by Brook Wilder
Gloria’s face paled. Amy was looking uncomfortable. Nate gave me a disapproving frown.
“Do you always talk to your mother like this?”
“If they treat me like crap, yes,” I snapped. “You haven’t seen Mom when she’s around me. She wants my life because she never got the fucking chance.” Gloria whimpered when I cursed and that almost caused me to smile. “She wants a son, so she constantly hovers over Hunter. She doesn’t want a daughter who embarrassed her by taking up with someone who likes being different and owns a Harley.” I gestured in Gloria’s direction. “Give her half a chance, Mom would love to get rid of me, so she could have my son.”
“Calm down, Liz!” Amy sounded flustered.
That just made me angrier and I swung around on her.
“No ‘calm down’ about it, Amy!” My voice was getting louder and I struggled to lower it back down. “If something happened to me, Hunter would be going to Noah. He’s Hunter’s father. And I’m pretty sure he would make sure neither of you have a relationship with our son with the way you are about him.” I pointed at Amy and then at Gloria. “You don’t control me, and you don’t control Hunter. Stop interfering with my life!”
That was probably the most I had ever spoken to my mother like that. It was certainly the first time I had completely snapped. Amy’s face was white, but there was something behind her eyes that said she knew things were going too far and I would follow through. But Gloria still looked to be in denial, giving Nate a nervous look and patting his thigh.”
“She’s just stressed. It’s been tough lately for her.”
Downplaying me again. I had been targeted by Ruiz, who had successfully managed to put doubts in Noah’s mind as well as in mine and had split us up. Even if I was going to move on, I wasn’t about to start dating the next day.
I wanted to pick something up and throw it. Throw it at my mother. Instead, I turned away and ran my hands through my hair.
“I am going to scream in a minute,” I growled. I pointed at the door. “Get out, all of you. I don’t want to see any of you.” Then I pointed at Nate, who was looking a little perplexed. “You, especially. If you contact me again, I’m going to call the police. Mom, don’t talk to me for a month or you won’t see your grandson at all.”
Gloria sat up. Her nostrils flared.
“Are you blackmailing me?” she hissed.
“Yes, I did. I want space. From you.” I strode towards the door. “Now, out, all of you.”
I flung open the door and then I saw a big, burly man with Mason’s bike club colors coming up the drive. I had barely heard the Harley, which was right behind my car. It wasn’t Noah or Diesel, but he was a welcome sight.
“Oh, thank God, George. I thought I was going to go insane.” I beckoned him inside. “Could you do me a favor and get rid of these three? I’ve just about had enough…”
Then pain exploded in the back of my head and everything went black.
Chapter 42
Noah
I kept going over and over things in my head, how I was going to get this apology out. I knew I only had one chance and I needed to get it out before Liz shut the door in my face. She wouldn’t give me enough time to give a speech or even step inside the house. This had to be done right.
We were both in the wrong, that much I was coming to realize. It wasn’t all me or all her. Both of us had been taken in. Ruiz had been orchestrating this for a while and it had worked. I wanted to make sure it wasn’t a permanent thing.
Things didn’t seem out of place when I pulled up outside the house. But then I saw the open front door. And there was blood on the step. My heart almost stopped. Had Liz been attacked? Was Hunter okay?
My bike nearly fell over as I jumped off it. I managed to prop the stand up and turn the engine off before I ran inside, almost slipping on the blood. There wasn’t much in the hallway, but there was enough to make me scared.
“Liz! Hunter!”
I ran into the living room and what I saw stopped me dead. Gloria was lying on the floor near the window, a pool of blood around her head. Her eyes were closed and her face was devoid of any color. Amy was nearer the door, crawling along the floor with one arm limp beside her, dragging behind. She was smudging blood as she went.
“Fuck!” I went to my knees and I helped her up, careful not to touch her shoulder. “Amy!”
Amy looked up. She looked dazed. Her lip was split and one of her eyes was already swelling. The socket had to be shattered. Her voice was barely a whisper.
“Noah?”
She tried to stand up but slumped again, leaning on her bad arm. She screamed, and I drew her carefully into my arms, hugging her carefully as I gingerly checked her shoulder. It was completely out of its socket. Whoever had attacked her had dislocated it.
I didn’t get on with Amy, but she didn’t deserve this. Neither of them did. And I couldn’t believe Liz had done something like this, even if she was the maddest she had ever been.
“What happened, Amy?”
“Someone…” Amy’s voice was getting stronger, but it was raspy. “Someone came in and attacked us. He knocked Liz out and then Nate… he…”
That got my attention.
“Nate? Nate as in the little shit who’s been bothering Liz?”
Amy nodded.
“That’s him. Mom wanted them to get together. She said she wanted Hunter to have a decent father and it wasn’t you.”
“That’s nothing new.”
