, trembling ever so slightly, telling me just how close to the edge she really was. “Please, you can do whatever you want with him when I have my baby back.”
I hesitated, wanting just to be done with it and have this bastard out of my life for good. But then I looked into her eyes, saw her desperation, and slowly lowered my hand. I started to turn away, but I changed my mind at the last second and punched him dead center in the stomach.
He bowed over, vomiting all over his feet.
“We ready?” Bash asked everyone as they finished discussing the plan.
“Yeah,” I agreed.
Bates was standing upright once again, and there was no way he’d missed any of the details. Trigger ran on ahead to find the best spot. We waited for the signal and pushed Bates up in front of us. He would get in, and Trigger would have his eye on him from a distance, his sniper rifle trained on Bates the whole time.
The rest of us followed at a slower pace, including Raven. Bash wanted her to stay behind, but there was no reasoning with her. Lexa was in there, and she was going to get her baby back one way or another.
The house was an old ranch-style design. The roof looked like it needed to be replaced—a decade ago. One really hard snow and it would cave in from the looks of it.
Colt, Raider, and Hawk moved around to the back door, getting into place first, while the rest of us took the front. Raven was stuck between Bash and Jet, but she had her own gun, and I almost pitied Fontana when she got to him.
Almost.
“Now!” Bash whisper-shouted and kicked in the front door just as an echoing sound came from the back of the house.
I knew where I was going simply from following the sound of Fontana screaming at Bates. Bash and Jet barreled through the house in front of me, but Raven slipped past them, making them both shout in protest.
The three of us reached her just as she lifted her gun and pulled the trigger.
Fontana jerked, then fell to his knees as his head canted around to glare at her. Blood poured out of his mouth seconds later, and she pulled the trigger again, this time hitting him in the face.
That was when I saw Lexa, and there was no mistaking the fact that Raven had already seen her. Because as soon as Fontana’s brains were exploding out of the back of his head, Raven dropped her gun and was across the room and falling to her knees, her hands trembling as she ran them over the bruised, unmoving form of her daughter.
But it was the cut on her face, leaving her beautiful skin covered in
blood, that had us all turning to stone. Fuck. He’d cut her. I didn’t know how bad it was from where I was standing, but Raven was going crazy.
“Lexa,” she shouted, feeling for a pulse. “Baby, open your eyes for Mommy. Look at me, Lexa. Please, look at me!”
Bash lifted the little girl into his arms, bracing her against his chest and took off running, his wife right behind him.
Bates just stood there in the middle of the living room, Fontana’s blood and brains on his face and clothes. I crossed the distance separating us in seconds, lifted my gun, and put a single bullet in his brain.
Stepping back, I spat on both bodies at my feet and walked away.
It was over.
And I could finally breathe.
Chapter 25
Raven
I couldn’t stop shaking.
Not when I held Lexa in my arms in the back of Quinn’s car and Bash drove like the hounds of hell were chasing us to the nearest hospital. There was so much blood. So many bruises.
Not when the doctor and a team of nurses took her from us when we ran into the ER, shouting for help. I screamed at them to let me go with her, my heart beating so hard it was close to exploding because I couldn’t fucking stand to be away from her.
Not during the long wait, or when the cops arrived because we’d walked in with an unconscious, badly beaten child. We answered their questions. Told them who to call if they really needed to know so badly—Vito Vitucci, his son, his son-in-law. They always came up with a cover story to protect their muscle. They would sort the cops all out. Get these damn pigs out of my face so I could just worry about my daughter.
Not when the doctor finally came out to tell us what was going on and that Lexa was being rushed up to surgery.
Contusions. Broken bones. Internal bleeding. Severe concussion.
She’d been beaten to within an inch of her life. If we hadn’t gotten her to the hospital in time, she could have bled out from a lacerated liver and a ruptured spleen.
Bash held me close, telling me it was going to be okay. But I didn’t believe him. Lexa had been so still, so fucking broken. And that cut. What the hell had he used to make that damn cut? What had he done to my sweet little angel?
I was still shaking when the surgeon came out and said Lexa was going to be okay.
And that was when the world went black.
--
When I opened my eyes again, it was to find Bash leaning over me, his eyes wet with tears as he cradled my head in his huge hands. “Baby,” he sobbed. “Thank fuck.”
“Lexa!” I cried, sitting up so fast, the world began to spin.
Bash eased me back, carefully holding me. “She’s in recovery. The doctor said we can see her as soon as she starts coming out from under the anesthesia,” he reminded me. “You scared the hell out of me.”
The shaking was starting to take hold of me again, but it was worse now. My teeth began to chatter together, my entire body feeling as if it was encased in ice. “Why can’t I stop shaking?” I demanded, irritated.
“Reaction. Shock. You’re coming down off some pretty high adrenaline, baby.” He moved back then stood before lifting me to my feet.
He pulled off his coat and wrapped it around my shoulders, carefully pulling my hair out from under it and then folding his arms around me.
That was when I broke. When the lump filled my throat and the tears burned my eyes. I buried my face in his chest, and he gave me his strength as I let the stress and pain and agony of the last six-plus hours go.
It wasn’t until Jet and the others arrived at the hospital that I was finally able to get some semblance of control over myself and wipe away my tears. By then, Bash’s shirt was soaked in my tears and snot, but he didn’t seem to care as we moved into the corner of the OR waiting room and the guys filled us in on what had happened after we’d left.
