***
Hours.
That’s all it was, although it felt like an eternity.
Everyone was weirdly silent, talking in hushed tones like this was a wake and not a search mission. I had never seen the Savage Sons so subdued. I wanted to scream and shout at them to make more noise. Because this silence was worse than their loud chatter from earlier. It felt like they had already given up.
The sound of someone hammering on the door made everyone jump. Everyone except Maggie, who was sitting by the window looking out thoughtfully. “It’s the Judge.” Her shoulders stiffened, the fingers she had been drumming on the windowsill stilled but she didn’t move.
“I’ll get it, you sit down.” Fang barked as I went to stand up. “You let us deal with him, Havoc. You will lose control and kill him before he can tell us anything useful.”
He had a point there.
“Take him in the kitchen. Maggie doesn’t need to see this.” I didn’t turn to her and she didn’t look at me. She already knew that this wasn’t going to be pleasant. She had been born into the club and had no misconceptions as to what kind of men we were but that didn’t mean she needed to see us torture a man. “Why don’t you head home Maggie, or a hotel or…?”
She didn’t let me finish. “No Havoc. I’m not leaving. I need to be here. I need to know what he has done.”
“You think he has done something to her don’t you?”
“Yes.” One simple word but it shook me. I thought so as well but to hear her say it sent shockwaves through me. “Yes, I think he has.”
How much did saying those words cost her?
The Judge appeared in my living room doorway, Fang close on his heels. My baby brother was between them. His face contorted in pain as Fang twisted his arm up behind his back.
He took one look at us all gathered there and hatred filled his eyes. “What the fuck is going on? Why have I been picked up? You work for the family. When they find out...” he spat heavily towards the Judge, who turned so quickly it was like magic. His hands closed around Lucas’ jaw, squeezing cruelly. “Do not talk to me about family, not when you betray your own. Where do you want him?”
“Kitchen”
Following them as they dragged him towards the room at the back of the house I paused long enough to settle my eyes on Maggie. “You stay here, do you understand?”
She nodded demurely, in a very un-Maggie like fashion. “Don’t hurt him unless you have to Havoc. He is still blood. Promise me.”
Turning on my heel I went back to her, bending to press my lips against her grey hair. “I promise Maggie.”
***
“Where is she?” My voice was uncannily soft as I closed the kitchen door behind me. I didn’t cross the room and smash my fist into my brother’s smug face, I leant heavily against the closed door and just glared at him.
“Who? Darcie?” His laughter was mocking but there was a ring of fear to it. He was nothing but a little boy trying to act tough, it was an act that would get him killed.
“Yes, Darcie,” I said through clenched teeth,
“Last time I saw her she was in my bed looking thoroughly fucked.” He grinned at me from his place on a chair in the middle of the kitchen. “How does it feel, Liam? Knowing she crawled back to my bed begging for a real man…”
He didn’t get to finish the sentence. I flew across the room. My fist smashed into his jaw, swinging his head back. The chair he was on toppled to the tiled floor and it was only then that I realised he had been tied to it by black leather belts.
“Don’t fucking bite.” Fang pulled me backwards but not before I had kicked my little brother’s ribs brutally. “That’s what he wants, Havoc.”
“Where is she?” I knew Fang was right but that didn’t make it any easier. Had she really gone back to his bed? I didn’t want to believe it.
“She’s gone home. Back to England. She couldn’t wait to be gone. Does that hurt you, big brother? You liked her, didn’t you? How does it feel to know she couldn’t wait to be far away from you? Did you think you could get to keep a girl like her? Please.” He laughed. “She was slumming it with you that all. She doesn’t give a fuck about you.”
“No, she hasn’t.” The Judge detached himself from the wall by the back window. A phone still clutched in his hand. “She’s not gone home at all, has she Lucas?” His voice was icy. I had seen the worst of what the Judge could do but I had never heard that chilling ice in his voice before. He shook his head, his usually full lips thinning into nothing. “Do you want to tell these good men what you have done?”
“They aren’t good men.”
“Compared to you they are fucking saints. Tell them. Look your brother in the face. Look at your grandmother and tell them. You are filth.”
