THE NEXT CHAPTER BOOK IS

Sinners MC Reunion

Chapter One

 

From Saber- Sinners MC- 

When The Sinners Meet The Knights

“Who the fuck are these guys?” Nix asked Queenie, as he slammed the door behind them.

Pony glared at him. “We’re the Sinners from Boston, who the fuck are you?”

“Name’s Nix and I’m part of the Knights MC.” The big man crossed his arms over his chest.

Queenie growled at the two men. “Put your dicks back in your pants, boys. We are all on the same damn side. We need to get back on the road and Danny back to his family.”

Danny looked stricken as he moved toward Queenie and shook his head. “But you guys are my family, Queenie. Don’t you love me anymore?”

Queenie brushed his blond hair away from his forehead. Then she reached out and cupped both sides of his face. “Of course I love you, little man. I have since the day I first saw you. But I’ve never made any secret of the fact that you had a family somewhere else and they were missing out on watching you grow up. I’ve been looking to find them every chance I could, you know that.”

Danny nodded. “But I thought when you couldn’t find them that I could stay with you and Paladin.” He referred to Queenie’s Grandfather.

Queenie slowly pulled him toward her.

He hugged her tightly.

“Danny,” Queenie said. “Grandpa Paladin and I would have loved that but I found your family today. You have a dad who has missed you so much and he wants you back.” She referred to Hawk, President of Sinners.

Pony, Hawk’s VP snorted. “You also got a little sister named Tanny and boy, she’s gonna own you once we get you home.”

Queenie looked over at him as she got to her feet and shook her head. “We’ve got to roll boys. We’ve been out in the open too long and the Greens will figure out where we were going soon. I hope not, but Duggen would know by now where I went.” She paused and stared at Saber. “You guys can protect him, right?”

Saber glared at her.

Pony and Bandit looked upset.

“Hell yeah, we can protect him,” Pony stated.

Queenie held up her hand to stop the backlash. “Not saying you can’t, I was just asking. Our enemies don’t care if you’re a kid or a woman. They will go right through you to get to their objective. The Greens are an unusual kind of MC, they are ugly and just plain mean. Duggen’s MC Satan’s Lair is just evil like their name. The Green’s and their minions will charge right in, thinking they have the high ground.”

“I think we can handle the Greens,” Pony added.

Queenie turned to glare at him. “Anyone with half a brain could see you guys are prepared. But if you’ve never dealt with them, you have no fucking idea what they’re like. They have a one track mindset. They just take whatever they want and if you object, they shoot you, then they take it anyway. Cooter rules that MC with an iron fist.” She paused in her tirade when Danny wrapped his arms around her waist. She hugged him closer and looked at the men around her. “Ok, we’ve got to get back. We need to get him to his father.”

Chapter One

Two months Later…

Nix and his group finally arrived in Boston. It had been a fairly short trip but a tense one. Nix realized this reunion was coming out of left field but he also knew it was past time it happened. Paladin had told him he needed to do this but Nix was wondering if he was opening a Pandora's box that needed to stay shut.

He looked over at the other rider beside him, Riptide and prayed this first meeting would go well. Riptide had been looking for his father most of his life. Nix knew Hawk could put the two of them together and maybe clear the path but first, he needed to hear Riptide’s story and there was the rub. He might not ever accept Riptide but Nix hoped he would. Riptide was an ok guy in his books. He and his men had helped their MC, the Knights, rid the world of the Green’s family and made the world a better place because they were no longer around.

When Riptide told them his story, Paladin advised Nix that they needed to introduce him to Hawk and see where it went.

Checking his mirrors, Nix saw Paladin’s truck behind them and grinned. Paladin wouldn’t have missed this visit as he’d been missing Danny and Queenie something fierce. It hadn’t been that long but long enough. Now that the Greens were taken care of, there wasn’t any reason to put this trip off any longer.

As they made their way through the silent city, Nix wondered why he felt like his life was on the line at the moment.

They made the last turn and had a short street to ride before they came to the front gates of the Sinners compound. Nix pulled to a stop just as the front door opened and Sinners came out on the porch. They lined up.

For a long moment, the two groups of men just stared at each other. 

Finally, Paladin got out of his truck and stomped his way to the front gate. Then he yelled out, “Queenie, get your butt out here and greet an old man? Danny, you in there, kiddo?”

Suddenly, the front door was thrown open. Queenie and Danny or Caden as he was now called, rushed outside.

