Chapter 50
“ C an you believe this?” she asked Hayes a few days later.
They were standing in the parking lot outside the jail where her brother had spent months of his life, waiting for him to be released.
She squeezed his hand and did a dance, nearly tripping over a rock. Who put that stupid rock there, anyway?
“Easy, baby. Be careful. You don’t want to hurt yourself before he’s free.”
“I just can’t believe he’s finally free. And that this is all due to me writing threatening notes to Stein.”
“How do you figure that, little girl?”
“Um, because if I hadn’t written those notes, Stein wouldn’t have hired bodyguards, then I wouldn’t have met you, I wouldn’t have met Gwen and she wouldn’t have freed my brother.”
He shook his head. “The logic is crazy and yet it makes sense.”
She grinned at him and then she saw him walking toward them.
“Rohan!” she yelled, waving her hand at him. She tried to let go of Hayes’ hand to run to him, but he kept her back.
“No running.”
“Daddy!” she grumbled.
But when Rohan was closer, he let her go and she moved to her brother who picked her up gently and spun her before hugging her tight.
She could feel his heart racing against her ear. Could feel the way his arms shook.
“I thought this would never happen,” she sobbed. “I thought you were going to be stuck in there for years.”
“Shh, Dee-dee. I’m here. I’m safe. I’m here.”
She couldn’t stop crying, though.
“Here, you can hand her to me,” Hayes said.
“I have her. You’re Hayes, I’m guessing.”
Shoot. She should really stop crying and introduce them properly.
“R-Rohan, H-Hayes. H-Hayes, R-Rohan.”
“We have it, baby,” Hayes said. “Don’t worry.”
“I feel like I should interrogate you and tell you not to hurt my little sister. But the truth is that Gwen has been singing your praises and it sounds like you’re the best thing that could have happened to her. And I trust Gwen. That woman saved my life.”
“She’s a-amazing!” Devi wailed.
Rohan grinned down at her. “You gonna stop crying anytime soon?”
“I d-don’t think s-so.”
He laughed. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. But, I want a beer, a shower, and a decent meal. Not necessarily in that order.”
She wiped her hands over her eyes. “All right. We rented hotel rooms in Denver. So we’ll head there if that’s okay.”
“Denver? Hmm. I was thinking I’d stay here.”
“Where?” she asked in alarm. She stepped back, looking up at him. “What are you thinking of doing?”
Rohan’s face darkened. “Nothing for you to worry about, little sister.”
“Oh no! Don’t you do that to me. I know what you’re thinking. You’re planning to go after Freddy, aren’t you?”
It was growing dark by now and she shivered as a cold wind went through her. Hayes drew her into his body. Rohan studied them for a moment before he gave a satisfied nod.
“Glad you found a good man, Dee-Dee.”
“Nope. Don’t change the subject. What are you planning on doing?”
“Well, I’m not going to talk about it here. We need to go somewhere private.”
“All right, we’ll go to Denver,” she said.
“I was thinking of somewhere else.”
Devi wrinkled her nose as she stood and stared at the trailer.
“You’re not planning on staying here, are you?”
“No, I would be happy to never see this place again. I don’t know what was in the old man’s will. But you should sell this dump. Ferris might want to buy it.”
Ferris was the trailer park manager. They paid rent for the land to put their trailer on. Although she hadn’t paid that since she’d left so it would run out soon.
“There’s something in here that I want. Come on.”
What the heck could he want from in here?
“Uh, Rohan, it wasn’t left in a good condition,” she said. To her shock, though, when they walked in everything was tidy. There was no mess. It smelled a bit, but that was more from damp and mould.
“Oh.”
“Kent had someone come in and clean the place,” Hayes explained. “They threw out anything that was destroyed and left everything else.”
“Wow. That was so kind of him.”
“Some of my worst memories are from this trailer,” Rohan said. “Almost wish I could burn it. That would feel symbolic.”
“Probably not the best idea,” she said.
“What was it you wanted from here?” Hayes asked. “Devi is getting tired. And she needs to eat dinner.”
“I’m not tired,” she said as she yawned. “But we are meant to go to the Tavern one night for dinner to celebrate. We thought you wouldn’t want to go tonight.”
