“What the fuck do you mean, she’s been taken!” he asks.
“Someone had to have been following us. We’ve covered our tracks, but apparently not well enough,” I say. At this point, the three of us are walking back to the truck.
“Did you check out the area she was at last?”
“Yes, sir. We didn’t find any trace of her,” I reply.
Minx grabs a paper from the front windshield. Her hands shake as she reads it.
“Rascal, you need to see this.” Minx hands me the paper and I quickly read it.
She’s back where she belongs.
Come for her and we’ll kill her.
“What the hell’s goin’ on over there,” Prez asks.
“They have her. Those dumb mother fuckers have her.” I growl out.
Bull sighs. “Get back to Texas, now.”
He hangs up before I can respond. I run my hands over my face.
“What did he say,” Raze asks.
“He wants us back in Texas.”
“Fuck,” he mutters. We climb in the truck and head back to the house. Once there, we start packing our shit. Once I get my own stuff settled, I move to Marley’s room. I glance around the room, not knowing where to begin.
“Do you want some help?” Minx says from behind me.
I nod my head. “Yeah, please.”
With her help, we get Marley’s things packed pretty quick. I give the room one more once over making sure we didn’t forget anything. I take our bags out to my truck, tossing them in the back seat.
“You ready to roll, brother,” Raze asks.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
“You going to be alright driving by yourself?” Concern crosses Minx’s face.
“I’ll be fine, Lil Mama. The sooner we get back, the better.” I hop in my truck and start it up, waiting for Raze to lead the way.
We roll up to the clubhouse close to two in the morning. The front gate has been repaired. To someone who doesn’t know what happened, they’ll never be able to tell anything was ever wrong. Knuckles and Buzz are manning the gate and let us in as soon as they know it’s us. I park my truck, turn it off and head inside, leaving the bags in the back seat.
“Go get some rest. We’re having Church first thing in the morning,” Prez tells me when I walk inside.
“You got it.” I head straight to my room, thankful no one is around to try to talk to me right now. In my room, I take my cut off and lay on my bed. My head is reeling with thoughts of where Marley could be. I pull my pen out of my pocket and take a long draw off it. I set my alarm so I can get up on time for Church.
There’s an ache in my chest that’s hard to ignore. It’s been there since Minx came to the table without Marley. I finally find a woman I want to be with exclusively, make her my Ol’ Lady, only to have her ripped away from me. At some point, I fall asleep, imagining Marley sleeping next to me. It’s short lived as I’m jolted awake after a bloody and bruised image of Marley pops into my head.
“I will find you, Princess,” I whisper into the world. “If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll find you.”
I turn the TV on for some background noise. I don’t pay attention to what’s on, taking another hit of my pen. I lay with my eyes closed for some time, not able to fall asleep. Before long, my alarm goes off.
I head out to the main room for coffee, not bothering to change my clothes. There are a few brothers scattered throughout the main room. I ignore each and every one of them as I walk into the kitchen and make a cup of coffee. I don’t bother adding any creamer or sugar in it, drinking it black. The thought of eating turns my stomach, so I walk out of the kitchen with nothing but my coffee.
“Rascal, come to my office,” Prez calls out. I walk straight into his office and sit on the couch.
“How ya holdin’ up,” he asks.
“Not fuckin’ good.”
“Minx told me you claimed Marley as your Ol’ Lady.” It’s not a question, but a statement.
“Yes, sir.”
“You know even if you hadn’t, we would still be doing everything we can to find her, right?”
“I know. I asked her about bein’ my Ol’ Lady the night before last, not knowin’ yesterday would play out like it did,” I explain to him.
He nods his head. “We’ll get her back.”
“I know we will.”
“Let’s go get Church started. Figure out how to get your lady back.”
We walk out of his office and into Church. I take my seat while Prez moves to the head of the table. He sits and waits for the rest of the brothers to file in and take their places. Once everyone is here and the door is shut, he begins.
“The Cartel wants war, we’ll give them war,” he declares.
31
Rascal
“Rascal, why don’t you explain to everyone what’s happened with Marley since she’s talked to you,” Prez suggests.
“I want to start by sayin’ Marley is my Ol’ Lady. I officially claimed her while we were at the safe house,” I announce to everyone.
“It’s about time, asshole.” Saint laughs.
I flip him off. “Anyway, two years ago, Marley was kidnapped by the Torres Cartel, in California. Her mom died the day before she was kidnapped. I’ve gone over it in my head hundreds of times, wondering if the Cartel had anything to do with her death.”
At that moment, Niko barges into the room with Knuckles on his heels.
“Sorry, Prez. I tried to stop him,” Knuckles says quickly.
Prez nods his head letting him know it’s alright. Knuckles walks back out, closing the door behind him.
“What the Hell is going on?” Niko roars. “Why didn’t anyone tell me my daughter was kidnapped?”
“Woah, wait. Has it been proven she’s your daughter?” I’m not going to let this asshole claim her as his daughter if it’s not true. She wouldn’t want that.
“We used a cup she left in her room to test her DNA,” Prez tells me. “She’s his daughter.”
Niko completely ignores me. “The Orlov Bratva will back the Savage Menaces MC one hundred percent. We will do whatever we need to get my daughter back safely.”
“Tech, do you have any information for us?” Prez directs his attention to Tech.
“Torres has a Lieutenant out in Cali. His name is Rodrigo Sanchez,” Tech announces.
I glance to Niko. His face is as white as a ghost.
“Something you wanna share with us, Niko?” I growl out.
“Rodrigo Sanchez, I knew him once upon a time,” Niko says.
“Explain.” Prez demands.
“When I first met Jenny, Marley’s mother, Rodrigo was hanging around her all the time. He had been trying to date Jenny for months. Then I swoop in and she goes out with me the first time I ask her. We dated and fooled around for six months or so until I had to go back to Russia. I left with us being on bad terms and I’ve regretted it ever since,” he explains.
“Rodrigo must have kept tabs on her after you left,” I say. “Do you think he had anything to do with her death?”