by K. J. Dahlen
The jar was as big as his hand, from the tips of his fingers to his wrist and as wide as his hand. It had been on display sitting in a place of honor on the mantel of his office. Honoring the only person he ever cared about. The safe in question had been built into the wall next to the fireplace.
“My family built its fortune on being in the service of others. My grandfather left the jar of gemstones to the oldest grandson along with the safe. That was me. So when Orrin told me he’d been in the safe and had taken the key with him, that betrayal was worse than the one where he took my wife. Orrin also told me there was no other way to get into the safe. He’d ruined the tumblers, so even if I could figure out the combination, the tumblers would never open again.”
Cricket wrinkled her brow. This part she did not understand. This was why he kept searching for them? For a key? Not the stones, but a key?
“I tried to put the pair of them out of my mind but I found I couldn’t. I did look for them but I also went on with my life. I honed my skills while I began to plot what I would do to them when I caught up with the pair of them. It took me more than eight years to find them. When I did, I watched them for a few days before I approached their love nest. I waited until Grace was gone before I came to Orrin. I wanted him to feel the absolute terror at the thought he could lose everything he had taken from me. I watched his eyes that day and I could see the terror in his soul. It felt a bit like revenge, a strange emotion at the best of times, but that day I felt it and I have to admit I felt good that day. I could have killed him then in Utica and perhaps I would have but he told me Grace had taken the key and only she knew where it was. I told him to get the key and I would be back later for it. That I would be merciful if they gave it back but if they didn’t, I would kill his whole family.”
Cricket flinched…by that time, she was part of the family and she realized the terror her parents must have felt that day.
“When I returned that night, you were gone. I searched again for them but this time, I didn’t find them. I had seen you two girls and I knew Orrin had the family I wanted but never had. I knew then, I would never have a family with anyone else. It wasn’t that I didn’t like women, I did but I could never feel anything and when Grace left me I couldn’t even feel the lust anymore. That’s a very hard thing for a man such as myself to admit, but alas it is true. It has been a good number of years since I have enjoyed the company of a woman.” He sighed deeply. “But that is neither here nor there.” He fell silent.
At his silence, Cricket peeked out from her hiding place.
Bane looked over at the safe nestled in the wall next to the fireplace. “Shall we find out what Grace left for me all those years ago?” Bane got to his feet and went over to the safe. Inserting the key, he twisted it and they both heard the lock give way. He pulled the door open and gazed at the shelves inside.
There on the top shelf was a bundle of papers wrapped in a wide purple ribbon. Bane lifted the bundle out and pulled the ribbon off. As the purple cloth floated to the floor, he opened the first piece of paper. When he read it, Bane gasped, then growled in anger. “What the fuck?” he shouted in rage. “That fucking woman!” He screamed. “If she wasn’t dead already I would take my time and kill her slowly.” He tipped his head back and closed his eyes.
Cricket cringed as he ranted and raved at her mother. She wondered what was written on the paper he crushed in his hand but she didn’t want to give him anymore ammo for his rage.
Then he opened his eyes and stared at the paper in his hand again. “I have a child. A son. Grace gave birth to my son after she ran away from me the first time. She hid my son from me for close to thirty years. Right now, I would give anything to feel her neck in my hands. Damn her, damn them both!” He began to pace. “I wonder if Orrin knew I had a son? Did he hate me that much that he wouldn’t tell me?” Shaking his head he said, “I will find my son and he will know who I am.” Then he turned and his eyes pierced the darkness around him. “Your parents should be resting in hell for what they did to me. They kept a vital piece of news all these years. They both hid my son from me and for that, I hope they burn in hell.” He was screaming by the time he ended his rant.
Cricket shivered at his fury.
“But whatever happens now, is not on you. You have fulfilled your part of the bargain. You returned what your parents took from me and I thank you for that. You saved lives today because I would have taken those bikers of yours one by one until the jar was returned to me. I would have killed each and every member of that MC and their families until the jar was returned. There’s a card with my phone number on it on the desk. Give the card to Deke and have him call me.” He turned and began to walk to the door, then he stopped. “Do not come back here. I allowed your entry this once and only this once. If you break my faith again, I will take your life. I have a reason to hate you, so when you leave here, forget where I live.” Then he walked out the door, closing it softly behind him.
Cricket waited for a moment before she moved out of the shadows. She went over to the desk and found the card Bane told her to take. Slipping it into her pocket, she found herself staring at the pile of gemstones.
She reached out and touched them. They were cold and lifeless bits of stones. Shaking her head, she couldn’t help but wonder why some people set so much store in owning them. They brought nothing but misery to whoever thought to possess them.
Then she thought of Dusty. Just a few of these stones would set him up for life. He would be able to go to college or start his own business or whatever he wanted to do. It would only take a few stones and his grandfather would never know.
