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“Two, but we can get more if needed,” Trace takes a seat across from Vanessa and next to Rides. “I know half of them have left town this evening. One of mine contacted me and said he’d witnessed them leaving. If we can get the count of how many are left, that would help.”

Joker speaks again. “I’ll go back and get a count. The best that I can, anyway. Miri, you stay here with Vanessa, no wandering back to check on your sister. She’s there willingly, so let her get whatever consequences are coming her way.”

“Okay, but if she comes here again, I’m not hiding,” I reply because I’m more than ready to tell Geri what I think of her. I’m going to sell the house because I want nothing to do with her. She’s become nothing but a trafficker, that’s what it is when you grab women off the street.

Rides grins. “You know you said about the house and trafficking out loud, don’t you?”

“No! Oh, gee,” I see all of them grinning at me and know he’s telling me the truth. I used to have this habit when I was young of blurting out what I was thinking. It got me into a lot of hot water.

Vanessa pulls herself together first. “If your sister is with these people willingly, and it sure looks that way, then she deserves what’s coming, whether it be prison or she loses everything. She could even die, Miri. Are you ready for that?”

“I was never close with Geri. She was a wild child, but she was never horrible that I remember. If she is, as we think she is, responsible for these women being taken, and then making them become nothing more than prostitutes, she deserves all that’s coming. I’m going to call a realtor and get the house up for sale. I want nothing more to do with her.”

Joker reaches over and takes my hand, giving it a squeeze. “It’s difficult, but you are doing the right thing. You don’t want to be dragged down with her. Things like this have a habit of grabbing hold of you and pulling you in the wrong direction, and you can bet you’d be the one that took the blame, because they never admit what they’ve done.”

Trace speaks to Joker and Rides. “What are you two doing? Following them, wanting to join them? What?”

Rides looks at Trace as though he wants to choke him. “No, we are not fuckin’ wanting to join them. We are the Restless Demons MC, and we are keeping an eye on the fuckers so we can alert our brothers if, or when, the assholes hit Kansas. We know this MC is rogue, meaning they have no base. They are roaming from state to state and pushing at any MC they come across for a weakness. That’s the point - they will snatch the territory, businesses, and women for themselves. So far, they have been met with full retaliation. From what we have heard, at the moment, they have been negotiating with a local MC in this area, but it fell through. Now they are looking to see where they are going next.”

Trace nods. “Okay, that’s sensible. Vanessa, you keep Miri here with you. If you want to sell the house, Miri, do it quickly. Does your sister have access to any of your finances? If she does, check them because the men she is with don’t look like they have a dollar to their names.”

I pick up my phone from where I’d laid it on the table after showing Geri’s photograph to Joker and Rides. I log into my banking app and quickly see that my savings are empty. I swallow hard and feel rage rip through me. Some of those savings were from my father and the rest was hard saved from my salary. I’m going to kill Geri. I’m going to rip out her guts with a dull spoon.

“A dull spoon you say?” Joker smirks.

“She cleaned out my savings. I knew she had seen my password the day I changed it. She was sitting next to me at the kitchen counter when I did it. I’d just had a close call with a scammer, and the bank advised me to change my login details. I never would have thought she’d do that to me,” I snarl. I pull up the message Geri sent and start typing.

Miri: You bitch, you total, utter bitch. You cleaned out my savings account. You took the money our father left me. Me! Not you. I’m going to call the law, my bank and anyone else I can think of, AND Geri, if we ever meet again be aware I’m going to rip your head off and shove it up your own ass.

Joker, who had leaned over reading what I typed, gives a hoot of laughter. “Well, that told her. I would sell the house quickly and take what she owes you out of her cut of the sale, but you’ll have to be quick.”

Standing, I step away from the four of them and grab my laptop. I sit at an empty table and find a realtor who can sell the house. I type in the details that are needed and hope they will get back to me quickly. I’m going to sign for Geri too, let her complain about that!

My phone pings again.

Geri: I’ll pay you back, Miri. I only borrowed it. Can you come and visit me? I keep messaging but you never answer. I know you are mad at me, but I’m your sister and I needed money.

I snort laughter that you can’t call amusing laughter, which gains me four people looking my way. I step over and give Vanessa my phone, and I get back to my laptop. I send the enquiry form to the realtor and sit back thinking what I could do to help get these women away from these bikers and Geri. Geri? Who would have thought she’d turn out evil? I would love to kick her ass, and it wouldn’t be the first time, but not for something this heinous.

“What if I lure Geri away to speak to me? Do you think she’d bring the asshole she’s dating with her? Maybe a few of them? Then you can get in and snatch the women while I’m messing with her.” I grin because yeah, that could work.

The room is silent, and I’m not sure what they are all thinking for a minute. Vanessa looks as if she’s swallowed a lemon. Trace is rubbing his chin, and that’s his typical thinking-hard pose. Joker and Rides are looking at each other, having this silent conversation that men seem to do. I wait. There is nothing else I can do at the moment but wait for them to mull over what I’ve suggested.

“It’s worth considering under the right circumstances. But before we even contemplate the idea, we need to know how many of my buddies can be around to make sure it doesn’t become a shitshow.” Trace rubs his chin again once he’s spoken.

Rides smiles and I’m not sure what he’s going to say, but it wasn’t what I expected. “How about Joker here throws his cut on your back, Miri? You become his old lady, which puts the Restless Demons MC protection on your shoulders. It would give the assholes a shock to see you already the property of Joker, and our MC. What do you say, Joker? You up for it?”

I’m dumbstruck. It’s the only way to describe it. Joker, however, is looking me up and down and grinning like he won the damn lottery. Vanessa starts to clap her hands, and Trace laughs.

“I can do that, Rides. Miri here is a perfect old lady…”

“Hey, don’t call me old. I’ll have you know I’m younger than you are old man,” I snarl, but Rides and Joker laugh heartily, which, of course, has Trace and Vanessa laughing too.

A cup shoots across the table and hits Joker’s hand. He stops laughing and looks around the diner. We all look around too, but nobody is here except the five of us.

“Bono, don’t fuckin’ start. You’ll scare the shit outta our friends,” Joker says.

I side-eyed him before looking at Vanessa. I swirl my finger around my temple to show he’s loco, but when a pen flies from next to my laptop onto my knee I look around more carefully but still see nothing. “What the…”