They had cleaned up the mess I’d created when I blew the man’s face off.
I wasn’t sorry. I knew I was supposed to feel some kind of remorse for taking a life, but all I felt was this overpowering sense of relief. Fontana couldn’t hurt us anymore. Bates wouldn’t get in our way again.
That wouldn’t have mattered, though, if Lexa hadn’t made it out of there alive. I would have wanted to follow them to hell and spend eternity tormenting the fuck out of them.
A nurse appeared in the doorway, glancing around. There were two other families waiting on their loved ones to get out of surgery, but somehow, I knew she was looking for us.
I moved forward and she frowned, probably wondering if I could possibly be the mother of the little girl who was under her care. Lexa and I looked nothing alike, but even though we didn’t share a single drop of blood, she was mine just as much as Max was. Legally, I was her mother, but it was more than that. In my soul, she belonged to me.
Then she saw Bash behind me and understanding cleared her eyes. Lexa and Max both looked so much like their father, there was no denying who they belonged to.
“Mr. and Mrs. Reid?” I nodded. “Your daughter is starting to come around, and she keeps crying for her mommy. Would you like to follow me, and I’ll take you back to her?”
I was already on her heels before she could clear the door.
Lexa was in the ICU, where the doctor told us she would be for the next day or so just as a precaution. She wasn’t the most critical patient in the ward, but she was definitely the youngest.
When I saw her again, my heart stopped at just how badly Fontana had beaten her. There wasn’t a single inch of skin that wasn’t covered in bruises. Her face was stitched, the jagged cut going from her temple down to the corner of her mouth, disfiguring the entire right side of her face.
Rage filled me anew, and I wanted to kill the monster who did this to my baby all over again.
She was whimpering as the doors opened, and I rushed forward. Her blue eyes opened, and she started to cry as soon as she saw me. “Mommy!” But when she tried to sit up to hug me, she cried out in pain, and I bent so I could hug her, hold her.
I kissed her forehead carefully, brushing her hair back from her face, and just soaked up the fact that my daughter was alive.
Chapter 26
Gracie
I closed down my computer and was about to get to my feet when my office door was pushed inward and Jenkins came in, a bottle of champagne in his hands.
With everything that had happened over the weekend, then rushing to clean up all the legal loose ends that went along with it, I was exhausted. Monday had passed in a blur at the neighboring county’s police station and then the courthouse to make sure Hawk and the others hadn’t faced any backlash after rescuing little Lexa.
Today, Tuesday, had been just another day to my exhausted brain and the constant morning sickness that was my new companion. But upon seeing my boss and mentor’s grin and the gleam in his eyes, the realization of what this day really was hit me.
“Are the election results in?” I asked. As busy as things were, I was glad I’d voted absentee since there was no way I could have made it to the polls today.
“How about treating your new mayor to a steak dinner?” he asked, popping the top on his champagne.
I jumped up, throwing my arms around his neck. “I knew you would win!” I cried, hugging him tight.
“I don’t know why I doubted myself so much,” he grumbled, but he was still grinning. Setting the bottle down on the edge of my desk, he hugged me back before pulling away to grab my coat off the rack by my door. “Now, come on, woman. We have to talk business, and I’m starving.”
I let him help me put on my coat then grabbed my briefcase as we left the office. His girlfriend had already left for the day, which surprised me. They should have been celebrating together, having a raging party as the town breathed a sigh of relief that Royce Campbell wasn’t going to step into Derrick Michaels’s shoes and take over where the other bastard had left off.
But I also kne
w that with Jenkins now the mayor, I would be taking over the law practice fully. It had always been part of the plan. When I started working for him years ago, it was written into my contract. I would work for him, learn from him, and then when he finally retired, he would have someone to inherit the practice.
Of course, I hadn’t realized at the time that it was all a scheme thought up by Hawk and the MC to give me enough money to pay for law school. Now that I looked back on it, I was thankful they’d done what they had. I probably wouldn’t have accepted the offer at the time if I had known, and I would have missed an incredible opportunity and the chance to learn from the best.
Jenkins opened the passenger door to his Audi and waited for me to get in before walking around to the driver’s side. On the ride to Aggie’s, we discussed all his open cases and what I would need to do to get caught up on them so I could step in. He knew I wouldn’t have any issues, but he was still like an overprotective father. Not of his clients, but of me.
We pulled up outside Aggie’s, and we were still talking about work as we walked in, so when everyone in the place screamed “Congratulations!” I nearly jumped out of my skin.
The entire town was laughing, throwing out praise and congrats. And for the next hour, instead of talking work, we celebrated.
“What’s the first change you’re going to make?” I asked when it was finally quiet enough to hold a conversation.
“First, I think I need to appoint a new sheriff until the spring election,” he said with a laugh. “Bates taking off for the wild blue yonder after you found out he was being paid by some unsavory people means we’re going to need a new official.”
I snickered. “The pussy.”
In my gut, I knew Bates was no more, but I had to pretend to believe like everyone else—that he’d just pulled up and left rather than face an internal investigation. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be able to defend any of the MC guys if his body was ever found. But that was a huge if.
Hawk and his men weren’t stupid. They wouldn’t leave any evidence of Bates behind.
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