Chapter Thirty-One
Stone
I’d been back in Hambleton for eighteen-hours.
Eight of them were spent sleeping. Three of them were spent at the hospital getting my dressings changed. The remaining seven I’d spent looking for Elise.
Stevie said she’d left town months ago, and nobody had heard from her, just the proverbial grapevine saying she’d married Henderson and they had a son. Her mom was visiting relatives. The mayor was on vacation, and Robert’s friends all gave me worried looks and told me she thought I’d died and moved on.
But I still couldn’t work out why she wasn’t here. She must’ve heard I was back, and she must’ve known I was alive. Why hadn’t she come to talk to me? Didn’t she care?
I asked the brothers what they’d heard, but they didn’t go to town much and certainly didn’t socialize with the locals. They looked shifty, so I suspected they were keeping their mouths shut about something, but they all closed ranks around my dad and repeated that she’d married someone else and had a baby.
Despite being more certain about Elise than anyone else in my life, my faith in ‘us’ began to fade. Still, I knew her soul-deep and reckoned he was keeping her away. I made up excuse after excuse, conjuring up scenarios in my head where she was trying to get to me but couldn’t. Keeping up the pretense until Stevie called the clubhouse and relayed that he’d overheard Pete and Harry discussing Henderson’s return to town while he waited in line at the coffee shop.
He’d built a new house over near the new gated community near the Country Club, and I knew that was my next port of call.
As much as I worried, I never gave up on her, not really, and in my heart, I knew she’d never give up on me, either. So, I jumped into Bessie and drove in the direction Stevie told me to.
It was time to get my ol’ lady back.
The big white house was ostentatious as fuck, and I couldn’t believe my Leesy would wanna live in it. What made me pause, though, were the big, metal security gates and the guards who patrolled them.
Why the hell would Robert Henderson need this level of protection? I knew he had money. He never hid the fact, but did he have that much that he required armed guards?
Doubtful.
I introduced myself at the gate, and within seconds, it opened for me. My gut churned as I drove Bessie through, suddenly noticing how scruffy my truck seemed when I parked it next to the sleek lines of Henderson’s black BMW and the brand-new silver Porsche parked beside it.
For the first time since I’d been home, a dark sliver of doubt crept into my mind. I couldn’t offer Elise anything like this. All I could give her was a farmhouse, a rough motorcycle club, and a small auto shop.
However, I pushed all my doubts aside, pulled my shoulders back, walked toward the huge double front doors, and rang the bell.
I knew my girl better than that. She was mine, after all.
Elise
“Remember,” Robert hissed. “Keep your mouth shut, or I’ll signal the guards to shoot him where he stands.” He leaned down to my ear, caressing it with his lips. “It’d be a shame to kill the scumbag when he’s only just risen from the dead.”
A cold shiver ran down my spine. “Don’t you threaten him.”
He grabbed my cheeks and came close. “We’ve gone over it a thousand times. I know you’re stupid, but even you can’t get this one wrong.” He pulled back slightly, smirking. “And if you do fuck up, he’s a dead man. Now, get rid of him and make sure he doesn’t come back, or your bastard daughter will suffer. She’s getting big, Elise. You should see her. If you’re good, I’ll arrange for you to get another photograph this weekend.” He nodded to the front door. “Make sure you comply.”
I stared disbelievingly up at the monster I’d married. The same man who’d taken my daughter and was using her as leverage to keep me from going back to John. The same vile human who threatened an innocent baby girl on a daily basis to keep me under his thumb and do his bidding.
It was working. For now, I’d play my part, but as soon as I could get away and meet John secretly, I’d tell him everything. In the meantime, I had to make Robert believe he was winning, at least until I could get my baby safe.
Jutting my chin up, I walked to the door, pulled my spine straight, and braced. I didn’t want to break down or lose my shit. I needed to stay strong for Constance.
The door swung open, and my breath caught in my throat as my heart gave a thud and began to beat again. I had to stop myself from reaching out and touching him, from jumping into his arms and covering his face with kisses.
He was still him, thinner and paler, but it was still my ol’ man. It was still his eyes, his hair, his smile, his heart and soul.
More importantly than anything, he was alive, flesh, blood, and bones.
His shoulders slumped, and he croaked, “Leesy.”
“John,” I whispered.
Our eyes locked, and I felt a spark deep inside as my soul came back to life. Warmth flooded me, washing away the ice in my veins as if I hadn’t been frozen for the last four months.
“I’m so glad you’re alive,” I whispered. “It’s incredible.”
He held his hand out to me. “Come on. Let’s get the fuck outta here. Leave your shit, I’ll get you all new stuff.”
My heart sank. “It’s not as easy as that, John.”
His stare veered down to my ring finger, and his hand dropped back to his side. “No. I guess it’s not.” Gold met green, and confusion washed over his beautiful face. “Why’d ya do it, baby?”
My eyes welled with tears. “They told me you were dead.”
“Why didn’t you go to Dad?” The groove between his eyes deepened. “You didn’t have to do this. You had options, Leesy.”
“I did go to him,” I whispered. “I tried.” Heat hit my back as the door opened behind me, and Robert stepped outside.
“Stone,” he said flatly. “You’re upsetting her.”
John stared at Robert for a beat, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “I’m upsetting her?” His eyes narrowed. “You think you’re clever, doin’ this. You think I don’t know you’ve wanted to take her away from me since the first night of our first date.” John leaned toward Robert and bit out, “You think I don’t know you were so fucking jealous I got her that it ate you the fuck up?” His eyes cut back to me. “Come on, Leesy. We’re goin’.”
