Chapter 36
Chapter Thirty-Six
Too Much At Once
T he next day Nelle posted three videos online for the antique shop.
She then called Bucky to check up on him and tell him she wouldn’t be around anymore. He begged her to come back, offering her money, offering items from the antique store. Then he called her a bitch. When Slade heard that, he took the phone from Nelle and let the old man know that if he spoke like that to Nelle again, he’d have an expensive clown statue shoved up his ass.
It pained Nelle. But there was no more running. No more hiding.
She took a deep breath. “It’s time to get this over with, Slade.”
“You sure about this?”
“It’s already been done. I reached out to him this morning. He got right back to me.”
“Shit…”
“No, Slade.” Nelle reached up and touched his face. “It wasn’t some father-daughter moment. Want to know how I got him?”
“How, sweetheart?”
“I told him I was working as a waitress and met some guys who have an underground gambling gig. That they loved to get drunk and that they were rich. They didn’t care about money. I asked him if he still knew how to play cards. You know, just toy with him a little.”
“Oh, fuck, Nelle,” Slade said. He cupped her face with both hands. “I hate this man and I’ve never met him. If I had the chance I’d put a fucking bullet in his head.”
“That’s sweet of you to say,” Nelle said, jumping to her toes. “How fucked up are we, Slade? I find it romantic that you would kill my father…”
“Welcome to the outlaw world, Nelle,” Slade said.
They shared a brief kiss.
“I want to ride with you, Slade,” Nelle whispered.
“I know you do, sweetheart. We can’t chance anything. You’ll be safe in the van. I swear.”
“I’ll be outside in a bit. I need a minute alone to just… process…”
Slade kissed her forehead. “I… I’ll see you at the exchange I guess. If anything changes, you don’t have to be there. Nobody will judge you for it.”
Nelle watched Slade leave the room. She sat down on the corner of the bed and thought about Thalia and Calista. She wished she could talk to them one more time. To apologize for not protecting them better. And to get their thoughts on what was about to happen.
Damien was going to kill their father. That was for sure. Maybe he’d keep him alive and torture him or use him up… but Nelle’s father was about to be sentenced to death. She begged for her heart to ache but it didn’t. She closed her eyes…
“Nelle, I hear Daddy screaming,” Thalia said. “He’s hurt again. Those men hurt him.”
“They’re going to hurt us,” Calista said. “I know it. I heard someone say we weren’t going to turn ten!”
“I’m past that age,” Nelle said. “I’m alive. Those guys are just joking around.”
“I’m scared, Nelle,” Thalia whispered.
She began to cry.
So did Calista.
Nelle hugged her sisters, doing her best to cover their ears. She wished she could hum or sing to soothe her sisters, but any noise would attract attention.
Secretly, Nelle hoped the men downstairs would kill her father. So she and her sisters wouldn’t have to suffer like this anymore. But if that happened… then what? What would happen to Nelle and her sisters?
All Nelle wanted to do was cry. She wanted someone to hold her. Instead, she took a deep breath and kept herself calm and rocked her sisters. She swore to herself that someday she would get revenge for this…
Someday…
“Today,” Nelle whispered.
She stood up and wiped the corner of her eyes, then walked to the door and opened it. When she turned to go down the hallway, someone grabbed her arm and spun her around. A hand pressed to her mouth and shoved her against the wall. She hit with a thud.
“I don’t want to hurt you, Nelle… okay? I just need you… I just need you so they’ll listen to me… okay? That’s all… okay?”
Nelle stared forward, blinking quick…
… wanting to know what the hell Fitz was doing…
They lined up at the top of a ridge to have the perfect view. Cyrus, Linc, Slade, Priest. Darrow and Custer were in the van. Everything had fallen into place.
A private conversation between Cyrus and Damien ended with a partial agreement. Thalia and Calista’s murders would be forgotten. It was sad and not the proper way for their lives to end, but this was the outlaw world. A world beyond the line of good and evil, crime and conviction.
Cyrus knew he could easily sway Chief Dick, making it known that bigger players were involved in the murders and they had to go away. Of course Chief Dick would want someone to take the fall for the murders. That part was easy enough.
Chief Dick was more rotten than a piece of meat left out in the sun for a month. He’d come up with someone to take the fall for the murders. It would take the heat off the club. Take the heat off the chief. And settle the town down.
Cyrus told Damien he’d never forget who murdered those women. Damien’s reply?
Whining over little whores…
The bigger prize was the father.
Christopher.
First name basis. That’s all Damien needed to hear. After all, it was Christopher who hit Damien over the head that night… all those years ago…
Cyrus also made it very clear that Nelle was untouchable. That if any of Damien’s guys came near her, Damien included, things would get bloodier than Damien could ever possibly understand.
The conversation was firm because it needed to be firm. Simple as that. Both men agreed. A handshake of sorts over the phone. And now they waited for the end result.
“Should we get her out of the van?” Cyrus asked Slade.
“She’ll come out if she wants,” Slade said. “Just keep eyes on things. In case something goes wrong.”
“We’ve got a car,” Linc said.
Linc passed a pair of binoculars to Slade. Slade put them to his eyes. A piece of shit car rolled up to the middle of nowhere. It turned off and the driver’s side door opened.
You’d think that alone would be a red flag to someone. But Nelle’s father was a pure degenerate. He stepped out of the car wearing a white suit. Slicked back gray hair and a rough looking face. His sunglasses were too big for his face. Smoking a cigarette. He looked like a shady pimp from some casino movie.
Slade wanted to go down there and kill this bastard himself. A couple seconds later, cars appeared from nowhere. And it was literally that.
From fucking nowhere .
It made Slade swallow hard. These Russian mafia guys were smart and sleek. Five cars pointed at Nelle’s father. He started to laugh… right up until Damien climbed out of one of the cars.
“It’s going down now,” Slade said.
“We can see,” Cyrus said. “At least most of it.”
Nelle’s father obviously began to try and sweet talk Damien, but it didn’t mean a thing to him. Damien punched Nelle’s father in the stomach, dropping him to his knees. Three men pounced and they had Nelle’s father taped up in a matter of seconds. Ankles. Wrists. Mouth. Eyes. He was then carried and tossed into the trunk of one of the cars.
Just as fast as they showed up, the five cars drove away, leaving two men behind. They got into Nelle’s father car.
“Smart,” Linc said.
“Very smart,” Slade said.
He gave the binoculars back to Linc and walked to the van to see how Nelle was holding up. Still had to bother her no matter what, watching her father get taken by the Russian mafia. He opened the back door and found the van empty.
“Where is she?” Slade called out.
Darrow turned around, holding a laptop in his hands. “What’s up?”
“Where the hell is Nelle?” Slade asked.
“Never got into the van, brother,” Custer’s old voice growled.
“What do you mean she never got into the van?” Slade asked.
His heart dropped.
“You told us to give it a few minutes,” Darrow said. “She never came out. Everyone started to leave. Figured she didn’t want to see it.”
Slade reached for his gun, dead set on putting a bullet between the eyes of Darrow and Custer.
“Slade!” Cyrus’s voice roared.
Slade looked back and Cyrus’s eyes were wide, he held his phone in his hand.
Something bad had happened to Nelle…