“Good call.” Rohan disappeared into the room he’d used when he lived here. When he returned, he held an old, yellowed piece of paper.
“What is that?” she asked.
“A vow of brotherhood. Something kids do when they’re young and stupid. Basically, the three of us swore to never betray each other. To always be brothers. Then we signed it with our blood. And that bastard, Freddy betrayed us.”
“Do you think I wanted to?”
Hayes swore and moved her behind him as Freddy appeared out of Derick’s bedroom.
“What the fuck are you doing in here? How did you get in here?” Rohan asked. “The trailer door was locked.”
“I have a key. You gave me one years ago, remember?” Freddy asked. “You said that if I ever needed a place to crash, I could come here.”
“Yeah, that was before you fucking betrayed us.”
Freddy looked terrible. His eyes were bloodshot and he was pale with hollowed cheeks. Not that she cared. She certainly didn’t feel sorry for him.
Hayes took a step back, moving her further away from Freddy. But she wanted to be near Rohan. What if Freddy tried to hurt him? After all, he’d killed Marcus.
“What are you doing here, though? Are you living here?” Rohan asked.
Freddy huffed out a humorless laugh. “Ironic, huh? I always thought you were trash, living in a hovel like this. I knew that you wanted my life, my father, my legacy. And now . . . I’m the one living in a hovel, no family, no legacy, no life. And my father hates me.”
“And whose fault is that?” Rohan demanded. “Do you seriously expect me to feel sorry for you?”
“No, no, I guess I don’t. But I had nowhere to go but here. My father wants nothing to do with me. He said I make him look weak. That my betrayal of the Scorpions is unforgivable. I had to get out. I thought he might kill me if I didn’t.”
“What? Like you killed Marcus?” she asked, moving around Hayes slightly so she could see Freddy better. “What did he do to deserve that? What did Rohan do to deserve you framing him?”
Freddy stared over at her and Hayes reached back to grasp hold of her hip, pushing her more firmly behind him.
“Hush, baby. And stay behind me.”
She had to peer around his arm which was annoying. He didn’t make a very good window.
“Why the hell did you do it, Freddy?” Rohan asked, drawing his attention again. “I thought we were friends. Best friends.” He held up the piece of paper he’d retrieved. “Remember this?”
Freddy snorted. “We made that when we were twelve and thought we were invincible. Back when I thought that one day my father would hand over the reins of the Scorpions to me. But he thinks I’m too weak to be the leader of the Scorpions.”
“That’s what this was about? Because your father hurt your feelings?” Rohan asked.
“He was talking about handing leadership over to you or Marcus if I didn’t become the sort of man he wanted me to be,” Freddy spat out. “I knew that I would never meet his exacting standards so if I wanted leadership, I’d have to take it. Which meant getting rid of my father. And the two of you.”
“Because we wouldn’t have let you overthrow him,” Rohan whispered. “You were going to kill your own father.”
“Like you haven’t dreamed of taking out your father.” Freddy swayed slightly.
Was he drunk or high? Or had he just not slept or eaten properly lately?
“Because he was an abusive drunk!” Rohan snapped. “And I didn’t do it!”
“Maybe you should have. He fucking deserved it. Heard that he was taken out by the Satan’s Sons.
Oh, and that my father sent his men in to decimate their headquarters.
Doubt it was because of what happened to your family.
” Freddy glanced at her, staring at her cheek.
“But he would have used it as an excuse. Now, the Black Scorpions will be powerful and unstoppable.”
“And you’re no longer a part of it,” Rohan said quietly. “Because you killed Marcus and framed me and no one will ever trust you again.”
“No, they won’t. It should have been a foolproof plan.
I didn’t plan on killing Marcus that night, but he’d started becoming suspicious of me.
He said he would go to you and my father with his suspicions about me.
I couldn’t have that. I knew that neither of you would stand with me if I overthrew my father.
So I killed Marcus to keep him quiet. And then I thought, why not take you out at the same time?
So I sent you that message from his phone, then wiped it and left.
I called my contact on the police force and reported the murder as well as telling him that he needed to wipe the message off your phone. ”
“Detective Brown,” she said.
“Yeah. Asshole is now blabbing his guts out. Fucking idiot. Stein was no better. I paid him to make sure you went to jail, Rohan, and the fucker goes and hires bodyguards just because of a few threatening letters. He didn’t even check if he was followed to our meeting.
