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Slowly he lets me go and turns me to face the room. At first it doesn’t register but when it does, my heart feels like it cracks right down the middle in my chest. On every screen there are pictures of a young girl, all different ages. The most recent are on the center computer screen, and there is no doubt who she is. I mean, I feel like I’m looking in a mirror at my younger self. I just don’t understand how, so I ask.
“How did you find her and where is she? Come on, I’m going insane here, people. Where the fuck is my daughter, Lilly, and why didn’t some of you go get her and bring her here? I can’t believe it’s her, but there’s absolutely no doubt who her momma is. Come on, promise I can handle it, just tell me.”
I see Raven look to Tink, who is watching me and Sebastian. She gives a look to my ol’ man then she nods to Raven. My sister looks at me, a very sad look on her face. Then she tears my world apart.
“Glory, we don’t have her here because we aren’t sure which compound she’s at currently. Freak and I have been trying to go under the radar and search, but they have some good hackers. It’s taking us time, but we will get it done.”
Something Raven said hits me and I feel it immediately. My brain is playing catch-up, but did she say something about what compound she’s at? The only time we use that word is in reference to that brotherhood of assholes. Oh my Lord, please don’t tell me my daughter has been alive all this time and has been tortured, rape, and God knows what else all this time. I feel my head get hot and I’m having a hard time breathing. Feeling hands on me, I’m up and out of the room in less than five seconds.
“Bae, gotta breathe. I know this is breaking your heart, but you now know she’s alive. We’ll find her and bring her back here. You gotta believe that.”
“Boo, I’m not gonna make it. Whatever is going on, if someone has harmed a hair on that girl’s head, I will scalp whoever put hands or any other body part on my daughter. My God, Lilly is alive. What happened that day when Oscar took me? Where is Gino, and why did he allow that crazy as fuck brotherhood to have my daughter? I’ve tried to believe Gino wasn’t a part of what went down, but now I’m not so sure. Son of a bitch, do you have any idea how she is? I mean Lilly, do you have anything that will tell me she’s not only alive but okay?”
Then I feel the panic and anxiety rushing through my body, so I reach behind me for Sebastian, who grabs my hand, holding on to it tightly. When I shift and look at him, he is watching me like a hawk. Feeling suddenly hot, my head starts pounding and spinning. Feeling lightheaded, I scream over and over again.
“Lilly, Lilly, Lilly, Lilly, Lilly.”
Right before I let the darkness take over and I pass out, my final thought is,oh my God, my daughter is alive. And in my heart I can feel it, she’s in danger.
FIFTEEN
‘TANK’
JAY
I see the minute Glory’s brain shuts off, right before she starts to slip down after screaming her daughter’s name in a voice I’ll never forget. Pure tortured pain.
“Yoggie, grab her, don’t let her hit the ground. Protect her head, for Christ’s sake. Goddamn, this ain’t the way it was supposed to go. Motherfucker, she’s in shock. Move outta the way, assholes.”
I stomp right to my brother Yoggie, who is carefully supporting Glory’s weight. Everyone is trying to move around in this pissant of an office. Not my club, but fuck, someone’s gotta take charge.
“Every motherfucker out, now. Enforcer, Yoggie, Maggie, Raven, and Freak stay. Yeah, you too, Zoey. No, we ain’t got time to argue. Someone put a call into Dr. Cora, see where she’s at. This is gonna fuck with Glory’s head, might need something to calm her nerves down. Come on, Yoggie, get her over to that fuckin’ miniature couch. Son of a bitch, she’ll barely fit. For Christ’s sake, why can’t you women buy normal furniture for your offices?”
Even though her skulled face shows how worried she is, Zoey smirks my way. That’s my girl, always able to get outta her head. Unlike my other girl, the president of this club. Maggie is running her hands through her hair, glaring at the computer screen.
