King's Descendants MC - BOXED SET

by Bella Jewel

  “Zariah,” he answers. “You good?”

  “Come to the hospital, I’ve got something to share.”

  “On my way.”

  I hang up and take a deep shaky breath.

  This could be the break we need.

  God, I hope this changes everything.

  “I WAS TALKING TO STEVEN,” I say, when Alarick, Kendric, and Cohen arrive at the hospital. “We were just talking about cases in general and he told me that when you’re looking for someone who has disappeared, you look for the good side, not the bad side. In other words, you find their family, you go from there. He said everyone has someone they care about, you just have to find that person.”

  Alarick stares at me with a confused expression.

  I do a better job of explaining.

  “He has to have family somewhere, someone he is still talking to, someone he cares about. Surely he didn’t just disappear without a trace. I mean, think about it, he left that house unattended. Someone has to be controlling that. He left everything and just disappeared. Someone knows something. You just have to find that someone.”

  Alarick grins, wild and free, a grin I haven’t seen on his face for months. “You’re fuckin’ genius!” He turns to Cohen and Kendric. “Cohen, get Bohdi onto findin’ out who that house is registered to. It has to be under someone’s name, someone is keepin’ it good for him. Find that person. Kendric, you and Samson get onto searchin’ for his family, friends, someone out there who is still in contact with him. Surely the man doesn’t have nobody.”

  “What about Peter?” Cohen asks.

  “Fuck Peter, we’ve been lookin’ in the wrong places. We’re lookin’ at him because of their connection, but we’ve been wastin’ our time not searchin’ outside of him.”

  “Let’s get onto it then,” Kendric murmurs, then looks to me. “What about Blanche, you got anything on him?”

  “Blanche isn’t in on this,” I say. “I’m not risking my job to look into him. I’m sorry.”

  Alarick glances at me too now. “Know you don’t like the idea, Zariah, but you gotta know our sources are all pointin’ to him.”

  “Some cartel leader? You want me to believe him?” I shake my head. “No, I’m sorry, I’ve spent time with him and he’s smart. He’s clever. He’s so into his job. He’s not going to risk everything help some pathetic idiot like Dax out.”

  “Dax is powerful, don’t underestimate him,” Cohen growls.

  I shake my head. “I’m not doing it. I’m not looking into someone I know isn’t involved.”

  “Need you to be on our side, Zariah,” Alarick tells me, crossing his arms. His big body so powerful it makes me feel a little intimidated.

  “I am on your side. I’ve risked everything to help you all out and I still am. I’m not looking into someone who has finally given me a break that I’ve been working my ass off for.”

  “So it’s about your fuckin’ job?” Kendric growls.

  I look to him. “Do not, Kendric. I have every damn right to want to protect my job.”

  “Sure that’s all you’re protectin’?”

  I shake my head and look away. “I’m not looking into Blanche; you’re going to have to find something else. Now, can we look into the information I actually gave you that might lead somewhere?”

  “You’re protectin’ someone who could be fuckin’ dangerous,” Kendric growls.

  “You’re assuming. You have zero proof he has anything to do with this,” I snap, glaring at him.

  “We have plenty of people tellin’ us his name, you think that’s a coincidence?”

  My chest tightens, and I take a deep, angry breath. “He hasn’t got anything to do with this.”

  “You fuckin’ him, is that it?” Kendric throws at me, eyes fierce.

  “Go fuck yourself, Kendric. I’m not fucking him. I’m working with him. He’s not a bad person.”

  “You’re sure of that. You’re willin’ to risk my fuckin’ life for it? Because if you’re wrong, and I go to prison because we can’t fix this, you’re goin’ to live with your choice right now.”

  Guilt slams into my chest and I cross my arms, trying really fucking hard to convince myself I’m doing the right thing here. What if I am wrong? What if Kendric goes down because I refuse to look into Blanche? Am I making the wrong choice? God dammit, I don’t know what to think anymore. Everything is confusing me. Blanche doesn’t seem like the kind of man to do something like this, but Kendric is right, can I be one hundred percent sure of that?