Amy grunted.
“I was beginning to think that myself. Nate was showing himself to be a complete and utter asshole, and I was getting more and more uncomfortable.” She swallowed. “Liz was telling us to leave and then this biker guy arrived, then he and Nate attacked us between them. They took Liz.”
She was shaking and then she began to cry. I rocked her gently as she sobbed into my shirt. Inside, I was panicking. Liz had been taken. She really had been the target.
Oh, God. Hunter.
“Where’s Hunter?”
“Still in his crib, I think.” Amy managed to say. “They didn’t leave with him.”
I felt like crying then. At least Hunter hadn’t been taken. I managed to lift Amy up and placed her on the couch, putting a cushion under her head.
“You stay here. I’ll be right back.”
I could feel myself shaking as I ran to Hunter’s room. I had known that something would happen and I had been right. But I wish I hadn’t. Now Liz was gone and our baby was in jeopardy.
Even knowing who it was who might have betrayed me two years ago didn’t make me feel any better.
I headed into Hunter’s room and checked on him. He was still asleep, cuddled up to the little blanket with the bunny head on it that Cassie had given him. He was even sucking his thumb. Nothing had stirred him.
That was, in some respects, a relief. I wanted to pick him up and hold him, but that would have woken him up. And I needed to deal with other things first.
As I hurried out of Hunter’s room, shutting the door behind me, I called the paramedics. Then I called Mason. He didn’t answer, but I left him a voicemail. This was a time when I needed my boss there right now.
I went back to the lounge. Amy was still on the couch and Gloria was stirring. Her eyelids were fluttering. I hurried over and knelt beside her, resting a hand on her arm.
“Take it easy, Gloria. You’ve got a bad gash on your head and I don’t know what else is injured.”
Gloria’s eyes fluttered some more and then they opened fully. She looked up at me and her eyes glazed. When she came to her senses, her eyes hardened, and her mouth curled in a snarl.
“Get away from me, you junkie!”
She tried to smack me, but her arm just bounced off my leg. I was stunned. She was badly hurt and she was still trying to attack me.
“That’s enough, Gloria.” I caught her arm as she tried to smack me again, moving out of reach and letting go. “You’re in no shape to fight.”
/> “You planned this, you bastard!” Gloria tried to get up but slumped back again with a heavy wheeze. “You did all this!”
“What are you talking about? Why would I send anyone kidnap Liz?”
“Because you’re one of them,” Gloria sneered. Her eyes blazed. “You’re a fucking psychopath. And you’ve come back to gloat.”
“That’s enough, Mom,” Amy snapped. She was trying to sit up, her face whitening even more. “Noah had nothing to do with this.”
I gave Gloria a harsh glare.
“Just be grateful I’m calling an ambulance for your daughter’s sake, not for yours,” I snarled. “Or I’d happily leave you in your own filth.” Giving Gloria my back, I went over to Amy, settling beside her and helping her sit up. “How’s your shoulder?”
“Hurts like hell.” Amy leant against the back of the couch. “Nate yanked me around when I tried to stop him attacking Mom. I don’t think I’ve felt so much pain in my life.”
She would be more help than Gloria, who was still spitting fire at my back. I focused on Amy, who looked close to passing out.
“Do you know who it was that attacked Liz?”
“Why are you pretending to care or not know?” Gloria snapped.
“Shut up, Mom!” Amy growled. She let out a shuddering breath. It didn’t sound good. “I don’t know him personally, but Liz did. She called him George. Built like a brick outhouse, bandanna and a spider tattoo on both of his hands. That much I saw when he was punching me in the face.”
Now I was feeling cold. I knew exactly who she was describing. But I couldn’t understand why he was doing this. He wasn’t even on the radar. Why would he attack and kidnap Liz with Nate as an accomplice? I squeezed Amy’s hand.
“Tell me everything, Amy,” I urged. “Don’t leave anything out.”
“Is this something to do with your jail sentence?”
I nodded.
“I think it is.”
Amy nodded slowly. She didn’t look as disbelieving as before. It was like she was finally coming around. She squeezed my hand tightly.
“Get Liz back,” she whispered. “Please.”
“I plan to.”
I wasn’t breaking that promise.
Chapter 43
Noah
The paramedics arrived quickly. So did the police. Gloria was spitting fire and accusing me of practically everything, but the detective on scene quickly dismissed me as a suspect when I told him where I had been and showed that I hadn’t called anyone on my cell phone. She was still screaming curses at me as she was taken out to the paramedics.
Amy was unconscious by the time she was put in the back of her ambulance. That did worry me. Amy was as stubborn as Liz, but she wasn’t as tough. I was beginning to realize Liz’s sister wasn’t as bad as I thought; she had just been dragged into that bitch’s web.
Hopefully, she would be okay.
