Chapter 12 #2
When I came out of the stall, my reflection in the mirror looked the same, but something inside me had changed.
Where there had been confidence, trust, and happiness for the first time in years, now there was also a seed of doubt.
And I hated that. The shirt I’d put on this morning thinking it looked cute, now looked dowdy—more soccer mom than bombshell.
Who was I kidding? Axel was a good looking man, why would he go for someone like me when he had all these glamorous club girls?
Splashing cool water on my face, I dried it with a thin paper towel, and took a deep, steady breath.
Just a few days ago Axel and I had agreed to date, to try for something long term.
He wouldn’t have done that if he didn’t want me.
That’s what I told myself as I headed back outside.
When I got back to the patio, Axel looked up immediately. His eyes scanned my face, and then he gestured for me to come to him. The girls were all cleaned up and kicking a ball back and forth on the ground. I crossed the grass towards them and joined in kicking the ball with them.
Axel didn’t say anything right away. He just brushed a loose strand of hair back from my face and asked, “You good?”
“I’m fine,” I said, a little too quickly. My voice was shaky.
He frowned, because there was no fooling him. “Is that your real answer, or the one you give when you don’t want to talk about it?”
I forced a smile. “A little of each.”
To Axel’s credit, he didn’t push. Instead, he nodded, wrapped one arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer. He gave me a kiss on the forehead that made me tear up.
Angel came to watch the kids a few minutes later and we went to Storm’s office.
I wasn’t sure what kind of office the president of an MC would have, but it was bigger than I expected.
There was dark wood paneling, a wide desk, and a comfortable leather desk chair.
My eyes wandered to the framed military commendations mixed with biker paraphernalia on the wall behind him.
Axel guided me to the leather couch against the wall and sat beside me.
Zoe took a seat behind the desk beside her husband. She quickly flipped open a folder while Hacker rolled in up to the desk. A laptop rested across his lap, already open, and he was scrolling through some information.
Storm sat behind his desk with his arms crossed.
The other men present were Breaker, Grit, Thunder, and Celt, who I’d already met before.
Breaker leaned in the far corner, silent.
Grit sat backward on a chair, his arms folded over the backrest. Thunder flipped through a pocket notebook while Celt stood restlessly by the window.
“Alright,” Storm said. “Let’s hear it.”
Hacker adjusted the laptop. “This started with a formal environmental complaint filed to the Griffinsford Planning Commission. The claim was that this land was previously used as a dumping ground for industrial waste. It was a very serious and very specific complaint. Enough to trigger an immediate review.”
“I remember,” Thunder muttered. “That fake complaint almost closed down the garage and clubhouse.”
“Exactly,” Hacker said. “Now, officially, the complaint came from a company called Clearwater Environmental Watch. On paper it looks legit. But it has no website, no employees listed and was incorporated out of state and supposedly the corporate office is in LA.”
Zoe picked up from there. “We tracked the registration. Clearwater’s registered agent is another company based in Nevada. Which is owned by a trust based out of Florida.”
Celt snorted. “Feckin’ Americans and their money laundering shite.”
Breaker nodded once. “Sounds like someone trying to keep their hands clean by using shell companies.”
Hacker tapped a key. “I followed the paper trail through seven more shells. All dead ends—until one bounced a maintenance invoice to an address here in Griffinsford.”
Axel sat forward. “And?”
“Sterling Holdings,” Hacker said. “The corporate shell company Bryce uses for his real estate deals. I ran the invoice number through a few databases. Confirmed. It was a landscaping retainer for a property owned by Sterling Holdings.”
My stomach dropped. It was true, Bryce was causing trouble for a motorcycle club because he was pissed at Axel for taking me in.
Zoe slid a printed screenshot across the table. “The payment was small, at least for someone like him—six grand. But it’s the same corporate account Bryce used when he bought his lake house. Hacker found the connection through cross-checking financial filings on the Secretary of State’s site.”
I leaned back against the couch, heart thudding hard. “He’s the one who filed the complaint.”
“Not directly,” Hacker said, “but yes. He created the shell, funded it and filed the complaint through a proxy.”
Storm hadn’t moved, but his silence carried weight. “Why?”
Axel beat me to the answer. “Because I took Tracey and the girls in. Because he wants her isolated and scared. He couldn’t find anything to attack me with, so he went for the club instead.”
Zoe nodded. “I agree. We’ve seen this pattern in domestic abuse cases before. The abuser escalates, attacking any and everyone who supports the victim, particularly when he loses control. Mr. Sterling couldn’t stop her legally, so he came after her safety net.”
Breaker snarled. “He tried to shut us down to flush her out.”
Thunder looked up at him. “And if the complaint had worked, it would have negatively impacted our garage business as well.”
I sat and digested this new information. Bryce would’ve watched from the sidelines while me and the girls were uprooted again. He didn’t care about us and maybe he never did. He was a narcissist and the only thing they care about is their public image.
Celt asked, “What’s the play now?”
“Retaliation’s tempting,” Grit said. “But anything physical and he’ll have us arrested or sue for civil damages. He wants to provoke us and get us to react.”
Axel looked at Zoe. “He might be an old friend of mine, but if I get my hands on him, I’m gonna beat the bastard six ways to Sunday.”
“You can’t do that. He wants you to cross the line so he can play the victim. Say he was attacked by a vicious outlaw motorcycle club.”
