Chapter 70
Dante
After the shooting range, Rachel could barely meet my eyes, and refused my offer of a lift home. She told me she had the car with her, and I told her I couldn’t give a fuck if the car was impounded and crushed, but she simply smiled and told me she had other plans.
Apparently, Chris had finally grown some balls and left that ogre of a woman that Rachel called a mother. Rachel was going to take the kids to see him to cheer him up. Sounded like bullshit excuses to avoid me, but I relented and gave her the space she clearly needed.
See? We could all adapt and grow.
I found myself sitting at the kitchen in the back of the clubhouse, staring at the contract Rachel and I had signed. Had we really thought we could stick to this shit?
It wasn’t even about the sex. Although even that had been wishful thinking and we had already found more than enough loopholes to get around it. It was just… Everything else.
I missed the fire that was Rachel. I missed her arguing with me—as fucked up as that sounded. I could see her holding back most of the time. I could literally see the moment when she remembered the contract and withdrew from me, rather than giving me her all—the best and the worst of her.
And I wanted that back. I wanted her to scream and shout at me, if that’s how she felt. I wanted her to be honest and authentic.
It’s ironic, because I had always said I hated that blank mask that she used to wear to hide, when in reality, what she was doing now wasn’t actually any different.
She was still hiding, just behind a different kind of mask.
One that would keep her safe and give her leverage.
I hated that I’d built a game where she had to lie just to survive it.
And I fucking hated that.
I hated that she was approaching this as something she needed to win, whilst also recognising that I had put her in an impossible position.
She would never believe me, but the contract had come from a place of sheer desperation.
Sure, when I first started collecting evidence against her, I had been angry, and I wanted her to hurt and be punished.
But when I saw her in front of me the day she returned…
All I had wanted to do was find a way to make her stay.
I pushed the contract away from me with a heavy sigh and grabbed my smokes from my cut, when I heard cars pulling up outside, followed by hushed noises from the people exiting the vehicles.
Shit!
If they were coming this way, through the back, that meant that it wasn’t club business they were here for.
This was personal.
They were coming to search the house.
I quickly pulled my phone out, sending Rachel a text to stay away for a few more hours, and then there was a knock at the door.
I walked over, pulling it open and immediately scowling when I saw the smug face of Vicky’s father—the chief of police himself.
And where was my right-hand man to sound the alarm to the rest of the club? Fucking hospital, that’s where.
“Mr King,” he smirked at me. “We have a warrant to search these premises.” He handed me a piece of paper.
“For what?” I asked as he gestured to the officers to come inside. As they all clambered in, I saw Steph walking in the background with Jade. They both had worried frowns on their faces, and I made a small sawing gesture with my arm, hoping they got the message.
Steph nodded and gathered the leads for the dogs out of Jade’s hands and Jade went running—hopefully to get Hacksaw and not an actual saw. I wouldn’t put it past Steph to rope Jade into her annoying ways.
“We have reason to believe that there are drugs on the premises, Mr King. As you can see, that warrant allows us full and complete access whilst we conduct our searches.”
I laughed out loud at that. “You think I would keep drugs in my house? Where my children are? Search away, officers. You’re not going to find so much as an out-of-place paracetamol. And they’re in the top cupboard of the master bathroom, in case you’re interested.”
The other officers began ransacking the place, pulling drawers out of the kitchen and emptying the entire contents onto the floor. One officer ripped open the fridge and, with one meaty arm, he swiped everything into a black carrier bag and handed it to his colleague to root through.
Four officers ran upstairs, and I gritted my teeth as I heard crashes and bangs, letting me know they were destroying the upper floor, just as much as the lower floor—in case I was in any doubt.
“You know,” I said with a soft chuckle, shaking my head as I lit up one of my smokes.
“You’re so close, and yet so fucking far.
Only an idiot would keep their supply in their own home.
But I suspect you already know that,” I looked at Vicky’s father as I took a deep draw.
“So, between me and you, do you want to tell me the real reason you’re here? ”
“Just doing my job,” he muttered with that same confident, self-assured smirk.
“Please yourself,” I said, noticing Hacksaw come through the archway from the bar.
“Mama,” I mouthed at him silently, and he nodded, jogging up to her room.
“I know what you said to her, by the way,” the chief of police said, throwing a nasty look in my direction.
“Who?” I asked, breathing out a large cloud of smoke.
“Vicky. She told me what you threatened her with.”
“Ahh, and you thought ransacking my home would get me to change my mind, did you?”
“Completely unrelated. But just so you know, she’ll be having that baby, and there’s not much you can do to stop her.”
“We’ll see.” This time, it was my turn to smirk. He glared at me even harder, and followed his officers up the stairs, yelling at them to search faster, to leave no corner overlooked.
They were wasting their time, and we both knew it.
This was Vicky’s way of throwing a temper tantrum, and this was her father’s pathetic attempt at showing me who was in charge here.
If he thought a few out-of-place pieces of clothing and a messy kitchen were enough to get me to change my mind, he was sorely mistaken.
All he had achieved was getting on my bad side, and that was a really fucking stupid place to be.
I waited until I heard his footsteps above me stomping to the furthest room from the stairs and pulled out my phone.
“Bambi?” I muttered as soon as he answered the burner phone we had smuggled in for him. “DEFCON 1. Get Waltzer and the rest of the lads.”
“What’s happened?”
“He’s here at the minute, searching the main house. It’s his pathetic attempt at showing who’s boss. I think we can do a reminder of our own.”