Chapter 14
IT HAS BEEN TWO WEEKS.
And in that time, my father has refused to speak to me.
It hurts. Every single weekend that passes feels like a small part of me is being dissolved.
I know I need to go and see him, but I don’t know how to do that.
I don’t know how to come to an agreement about this.
His words have been playing in my mind, over and over again.
Because deep down, that is a fear of mine.
Being in love with a rockstar, someone who is going to have women throwing themselves at him, someone who has easy access to drugs and alcohol—it is all temptations that he has very clearly fallen into before.
What is stopping him now? I’m not naive enough to believe that I’m everything he needs and he will never be tempted again.
Our love is special, but is it that special? I just don’t know.
Travis can feel the distance. I know it, and he knows it.
Chief’s words are beginning to drown me.
Today, while Travis is at work, I decide to come and talk to Mom about it. I stayed at Travis’ place the last two nights, and I could use a little mom time. I reach the front door and go inside, but it’s quiet. “Mom?” I call out, rounding the corner to the kitchen and not seeing her there.
Weird.
“Momma!” I shout, but there’s only silence.
It’s one of those moments where I feel it right to my core, that something is wrong.
I don’t know what it is, but every nerve ending goes on high alert as I walk down the hall.
Outside her bedroom door comes a strangled but faint moan.
I fling it open and freeze. She’s on the bed—naked, every inch of her skin a bruised map, ribs jutting unnaturally, her hair matted with blood.
I stagger forward, hand pressed to my mouth as I cry out her name.
“Mo—Momma, please...” I lean over her, brushing her temple with trembling fingers. Her breaths are shallow.
I fumble for my phone.
I dial 911 with one finger, my voice coming out raw: “Please, my mother, she’s been beaten. I don’t know who did it, but she’s alive. Please hurry.”
They go through every question under the sun; what’s my name, what’s my address, am I alone, is the intruder still there, does she have a pulse.
I try to keep calm, answer them all, but tears are flowing down my face and my voice is shaking.
I’m scared, the kind of fear I’ve never felt before in my life.
“Ambulance is on its way, ma’am. Please call if they don’t arrive in less than five minutes. I can see they are en route.”
I’ve never felt so helpless. When I finally hang up, I dial Chief’s number. Three rings and it cuts to voicemail. I press redial. Silence.
He’s fucking declining my calls.
“Damn it,” I choke, tears blurring my vision. I reach over, assuring my mom it’s going to be okay, it’s all going to be okay, as I jab at my phone’s screen and call whoever’s number comes up first—Rocko, club treasurer. He answers on the second ring, and I waste no time.
“Rocko, it’s Violet. I need Chief. He’s not answering my calls. It’s an emergency, it’s my mother...”
“Shit,” Rocko curses. “I’ll get him.”
My pulse hammers while I stare at Momma’s face, her skin has gone from golden warmth to something I barely recognize. Every bruise, every welt, hits me right in my chest. Then the voice I’ve been aching to hear—low, urgent.
“Talk to me.”
“Daddy,” I gasp, clutching her cold hand. “It’s Mom. It’s... someone hurt her. Bruises, broken bones, she’s barely conscious. The ambulance is minutes out. You have to—”
“I’m on my way,” he interrupts, voice rough with fury and fear. “Stay with her. I’m coming.”
I hang onto my mother’s hand until the ambulance officers burst through the front door and find us in the room.
They kneel beside me, barking questions I answer in a daze, voice cracking so badly I’m surprised they can hear me.
They get to work putting her on a stretcher, knowing she needs the hospital urgently.
“Where is she?”
Chief’s booming voice comes rattling down the hall just as they have put my mother on the stretcher, wires and tubes hanging off her for pain relief and to help her breathe.
Chief bursts into the room, and when he sees her, his face falls.
There is a fear in his eyes I have never seen before.
He rushes over, cupping her face with his big hand.
“I’m here, angel. I’m here. Baby, I got you. ”
His words.
So fucking deep.
He turns to me and I crumble, legs giving out.
He comes over, lowering down and scooping me up, pulling me to him.
This is a hug I have needed since the big fight we had, but this isn’t how I wanted that to happen.
“I’m fuckin’ sorry, baby, for everything.
She’s going to be okay. We’re going to find out who did this. ”
“We have to get her to the hospital,” a paramedic informs. “Someone can ride with her.”
Chief looks to me. I swipe the tears from my eyes. “You go. I am going to call Travis.”
His jaw ticks, but he doesn’t argue. Ten minutes later they drive my mother away with my dad in the back.
