Chapter Seventeen
Ghost
“D ove is asking for you,” Maddy says over the phone. “No one has said anything, but this little girl is so in tune with the people around her that she knows something is off. She’s worried about you and her mom. It’s hard to communicate with her to explain that everything is going to be fine. I don’t know what to do, Ghost.”
Fuck.
“When my family is together and safe again, every single one of us will be taking classes to learn to talk to my daughter. Is that clear?”
The room echoes with their approval.
“Good, now, Facetime me so she can see me.”
“Alright, one sec. And there. Just accept the call.”
I hit the green button and Maddy’s worried face fills the screen.
“Let me talk to her, sweetheart,” I say. “And Maddy.”
“Yeah?”
“We’re going to get her back.”
“I know,” she sniffs. “I’m just thinking of the time when my birth mother and twin sister took me. Even with me being part of their family, they still hurt me, and I know they were holding themselves back. What if whoever took Snow doesn’t care? What if their souls are already dead, and they hurt her simply because they think it’s funny?”
“She’s a strong woman, sweetheart,” I tell her. “Just like you. Just like Sophia. Our women are strong. They have to be in order to deal with men as stubborn as us. We know who has her. I have to believe that the man I once knew is still inside him somewhere and won’t hurt her. But I need you to be just as brave as you always have been so that I can feed off that strength. Because Maddy, I’m fucking terrified that you’re right.”
The tears I’ve been holding back for hours fill my eyes, but I don’t move to wipe them away.
“I’m terrified that she’s being hurt at this exact moment, and there isn’t a damn thing I can do about it,” I continue. “So, be strong for me. Be strong for those kids. Be strong for yourself. And be strong for Snow.”
“I so wish I could hug you right now,” She sniffs.
“I’ll do it for you,” Sophie says as she slams her body against mine. I wrap my arm around her and hold her tightly. I feel Knox join at my side, and I wrap my other arm around him. I absorb the strength they’re offering and let my mind wander to Snow. I shove the strength of our family out into the universe, hoping it will reach her.
“Papa,” Knox says. “He’s hurting.”
“I know, Pup,” Taylor says over the phone. “Be his anchor, baby boy.”
Sophie and Knox stay glued to my side, so I hand Reynolds the phone to hold up for me.
“I’m ready,” I tell Maddy.
Seconds later, my little girl’s beautiful face enters the screen.
“Hi, princess,” I smile.
She holds up a piece of paper that says, can they hear me?
“Yes,” I nod. “But it’s okay. I promise.”
“I don’t know how to say many words,” she says out loud. “Scared.”
“Come on, baby,” Venom says as he gently pries his woman from my side. “You and Knox go over and sit down. Doc’s pushing to come forward so he can help Dove talk.”
Why the fuck didn’t I think of that?
“See you all in a few,” he smiles before the lightness in his eyes changes to an aggravated frown.
“You cannot have a deaf person in this family and not know how to talk to her,” Doc grumps. “Learn. All of you. Now, hold that phone where she can see me.”
Doc uses ASL to tell Dove something that makes her laugh.
“What did you say?” I ask, feeling a small smile tug at the corner of my mouth.
“I told her that baboons could sign better than you lot,” he says, giving us a very rare Doc smile. “She’s asking if her mom is back in the hospital.”
How the hell do I answer this?
“Tell her yes,” I start. “Tell her that…”
“Don’t look at the phone unless you want her to know exactly what you’re saying, you daft fool,” Doc says. “She may be a child, but she can still read your lips enough to make out the gist of it.”
I lower my head and continue. “Tell her that she had to go back in for another day. I'll tell her the truth if we don’t have Snow back by then.”
Nodding, Doc delivers the message.
I wait as she responds.
“She says that she knows you’re not telling the truth but that she knows it’s for a good reason. Something about kids not needing to know adult stuff. She’s a smart kid.”
“She is,” I agree. I look into the camera and smile. “I love you,” I tell her slowly enough so she can hear me in her own way. “Trust me to take care of your mom.”
“You love me?” she asks out loud. “Really?”
“Yes,” I smile. “I. Love. You.”
“And Mommy?”
Her voice is soft, and she keeps looking around the room she’s in, most likely to see if anyone is laughing at her. We will build her confidence up if it’s the last thing we do.
“Very much,” I admit.
“If you get married, can you be my real daddy?”
Fuck.
“If that’s what you want,” I say around the knot in my throat.
“You won’t hurt me?”
Double fuck. I should have killed that bastard.
“Never.”
“Can I call you daddy now?”
All of the fucks.
“Talk to Mommy about it first,” I say, gesturing for Doc to translate because of how much I’m saying. “When Mommy comes home, you two talk about that. But I want you to know that it would be my greatest honor to be your dad.”
“She’s asking if she can have a pony,” Doc chuckles.
