Chapter 36
Katarina
After several minutes of fighting, Jeannie and the man re-entered the cabin. But they were in the kitchen. Looking back, Jeannie was getting a drink of water, and the man was looking through the cabinets.
Mama Hen decided to announce she was awake by calling over, “So all this time, Jeannie. I gotta admit, you had me fooled.”
That got her attention. Jeannie came back, walking around the coffee table. “Glad to see you’re still with us. For now.”
“You touch her and I will break your hands,” I deadpanned.
Jeannie’s grin was confident and sinister, her lips curling at the edges. “I don’t have plans for her, but the only person I was told to bring back was you, princess.”
Mama Hen continued. “Must be shitty. Wanting to kill her but being forced to cart her home for someone in the family to have. Especially when they don’t want you.”
Jeannie’s face got red again. “You know nothing.”
“I know you wouldn’t be here if anyone did want you. You’d be sipping mimosas over brunch with all the other kept women, enjoying your designer bags and planning your next vacation to distract yourself from your husband getting his dick polished by a pretty lady ten years your junior.”
Jeannie let out a humorless laugh and sipped from the water bottle she was holding.
“I can’t believe I didn’t see it before,” Mama Hen said.
I was lost, so I looked at her, scrunching my face.
“I vaguely remember your mom,” Mama Hen told her. “I remember thinking you looked familiar but couldn’t place it. But I see it now. Your eyes.”
My gaze shot between them.
Mama Hen looked over at me. “When you showed me the picture they both looked a little familiar. But this is all coming back to me now. Your momma was friendly with Reaper a long, long time ago.”
“Reaper?” I asked. I didn’t recognize that name and I thought I’d met everyone at the Atlanta chapter.
Jeannie sat down, crossing her legs and folding her hands in her lap.
Mama Hen continued. “Reaper was a president.”
“He was the founder,” Jeannie added.
Mama Hen grinned. “So, Reaper knocked up your momma, then? It happens.”
“Just because you’re trash doesn’t mean she is. She wasn’t knocked up,” Jeannie seethed.
My mouth dropped. “Wait, then they were married?”
Jeannie didn’t answer so I looked at Mama Hen. “Where’s Reaper now?”
“He met his destiny,” she said, staring at Jeannie.
Jeannie stood up. “He was killed. And you know damn well who did it.”
Mama Hen sighed. “Gotta hand it to you. Avenging your father after not knowing him, after all these years, it’s impressive. You definitely got some biker blood in your veins.”
“This is for my mother,” she said as she walked closer, leaning to get in Mama Hen’s face. “Raven took everything from her. She was forced into a loveless marriage with an abusive asshole. He took what she had. What I had.”
Jeannie stood back up and walked away from the sofa.
I had so many questions. Did Raven kill the previous president? Why? Did Hawk know about this? It seemed like a bad time to ask. But Mama Hen also said to keep Jeannie talking.
“He wasn’t even president ‘til ten or eleven years ago. He was probably just doing as he was told. Or was that how Raptor passed? Was that you, too?” Jeannie didn’t answer but paused her pacing to stare for a minute. “So she carried on Reaper’s business, then?” Mama Hen asked.
“What business?” I asked. I was completely lost. Was it something outside of the MC? Was it related to the Martinellis? But that didn’t make sense. They wouldn’t let a woman have that much control of anything.
Mama Hen ignored me and kept going. “What I don’t get, is why didn’t you pluck the girls from Destiny’s Desires? None of our folks went missing, but every other club in the area was fair game to you.”
Jeannie looked past us. Looking back, the man was across the cabin in the kitchen.
“Haven’t you heard don’t shit where you eat?” Jeannie asked.
“I guess. But then why start trouble with Katya? And why now? The club has only grown since Raven took over after Raptor died. Would have been a hellava lot easier way back when.” Mama Hen shifted, still keeping her arms behind her.
“You held onto your identity all this time. But you unraveled in just a few weeks. I don’t get it. ”
“My mother had to bide her time. And the princess was an unplanned hurdle,” Jeannie said as she came closer, sitting on the coffee table.
“But I couldn’t have planned this any better myself, honestly.
I had no idea you’d show up at my house.
I just got lucky tweedle dee and tweedle dum were there.
” She mindlessly plucked a piece of fuzz from her pants.
“I can finally stop this little show and go home.”
“What missing people? What are you talking about?” I asked, almost flinging my arms in front of me but catching myself. But this was infuriating. It was almost as bad as someone talking about you as if you weren’t in the room.
