Ruined Mercy

by Brook Wilder

  “Alright,” she said after a moment. “If we get to him first, I promise you we will not harm him. I can’t say the same for the cartel, or for the police if they find him, but the clubs will not kill him.”

  I let out a breath, my body shaking from winning a stare-down with a badass woman. “Thank you.”

  “Don’t thank me just yet. Tell me what you know.”

  So, I did. I told her about his odd behavior before he left, the words he had spoken to me, but left out the part about the card tucked in my phone case. I wasn’t an idiot. Regardless of what this woman said to me now, these people were dangerous, and I wasn’t about to give up the most important piece of information I had. I wanted to keep it to myself for as long as I could, knowing something on that card was going to either save my father or implicate him.

  “That’s all,” I finished. “That’s all I know.”

  “And he’s had no contact with you since then? What about your mother?”

  I shook my head. “No. She would have told me if he called. My mom doesn’t know any of this. She thinks he’s on a business trip.”

  Widow Maker gave me an assessing look. “And what will she do once she finds you missing? You don’t look like the type to just go off on your own.”

  I flushed, hating she could pinpoint me so well. I wasn’t that type. I was a good girl, one who had always obeyed her curfews and had never given her parents any reason to question her. I had studied hard, made good grades, and spent more time at home on a Friday night than out in the streets. Heck, I hadn’t gone to my first club until this past year, when my roommate had mistaken it for a coffee shop.

  Needless to say, we had hightailed it out of there, embarrassed.

  No, I wasn’t anything like Widow Maker. “She is going to worry.” I was sure she had gotten home by now, likely called the cops to report me missing, and would berate them until they did something.

  Widow Maker gave a slow nod. “I’m willing to trust you on this one, Sabrina, but if I find out you’re hiding anything from me, you will be dealt with severely. You understand? If you have wasted our time, I will not be happy about it.”

  I gave her a jerky nod, panic welling up in my chest. Maybe I should tell her about the card. There was a gleam in her eye that told me she wasn’t just trying to scare me. This was serious business and whatever I had just fallen into could cost me my life.

  But before I could open my mouth, the door opened and a tall woman stepped through, the flash of her badge on her waist making my knees go weak.

  I had been found.

  “Alisha,” Widow Maker said with a nod as the woman shut the door. “What can I do for you?”

  Alisha’s eyes glanced over me, stark relief in them. “So, the rumor is true. You’ve resorted to kidnapping, Kristina.”

  Kristina let out a sharp laugh, falling into the chair behind her desk. “Already? Man, word travels fast these days. I thought y’all didn’t follow up with anything until twenty-four hours had passed. It’s been what? Four?”

  “Let’s just say her mom is a bulldog,” Alisha answered, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked at me. “Are you okay?”

  I nodded, numb to what was truly going on here. This was the new chief of police my parents had just discussed when life was normal and my father wasn’t pegged as some criminal mastermind with money.

  I desperately wanted to go back to those days.

  “You are going to have to let her go,” Alisha was saying, making no move to reach for her gun. “I can’t have people stolen out of their homes in the middle of the night by the clubs. It will create mass hysteria and I will be forced to handle it.”

  “First of all,” Kristina started, leaning forward. “I didn’t want this girl. I wanted her father and for some godforsaken reason, the guy we sent in thought it was a good idea not to leave witnesses. Second, I’m trying to save some lives here, which is far more than the police department is trying to do at the moment.”

  I looked to Alisha for confirmation of this. Was it true that the police couldn’t be trusted to keep my father alive?

  “You know what we’re dealing with,” Alisha said, her gaze narrowing. “And I can’t have rogue club members trying to butt into my investigations, Kris. Do you know how hard it is to keep y’all out of jail? I’m giving it my best shot, but I need some help.”

  I swallowed hard, for a moment the floor feeling uncertain beneath me. The world as I knew it didn’t make sense anymore.

  Kristina’s gaze softened. “I know, Alisha. Dammit, I’m sorry. I don’t want to fight with you on this.”

  Alisha let out a breath. “Yeah, me neither. I told him I wouldn’t pick a fight tonight, but here we are.”

  I didn’t know who ‘him’ was, but it made Kristina smile and some of the tension in the room dissipated.

  “It’s hard to be on both sides of the fence. I’m sorry. I just… this is all a shitty plan to begin with.”

  Alisha looked over at me. “Well, do you want me to take her with me? Her mother is upset, and I am having a devil of a time trying to keep her from going out searching herself. Sabrina? Do you want to come with me?”

  I chewed on my lip. My first answer was yes. I wanted to go home and forget this night ever happened. I wanted my father to come home and for everything to go back to normal.

  But that wasn’t going to happen, at least not in the next week or so. My father was missing, and I held something very precious to him on my person, something I had not relayed to the woman behind the desk.