They paused briefly and Queenie yelled back, “Grandpa!” Then both of them rushed to the front gates.

Hawk and Saber hurried after them.

When they got there, Queenie and Caden were both speaking a mile a minute. They were so happy and excited to see Paladin.

Hawk growled and hit the code to open the gate. 

Grinning, Paladin rushed through the portal to hug them both.

Hawk looked over at Saber and shook his head. “I think they know him, don’t you?”

Saber nodded then laughed. “Yeah, they know him but I don’t know any of them except for Nix.”

Hawk studied the other riders and he looked troubled. “Me either.” He stared at Nix and asked, “What’s going on here and why did you bring them? Who are they?”

Nix was about to speak but Paladin beat him to it, “Hawk, this is someone you need to meet. We’ve known him a spell. So when Nix came back after the trouble with the Greens and the Lairs, we discussed it and thought we’d just show up and bring you two boys together.”

“Two?” Hawk furrowed his brows.

Paladin nodded. “Just wait till you see him, Mr. Hawk. It is incredible.” He turned his head and nodded at one of the riders.

Bigger than all the others, the rider reached up to take off his helmet. 

As he shook out his long blond hair, Hawk was stunned. It was like looking into a mirror as he studied the man’s face. “Who the hell are you?” he whispered.

“My road name is Riptide. My mama gave me the name Magnus Westerly, even if she wasn’t married to the man who fathered me. Who the hell are you?” He stood up on both feet and towered over the others.

Hawk could see how well built the man was. He stood at least 6 foot 4 inches tall and his chest easily matched Hawk’s own. But it was the other man’s face that drew his gaze. The resembalance was uncanny and his name, well that couldn’t be just a coincidence. “My road name is Hawk but my real name is James Dean Westerly. And if I didn’t know any better, I would think that I’m your brother.” Then his troubled gaze turned into a glare. “I’m gonna kill that old man one day and it might just be sooner rather than later.”

 Riptide rested his helmet on his side and looked at Hawk. “And just who is this old man?”

Hawk snorted. “He would be my father, Senator Harlan Westerly.”

 Riptide nodded at him. “Yep, that’s the man she named me for and although I don’t know him personally, I think I might just help you to kick his ass. But before we do, I need some answers and I think so do you.”

The rest of the men took their helmets off and sat on their bikes as they all had the same questions in their eyes. 

Hawk stared at them and slowly shook his head, then offered, “Well you better come in and let’s parley. Maybe we can get some answers before we confront the old man.”

 Riptide gave him a nod then looked back at his men. He nodded at the men on their rides.

 The riders rolled their bikes behind him inside the gate. 

Queenie looked at her grandfather as she sighed and shook her head.

 “What?” Paladin asked. “What was I supposed to do? I think they needed each other and I don’t regret it one damn bit.”

“Grandpa, that stubborn streak of yours is gonna get you into trouble one of these days,” Queenie told him in disgust. Hooking her arm in his and then in Danny’s, she led them both back to the clubhouse. “To get you up to date…Danny is now called Caden and he’s Hawk’s son. He has a little sister named Tanny. Hawk also has a wife Tula, so mind your manners.”

Paladin snorted at her warning to mind his manners. “Girl, you know me better than that. I wouldn’t bring bad manners to another MC. I always behave myself when I go to another club and I expect visitors to do the same in my club.”

Queenie looked at him with speculation in her gaze. “Oh, yeah? Then why did you bring Riptide here?”

Paladin got a determined look in his eyes and said, “I just brought two brothers together, is all. Ain’t nothing wrong with that.” He shrugged and explained, “When Nix told us of this man Hawk and how he could be Rip’s own brother. That they looked so much alike, I couldn’t help it. You know part of Rip’s story and how his mama’s gone now. Everyone needs family sometimes, girl. He’s just looking for a place he can call home. Well this is me just trying to give him that.”

They entered the clubhouse and Caden showed him where to sit. 

Tanny came over and hung back while looking at Caden then at Paladin.

Paladin looked over at the little girl and smiled at her. “Are you young Caden’s little sister?”

Tanny nodded but for once was silent.

Caden rolled his eyes. “Grandpa, this is Tanny and she’s a right royal pain in the behind at times.”

Tanny frowned and stuck her tongue out at her brother and said, “You’re a bigger pain bucko, so that’s like painting me with the same brush.”

