“No,” I said curtly.
Alex leveled his eyes with me. “You don’t have a choice.”
“The foster system?” Ariel asked softly.
I looked down into her scared eyes. “Go upstairs for me, okay?”
“And pack your things,” my brother said.
“I’ll be the judge of that,” I said curtly.
“Don’t let him take me,” Ariel whispered.
“I won’t. Okay? But I need you to go upstairs and hang up until I come up there,” I said.
“I don’t want to. Come with me,” she said.
“Now, Ariel. Please.”
“But, Ka—”
I shot her a look. Nothing short of a death glare. She needed to listen. She needed to know I wasn’t playing around. She groaned as she released my waist, then marched up the stairs. Pounding her tiny feet into every step to signal that she wasn’t happy with the decision.
Alex snickered. “Motherhood looks good on you. Maybe you should’ve married like Mom and Dad wanted you to.”
I slowly turned to face him. “Now, what is this bullshit you’ve decided to bring into my home?”
“You mean Mom and Dad’s home?”
“Hasn’t been their home since I changed the name on the deed four years ago.”
He paused. “Why didn’t I know about that?”
“Anyone important in my life already did,” I said flatly.
He scoffed. “Fine. If that’s how you want to play this, so be it. Ariel’s headed to a foster home. Tomorrow. Get her packed and in my car.”
“I don’t think I will, no.”
He took a step toward me. “You don’t have a choice. I’m prepared to pay you like you wanted when you griped at me days ago.”
“Things change. The girl stays here until whatever it is you’ve gotten yourself into is wrapped up.”
“Again, not your call. The boss has spoken. Now, get her packed up, or I’ll leave here with her slung over my shoulder and nothing to show for it.”
“And I’ll have no issues putting a bullet in your back if you do.”
He paused. “You don’t have guns here. You don’t even know how to shoot.”
“You’re really willing to bet your life on that, Alexander?”
He lunged for me. “Don’t you dare call me that name. Ever.”
I stood firm. “Then you won’t be taking the girl with you today. Or at all, until this is resolved, and I know she’s headed back to family.”
His eyes held mine. Anger percolated in them as his nostrils flared. I’d seen my brother’s anger a few dozen times. And the first few times were intimidating. But now? It was simply part of him. This anger my father always displayed had laced itself within the fibers of my brother’s being. Turning him into a carcass of the boy I’d grown up with. It didn’t matter anymore. I didn’t care what happened to him. Because the man whose eyes I gazed into reminded me nothing of the carefree, prankster brother I’d grown up with.
“She’s just a kid, Alex. Like you and I were before this life crept up on us. If you put her in that system, you’ll be relegating her to a life we almost lived. A miserable, crapshoot of an existence that tried ripping us from Mom and Dad several times. Don’t you remember?” I asked.
He didn’t say anything, though.
“Remember how CPS always tried to come raid our house? Take a look around? Ask us questions? Do you really want to put that innocent girl through all that?” I asked.
And while his mouth didn’t move, his eyes did. They sparkled with memories and twitched with pain. Remnants of my protective brother crept back in, shrouding the angry man standing before me. I raised my hand. Cupped his cheek. Felt the rough stubble against his unshaven skin. My poor older brother; lost in a world our father forced him into at much too young of an age.
“If you put her in that system, you relegate her to the shit we went through. If you put her in that system, she might never recover. At least, with me, she stands a chance,” I said softly.
“We were never in the system, though. Mom and Dad would’ve never allowed it,” he murmured.
“Exactly. So, why do this to Ariel? Why do this to her?”
“Because the boss wants it. Besides, we don’t know the system. It might be great for her.”
“We were once—”
He shook his head, pulling away from me. “We were never in the system, Kaylynn. Your argument doesn’t stand.”
