34. Vandal
VANDAL
I’m riding for my girls.
Any other uncertainties disappear beneath that mantra.
Because there’s only one outcome I will accept today. Tonight, all three of us will curl up in bed, and we’ll make Elsie feel safe. I’ll make sure nobody ever gets close enough to take her from us ever again.
The Florida sun beats down on the blacktop, turning the Tamiami Trail into a shimmering ribbon that stretches to the horizon. Canals cut through the landscape, and somewhere out there are alligators and snakes and a thousand places a body could disappear forever.
I want to believe this is Alvarez, but the timing is off. We’d been back at the clubhouse an hour. No more. And nothing about the vehicle or the occupants sounds like Alvarez’s men.
Wind tears at my cut as the miles disappear beneath my tires. The steady vibration of my Harley hums through my hands and up my arms. The throaty roar of engines around me reminds me that this time I’m not alone. Each one of these men would ride into hell for me.
And today, without question, they’re riding for my little girl. Because after this, we’re rushing every fucking step to make them both permanently legally mine.
I’ll make Daisy my old lady, and I’ll marry her. Next week if she’ll let me. Then we’ll start the papers to legally detach Elsie from her father.
For months, I lived inside a fog of painkillers and panic attacks and nightmares and the constant urge to drink. But today? Even with my recovering vision, the world is crystal clear. I see every blade of sawgrass as it flashes by me on the side of the road.
I feel every vibration through the frame of my bike.
I’m fully and completely here.
The realization is enough to make me smile beneath my helmet, even in these circumstances.
I feel like I’ve been plugged into a charging station, and nothing can stop me.
There’s a long stretch ahead of us with no other cars on it beyond the SUV and Daisy’s car. “Daze, move into the middle of the road and hug the white line. We’re gonna peel around you on either side.”
“Okay.” Her voice crackles through my earpiece, thin and scared but steady enough that it punches right beneath my ribs.
She does as I say, and I’m so proud of her.
It takes balls to chase the kind of threat she’s chasing right now. In fact, it takes more than balls. It takes the sort of maternal courage that turns soft women into forces of nature. Daisy got into her car, not knowing she was armed, not knowing that she’d be able to get hold of me.
And is she understandably upset? Sure. But she’s holding on.
My chest squeezes with the pride filling it. Most people would be curled up in a ball right now, waiting for someone else to solve the problem for them. But not my Daisy.
She got into her car and chased the men who stole her child. She kept enough of her head to call me and stay on the phone. And she’s still driving toward danger, even though she knows I’m coming up right behind her to deal with it for her.
The periodic sobs tell me she’s terrified, but she’s doing it anyway.
I look ahead to the SUV and try not to put myself in Elsie’s shoes.
I try not to think about how scared she must be. How she must be calling out for her mom or maybe even me. Fuck, it’s like a stab to the heart to consider she might be wondering why I haven’t gotten to her yet.
I don’t want to imagine what those cunts are doing to her right now. I just need to hold onto the most obvious option, that whoever has her thinks she should be with her father’s side of the family, and pray that, despite the circumstances, they aren’t going to hurt her.
“We’re coming by you now, sweetheart,” I say. “Hug the line so we can get by.”
Knox goes first, heading up the right side of the vehicle. North, Havoc, and Lock follow on the right.
Ridge is the first to go left. I follow behind, but as I go by I hold my cut out and show her the gold star Elsie gave me.
Seeing Daisy’s face stained with tears, red blotches around her eyes, breaks my heart.
She places her palm up against her window, as if reaching out for me, and I reach out my hand to her.
Even though I can’t get too close at this speed, I hope it’s enough.
“Go get her,” she says in my earpiece.
“I will,” I say.
In the last couple of months, my definition of protection has shifted.
I thought it was something you did in a moment of crisis.
Like a brother needing backup and you show up.
Or someone threatened the club, so you stood between them and the people you cared about.
I thought it was about fists and guns and a willingness to bleed for one another.
Now I know it’s not just about standing in front of danger. It’s making sure there’s safety every day. It’s about building a life that is sturdy enough that the people you love can rest inside it.
For years I thought being a protector meant being willing to die for someone. But Daisy and Elsie have taught me it’s about learning to live for them. So, nothing can happen to me today.
The SUV suddenly speeds up and pulls away from Daisy. No doubt the driver stopped looking in the rearview mirror, unthreatened by Daisy’s car. But now he sees the bikes heading his way.