Paladin chuckled at the pair. “I swear child, you remind me so much of Queenie when she was your age, you really do.”

Tanny paused to study him and asked, “So is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

Paladin shook his head, “That’s a very good thing. I miss that little girl a lot.”

“But why do you miss her?” Tanny asked. “She’s standing right beside you now.”

Paladin nodded. “Yes, I know that but back when she was your age, she used to ask me a thousand questions a day. Now she’s all grown up and I guess she knows everything. So she doesn’t do that anymore and I miss it.”

Tanny nodded then told him, “She might not ask any more questions cuz you already told her all the things she needs to know.”

Paladin nodded. “Maybe but there is always something new to learn, isn't there?”

Tanny thought for a moment then shrugged. “Maybe she asks Sabertooth now.”

Paladin nodded. “I imagine she does but that’s a good thing for her and sad thing for me because I don’t see her too much anymore.”

“Grandpa, don’t you worry, you still got me in your corner.” Danny/Caden told him. 

“Wait a minute here… if you’re my brother Caden, does that mean he’s my grandpa too?” Tanny asked.

Caden shook his head sadly. “He’s not really my grandpa. He’s Queenie’s grandpa and mine because she found me and took me in.”

Paladin narrowed his eyes at the boy’s words. “Doesn’t that make me your honorary grandpa, boy? Or are you just gonna toss me aside now that Queenie found your real family?”

Caden’s eyes widened in shock at Paladin’s words. “You still want me as part of your family?” he whispered.

Paladin snorted. “You are and will always be part of our family. I know you ain’t blood, but you are still part of us, kiddo. Me and Queenie took you in, we gave you a roof over your head, and food to fill your belly and most importantly, we gave you love and that’s all you needed then. You crept into our hearts and that’s what makes you family. If you ever need us, we’ll always be there for you and yours.” Then he turned to Tanny to say, “I guess that makes you part of our family too. I’d be proud if you could call me your grandpa, child. Although I understand you already have a grandpa, I can be a spare if you like?”

Tanny grinned then turned to Caden and stuck her tongue out again.

Paladin shook his finger at her. “Don’t you go doing that. You shouldn’t disrespect anyone, let alone your own family and do you know why?”

Tanny shook her head as her eyes rounded.

“Number one, it ain’t nice and number two: Caden is your brother and there are gonna be times when family is all you got. You treat them right and they will treat you right. You got that, little girl?”

Tanny nodded.

“Now, you apologize to your brother.” 

Tanny looked down then swung her gaze back up with tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Caden.”

Paladin looked at Caden and nodded. 

Caden went over to Tanny and pulled her into a hug. “I forgive you  Tanny. I guess we’re still learning how to be a family. But you always stick your tongue out, so I thought it was something you couldn’t help.”

Paladin paused at this and then he laughed.

Queenie chuckled too. She glanced over at Hawk to see him smile a bit, so Paladin didn’t cross a line anyway. Paladin’s way of teaching might not be right all the time but he did right this time. Then she looked over at Hawk and Riptide. Her grandfather told him he brought the two brothers together and maybe they needed to know of each other but she also had a feeling he probably just stirred up a helluva hornet’s nest. 

Saber had told her a little about Hawk’s family dynamics. So she knew this wasn’t going to go over well...not well at all.

Chapter Two

Hawk stared at the table while still trying to digest the fact that he had a brother after all this time. Also, to know that his brother was only a few months younger than he was? This discovery meant that his dad had been fooling around on his mom when she was pregnant with him. Harlan Westerly had always been a bastard but this just made it very real to Hawk. The man had become a senator, but in reality, he was nothing but a man-whore.

He looked up at Riptide. They were both victims in this situation, including whatever woman had been involved. Hawk felt sure she hadn’t known the full facts about Harlan upon going into the illicit relationship with him. This seemed to be a pattern his father followed all these years. Cheat, cheat, cheat. He shook his head. “So who is your mother and why did she give you his last name?”

 Riptide shrugged and asked, “My mom’s name is Claudia Harper and why not give me his last name? She had that much self respect at least. They were never married but he’s my father even if he never acknowledged me, he’s still my father.”

Hawk nodded. “Did he know that?”

 Riptide sat back in his chair and glared at Hawk, then he nodded. “Yeah, he knew. He might not have hung around for her or for me but he always paid the support he promised. She got her last check when I turned eighteen.”

