"Stay put," are his final words before the line goes dead.
"Stay put? How the hell do they expect to find me? What am I saying," I shake my head. "this is Ronan I'm talking about." I talk to myself. With nothing more to do but wait, I turn my phone over a few times in my hand contemplating on calling Remi. I'm walking into this knowing I will probably never see her again, and my heart is ripping from my chest thinking about it. Telling myself this is to protect her and to try and save Lisa is doing absolutely nothing to convince myself it will work. Knowing Jake and the Club will die protecting her ends up being the knowledge I need to find peace with the choice I have made.
Turning, I glance in the back seat noticing Remi's bookbag. Grabbing the strap, I pull on it and bring it onto my lap and unzip it looking for paper and something to write with. Finding what I need I set out to write my daughter a small note. Using the glow of the moon as my light, I put pen to paper.
My beautiful daughter,
I know I don’t have to tell you how much I love you because you already know, but I'll say it anyway. I love you, Remi. I'm proud to be your momma and proud to have watched you begin to grow into the young lady you are becoming.
I love you, Peanut.
Tears stream down my cheeks and a couple of them land on the notebook paper causing two small water stains to soak the edges of the ink. Lifting my hands, I rub them away with the backs of my hands. Sniffling, I look down at the words I wrote to my daughter. On the same piece of paper, I also decided to include a note to Jake.
Jake,
What can I say? You saw me and showed me what a man's love is supposed to feel like, and I will never let that go. I didn’t just survive all those years to protect my daughter. I survived because my forever was waiting for me and I had to find it—I had to find you. You are my safe place. You are my home. You are my forever.
Keep her safe.
Love you always.
Ripping the page from the notebook, I hold onto it while tossing the bag and the notebook onto the passenger seat. As I'm folding the letter, a bright beam of lights fill the car and temporarily blinds me as the reflection bounces off the rearview and side mirrors. Shielding the light from my eyes, I turn to try and see the vehicle behind me when knuckles wrapping on my window steals my attention.
Connor's large frame fills the space outside my car door. With his arms crossed he backs up a few feet and waits for me to open the door. Drawing a deep breath my hand finds the handle, and I climb out of my car. The note in my hand I crumble to hide in my palm. Feet crunching the gravel causes my head to turn as I take notice of another man walking on the other side of my car holding a large can of gasoline.
A firm hand grips my left arm, and I turn my head towards Connor. He holds his palm out. "Your phone." He demands. Not wanting to provoke him I comply and hand it over, which he immediately tosses on the hood. The other guy begins to pour the gasoline over and around my car then proceeds to throw a match to the ground. Connor leads me towards the SUV they arrived in as the car starts to catch fire. I drop the crumpled note in my hand to the grassy ground before the back door opens, and I climb in. Part of me was expecting to find Ronan sitting in the back seat, but I find no one. In the end, it's Connor, the other guy and me as they turn the vehicle around and peel off leaving nothing but a fire behind us.
Unfortunately for me the windows are blacked out to where I can't see my surroundings, so I have no idea which way we are going. Turning his head and looking over his shoulder Connor looks me over. Raking his beady eyes over my body. A wicked smirk appears on his face as his eyes land on mine, and I give him the best go to hell look I can provide as I press my back to the seat and cross my arms. No words are exchanged. The partition that separates the front from the back starts to roll up, cutting me off completely, leaving me alone.
I'm not sure how much time has passed when the SUV finally rolls to a stop. At this point, I'm starting to let my nerves get the best of me. All I know is I'm sure by now Jake, and the rest of the club knows I'm gone. I wait for the door to open and when it does a little light shines on my face causing me to blink and raise my hand to block it. I step out. Glancing around, I try to take in where we are. The house in front of me is an older white colonial style, and we are standing in a circular driveway. There doesn’t appear to be anything else around the home, only thick, dense forest as far as I can see through the darkness beyond the well-lit yard. Connor reaches to take hold of my arm, and I take a step to the side preventing his touch, which angers him. His hand shoots out and grabs for my arm again, this time succeeding. Roughly he yanks my small frame into his large one and squeezes my arm to the point of pain.
