Chapter Seven
Gabby took a deep breath then clasped her hands together.
“Lester Asher is the one who sent Ricky after my mom and me. Ricky stabbed my mom fourteen times and she should have died that night, that’s what we were led to believe but Lester put her in Belmont then he kept her drugged in a coma for eighteen years.
Ricky stabbed me too and then he slit my throat when I was only four years old.
I was never supposed to survive and when I did, Ricky had his social worker wife put me into the system rather than telling my dad’s family I existed.
” She motioned to King and Commando. “They would have taken me in and raised me but Lester wanted me to suffer. You see, he needed me alive to get the money my mom left for me, but they knew I had seen Ricky and wanted to keep me away from any family or police. They had framed my dad Train, drugged him in fact. So later on when I finally got here and this guy...” She motioned to King.
“Said I was family. That’s when the real truth began coming out.
They will probably not serve time for what they orchestrated but I just wanted you to understand just who these people are. ”
Gunner nodded. “You’re right to do so. It gives us more background on the Asher Family and now we know more about what we’re up against. I remember that case and many had wanted the killer to pay for what he did.
We assumed he had.” He paused to look at King and Commando.
“Damn, this all had to be hard...” He sighed and looked back up at Gabby.
“The world won’t miss them much but your pain needs to end and this mission will help you all. ”
Gabby gave him a nod and turned away to head down the hallway.
Grizzly shook his head and admitted, “I didn’t notice her scars when she first walked up.
But as light as they are I still noted them.
And I could see he tried to slit her throat.
” He let out a growl beneath his breath.
“That poor kid. I remember that case better now. A detective brought new evidence, right? Then your brother was freed.”
Commando nodded at him. “Ricky went to jail and awaits trial. Train came out twice the size he’d been and he does have some bitterness, but who could fucking blame him?
He has a lot to work through after being locked up for all that time.
He’s with Gina now and claims he won’t leave her until she can walk beside him again and maybe not even then.
Gina is Gabby’s mother and she miraculously survived the attempted murder.
But she might have a lot of physical therapy and healing ahead of her. ”
The men all shook their heads as they looked disgusted by such an evil deal.
Grizzly motioned to King and said, “Show us what you got.”
King nodded his head at Rocket. “Show them the files.”
Rocket nodded at him and went around the table then he set his laptop down in the middle, across from where Grizzly sat.
They all studied the screen with Rocket pointing out files and doing the clicking.
The tapping of a keyboard was the only sound heard for more than twenty minutes.
Finally, Grizzly asked, “Can you make us a copy of the three main files? We’ll need to check everything out before we move.
Then if anything on these files is true, this is going to take them down for sure.
And we can use this info to rip their world apart piece by piece.
They won’t have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of by the time we get done with them. ”
Avery nodded. “I can verify everything on that file is true and very real.” She looked at the laptop. “Sarah herself made me take everything down and keep her records. She had me count out each bill and deposit it in the banks she used.”
“Did she know you made these files?” Gunner asked.
Avery shook her head. “She kept the records for herself and she hung onto those books. But see, I have eidetic memory so I could fill in what was missing. But I admit that I copied her files and kept them.” She shrugged.
“I figured one day I might need them. There is also a file in that drive that labels everyone’s name she pays off to protect her and her father. I have figures and payoffs too.”
“Is that why you called me instead of the local police?” Grizzly wanted to know.
Avery nodded. “Yeah, I remembered those names and none of them would have stopped her. In fact, they would have told her I had the file and that would have just pissed her off. I would have become just another box checked off on some piece of paper that nobody reads. She also threatened me. Telling me she would hand me over to the Morales gang.”
Grizzly nodded. “Yeah, I figured she had to be keeping you there using something. Sarah also had a reason to keep you under her thumb. You knew way too much about her enterprise, didn’t you?”
“Yes, and she never let me forget what would happen if I crossed her.” Avery growled. “So I kept her records, slept in closet, scrubbed her floors and toilets and prayed someone would come for me.”
“And we did.” Ryker grasped her hand as he stepped up next to her.
Gunner just raised his brow at this. “You seem very familiar with her.”
Ryker nodded. “I am. I lost track of her when her brother died but I found her again and now she has my protection.”
Gunner nodded. “That’s good to know.” Then he turned back to King. “So Sarah and her goons are coming here to finish you?”
King snorted in disgust. “I’d like to see her try.
They need to fry what they did. What Gabby and Commando didn't tell you was that Lester put his own daughter in Belmont and then he told the world she died of her wounds. Lester gave the doctors orders that if he was ever arrested or sentenced to prison they were to give her an overdose that would end her life. Some fucking father, isn’t he? ”
Gunner grunted. “Yah, we know the type. They care about the money and themselves. Narcissistic and calculating, even while they put on a dumb act.” He then turned to look at Grizzly. “So what do we do about these files?”
“Have our men verify then we can move in on Houston,” Grizzly stated. “We’re going to need a small army to take them down and that will all be Marshals. We have to do this by the book, so they can’t whine and cry or get out on a technicality.”
“Then one of you or a Marshal needs to talk to the girls here,” Commando suggested. “They can tell you everything about what living inside that family was like. They would sell the females in their family for business deals and they are running several illegal activities on top of that.”
Now King jumped in, “Like I told you before... When Gina wouldn’t give them her hard earned money. Or marry out to some stranger, they had Ricky cutting her up and framing my son for it. Lester decided to keep her under wraps as he paid off the cops to process her death.”
Commando now added, “So there should be charges for that too. Like kidnapping, bribery and fraud.”
Grizzly studied him. “You used to be a cop, right?”
Commando nodded. “Just a local lawman a couple of years back. You can tell?”
Grizzly smirked. “I can.”
King nodded.“ I’m proud of both my sons. I was missing one of them for all these years. I now have my son back but nothing can ever give him back the years they stole from him. Do I want fucking revenge for that? I do. I REALLY do. But I want them in prison where they put him for all those years.”
Gunner stared at King. “That's good to know. Revenge would have backfired. You and I are old enough to realize that but you still have to be careful. Those two aren’t just going to let you come after them.”
King gave them a slow smile. “Let them come. We’re ready for them.”
Grizzly got on the phone with his fellow Marshals, giving them items to check out.
Skeeter and Moose sat at a table in a quiet corner of the room, talking to the girls.
Slowly, they began to gather what they needed.
The testimony was taken down legally by video and transcript in case any of it could be used in a court trial.
Every last woman agreed to testify if need be.
They had shed their previous fear and now wanted to help put Sarah and Lester away for good.
Even Sarah’s sister seemed determined to finally right the wrongs the Ashers had done.
They all had dinner fixed by Trixie, Gabby, Andy and Avery. Riley and her mother helped with dishing up and carrying out the platters, plates, napkins, drinks and utensils. The men were told that they would be doing the clean up and the dishes.
King laughed and said that was only fair. But he did add that as the Prez, he would not be doing chores.
The men all booed and tossed their napkins at him.
The room filled with the smell of great homemade food as well as many voices and laughter. They all spoke of anything else other than Sarah and Lester. They all wanted to relax for now and just breathe.
Gabby waved at the girls and told them she was taking dinner to her parents.
Train hadn’t been part of the meetings. He hadn’t left Gina’s side since he arrived. No one could blame him as they missed many years. They were both badly maligned by Lester and Sarah, robbed of a life together. Robbed of precious years that they could never get back.
Gabby thought it was great that her dad was taking such great care of her mom. It went a long way to healing any rift between them. They were finally a family and she wanted that. She had wanted that ever since the day her motherhood been taken away from her.