“No, but we were in something worse. We were in the maf—”
His eyes hardened and he stepped toward me. The beautiful older brother I loved and adored was gone. Replaced with the hardened shell of something that reminded me of my father. I continued standing my ground, though. I didn’t let him intimidate me. Even though we never spoke of it—even though we never said the word—he knew. He knew I knew. And we knew, together.
“I’m fine with taking care of Ariel,” I said.
“And again, not what the boss wants,” Alex said.
“Fuck your boss. This is a kid’s life at stake. And I’m not going to let you muck it up because your boss is having penis size issues.”
I could’ve sworn I saw his lips tick up into a grin before the shadows came back down over his face.
“Fine. All right.”
I paused. “Really? I mean, yes. You’re damn right, I’m right.”
He grinned. “I never said you were right.”
“Well, you caved. So, obviously I’m right.”
“Spoken like a true woman.”
I shot him a look. “Seriously, though. Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me just yet. If my boss finds out Ariel isn’t in foster care come tomorrow morning? We’ll all be killed. So, no more rendezvous out in the town. I hope that television purchase of yours brings the two of you enough entertainment around here.”
“So, you were watching.”
“We’re always watching, Kaylynn. You should know that by now.”
The sentiment made me stomach drop. But I’d won the fight. So, I took it with the losses. Alex passed by me, brushing his shoulder against mine. Then, he turned around just as he opened my front door.
“You really changed the title to the house?” he asked.
I nodded. “I really did.”
“Why?”
I shrugged. “It’s my property now. Might as well have my name on it.”
He nodded slowly before closing the door behind him. I went over to the frosted window beside the door, watching him walk down the driveway. I moved to the living room window to get a better look. And when I saw the black SUV inch up to the curb, I figured someone had been watching. From down the street, maybe.
I hated that we were being watched.
Alex looked back before getting into the blacked-out car. Then, they drove off down the road. I waited until they were completely out of sight before I plucked my keys from my purse, making my way for the car. Ariel hadn’t made a peep upstairs, so I figured she was asleep. At the very least, spending some time to herself and trying to get her emotions in check. I had plenty I needed to do, anyway. Like, setting up this television. And making a Netflix account.
So, I started in on my job.
I hauled the television inside and got it set up on the only thing I had to place it on. A dresser I put in my living room to hold books I read at any given moment. I moved the dresser closer to an outlet, then started rearranging my entire damn living room to accommodate this thing. I brushed the sweat away from my brow. I finally got the massive television unboxed and plugged in. I didn’t have cable. So, it wasn’t until I finally got the Roku hooked up that I saw images popping up on the screen. Images that weren’t fuzzy, black and white dots.
And after getting my Netflix account set up, I made my way upstairs.
“Ariel?”
I slowly opened her bedroom door, listening as soft snores graced my ears. I smiled as I walked into her room, the light shining bright and her body curled up undern
eath the covers. I walked over and smoothed my hand over her back. I picked up a small stuffed animal that had seemingly come out of nowhere and tucked it in beside her. I dipped down, kissing her cheek before I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Then, I left her alone so she could nap.
And as I went back downstairs to watch my first-ever Netflix comedy special, I mindlessly wondered if Ryker might ever call me soon.
9
Ryker
With every mile I put behind me, it made me sicker and sicker. I drove my motorcycle faster. The wind wrapped around me angrily. My nostrils flared. My hands white knuckled my bike bars. Holy fuck, I’d actually left my daughter behind. Had I not left my goddamn gun in the fucking alleyway; I’d have my daughter right now.
You’re the biggest piece of shit father to walk this damn planet.
I pulled into the parking lot of the clubhouse and found Bear standing from the porch. He walked toward me, leaping over the railing of the damn place and striding for me. Looked like he’d been put on watch. I parked my bike and hung my head, trying to catch my breath. Trying to calm my racing heart. Trying to get a hold on my nerves.
Then, Bear’s hand came down against my back.
“You good, man?” he asked.
I shrugged off his touch. “Splendid.”
