I glared at her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means we’ve been getting death threats on our front doors or over the phone, artists are being killed one by one, and nothing is changing. I want to get out of here with Amy – go somewhere where we’ll be safe.”
“I’ll keep you safe.”
Hazel shook her head. “You can’t.”
“What!?” I was suddenly furious. “What the fuck have I been doing until now?”
“You’ve been getting lucky.” Hazel marched across the room and jabbed her finger in my face. “Amy and I are alone at home all day. It’s good that you pulled her out of school, but now we’re sitting ducks at home. Again. It’s the same as the safe house. What are we supposed to do when he comes for us here?”
I shook my head. “You know I’ve stationed some of the men here. You’re safe.”
I was over this conversation. Hazel was challenging my ability to take care of my family. I hated it that she was undermining my ability to keep them safe. I hated that on some level, she was right.
“I’m getting out of here with Amy,” Hazel said. “And I’m going to make sure we’re in a safe spot until this blows over. I don’t feel safe, and it’s been weeks now.”
“You’re not taking my daughter away from me,” I snapped.
“So, we’ll just wait for Maxwell to do it then?”
I wasn’t ready for this conversation.
“You’ll stay in this house, and you’ll do what I say!”
Hazel took a step back, my outburst unexpected. I had never shouted at her, but I was starting to lose control of the situation, and I was starting to lose control of my self-control.
Hazel stormed away and slammed the door to our bedroom.
“Motherfucker!” I shouted.
When I spun around, ready to get the fuck out of this house, Amy stood behind me, looking shrunken in on herself. Her eyes were big, and her bottom lip trembled.
“Oh, honey,” I said, melting immediately.
She had seen me lose it toward Hazel and that was the last thing I had wanted. We weren’t supposed to fight. Everything had gone wrong in our lives, and the last thing we could afford was for us to be turned against each other with this.
Amy turned around and ran to her room. I shook my head and followed her. This wasn’t a conversation I was going to leave for a later date.
“Amy?” I said knocking on her door before opening it. “Can we talk about it?”
Amy sat on her bed, her knees hugged to her chest. I walked to her and sat on the edge of the bed.
“I guess things are falling apart a little, huh?”
Amy shrugged. “Is this what our lives are going to be like from now on?”
“God, I honestly hope not. I am handling it.”
Amy didn’t answer me, and I knew that I was wrong. I wasn’t handling it. Hazel and I had fought because she was right. It wasn’t safe here, and even though I liked to think I had it all under control, I didn’t.
“I don’t like it when you and Hazel fight,” Amy said. “And I don’t like it when you shout.”
“I know, honey.”
“I know Hazel is pregnant.”
My blood ran cold. “How did you find out?”
“It’s not exactly rocket science, Dad. When were you going to tell me?”
I sighed. “We were trying to find a good time, but with everything going wrong, we haven’t managed that yet.”
Amy nodded.
“How do you feel about it?” I asked. “About the baby?”
Amy shrugged. “I guess it’s okay. I mean, I like Hazel. But I would like for all this to go away. I don’t like being scared all the time and missing so much school, and I hate it when you and Hazel fight. Why is this getting so bad?”
Why indeed. It was getting so bad because Maxwell was getting away from me. We were in constant danger, and there was nothing I could do about it.
“I’m trying to take care of it,” I said. “Everyone is on the case, even the police, but Maxwell’s crazy and crazy people just can’t see the logic.”
“I want to get out of here.”
I nodded, finally accepting that I had been going about it all wrong. I had been pretending I knew how to handle it when Maxwell was a step ahead of me every time. It was time to push away my pride and admit that it was time to take the next step and get my family to safety. Again.
“Are you okay going to the safe house with Hollis? You like him, right?”
Amy nodded. “Will Hazel come with me?”
I nodded. “Of course. And we ’ll make sure you guys are safe, and nothing goes wrong. And when you’re at the safe house, I’ll do everything I can to get this to stop so you can come home and we can carry on with our lives again.”
Amy nodded. “I would like that. I don’t mind you being a biker and doing all these things. It’s never been an issue before. I don’t like that it’s changed now.”
I didn’t like that it had changed either. Since I’d had to raise Amy by myself, I had made a point of separating my home life and my business life, keeping the bad shit away from my daughter. I had failed her as a father by letting this get so close to us, and I wanted to make up for it.
“You know I’ll take care of it,” I said. “And if I can’t make it go away, if I can’t stop keeping the two sides of my life separate, I’ll quit.”
“Quit what?”
“Being a biker.”
Amy shook her head. “Don’t do that. It’s who you are, and I get that. I just want this to go away, so you stop fighting, and we’re all safe again.”
