Chapter 25 Ford
Ford
The silence hangs so heavily it’s suffocating, yet there’s not a word I want to speak to the bitch that had me chained up like an wanted dog for months.
She had me at the point where I wished for death, just to end the unrelenting boredom and fear of the worst happening.
She’s been trapped in this room for a while and the only satisfaction I can take is she looks like crap.
Her hair isn’t smooth and glossy, having been to expensive salons.
Her lips are no longer blood red. Her nails are chipped, some bitten down to stubs.
Dark bags have taken root under her eyes.
It is the wariness she wears like one of her designer coats that shines whenever I walk into the room that I savor.
It’s been an hour since I came in and slid down the wall, plonking my ass on the floor.
She lifts her eyes and when they settle on me, they’re full of water.
Tears waiting to fall. So I wait, needing them.
It seems she has given up trying to make conversation or even speak a word.
The night we were meant to take her out at the charity ball, I was amped to succeed.
I wanted to be a part of something great for the club, I never saw her getting one over on us coming.
As soon as the first tear drops, I say, “This is done.”
All I needed was her tears. We all thought she was unbreakable. I needed to see her break to finally see she isn’t anything but human. The same as me. She had the riches, the big houses, the fancy cars, but when it comes down to the basics, we’re all the same.
“What do you mean, this is done? Are you going to kill me now?”
I stare down at her and feel no need to reply.
“Please, just tell me. Put me out of my misery.”
Again, not one part of me wants to give her what she wants, even if it is only a few words of confirmation.
“Take out your gun and shoot me. Just get it over with,” she pleads.
Heavy sobs come next, and I hang back to listen to her sorrow. It’s music to my ears and this, I savor. I should fucking record it so I can put it on replay.
“Ford?”
Phoebe? Her voice carries down the hall and I go to find her when she comes to stand in the doorway, eyes wide, flitting from Effie to me. She’s frozen but her mind isn’t. She was always easy to read, and right now, she’s trying to work out who the fuck I am and what is going on.
“Help me!” Effie pleads, her voice breaking.
Pushing Phoebe out into the hall, I slam the door shut behind me and trap her between my arms against the wall.
“It’s not what you think,” I try.
“Y-you have no idea what I’m thinking.”
“I have a pretty good idea.”
She ducks under my arm and takes off. I catch her up in three steps and grab her arm. Taking her into my room, I need this dealt with, and not just for myself. If Luca finds out she knows about Effie, I’m certain I won’t like his solution to fixing the problem he will think Phoebe would become.
“Let me out of here,” she spits. “I want to go home.”
“I will, I just wanna talk first.”
“I doubt you’ll tell me the truth, what’s the point.”
“You want the truth?”
She hesitates but eventually nods.
“She’s the one who made you all believe I was dead. She kept me chained up in a tiny room for months. Barely fed me, I had to make water stretch, not knowing when I would get more. She had her men beat me till I was pissing blood. She…”
A tear rolls down her cheek and she cuts me off. “She is now you. An eye for an eye.”
“Something like that.”
She turns her back on me. “I hate what she did to you, but I can’t even stand to look at you for what you’re doing now.”
That cuts deep. Sighing, I try another approach.
“In many ways I’m still the same guy, but parts of me have changed. Not parts that are to do with you, though.”
“Ford, you are holding a woman captive and by the looks of it, not treating her too good. How am I supposed to see you as anything but someone I don’t know anymore,” she yells.
“Because if you stick around, you will see you still know me. I’m just not gonna let her get away with it.”
“And what if I hurt you somehow? Would you treat me like a dog?”
“Come on.” I sigh. “You would never hurt me like she did.”
“We don’t know that. Maybe I’ve changed in ways you don’t know about,” she retorts.
“Be serious, Phoebe.”
She goes to move around me, but I block her way to the door. She is not leaving yet.
“Let me out of here.”
“I can’t do that. I need to know what you’re gonna do next.”
Confusion mars her perfect face so I clarify, “Are you gonna tell anyone what you’ve seen?”
Anger turns her bright red, and I move out of the way as she starts slapping the shit out of my arm. Grabbing both her wrists, she soon calms down.
“Just tell me.”
“No! As much as I hate you right now, I won’t tell anyone. There, are you happy now?”
“Far from it, babe.”
All the fight leaves her. “You really aren’t the same guy anymore, are you?”
I step closer to her. “Accept who I am now.”
“I don’t think I can.”
This time, when she goes for the door, I don’t stop her.
Effie
I prize my eyes open and think I’m still dreaming of escape.
Every inch of me hurts but it takes a long minute to realise it’s the light shining in from the hall that is burning my eyes.
The door is ajar. I dare not move but somewhere deep down in my soul, my streak of stubbornness still runs strong.
I have been preparing to die for what feels like months, knowing they would drag it out for my benefit, but if there’s still a glimmer of hope I can go home, I have to take it.
Sitting up, my heart begins to pound as I move across the room on shaking hands and knees.
I reach the door, not having made a sound, and listen out to see if anyone is close by.
There’s nothing but silence. I don’t know when the music was shut off, or when they headed to bed in this place they call their home.
It feels like it is the middle of the night, but I can’t be sure.
Sticking my head around the door, the hall is empty, and all the doors are closed.
I continue to crawl my way out of the room and along the hall until I reach the top of the stairs. I stop, listening out for anyone down in their bar. Climbing up to my feet, I use the rail to help hold my legs steady.
I hold my breath with every step I take down the stairs, anticipating any creaks that could give me away.