I got off my bike and made my way back into the clubhouse. I burst through the door, knowing damn good and well I needed to update everyone. My eyes locked with Diesel and I nodded silently, signaling to him that we needed to talk. So, the guys ushered their women and children into their rooms—again—so we could figure out what the fuck we needed to do.
“What happened?” Diesel asked.
I waited until the last little curious kiddo was tugged down the hallway by their mother. I had a hard-enough time keeping up with who belonged to who. Let alone, keeping up with when it was appropriate to tell the club shit and when it wasn’t. But I knew I needed to tell them about this.
If anything, so Rock could start doing what he did best.
“I saw Ariel,” I said flatly.
Diesel’s face fell. “Excuse me?”
“Out on my ride, I saw her. Holding hands with a woman.”
“What did this woman look like?” Brewer asked.
“Short. Stout. Dark red hair. Bright green eyes,” I said.
“Where exactly did you see them?” Rock asked.
“I’m proud of you,” Diesel said.
The room fell silent as I stared at him.
“Thanks,” I said softly.
“Proud of him for what?” Toxin asked.
“Be observant,” Diesel said as he sighed. “The man doesn’t have his daughter even though he saw her. So, obviously, he didn’t engage. I’m proud of him for that, because there’s no telling who was lurking around this afternoon when he rolled up on them.”
“Yeah,” I said flatly.
“You did the right thing,” Bear said.
“Seriously,” Grave said.
“I left my daughter with some woman I don’t know after being kidnapped. So, forgive me if I don’t see things that way,” I spat.
“You would’ve needed back-up with a man like Lars, for sure. You saved her life by not engaging,” Diesel said.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I murmured.
“So, we came up with a plan while you were gone,” Brewer said.
“Hit me with it,” I said.
“We’re going to plan the meeting, and while Diesel keeps Lars distracted, we’re going after your daughter,” he said.
“And now that you have an idea of who she’s with, it’s going to be much easier to pin down where they might be,” Rock said.
“You got any way to pull up cameras around where we were? Any way to try and identify who the hell this woman is?” I asked.
“Just give me the address and I’ll find cross-streets. Traffic cameras. Anything to help us out,” he said.
“I’ve got a picture of her. Does that work?”
Rock paused. “Fucking yes, it works. What kind of a picture?”
“A full-on face picture.”
No one asked me how I got it, though, and I was thankful for that. I didn’t want them to know I’d engaged this woman and my daughter while sitting down to lunch. To eat with them, of all things. I sent Rock the picture of her face to his cell phone, watching as a grin crawled across his face.
“This is a hell of a picture. Screw traffic cameras. I can run her through identification systems I’ve got loaded onto—”
“Yeah, yeah. Just—do it, please? My daughter’s with this woman, and I’ve got no clue if she’s dangerous or not,” I said.
He nodded and walked away from the guys, hunkering down at his laptop at the kitchen table. I knew I was being curt. Being ungrateful. But I couldn't help it. My damn daughter was out there, and I wasn’t sleeping. Wasn’t eating. I didn’t have any energy left. I didn’t have anything left in me to make this any better. Or keep my spirits up. Or look on the bright side. Or any number of bullshit sayings Diesel tried throwing at us during times like this.
I felt him staring at me, though.
Does he know I talked to them?
Probably. It was Diesel, after all. But I didn’t care. The only thing I cared about was getting a hit on this woman and figuring out her entire life’s story. How the fuck she got wrapped up into this shit. How the hell I tracked her down. Where the fuck she lived. Who she was born to. Where she worked. Everything. I wanted to turn over every stone in her life until I had her completely profiled.
Then, Grave spoke up.
“This meeting with Lars could be a mistake.”
Every single guy groaned. Which told me he’d been on that argument against the plan since I’d left.
“I’m serious, if you assholes would simply listen to me,” he said.
“We know it might be a mistake. Any number of our plans might be a massive fucking mistake. But we’ve got kids involved here. Two of them that belong to us. Saint’s kid and Ryker’s. We do what’s necessary for them. Even if it means sacrificing ourselves,” Diesel said.
