Chapter Seven
Chains
I guided Ellie through the compound, my arm wrapped protectively around her shoulders. She trembled against me. I hated that she was so distraught, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel ten feet tall because she was taking comfort from me.
The conversation with her father had drained all the color from her face, leaving her eyes wide and haunted. My chest tightened with a mix of rage and concern, a dangerous cocktail brewing inside me. Tate Blackheart. The fucking name alone set my teeth on edge, and I hadn’t even met the man yet.
“Hannah’s waiting for you in the Oasis,” I said softly, guiding Ellie toward the women’s common room at the center of the compound.
“Carrie and Pippa should be there too.” I needed to reassure her, to let her know everything would be all right, but I couldn’t promise that.
Not because I didn’t believe it. Because I knew there was no way her father would leave this place alive, and I knew Ellie was going to have some complex feelings about when and how he died.
She nodded, her movements mechanical. “I don’t want to be a burden.”
“You’re not,” I said firmly, tightening my hold on her. “You’re family now, remember? It’s our privilege to help you. And we do it together, Ellie. Just like you’d help Carrie if she needed it. Right?”
“Of course, I’d help Carrie. I’d help any of you.”
“Exactly, baby. You’d help any of us. So accept that we’re all in your corner. We’ll deal with your father.”
She looked up at me, her dark eyes swimming with unshed tears. “I’m sorry I brought this to your doorstep. My father, he --”
“Isn’t your responsibility,” I cut in, cupping her face in my hands. “Listen to me, Ellie. You’ve done nothing wrong. Nothing. I’m going to handle this.”
“He’ll manipulate his way in,” she whispered. “He always does. He’s so good at making people feel sorry for him, making them think he’s changed.” She gave a small, self-deprecating laugh. “I know what he’s doing, and I still let him reel me in.”
I brushed my thumb across her cheekbone, wiping away a tear that had escaped. “Trust me,” I said, my voice rough with emotion I usually kept buried. “Trust me to take care of this. Can you do that?”
More tears. Each one felt like a dagger in my kidney. She nodded, her gaze not straying from mine. “He’s my father, Chains.”
“I know, baby. I’ll do what I can. I need to talk to Knuckles. We’ll figure it out.”
She nodded again. “Okay.”
I pulled her to me and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead, breathing in the scent of her hair. “Good. Now go be with Carrie and the others. I’ll come find you as soon as I’ve talked to Knuckles.”
Again she nodded. She turned to go, then turned again and lunged for me, throwing herself into my arms. Ellie clung to me for several seconds before kissing me once and letting me go.
I watched her walk into the Oasis, where Hannah immediately wrapped her in a hug.
Only when I was sure she was settled did I turn and stride toward the main warehouse where Knuckles kept his office. With each step, my anger built.
Yeah. I knew her father. We all did. When he was arrested, they called him the Butcher of Bellevue.
A fucking organ trafficker who’d sold out his associates for a lighter sentence.
The kind of calculating, remorseless predator who could destroy lives without blinking, then reach out years later, when the pain for everyone but those directly affected had dimmed, expecting forgiveness.
My hands curled into fists at my sides as I took the steps two at a time to the second floor of the main warehouse.
Knuckles’ office door stood open, voices drifting out into the hallway. I recognized Gunnar talking with Knuckles. I knocked once on the doorframe before stepping inside.
Both men looked up, conversation halting as they took in my expression.
“What’s got you looking like you’re either about to have a stroke or murder someone?” Knuckles asked, leaning back in his chair.
“Tate fucking Blackheart,” I said, the name acid on my tongue. “He managed to get paroled.” I looked from one man to the other. “Guys, he’s Ellie’s father.”
Gunnar straightened from where he leaned against the wall. “Let me guess. He called Ellie.”
“Yep. Askin’ for a place to stay. Ellie freely admits he knows how to manipulate her to get her to agree to help him. She doesn’t want him here but doesn’t want to tell him no.”
“You think he knows where she is? That he’s coming straight into a nest of vipers?” I shook my head, not actually believing this was happening.
“The Butcher of fucking Bellevue. In our compound.” Knuckles’ expression hardened into the mask I’d seen him wear before violence erupted. “Blackheart,” he repeated. “The organ trafficker.”
“You know about him?” I asked, surprised.
“I make it my business to know about scum like that,” Knuckles said, his voice deceptively calm.
“Fucking butcher cut up people who couldn’t fight back, then sold their organs to rich fucks who didn’t want to wait in line.
