Chapter 1
I bit my nails as I stared at the therapist that was assigned to the house tonight, Dr. Heather. She was one of the nicer ones out of the three we had. She also didn’t seem to be so judgmental of me keeping my baby, or the fact that my father was a part of the biker gang that had taken the other women. I’d also suffered at the hands of my father and his men. I was eighteen with a two-year-old little girl, who I didn’t know the father of, because I was gang raped. I didn’t like to dwell on that though. I wanted to think that I got something special: the best thing to ever happen to me came from the worst thing to happen to me.
“Ruby, I gave you that leaflet so you could see all they had to offer. In my professional opinion, I think going to the classes could be good for you.” She raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow. Her makeup was always immaculate, and there was never a hair out of place.
“I…I don’t. I can’t g…go.” I shook my head. I hated crowds. I’d barely left the house since they’d placed me there, along with a bunch of the women they’d found at the compound of my father’s biker group.
I wasn’t scared to leave. Well, that was a lie, I was without my brother, Toby, or Decker as most knew him by. He wasn’t someone people came up to—he looked scary, with his height, big build, and covered in tats, but he was a sweetheart. I feared if I left the house without Toby, people might approach me with questions, and I also feared what I might see when they looked at me.
Before SWAT had busted in and the media had ascended, I’d been a pretty adjusted woman, or so I thought. I was sociable enough that I left the house. I’d even started talking to some women at a playground I took Hope to, and I loved my little one-bedroom flat that we’d lived in. I’d been in the paper and on the news after the SWAT team had rescued us; mind you, they weren’t real good photos as they were from a distance and I was always surrounded by people, but they were out there. I wasn’t lucky enough to be anonymous like the other women in here, as it was my father and his gang that caused this. I was sick of questions and people asking me about my feelings and only seeing females, but I feared people attacking me for what my father had done. I was ready to see men. I knew that my father and his friends weren’t what most men were like, they were a small percentage.
“It’s free,” Dr. Heather said. “I think it’ll make you feel better and may even help you heal. It even has a daycare for Hope.”
At the mention of my daughter, the reason for living to fight every day, my heart soared. The last couple of weeks all the talking and discussing of the past had my stutter flaring and my anxiety rising to new highs. I knew I needed to get out, but to a self-defense class I wasn’t so sure.
“Okay. I’ll go.” I stood and looked toward the playroom where I knew Hope was happily playing with the other little girl who was a couple of years older than her. I had a feeling my daughter wasn’t going to like leaving her friend. I loved Hope, but even as a toddler, she was very strong-willed about what she wanted and who she liked.
“I have a feeling this will change your life.”
Darting my gaze back to my therapist, I gave her a short nod, my stomach flipped, and I had a feeling she was right.
Derick
“Look, I know you’re Mr. Angry at the World right now, but I don’t want Andrew helping teach the self-defense class. Some of the women that we have in this class have come from bad backgrounds, and I don’t think they’d appreciate Andrew’s come-ons, or more like er, charms,” Mason said. “Richard doesn’t want to leave Bailey and Sebastian, Zeck is overseas on a job, and your brothers aren’t answering. I have two other instructors. The class runs better with four as this is a big class, but my usual other two spares are sick with a cold. Please, cous’. I’ll owe you one.”
His begging was good, and I shouldn’t be a dick and drag this out any longer. I’d only planned to study tonight. Mason’s wife Alexa was pregnant with twins. I knew Alexa was feeling terribly sick, so I supposed I could put off studying and help with the self-defense class.
“Sure. I was only going home to study.” I patted him on the back as he leaned on his table, staring at his laptop screen. “Go take Alexa home. She looked a little green when I saw her before I came in here to get changed.”
I took a step back, leaned down, and did my jogger laces and then got up, gathered my things, and put them back in Mason’s closet before turning back to him. He sat back now in his office chair, more relaxed. I’d been working with Micky, Mason’s boxing coach, and had finished only moments before and came up to shower and change, using Mason’s office—as it was quieter, and I didn’t have to worry about any unwanted attention—when he begged me to help him out.
“Thanks, cous’.” The relief was clear in his voice, and guilt assaulted me. I needed to stop being so annoyed with the world. I was lucky and had a very blessed life. There were people out there doing a lot worse. I was being an arse.
I was just over having to have all the bodyguards because of my family’s name and our wealth. I hated being targeted. I was sick of the people I loved being hurt and always feeling like I had to constantly be on guard. I was talking with a therapist, and she thought some of my resentment had to do with my brother and I being kidnapped when we were younger.