Hawk felt the dread growing in his belly. His own dad had a whole other family and never told them. Hawk looked over at Pony and curled his lip a bit. 

Pony nodded and got up and walked down the hall to see if they could find any info on Harlan’s payments to Riptide’s mom. 

Hawk looked back at his brother and said, “Yeah well, there’s a reason he never married your mom because he was already married to my mother and she wasn’t letting him go that easy. They stayed married about twelve years but they were never happy.  In the end, she finally told him he was a lousy husband and he had to agree with her. She left us all behind and walked out but Harlan was never a good father either. He remarried his affair partner and had another kid then she ended walking out four years later. Then he had two kids at home and he didn’t really want either of us so he hired a housekeeper and went off to build his business and start a run in politics. My sister Lisa and I grew up and when I left home, I got into this club and now my dad pretends to ignore the fact that I’m here and Lisa’s husband  is running his business. Dad is still in politics and still trying to tell me how to live my life.”

 Riptide “Yeah, my mom always told me she knew he wasn’t a good man but she wanted me, so she kept me. She never said anything bad about him and the day I left her, she said I should just let it go. She knew I hated the fact that he never acknowledged me. She really wanted me to leave it be. Well I tried, I really did. Then a couple of weeks ago, Paladin told me he knew you were my brother and if I wanted answers, I needed to come here and get them.” He paused then shook his head. “I didn’t know if you would see me but I had to try and reach out. Hell, I’m not even sure what I expected, then I got curious you know?”

“Curious?” Hawk frowned.

 Riptide nodded. “Yeah, I wanted to find out if you knew about me, if dear ole dad had ever said anything about having another kid out there. But from the look on your face, I knew he never did.”

Hawk shook his head. “No, he never did but I’m not too surprised by that. One thing dad never did was talk about the important stuff. At least, he never did with me. Me? After I joined this club almost twenty years ago, he kept trying to get me away from the MC life. He kept telling me my choices were ruining the Westerly name and what it had become. His business and his senate post means everything to him, but my being a biker means nothing to him.” He looked around the room and shook his head. “The life we have here is a good one. I have a family here, my brothers, my kids and my wife. It’s a good life. We’re a legit club and we have our own businesses in town. I wouldn’t trade what I have here for a suit and tie life anywhere.”

 Riptide nodded. “I’ve been with a club and on my own too. I found Paladin’s club about four years ago. It’s a good club but there was something missing there. Then he told me about you and I thought maybe it was time for you to know about me. And here we are.”

Just as Hawk was about to say something they all heard a shout from the front gate. Hawk frowned as he got up and went over to the front door to see two men standing there. He grimaced when he recognized Billy Ray Looken standing on the other side of the fence with his son, Steven. 

It had been Billy Ray that was yelling.

Hawk and a few others walked outside and over to the gate, “What the hell are you yelling about, Billy Ray?”

Billy Ray rubbed his hand over his five o’clock shadow and glared at him. “I want my daughter back.”

Hawk felt a bit confused. “Ok, so why did you come here looking for her? She ain’t here.”

Steven growled and snarled, “Not true, she’s here alright.”

Hawk turned his head slowly and glared at the younger man. “I’ve never seen Rika here before. I see her sometimes at her job in town but as far as I know, she’s never been behind these walls and I don’t like you insinuating that I’m lying.”

Steven just glared at him. “She’s friends with your Talla or whatever her name is. Get her out here and make her tell us where Rika is. She’s in trouble and me and Pa have to drag her ass home.”

“My woman’s name is Tallulah and I’m not ordering her to do anything.” Hawk growled. “I’ve been home all day and I haven’t seen Rika anywhere on the property.”

Steven didn’t wait, instead he began screaming his sister's name from where he was standing, “Rika, git your skinny butt out here! Rika, come on girl.”

Hawk growled and said, “Quit acting like an idiot, boy. Your sister isn’t here.”

Billy Ray slapped his hand on Steven’s chest and growled, “Come on, son.” He looked back at Hawk and grumbled, “If you see her Hawk, tell her to get her ass home. She’s got chores to do.”

Hawk didn’t reply as he watched Billy Ray and Steven walk back to their truck. After they got in, the truck turned around to leave a cloud of dust in their wake.

 Riptide stepped up next to Hawk and asked, “What the hell was that all about?”

