Chapter 28 #3
The rage that swept through me was white-hot and absolute, consuming everything else in its path.
I’d spent thirty-three years protecting my family from this world, keeping them safe, keeping them hidden from the violence and bloodshed that had defined my life.
I’d sacrificed everything—my identity, my brothers, my past—to build a wall between them and the darkness.
And now that little bastard was threatening my daughter—my baby girl, the light of my goddamn life—to get to me.
To draw me out and finish what he started all those years ago.
“He can fucking try,” I growled, my voice dropping to something dangerous and deadly, something primal that came from the deepest part of me. The part I’d buried and locked away. The part that Stone had created.
I looked down at the worn leather ledger in my hands, its pages yellowed with age and secrets, then at Hannah, her face pale but determined in the dim light of the clubhouse.
My gaze shifted to Torment and Mercy, both standing at attention like soldiers awaiting orders.
Dutch and Smokey stood silent near the door, waiting, their weathered expressions and steady postures telling me they’d follow whatever call I made, no matter how dangerous or foolish it might be.
They’d been with me through hell and back—they weren’t about to abandon me now.
The time for running was over. The time for hiding in shadows and licking our wounds had passed.
If Stone wanted a war? He was about to get one.
A bloody, brutal war that would make every conflict before it look like a playground scuffle.
But first, we had to find Brandy. Had to get to her before Stone did, before his men tracked her down like a wounded animal.
Had to make sure my daughter—my legacy, my blood, one of the few good things I’d managed to create in this godforsaken world—didn’t pay the price for sins committed before she was even born.
Sins that were mine and mine alone to bear.
“We need to move,” I said, my voice hard and certain, cutting through the thick tension in the room like a blade. “Now. Before that bastard figures out where she’s going. Before he sends his dogs sniffing down every road between here and the state line.”
Torment stepped forward, his jaw clenched tight, his expression fierce and hungry for action. “Where would she go? Family? Friends? Someone she trusts?”
I shook my head slowly, the weight of my failures as a father pressing down on my shoulders like a physical burden.
“She doesn’t have many friends. Well, not around here anyway.
Most of the people she knew growing up either moved away or wanted nothing to do with her.
” I paused, the admission bitter on my tongue.
“I hate admitting this, but you know more about her life now than I do. You’ve been there for her these past months while I was... absent for years.”
The silence that followed was heavy with unspoken accusations and regrets.
“Would she go back to Diamond Creek?” I asked, grasping at straws, trying to think like Brandy would think, trying to predict the movements of a daughter I barely knew anymore.
Mercy shook his head firmly, his expression grave.
“No. She would bring down more heat on the Diamond Creek Chapter, and she knows it. She’s smart enough to understand the consequences.
” He met my eyes directly. “Think what you will, Hex, but King and the club brothers all really liked Brandy. Respected her too. Grace, King’s old Lady, was even willing to help her with the baby.
Offered to be there for the birth and everything. ”
Torment looked up at me with those sharp, calculating eyes and asked quietly, “Your mother? Would Brandy go to her grandmother?”
Shaking my head, I muttered bitterly, “No. Brandy never met her. My mother and I... we don’t talk. Haven’t since I went to prison. She doesn’t even know she has grandchildren, much less one who’s pregnant and running for her life.”
“Then where would she go?” Torment asked immediately, his voice rising with barely contained frustration, clearly written on his face along with something that looked dangerously close to panic. His hands clenched into fists at his sides.
I studied him for a long moment, seeing past the colors to the man underneath. The man who loved my daughter with a fierceness that reminded me of myself when I was younger. The man who’d fight for her without hesitation. The man who’d burn the world down to keep her safe, consequences be damned.
Maybe—just maybe—he was worthy of her after all.
“Wait a minute,” Torment gasped, his eyes widening as the pieces started falling into place. “Brandy told me once that she was really close to Amber.”
“Massacre’s old lady?” Mercy questioned, his brow furrowing as the truth slowly dawned on him.
He ran a hand through his hair, processing the connection.
“Holy shit and they share the same background. Both were club whores, before the truth came out about them.” I growled low in my throat, a warning rumble that made Mercy pause mid-sentence.
He held up his hands defensively as he quickly added, “Sorry, Hex, but there was no other way to state that. You know I meant no disrespect.”
“But Massacre and Amber are in California,” Torment challenged, his tone suggesting he wasn’t entirely confident in his assertion anymore.
Mercy shook his head, a dark chuckle escaping his lips.
“No, they aren’t. Not anymore. Reaper got tired of Massacre’s bullshit and sent him to Cesar Vitale, who needed help with a personal matter concerning his brother, Guilio.
Some family business that required muscle and discretion.
Not that Massacre knows anything about discretion.
Massacre and Amber are in Chicago, have been for the past two weeks. ”
“Then we head to Chicago,” I stated firmly, my voice leaving no room for argument or debate.
The decision was made, and nothing would change my mind.
“And I’m going with you, because I have a score to settle.
That motherfucker has been breathing my air for thirty-three years too long. It’s time to collect what’s owed.”
I handed the worn leather ledger to Hannah, the pages filled with secrets and sins that had been hidden for far too long. I kissed her forehead gently, savoring the warmth of her skin and the quiet strength she always gave me, then turned to climb onto my bike as Torment’s cellphone rang.
Answering it, Torment stiffened, his eyes immediately going to mine. He didn’t have to tell me. I already knew.
That motherfucker had my baby girl.
Starting my bike, the engine roared to life between my legs, the familiar vibration grounding me as years of the past settled heavy between my shoulders like an old leather cut.
The weight of unfinished business pressed down on me, but I welcomed it.
The time for hiding was over; the time for running had passed.
Soon, Stone Ward would learn that some ghosts didn’t stay buried—they came back with a vengeance, and they remembered every single wrong that was done to them.