“The class starts in ten.”
Giving myself a mental shake, I returned my attention to my cousin.
“I can’t thank you enough, Derick.”
“No need to thank me. Anytime, Mason. I mean it.” I ran my fingers through my hair. “I’m sorry if you thought you couldn’t ask. I’m being an arsehole, and you’re my family.” He stood from the chair, and I went and gave him a hug. “This will be good for me. I need to get out of my head and stop my wallowing.”
Mason clenched my back, but it became tighter. “I know how you feel. You’re not alone. I hate always having to be alert. I worry about Alexa and her being with me and something happening because of it.” He pulled back and both his hands held my face so I focused on him. “Don’t let fear make you bitter. We’re so damn lucky. We may have money, and the fame of our last name, but we were given a gift.” His hands fell. “Ask your brothers, parents, uncles, and Richard, we are blessed to know our soulmate. Trust me when I say that this gift is worth anything the world throws at us, Silverman. I know you’re upset at what happened to Dustan and that he never, and probably won’t, get his memory back, but you can’t deny the end result is good. He’s married, with babies on the way, and now calling Australia home again.”
Mason gave a chin lift and made a kissy noise. I glanced behind me to see Alexa leaning against the door, her pregnant belly sticking out. She looked a lot more pregnant than she was, but she was carrying twins. Multiples were common in our family. I was a twin, not identical, but my grandfather had an identical twin.
Smiling at Alexa, I went over and hugged her to me, chuckling when I heard the growl of possession from Mason. He carefully snatched his wife from my embrace. I raised my hands in surrender, still laughing. “I’ll leave you two while I go help set-up for the self-defense class.” Spinning, I leave the two lovebirds, who I had no doubt if I turned would be making out, and left the office, closing the door behind me as I made my way to class.
The class is in the biggest studio. I entered and saw a bunch of women already there. Darren, who was the head of Mason’s security and helped teach the self-defense classes, was setting up, with the help of two other instructors. I went over and helped put the mats out and set up the dummies.
“I see Mason convinced you to help out,” Darren grumbled. His voice was brisk, and he wasn’t one to talk much.
“Yeah, he said this was a busy class, and I’ve helped out before and was only going home to study.” I jerked my head to the gathering women. “You already have a large group.” I looked around and saw close to twenty or so women. “Are any more coming?”
“Oh yeah, a bus of women and a couple of kids should have pulled up and the women will come in at any moment.” As if Darren had spoken and the women had a radar, more started filtering in.
“How many in the class?” The gym was a busy one, but this was the most I’d seen in a class.
“It’s a free class. No membership required. So we always get well over thirty,” Darren said. “I know the women shelters and counseling centers encourage their patients to come. The bus is from a counseling, halfway house.”
I tried not to show my reaction to that information. I hated the bikers who held the women. They were the reason for a lot of hurt and pain in my family. I knew Ryder was working with a son from the group, and I had no idea how Dustan had become close to the guy. The son was supposedly a part of an elite police team. It boggled my mind, but I knew the women that were coming today were the victims, so I couldn’t take any anger or resentment I had out on them.
“Can you handle this?” I hated that Darren asked that, but with my behavior lately, I understood why.
Giving a sharp nod, I turned and surveyed the room. There had to be well over thirty women here. We paired them, and once they were in twos, it wouldn’t be so daunting. I’d helped teach classes before, but never this many. “Yeah. Let’s get started.”
Darren moved to the front and started his usual introduction speech, but was interrupted by the cutest little baby…no, I stepped closer…toddler, I’d ever seen. She had jet-black little ringlets, and unable to stop myself, I weaved toward the door and saw her eyes were like dandelions. Gold followed by a slight yellow and then a green. Her lashes were super long, and she was a chubby, little thing as she clung to a beautiful angel.
“Nooo, Mummy,” the toddler squealed as a young woman who didn’t even look old enough to be a mother of a toddler leaned down and picked up the girl.
The woman who held the little girl was stunning. I held my breath for a moment until I could reach out and touch her to make sure she was real. She flinched at my touch of her hair that was an array of blues that settled to frame her face. Her eyes were the same as her daughter’s, with extremely long lashes set in an oval face with high cheekbones and pouty lips. My gaze drank her in. Her body was just as amazing as her face. She wasn’t short, but she wasn’t tall either, about five seven or eight. She was slim, with perky breasts that were just the right handful, and her stomach was flat but flared out at the hips. She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. My heart started to race, and my body came alive.
“Don’t…t…tou…touch me,” she stammered out and backed up.