Four steps to go.
I can’t see much, not one light has been left on, but I see the door as if a hundred torches are lighting it up. My feet hit the floor, the door so close now.
I tiptoe from the stairs toward the door, every step heavy and numbing at the same time.
The first thing I’m going to do when I get home is order the death of every Lost Soul in the land.
I will have every one of their clubhouses burned to ashes.
There will not be a trace left of the Motorcycle Club once I’m done.
My revenge will be cold and brutal. It will be swift and unforgettable.
And once they’re wiped out, I will regain control of this city and life will go back to normal.
I won’t make the same mistake when I move onto the Haywards’.
Without their pawns running around for them, they are alone, and I will make sure they rue the day they came against me.
I’ll wipe them out and they can spend eternity with their precious allies.
“You really thought I’d let you go.”
I spin around and a light comes on over the bar. Ford sits closest to me, a gun in his lap. The other men, my captors, are sat at various tables staring at me.
They set me up for their amusement. I stow away my disappointment and hold my chin up. I won’t give them the satisfaction of seeing me begging and pleading for my life. They won’t relent and release me. At least dying means I’ll be free of this place.
“It’s a little dramatic waiting around in the dark, isn’t it,” I point out.
“Nah, I wanted you to have one last piece of hope before I snatched it away.”
The cruelty in his plan stings. He reminds me of my father.
Ford stands and as I look around, I catch Luca’s gaze.
His small smirk gives me a shudder. He’s enjoying this.
I underestimated this club, but more so, Luca.
I took his youth for weakness and it’s going to be the biggest mistake of my life.
Ford steps closer to me. I won’t back away. There’s nowhere to go.
“You’ve believed you’d somehow get out of this, get free, and take the city back. What I’ve been waiting for is the moment when it hit you that you wouldn’t.”
He presses the gun into the side of my head, keeping his eyes locked on mine.
“You’ve given me that moment, Effie.” He moves around me, standing at my back, the gun never leaving my head. “I’m a Lost Soul…” he releases the safety, the click echoing in my ear. “We always get what we want.”
Ford
Her blood spatters across my face and her body drops to the floor. The brothers don’t move, don’t say anything. The moment lingers and I close my eyes. She’s gone. She can never take shit from me again. She’ll never be a threat to the club again.
I should be at peace, and I would have been, but Phoebe fills my head, and I know until I have her back, the Effie shit will never be truly put to rest.
“The fight with the Rathbones is done,” Luca announces. “Ford, prospect, get rid of her, and we’ll never speak of her again.”
He heads up the stairs with the dog following. The longer it takes to wrap her body, the more time I have to process. Regardless of Phoebe, I’m fucking glad Effie Rathbone is out of my life. Her blood won’t stain my hands, she won’t haunt me. She got what she sowed, and she failed.
“You ready to lift her?” The prospect asks.
“Let’s do it.”
On the count of three, we lift her lifeless body and carry her through the bar and kitchen and out the back door to the van.
“Where are dumping her?” I ask.
“The river.”
Seems perfect for her. She won’t be buried on her family plot with the rest of her family. She will never find eternal peace. I hope she spends the rest of time in purgatory.
The city is sleeping as we drive through street after street. The lights twinkling on the black water for as far as I can see.
Together, the prospect and I haul her out of the van, and I savor the splash as we toss over the edge. She sinks out of sight, and I wait an extra few moments to make sure she doesn’t float back to the surface and light a cigarette.
“Drop me off on my mom’s street,” I instruct the prospect once we’re back in the van. By sunrise I want my life on track.
Nothing is said and I toss the cigarette butt out of the window when I’m done.
Every house is shrouded in darkness as I climb out of the van, shutting the door quietly.
The prospect drives away and I make my way around the back of the houses.
Jumping over Phoebe’s gate, I climb onto her outhouse which brings me level with her bedroom window.
I tap gently, not wanting to wake her father.
She used to be a light sleeper and would always wake when I knocked.
I doubt she’s getting any sleep tonight, though she makes me tap twice before the curtains move and she opens the window.
I go to climb in when she shoves me back.
“Let me in, Phoebes, we need to talk.”
“I don’t think so,” she whispers. “I have nothing to say.”
“I’ll go ring the bell and wake everyone up if I have to,” I warn.
“You’re a prick.”
She steps back and I climb through and shut the window.
“Why are you here, Ford. I told you all I had to say.”
“I scared you with Effie. I know I did. She took me to a dark place, but I’ve dealt with it now. That’s why I’m here.”
“Unless you’re here to tell me you let her go, I’m really not interested.”
“I did. She’s gone.” Though my words are not a lie, the implication is. She doesn’t need to know the truth, and she’ll never hear it from me.
She isn’t Victoria or Rudi. To have Phoebe in my life, she can never know parts of me, I know that now. She can have the best parts while the club can have the dark parts.
“You kept her locked up for who knows how long and then you just let her go?”
I nod. “You’re more important, you always have been. Please, I need to know I haven’t lost you.”
“It’s clear I don’t know you anymore, Ford.”
“Then go on a date with me. Get to know me again. I should never have let you go, I’ve known that since the day I let you go.”
“And what if I don’t like who I get to know?”
I snort. “That’s not likely to happen. I haven’t changed that much, not really.”
“Still sure of yourself, aren’t you.”
“I’m sure of us. We’re meant to be, babe. Give me another chance.”
“You’re not going to stop until I do, are you?”
I shake my head.
“One date.”
I smile. I only need one date to turn it into more.