Chapter Fifteen.
Hatton
Well, I guess the Royal Harlots found the last three men who’d escaped.
One was hardly recognisable as human, a beaten, bloody pulp, with a bullet in his head.
The area was roped off as a murder scene, but I knew the Royal Harlots were behind it.
A cardboard sign was attached to the dead victim. ‘For the cop’ was written on it.
The other two were battered but alive. A note was attached to one of them. It simply read, ‘Not all things are set in stone, Hatton.’ It was a message from Sapphire to me. She’d told me she didn’t always do what was expected of her.
“Who did this?” I asked one of the living ones.
He looked freaked and terrified as he replied. “I don’t know. They wore masks.”
“Were they women?” My question scared the bejeezus out of him as he clammed up and sweat dripped down his forehead.
“I don’t know,” he stammered. He did know. I could see it in his face, but he couldn’t or wouldn’t tell me.
“Take them away. Make sure the book does everything,” I ordered. Conversations rose around me
“Looks like someone did our job for us. Shame they left these two scumbags alive,” a uniform muttered.
“I hope they’re in a world of pain,” another replied.
“Think it was the Harlots?”
“Wylde’s been sniffing round one. It could be them.”
“You really think those women did this?”
“Fuck, yeah. They’re deadly; don’t mistake them for anything else.”
“Shit. They did this because of Wylde?”
“Looks like Wylde has his hands full. Wonder if he knows what his woman’s capable of?”
“Good luck to him. I wouldn’t mess with those bitches. They aren’t afraid of raising their fists.”
“Enough chat. Get them to the hospital and bang them up. I want two guards on their doors; they ain’t escaping again,” I snapped finally.
I headed for my car with a nod to the investigating detective. This shit was in his hands now. Wylde would be waking up about now, and I planned to be there.
Hayden
The fact that everything hurt meant I was alive. Somehow, I’d survived. Did that mean Cassidy had died? Was I waking up to discover I was a failure and my best friend and brother had died?
“Open your eyes, you fat bastard,” Cassidy complained, and I did, and sharply turned my head and groaned.
Warrick, Cassidy, Pops, Gramma, and Sapphire all stared at me. Sapphire had her hand on Gramma’s shoulder, offering comfort as Gramma melted down. Gramma laid her head on my hand and cried.
“Gramma, it’s okay, I told you he’d be fine,” Sapphire soothed. I stared at her bloody and cut knuckles, and Sapphire held my gaze. She was challenging me, but I had more important things to worry about.
“How badly was Cassidy hurt?” I rasped and coughed to clear my throat.
Sapphire shoved a glass under my nose with a straw and placed it between my lips. God, that cold water tasted like nectar.
“Cassidy is fine,” Sapphire said.
“I’m fine thanks to you, you blasted idiot,” Cassidy replied.
Yup, sounded like he was okay.
“The bullet hit his artery. If you hadn’t lain your fat ass on him, he’d have died,” Warrick said. His eyes were red, and I guessed he’d not been sleeping well.
“Fucker nearly smothered me to death,” Cassidy quipped. I might have just woken up, but I could hear the underlying worry in his voice.
“How long was I out?” I asked.
“Two days. Forty-nine hours and thirty-three minutes,” Gramma replied with a muffled sob.
“I’m okay, Gramma,” I tried to comfort her.
“Gramma’s earned this, Hayden, don’t take it from her. We were all fuckin’ scared,” Pops chided.
“Sorry, Pops.”
“I’m going to take Gramma for lunch. She’s barely eaten. Warrick, come,” Pops ordered. Gramma clutched my hand one last time and dropped a kiss on my head as two doctors entered the room. Sapphire retreated to a corner as they checked me over before offering nods and leaving.
“I’m putting my earbuds in,” Cassidy stated, and I snorted.
“How bad was I?” I asked Sapphire.
“Bad. You were circling the drain. They brought you in flatlined and lost you three more times in the OR. Somehow you fought your way back,” she replied.
“I was that bad?” I gasped as a cold sensation settled in my belly.
“Wylde, you were shot in the ribs, shoulder, gut, ass, leg, and just above your heart. You were damn lucky,” Sapphire stated. She sounded calm, but I sensed her emotion.
“Wait, what? My ass?” I hissed, and a small smile crossed her lips.
“Yeah. Seems it made a big target.”
“Hey!”
“The doctors gave you a ten per cent chance of making it. That’s all. Nobody understands how you pulled through,” Sapphire said.
“Shit,” I muttered. Fear leeched from my body as I stared in disbelief at her. “Did my parents come?”
Sapphire released a snort. “Oh yes, playing the dutiful, loving, devastated parents. Until Hatton told them to take a hike, that there was no media time for them.”