My heart jumped, for a moment I swore it would beat out of my chest. She backed away from me and her gaze widened as she took me in. Then I realized that this was my one. This was my woman. This was my soulmate.
Reality slammed back into me as the gorgeous, little girl giggled and threw herself at me, yelling, “Mine.” I caught her, shocked as she hugged herself to me, and still giggling, repeated, “Mine.”
“That’s my line, little princess,” I whispered, as I hugged my woman’s daughter to me.
Ruby
Hope wouldn’t go to the daycare at the gym. She threw the biggest tantrum to end all tantrums, and in the end, to keep the peace, I’d taken her out and thought I could watch the self-defense class until she settled. Hope didn’t want to go into the class and voiced her protest loudly, drawing everyone’s attention, including the one man that I wanted to avoid at all costs.
I knew he was a Silverman, and not just any Silverman, but the brother of the one my father’s biker gang had kidnapped and almost killed. He was also the most handsome man I’d ever set eyes on. He was well over six feet tall and had blond hair and the warmest brown eyes I’d ever gazed into. I lost myself in the soothing chocolate heat of them for a moment before his touch sent a fire through my body that I’d never felt before. It felt good. Touch from men—well, any other than my brother—was something I avoided at all costs.
Aside from my brother, I couldn’t remember the last time a man had been nice to me. Toby was the only man I ever permitted to touch me. He was safe. I knew he’d never hurt me. He was my protector. He was Hope’s only male role model, and he was her number one protector. I knew if anything ever happened to me, he would take Hope and treat her like she was his own—no, better than his own. Hope didn’t like men either, but that was my fault, she saw how they’d treated me and the women around us, and none other than my brother had ever been nice. So, I was shocked when Hope threw herself at the Silverman and claimed him as hers loud enough for everyone to hear.
His reply of, “That’s my line, little princess” shocked me even more, especially when Hope let the Silverman hug her.
I stumbled over, cautious of the gorgeous Silverman. I racked my brain for his name. I knew his older brother, the Silverman my father had captured, was Dustan and his brothers were Stephan and Derick. Twins, but not identical. This man was either Stephan or Derick. I hadn’t taken enough notice of them before to know which one he was as I never thought in a million years I would ever be in the same room as them. I knew they hated my father’s club, The Devil’s Queens, and even though I despised my father and his group of arseholes, I didn’t think they’d like me if they knew I was the daughter of the president.
“Hope, baby girl…I... let go of the man.” I didn’t want to giveaway that I knew who he was. I didn’t want him to know who I was either. I didn’t think he would be giving me soft, warm eyes and being so nice to my daughter if he knew who I was. After all, it was my father who gave the order to kidnap his brother.
“No, Mummy. He’ed mine.” My daughter’s big dandelion eyes gazed at me, and my heart melted.
Derick, or Stephan, whoever he was, chuckled, and it was a deep, soothing sound. I liked it. I could listen to the sound every day if I was given a choice.
“Hope. That’s a pretty name.” His index finger bopped her on the nose, and Hope made my favorite sound in the world, she giggled. “I’ll be yours, princess, if you’ll share with me your beautiful mummy?”
“Mummy, he’d calls yous beaut…iful.” Hope beamed at me, and for the millionth time since she was born, I knew I did the right thing keeping her. She was the best thing in my world. I felt my cheeks heat and gazed around the room as it sunk in that we had an audience.
Clearing my suddenly dry throat, I mumbled out, “Th…thanks. Um, c…can you please, er, well…pp…put my daughter d…down?”
“No. No. No,” Hope protested. “Isza liked him, Mummy. He’s mine. Ours.”
Groaning at my stubborn daughter’s words, I took another step closer only to stop when he followed my lead and closed the distance between us. He moved Hope so he clutched her with one arm and held out his other. “Derick. Derick Silverman. I know this little one is Hope, and you are?” He raised one blond brow.
For a moment I forgot my name. Not that I would tell him my full name, but I stared at the hand he held out while the other clutched my baby and I considered telling him a fake name, or snatching Hope and running, but I ignored his hand, took a step back, and whispered, “R...RR…Ruby.”
The smile that came over his face had him going from gorgeous to ‘way too good-looking to even be real’. He had perfect, white teeth, full lips, and long lashes any woman would kill for. He was dangerous to me, because he was a man to dream of, and I’d sworn off all men. I knew that Silverman men were good men too, and from what I’d heard and seen plastered over the internet and magazines, they treated their women like rare gems. I highly doubted he would be so eager to hold my daughter and learn my name if he knew who I really was.
