“But mommy… daddy can go with us to get the puppy! We don’t have to—”
Her voice drones on, but I ignore it, jerking the car into reverse, then pushing the accelerator to the floor. It lurches backwards, then I brake hard. That stupid idiot jumps in front of the Durango like he can stop it. I jerk the lever back to drive, floor it again, then bounce him off the hood. Annabelle screams and even that makes me smile.
Yeah, I’ll toughen her up. She’ll learn what the real world is about.
We slam through the gates and they break away with the sound of crashing metal. Once we make it through them to the main road, I don’t slow down. I’m laughing louder than Annabelle’s crying. I’m free! I’m finally fucking free! I don’t let off the accelerator. It climbs to fifty, fifty-five, sixty, and then something strange happens. At sixty-five, there’s a loud click. I can hear it over everything else, even Annabelle’s screaming. The car loses power. There’s a loud boom from the back of the vehicle, startling me out of my laughter. Heat swallows us from all directions.
“Daddy! Daddy! I want my daddy! Take me to my daddy!” Annabelle cries, her tears and sobs racking her little body. Fear blooms through me. I look in the rearview mirror just in time to witness the explosion. Fire consumes everything—including us.
It’s a fucking mess. Beast’s kid and that bitch Jan are gone. There’s nothing left of that vehicle. We finally got the fire out, but there’s… nothing. Beast won’t even have true ashes to bury.
He went crazy. It took four men, myself included, to pull him away from the fire. We finally had the club doc tranquilize him. He gave him a double dose and still the fucker fought it. His hands suffered horrible burns, his face and chest too. Another member had to beat the flames out while the four of us held him down. They took him to the hospital while we stayed here and tried to regroup.
We haven’t told anyone but the patched-in members. I don’t want Beth to know. She’s already feeling like this is her fault. If she finds out about Beast’s kid, she’ll completely lose it. Me? Fuck, I’m dealing with my own guilt. I made my choices and I didn’t even think how it would affect my brothers. I guess I didn’t realize this type of blood. All of us know that death can come at the drop of a hat. We know it and embrace it; it’s part of why we live wild. We take our freedom and we make our own rules because that freedom was built with our brothers’ blood.
But nothing can prepare you for the death of a child.
I caused Annabelle’s death. I did this. I should have just taken Beth and left my brothers out of it. This is my war. Instead, I went full steam ahead. If I could go back, I would have done things differently. It’s just too fucking late now.
I look over at Pistol. “Call your brother. We need the men now. We attack at nightfall and we attack hard.”
“Plan A?” Torch asks, and for once, the motherfucker isn’t cocky. No, he’s something else entirely: he’s furious. That’s good. We all need to be.
“Plan fucking A. Saddle up, boys. Before dawn breaks tomorrow, I want every piece of property and every business the Donahues own hit and in flames.” My words are met with a huge battle cry. My men scatter, except for Briar. I grab him by the arm. “I need you to stay with Beth. I want her away from the others. Tell her there’s been a breach in security and I’m doing all I can to make sure she’s safe until I’m back. Do whatever you have to do. I don’t want her to know about Beast or his family until I can be the one to tell her. I can’t take the chance she won’t go off half-cocked.”
Briar doesn’t look happy, but I didn’t expect him to. He’s like the rest of us: he wants to get revenge.
“Boss,” he starts, but I stop him.
“I can’t trust this to a prospect, Briar. Torch and Sabre are in charge of the explosives. Besides him and Beast, you’re the only one I trust my woman with. I know you want your ounce of blood, but I need you here. I promise you’ll get your shot before this is over.”
“Okay. I’ll do it, but she’s not going to be happy.”
“I know. I’ll deal with it. I just need to not worry about her right now.”
“Okay. Go make the motherfuckers pay.”
I slap him on the back. “That, I can promise.”
I walk off. I want to go check on Beast before we ride out. It will take Cade’s men a couple hours to get here. They’ve been held up at the state line to avoid detection from the Donahues. I pull Beth’s cellphone out of my pocket, staring at it. I go through her contacts and hit dial when I find Colin’s number.
“Beth. It’s about time.”
Figures the sorry fucker would give her his private number. I’m going to hang him up by his balls.