And why shouldn’t Bane help his grandson out? Why shouldn’t Dusty get something out of his family? Cricket didn’t think about it anymore, rather she scooped up a few stones and closed her hand around them. Then she pushed her hand into her pocket. She knew he wouldn’t miss the few she took, so she turned and found the tunnel. Then she began crawling through the mountain.
When she came to the end of the tunnel. She pushed the heavy door open. Finally, it was open enough for her to squeeze through.
Glancing around, she set off to find Raine. She made her way in the growing darkness to where they had parked his bike. She wanted nothing more than to go home. She didn’t know when she began thinking of Troy and the clubhouse as home but that’s where she wanted to be right now.
When she reached the stand of trees, she called out for Raine. When he appeared, she went into his arms.
“Did you run into any problems?” he asked.
“No. I got the item back to him. Can we go home now?”
Raine closed his arms around her and nuzzling her ear he whispered, “Let’s go. I want to sleep with you in my arms when we get back.”
Cricket closed her eyes. She wanted that too, but she also knew he might change his mind when he heard what she found out tonight. As she swung her leg over his bike, she slipped her arms around his waist and hung on tight.
~* * * *~
The sun was almost up by the time Raine and Cricket got back to the clubhouse in Troy.
When they got off the bike, three members came to stand behind them.
Raine knew they’d been sent out to make sure Cricket didn’t run.
She walked on her own power inside and when they got there, they saw Deke and the others standing at the main table glaring at her. Cricket walked over to where Deke was standing.
Deke raised his hand and slapped her hard. “Where the fuck have you two been? We didn’t know what happened to you. We thought Bane had killed you. We thought he’d come back here and kill us all.”
Cricket stumbled back but didn’t fall. Nor did she cry.
Raine growled and took a step toward Deke. “Dammit, let her explain!”
Cricket stepped in between the two men. “You know Bane is my uncle. You all heard he was married to my mother all these years. What you might not have heard was when she left him to run away with my father, they too
k something that belonged to Bane. Bane has wanted it back all this time and he’s been looking for them for 25 years. Because they are long dead, I was the only one who could find it and return it. He didn’t give me a choice. He told me he would give me a week to find it and return it or he would start killing each and every one of you. That if I told you what he had planned, he’d know and would start the killing without warning. I didn’t run away. I had to find what my parents took from him and get the damn thing back to him. I came back here honor my word to you.” She looked around and saw their expressions.
Each face held a bit of rage and a bit of fear on them.
“I couldn’t let anyone die for something you had no part of. I couldn’t allow Bane Jessin to murder anyone. I had to see if I could find what he was so willing to kill for.”
“And did you find it?’ Deke growled as he ran his fingers through his hair.
“Yes, I did.” Cricket nodded. “I found it and I returned it to him.” She stared at him for a moment then she spoke again, “I couldn’t tell you before I left, because I didn’t know if I could find it or not.” She gazed around at the others and shook her head. Tears ran down her cheeks freely now. “Don’t you see, I couldn’t let that monster hurt anyone I’ve come to care for. I didn’t care about myself but I couldn’t let him hurt anyone else.”
“What was the item Grace and Orrin took from him?” Sam asked.
“It was a small apothecary jar filled with diamonds, rubies and emeralds. Also inside the jar was a key. The key was to an old safe handed down to him from his grandfather. You see, when Grace and Orrin left his home they put something in the safe for him to find. He had no way of getting inside the safe without that key.”
“Did he find what they left him?” Deke asked.
Cricket nodded. “Yes, he did.” She reached in her pocket and laid Bane’s card on the table then pushed it toward Deke. “He wants you to call him. He asked me to give this to you.”
Deke glanced down at the card on the table then looked at her again. “What else?”
Cricket closed her eyes briefly and then opened them again. “I found out the secret my mother hid in that safe for thirty years was the fact that she gave birth to his son. Now, Bane has a real reason to hate me. He told me to never come back and to never contact him again.” She dropped down into a chair and held up her head with her hand. “Nothing would please me more than to never see or speak to that man ever again. But I have a feeling that isn’t going to happen.” She gazed up at Deke. “I have to keep Dusty a secret from him. I can never allow him to know he has a grandson. The man has no soul and he would corrupt Dusty above and beyond anything else. Let him find his son, he is a full grown man by now, but I have to protect Dusty! I would give my life to protect that boy.”
“What would Bane do if he ever found Dusty?’ Raine asked.
“He would kill everyone who kept him away from the boy,” Cricket warned. “It would be a slow and agonizing death for anyone involved.”
“And you are willing to face that to keep him secret?” Deke raised his brows.
Cricket turned to look at him. “I would face the devil himself to keep Dusty safe. So yes, I would be willing to face Bane’s wrath.”
Deke shook his head. “You are completely insane.”
“Tell me something…” She locked eyes with him. “What would you do to safeguard your children?” She looked around at each one of the men in the room. “What would you do to keep your families safe? What did you do to Cordy when she took them for her own gain?”