Storm spoke up, “I don’t give a shit what Bryce Sterling has to say. He thinks we’re a bunch of dumb hot-headed bikers who take the bait and come after him. We’re smarter than that.”
“I don’t think he’s done,” Zoe pointed out. “Men like him don’t like losing control. He’ll probably file CPS reports or something along those lines. We have to assume he’s got more dirty tricks up his sleeve.”
Hacker tapped the screen. “I’m running a watch on his accounts and any new business registrations in the states he’s associated with. If he moves funds or makes another shell company, we’ll know.”
“Good,” Storm said. “But that’s defensive.”
“I agree,” Axel said. “We need to go on offense. Quietly.”
Everyone turned towards him. He stayed calm, but I knew that tone.
It meant his mind was already working. “We talk to the inspector who cleared us. Get a signed, notarized report confirming we passed with zero violations. Then we go to the zoning board and register this place as a historical site. Use something like its military significance, post-war veterans’ retreat, or whatever sticks. ”
Thunder wrote something down in his notebook. “That would make it a hell of a lot harder to pull a stunt like that again.”
Storm finally chimed in, “I like it. That’s a brilliant idea that protects club property and teaches him that we think and operate on his level. What about the custody hearing?”
I cleared my throat. “I got temporary custody with the temporary separation order. Roderick’s in the process of filing for a dissolution of the marriage and permanent custody next month. Bryce hasn’t responded yet, but this kind of harassment might actually help my case.”
Axel met my gaze. “You ready to use this against him?”
“Absolutely. I can’t let him pull me and the girls back into the nightmare we were living before. I have to do this,” I said. “For them and for me.”
A short silence spun out in the room. Hacker turned the screen towards me so I could see Bryce’s name in sharp black font across an ownership chart of shell companies. “This is the kind of master manipulation you’re up against.”
Zoe softened her voice. “We’ve got your back. All the way.”
Storm looked around the room one last time.
“Until this is done, we play it smart. I don’t want anyone slipping up, letting him know we figured out his game plan or giving him anything he can use against the club.
” Glancing at me, he said, “Tracey, you and the girls stay close to Axel. The prospects will stay on rotation. Hacker, keep watch for new shell companies. Zoe, keep digging for new information, anything we can use against this bastard.”
Everyone nodded. We had just set a plan in motion and Bryce had just made the biggest mistake of his life. We lingered in Storm’s office talking strategy for an hour or so and then spent another hour letting the girls play with the other kids at the family day event.
***
The drive home was quiet. The girls fell asleep because it was their nap time. I glanced back at them, just to be sure they were resting comfortably. Then I settled into the front passenger seat.
Axel’s hands were steady on the steering wheel. I trusted him more than any man I’d ever known. I still couldn’t quite shake the feeling that maybe I was misreading the situation, like Charlotte said. I didn’t think I was, but I had to get rid of that little seed of doubt she planted in my mind.
“I need to ask you something,” I stammered. “Before I talk myself out of it.”
Axel didn’t flinch or even glance over. He just adjusted his grip on the wheel slightly and said, “Go ahead. Ask your question.”
“This morning, while the girls were eating breakfast with you out on the patio, I ran into one of the club girls.” I watched the road blur beside us, not ready to look at him yet. “She said her name was Charlotte.”
His silence stretched long enough for me to continue, so I did.
I reluctantly continued, “She made a point to tell me how things work around here.” Swallowing thickly, I recounted most of what she told me.
“She said women like me don’t last. That brothers always end up back with girls who know club life.
That whatever’s happening between you and me is just temporary.
That eventually you’ll want someone prettier or someone with a less complicated personal life.
She said I was your charity case, the latest in a long line of charity cases because you like to white knight for women. ”
Axel exhaled slowly, not annoyed exactly but I could see his jaw shift from the corner of my eye. When he didn’t answer right away, I started to regret bringing it up.
He ground out, “Charlotte’s a liar and a troublemaker.
Most of the club girls are just lookin’ for a good time.
But every now and then you get one who’s got ambitions.
They’re usually just thirsty for a property cut because they see it as some kind of status upgrade or stability in their lives.
Charlotte fucking knows better than to approach guests with that bullshit. ”
“I’m not saying I believe every word she had to say, but I worry there is a grain of truth amongst all the BS she was dishing out.” I stressed the part about there being a bit of truth behind her words.
“I don’t know what she told you, but from what you shared it was a lot of the same twisted logic they apply to their own messed up lives that keep them stalled out.”
I opened my mouth to respond but he cut in, “Let me just say that Charlotte and I have never been a thing. She’s lying if she said we hooked up, because we didn’t.
I’ve never had a serious romantic relationship with any woman, come to think of it.
I realize now that it’s because I was still kind of hung up on you.
That’s the God’s honest truth. Even if we never got together, I’m not interested in any of the club girls. ”
I nodded.
“Here’s the thing that really pisses me off.
The club girls chase after brothers. The entire year I was a prospect, none of the club girls wanted anything to do with me.
The very night I got my patch every single one of them tried to climb into my bed.
That was my clue they didn’t give a shit about me as a person.
They just wanted to get close to a brother.
That’s when I decided they could all fuck right off. ”
I felt like I should empathize and say that I was sorry that happened to him.
But I wasn’t sorry the club girls wouldn’t have sex with him.
In fact, the very thought of it made me burn with jealousy.
So, I closed my mouth and just stared at him.
That’s when I realized that I wanted Axel in all the ways a woman could want a man.