Joker agreed as he slowly shook his head.
“The baby was crying and I was screaming and I remember him turning his back to me while he wrapped a towel around the baby.I laid on that damn bed as I was bleeding out.That was the day I vowed...never again would he hurt me.I believed I was going to die.Then I think I passed out.”She lowered her head.“Someone came in and took me from the bed.Then just as I passed out again, I remember being in the back seat as someone drove me away.”She paused as her words dropped into a whisper, “So when I woke up, the doctors said I had been in a coma for three weeks and when they asked about the baby, I couldn’t tell them a damn thing.”Shaking her head, she admitted, “I couldn’t even remember being pregnant.”
Luna looked upset too, as she tried to console her, “Being used and abused then having your body cut open, left you weak and in shock.I'm just glad you survived it.I always felt in my heart that you were alive somewhere.”
Collette nodded her head.“I suppose when I woke up, I had nothing left to give by that time.Everything in my life was gone, I didn’t even care about the baby.I had no feelings one way or the other about what happened to it.I didn’t even know if I had a boy or a girl or if it even survived.”
Jack spoke now, “You had a little girl.”
They all looked up.
He stepped further into the kitchen as he stared at Collette.“Gauntlet took the baby to another state and handed her over to a woman he kidnapped.He ordered her to raise her, then he left her all alone.He never came to see the girl and in the end he killed that woman.He didn’t care about the little girl.My wife Jade found her.The woman was her sister but she was too late to save her life.We thought the baby belonged to her sister until we found a note left by her in a toy Annabelle loved.We didn’t know who the mother really was until now.”
Ace turned his head to look at her.“So, I guess you have a decision to make.”
Collette nodded slowly.“But not right now, I hope.”She looked back at the laptop screen on the table.“I think you have a more pressing problem to deal with.”She motioned to the screen.
Ace looked determined as he gave her a nod.“Yeah, we do.Deuce and King are out searching for him.”
Mario came in just then.He walked over to the laptop with the man’s image frozen on the screen and studied his face then he looked over at Ace.“That’s my Uncle Ray.I haven’t seen him in a long time but that is Raimondo Benittini for sure.”
Ace curled his large hands into fists and growled in rage.“This is the man who needs to kill us all to escape being caught for his sins.Well, I for one, am not about to let him do that.He will be sent to hell instead.”
Joker looked up and asked, “You gonna call Shay in on this?”
Ace shrugged.“I’ll call him to update him but I think we can take care of this asshole ourselves.He’s got a hell of a lot more to lose than we do.”
Collette reached over to take Luna’s hand in hers again and she gripped it tight.
Chapter Ten
“Idon’t like the lookin his eyes,” Joker said as he stared at the laptop screen and leaned back in his chair.
Mario nodded.“He’s a desperate man, I’m sure.My dad said he couldn’t get a hold of Ray and he warned him about needing to talk to him.”
“And that’s supposed to shake a man like Uncle Ray?”Charli grumbled.“He’s probably all packed up with his stolen money ready to light out but he has to shut me up before he heads off to some place where no one knows his name.”