Jeannie just smirked, so I looked over at Mama Hen.
“If I’m doing my math right, Jeannie here has been running a trafficking ring and plucking dancers, and probably some working girls, and sending them God knows where. How did you get Butch involved?”
“Oh, he was a pawn. He was planning to betray Raven anyway. I just took advantage of his loose lips. It’s almost comical how much men divulge when you fuck them well. But once Raven took out Viper, I needed another body inside.”
“So you funded the Hellbound Heathens?” Mama Hen asked.
Jeannie didn’t answer but she didn’t deny it.
“That’s why you can’t go to Destiny’s Desires?” I asked Mama Hen. “And that’s why Hawk lost it when I left the clubhouse. Women have been going missing.”
Jeannie rolled her eyes.
“Does that bother you, Jeannie? Does it bother you that my husband was worried about me?” I goaded.
Jeannie flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder. “I don’t care about him, sweetie. Apparently you missed the part earlier that he won’t be with us much longer. I never wanted him. My only annoyance was how close I was getting until you showed up.”
“That’s absurd. You slept with him. You could’ve killed him at any time,” I said.
“Hey,” the man called over. “You need to shut the fuck up.”
Jeannie leaned in. “You don’t know anything about a covert op, princess. But don’t worry. Where you’re going, you won’t ever need to.”
“Wait, De Luco was killed just a few years ago. Your mother couldn’t do anything with him around.” I looked at Mama Hen. “He would’ve never allowed her to be in control and they would’ve kept her close. She took his last name after all. But it wasn’t enough. Everyone knew.”
“My mother had plenty of control. That dipshit just thought he was running the show. But yes, once he died, she regained it all and decided to finally make things right. And since Raven ruined any chances of me having a normal life, we intend to make sure the line stops.”
“Penny,” I gasped.
“Ya know, I thought about her. But she’s been trying to claw her way out of that family for years. I have no qualms with her.”
“So you think killing Hawk will end the club? Is that it?” I asked. She was dumber than she looked.
Jeannie stood and Mama Hen spoke up. “She never had the chance to kill Hawk because she could never get him alone.”
Jeannie stopped midstep but then turned and smiled. “Hey, I didn’t take it personally. A lot of the members prefer more than one woman.”
“That’s funny. Hawk’s been with no one but me since I arrived. And,” I continued, “none of you ever went to his house. Yet, I live there.”
Jeannie’s jaw clenched. “Well, none of that will matter soon.” She walked back toward the kitchen.
Whispering to Mama Hen, I asked, “Did she just admit to human trafficking and conspiracy to murder? She wants to kill Hawk?”
“Don’t forget, she plans to kidnap you. Well, kidnap you harder. I guess she already did. I still don’t trust she didn’t have plans for Penny, but they kept her guarded at all times.”
“Why didn’t I know about the women? How many have gone missing?” I asked.
“Over the last year or so, at least a hundred that I know of. Not sure if it was happening before that. And could be more. The news don’t run every missing woman, especially sex workers.”
My stomach churned. “But she’s a woman. How can she do that?”
“Evil doesn’t discriminate, hon. But if I had to guess, her momma is running the show. Her prissy ass is just a mid-level worker bee with a stick up her ass and a chip on her shoulder.”
“That man earlier. He said he was going to get the next group ready. Do you think they have women somewhere?” My voice cracked. “We have to find them.”
“Shh, not so loud.”
“Sorry,” I whispered, “but we can’t just let them take them.”
“Well, first things first, we gotta make sure we get out of here alive.”
Nodding, I looked over my shoulder. “If we work together, I can take him and get his weapons. I don’t think there’s many outside.”
“Are you sure? He’s a big guy.”
“You make sure she stays out of my way, and quiet, and I can do it.”
She sighed. “I can take her. But if we need her quiet, I need her to come back this way. I’m tough, but I can’t run that fast. All it’ll take is one good scream from her and we’ll be swarmed.”
“She’ll get bored of him soon. She likes to run her mouth,” I said.
“I can’t believe I didn’t know something was up.”
“Hey,” I said. “Lots of people can act very well. She had this planned out probably, but wasn’t anticipating me. Everyone drops their mask eventually.”
“Well, thank God you showed up. She was planning to kill my son after she killed my man.”
“We’ll get her. I promise you.” I wanted to reach out, to take her hand. She was face to face with the person who killed her husband, her Old Man. And it was someone she trusted. And I was face to face with a sociopath who wanted my husband dead. A heartless traitor to women.