Chapter Fourteen
Several Weeks Later
Dinah couldn’t return home, or at least that was what Brute told her. She finally got the pleasure of officially meeting the leader of the Evil Fallen Bratva MC. She did meet him at the hospital, but it wasn’t a proper introduction, unlike now, where he’d given her a place to survive. It was more than a mouthful, but her experiences with the Golubev Bratva hadn’t exactly been welcoming. Her finger had been realigned and she was currently wearing a bandage that made it impossible for her to work. Also, the fact she was still at the clubhouse stopped her from doing any job at all.
She was sitting in the yard with Faith, the woman who was so sweet, who doted on her son, Jonah.
“Oh, my brave little boy has made a bit of a stink.” Faith let out a raspberry.
Dinah watched as she put the boy on the blanket in front of her and started to remove his diaper. She wrinkled her nose, because it did stink.
“How are you holding up?” Faith asked.
Apart from the finger, and her thigh having also been stitched, there was some bruising still coming out on her body.
“Oh, you mean because my life has been turned upside down, and I don’t really know what to do anymore, and it’s no longer safe for me to do my job? Yeah, I’m peachy.”
She wasn’t. Far from it.
“I detect a lot of sarcasm,” Faith said.
She rubbed at her temple. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I don’t mean to get angry with you. I’m not really getting angry with anyone, I’m just trying to, you know, I don’t know, think of the positive, and right now there’s nothing.” She pressed her lips together and felt like she was going to burst into tears.
Road also didn’t help. He was always close. She wanted to hate him, and part of her did, but another part was so grateful he came to save her. He didn’t have to, and he did, and she loved him for it.
She wanted to cry for that as well. Instead, she kept the tears locked up because she was so confused by what had happened. She also had not been able to go and see her mother’s grave, which pissed her off a great deal. It wasn’t like her mother could offer her any advice, but it would have been nice to get some.
To add to that, she’d also been suffering a little sickness in the mornings. She wasn’t a fool and knew exactly what that was, but she hadn’t said anything to anyone. The room she’d been given to stay in had its own en-suite bathroom. No one knew she’d been throwing up in the mornings.
She was pregnant. Carrying Road’s baby.
This was not how she saw her life.
“You know, it’s okay to cry,” Faith said.
“I don’t think I can because once I start, I won’t be able to stop.”
“Did Road ever tell you how Brute and I got together?”
“No.”
“Brute kidnapped me. He got a guy to lure me here so he could start negotiations with my grandfather, Sergey Golubev.”
Dinah had known this woman was related to Nikki by their hospital visit. Seeing as Nikki was Golubev’s son, it made sense that Sergey was this woman’s grandfather, and even though she knew that, it didn’t make any sense to her. Sergey was a monster, and this woman was a sweetheart.
This didn’t seem right to her.
“And yet, Brute is now your husband,” Dinah said.
“Yeah, I mean, there are a lot of things that happened in between. I mean, yeah, Brute wasn’t very nice, and I wasn’t allowed to shower, and toilet breaks were another thing entirely. Either way, he also traded me for Tank.” Faith pointed toward one of the guys who was sitting alone. “With what my grandfather did to him, it was worth it. Did I mention I was also due to marry a guy who I think might have also been into child trafficking, but again, I don’t know the intricacies of it.”
“Wow,” Dinah said. This was a lot to take in.
“I know, but I guess what I’m saying to you is, you cared for Road once, and you looked forward to him arriving, didn’t you?”
“This is a little different than Brute,” Dinah said.
“How different?”
“Road followed Sergey’s orders and organized the attack on my mother that scarred her face and ruined her life,” Dinah said.
“Oh,” Faith said.
“Yeah, oh.”
“I think you’re mistaking why I’m saying ‘oh.’ My grandfather’s evil knows no bounds. I don’t even know why I’m shocked by it, but I also understand what Road did. I get it, but you’ve been at the mercy of my grandfather.”
Tears filled Dinah’s eyes.
“You also know that happened to Road as well. I know it wasn’t your mother that caused Road’s scars, but even still, after all his loyalty to my grandfather, look what he did to Road.”
“You’re not making this easy.”
“I don’t think love and relationships are easy.”
“I don’t love him,” Dinah said.
“I think you do. It wouldn’t hurt quite so much if you didn’t.”