  Something that could get me killed. And him killed. By the police or the cartel. The only person who had promised me his safety was Kristina. I couldn’t leave now. I couldn’t just abandon this, whatever it was, and pretend none of it had happened without knowing if Kristina was going to hold up her end of the bargain regarding my father’s life.

  “I will text my mom, tell her I’m staying at a friend’s for a couple of days.”

  Alisha arched a brow. “Are you sure? She said you weren’t the type to just sneak out without saying goodbye.”

  I cleared my throat. “I’ll tell her that she was suddenly sick, and I had to leave quickly. She will believe me.” After all, I didn’t routinely lie to my parents. There would be no reason for her to think otherwise. “I want to stay.”

  “This is a bad idea,” Alisha said after a moment, throwing her hands up in the air. “But I can’t force you to return home. Send that text now, please, so I can go back to bed.”

  I did as she instructed, allowing both women to read it before I hit send.

  “Well, then,” Kristina said. “I guess there is no reason for you to be here, Alisha.”

  “I guess not,” she said slowly. “But if I end up working her homicide in the next few days, I’m coming after the club, allegiance or not.”

  I swallowed hard. Kristina gave her a sharp nod, but that wasn’t enough to keep me from wondering if I’d become a statistic because I had chosen the wrong side. If we couldn’t find my father, my mom would essentially lose her entire family.

  “I’ll be in touch,” Alisha said before exiting the office.

  “Well,” Kristina said after a moment. “That was interesting. Let’s get you some real clothes, alright? It sounds like the bar is starting to pick up and you look like you could really use a drink.”

  I didn’t bother to tell her I didn’t drink; my nerves were frayed to the point of breaking.

  What had I just done?

  Chapter 6

  Harrison

  I picked up my beer, taking a hefty sip of the frothy liquid. The club buzzed around me, a mix of Jesters and Bitches with some club girls sprinkled in.

  It was just another night in the life of a bike club.

  “So, you are telling me you decided to bring her along? Are you going soft, man?”

  I looked over at Seth, aka Chuckler, and shook my head. “Why are you even here?”

  The former third in command winked as
he picked up his beer. “Relax. I got permission. Alisha is working so she told me to come here, where I can stay out of trouble.”

  “Trouble?” I asked. “Does she not remember what goes on here?”

  Chuckler took a swallow of his beer before setting it down. “Man, I’m going stir crazy. I think she’s ready for me to get out of the house.”

  While I was giving him a hard time, I was glad to see he was getting along just fine. Since marrying the chief of police and giving up his position with the Jesters, I hadn’t seen much of Chuckler. “Already driving her crazy?”

  He pushed at my shoulder, a grin on his face. “Maybe, but she fucking likes it.”

  I grinned back and motioned for another beer. It was good to be home. After being gone on assignment for months, I realized how much I had missed this atmosphere. We weren’t all about guns and killing. There were times we needed downtime and a good cold beer.

  “Damn, is that her?”

  I followed Chuckler’s gaze and felt my throat close up when I took in my captive dressed in something other than her pajamas. She wore a short sleeved t-shirt with one of those v’s that showed off a hint of cleavage and a pair of jeans that should be outlawed rode low on her hips. Her hair, dark as night, was up in a ponytail. My groin tightened at the sight of her. Even with glasses on, she was sexy as hell.

  Damn.

  “Shut your mouth, man. I think you’re drooling.”

  I clamped my mouth shut, shooting Chuckler the bird. “She’s just a chick.”

  “Just a chick,” he repeated slowly, that ever-present grin on his face. “Yeah, okay, and I am the president.”

  “You want to be the president?”

  Chains dropped into the seat next to me, eyeing Chuckler. “You can’t be president. You’re not even in the club anymore.”

  Chuckler picked up his glass again. “I don’t want to be president of the club. I was just telling Crankshaft he had a hard on for his little captive over there.”

  “I do not,” I muttered, my eyes drifting back over to where she was sitting. “I don’t even know her name.”

  “Sabrina,” Chains supplied cheerfully as he motioned for his whiskey.

  Sabrina. That fit her. No matter how much she looked like a member of the club now, she was a girl that a guy like me shouldn’t even be looking at.

  “She decided to stay with us instead of going with the cops,” Chains continued. “I think she’s out to find her father and wants to use us for the heavy lifting.”

  “We are looking for him anyway,” I answered. “We don’t need her.”

  “Alright then,” Chains said as the whiskey was slid in front of him. “Then you kill her.”

  Kill her? There was no reason to kill her. “Why can’t we just let her go?”

  Chains shook his head as he lifted the glass up to his lips. “Because, she knows our plan now, been inside the compound. We can’t trust her.”