When I look back at the phone, Dove is laughing her silent laugh.
“Kidding,” she says softly. “I want a motorcycle.”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“The girls about to lay down and watch a movie before bed,” Maddy chimes in. “Call us if there are any updates.”
“I will,” I say, accepting my phone back from Reynolds. “Thanks, Maddy. Keep those girls safe.”
“I’m their last line of defense,” she smiles. “Unless we have to watch another one of Taylor’s western movies. Then we’re all doomed because we’ll die of boredom.”
“Hey, I’ll have you know…”
“Gotta go,” Maddy says, cutting off whatever Taylor was about to say.
“That’s my girl,” King smiles.
“She’s good with the girls,” I say, trying to keep my mind distracted.
“She loves those kids,” he says. “Which, I guess, is good since she’s pregnant.”
“What?” echoes around the room.
“I didn’t mean to spring that on everyone right now,” King cringes. “We need to focus on Snow.”
“Congrats, brother,” I smile. “I’m happy for you both. You’re going to make one scary ass father.”
“Especially if it’s a girl,” Knox mutters. “By the way, Sophie and I have known for over a week now. I’m glad you let it slip so we can finally talk about it without whispering behind everyone’s back.”
“It better be a boy,” Venom says. “We already have three little girls. They need a boy to grow alongside them and keep them safe.”
“Hey, our girls and Dove are going to grow up to be the most kick-assiest girls that ever lived.”
“Kick-assiest?” Venom smiles. “Really?”
“Oh, you know what I mean.”
“Shit,” Knox cries. “Another fax is coming in.”
King walks over and grabs the papers when the machine spits them out. He looks at both papers before looking up at me, his face grim.
“What is it, King?” I ask, not able to move forward. “What does it say?”
“Nothing,” he answers. “It doesn’t say anything.”
“Then what is it?” I ask. Finally, my feet listen to my brain, and they move forward. I hold out my hand, waiting for him to give me the damn fax.
He hands me a paper, and my heart skips a beat. My frightened woman is standing in the middle of an empty, dimly lit room. Her eyes are squinted, she’s dirty, and her hair is a mess, but she’s never looked more beautiful. She’s standing there, alive.
“Let me have the other one,” I say desperately. I need to see more evidence that she’s okay.
“Might not be a good idea, Ghost,” King says, the paper folded and clinched in his hand.
“King,” I warn.
“Trust me, brother. You don’t want to see this one.”
“Give me the fucking paper, King,” I order. “I’m speaking as your fucking President. Paper. Now.”
My threat doesn’t seem to scare the fucker as well as it should have.
Without looking away from my eyes, he says, “Get Knox and Sophie out of this room.”
He’s removing them for their safety. What the fuck am I about to see?
“I’m right here, brother,” King says. “We’re all right here. We’re going to find her.”
“Now, King.”
With another moment of hesitation, King hands over the crinkled paper. I open it up and then look down.
My heart drops to the floor as I process what I’m seeing.
“It might not be her,” King rushes to say.
But he’s wrong. It is her. You can’t see her face, but I know without a doubt that it’s her.
“Her wrist still has the hospital band on it,” I say numbly.
I take in the image as I let the rage boil. My woman is face down on the ground, her arms at her side, while some fucker’s cock is in her ass. Agony unlike any I’ve ever felt before bursts forth. A loud roar fills my ears, drowning out everything else.
The room blurs as I crumple the photo in my fist. Rage and grief mingle into a white-hot fury. My brothers look at me with a mix of concern and shared anger, but none of them dare speak.
“I’m going to kill him,” I growl, my voice trembling with barely contained rage. “I’m going to rip him apart with my bare hands.”
King places a hand on my shoulder, trying to ground me. “We need to find him first, Ghost. We need a plan.”
I shake off his hand, my mind racing. “We know who he is. We know what he’s done. We need to move now.”
The men around me nod, their faces set with determination. They’ve got my back, and I know they’ll follow me to hell and back to get Snow.
“We’ll find him,” King says firmly. “We’ll find him and make him pay.”
I take a deep breath, trying to steady myself. “We need to track him down. Figure out where he’s keeping her. Someone must have seen something.”
King nods. “I’ve already got guys asking around. We’ll get leads soon.”
I look around the room at my brothers, their faces hard with shared resolve. “Spread the word. I want every contact, every snitch, everyone you can think of out there looking for Hunter Nisbet. No one stops until we find him.”
“We’ll get her back, Ghost. And when we do, Hunter’s going to wish he was never born.”
I nod, clinging to that promise. It’s the only thing keeping me from losing my mind. I clutch the crumpled photo in my hand, the image burned into my brain.
“Hang on, Snow,” I whisper. “I’m coming for you.”