"That’s enough, Connor. Release my wife." Ronan's voice roars. Not breaking the stare off, I continue to shoot daggers at the man holding me.
"I said enough," Ronan bellows once again.
Finally, releasing his tight hold on my upper arm, Connor steps back. I keep my fists balled at my side as I turn my body to face the man I have been running from for two years. I take a good long look at him. Not much has changed. His hair is a little more gray on the top, and he looks to have taken up going to a gym because he isn't as lean as he once was. He has more muscle definition than before.
"Like what you see? Too bad you're not the woman who's been enjoying this body for the past couple years," He remarks gesturing to his body with his hands. Ronan has always been full of himself. I cross my arm.
"Trust me, I'm not the least bit envious of any woman you’ve ever slept with." My words strike a nerve. I watch his smug face warp to one of anger. I insulted him, and I did it in front of his men, something I would have never in a million years done before, but I'm not the woman I was then, and he is taking notice.
"It's going to be fun breaking you all over again, Anna." Giving me his back, Ronan walks inside. Connor takes a step towards me and this time I choose to follow Ronan's lead and trail him into the older home. I don’t get too far inside the foyer when Ronan spins around. The back of his hand lands a substantial blow to my right cheek causing my head to snap back. The radiating pain is instant. Finding my center, I stay on my feet and bring my hand to my face covering my throbbing cheek. I won't cower. Dropping my hand, I push my shoulders back and level my stare.
"I see you seem to think you've become a different woman. Stronger even. I'm going to show you just how wrong you are my dear."
"I can take whatever you dish out, but first let Lisa go. You've got me. She has nothing more to do with this," I demand, even though it's more of a plea. His eyes grow cold.
Stepping into my space, and getting right in my face he continues, "You reek of him, you know that? But you see, my family isn't complete yet. That biker gang still has my daughter, and I want her back. Oh, don’t get me wrong, wife. I'm going to have my fun with you. I plan on using you up until there is nothing left but your lifeless body. In the end, I'll throw you out like the garbage you are."
A tear rolls down my cheek before I can stop it. I knew I wasn’t going to make it out of this alive. The sinking feeling of his words cement the finality of my life, but I'll give my last breath knowing he won't ever get his hands on my daughter. Feeling bold I spit in his face. "Go fuck yourself. You will never get your filthy hands on my daughter." Instead of reacting like I thought he would, which was striking me, Ronan grips the back of my head, grabs a fistful of hair and forces his mouth over mine. Swiftly, my body gets slammed against the wall, and the struggle to push him off causes him to press his body further into me. Pinning his leg between mine, he makes it a point to press his erection against me.. Bringing my hands up I pull his hair in an attempt to make him stop. Just as quickly he punches me in the stomach knocking the breath out of me, and I fall to my knees.
"Take her upstairs." He tells Connor as he looks down on me as I try and catch my breath.
Snatching me from the floor, Connor leads me up the stairs. Stopping in front of the door at the end of the hall, he inser
ts a key and unlocks the door. Swinging it open he shoves me inside hard enough I lose my footing and stumble to my knees. The sound of the door slamming shut and locking follows.
"Jesus, Grace," Lisa's voice rings out, and then a pair of arms wrap around my waist as she helps me off the floor, and she settles me on the edge of a bed.
"Lisa, are you okay? Did they hurt you," Pulling back I start trying to access her.
"Sweetie, I'm fine. A little banged up from the accident but other than that they haven't touched me. My question is what the hell are you doing here? Where're the men? Oh my God, Grace, please tell me my husband is okay?"
"Bennett is alive. Not in the best of shape, but alive." I lay my hand on her lap and reassure her. "I took off in the middle of the night. I gave myself over to Ronan. To save my daughter and to save you, Lisa." I confess.
The look Lisa gives me is the look I would have gotten from my mother if she were alive. "I can understand doing it for your daughter, but not for me. You should have let Jake and the men handle this mess, Grace. Now look, we are both in the same boat," Lisa informs me of a fact I'm already aware of, but I have a plan.