  Alarick intervenes before I can say anything more. “That’s enough. Do what I’m fuckin’ tellin’ you to do, Kendric. We don’t have time for this fuckin’ bullshit.”

  Kendric doesn’t take his eyes off me.

  He’s angry.

  I’m angry.

  We’re running out of time.

  Changing the subject, Alarick asks, “We’re goin’ to get your boy back this afternoon, you ready for that?”

  I pull my eyes away from Kendric’s and look to him. My voice strong when I say, “I’m ready.”

  I’m more than ready.

  I need my son back.

  I need my freedom back.

  I just need this all to be over so I can finally start my life the way I have been wanting to for so long.

  The time has finally come.

  13

  ZARIAH

  “What the fuck is goin’ on, Zariah?” Reece asks, walking out of the house with Jayden and his sister in tow.

  His sister has never liked me, mostly because she’s a fucking suck up and doesn’t want anybody getting too close to her and the control she has over her brother. The two of them are close, their whole family is.

  In the reflection of the front window, I can see the bikers gathering behind me. Twenty of them, all strong, all powerful, all ready to take what belongs to me. I know this isn’t necessarily the right way to go about getting this to stop, but it’s certainly the most effective. Reece isn’t going to take on a biker club, even he’s not that stupid.

  “I’m taking Jayden back.”

  “Mommy!” Jayden cries, running toward me with a happy smile on his face.

  He moves before Reece can stop him, and the moment he’s in my arms, I exhale a sigh of relief. Pure, utter joy that my baby is safe in my arms again. I lean down so I can hug him, even though my body aches. I breathe him in and thank everything in the universe that he’s here with me and I’ve gotten him back.

  The idea that he would be taken from me made me sick to my stomach.

  The idea that he’s going to be taken from Reece makes me equally as sick.

  He loves his father, and I know Reece loves him, but after what he did to me, I can’t be certain he’ll never do it to my son.

  We’re going to have to fight this one out and let a judge decide.

  “I’m taking my son back,” I say carefully as Jayden walks toward Kendric and Alarick, standing at the front of the group. He looks at their bikes and squeals happily.

  He’s not afraid of them. Not at all.

  “What?” Reece’s sister, Tarryn, snaps. “Who do you think you are, coming here and threatening my brother with a bunch of ... what ... gang members?”

  I fight the urge to roll my eyes. “This has nothing to do with you, Tarryn.”

  “It has everything to do with me. That is my nephew.”

  “He is my son, and I am taking him because your brother is an abusive asshole and I’m done with it. I’m not risking my baby boy’s life any longer.”

  “I’d never hurt him!” Reece bellows.

  “You’re a liar!” Tarryn spits.

  “Oh, so your brother hasn’t told you that he’s been abusing me for years?”

  Tarryn shakes her head, her expression tight and angry. “You monster. You lying, pathetic woman. How dare you make up lies so you can take Reece’s only son away from him. How dare you.”

  “I’m not here to convince you of the kind of man he is. I kno
w what he’s done. I lived it. I’m not going to put up with it anymore.”

  “He’s never laid a hand on you,” she screams, throwing her hands up. “Reece, tell her she’s a god damned liar and call the police.”

  “I am the fucking police,” I yell back. “Go ahead, Reece. Tell her that you’ve never laid a hand on me. Tell her you’ve never beaten me. Tell her you’ve never shoved my head down a fucking toilet because I was so sick. Tell her you never pushed me down the fucking stairs when I was pregnant with our son. Tell her you never punched me in the ribs, or the stomach, or the legs because you didn’t want to leave marks on my face. Go ahead, tell her you’ve never fucking hurt me.”

  I’m screaming now, so much that Jayden makes a little cry.

  I immediately stop, panting, rage building in my chest.

  I turn and see Kendric lean down and scoop Jayden up into his arms. His eyes flash to mine and I see something in his expression that breaks my heart—understanding. Kendric finally understands why I’m so fucking broken. He looks to my son and, putting a smile on his face, he tells him, “Want to look at my bike, little buddy?”

  Jayden nods, his eyes still a little sad, his face still a little distressed.