The police did question me for a while about what happened. I answered as best I could. But I didn’t tell them about Nate or George. If they knew about those two, they would simply get in the way. It wasn’t up to them to deal with this. It was my job.
I was dealing with this myself.
Mason and Diesel turned up just after the police pulled away. They must have been hiding around the corner until the cops left. I wished I had been with them.
Cassie and Amber were on the back of their bikes. All four jumped off and hurried up the drive. Cassie hugged me tightly and Amber squeezed my hand. Diesel looked troubled and Mason looked grim.
“We came as soon as we could,” he growled. “How are your mother-in-law and sister-in-law?”
I swallowed.
“Gloria’s skull has been split open, her wrist is broken, and she’s been beaten with something blunt that has busted several ribs. Amy’s shoulder has dislocated, and she was stabbed in the gut.”
The woman hadn’t noticed until one of the paramedics had pointed it out to her. I had been surprised she hadn’t complained of any stomach pain. Then again, her shoulder had almost been completely ripped out, so that must have been a bigger source of pain.
“What about Hunter?” Cassie asked. “Is he okay?”
“He’s fine. They didn’t touch him.” Then I heard crying coming from the back of the house. “That’s him waking up now.”
“We’ve got him, Noah.” Cassie kissed my cheek and ushered Amber with her towards the door. “You focus on finding Liz.”
I wasn’t about to argue with that, although I did want to go and hug my son. Cassie and Amber ran into the house. Diesel grimaced at me.
“I couldn’t stop Amber from coming with us.”
“I’m not bothered about that right now, Diesel.” I led the way into the house and into the kitchen. “I just need to find Liz. And the bastards who would do this.”
Looking at the lounge made me feel sick. Blood was everywhere. The place was in chaos. Knowing that Gloria and Amy had been attacked in there, that Liz had been attacked, made me break out in a cold sweat. I ushered my friends into the kitchen and stood with my back to the mess. Mason glanced at the carnage and I saw a flinch in his eyes.
“Did the mother and sister tell you anything?”
“Gloria, no. She gave me an earful.” I was surprised mine hadn’t been burnt to a crisp. “Amy was more helpful. She said they were here with a guy called Nate. Liz was trying to get all of them to leave. Then someone came to the door and Liz knew him, called him by name.” I rubbed my stomach as it churned. I felt like I was going to chuck. “That guy knocked her out and then Nate and the visitor attacked Gloria and Amy. They barely knew what had happened.”
“Nate?” Diesel’s brow furrowed. “Is this the same Nate you got me to speak to about hassling Liz?”
“It is.”
Clearly, it hadn’t worked. Nate just wouldn’t walk away. Mason growled and began to pace, bumping into the counters.
“What the fuck was he doing here? Was Liz fucking him behind your back?”
“No, he wasn’t.”
“How can you be so sure?”
I may have had wavering doubts about Ruiz and Liz, but I had no doubts about Nate and Liz. That bastard had never touched Liz. I had seen the way Liz reacted about him; she loathed the man.
She loathed Ruiz, too. And I hadn’t believed her. Now the guilt was settling in.
“Because I know Liz. And Amy said Gloria had invited him over without Liz’s consent.” I gritted my teeth. “She wanted someone who wasn’t me being with Liz and being Hunter’s father.”
If Gloria could, she would have wiped me from existence. That wasn’t going to happen.
“And what did Liz call the visitor?” Mason demanded. “Had Amy seen him before?”
“Amy only knows you, me and Diesel. She didn’t recognize him, but from her description and the fact Liz called him George, I think I know who it is. George Tzeriz.”
Mason’s eyes widened. Diesel looked like he had been whacked over the head.
“Big George?” Diesel was shocked. “You can’t be serious.”
“I’m afraid so.” I wished I hadn’t been serious. It was too much to believe. “I think he’s the one who set me up two years ago as well.”
“We need to be certain, Noah.”
“Who else could it be? I figured it was someone who was in the club, but I didn’t consider George because he wasn’t much on the radar. He’s still, relatively, a new boy, someone who wouldn’t be privy to any of the confidential stuff any of us had gone through.” I took off my bandanna and itched at my head. “But he was one of those who did security. He would know where the safe houses were. He would know how to get around things without being detected.”
The more I thought about it, the more it sunk in, and I began to realize I had been duped by the last person I expected.
“Give me a moment.”
Mason left the kitchen, heading outside. Diesel approached me, clasping my shoulder.
“Liz is a fighter, Noah,�
� he said quietly. “She’s not going to let him take her easily.”
“But what about the baby?” I demanded. “It’s not just Liz I have to worry about now. What happens if those bastards cause her to miscarry? I’ll never forgive myself if that happens.” I slammed my fist onto the counter. “I should’ve been here.”
“You didn’t know this was going to happen.”