“For Christ’s sake, Raven, shut that shit down now. We don’t need Glory to wake up and see that. She will immediately pass the hell out again. Not sure what to do, need a minute to think. Why would that brotherhood have Lilly? What’s their purpose because they don’t do anything without a goal in mind. I have no clue. Shit, this is gonna gut her. Why does this shit keep happening to our club? We’re trying our best to make it a better world, I don’t get it. Why does it seem like the entire universe is against each and every one of us.”
Watching my daughter Maggie losing it, I do the only thing a father and fellow president can do. I piss her the fuck off.
“See, I told you years ago, Tink, that you weren’t strong enough to handle this shit. Might want to, how do you women say, ‘put your big girl panties on’ or suck it up, however it makes sense to you. Your girl here is gonna need you with your head on straight so she can lean on you, for fuck’s sake. Think you can do that, Prez?”
I watch and it takes maybe ten or fifteen seconds for that backbone to straighten up. Then those green eyes start flashing at me, right before she blows.
“What did you just say to me? Who the fuck do you think you are, talking to me like that in my own goddamn clubhouse? Get the hell out, old man, don’t need your kind of help. I said, GET THE FUCK OUT NOW!”
The door slams open and there is my ol’ lady, bags in her hands, eyes wide, as she looks from me to Maggie and back again. In that time span of looking at the door, when I glance back, Zoey is at Maggie’s back, as always. And those icy-blue eyes, if they could kill, I’d be dead. Fuck, I can see why she freaks people out, never has she turned those on me. Before I can say a word, my wife steps up.
“I don’t know what’s going on here and I try to stay out of both of your clubs’ bullshit, but after what I just heard I’m in. First, young lady, you will never speak to your father like that again. I don’t give a rat’s ass how old you are. And don’t smirk, Jay, I’m sure you either said or did something to majorly piss Maggie off to lose it like that. And while you two children fight, who’s taking care of Glory? Yoggie, I got her. Go get me some Jack Daniel’s and a bowl with ice and a towel, please. No, don’t ask, I know we can call someone. I’m trying to get a minute with my family so I can ream their asses in private. Freak, Raven, can I have the room?”
Watching my wife in full control has something growing and it ain’t my adoration. This woman, even after all these years, can get my motor running. Though not the time or place as I have some cleanup to do. Diane is right, sometimes I am a bull in a china store.
“Baby girl, come here. No, now, Maggie. I just was trying to pull your head outta your ass. You’ve got this, like you’ve had everything that’s been thrown at you. Come on, daughter of mine, you’re one of the toughest women I know. I get you’re worried about Glory, we all are, but we have to figure out what’s going on and why. Then we can take care of business. ’Kay? You forgive your old man for being a total prick and not thinkin’ before he runs his mouth off?”
Maggie looks up at me and it dawns on me how proud I am of her. Holding her tiny self with her Devil’s Handmaidens MC kutte on, president patch on one side, it hits me hard in the gut how far she’s come. I think to myself,sometimes I don’t give her and her club enough credit for all they do. They all bust their asses to, as she says, make the world a better place while giving survivors a second chance to find a way to move forward and live.
Feeling her tiny arms wrap around my waist, I know I’m forgiven. Maggie has done this since she was a little girl. Never would she say the words‘I forgive you,’she always had to show me. Grabbing hold of her with one mitt, the other goes up to her head, running over her hair. When a second pair of arms wrap around me from the back, I know it’s Z. This is the way it’s been since Maggie found her in that field so long ago. Zoey is a total badass unless you’re one of us Rivers. Then she can turn to mush.
Yoggie comes running back in, a bottle of Jack under one arm while he has a bowl filled with ice and a hand towel. My ol’ lady tells him to bring the bowl to her and I see her wipe Glory’s face. Yeah, that’s my woman, always emotional. But strong as a bull too. She wraps the ice in the towel and places it on Glory’s forehead. The minute it touches skin, Glory’s eyes pop open and she immediately tries to look around, though Diane covers her eyes with the towel.
