Chapter One
Dax sat alone on the steps of his cabin and calmly lit a cigarette. Dawn was just lighting the skyline as he sat there and drew on his smoke. The sun hadn’t peeked over the horizon yet and he was just enjoying the quiet.
Then he noticed how silent it got and that perked his senses up.
Nerves stung him throughout his body. He slowly took another drag from his cigarette and then casually looked around.
As his eyes scanned the immediate area the complete silence began to bother him.
The short hairs on the back of his neck tingled and this was a sign he knew well.
Back in the military this keen sense always told him he needed to look out.
Something or someone was out there watching them.
He slowly reached for his phone and typed a short message to Thrasher.
Then he laid the phone down on the step beside him.
He dropped the butt of his cigarette and crushed it under his boot.
Then he scanned the area again and this time he found someone standing just inside the tree line to his left.
The person who stood there was definitely a woman. Dressed in jeans and a hoodie jacket, he couldn’t see hair as it was covered by the hood. He almost turned his head to stare at her but he knew he had to wait.
Suddenly, he heard the faint bird call and he knew he wouldn’t have to wait long. The guys were already out there and they were coming up through the woods behind this watcher. When he saw the shadows moving in on her, he got up and turned to face the person.
The woman froze and took a step backward as if to hide but Dax knew she was not going anywhere.
She took another step back and froze when she ran into Saint standing right behind them. As Dax walked toward them he saw her raise her hands in surrender. Yes he was close enough now to see her clearly.
The Misfit men standing behind her hadn’t said a word yet.
Finally, Dax was face to face with the woman.
“I’m not here to cause any trouble,” she whispered,
“Then why are you here?” Dax asked her.
She swallowed hard before she looked him in the eyes and whispered, “I’m here looking for someone.”
“Who?” Saint asked from behind her.
Turning, she answered his question, “Erika Grant. I’m looking for Erika Grant. I heard she lived here.”
“Why do you want to find her?” Saint asked with a growl in his voice.
She looked down for a moment then she looked up at Dax and whispered, “She might be my sister. Is she here?”
Saint grunted and told her, “Her mother never had a second child, how the fucking hell can you be her sister?”
She shook her head. “We don’t share a mother but we might share a father if his name is Tommy Sayor. I’ve never met the man but he’s listed as my father on my birth certificate.”
Dax glanced at Saint then stared at her. “How old are you?”
She stared back at him. “Why do you need to know that?”
Saint answered this, “Because we were told that Tommy couldn’t father another child after Erika was born. We were told that due to his drug addiction he was infertile.”
The woman shook her head and sighed hard. “I’m not here to start any trouble, mister. Really, I’m not. I just need to know if Erika is my sister, that’s all.”
“What’s your name?” Dax asked her.
“Sage...Sage Marlow. My mom, Bethany Marlow died when I was four. I was told she died of an overdose.” She shrugged.
“You don’t believe that?” Thrasher surmised.
Sage shook her head. “No, I don’t. My mom didn’t do drugs.
She worked too hard to earn a living and she took care of me.
I never saw her high and she always told me that drugs would kill you sooner rather than later.
And she always told me that she wanted to see me grow up.
But there was something odd about the night she died too.
I don’t remember much of that night, but I don’t think we were alone in our apartment.
” She clenched her hands into fists. “But by the time the cops got there, mom was already gone and I was only four. I tried to tell them but I couldn’t remember much, my mind had gone blank. ”
“What happened to you after your mom died?” Saint wanted to know.
Sage shook her head. “I went into the system because no one in my mom’s family wanted another kid.”
The men around her went silent as her words sank in.
“Your mom had family?” Dax’s brow was furrowed and his lips went tight.
Sage nodded. “Yeah, her parents and her brother told a judge they had no room for a junkie’s kid, then they walked out of the courtroom.
Social services took me and put me in foster care.
I aged out of the system and when I was eighteen, I went looking for answers.
That’s when I found out from my birth certificate that Tom Sayor was my father.
A man I never met was my father all my life and I never knew him. ”
Saint snorted. “Believe me when I say you didn’t miss anything.” Then he looked at her and added, “You know that Tommy Sayor is dead right?”
Sage gasped and took a step back and shook her head. “No, I didn’t know that. What happened to him?”
Saint looked angry now as he explained it, “He came here right after Erika gave birth to my son and he tried to steal him and kill her. You see, Tommy came from money, big money and he needed something to distract his grandfather while he and his dad, a prince of a man in his own right, tried to balance the books to cover Tommy’s embezzlement.
It didn’t work. And by the way, Tommy was high when he tried to snatch my son.
We stopped him hard and when he found out that his grandfather knew he was stealing from the company and had already changed his will Tommy went a little nuts.
He crashed so hard he lost his ever-loving mind and dove straight through a window.
That stupid move gifted him with a large shard of glass in his neck and he bled to death before an ambulance could get here.
We called the cops but he was already dead by the time anyone came. ”
Sage sagged and would have dropped to the ground.
Dax grabbed her and held her up.
Saint asked her, “Did he even know about you?”
Sage looked stunned as she replied, “I don’t know. My mother never talked about him. All she ever said was that she met him and it didn’t go well. Then she told me he tried to give her drugs one night and let’s just say that didn’t end well either and leave it at that.”
Saint glanced at the other men with him and they could only imagine what happened that night.
He shook his head. “All this time he told Erika that he never wanted kids. He even told her mom to abort her and now you’re claiming to be Erika’s sister?
” Saint shook his head. “I think we need to know more about this claim.”
Sage looked upset as she defended her actions, “I only came here to see her. I’m not after anything else.
I just wanted to meet my possible sister.
I’ve been alone most of my life and I just found out there might be someone else out there that is family.
My mother’s family doesn’t count after what they did. ”
Saint studied her for a long silent moment.
His men all waited for him to decide what he wanted to do.