Jason wondered about what the two had talked about before. Michael was very interested in the emblem that he had drawn for him and he wondered, even hoped, that it was those people that he was going to see. There was a capability about Mike that he did not possess and he too wanted some kind of revenge for what had happened to the rest of his family. He didn’t say anything out loud to ease anyone’s fears. Jason didn’t want anyone to try and stop Michael. He wasn’t able to take care of it, but maybe Mike could.
“Well if he says he is going to catch up, then I think we should keep on going,” Jason piped up.
Milo sighed with relief, thankful that someone had taken his side. Jessa was still not convinced, but she didn’t want to make her son upset any more than he had to be. There was something that she wasn’t being told and she was bound and determined to find out what it was. When she looked at Milo in such a way, he knew that he was going to have to tell her more. Neither one of them knew what Jason knew though.
The group got started a little later than the day before. Jessa looked back one last time at the place where she had last seen Michael. It was impossible to not feel abandoned. She couldn’t believe that he had left her. She had a few choice words to say to him when she saw him again. She sighed deeply. She was going to be lonely without him. In fact, she was already aching deep inside, feeling more heartsick than she had since her husband died. She hadn’t cared so much about another man since then, and now she felt like it was all falling apart again.
“It will be okay, mom.”
She nodded at her son with a smile that she hoped reached her eyes. “It will have to be.”
7
“So what are we going to do with him?”
Caston ran his hand through his white hair, studying the man on the ground. They had found him tracking them not long ago, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that he had seen him before. Still, none of his men recognized him. He was the leader though, and if he didn’t know him then how could it matter? Still, he had an uneasy feeling about the man. Where had he seen him before?
Caston wasn’t sure. Under normal circumstances, he would just slit the guy’s throat and leave him behind. But there was a quality about this guy that intrigued him. Even passed out on the ground he could tell that he was well-groomed. He didn’t want for anything, unlike most of the other people they stumbled across. It was clear that the man had somewhere that he was calling home and Caston wanted to know where it was. The Rough Riders were getting low on supplies, but if this guy had what they needed, then it was his responsibility to make sure that they took every last bit of it. The land was becoming less giving and Caston knew that he would have to find something soon to provide for his crew. The only thing keeping his men loyal was a full belly and enough adventure to keep them busy. Without those, his men would surely turn against him like jackals.
“Why don’t we wait till he wakes up and see where it is that he is camping out? I’m sure that there will be something there.”
Caston went through the man’s bag and noticed a pink scarf tucked delicately inside. It was clear that the scarf wasn’t something that belonged to the rugged man who had been tracking them. Caston gave it a smell and the strong scent of lilac filled his nose. He was filled with excitement as he realized that the scarf belonged to a woman. It was something that they hadn’t run into in a while. Caston was more than willing to be patient if it meant that he would get one of his baser needs taken care of. He would have preferred a woman over food and he was sure that the six men with him would feel the same way. Only problem was that once they got their hands on one, they never made it very long.
“Do you want me to wake him up?”
He shook his head. “No Lee. We don’t have too much else to do but wait. The weather is looking like a storm anyways.”
Lee nodded, but wasn’t too happy about the order. He wanted to be the one that found out what was going on. He, like many of the other men, was getting restless. They were ready for something to make their hearts beat a little faster. They were long due for some excitement, and torturing the strange man would be enough for Lee.
Caston could see the way his men were starting to get restless. He didn’t show them the scarf, but stuck it in his pocket and had a couple of them help the man up. “Let’s get in for the night so we don’t get caught in the rain. I’m sure the guy will be up by then.”
“What do you think he was doing boss?”
Caston shrugged, not sure what to make of it. It had been years since anyone had gotten so close to him. The man was clearly searching them out, not something that the Rough Riders were used to. Most smart people stayed away from the motorcycle gang. They ran the turf around there and it made Caston sure that the dark-haired man was there for some kind of vengeance. Vengeance was something that he could understand. It was only when he considered the possibility that Caston started to relax. He could understand pride and ego, but he could also understand revenge. Caston was sure that he was owed some many times over, but not just yet.
“I think he’s here to get information, or maybe even take me out. I don’t know, but I want him tied up well so that when he does come around, there is no way for him to get a chance to do any of that.”
Lee nodded his head and started to smile. There was a chance that he was going to be able to hurt someone that day. It had been too long for all of them. It had been weeks since anyone had been stupid enough to fall into their path. Now that there was a chance of something happening, Lee was starting to feel like his old self.
They dragged him into the house that they were going to be staying in for the night. Even though Caston wasn’t sure what to do with him, he knew that he didn’t want him able to get free. He didn’t wake up as they moved him around, and that made Caston worried that they had hit him too hard from behind. He may never wake up, but if he did, he wouldn’t be able to go anywhere.