  Reece charges forward, but Alarick steps out, stopping him. “You take another step, I’ll fuckin’ take you down in a way you’ll never come back from.”

  Reece pauses, glancing at me with pain in his eyes. “That’s my baby, Zariah.”

  Those words tug at my heart in a way that’s almost painful. It is his baby; I couldn’t imagine anything worse in this world then having Jayden taken from me. Everything inside of me is screaming to stop this, hand his son back and just pretend none of this ever happened. I wouldn’t be doing my duty as a mother if I did that. I have to protect my son from even just a chance that he might hurt him sometime down the line.

  “We’re done here,” Alarick goes on before I can speak. “You come near her or the boy again, you even so much as breathe in their direction, and we’ll take care of you. Do you fuckin’ understand?”

  “That’s my son!” Reece screams. “My fuckin’ son!”

  “You care about your fuckin’ son, you should have thought twice about layin’ your hands on that woman,” Alarick snarls.

  “You can’t do this, Zariah!”

  I close my eyes, heart racing, trying hard to think amongst this chaos. I look up to see him on his knees, crying. It about breaks me. I take a step forward, but Kendric’s voice rolls in behind me. “Do not go to him, Zariah. You know you gotta do this.”

  I’m panting now, chest dragging in and out with pain. I don’t know what to do, I don’t know how to think, all I know is that I feel like a god damned monster right now and I hate feeling like I’m ruining someone’s life. “Get help, Reece,” I say carefully. “Get the help you need because right now, you’re dangerous and I have to protect our son from that. We’ll go to court, have them decide and ...”

  “They’ll take him away from me,” he bellows. “You know they will.”

  “If they do it’s because of something you’ve done,” I say. “If you didn’t do anything wrong, they’d have no reason to. I don’t want to take him from you forever, but right now, in this moment, I can’t let you have him because you nearly took my life, Reece. I can’t risk him. Get help, proper help, and we’ll discuss the next steps.”

  “I’ll fucking kill you, Zariah,” he suddenly roars, leaping up and charging toward me. Alarick steps out, Cohen by his side and the two of them take him down with one, quick movement. Alarick pins him to the ground with his boot and then leans down and growls, “I will put a bullet through your skull and rid the world of your fuckin’ presence if you so much as look in her direction again. Do not fuckin’ tempt me.”

  Reece squirms and roars, “Get your fuckin’ foot off me, biker. Get off me.”

  Alarick lets him go, and Reece gets to his feet as Tarryn rushes toward him and gives me a look so deadly I flinch. “We’re going to take you down for this, Zariah. We’re going to make sure that everyone knows what you’ve done here. About the bikers. Everything. You think a court is going to favor you when you’ve done that?”

  I keep my stance and don’t flinch away from her, then I smile and lean in close. “What bikers?”

  With that, we turn and leave.

  Bring it on, I say.

  Bring. It. On.

  14

  ZARIAH

  I sneak out of the hallway and out into the living area. It took me a while to get Jayden to sleep, and quite honestly, I feel like a god damned monster. He was asking for Reece, and that breaks my heart because one thing I do know, without a doubt, is that he loves his father and his father loves him. Perhaps there is a way to make it work so he can still see him but, for right now, I would be doing the wrong thing to assume he’ll never snap and hurt my baby.

  I could never forgive myself for that.

  I get out into the kitchen to see Alarick, Kendric, and Briella all waiting for me. They made sure I got home safe, and Kendric got right into changing all the locks in my house so that Reece couldn’t enter. He also made sure I had a security system. None of them think I’m safe after what happened today, and there’s a good chance I’m not. Reece will let what happened build, and he may very well snap. That will leave me in danger, possibly Jayden too.

  I can only hope Tarryn will keep him in check with her wild ideas of going to court and winning this.

  It might just keep him under control.

  “Is that poor baby okay?” Briella asks. “Gosh, he’s just the most beautiful child.”

  “He’s okay, he’s really upset.” I sigh, running my hands down my face. “It’s hard on him, he does love his father. He doesn’t understand.”