Hawk snorted. “Billy Ray Looken and his spoiled son Steven were looking for Billy Ray’s daughter. Rika and Tallulah are friends. Tallulah has offered Rika a place if her home life ever gets out of hand and she needs a place to hide for a while.” He shook his head. “But I haven’t seen her and I told them that. I don’t think they believed me, so we’ll have to watch for them to cause trouble.”

 Riptide stared at him and asked, “What kind of men are they?”

Hawk shook his head. “Not very good I’m afraid. Billy Ray has never done a decent day’s work in his life. Steven is a spoiled brat, pretending to be a man but both of them are alike…they like to drink and live like slobs.”

 Riptide shook his head. Waving his hand in front of his face he said, “Yeah, I noticed that neither of them like to bathe. Man, that’s just sad.”

Hawk nodded. “Can you imagine what their house looks like?”

“Not sure I want to.” Riptide shook his head. “But I’ve known men like that before. All they do is cry and whine about the life they live but never take the steps to change anything either.”

Hawk just shook his head. “That’s true enough. Although from what I understand, Rika does try. I wonder where she is and why she left?”

 Riptide shrugged. “Who knows why a woman does anything?” Shaking his head he said, “I often wonder about that. Then I remember my mother and can’t believe she did what she did.”

Hawk looked over at him and asked, “What does that mean?”

“My mom always had her own quirks but she never said anything bad about my dad. You see she didn’t know she was just his side piece until she told him about me and she wanted to get married, that’s when he told her he was already married. She threw him out of our lives but she did ask him for child support and if he didn’t pay it she would tell the world what he was doing. She knew he wanted to get into politics but she wanted support for the child he made with her. She always told me I was just one of his kids and that I had a brother a few months older than me, but she never told me who he was. When I graduated from high school and was moving out, she gave me my birth certificate and that’s when I learned his name. She put it on the birth certificate. Then she told me he didn’t want to know me and she knew that from the day she tossed him out. But she said she loved me and would never regret what she had done. Then she gave me every penny of his child support and said his money couldn’t make what he’d done right but she had saved it for my future. I still have that money.”

“What are you going to do with it?” Hawk asked,

 Riptide looked away for a moment and said, “I’m going to meet him one day and I’m going to cram that check right down his throat. He basically paid for her silence for eighteen years. For my entire childhood. He didn’t want to know one thing about me and paid her hush money. So I thought I’d give it back and make him swallow it.”

Hawk paused then he chuckled. “Yeah, like that’s going to go over well. Harlan thinks his shit doesn't stink and he’s never been held responsible for anything. My mom finally had enough of putting up with his bullshit and walked out but he wouldn’t let her take me with her. But at least she got her due for staying with him for that long. He ended up paying her off as well. Then he married again and they had my sister but Lisa’s mom walked out on him a lot sooner than my mom did.” Hawk shook his head and said, “Harlan was never lucky in love because of the choices he made along the way. His second divorce was harder to pay off than his first one and I think he’s finally learned not to marry but he still carries on with his women. This might be the wake up call he needs. In fact, I’d like to be there when you shove your fist down his throat. That would indeed be something to see.”

“If I’m still around here, you’ll get that wish.” Riptide nodded.

Hawk nodded then looked back at the clubhouse. “But first we got something closer to home to puzzle out. I have to speak to Tallulah and find out if she knows anything about Rika.” He looked at Riptide and asked, “Are you staying here for a while?”

 Riptide shrugged. “I wasn’t sure how welcome I would be.”

Hawk held out his hand. “You’re welcome to stay, you and your men, if you want to. We have a large place here, so there's room enough. Dad’s pulled some shit in his day and he seems to continuously get away with it all. So hell yeah, I want to see this through, right beside you. Lisa might not want to stir the pot but I do. ”

“Damn, so I not only have a brother but a sister as well? I sure didn’t expect that.” Riptide shook his head.

 

Chapter Three

 After a few minutes, Riptide went outside to his bike to collect his gear. Halting, he heard something around the corner of the clubhouse. He paused to listen but the sound didn’t come again. He shrugged, grabbed his bag and went back inside.

When he entered, he saw Hawk talking to a woman and he watched them for a moment. Then he looked toward the front door and thought about the noise he’d heard while getting his things. Now that he really thought about it…It sounded like a groan. Now, he looked over at his friend Paladin. 

Paladin had been watching him. He seemed to notice Riptide’s confusion. So Paladin walked over to the door to look outside as well. He shrugged then made his way back to the table where Queenie sat with Caden and Tanny. Shaking his head, he took his seat again.