“Wow. They care that little?” I wasn’t surprised.
Why would I be? That was the entirety of my parents’ lives.
Social climbing and good exposure. It was sad and tragic.
Undoubtedly, they’d wanted to capitalise on their son’s ‘hero’ status and gain some sympathy deals from friends and allies. What a joke.
“I don’t see them paying attention to Hatton.”
“They didn’t, but they did me. I’m not above blackmail,” Sapphire quipped, amused, and I laughed and then groaned in pain.
“Hit the buzzer, remember, it’s pain relief,” she taunted.
“Are you healing?” I asked as a coolness swept through my body, numbing the pain.
“I’m fine.”
“Your knuckles would disagree.”
“So would the person my knuckles met. Not my problem. I’m glad you’re okay, Wylde.”
Wow, had Sapphire admitted that? These drugs must’ve been more powerful than I thought. Sapphire smiled as my eyesight began to blur.
“Rest, Wylde, the world and its fucked-up problems will still be here when you wake,” she murmured as I yawned.
Sapphire wasn’t wrong.
Sapphire
“Did we find anything out about the name the gang members gave us?” I asked.
Cyber shook her head. “The name they gave us isn’t one known to any law enforcement. It’s not even been mentioned on social media.”
I tapped my fingers against my chin. That was incredibly unusual. “We’ve nothing?”
“I wouldn’t say anything. Ferrah Lynn sounds made up. I played with the letters and got another name.”
“Who?” I demanded.
“You’re not going to believe this. Feral Rhynn.”
I sat up in disbelief. “Feral Rhynn, as in Feral Rhynn of the Bloody Femmes?”
“Yeah,” Cyber replied.
“Holy shit. So does that mean she’s still running the Bloody Femmes from inside?” I wondered.
“Good question. I don’t know, but moving the letters around matches her name.”
I leaned back, my mind whirling. Feral Rhynn was precisely that.
Feral. Her name had been Rhianna Black when she married her first husband.
Five years later, she was bored with him, and because she didn’t like sharing her toys, she killed him.
She went on to murder three more lovers before marrying again.
That lasted two years when he cheated on her, and she offed him as well.
Two more lovers bit the dust before Feral was caught.
She was notorious as a serial killer throughout these parts.
Feral Rhynn was now around fifty-five and had been behind bars for fifteen years.
Foxy had been groomed by Feral Rhynn and stepped straight into her shoes when Feral was locked up.
We all heard there’d been a conflict when Foxy became president.
Feral continued to try to run the Bloody Femmes from prison, while Foxy refused to abide by any orders.
And now her name was cropping up? Were the Femmes going through an internal power struggle with Feral flexing her muscles here?
If she took Portsmouth from us while being inside, it would put her above Foxy.
If Foxy took over Portsmouth, it would shut Feral up and strengthen Foxy’s position.
Had Portsmouth just become the chew toy between two rabid bitches?
“Saph?” Cyber said, and I looked up.
“I think you might have hit something. Send a message to everyone, warning them to be alert. We need to dig deeper on this.”
“If Feral Rhynn’s flexing her muscles…”
“We’ll be fighting a war on two fronts. I know. But we’ve got an advantage they don’t have. Our abilities. Do we have anyone we know on the inside?” I asked as I thought.
“Yes, Kate Mallory, Candle’s cousin. She’s even in the same wing as Feral.”
I typed out a quick message and contacted Candle. If Kate could dig into what Feral’s goals were, we’d have a heads-up. Feral might think she had a leg up with our ignorance, but she was wrong. Nothing ever got past us.
◆◆◆
“Welcome!” I called out as Soul swung off his bike. Driving behind him in an SUV were his wife and children.
“Hey, Sapphire.” Soul nodded to me, as his eyes searched for Storm.
“She’s inside, Soul, safe and sound,” I replied, and he looked a little sheepish. He came over and hugged me as Bryony and the children approached.
“Sorry, Sapphire, I’ve been worried.”
“You know us better than to imagine we’d let harm come to her,” I chided.
Soul nodded.
I reached out and touched his cut. “You made brother early.”
“Yeah. Warden said my actions spoke of the kind of man I was. I just did what you taught me.” He turned to those accompanying him. “Bryony, this is Sapphire, the club’s president. Sapphire, this is my woman and children. This is our son Ham, our daughter Maci, and this is baby Grace.”
The pride shining from Soul as he introduced his family was awe-inspiring. The young boy had grown into a man, and I was so proud of him.
“You’re like us,” Maci said, and I nodded.
“Yup. My club is special.”
“How will I know who to join when I grow up?” Maci demanded, and I laughed.
“You’ve plenty of time to decide that, kid. Come on, let’s go inside.”