“Positive. See that right there?” I pointed to the photo. “Do you know anyone else with a birthmark in the shape of a puzzle piece on their neck?”
He slammed the book closed and met my eyes, “You could have just said that from looking at the pictures. She had another identifying mark. What was it?” We had quickly gone from bonding as father and daughter to accusing one another of deceit.
I placed my hands on my hips and returned his stare, “She has a scar in the shape of the letter P on the inside of her right arm, just below her elbow. It was small and light, probably too light to show up in pictures.” I felt an overwhelming urge to stick my tongue out at him.
He visibly paled and braced himself on his desk. “Did she tell you how she got it or what it meant?”
“She never said how she got it, but she told me it was for her prince. She said she couldn’t be with him at the time, but the P made her feel like he was still with her even though he wasn’t. It made no sense whatsoever to me then, but I think I get it now. It’s really for Phoenix, isn’t it?”
He nodded and slowly rolled up his right shirt sleeve. He held his arm out to me and there, in the very same spot, was the letter A on his arm. He softly said, “The night before I left for the Marines, we used paperclips and a lighter to burn our first initial into one another.” He looked up at me and more firmly stated, “Do not ever do anything like that.”
Without thinking, I blurted, “Yes, Dad.”
He smiled, “I like that.”
I grinned in return, “I think I do, too.”
CHAPTER 11
Dash
Phoenix had been in his office for most of the morning and Ember was nowhere to be seen. I took the time to get caught up on some of my club responsibilities I had gotten behind on since Ember showed up.
I was in one of the storage buildings out back sorting through a shipment we had just received when I almost blew the head off of a prospect.
He screamed like a girl and threw his hands up in the air, “It’s just me! Don’t shoot!”
I grunted and put my gun back in its holster. “Fuck, man, let that be a lesson to you. Don’t fucking sneak up on people around here especially when we have weird shit going on. You make some noise, make yourself known. You’re lucky it was me and not one of the brothers with a twitchy trigger finger.”
He nodded, hands still in the air, eyes wide as saucers. “Put your damn hands down and tell me what the fuck you’re doing out here.”
“Uh, right, Phoenix said church in 30.”
“When did he say that?”
“Um, about 15 minutes ago. Sorry, I couldn’t find you or Duke.” He glanced around the storage shed, “Do you know where Duke is?”
“Haven’t seen him. Did you call him?”
“Yeah, I called both of you and neither one of you answered.”
“Shit. I must have left my phone in my room. I’ll grab it and try to call him. Keep looking and I’ll let Prez know what’s up.”
I was surprised and a little disappointed to find that I only had the one missed call from the prospect. I don’t know what I was expecting. The one person I wanted to talk to was here in the clubhouse and, to my knowledge, didn’t have a phone.
I hit Duke’s name and got his voicemail after a few rings. I checked his room to see if he was passed out from partying too hard last night, but he wasn’t there either. I tried calling him one more time and then said fuck it and headed to church.
“Thanks for joining us,” Phoenix griped at me. “Where’s Duke?”
“Don’t know. I was out back sorting through the shipment. Haven’t seen him all day. I tried to call him a couple of times but he didn’t answer.” It made me feel a little uneasy. It wasn’t like Duke to disappear without someone knowing where he was going and it really wasn’t like him to not answer his phone. Duke always answered his phone, didn’t matter if he was fucking or taking a shit, he answered.
Phoenix ran his index finger and his thumb over his chin, “Have the prospects keep looking for him. Get one of ‘em to ride into town and look around. If he hasn’t turned up by the time we’re finished in here, we’ll all go out and hunt him down.”
Phoenix rose from his chair and started right in, “You are all aware of Ember’s presence in the clubhouse. Earlier today, Patch informed us that I am indeed Ember’s biological father.” Murmurs started to break out around the room, “Shut the fuck up until I’m finished.” The room fell silent and he continued, “So, Ember is my daughter and she has agreed to stay here in Croftridge for the foreseeable future so her and I can get to know one another.” I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders upon hearing those words. “Since we don’t know what is really going on at that farm just yet, she will continue to stay here at the clubhouse. In addition, Reese will be staying with her. Now, about the farm and orphanage. Ember has confirmed that her mother, Annabelle, was actually living and working at the orphanage for several years. Ember doesn’t know when she got there, but she does remember that she disappeared suddenly one day when she was five or six years old. She was also going by the name Annelle at the time. Byte, see if you can dig up anything on Annelle. Try using Burnett, Black, and Blackburn as surnames.”
Phoenix sat down again and leaned back in his chair, “Now, about this farm, orphanage, or whatever. I want to know why my girls were there. I want to know what the fuck they are doing up there. We’ve all ignored that place for years. Yeah, the place has always been creepy as fuck, but it didn’t affect me and mine, until now. I want to know anything and everything about the place. And I want to know who in the fuck thought they could buy my baby girl. I want answers first, and then we are going to put a stop to whatever they are doing. Women and children will not be sold to fucking monsters in my territory. My club doesn’t stand for that.” Claps and words of agreement sounded throughout the room.
When everyone quieted down again, Badger asked, “How are we going to get those answers? It ain’t like they’re going to tell us anything if we ask.”