“Ruby…” He raised his brow, and I knew he was waiting for my last name, but I wouldn’t give it to him.
Shaking my head, I held my arms out for my daughter to come to me, but the little terror clung to Derick and buried her head against him, turning away from me. “Hope. C…cc..come to Mummy.” She shook her head against Derick’s chest, and the rumble of his chuckle had her giggling again.
I was glad he thought this was funny, because he now had a permanent friend in Hope and a monkey that would cling to him better than glue.
A deafening whistle had our standoff stopping, and we both looked to the other end where a huge man, who looked like he ate steroids for breakfast, stood with two others a little smaller. “Show’s over, ladies. It’s time to start the class.” He clapped his big hands. “Derick, how about you and your new friend be the checkers? Your new friend might even help you show technique.”
Hope giggled like the big man was telling the funniest joke. She knew he was talking about her, and she loved the attention. I couldn’t remember the last time my daughter had giggled.
Giving up on getting Hope back, I went to the back of the group to watch the class but kept the corner of my gaze always on Derick and Hope. Derick must have known I was wary, as he didn’t move out of my line of sight. The big man introduced himself again as Darren for the people that had been focused on what had happened between the Silverman, Hope, and I.
Listening to Darren, my guard came down and I relaxed as the class started participating around me.
Derick
I remembered what my cousin had told me about these women, and I wondered what had happened to my skittish soulmate. I’d make sure our family security could get everything on her. I needed a last name, and I was sure I could get one, if not from her then from the records from the gym. The only problem I could come up against would be if she were one of the women from the shelters of halfway counseling houses, but there was always someone among those places willing to sell info if it was needed.
My mind raced over a million scenarios as I held my woman’s daughter, of what could have happened to her and why she not only had a daughter but looked like she feared her own shadow. In our history of soulmates, I couldn’t remember one already having a child with someone else. Come to think of it, there was no mention of illegitimate Silverman either.
I gazed down at the gorgeous, little girl, and my heart squeezed and a feeling of instant love washed over me. It was like I just knew this little girl was my daughter. It didn’t matter we weren’t blood related; she was now my kid, and I would do anything for her. I just had to get her mother to give me a chance. I had a feeling it was going to be a lot harder for the mother to fall into my arms, like her daughter had.
As I stayed in Ruby’s line of vision, Hope clung to me. One of her tiny hands gripped tightly to my shoulder, and her other gripped my shirt. Her legs were wrapped around me tight, and my hold on her was light, ready when she was to let her get down, but I didn’t think she was letting me go anytime soon.
It was time to partner up, and I watched as everyone looked around for someone, but no one chose Ruby. She shrunk back like she was trying to hide. An older woman who I’d seen at the gym before and had been in the room stretching while the huge group came in went over to Ruby with a warm smile on her face. She took small steps toward her like she knew if she moved too quickly Ruby would run.
What the fuck had happened to my woman? My seething hatred for the biker gang that started all this tripled. I vow that I would make sure none of those Devil’s Queens bikers would ever see the light of day outside of jail, and if they did, they wouldn’t stay out for long at all.
Four hours later, I sat in my car, staring at the large three-story house that housed some of the women from the sting the police did of The Devil’s Queens clubhouse. I seethed from the information I’d learned. My soulmate was a filthy daughter of a Devil’s Queens, and not just any member, the fucking president’s daughter that Jade, Stephan’s wife, had help put away. I didn’t know whether to go in and strangle the woman, putting me out of my misery, or run like my brother’s woman Cassandra had tried to.
My security team said they would get back to me with more information about Ruby Decker. One thing I did know was that Ruby wouldn’t be keeping that last name for long. I despised her family, but she was my one, my soulmate, so if the fates had chosen her for me, I would make the best of what I’d been dealt. My new daughter Hope was beyond adorable, so that softened her up to me, but until I had more information about Ruby, I’d be keeping my eyes on her.
Reclining my seat, I stared at the house, watching, waiting. I wasn’t sure for what exactly, but I was going to watch them, and truthfully, I didn’t know if it was to protect them or see if she was anything like her father.
I jerked awake, my neck aching as the tapping on my window came again. Blinking, I focused on my window, smiling when I saw my cousin Ryder in uniform tap again, and this time he yelled, “Push the damn button for the window to go down, Derick.”
Raising my brow, I smirked at him as I pressed the button for the window to go down. “What’s up, cous’?”
“What the fuck, Derick? Do you know how scared you’ve made the women in the house? They’ve been through enough wanker.” Ryder reached into the window and unlocked the door and opened it, glowering at me. “What the fuck is up with you?”