Deke started to say something but shut his mouth. He would face the devil too, to keep his family safe. Then he glanced around at the entire MC. He saw the agreement on all their faces as well. “Very well, we’ll keep your secret. Hopefully, it won’t came back to bite us in the ass.” He picked up the card and began walking down the hall to his office.
Everyone watched as he went. Then Sam turned to Cricket. “Thank you for what you did. I know it wasn’t easy. When we found you and Raine gone yesterday morning, we didn’t know what to think.”
“Bane is just like his daughter, and make no mistake, Cordelia was his true daughter. When you look in his eyes, you can see he has no soul, there’s nothing in there other than darkness. I had no clue that he was my uncle or that my father took anything from him. Then I remembered a dream I had. In the dream, my mother was telling me how to get into a house I’d never seen before. She told me about a small packet I would someday have to find and return. I don’t know how she knew I would be the one to return it, but she did.” She shook her head. “I had to find out if that dream was real. When I found the package, I knew what I had to do. I had to return it to him. Even if I got caught, I had to give it back. I’d rather he took his rage out on me than you guys.”
The office door opened and Deke returned. He looked at her and nodded. “It’s done. Bane claims the debt is satisfied. He requested that you be allowed stay with us for a while. He said he wanted to know you were safe while he searched for something. I told him you were more than welcome to stay if you chose to.” Deke shrugged. “He rather insisted that we keep you here. I told him you are free to leave at any time but he insisted you stay, so I guess you’re staying. It doesn’t hurt that he’s your uncle.”
“That bastard is not my uncle. I lay no claim to him.” She growled. “He told me he never wanted to see me again, now he’s changed his mind, why?”
“I don’t know but you don’t have a choice,” Deke announced. “And neither do we. He is not a man I want to disappoint. I cannot risk my family or my brothers here. So for now, you stay.”
Cricket surged to her feet. “I do have a fucking choice. I may not have had any choices in the past but I do have a choice here. I lay no claim to this bastard and I’m free to leave anytime I chose!” She turned and walked back to her bedroom.
~* * * *~
When the door slammed shut, Raine cringed. He looked over at Deke and shook his head. ‘This isn’t going to end well.”
“We’ll have to do what we can to protect Dusty,” Sam told the group. “The way I see it, she did what she could to protect us and now, we have to protect the boy.”
“You do realize this will bring Bane’s wrath down on us if he ever finds the boy?” Raine stated.
“Then we have to make sure he doesn’t find him.” Deke nodded.
“I’ll warn my family,” Raine said. “But you have to give us a head’s up if it ever goes south. Give them enough time to get him away.”
Deke nodded. “We can do that.” He looked down the hall at the closed door. “We owe her that much.”
“We owe her a hell of a lot more than that,” Sam commented. “After all, we were the ones who had Zipper dig him up in the first damn place.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
It was midmorning when Calico’s men returned. His man Demon brought his bike to a stop and when he took his helmet off, he had a grin on his face. Demon was a large well muscled biker. He always wore black, but with a red bandana around his neck. It was rumored he hid a scar with it. No one knew how he’d gotten the scar but the stories and guesses about it were wild tales. The man was mean down to his toes, but he had a soft spot for children and anyone needing help.
“Well, what did you find?” Calico asked.
“I found the little fucker. Demon replied. “Like the kid said, he has five men with him. They aren’t even too careful about not being seen.”
“Are you sure it’s him?”
Demon nodded. “Yeah, he’s got a wrecked truck parked outside the building he’s staying at. His men are walking around the building armed and they don’t seem to care who sees them.”
Calico shook his head. “What does he think he is? A goddamn mobster? This isn’t Chicago in the forties for Christ sake.”
“Micah thinks he can’t be touched,” Sawyer told them as she walked up behind them. “His family runs the underground in Rochester. He’s heir to his uncle’s busin
esses and he thinks there’s no one out there who can stop him from doing exactly what he wants to do.”
Calico turned and watched as she wrapped her arms around her waist. Her eyes were filled with pain but she struggled not to show it. “Who is his uncle?’ he asked.
“His name is Max Bordeaux.” Sawyer sneered. “He isn’t much of a man either. He bothered Mom for a while, then gave up.”
“What do you mean he bothered your mother?” Calico frowned.
Sawyer shrugged. “I was very young when it happened. You were already gone by then and I woke up night after night to the sounds of my mother crying. At first, I thought someone had come in and hurt her but she said no one had. When I asked her why she was crying she said she was just very sad. She told me someone made her do something she really didn’t want to do and she was heartbroken because of it.” She shrugged again. “It never made sense to me but then nothing does when you’re that young.” Looking at Calico she said, “I thought it was you that hurt her, but now I’m not so sure.” Then she turned and went back in the building.