  “You’re doing what’s best for him, honey. Don’t doubt that. I’m so, so sorry we never knew what that man was doing to you.”

  “It wasn’t your job to know.” I give her a weak smile.

  She gives me a hug and then tells me they’ll go and get some dinner and come back to make my night a little easier. I tell her thanks, but I just want to rest. That’s the truth. I’m sore, confused, and there is so much happening in my mind right now I honestly can’t make sense of it. I just need to be alone with my thoughts. After giving me another hug, she leaves with Alarick and Cohen. Kendric stays, telling them he’ll leave when he’s done.

  Once we’re alone, I find myself fidgeting uncomfortably because I quite honestly don’t know what to say to him right now. Thank you, maybe? That’s a good start.

  “Thank you,” I say, my voice softer than it usually ever is. “I really appreciate what you did for me today, mostly what you did for Jayden. He really likes you.”

  “He’s a good kid,” he says, screwing a panel into the wall for the keypad.

  “Yeah, yeah he is.”

  We fall silent again and once Kendric has finished with the keypad, he turns to me. “You set up a pin, somethin’ only you know and somethin’ he certainly can’t fuckin’ guess. Make sure you don’t tell anyone. Keep yourself safe. That man is fuckin’ unstable.”

  I nod, crossing my arms and rubbing them with my hands.

  “You good?” he asks, staring at me, eyes narrowing.

  “I don’t know. I feel ... I feel so god damned guilty. Like I’m making a big mistake. Like I’m the worst mother in the world.”

  “Trust me,” he says, placing the tools down. “You’re better than most fuckin’ mothers because you’re puttin’ that boy’s wellbeing first. Know it’s hard, believe me. Seein’ your son upset because he doesn’t understand is a fuckin’ horrible thing but knowin’ you’re keepin’ him safe has to be worth somethin’. It has to be. You’d never live with yourself if that motherfucker laid a hand on your boy.”

  He’s right.

  I wouldn’t.

  “I know that, I do, but it still bothers me. There is still a part of me that wonders if I’m making the wrong choice.”

&nb
sp; “That’s normal. You do what you said, you go to the court and let them decide. You let them hear what he’s done, and you let them choose if they think he’s safe. He gets help, he might be good, but if he doesn’t, that rage will build and build, and one day it will snap on your son. I promise you that.”

  He’s speaking from experience. I can tell.

  “Is that what happened to you?”

  He pauses and then glances at me, his face tight but not angry. “Yeah, it is. My father beat my mother for years behind closed doors. Same as you. We didn’t know when we were younger, but when we grew up, we started seeing the marks, hearin’ her cry and wondered what was goin’ on. He never hurt us. Fuck, not once. Until the day when I was ten, and I told him to stop hurtin’ Momma, that I knew what he was doin’. He beat me so bad I ended up in the hospital for a week. My fuckin’ hero took me down. Don’t ever think a man like that won’t hurt your child, Zariah. He might not now, but one day, when that boy stands up to him ... it’ll be different.”

  My heart feels like it’s going to split in half.

  Poor Kendric. That’s a horrible thing to live through.

  “I’m so sorry. What happened after that?”

  “The two of them split up, and I never saw my father again. Wish every fuckin’ day my mother left and took us away from that. I admire your strength for doin’ what you’re doin’ now, I know it’s hard. Seen first-hand just how hard it is.”

  I swallow, trying to keep this pool of emotions inside me from erupting out. “I feel like I’ve already let my son down. I shouldn’t have been with Reece long enough to even get pregnant. I knew what he was like, yet I continued to let him do it because of some sick, twisted attachment.”

  “It happens, more than you know. Don’t go beatin’ yourself up about it. It was abuse, and abuse can be really fuckin’ hard to walk away from.”

  I stare at him and, in that moment, after those words, all I want to do is pounce on him. I want to take him to the sofa and do things to him that I’m certain aren’t right. Yet still, I want them. I want so many things I shouldn’t. Especially when it comes to Kendric. It’s like he understands everything I am and doesn’t judge me for it. He doesn’t talk down to me or tell me of the mistakes I’ve made, he simply accepts me.