  I gritted my teeth. Normally killing someone didn’t bother me, but putting a bullet in Sabrina’s head… that bothered me a hell of a lot. She was an innocent in all this, her love for her father driving her to make stupid-ass decisions.

  “You don’t look so good, man.”

  I growled at Chains. “You can’t kill her.”

  He eyed me, some surprise in his expression. “Why the hell not?”

  “Because,” I said. “We don’t kill innocents.”

  “Huh,” he replied after a moment. “Never thought I would see this day.”

  I knew what he meant, and he was dead wrong. I wasn’t hung up on this chick. “I’m a killer.”

  Chains chuckled. “Well, it looks like you can be a savior right now because princess needs a hand.”

  I looked over to see one of the new club members leaning in close to Sabrina, who was about to fall out of her chair in an effort to get away. In a flash, I was across the room at her side, pushing the asshole away with more force than necessary. “Back off, shithead.”

  He stumbled back a few feet before rounding on me again. “I was just talking to the lady. Back off, old man.”

  Old man? Hell, I was far from old. Maybe he needed to learn that. “I don’t think she wants to talk to you.”

  The young club member straightened his shoulders and stuck out his chest.

  I sighed inwardly.

  And I ended it. With one punch I flattened him out on the floor, sending some chairs scattering and catching the attention of half the room. For a moment, everyone stared, some even whispering as I flexed my hand, daring the next person to step up.

  I was itching for a fight.

  In silent unison, everyone looked away and the room returned to normal. I turned to find out how Sabrina was.

  Only to find her gone.

  “Way to go, Crankshaft!” Chains called out, lifting up his glass. “You still got it!”

  I snarled at him and walked to the door, wrenching it open and stepping outside. Sabrina was sitting on the front step, some of the nearby club members who routinely kept watch eyeing her like she was about to run.

  Drawing in a breath, I dropped next to her, my boots scraping the step. “You okay?”

  “Go away. I don’t need your help.”

  “Oh yeah, you handled that like a pro back there. I was just cleaning up the mess.”

  She looked over. “Are you always so sarcastic?”

  I stretched out my legs. “Yeah, pretty much. What you see is what you get.”

  Sabrina pushed off the step. “Well, just stay away from me. I don’t want to have anything to do with you.”

  “The feeling’s mutual,” I muttered as she walked back into the clubhouse. Why had I even bothered? She hated me for taking her away from her home, her family. But she’d decided to stay. No idea why, but it’d been her damn decision.

  Rubbing a hand over my face, I stared down the quiet street, the sounds of the club raging on behind me. There had been a time when I wasn’t who I was now, when I lived in that damn bubble people called love and nothing could touch me.

  ***

  I grinned as I walked up to the door and opened it, the smell of a home cooked meal causing my stomach to growl uncontrollably. “Babe?”

  “In here,” Val called out from the kitchen.

  I dropped my gear on the floor and walked just inside the doorway, leaning against it. “Damn, that’s a sight for sore eyes.”

  Val turned and gave me a wiggle, making me laugh.

  “Where have you been?”

  I strode over to her and placed my hands on either side of her waist, pressing a kiss into her hair. “I’ve been busy. I got into the club today.” My body was still sore from the brutal rounds they had put me through, but the vest draped over the sofa was proof I had what it took to be in the Rough Jesters.

  Val turned from the stove, a spatula in her hand. “You did what?”

  “I got into the Jesters,” I said, my grin dissolving. “Remember us talking about it? This will bring in loads of cash, babe. We can leave this shithole for something better.”

  She swallowed and she placed the spatula on the counter. “I told you I didn’t want you doing that, Harrison. It’s too dangerous.”

  I frowned. “I know, babe, but this is the only way to make quick money.”

  Val shook her head and she stepped away from me, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I can’t… I can’t do this again. I can’t be waiting every night for you to come home, hoping you will come home. The club, it killed my brother and devastated my mother. You know that.”

  “I’m not fucking Carlos,” I growled. I watched her throw on her jacket and grab her purse. “He was with the cartel. I’m gonna be with the Rough Jesters. It’s different.”

  She let out a bitter laugh. “They are all the same. I’m sorry, Harrison, but I can’t. I have to go.”

  I rounded the table, but she skirted by me, forcing me to chase her to the door. “Are you fucking leaving me?”

  Her hand trembled
as she grabbed the doorknob. “You’ve given me no option.”

  “I love you,” I tried, my heart stuttering in my chest. “Isn’t that enough?”

  “No,” she said as she exited. “It’s never enough.”

  ***

  I sucked in a breath, trying to overcome the hurt in my chest from that memory. It wasn’t so that she had walked out on me. It was the fact that a month later, I was attending her funeral. Valerie had been riding with a friend when the cartel tagged their car, forcing them to the side of the road. They’d been trying to kidnap both of them to be traded at the border. Val had fought back, and only to be shot, point blank, in the chest.