“I, well, my, fuck, I didn’t mean to scare them. She’s in there though.” I jerked my head toward the house I’d been watching for hours. “She’s… You’ll never fucking believe who she is, she’s a daughter of the sons of bitches. Why the hell is she here with all these poor women and children?”
“Who the fuck are you talking about?” Ryder scrubbed his face with his hand. “Look, I got a phone call telling me that you and your bodyguards are sitting in cars out the front of this halfway safe house. These women are here to acclimate themselves back into society and get the therapy and guidance they need for the traumatic experience they’ve been through.”
“Yeah, I know, so why the fuck is Ruby Decker here?”
“Ruby Decker? Ruby,” he mumbled. His green gaze became dark, his lips turned down, and there was no mistaking the pity and sadness when he thought of her.
“What!” I jumped out of the car and got in his face. “Why do you look like that when I talk about my soulmate? My one?”
“Oh Derick,” he groaned. Ryder’s gaze darted to the house and then back to me. “I’ll make sure I have a talk to the helpers and the other cops. Take your time, Derick, Ruby belongs here more than some of the others even.” He shook his head. “Ruby’s brother has a lot to answer when it comes to her.” Ryder stepped away from me. “I’ll get it sorted out. I’ll make sure everyone knows you’re harmless. Just…just know she’s nothing like her family. They treated her…” Ryder shook his head again as his voice faded. “I got to go. I was only half an hour from finishing my twelve-hour shift, when I was told you and some of our family’s guards were hanging around this safe house. I want to get back to Divinity and Quinten.” He took another step back. “Keep an open mind, cous’. Ruby deserves a much better life than she was dealt.”
He turned and I watched him go back to his car. I sat there thinking over what Ryder said, terrified now of what I would learn when my investigators got back to me. She was a daughter of the club, but Ryder had said she’d had a hard life and deserved better. He didn’t mention Hope either.
Picking up my phone, I called Zeck. I wanted the information about Ruby now.
Devastated and sick to the bottom of my stomach, I pushed the laptop with all the information on Ruby away. I couldn’t read any more. My stomach rolled and I swallowed the bile that rose at what I’d read. My heart sank at every word as I discovered what Ruby had been through. Immense guilt settled through me as I realized that my initial dislike of who I’d been gifted as my soulmate was wrong. Ruby had been screwed over by the Devil’s Queens more than I and my family ever had.
Where the hell had child services been? Having never gone to school should have brought up major red flags or all the hospital visits caused by beatings. How many times can a child fall down the stairs or walk into the door? I knew someone was going to pay for what Ruby had endured, and I would make sure all the incidents were investigated too and find out why on earth nothing was done for her.
After reading as much as I could bear to, I contemplated how I was going to make my next move. From what I learned, Ruby had had an even harder life than my cousin’s soulmate Alexa. I needed to be careful with how I wooed her and let the caveman come out. I knew the gift we had turned us a little crazy for our woman.
It had been forty-eight hours since I first set my eyes on her, and Ruby hadn’t left my thoughts. I’d spent most of my time staring at the house she and Hope were staying in. I was surprised the police hadn’t come by to say anything to me. Ryder must have really set them straight. My own security team had something to do with it too. I knew I looked like a creep watching the house and brooding.
I tried not to think of Hope and how she had supposedly been made. A lot of information in the files were just what had been bribed out of people or what they’d heard from someone and was a retelling. I’d fallen in love with that little girl from the moment I saw her, but now that I knew how she was conceived, I dug deep to see if my feelings had changed for the child, but I still knew that she was my daughter now, and nothing, no matter how she was conceived, would change that. There was no doubt that Ruby loved her child, and from what I learned, put her first, even with everything she’d been through. So Hope would become my number one priority along with her mother.
My thoughts now centered on how I was going to get Ruby to give me a chance and not scare her away. I had a feeling Ruby knew who I was and how I felt about her family. I hadn’t been quiet about my hate for them either. My anger for them had started rifts between me and my closest family members. I knew I needed to fix the mess I’d made with Cassie and how it affected my relationships with my brothers, and even how Jade and Cassie reacted to each other.
Today I needed to start to make things right. I had a plan. I didn’t know if it was a good plan, but it was something that I didn’t have forty-something hours ago after I’d met her. I needed to slip myself into Ruby’s life slowly. I wanted her to see me a couple of times first and get a feel for me. She needed to see that I was good with Hope too. Between doing this, I wanted to make things right with my family. I owed Cassie a better apology and wanted to make things good with her and Jade.