I leaned forward and kissed Amy on the head. “I’ll make arrangements for a safe house right away, and we’ll see how the rest follows, okay? But I want you to understand something: I will die before I let anything happen to you.”
Amy hugged me. “I know, Dad.”
I held her and tried to ignore the horrible feeling of dread bunching at the pit of my stomach. What if I couldn’t do it? What if I couldn’t keep them safe?
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Hazel
Logan arranged for us to stay at another safe house. Since we’d found out that Maxwell had a foot in with the police, we weren’t sure what he would know, and it was safer to do things our way now. It was great of Earl to help us out – having a police officer on our side could never hurt – but we were at a point where we had to consider our safety first.
When Logan told me Amy knew about the pregnancy, I felt like an idiot. I should have known that she would figure it out. She was a clever girl, and I was starting to show. Maybe if she were five, it wouldn’t have made a difference, but she was thirteen and alert.
I was relieved she knew, even though she’d had to find out by herself. I hated keeping secrets from her when I knew it would affect her as well. Now that it was out in the open, I could relax.
Logan had organized for Hollis to take us to the safe house. The plan was to make someone else in town draw Maxwell’s attention while Hollis, Amy, and I slipped away unnoticed. It wasn’t a foolproof plan, but it was the best we could do, and I hoped it was enough.
Hollis came to pick us up first thing in the morning. Amy and I had both packed bags for a week. I had no idea how long we would be at the safe house or if a week’s clothing was too much or too little. We would play it by ear.
As we drove, I watched the sun rising above the horizon. The city was still sleeping, and I felt like we were getting away unnoticed. I glanced at Amy who was huddled in a thick jacket against the opposite door, looking out at the scenery as well.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
Amy nodded. “I’m just tired of this. I hate having to go back and forth between safe houses, to miss school and to be worried about what’s going to happen next.”
“I know. Hopefully, this will be over soon.”
“Don’t you girls worry,” Hollis said over his shoulder. “Logan is doing everything he can, and we’v
e got the whole gang behind us. No one is going to hurt us.”
The safe house was once again just outside L.A. We didn’t go there in a procession of police cars this time. It was just our one car, and when he pulled up in front of the house, the three of us got out. I looked up at the house – it was a very mediocre looking place, not eye-catching at all. It was exactly what we were after.
“Right,” Hollis said, clapping his hands and rubbing them together.
He walked toward the house. Movement from the corner of my eye caught my attention and something dark came toward Hollis. Before I could warn him, Maxwell jumped out and hit him over the head with something hard, the crunching sound reverberating so loudly I almost felt it. Hollis’ lifeless body crumpled to the ground.
Amy was between Hollis and me, and she screamed. Maxwell ran toward her, and she scrambled to get away, but she tripped and fell. Maxwell grabbed her, yanking her back to her feet. He elbowed her in the head twice. The second time, her eyes stayed close, and her body went limp.
I was frozen, staring at Maxwell in horror. He looked at me with eyes that held my personal version of hell and smirked before he dragged Amy away with him. I suddenly jolted into action, running after him. I didn’t know what I was going to do when I caught up with him, but I couldn’t let him get away with Amy.
I wasn’t fast enough.
Maxwell dragged Amy into a car that had been parked at the side of the safe house, and with squealing tires, he floored it to the road. A few seconds later, I couldn’t see his car anymore.
I started hyperventilating. I couldn’t breathe, my chest was tight, and I sank to my knees. I had to get my breathing under control – hyperventilating couldn’t be good for the baby. I closed my eyes and focused on sucking in breaths of air through my nose and blowing them out through my mouth.
Slowly, my breathing returned to normal. I was lightheaded with a very sharp pain in my chest, but I could breathe again, think again.
Maxwell had Amy. He had been waiting at the safe house for us. How the hell he had known where we were going was beyond me, but he had Amy. Maxwell had Amy.
We had traveled to the safe house with one car and one man, so we didn’t attract attention to ourselves. Logan and the gang members had arranged to create a fight in town to distract Maxwell. I didn’t know what they’d done, but it had failed.
I dragged myself to the car and retrieved my phone with trembling fingers, punching in Logan’s number.
“You should have arrived by now,” Logan said.
I could barely speak, my throat contracting again.
“He’s got Amy,” I managed to croak out.
“What!? Who’s got Amy? What happened?”
I started crying. Violent sobs racked my chest, and for a moment I couldn’t speak. Logan must have put two and two together because he was suddenly shouting and swearing and losing his mind on the other side of the line.
“Put Hollis on. Now,” Logan demanded.
“I can’t. Maxwell knocked him out. I don’t even know if he’s still alive. God...”