Jonah started to fuss.
“Excuse me, I’ve got to feed Jonah and put him down for his nap. We’ll talk soon.”
Dinah nodded and watched as Faith picked up her son and made her way into the clubhouse. She wasn’t even surprised to see Brute already waiting for his wife. The two were inseparable.
“We’ve all worked for Sergey.”
At the masculine voice, Dinah jumped and placed a hand over her chest. “You scared me.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to,” the guy said.
Dinah looked up and frowned. “I can’t remember your name.”
“Tank,” he said.
“Dinah.” She held her hand out and watched as he hesitated, but then he took her hand in his.
She saw the scars on his hands. Tank was the one who was taken by Sergey. Faith had just told her. His words suddenly permeated her brain and she found herself frowning. “What?”
“You heard me. All of us at one time worked for Sergey Golubev. We all were loyal to that crazy son of a bitch, and then, one by one, we’ve all got a story to tell about why we ended up here.”
Dinah didn’t realize they had all worked for Sergey. Actually, no, that wasn’t accurate, she knew they had all worked for him, but she figured for most of them, it would have been reluctantly, seeing as they were now enemies of Sergey.
“Why did you form a club?” she asked.
“One goa l— to take down the Golubev Bratva once and for all,” Tank said.
They were all being so open and honest with her, and she knew why. The life she had known was over. There was no freedom for her anymore. Sergey had made sure of that. She didn’t blame Road for this. She was starting to realize that with Nikki’s warning, and him telling her the truth, this was his way of setting her free. Or at least he had tried to set her free.
“And what happens when you succeed?” she asked.
“Simple. We make sure the Golubev Bratva doesn’t rise again.”
“Road shot Sergey,” Dinah said.
She’d watched the bullet enter Sergey.
“But we don’t know if it killed him,” Tank said. “And I know Sergey, trust me, unless he was dead on the ground, that evil fucker is coming back, and when he does, he is going to haunt everyone.”
Dinah didn’t like that. This was just another good sign that she was inside the clubhouse. Road had already been to her home and gathered up her belongings. She couldn’t believe it had come to this.
“Are you here to tell me to forgive Road?” she asked.
“No, I’m here to tell you that things are not always black and white. They’re grey. Some of us had to fall to see the truth. Sergey is a monster. All of us know that, and the reason we’ve banded together to take him on, is we’re the ones that all helped to put him on top. It’s our responsibility to remove him.”
“It’s not going to be easy.”
“Nothing in this world is, and trust me, as someone who has seen real darkness, you have to grasp onto anything light with both hands, and never let it go.”
****
“You’re moping,” Brute said.
“Fuck off.”
“You’re drowning your sorrows and you’ve been doing that every single night since Dinah came here. None of the women even want to offer you company anymore. You’re becoming the club leper.”
“I shower regularly.”
“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”
“I know what you meant,” Road said.
“Why don’t you just go and talk to her? Would that be so hard?”
Road took a long drink of his beer. “Would you still want to talk to Faith after everything?”
“If I put the order in to hurt her mom?” Brute asked.
“Yes.”
“In case you’ve not been paying attention, I kidnapped Faith, which according to Tank, made Sergey torture her mother. He forced multiple men to rape her and then clean the mess up off the floor, before he slit her throat. That woman was tortured and it was because of me. I still talked to Faith. I still got her to fall in love with me, and now she is my wife, and she has given me a son. Trust me, these things have a way of working themselves out.”
Road had avoided Dinah.
He ran a hand down his face. Once again, he felt the memory of his own scars, and he’d kept his distance, all while making sure she had everything she needed.
The doctor had been back to check on her hand. It had all but healed up. Now it was up to Dinah to work it.
Her equipment was all in the basement. He knew several of the women had wanted to approach her about a new haircut or something, but he had told them to keep their distance.
Dinah was here for her safety, which he imagined was already a cage for her.
Road tapped his hand on the counter of the bar and asked for another beer from Igor. The brother gave him a second one, with all the judgment reflecting right back in his eyes. He didn’t give a fuck what the club brother thought of him.
Leaving the main clubhouse, he entered the corridor that would take him to the bedrooms. Dinah was on the ground floor, and he walked down, going toward the final door on the right. He took a deep breath.