My stomach churned as Robert slid an arm across my shoulder. “She’s not going anywhere. You think she’d leave our son?” He smiled sadly at John. “I’m sorry, Stone. You lost the girl.”
“Your son?” John challenged, letting out a humorless laugh. “You mean my son, right? Do you think I can’t count? The dates tell me he’s my son.”
Robert’s arm dropped from my shoulders, and he slipped a hand into his inside pocket before pulling out a folded piece of paper. “No, John,” he grated out, handing it to him. “My son.”
My gut plummeted.
John reached out, and with tremoring fingers, he unfolded the paper and read it, eyes darting left to right as he took the paternity test in. “Leesy,” he whispered. “No.”
A tear rolled down my face, the voice inside my head screaming, See me, John. It’s me, your Leesy. See me. Please, see me.
“You abandoned her,” Robert said accusingly. “You went off playing war games and left her all alone. It was no wonder she came to me for comfort. We didn’t mean it to happen, but she needed more than you could give her.”
John’s shocked gaze clashed with mine, and he shook his head disbelievingly, holding the paper up. “The day he was born means that when you came to San Diego, you were already…?”
A stab of panic shot through me. “No—”
“Don’t, Elise,” Robert cut in. “He needs to know the truth. The time for lies is over.”
John snarled, the sound animalistic and filled with pain. “You bastard,” he gritted out. With a roar, he advanced and, within a split second, had Robert backed up against the door, his hand across his windpipe, squeezing. “You’re fuckin’ dead.”
A sense of dread filled me as a red dot appeared on the back of John’s skull. I swung around to see one of the guards with a rifle aimed at him.
No. No. No. No. No
My panicked shriek filled the air, and I leaped at John’s back to shield him. “Get off him,” I screamed. “John, let him go!”
John leaned down, getting in Robert’s face, now purple from lack of breath. “You’re not worth it,” he spat, his eyes sliding toward me. “You’re not worth it.”
My heart cracked inside my chest. I felt the second it shattered, tiny shards filling my body like slithers of ice.
John released Robert and stepped back. “You could’ve gone to Dad,” he said flatly. “It didn’t have to be this way. He would’ve helped you.”
The red dot appeared at his temple again, and I knew I had to make him leave. Robert would kill him if he carried on this way. If John died again, it would break me for good, and I knew I’d never come back from it. Constance needed me, and she needed her daddy alive. She was just an innocent baby.
I had to make him leave.
“I went to Bandit,” I bit out. “He put a gun to my head,” I tapped my temple, “right there. Then, he told me if I hadn’t left the compound by the time he counted to ten, he’d put a bullet in my brain. I drove Bessie there, and he made me leave her, said I’d taken enough pieces of you, so he made damned sure it was him who took away the last piece of you from me.”
John’s eyes widened. “He wouldn’t—”
“Then he fired,” I cut in. “Missed my head by an inch. I felt the wind from the bullet, the whizzing sound as it passed me; it was so close.” I leaned forward. “I was pregnant, John,” my voice rose to a shriek, “I was fucking pregnant.”
He shook his head from side to side, shock sliding across his features.
“That club is evil,” I spat. “Those men are evil. What decent woman would want to be a part of that hellhole? What decent woman would step foot inside those gates? What decent woman would raise a child, a daughter, amongst those demons?” I looked him in the eye and jutted my chin up. “I wouldn’t let my dog live there, let alone a daughter. The only honorable person left is Iris, and mark my words, it won’t take long for them to chew her up and spit her out,” my face twisted, “they’re disgusting pigs; they’re animals, and no decent woman should be subjected to them.”
The red dot danced across his head, and I knew I had to protect him.
And I went in for the kill.
“Go, John, and don’t come back. Stick to those sluts, like Tammi, who like wallowing in that shit. But a word of advice, if God ever gives you a daughter, keep her away from them before they chew her up and spit her out, too.”
I gave him one last lingering look, eating him up and committing him to memory because I knew I wouldn’t see him again for a long time. I was a prisoner here, and God only knew when I’d be able to find him and explain.
My inner voice chanted in my head.
I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you.
The red dot swerved between his ear and temple.
“Go, John,” I whispered, a lone tear rolling down my cheek. “Please.”
He jerked his chin up, turned, and stalked to Bessie before getting into the driver’s seat, slamming the door shut so forcefully that I thought it would come off his hinges. The engine fired up, and he sped away fast, causing the gravel from the drive to kick up around the truck.
John never looked back at me, not once.
“Good job, Elise,” Robert crowed quietly. “Looks like you’re smarter than I thought.”
“When do I get my photograph,” I asked flatly.
“I’ll arrange it,” Robert replied. “And remember, I always reward good behavior.”
My eyes closed as I tried to control the ache in my stomach where my baby lived only a month ago. My arms felt empty without her in them. I yearned to smell her baby scent and to play with her little fingers and toes. The despair inside was like a dark, living creature eating away at my soul.
If I could get enough photographs of Constance and get to John, I knew he’d find her, or I could even go to a private investigator. I already knew Robert had the local sheriff in his pocket, but there were other ways. I’d never give up on my daughter. I’d never stop looking.
I intended to play Robert fucking Henderson at his own game and win. I vowed, there and then, that I’d find my baby, get her to safety, and then I’d make him regret the day he ripped my life apart for sport. Everything wasn’t lost yet. John was alive, and so was Constance.
The game was far from over.
And it was time to play.