"Listen, I'm going to need you to follow my lead. I don’t know where we are, but we need to try and get out of here." I'm telling her this, and yet I have no intentions of running. Getting her out of here is my only concern. "There wasn’t much I could see from the outside but trees all around us, but we have to try," I tell her. I walk over to one of the windows in the room and peer out. Lisa joins me.
"What do you suggest we do?" she asks.
Continuing to stare out the window I state, "We fight."
For what feels like a couple of hours, no one comes into the room, and we both begin to lose a little of the fight we had earlier due to the fact we are both tired. Both our stomachs growl as we continue to walk around the room to stay awake. The sound of the key being inserted into the lock on the other side of the door halts our movements. Grabbing the only thing of use in the room, Lisa stands to where she stays hidden behind the door. I back away a few steps to give myself room to defend myself.
The door opens and the man that was with Connor earlier appears holding a plate containing two sandwiches. I wait for him to step further into the room before making a move. Lisa pushes the door closed. Raising the lamp above her, she brings it down as hard as she can across the back of his head. Dropping the plate, he stumbles slightly and doubles over grabbing at the back of his injured head. Taking the opportunity just as I see his hand reach inside his jacket, I brace my hands on his shoulders and bring my knee up. The crunching noise I hear lets me know I made solid contact with his nose which brings him down to one knee. Rearing back, Lisa kicks the side of the knee not on the floor causing it to buckle.
Scrambling, I lock the door as Lisa snatches a drawer from the nightstand. Swinging, the wood cracks across the guy's jaw knocking him out.
"Holy shit, Lisa," I say in awe.
"Honey, remember who our family is. I picked up some skills of my own along the way," she drops the remaining piece of the drawer to the floor.
"We don’t have much time. Does he have keys on him anywhere.?" We begin to search his pockets. Reaching into his suit jacket my hand grasps his gun. I give it a once over making sure it's loaded.
"Oh my god," Lisa dangles a set of vehicle keys in her hands.
"Listen, as soon as we break that window we have to hurry because if this big guy dropping the plate and falling didn’t get someone's attention, then glass shattering will. Remember the lattice to the right. We use that to climb down," I rush as we stand in front of the window. Readying ourselves, I use the butt of the gun to break the glass. It doesn’t completely shatter so we use our feet to knock the rest out.
Heavy footsteps echo alerting us to hurry our asses out the window. Lisa climbs out first. I watch over my shoulder with the gun drawn and the safety off ready to shoot whoever crashes through that door.
"Come on," Lisa loudly whispers.
Craning my head out the window, I find her making her way down the side of the house. The door handle jiggling followed by the sound of heavy boots kicking the door fill the room. I turn my head one last time and look at Lisa who is now on the ground staring back at me.
"No matter what you get in that vehicle, and you keep going." The bedroom door splinters at the hinges. One more kick and I know the only barrier between them and me is coming down. I plead and scream to her one last time. "Lisa, run!"
The door gives way. Raising the heavy gun in my hand, I point and pull the trigger. The bullet rips through Connor's shoulder, but he advances on me before I pull the trigger a second time. The sound of tires spinning gravel in the distance is the last thing I hear before I take a blow to my face causing my vision to double and my world to go black.
21
Jake
After another church meeting with my brothers and Demetri along with his men, I make my way to the kitchen for some much-needed coffee. I'm running on fumes at this point, but none of us have it in us to rest until Lisa is home. So far, we don't have any new leads. Reid was able to tap into some traffic cams and a few security cameras from some local stores but came up with nothing. Demetri's men are headed back out now. Each hour that passes feels like days. Walking into the kitchen, I see Remi sitting at the table drinking what looks like hot chocolate from a mug. Looking down at my watch, I notice it's nearly 3:00 am.
"Hey, sweetheart. What ya doing up?"
"I can't sleep. I hope it's okay that I came down here. Mom usually makes me hot chocolate when I have a hard time sleeping."
"You can have anything ya want darlin'. I'm sure your momma would have made ya some if you had woken her up."
"I was going to, but she's not in her room."