“We need a better plan than this, though. We need a time and place for the meeting, at least.”
“And we’ll get it. The fuck do you think we’re doing right now?”
“Being reckless and only thinking about family that’s popping up instead of the family we already have here.”
“And I seem to recall you being someone who sprung family on us a few years back, right?”
My eyes bounced between Diesel and Grave. Two of the old guards going at it with one another. I got his frustration. Bringing families and kids into the mix always made this go to shit. Always made things complicated. And yeah, I could’ve told them about Ariel sooner. Especially once all this bullshit popped off with Lars Norden and the gang. But I really thought I’d been doing what was best for my little girl.
Strike one thousand and twenty-two for the father of the year.
“Once we figure out all the pieces we can behind the scenes, we’ll call Lars back. We’ll accept the meeting. And we’ll go from there,” Diesel said.
“Got a hit!” Rock exclaimed.
I tore away from the guys, leaping and lunging myself to the man sitting at the kitchen table. I hunched over his shoulder, placing my hand on the edge of the back of the seat to dip down over his massive body. His fat fingers typed away on the keyboard. I saw her picture there, her face completely untouched. Her auburn hair, cascading down past her shoulders and out of the picture. Much longer than what I’d seen in person. But that was the only thing that changed about her. Those striking green eyes and those soft freckles were still there. Still shining. Still illuminating her presence.
Even in a fucking picture.
“Shit,” Rock said flatly.
His voice ripped me from my trance. “What?”
“She’s a Petrov.”
“She’s a what now?” Diesel asked.
The guys gathered around
us as Rock turned the laptop away from us. Away from me. Facing it toward the guys as the old guards peeked around at one another.
I rose up. “What?”
“Yeah, I’m with Ryker on this one,” Toxin said.
“That a name we should know?” Bear asked.
Diesel groaned. “Holy fuck, that’s Kaylynn Petrov.”
I paused. “You know her?”
“No. But we know her father. Dusan.”
“Dusan Petrov. Sounds like a cartoon character,” Saint said.
“Oh, he was a character all right,” Diesel said.
“‘Was?’ As in, he’s dead?” I asked.
“Yep. Been that way for a while now,” Brewer said.
I shrugged. “So, what’s the big deal?”
“The big deal is her older brother. Alex,” Diesel said.
“Why’s that a big deal? I mean, he probably works for Lars or something, right?” I asked.
The old guards looked around at one another and I grew frustrated.
“Someone wanna spit it out for me so I know who my daughter’s with?” I asked.
Diesel sighed. “Alexander Petrov took over his father’s position as Lars Norden’s top human trafficker in his organization.”
“Did you just say, ‘human trafficking?’” I asked.
Brewer nodded. “When Dusan died, Alexander stepped up to the plate to take over his position. That man had been grooming his son for the slot ever since they were teenagers.”
“And how do you guys know all this?” Bear asked.
Diesel sighed. “Because at one point in time, Alex tried pledging our crew. Back when all of us old farts were nothing but pledges ourselves.”
10
Kaylynn
“How did you sleep?” I asked.
“Fine,” Ariel said groggily.
“Did you have any dreams?”
“Mhm.”
“Whatcha dream about?”
She shrugged. “My dad.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah.”
“You miss him?”
“Mhm.”
“You wanna talk about him?”
She shook her head. “No.”
I whipped up some breakfast on the stove as Ariel flopped down at the kitchen table. She put her head in her hands, sighing and yawning as she tried to wake up. My heart went out to the girl. Truly, it did. I knew she missed her father. And my only assumption was that her mother wasn’t in the picture. It made me wonder about her. About what kind of woman, she had to be in order for a father to get full custody in the state of California. That was almost unheard of nowadays, and then my heart broke for her more.
Ryker: Dead Souls MC: Prospects #4 Page 6
