chapter Twenty-Four
“So I talked to Mom last night. To see what she had to say about Richard.”
Liam groaned. He really didn’t want to talk about club business, especially not after the amazing night he’d had with his lady. However, he knew this was important. There had to be a reason that Richard was looking into framing the club, and he needed to know why.
“Do tell.”
“According to her, there was a power struggle at one point between him and Dad. During that power struggle, Mom says that she and Richard got close. What she meant by that, I don’t know. She wouldn’t go any deeper into it than that. She did tell me that Richard wanted to break off into his own charter, and Dad wouldn’t approve it. They had a protection run for Jeffrey Norris. Apparently he was skimming off the top of the books for the city and buying black market electronics. He would in turn sell them on the street for a straight profit. That money then came back into the drug trade. Mom thinks that Jeffrey and Richard had a back-end deal with said drug trade. Jeffrey supplied the money, Richard supplied the drugs. When I asked Mom what she thought about why he wanted to pin this on us right now, she thought it might have something to do with bonds on a life insurance policy.”
She stopped, letting this all sink in. It was obvious that Liam was having a hard time processing.
“A life insurance policy? This is an awful lot of bullshit to hand out to a lot of people for a motherf*cking insurance policy.” He couldn’t believe it was as simple as that.
“With Jeffrey’s body never found, they couldn’t have him declared dead. He’s been a missing person. Since Richard’s been buying up all this property and buildings, she figured his cash reserves are being depleted, especially since he’s not earning with the club anymore. Apparently, Richard is the beneficiary on one of Jeffrey’s policies because of their back-end deal. Mom thinks, too, that at one time they may have been trying to go legit together – that’s neither here nor there. His name is on a life insurance policy, she knows that for sure. If he can get the money and hurt the club at the same time – why not? There’s also all that land the club owns out on Highway 185. You know people have been trying to get it for years, they think it’ll make a great housing community. If the club gets taken down, then he could have a legal right to it. He was here when the club started. I’m sure his name is on the deed to most of that land. Mom offered to check on it for us, since she works at the courthouse.”
The information took a while to sink in, and when it did Liam cursed. “So this isn’t some spur of the moment bad decision on his part. He’s thought this through.”
“Exactly. We need to be on our toes.”
“What about the reporter? Where does she fit in all of this?”
Roni shrugged. “Collateral damage? I think she was just a pawn, and she’s talked to a few too many people. I’m a little scared for her. My thought on it is he used her to figure out who we were using, to gain himself an ally. When that didn’t work, he just started playing with her. Now he’s fed her bad information, and he knows for sure she’s shared it. In his eyes she’s a narc.”
“We can’t worry about her. She’s made her bed, she’ll have to lie in it,” Liam dismissed Meredith’s role in this.
“You wanna tell your bff that? Tyler is so far into that girl I don’t think he knows where she ends and he begins. We have to warn her. She really could be in trouble and being cute is not going to get her out of it. These people could really hurt her.”
“F*ck,” he hissed. “I’ll call him and let him know. Tell him to give her a heads up. I have a feeling that ‘special report’ was nothing but a set up on their part.”
“I hate to say this, but you may wanna warn Denise too. Just because we don’t hurt woman doesn’t mean they don’t.”
He groaned. “We just had a motherf*cking conversation about keeping her safe. This would have to happen now.”
“Maybe we should do a lockdown for a few days. Until you can find Richard and find out exactly what he’s doing. I mean, he’s gonna be sticking close by. As soon as that report comes back and gets filed, he’s going to petition the court. You can bet your ass on that.”
She had a point. It appeared Richard wouldn’t stop until he got what he wanted, and that meant money and blood on his hands. “I’ll talk to the old man.”
Meredith was beginning to feel uneasy. Her body was still sore from what it had gone through in the explosion, and now her contact from the Vojnik was running late. He was never late. This wasn’t exactly the best part of town to be in, and nerves were starting to make her stomach queasy. Pulling the jacket she wore tighter around her body, she paced by the river that flowed through the outskirts of the city. She stood under a bridge that most teenagers used for prom pictures, but she didn’t feel any of that lighthearted carefreeness at this time. At night this turned into a very different place. Homeless men and women inhabited the underbelly where the abutments marked the beginning and end of the structure. Tonight, though, everything appeared quiet. That didn’t stop the nervousness in her stomach at the way the lights made shadows on the ground. Her hands shook with fear, even though she tried to portray a sense of calm. Looking at her watch, she cursed. Her contact was almost an hour late, and she was about to jump out of her skin.
“I’m gonna wait five more minutes, and if the a*shole isn’t here by then I’m leaving,” she muttered.
Tyler had tried calling her on her way here, but she’d ignored the call. She was sick of all of this. Denise had been right, she was a pawn and she didn’t know how to make this better. Maybe Tyler could help her, maybe he couldn’t.