***
Michael gradually came to and heard the men’s voices. He had woken up in a dark room by himself. There was a thick feeling in his head and though he wasn’t sure where he was, he recognized the emblem on a jacket that was left in the room with him. It was all that Michael needed to know. He had been looking for the gang and just when he had found them, someone had hit him from behind and he had seen blackness. It was rather strange to find himself right where he had wanted to be, though Michael had hoped for the element of surprise to be on his terms. He did get a surprise, but it wasn’t quite what he had been hoping for. Instead he was tied and gagged.
“I see you’re up.”
Michael’s face turned to take in the older man with the grey eyes that had haunted his dreams for years. He had seen them before in his past, and suddenly Michael knew that he had found the man he was looking for. But what was he supposed to do now?
He started to make noise behind the gag and the man shook his head. “There is no need to struggle. This will be the end for you. Tell me what I want to know and I will make sure you don’t suffer too much.”
Michael didn’t like the sound of that and he certainly didn’t like the idea of anything happening to him before he got his revenge. His mind went to Jessa for a minute and he wished he had never left. He wasn’t worried about something happening to him or him not being able to finish what he had set out to do. What would really bother him more than anything else was the fact that he may not be able to see Jessa again. It was in that moment that he realized she was the only one that mattered to him.
Another man took Michael’s gag off after a few minutes and he shot daggers with his blue eyes. “Do you know who I am?”
Michael nodded. There was no sense in pretending that he didn’t know exactly who he was and what he was capable of. Caston seemed to like the answer and smiled to himself, nodding his head.
“Good, then who am I?”
“You are the man that I am going to kill.”
Caston chuckled a little, but he didn’t like the look in the man’s face. Even
though he was tied up and he was surrounded by several men larger than himself, the man in front of him was quite sure of his words.
“What is your name?”
“Michael Santino.”
“And why, may I ask, would you want to kill me M Michael?”
“Because you killed my wife and child.”
Caston sighed and nodded his head. “Yes I think that would do it, but why do you think you will succeed? Look at you.”
Michael didn’t care. He knew that he had not come all that way, walked all of those miles, to simply fail. It was his destiny, and though he didn’t know how, he knew that he was going to walk away from it all. He had to get home to Jessa and nothing was going to stop him from doing so. Not even the devil himself.
THE END
Finding Love in a Dark World: Book 5
Cynthia Wilde
Copyright © 2016 by Cynthia Wilde. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
1
Jessa sighed, staring off into space. She missed Michael. He had taken off without even saying goodbye to her; he’d been a coward and had left the job to Milo. He had told Milo that he was leaving and he would catch up with the troupe. Jessa tried to let it go, but she couldn’t stop thinking about him. She probably should have listened to Milo’s message. It was from Michael. It would make her feel better to trust that everything would go as Michael said it would. He had never done anything for her not to believe him. But there was a rotten feeling in her stomach that told her something was wrong. She tried to push the feelings aside, but by midday, she was ready to take action.
Jessa and the group continued on their way, leaving behind the area where Michael had left them. When they rested for a time and got some water, Jessa walked up to Milo, who was sitting on the small creek’s edge. He looked serene and happy in the moment. At least, he did until he noticed that she was there. He got a forlorn look on his face as he realized that he had to answer to her. He could tell by the look on her face that she was in combat mode, and almost held up the white flag then and there.
“Jessa…”
She put her hand up. “We both know that you know more about what was going on with Michael than what you’ve been telling me. So what happened?”
“I really don’t know Jessa. He was talking to Jason about a group that he had seen before they met us.” Milo stopped and grimaced a little. Jessa scared him a little bit. Especially when she looked so angry. He hadn’t been able to help but throw Jason under the bus. It was not what he had wanted to happen and he would have liked to have thought that he would have lasted a bit longer under interrogation. “I’m sorry Jessa. He doesn’t want you going after him. I don’t know what is going on, but I think we should just keep going forward.”
Jessa nodded absently and then bee-lined it to talk to Jason. She had known something was going on and there was always a part of Michael, before her that kept him up some nights. Jessa had a feeling that his most recent bout of change came from the same source.
Jason was less forthcoming, but was soon just as tongue-tied as Milo had felt. All he wanted was for the eyes pinning him to where he stood to change their focus away from him. All she had been able to gather was that Michael was after a group of men. Jessa wasn’t any closer to knowing why, but she knew that he was in trouble. She didn’t know what to do. They were already miles behind and Jessa wasn’t sure where he had gone specifically. The most information she’d managed to get from him was a general direction. Jason could tell her the spot where the people Motorcycle gang had originally settled down, but they had probably moved on years ago.
She had five other people with her now, though her son was still recuperating from their last run in with bad men. Jessa knew that she couldn’t take them with her to look for Michael. It would risk their lives. But leaving her son again was not an option. The last time she had, it had meant trouble and she refused to be separated from him again. Jessa didn’t know what to do, but something told her that Mike needed her.