Setting the coffee pot down, I snap my head in Remi's direction. "What do ya mean she's not in her room. She was in there asleep when I checked on her earlier."
She lightly shrugs one shoulder, "I thought maybe she was with you."
Suddenly, I get a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I storm out of the kitchen and head straight to my room. I know I won't find her there though. Bursting through the bedroom door, I take in my empty bed. Next, I look in the bathroom, also nothing. Storming across the hall to Remi's room, I come up with the same thing…no Grace.
Glory, I think to myself, and when I get to her room, I walk in without knocking. My abrupt entrance causes her to stir, and I don't even have it in me to question Demetri as to why he is sittin' in her room watching her sleep.
"Jake, what's going on?" She asks in a sleep filled voice.
"I can't find Grace. Either of you two seen her?" At my question Glory looks over at Demetri where he's perched in a chair beside her bed. I don't miss the look on her face saying she had no idea Demetri has been in her room.
"She has to be around here somewhere. I'll help you look." Demetri offers.
"That stupid little shit. I'm going to kill her. I'm going to kill her dead so help me, Lord. I love her; I love her, but I'm going to murder her." Glory whisper hisses her little rant as she gets out of bed not shy at all that she's only in a small t-shirt and thong that gives Demetri a clear view of her ass.
"What the hell are you doing?" Demetri growls.
"What the hell does it look like I'm doing. I'm getting my ass out of this bed to get dressed so I can go find my friend and murder her." Glory growls back. Not having time for these two and their tirade, I hold up my hand and bark out, "I want to know what the hell you're talking about, Glory."
"I'm talking about Grace giving us the slip. She's gone to offer herself up to her asshole husband. I knew she was going to pull some shit like this. No way could she live with herself if something happened to Lisa or any one of you."
"Son of a fuckin' bitch!" I roar, then turn and punch a hole in the wall. My outburst alerting my men because running up the stairs towards us is Logan, Gabriel, Reid, and Quinn. And peaking out from behind Quinn is Re
mi.
"What the hell, Prez? What's going on?" Logan demands.
"Grace," is all I offer.
"Fuck me." Gabriel grunts.
Walking out from behind Quinn, Remi asks with worry written all over her little face. "Where's my mom?"
"Remi, babe. Come here." Glory coaxes, and Remi runs into her aunt's arms. The kid is smart. She knows. Without another word, I walk out of the room and downstairs with my boys at my back. It's time for some fuckin' heads to roll. If that means I have to tear up this town, and search every goddamn house in Polson, then so be it. And when I get my Little Bird back home, I'm going to tan her ass for this stunt. And Ronan De Burca is going to be wishing for death by the time I get through with him. The same time we make it to the main room of the clubhouse, Victor walks in from outside with a stern look on his face.
"What is it, Victor?" Demetri asks from behind me.
"Found Miss Cohen's car on a private road off of Highway 54. It had been set on fire. I found this about thirty feet from what was left of her vehicle. No signs of her inside." He says handing me a crumpled piece of paper. The words Grace has written on them nearly brings me to my knees. Tucking the paper into the pocket of my cut, I look around me at my boys who are waiting for their President to give them instructions.
"Time to saddle up. It's go time. This shit ends today."
Straddling my bike, I lite a cigarette and wait for Quinn to make his rounds with the brothers handing out extra artillery. When he makes his way to me, he passes me a clip belt along with six loaded clips and two grenades. Raising my eyebrow at him, he shrugs his shoulder and says. "Better to be safe than sorry."
A few minutes later we're all loaded, saddled and ready to go when Bennett comes limping out of the clubhouse with his arm cupping his side and his head wrapped in a bandage. Emerson is hot on his ass and pissed off.
"What the hell you think you're doing?" I ask. Not sparing me a glance, he mounts his bike. "I'm going to get my wife. That's what the hell I'm doing. And before you say another word, ask yourself what you would do in my situation. Would you lay your ass in bed, or roll some heads and get your woman back? I heard about Grace, so I already know what your answer would be, brother."
UNBREAKABLE: The Kings of Retribution MC Page 16