Women had never made him feel this way. Dinah was a special kind of woman. He knocked on the door and waited. Seconds passed.
Finally, the door opened, and there was Dinah. She was dressed in a pair of sweatpants and an oversized shirt that fell a little off her shoulder, showing the strap of her bra.
“Road,” she said.
“Dinah.”
He stared at her, and she was so beautiful. Damn it, he missed his friend, he missed his woman, he just missed Dinah. He held out the bottle of beer and she frowned.
“I, uh, look, I was hoping we could just talk or hang out,” he said. “I know I have no right to ask—”
“Shut up,” she said. “You came for me. You didn’t have to come for me.”
“Yeah, I did. I wasn’t going to let him hurt you. I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe, Dinah.”
“Is that why you told me the truth?” she asked.
He saw the tears glistening in her eyes. “Yeah, I had to tell you what I had done. I know it messed everything up.”
“Stop,” Dinah said. “What did he tell you about my mother?”
Road didn’t like this. “He told me there was a woman who had betrayed him, and that she needed to be taught a lesson. There were always men and women who … they, uh, they turned on him. He always made an example of them. In most cases he wanted them dead.”
“But with my mom?” she asked.
“He wanted her hurt. He wanted her to pay the price,” Road said.
She pressed her lips together. “Did you ever see my mom?”
“No, I didn’t, I had other jobs to do. I delegated it.” He dropped his head.
She stepped back from the door, and he expected her to slam the door in his face. Instead, she took another step into her room. Road didn’t need to ask twice. He stepped into her bedroom and was a little taken aback to see that she’d made this place her own.
She’d transformed the room into her bedroom. The reason he asked for Brute to give her this room was because of the magnolia walls and soft carpet beneath their feet.
“You can close the door,” Dinah said.
Road did so without question.
She had moved to sit on top of the bed. He walked over toward her and handed her a beer bottle. She wrinkled her nose and picked up a cup with a straw. “I’ve got some water.”
“It’s not as good as beer.”
Dinah laughed. “So true, but I think for awhile I’m going to, you know, just stick with the water.”
“How is the pain?” he asked.
The bandages had come off, and most of the bruises had all but faded.
“It twinges every now and again. I just need to, you know, get used to it.” She clenched and opened her hand, and then turned toward him. “I don’t hate you.”
“You can hate me.”
“No, I can’t. I … want to, but the truth is, listening to the guys, everything they have gone through, I can’t hate anyone here. There’s no way I can. What he’s capable of, there are no words.”
“It will be short-lived,” Road said.
“It’s not exactly short. He’s been at the top for a long time.” She took a sip of her water. “You must have been so devastated when he did what he did to you.”
Road shook his head. “You know, I thought I had known real pain with what happened. Being held down, cut, and knowing they were doing it on purpose. That I was being tortured because of all I knew, and he decided I had outgrown my use to him.” He pressed his lips together. “Mine was looks and the memories of who I once was, but I don’t like that man anymore. That man thought he was important. He thought he was serving a higher cause. There are bad men throughout the world, Dinah, and they all find a way to do bad shit. I thought Sergey was different. He wasn’t. He was a better kind of monster, who had a way of inspiring the men who worked for him. This is not pain. This is not nothing. I’m healthy, I’m living, but real pain was seeing the look in your eyes when I told you what I’d done. Pain is getting the call and hearing you scream. I’d go through this every single day, to take away every moment of your pain. Your tears are what I fear the most.”
“Road?”
“I didn’t know what love was, because love was just a fancy word for fucking. Men and women say it all the time to dress up the fact they want to fuck. They want to have sex, but it means nothing. It is nothing.” He looked down at his beer bottle. “At least that’s what I thought it was, then I met you. At first, I thought Sergey was sending a rat into the nest, and then I saw you were not a rat, you’re an angel.”
“Road, I’m not an angel.”
“You’re my angel, because you have made me see clearly how fucked up I am. That I’ve gotten it wrong. I’m not asking you for your forgiveness, Dinah. I don’t deserve it. I will never be good enough for you. All I ask is that you allow me to help you live as good a life as any. I can’t give you your freedom. Sergey will take it at the first opportunity, but I can make your life good.” He would do anything for her. “And I’m not lying, I’m not reacting, I’m simply stating a fact when I say this. I love you.”