Jessa sighed just as Carin approached her.
“When do you think we’ll be leaving from here, Jessa?”
Jessa didn’t have an answer.
Carin could tell that she was upset. “If you aren’t ready to leave right now, we don’t have to. Sorry to bother you.”
Jessa shook her head. “No, it’s not that.”
She decided that she needed somebody to trust with her dilemma and suddenly the whole story bubbled out of her. She explained everything as quickly as she could to Carin. Carin was as taken aback as she listened to Jessa’s tale. She decided to open up to Jessa about the Motorcycle gang, and gave Jessa more information about what role they had played in taking her daughter, Jason’s mother. The more Jessa learned about these cruel men, the less inclined she was to bring her son in their direction. Unfortunately, that meant Michael was in even more trouble than she thought. She knew she had no choice but to help him.
“Jessa, we will come with you if you want to go try to help Michael. Jason has wanted to do something about that terrible group of men for a long time. Besides, I don’t want to think of anyone else in the same position that we were left in. It’s a horrible feeling.”
Jessa was surprised by the offer. She was sure that she was going to have to catch up with the rest of them and hope for the best, assuming that she could manage on her own. Miraculously, this no longer seemed to be the case. Somehow, they were willing to go into danger with her. Jessa was beside herself with emotion. She couldn’t believe that Carin was being so understanding about it all.
“Are you sure Carin? From what I am hearing, they are not going to be the easiest people to deal with.”
The older woman just nodded her head. “Someone is going to have to look after the boy. I am not much in a fight, but I can certainly watch out for Shane while you guys get close enough. I can at least do that much, take one last thing off of your mind.”
“Thank you Carin. I don’t know what to say.”
Carin just waved her off like there was nothing that needed to be said. “I care for Michael as well. He is a very kind man. And if he had a run in with that group as we did, there is a big reason that he has decided to chase them down.”
Jessa had to agree, but she still wondered what more she didn’t know. Michael had never talked much about what his life was like before they met, and it made her wonder if she knew him at all. Did a person ever really know someone?
***
Jessa didn’t have much trouble getting the rest of the group to go along with the plan. Milo felt a responsibility to Michael to make sure that the others were okay, but he knew that Jessa was not going to let Michael stay in trouble. She was there to make sure the man she loved was okay. There was still a knot in her stomach, but Jessa was starting to think that everything was going to work out somehow. She didn’t know how yet, but she had faith.
Shane was ready to go before everyone else. He hadn’t liked the idea of leaving Mike behind in the first place. Shane was already very attached to Michael, and he didn’t want to lose another father figure. Jessa tried not to see it that way, but when she had seen the devastation on her son’s face when he found out that Michael had left, it had been palpable. She had known exactly why he felt so strongly.
The decision wasn’t made lightly, but it had to be made quickly. He was already several hours ahead and Michael could move faster because he was not impeded by a large group of people. As they turned around and headed back toward the area where Michael had left, everyone was moving a little faster. Even Milo.
Jessa couldn’t shake her presentiment. Something bad was about to happen. She could feel it in her bones, but she didn’t want to say anything out loud. All she could really do was hope that Michael was okay and that it
would stay that way for both him and the group as they journeyed to rescue him. Jessa didn’t want her decision to help Michael to hurt someone else, but she just couldn’t let him go. Jessa didn’t want to think about life without him.
“Mom?”
“Yes, dear?”
“Do you think that we are going to find him?”
It was like he was reading her mind and she shrugged. She didn’t have the answer, but she tried to assure him that they were going to do their best to make sure that they found him.
“We’re going to do our best to make sure nothing happens to him, even if we have to keep looking for a very long time. Okay, honey?”
He seemed happy with the answer, but she had to wonder if they were going to be there in time or not. Would their efforts be enough?
2
Michael kept his eyes closed, breathing heavily to try to ward away the pain. All he could think and hope was that Milo kept his word and kept Jessa and the group going on the road towards the coast. He didn’t want them to come back for him, even though he knew that he was in a position that would more than likely get him killed in the end. It wasn’t hard to think of where it was all going to go. He had been hit from behind and dragged into their camp. There was no getting out of it.
He had finally gotten to meet the man who had been the center of his vengeful obsession for years. He hadn’t known who he was; all he had known was that he would know when he saw him again. Michael had been searching for years, ultimately realizing that the world was too big, but finally fate had brought them back together. If only his fate hadn’t landed him tied up and in the midst of the monsters. There wasn’t much chance for vengeance this way. He had wanted to catch them off guard, but it appeared that he was the one who hadn’t seen it coming. Michael was angry at himself for letting them get the jump on him, but it was hard not to see that he just had been too consumed with the idea of revenge to pay attention.
DIESEL (Forsaken Riders MC Romance Book 13) Page 82