Knox gives the signal for us all to speed up. It’s a practiced drill we’ve done a million times. The gap between us begins to shrink. Half a mile. Quarter mile.
We fall back into formation, but I notice that the tail gunner, Sunny, has stayed behind Daisy’s vehicle.
I hadn’t even considered a second vehicle coming up behind her, but I’m glad my brother did when it mattered.
The SUV swerves slightly. Not enough for it to lose control, but enough to tell me there’s nervousness or panic.
Good.
Let them feel a fraction of what Daisy felt on that road, or what Elsie is feeling in the back seat. The windows are heavily tinted, and I hate that I can’t see a damn thing inside.
“Almost there, baby girl,” I mutter to myself.
A window opens on the right, and I see the gun before I hear the first shot. It pings off the front of Knox’s bike. “Motherfuckers,” he shouts as he swerves right then left.
A second shot goes wide, missing us completely.
“Daisy, pull back a little. Don’t slam on your breaks, though. Sunny is behind you.”
“Oh, God. Stay safe, Van.”
The window on the other side of the vehicle must open, because I hear a shot, but it’s not from the weapon I’m looking at.
I have no idea how the fuck we’re gonna stop them. All the things I’d usually do would put Elsie at risk.
Shoot out the back window? What if she’s not strapped in and she’s trying to climb away from them, and I shoot her in the head?
Shoot out the tires? The speed they’re going, that might make them swerve and crash or flip.
Take out the driver with a single shot? See above.
Ahead, the SUV finally jerks to the right. It’s not an official turn, more like an access road that disappears into the Florida wilderness. The tires kick up dust ahead of us as we follow in convoy.
But their speed has dropped significantly, and the single-lane road is hedged on both sides.
Even still, I hold my breath as Knox takes out his gun and takes out the right tire. Ridge follows suit and takes out the left. Ahead of us, the road opens out to a dock. And at the end of it is an airboat with a man and a woman on it.
Daisy follows behind. The SUV grinds to a halt right by the boat, and the door opens, but we’re able to surround them before they have a chance to stop us.
They’re trapped between the motorcycles and the swamp with nowhere to run.
“Wait,” the woman cries. “Don’t hurt her.”
The voice is shrill with panic, which isn’t the kind of response I’d expect from someone working for Alvarez.
Every bike around me goes silent as we cut the engines, and I see my brothers have weapons on the vehicle.
“Lock them down,” Knox shouts.
But all I can think of is Elsie. I leap off my bike, drag the passenger door open, and reach over the man sitting there to grab her. Tears stream down her little cheeks, but she screams my name.
“Vandal. I knew you’d come.”
The words are punctuated by sobs as she wraps her arms around me and I hold on tight. “You’re safe, sweetheart. No one is taking you away. I told you I’d always come for you.”
She buries her head against my neck.
“Elsie,” Daisy shouts, running from her car, and Havoc jumps off his bike to hold her back from the line of fire. I hurry to her.
“Els-bells,” Havoc says, stroking Elsie’s back when I get to them.
“Momma,” she cries and reaches out her arms for Daisy.
“Are you hurt?” Daisy says, checking her over. “Did they hurt you?”
“They scared me,” Elsie says between sobs.
“I know, sweetheart. I know. I’m so sorry. But momma’s here now.”
I pull the two of them into my arms.
When I look back, Knox and the rest of my brothers have everyone else locked down, kneeling by the SUV.
“Camila?” Daisy says.
“You know her?” I ask.
She looks up at me with an ache in her eyes that makes me want to kill someone. “My ex’s wife.”
Camila scoffs at that. “You don’t deserve to use that title for him. He was never yours. And that little girl is ours.”
Knox shoves her back down when she starts to stand. “I’d think real careful about your next move. Did Mateo Alvarez send you?”
Camila screws up her nose. “No. My husband’s cousin only does what serves him.
He’s forgotten what my husband gave up for him.
He told us he would help. But I had to hear from a lower-ranking officer that Elsie had been found.
” She shifts her glare to Daisy. “You destroyed my family. All I’m trying to do is put us back together again, and that includes my husband’s daughter. ”
Daisy looks like she’s been punched. Because knowing what I know, I bet Daisy believes her story about breaking their family apart.
“Your husband was a lying cheating scumbag who played you both,” I say. “You’re both victims.”
