Chapter Fourteen
“You little bitch.” Satan snarled. “Your old man is a dead man walking.”
“What happened that changed your mind?” Daisy wanted to know.
“At first, I didn’t believe you, I never thought for one second that Demon would turn on me. He needed me a hell of a lot more than I needed him.”
“So what happened?” Daisy asked him again.
A long moment of silence went by then Satan told her and in turn everyone else, “We tested out one of those pills. We found a stray dog on the street and we gave him the pill. And we waited. It didn’t take long. The fucking dog died convulsing and yowling in pain.”
Daisy shook her head. “I told you, I fucking told you.”
“Yeah, you did,” Satan admitted in a low voice. “You said you had a file about your dad’s plans, what else did he plan out?”
“Move into your compound and take it over
“To hell you say.” Satan growled. “He wouldn’t dare.”
Daisy tisked into the phone. “Demon has been wearing out his own welcome at home and he knows it. He knew he would have to leave before he got into a deal that might turn on him. I guess he decided your place would work. Then if asked, he could explain away your deaths. He could say that you just got a bad batch of pills. Claim that he didn’t know anything about where those pills came from.
You see, no one but him and I know anything about where the pills really came from.
I know that recipe. I used it when Demon would beat on my mother.
It’s safe in a lotion but then he added something dangerous.
And he knew it was dangerous. The recipe came from my grandmother.
She used to make for pain, not because she wanted to get high.
She wrote every warning inside the book in red ink.
When he made those pills he knew exactly what would happen.
After I ran away, he found that recipe under the floorboards in my bedroom. ”
Satan was silent on his end, then he said, “You know I’m gonna kill him, don’t you?”
Daisy replied, “Yeah, I know. Demon has crossed and double-crossed more men than just you. He doesn’t think anyone will stand up against him. He probably thinks you and your guys are already dead. He also probably thinks he’s safe because he’s behind bars right now.”
When Satan didn’t say anything, Daisy spoke up again, “Look, I didn’t tell you about the pills to start a street war.
Hell, I didn’t know if you would even believe me.
I just didn’t want your deaths on my hands.
I do know that if he ever gets out of jail I’m going to end up with a bullet in my head.
But I’m not like him. I would never tell you what to do or not to do.
I chose to tell you to warn you about what Demon was doing to save your lives. ”
“Why? Why would you want to save our lives?” He growled. “You don’t even know us or what we do.”
“You’re right,” Daisy agreed. “I don’t know you or what you do and I don’t need to know. My father might be willing to kill you but I’m not. You and yours are a lot like Demon and my brothers, but you are still a person. Good or bad, you are still a person and what you do is on you, not me.”
Satan didn’t say anything for a long minute then he vowed, “I’m still going after your dad.”
Daisy sighed hard, “I know and I’m not going to stop you, I wouldn’t even know where to start nor am I going to beg you to reconsider. You are going to do what you think is right. At least I did what I had to do. I warned you about the pills.”
“You got that right. I’m a little surprised you aren’t going to beg for their lives though. After all, you are Demon’s own girl.”
“As much as I hate to admit it, someone needs to stop Demon and my brothers. I think you might be the only one that can,” Daisy admitted.
“Of course, Demon knows how to spin a story too. He might be able to talk his way out of trouble but not the kind you will bring. Besides, if he gets away with this crap, you can bet he’s going to try this shit again somewhere else.
The men he takes down might not be as lucky as you were.
Then I would be guilty of their deaths too.
” Daisy lowered the phone and ended the call.
As she did she heard Satan swearing but she ended the call anyway.
Daisy handed the phone to Thumper.
He took the device from her, then he looked at Fox and said, “Print Satan’s file.
Then clip it to the front gate. Like use a huge red arrow from say a marker.
Then we get everyone else in place. If he comes alone, we let him pick up the file and leave.
If he comes here looking for trouble, well he’ll find it. ”
“Yeah brother, maybe we need him to read the file with his name on it,” Bishop agreed. “Let him go after the right person.”
Torin shook his head. “And if he comes back for our skin?”
Cardinal smiled then crossed his arms over his chest. “Then we show him right from wrong, kid. He’s already found out he can’t get lots of men inside our perimeter. So if he comes back we’ll just reinforce that thought.”
Fox got busy then printed off the file and clipped it to the front gate.
Inside the compound everyone waited, some with more patience than others but finally they all heard the sound of bike engines coming up the drive.
Daisy stood at the windows and she saw half a dozen bikers coming into view.
They all stopped with their engines running.
Satan held his fist up and the bikers all waited. Slowly Satan drove up to the gate and snatched the file from the gate. He just sat there for a moment glaring at the clubhouse. Turning his bike around, he slowly rode away.
When he joined his n men, they all turned around to follow their leader back down the driveway.
Daisy lowered her head and just breathed for a moment. She wasn’t sure how Satan and his men would come in, whether it would be in peace or with gun blazing.