And now, I can’t go anywhere. Can’t go home, my father hates me, wants me dead.
Shocked he hasn’t done it already. He probably doesn’t have the guts. And now the cops are hunting me too.”
“So you came here? Did you think I was going to help you?” Rohan demanded. “Because there’s no way I would help you. At one time I would have died for you. Now, you’re fucking scum and you deserve to die.”
“I know, that’s why I’m here.” Freddy drew a gun out from behind him.
She let out a cry, certain he was going to shoot Rohan. Hayes drew his own gun, but Freddy didn’t turn it on Rohan or Hayes.
Instead, he used it on himself.
The gun must have had a silencer because there was no noise. Just a sort of pop and then he was falling.
She screamed and Hayes turned to her, drawing her against him, pushing her face into his chest and muffling the noise.
“Freddy!” Rohan yelled.
She shuddered, fighting her tears, her shock and fear. Then she drew back, away from Hayes, so she could see Rohan. He might need her.
He was kneeling beside Freddy, his head drooping forward, his shoulders slumped.
“Rohan?” she whispered, moving closer. She put her hand on his shoulder without looking at Freddy. Then she kneeled behind him, wrapping her arms around him. “I’m so sorry.”
“It didn’t need to end like this,” Rohan said, his voice breaking. “This wasn’t supposed to be how it ended. We were meant to take on the world together, the three of us. But he wanted it all for himself. The power. I don’t even know if he was ever our friend.”
“He was. I’m sure he was. But things obviously got twisted in his head somewhere along the line,” she said.
“Fucking idiot. Fuck! I never imagined that Freddy was the one who killed Marcus. I thought he was looking after you, I told you to go to him if you needed something. What if you had? Who knows what he might have done?”
“I’m fine. I’m here. I never liked him that much, but I didn’t think he was capable of this.”
Rohan turned and gathered her close, burying his face in her neck. And she just held him tight until the shaking stopped.
Eventually Rohan stood and Hayes picked her up, holding her against his side.
“What should we do?” she asked. “Do we call the police?”
“No.” Rohan shook his head. “I’ll have to call Lucan.”
“No!” she cried.
Both men glanced down at her.
“Dee-Dee?” Rohan asked.
“I don’t want you near him, he’ll just want you to go back to the Black Scorpions and I don’t want you to!”
Rohan’s face softened. “Devi, it’s all I know.”
“No, it’s not.” She stomped her foot. “You know me. You could do something different with your life. What has the gang ever given you? Just trouble and risk and then you end up in jail! Where were they when you were in trouble? Did they ever visit you?”
“Devi, they couldn’t.”
“No! No!” She moved toward him, thumping the palm of her hand on his chest. “I never said anything before because I thought you would be upset with me, I thought you needed them. But you don’t.
Because you have me. I love you! I’m the one that has always been there for you.
Come with us. Come to the ranch and see where a different life could lead you.
You have a chance at a new life. Take it. ”
“I don’t know anything but this,” Rohan said with clear frustration.
“So learn. You’re smart. You’re young. Learn.”
“We can help,” Hayes said. “I thought my life was over when my wife died. Then I met your sister. Her life has pivoted after being hurt. She was knocked down but she’s picking herself back up.”
“With your help,” she said, glancing up at him.
“Come home with us,” Hayes said. “We’ll help you. My boss always needs good men.”
“But I’m not a good man,” Rohan said.
Hayes shrugs. “The world isn’t black and white, man. It’s gray. Far as I can tell, you’re loyal, you’re smart, and you’re protective of your sister. Seems to me you’re a good man.”
Rohan shook his head and she knew she’d lost him. “The two of you should go. You don’t want to be here when Lucan comes.”
“Rohan,” she said in a broken voice.
“I’ll call you, little sister,” he told her, reaching out to draw her close. “This isn’t goodbye. I just . . . I don’t think I can lead a different life.”
“Devi’s exhibition is the day after tomorrow,” Hayes said. “Then we leave the next day for home. You want to come with us, you’re more than welcome.”
She hugged him tight before letting Hayes pull her away. And then she cried the entire way back to their hotel in Denver.
Rohan said it wasn’t goodbye, but it certainly felt that way.