Blowing out a deep breath, she turned to begin her pacing again. Out of nowhere, something hard hit her from behind, and she fell to the ground face first. Stunned, she tried to rise up on her elbows, only to feel the hardness of a male body atop hers. She tried to scream, but a gloved hand clamped over her mouth. Thinking quickly, she launched her teeth into the skin of the leather, but it did nothing more than muffle her scream even further. Thrashing about, she threw her head back trying to hit her attacker, but the assailant grabbed her hair tightly and pulled. Tears sprang to her eyes as she tried to escape, screaming hoarsely. Releasing his hand from her mouth, he shoved her face in the dirt, rocks, and trash that littered the ground.
“Please,” she begged, feeling his hand skim her backside as he pulled her pants and underwear from her body. “No,” she cried into the ground.
At this moment, she knew that no one could hear her. Trying to scream only succeeded in more dirt coating her tongue and throat. She dug her fingers into the ground, feeling her nails break as she clawed at the dirt.
“This is a message, and I hope you hear it loud and clear bitch. Stop tryin’ to play clubs against each other.”
All too soon, she could feel his nakedness against her skin and then he shoved himself into her from behind. She cried out, trying desperately to get as far away from the pain as she could. It lasted for only minutes, but felt like hours. She prayed harder than she’d ever prayed that this man would be fast. The feel of semen hitting her back repulsed her so much that she vomited.
The man turned her over, and she fought to look at him, notice anything about him that may help her later. She squinted up at him, but he wore a black mask and there was no light. She did see blue eyes so she knew he was Caucasian.
“You keep your nose out of club business or even worse will happen to you next time,” he threatened.
She could do nothing more than nod as tears streamed down her face. He began to get up, but as he did he leaned over her, and his fist knocked her first to the left and then to the right. She curled up into a ball, trying to protect herself as he hit her again and again. When he was finished, he pulled a dollar bill from his pocket and threw it down on her chest.
“For services rendered.”
As he walked away, she heard his phone ring with a ringtone that would forever be implanted into her brain. A little girl sang Happy Birthday dear daddy. This man was someone’s father; the thought made her even sicker.
She waited a full five minutes before raising herself to her knees and pulling her pants up. Her body screamed in pain, and she groaned loudly. Swaying, she wiped the blood from her face and looked around slowly. Her vision swam as she fought to drag herself up to where she had parked her car. There were no steps to take her to the parking lot, and her body protested in agony with every step she took. It had been through a lot the past few days. Just as she crested the top of the hill and pulled herself up, she heard the rumbling of a bike echo through the night.
Shivering, despite the fact that she now sweated, she pulled her tattered shirt tightly around her body, keeping her head down. She had no idea where her jacket had gone, and she hadn’t thought to look for it. Meredith didn’t know if this bike was friend or foe and, to be honest, she had few friends when it came to the biker community. That was now painfully true. The bike pulled in next to her car, and it took all the courage she possessed to look at the rider. Her lips trembling, her teeth chattering, she cried out when she saw that it was Tyler.
“Help me,” she whispered, her lip quivering as the tears and shakes overtook her body.
“Good God, Meredith. I’ve been looking for you everywhere. What the hell happened?” he asked as he took his helmet off and strode quickly over to meet her.
“Take me home,” she pleaded.
Taking in the bruising high on her cheekbones, around her eyes, and the blood caking her lips, he shook his head. “Home, hell. You need a doctor.”
“No doctor! Just take me home.”
He cursed, he had been too late in warning her. He’d gone to her duplex and waited for hours. When she hadn’t shown up, he’d taken off, searching the city for her car. Finally seeing it sitting in this empty parking lot had struck him in the solar plexus. Pulling out his pre-pay, he punched in a familiar number.
“Yeah, I found her, but she’s been beaten badly. If you aren’t home, you go check on Denise right now. I have a feelin’ this is just the beginning.”
He hung up and held his hand out to her. “Give me your keys. I’m taking you someplace safe.”
Meredith wanted to argue with him, tell him that she didn’t need to be taken anywhere besides home. Instead she handed him the keys she’d had in her pocket the whole time. Listlessly laying them in his palm, she sobbed.
“Why didn’t I use those? I had them in my pocket. Why didn’t I use it to stab his f*cking eyes out?”
Tyler didn’t know what to do. If he tried to put his arms around her, would she flinch? Did she need comfort?
“You did the best you could with what you had, and that’s all anybody can ask.”
His calm words washed over her, and he directed her to the passenger side of her car. Once he had her in, he made another call on his cell. In the distance she could hear him asking a Prospect to come and get his bike. When he got in behind the wheel, she knew they were heading for the clubhouse, and she had to wonder exactly what kind of reception would be waiting her there.