Pope joined her and said, “That wasn’t anything like Satan. I was expecting something entirely different.”
Daisy nodded in total agreement. “So was I but I think he’s curious. Not saying it will last but for now at least he’s curious to see if it is all true.”
“Do you have anything else up your sleeve for when he does come back?” Bishop asked as he walked over.
Torin and Ridge joined the group as well.
Daisy swallowed hard then looked at Pope and asked, “Can you send him a text on Digger’s phone?”
Pope looked puzzled and asked, “Why would I do that?”
“Because he needs to know that my father wrote that file,” she whispered.
Pope looked over at Bishop and then at Torin. Finally, he sighed hard and asked her, “How are you going to prove that?”
“My father thinks so much of himself that he always leaves his own mark on anything he writes. Tell Satan to look on page five. He’ll find the word Demon in capital letters somewhere on that page.
Like I said, he is a narcissist and he thinks highly of himself.
He doesn’t think anyone else knows about that but I had to clean his office all the time and I’ve seen that give away in all his files. ”
Pope stared at her and tilted his head. “Are you sure about doing this?”
Daisy nodded. “I am. Though all of this...” She took a deep breath.
“I know it looks bad, all of it. I know this might lead to the... d-death of my whole family. But really, they haven’t been that.
They were never like family.” She wrapped her arms around her belly as her body trembled.
Looking pale and upset, her body shuddered showing the strain of the last couple of days.
Torin walked over and wrapped his arms around her. He just held her close to him for a moment.
No one said a word.
Daisy felt grateful for just the touch of a warm body. She’d been so cold for many years and Torin’s hug just felt so right.
Torin then moved her to a chair and went to get her some juice and a snack.
Pope grabbed Digger’s phone from his pocket and sent the text to Satan.
Somehow, the ping from hitting send sounded loud in the silence of the room.
Now the wait began and the tension rose as the seconds passed into minutes. Then an hour passed. The men got lunch and another hour passed.
At this point, the brothers paced back and forth. They kept going between the doors and the windows but no one rode up to the gate.
Finally, Digger’s phone rang.
Pope handed it to Daisy.
After expelling a long breath, Daisy answered the call, “Hello.”
Satan’s snarl came back on the line as he announced, “I read the fucking file.”
“Did you find his name in capital letters on page five?” she asked quietly.
“Yeah, I did,” he told her just as quietly. “It holds with what I know of Demon’s writing technique. I already knew what to look for. But I’m glad you were honest about it.”
Daisy sighed into the phone and told him, “I’m not looking for points here.
I’m also not like my father and brothers.
Which is why my father needs to shut me up at any cost. If I was like them then I wouldn’t have warned you about those damn pills.
I wouldn’t have told you what my father had for a plan to take you out and take over your compound.
I don’t know you from Adam and I don’t want to know you. You scare the bejesus out of me.
“You know I’m going after them, don’t you?” Satan asked in a growl laden voice. “I can’t let them get away with what they tried to pull and I won’t give up the place I call home.”
“And I wouldn’t ask you to,” Daisy assured him. “My father and brothers have enough sins on them, but I don’t want a street war either.”
“I ain’t looking for that either, little girl. But me and Demon? We got a score to settle now and the odds aren’t with him. You get what I’m saying here?”
“Yeah, I get it,” Daisy admitted. “Can I ask just one thing?”
Satan snorted and replied, “You can always ask, doesn’t mean you’ll get it but sure, you can ask.”
“Just end it, once and for all, just end it,” Daisy begged him.
“Where is all this hate for your dad coming from, little girl?” Satan wanted to know.
“When I was ten years old, he took my mama out for a ride on his bike. He came home three hours later... alone. When I asked him where mom was he told me a gator got her and there was nothing he could do to save her. Later that day when I was washing his bike as per my daily chores, I found fibers of rope stuck between the seats. I also found blood on the bike. I don’t know for sure what happened but I don’t think a gator got her without a lot of help from him.
I think she knew something about him that might have sent him to jail for the rest of his miserable life and he didn’t want her to tell the world his secrets.
I think he tied her up and left her there bleeding.
He made sure he cut her so the scent of her blood would call the gators to her.
I don’t even know where he left her body. ”
“Damn, little girl. That is a harsh way to go.”
“Yes, it is. And she was the only decent family I had. So now, it is time for him to go.
“You think he really killed her like that?” he asked.
“Yes, I do. Demon’s a prince that way and it is time to dethrone the prince.”
Satan chuckled. “Yeah, it might be long past time to dethrone the motherfucker.” He ended the call.
Daisy handed the phone back to Pope. Then she planted her face in Torin’s chest and cried. The pain she held in for eleven years finally let go and she began to sob.
Torin growled and swung her up into his arms then walked down the hall to his bedroom. He slammed the door behind them then he went over to the chair that looked out into the backyard and sat down with her on his lap.
He just held her while she wept.