I made my way toward Hollis who was still lying on the ground. Blood poured from his temple over his face and into his neck – the image was gruesome. For a moment, all I could see was Emmerson with stab wounds to his chest. Please, let this not have happened again.
As if in answer, Hollis groaned and shifted slightly. He wasn’t conscious, but he was alive.
“He’s alive,” I breathed out into the phone. I wasn’t crying so hysterically anymore. If Hollis had died, I didn’t know what I would have done.
“Explain to me what happened,” Logan said. He sounded pissed off. “How did this happen?”
I explained to him what had happened – that Maxwell came out of the shadows and took out Hollis.
“It all happened so fast. By the time I tried to go after them, he was already driving away with her. He knocked her out, Logan. What if he hurt her?”
“You should have waited in the car. You should have let Hollis check out the place first.”
I cried harder again. “This isn’t my fault.”
Logan sighed. “I know. I’m sorry. I’m coming to get you. Get in the car and lock the doors. Call 911 for Hollis. Make sure you’re safe.”
I did as I was told.
Logan and the ambulance arrived at the same time. When I saw Logan, I climbed out of the car and ran to him, sobs I had managed to stop returning. Logan held me, rubbing my back, trying to get me to calm down. I wasn’t going to calm down.
Maxwell had Amy.
Chapter Thirty
Logan
Hazel was finally asleep. After I picked up from the safe house, the place where none of this should have happened, I took her straight to a doctor. She was suffering badly from shock, and I was worried about the baby. As soon as we found out the baby was all right, the doctor gave Hazel sedatives that were safe to use and ordered her to bed rest for a couple of days. She had been through a lot of trauma lately, and it wasn’t good for the pregnancy.
I couldn’t sleep. Not when my baby girl was out there and potentially in danger. What if Maxwell hurts her, or worse? I couldn’t stand to think about it. I spent the night pulling every contact I had out of bed and asking them favors. I was well-known around town, and everyone was willing to help, but after Emmerson died – everyone knew the tragic story of his son – they all offered to be on high alert.
No one knew where Maxwell was and there was no trace of him. It was like the son of a bitch had disappeared into thin air. The gang was on high alert, patrolling the streets. I prayed one of them got something – Maxwell’s car, a license plate, a credit card transaction, anything. But I knew he wasn’t stupid. Maxwell would know I was looking for him and he would lay low.
Rage burned like a furnace in my chest. I managed to maintain self-control so I didn’t lose my shit altogether but God knew I wanted to punch in every door in the house, break every glass ornament, scream and shout and have a fit. Of course, none of that was going to help.
I thought about Maxwell – that day we went to his apartment. When I pictured his face, I saw myself killing him I was so angry. But my time would come. Until then, I was getting everyone together to make my move. I was mobilizing an army, and the moment Maxwell showed his face, it would be his last.
He had fucked with the wrong family. He may have gotten away with the murders he had committed so far, and been able to get to other artists, but this time, he had taken the wrong girl. I was sure Amy was still alive – Maxwell wouldn’t have taken her if he intended to kill her. He was trying to use her as leverage.
I didn’t care what he wanted from me in exchange for my daughter. I cared that she was alive, and I was going to get her back.
I tried not to think about what Amy would be going through right now. I didn’t even want to think about what he might be doing to her. If I found out she had been physically harmed in any way, I would hurt Maxwell so badly they wouldn’t be able to identify him at all.
Every scenario in my mind was already violent and vicious. I pictured ripping Maxwell apart with my bare hands, stabbing him the way he had done Emmerson, beating him to a pulp the way he had done to some of the artists around town. The images in my mind were so violent that they scared me, but violence was the name of the game I played.
I forced away the images, turning my attention inward and focusing on my breathing. I couldn’t stop what was happening, couldn’t help my daughter, and every scenario I thought of only made me angrier. I was sick with worry, and if I carried on like this, I would drive myself to insanity. The only thing I could do was to actively try to get her back.
It was almost sunrise again when I finally exhausted all my options, when I had phoned all the people I could. I walked to the bedroom where Hazel was sleeping. Since we had arrived home, and she had taken the pills the doctor had prescribed, she had been sleeping, and I envied her the escape.
I thought back to when I first met her, to
how attracted I had been to her, and to how things had changed in such a short time. When I fucked her under the bridge, I would never have thought that we would be here together, that she would be pregnant with my child.
She looked small and fragile, curled up in the middle of the bed, with the covers half draped over her body. Her eyebrows were knitted together, and even in sleep, she looked worried. I felt torn. I wanted to be here to protect Hazel and the baby. Everything that had happened had put her in more danger right under my nose. The stress could cause her to miscarry.
Reaper’s Property_Valley Reapers MC Page 13