Then rolled over on everyone involved to save his own skin.
” He looked at Gunnar. “You remember that shit?”
Gunnar nodded, his dark eyes cold. “Made national news. Wasn’t he some hotshot surgeon before they caught him?”
“Yeah,” I confirmed, dropping into an empty chair. “Ellie was just a kid when they arrested him at their Halloween party. She told me everything. How the whole town turned against her, how she lived with his parents until they died, then ended up in foster care.”
“Jesus,” Gunnar muttered. “Poor kid.”
“And now this piece of shit wants to come here?” Knuckles stood, pacing the small confines of his office. “Absolutely fucking not. We’ve got standards, and I don’t care if every last one of us has done time. There’s a fuckin’ line.”
I nodded, relieved at Knuckles’ immediate rejection. “That’s what I thought you’d say.”
“How’s Ellie taking it?” Gunnar asked, his voice softening with concern.
“Not well,” I admitted. “She’s torn up. Part of her still sees him as her father, you know? And he’s using that, working that guilt like a pro. Also, she said the exact same thing, about him crossing a line.”
Knuckles stopped pacing, his tattooed knuckles white as he gripped the back of his chair. “She wants him to stay?”
“She doesn’t know what she wants,” I said honestly. “She’s confused. Guilty she couldn’t visit him after her grandma died. Angry she allows herself to feel guilty because she knows he’s playing on her emotions. He’s pressing hard. She doesn’t feel like she can turn her back on him.”
Gunnar exchanged a look with Knuckles; something passing between them I couldn’t read.
“Every man deserves a second chance,” Gunnar said slowly. “That’s what we believe here.”
My head snapped up. “You can’t be serious.”
Knuckles held up a hand. “We’re not saying he stays indefinitely. But maybe…” He sighed heavily, rubbing a hand over his face. “Two nights. That’s it. Just so Ellie doesn’t have to feel like she abandoned her own blood. After that, he’s gone.”
“He’ll use those two days to worm his way into her life,” I argued, leaning forward in my chair. “You know this guy has to be good to have gotten away with what he did all those years.”
“Which is why we’ll be watching him,” Gunnar said firmly. “Every second he’s here. First sign of anything suspicious, he’s out on his ass.”
Knuckles nodded. “Two nights, no exceptions. And he sleeps in the guest quarters on the other side of the compound, not anywhere near Ellie, and he’s to have two brothers on him at all times, including in his quarters. You protect Ellie. Stay at her side at all times.”
I wanted to argue further, but I could see the decision had been made. And part of me understood the reasoning. Ellie needed to see for herself what her father really was, needed closure that wouldn’t come if we simply shut him out.
“Fine,” I conceded. “Two nights. But I want it known I don’t like this.”
“You’d be a fuckin’ moron if you did,” Knuckles said dryly. “Tell Ellie he can come tomorrow. That gives us time to prepare, set up some cameras, brief the brothers on the situation.”
I stood, my body tense. “I’ll tell her.”
As I turned to leave, Knuckles called after me. “Chains.” I paused, looking back. “We protect our own. Always. If this guy makes one wrong move, if he upsets Ellie in any way…” He left the threat unfinished, but I understood perfectly.
“I know,” I said quietly. “She’s ours now. Also, for the record, if you decide to take the bastard out, I want the kill.”
“No, you don’t.” Knuckles held my gaze. “You’re not gonna kill your woman’s father. No matter how estranged or how much she hates him or even how much he deserves to fuckin’ die.” I opened my mouth to protest but Knuckles raised his hand. “I will, however, allow you to be present and bear witness.”
“Ellie is mine. And I’ll kill that bastard before I let Tate Blackheart hurt her again, Knuckles. Physically or emotionally.”
Knuckles held my gaze before nodding. “I hear you, brother. But only if she’s in immediate danger, or he attacks either of you first.” He pointed at me like a strict father.
Or mother. I had to smother the grin at that thought.
“I mean it, Chains. You don’t need the ghost of her father between the two of you.
And if you kill him yourself, you’ll drive a wedge between the two of you that might never be removed. ”
I left Knuckles’ office. Two days. We could survive two days of Tate Blackheart’s presence.
And maybe, just maybe, it would give Ellie the chance to see him for what he really was and finally close that chapter of her life for good.
But if he tried to manipulate her, if he caused her even a moment’s pain, all bets were off.
I’d personally escort him off the property, and he wouldn’t be walking when I was done.
Or eating his meals any way other than through a straw.