With renewed determination, I turn to the task at hand. We’ll find her. We’ll bring her home. And Hunter will pay for every second of her suffering.
As images of how I’m going kill my best friend run through my mind, my cell rings.
“That might be Hunter,” Knox calls out. “I still have the office calls forwarded to your cell.”
The screen simply says call forwarding.
“Hello,” I answer, placing the phone upright on the table.
“Did you get your gift?” a robotic voice asks. “I thought you might like a sign of life.”
Venom holds up a sign. Don’t let him know.
I nod my understanding.
“I’m going to find you, and I’m going to fucking kill you,” I respond.
“Highly unlikely,” he laughs. “Here’s the deal. I keep your toy for a few more days so that we can play. Then, you pay me five hundred grand, and I’ll release her back to you.”
“I don’t have that kind of money,” I lie, knowing Hunter will know it’s a lie.
“Don’t play games with me, Ghost,” he says. “We both know that’s nothing but pocket change. I’ll be in contact in three days’ time.”
“FUCK.”
“Ghost, I have a plan,” Knox says. “But we have to go about it in a way that won’t rouse Hunter’s suspicion.”
“I’m not waiting three fucking days,” I warn.
“You won’t have to. It’s Saturday. In three hours, the Undercage will be packed full of people.”
“Fuck,” Venom says. “I forgot all about that. I’ll make the calls to reschedule it for next weekend.”
“No,” I say. “If Knox is thinking what I am, then he’s right. We don’t want to rouse suspicion. Venom, get yourself prepared for your fight. I don’t want anything to change.”
“Hunter hasn’t ever missed a fight,” Venom smiles coldly. “He’ll be there.”
“Do we have a magnetic tracker I can put under his car?” I ask.
“Already ordered and on its way,” Knox smiles. “Will be here in thirty minutes.”
I raise my brows, and Knox smiles.
“I know people,” he shrugs.
“He’ll probably think it’s weird if you show up,” Reynolds tells me.
“Oh, I’ll be there,” I say. “I’ll just be outside waiting to follow him when he leaves. Everything needs to go as planned. Don’t hide your emotions, brothers. I told him that she was missing, so he’s going to expect you not to be fully there. Check your phone every once in a while when you know he’s looking. If he asks questions, just answer them with basic answers. We haven’t found her yet. We haven’t heard anything. Ghost is out looking. ”
“Hayes will stay at the Cage tonight,” Renolds says. “Taylor has a few of the Obsidian Shield crew coming in to help.”
“Perfect. Hayes, I want to know everything Hunter does if he makes his way upstairs tonight.”
“Got it.”
“I’m removing call forwarding from your cell,” Knox says. “Would you normally tell Hunter if you weren’t going to work?”
“Only if there was something going on at the Undercage,” I admit. “He has nothing to do with the Cage.”
I pull out my cell and call Hunter.
“Hey, brother,” he answers.
It takes everything I have to act like I don’t want to shoot him between the eyes.
“Listen,” I say. “I’m not going to make it tonight. Venom has agreed to stay on and fight, but I need him back once his match is over.”
“Shit. You still haven’t found her?” he asks with fake concern.
“Not yet. But I will.”
If a little bit of warning came through in my voice, Hunter didn’t notice.
“I have everything under control,” he says. “Maybe we should just call tonight off. I can come out and help you look. I have some contacts around town. Maybe someone has seen her.”
“I don’t hate the idea, brother,” I say, trying my best to maintain my fondness for him. “But there’s no use in so many people running the streets. We have some feelers out. Hopefully, we’ll hear back from someone soon. Do you have enough people tonight? I can send in Blaze or Steel. Their club isn’t open this weekend, so they’re available.”
“Nah, I’ve got it covered. Don’t worry about the Undercage. You focus on finding Snow,” he says, his voice smooth and reassuring.
“Thanks, man. I appreciate it.” I force myself to sound grateful, even though every word feels like acid in my mouth. “We’ll catch up soon.”
“Absolutely. Take care, brother.”
I hang up and immediately feel the tension in my shoulders release, only to be replaced by a simmering rage. I turn to Knox, who’s been listening in, his face hard as stone.
“He’s playing us,” Knox says, his eyes narrowing.
“Yeah, he is,” I agree. “But not for long. We need to keep him thinking he’s got the upper hand. For now, we stick to the plan.”
Knox nods. “I’ll keep searching for property titles under his name. He has to be keeping her somewhere close.”
“Good. We need to find her before he realizes we’re onto him.” I take a deep breath, trying to calm the storm inside me. “Have you checked her phone?”
“It’s either off or dead,” he answers. “That was the first thing I checked.”
As Knox turns to coordinate with the others, I sit back, the image of Snow’s suffering still burning in my mind. I have to keep it together. I have to stay focused. Hunter will slip up. And when he does, we’ll be there to catch him.