Daisy shakes her head. “I tried to explain that day you came to the apartment, after the trial. If I’d known he was married, I would’ve walked away.
But I thought we were building a life together.
He told me his work took him out of town a lot.
I know now that he was back spending time with you.
I would have left him sooner if I’d known.
But I don’t regret having Elsie, and I will never let her near her father or you. ”
“Please,” the driver says, suddenly. “We were just helping our sister.”
Knox looks completely unimpressed. “Don’t give a fuck who you were helping. You don’t get to fuck around with any member of the Iron Outlaws.”
“Wait,” I say, suddenly. “I want to adopt Elsie.”
“You do?” Daisy asks.
“Of course I do.”
“What does ‘adopt’ mean?” Elsie asks.
“Means I love you.”
“And you know me now,” Elsie says. “You want to be a family?”
I nod. “I do.”
Her teary face turns into a watery smile.
I turn back to Knox. “I’ve still got to build a legal case to force Elsie’s father to relinquish rights to her. Let’s call the police.”
“You don’t want to…” Sunny mimics slitting their throat.
I look at Camila. “Yeah. I do. But it’s better if we can show the courts that Camila and her husband colluded to kidnap Elsie to get her. It’ll make it easier to convince them she belongs with us permanently when there are abduction charges against Camila.”
Camila starts crying.
One of her brothers starts shouting about jail time as they realize just how badly they fucked up.
But then I look down at Daisy and Elsie. They’re the future I didn’t know I needed.
Marriage.
Adoption.
A family.
“Knox, can we take a vote on making Daisy my old lady?”
“Now?” North asks.
I shrug. “It’s as good a time as any.”
Sunny shakes his head. “Dude, it’s really not as good a time as any. That’s just something people say when they know it’s not really a good time.”
Reaper looks at the weapon in his hand, then raises his other arm. “Yup, I’m good for a vote.”
Knox rubs his hand over his chin. “Vote for Daisy to become Vandal’s old lady.”
North raises his hand. “Easy yes.”
Reaper does the same. “If she can put up with Vandal and his singing, then yes.”
Sunny dips behind one of Camila’s brothers and pretends to use him as a ventriloquist dummy. “Sunny says yes.”
That gets a small chuckle from Elsie in spite of the situation.
Ridge raises the hand with his gun in it before getting confused, then switching it with his other hand. “I’m a yep.”
Havoc squeezes my shoulder. “I’m a yes for Daisy and Elsie even though she stole my best friend.”
Elsie reaches for me to prove his point, and I take her from Daisy.
Knox nods. “Everyone says yes, Van.”
I turn immediately to Daisy. “You want to be my old lady, Daze? Be mine to protect and love forever.”
Daisy puts her hands to my cheek. “Yes. With all my heart yes. But I’m kinda with Sunny on the timing.”
Sunny whoops. “Fucking first time this month I’ve been right.”
Knox tips his chin in my direction. “I’m calling this in, then. You stay with your family.”
“Do I get a vote?” Elsie says.
“What do you want to vote on?” I ask her.
She shrugs. “Anything?”
“Okay. Do you want to come live with me forever?”
She puts her hand into the air. “Yes.”
“Even though it means sharing me a little bit with Havoc?”
She looks over her shoulder at him. “But not all the time, right?”
“Hey, Els-bells, why so mean?” Havoc says. “I rode all the way out here to get you back.”
Elsie looks at the people on the ground, so I turn her, making it harder for her to see. I know she’s probably got a shit load of trauma we’re going to have to work through, but she doesn’t need to see any more.
“Okay,” she says. “I can share him a little bit. Do you want a vote, Vandal?”
“What about, Elsie?”
“They voted to keep Momma. Do they want to keep me too?”
“Hey, Els. I vote to keep you,” Sunny says.
“I got you,” Reaper says.
North nods and raises his hand. “Course we want to keep you too.”
Knox is on the phone to the sheriff, but he raises his hand.
Ridge raises his hand. “I vote yes for Elsie.”
Elsie’s smile grows with every vote. “You know you get my vote every time,” I say, shifting her in my arms so I can raise one hand.
Then she turns to look at Havoc. “Do you vote yes, Havoc?”
“Els-bells. I don’t give nicknames to just anybody. Of course I vote for you.”
I tug her to me, then reach for Daisy and pull them in tight.
“Looks like I’m keeping you both.”