Soon after, Travis explodes into the house.
I’m on the floor, limbs curled under me, crying because I just can’t stop.
He scoops me up as if I weigh nothing and rocks me hard against his chest until my sobs slow and my fists unclench.
Together we sit, the silence only broken by the ticking of the hall clock, until blue-and-white cruisers pull into the driveway.
More questions.
I answer as many as I can, and when they’re done, they inform me I need to go and make an official statement when I can.
They’re kind to me, and I appreciate that because it has been hard enough as it is.
Once they’re gone, Travis and I rush to the hospital.
I race down sterile corridors, white lights blurring overhead.
I skid to a stop at the reception Chief messaged me that he would be in.
He’s there, standing, his arms crossed, head dropped.
“Dad?” I whisper,
His head shoots up, and his eyes go to Travis, but he doesn’t say anything.
“Where is she?” I say, holding my breath.
“Surgery. Had to repair some internal damage. Won’t know how bad it is until they’re done.”
I stumble into his arms and hang on, so tight I wonder if he can even breathe.
“Was it... Demon?” I ask, pulling back.
Chief’s jaw tightens. He glances at Travis, who still hasn’t said anything. Chief closes his eyes. “I think so.”
“Then she isn’t safe,” I say, my eyes wide. “She needs to get out of here.”
He runs his hand over my forehead, swiping some hair away. “So do you, Violet.”
I go quiet, and my world spins.
What if... what if it wasn’t Demon.
What if it was Jeremy?
I bite my bottom lip, staring at my feet. “What if it wasn’t Demon?”
Chief looks confused. “Ain’t nobody else it could be.”
“That’s not true,” I whisper, and then look up to meet his eyes. “It could be Lillian’s brother, Jeremy. He, ah, is back in town and has threatened me.”
Chief’s eyes widen and his nostrils flare. “What the fuck? What do you mean he threatened you?”
I tell him everything, about how Jeremy wants to put me away for manslaughter and how Travis is helping me with a good lawyer.
He glares at Travis. “You fuckin’ knew?”
Travis crosses his arms. “Yeah, I did, and I fuckin’ made sure she stayed safe.”
“What about her fuckin’ mother? She ain’t safe, is she?”
“Enough,” I snap, glaring at Chief. “What happened to Mom was not his fault and you will not blame it on him. It’s just as likely it is linked to the club and then it’s on you. So quit it.”
His jaw loosens a bit. “Sorry, baby. You’re right, it ain’t on any of us. We gotta figure out who did this. Until then, we need protection on all of you.”
Before I can protest, Chief’s phone buzzes. He steps away, voice low: “Brother, we’ve got a problem.”
I need space.
I slip outside into the night, cold air biting through my jeans.
I sit on the curb, knees pulled to my chest, praying she survives her surgery.
I finally understand why she ran all those years ago—she was paying a price for crimes she never committed.
This biker world is a brutal place where fear is the only currency. It makes so much more sense now.
About an hour later, Travis finds me and kneels beside me. His gentle voice breaks my spiraling thoughts. “Doctor just came out. She’s out of surgery. She is doing well. You can go see her.”
I leap to my feet and race back inside, raw fear propelling me down the halls.
I burst into the room the nurse leads me to.
Chief stands at her bedside, his hand curled firmly around hers.
My mother’s face is pale, eyes fluttering open and focusing on me.
She’s drowsy and has tubes everywhere, but I know the moment she recognizes me because her expression changes.
I rush over, reaching down gently and curling my arms around her. “I’m so sorry, Momma.”
“It’s all right, baby,” she whispers hoarsely. “I’m all right.”
“I should’ve been here—”
“You couldn’t have stopped it.”
Chief steps forward. “It’s a problem. We need to find who is doing this and sort it out. Until then, you’re not safe, especially if you’re injured. When you get out of hospital, you’re going to your mom’s. I’ll have a man go with you, for security.”
Her eyelids drift closed, but she nods once, too weak to argue.
He cups her cheek with rough, gentle hands. “I’m sorry, angel.”
Angel.
I’ve never heard him call her that, but something in her eyes changes when he does. She opens them and looks at him with an expression I’ve never seen from her. It’s full of love and longing and a desperate heartbreak I can’t even begin to understand.
“Caden, promise me one thing. Don’t let anyone hurt our baby. Put your differences aside. Keep her safe.”
His voice is low, his vow hushed. “I swear it.”
TWO LONG WEEKS SLIP by.