“We ride,” Bullseye states decisively. “Might not be a lot to go on, but it’s enough to check out. Freak, Saint, Tempest, Words, Short, and Woody, you’re with me. The rest of you stay here in case Genie and Pippa come up with alternative information. Finding Trixie and bringing her home is our priority.” He bangs the gavel, but brothers are already getting up to leave.
I’m first out of the door, determined to barge my way through anyone who’d stop me. But the person who steps in my path is Ace.
“What’s going on, Dad?” I notice Trip is with him.
Short comes up and leans into me, murmuring into my ear, “Bron’s working. I had to bring them.”
“Dad?” Ace asks again, watching the brothers file past me, their faces set, obviously with somewhere to go.
I can’t tell him Trixie, his adopted mom, is missing.“Club business,” I say dismissively, never having been so glad to have those two words come into my head. Ace is club, and he knows what that means.
“Is the club under threat?” He frowns. “Should Trixie be here?”
Yes, she fucking should. Here and safe.Hoping he can’t read me, I lie through my teeth. “She’s fine where she is.” Where she is, is in the hands of a maniacal abuser and rapist.
“We’ve got to get going,” Short throws at Ace. “Take care of Trip, yeah? Maybe get Heaven or someone to bake cookies.”
He shakes his head. “Mom bakes the best cookies.” Then, thank fuck, he asks no more questions as he walks away.
Leaving me with the only thought in my head that hopefully we can find her, bring her home, and she’ll get the chance to bake cookies again.
I can’t let myself think of the alternative.
CHAPTER FORTY
TRIXIE
Idon’t cry. Tears didn’t save me from my father marrying me off to a man three decades older than me. They didn’t save me from being raped or from the beatings. As time passed, I’d learned to keep them in. I didn’t want Piero to have the satisfaction of knowing he was breaking me.
But now? I turn my face to look out of the side window, moisture leaking from my eyes. These tears aren’t for him. They’re for Freak, for Ace, for the loss of what-might-have-beens. Ace has already lost one mother, and while I’m only a poor substitute, he doesn’t deserve to lose me, too.
Who will pick up his cake and arrange his birthday party?I doubt I’ll live long enough to mark the day he turns sixteen.
Freak will come looking for me,just like he did for Ace when he was taken by the MDMC. But will he even know that I’m gone? I’d expected him to be out for hours. By the time he realises I’m missing, Piero will have killed me. And even if he knows I’ve been taken, there’s no way to track me.
“You’re not very talkative.”
I don’t respond. What’s there to talk about? Begging and pleading won’t help. I’d always known I was a liability if Piero ever wanted to get married again and suspected that he’d never stop looking for me. Maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad if I hadn’t gotten together with Freak. I’d had a good life with the Kings, an extra five years over what staying with Piero was likely to have given me. If I’d stayed in my lane, perhaps I’d have been happy just knowing I’d experienced that borrowed time. But I got together with Freak, and the thought of never seeing him or Ace again is like a knife piercing through me. Piero might not know it, but he doesn’t need to use his fists to shatter me.
I’d been so careful, keeping my head down, not going out too often, just in case he was still looking. If only I hadn’t stayed away from the club and had been there today, he might not have found me. Or, if he had, he’d have had to go through the Kings. Even at home, if Freak was there, my man would have been more than a match for him. Instead of hiding like an animal licking my wounds, I should have coped with the embarrassment and awkwardness at the club and brazened it out. I should have worn the mantle of being Freak’s old lady proudly, instead of keeping my distance.
Now I’m likely never to see any of the Kings again. No coffee mornings with Pippa, nor will I see Trip develop into the brilliant young man I suspect he’s got the potential to be. I won’t share a laugh with Bronwyn…
A sharp, painful pinch to my arm snaps me out of my self-pity. I force myself to turn to my hated husband, wiping all emotion off my face.
For a moment, he just stares at me. “The one good thing is that your father will never know how low you’ve sunk. He never stopped hoping I’d find you. But if he knew what you’d become, a common whore, it would destroy him.”
My father would only care as I was no longer useful as a pawn. “How did you punish him?” I know my husband. It had been a risk when I’d run. I knew he’d have taken it out on my family. It might sound terrible, but I hadn’t cared much. They’d shown no sympathy for the way Piero treated me.
He looks away, then back, his teeth grinding. “I wanted him to lose his position. The boss thought he was more valuable where he was.” An evil grin crosses his face. “It was a shame your father lost his eye in an accident.”
I don’t react, more surprised he left him breathing.
Suddenly, he slaps me across the face so hard my teeth rattle. “You’re a cold bitch, aren’t you? You must have known your father would pay the price. Yet, still you ran.”
“You’d have killed me five years ago if I hadn’t.” I’m driven to snap back.
“If you hadn’t been so defiant, so disobedient, I wouldn’t have had to take my hands to you.”