Queenie leaned closer to him and asked, “What's going on, Grandpa?”

Paladin looked over at her and replied, “I think we got some trouble, honey.”

“What are you talking about?” Queenie asked as she looked lost. 

 Tanny had heard the fuss from Billy Ray and Steven then she shook her head. Sighing deeply, she leaned in closer to Paladin and Queenie to whisper loudly, “I bet those varmints beat Rika up again. They’ve done bad things like that in the past. Rika goes into hiding when they do and then they have to hunt her down or wait until she comes back, then they do it all over again. They are bad people.”

 Riptide overheard her and growled under his breath. Beating on a woman made them pond scum, period.

Tanny shook her head and went on, “Daddy wouldn’t let them do that if he ever found her like that. My daddy is a good man and he always tells us that men shouldn’t hit ladies… ever. Because men are stronger than ladies and besides that, it's not nice to hit anyone.”

Paladin gave her a nod. “Your daddy is a good man if that’s how he feels.”

 Tanny nodded and exclaimed, “He's the best ever!”

Queenie and Paladin both smiled at her.

“Yeah Grandpa, he is a good man,” Caden spoke up. “But it's been hard, you know? I know he’s my dad and all but it's hard not doing what we did when I lived with you guys. I mean Queenie is still here but she told me I have to listen to Hawk now and he…. well, just ain’t you.”

Paladin nodded and smiled. “Well boy, that’s understandable. He's your dad and you should listen to him now. I’m just an old man. I acted like a grandpa, so I spoiled ya. This isn’t my club and I have no say here. We had you for a little while and I tried to teach you right from wrong but now your dad is around. So you need to listen to him now.”

 “I know but it sure is hard sometimes.” Caden leaned in closer to Paladin and whispered, “And Tanny thinks she can tell me what to do too.”

Paladin grinned at him. “Yeah, I hear you boy, but you know females are like that. Queenie used to think she could order me around too. Sometimes, I let her think she could but then I’d just do what I wanted anyway. But I suppose you can’t do that here.”

Caden gave him a bored look and said, “Not really. I got Hawk on my butt, then  Tanny and when they get done, I got Queenie on my butt too. It’s a never ending cycle round here.” He looked up at Queenie and said, “No offense, Queenie.”

Queenie just raised her eyebrow at the boy and shook her head. She was about to say something but Tula came into the main room just then. 

Tula gasped and shook her head. “If those two hurt her again, I’ll shoot them myself.” Then she turned and went to the front door.

 Hawk was on her tail. “Tula, wait we don’t know anything yet.”

Tula turned and snarled at him. “We know enough if those two were at the front gate yelling and screaming for her to come out of hiding. She wouldn’t be hiding if she was okay. We have to find her. I know they beat on her again. But this time is the last time they hurt her.”

 Riptide came over to where they stood and asked, “What’s going on?”

Tula gazed up at him and with tears in her eyes she told him, “Rika is one of the few people in this town that never looked down on me. We got to be friends. But her father and her brother like to hit her. She always runs away from them long enough to heal and then she goes back because they got her so screwed up she thinks she has to go back. But she doesn’t. She doesn’t have to live there any more. So this time when I find her, I’m not going to let her go back. If she’s here near the club, she’s already made her choice. I’m going to keep her safe from the likes of them.”

Hawk reached for her and pulled her close to him. “If she’s here you’re right, she made her choice, babe. We’ll find her and she can stay safe here with us.”

  “But first we gotta find her,” Riptide said, then turned his head and called out to his men, “Come on guys, we gotta find a missing girl and pray she’s still alive.”

Tula and Hawk led the way as everyone got up and moved toward the front door.  Riptide and his men plus a few of Hawk’s men soon spread out, looking everywhere they could to find the missing and possibly hurt Rika.

They checked every nook and cranny big enough to hold a person. Even some that weren’t big enough but they couldn’t find her. They searched high and low for over an hour before they finally called it off. 

Tula kept crying and calling out Rika’s name but there was nothing and no one answered her call.

Hawk finally wrapped his arm around her shoulder and moved her back into the clubhouse. He kept telling her they would find her and help her.

 Everyone else also slowly started back to the clubhouse but Riptide couldn’t go in yet. It was getting dark out by this time but he couldn’t call it quits. That sound he heard was someone in distress and it could be this poor girl they talked about. He began a second round near the clubhouse and then he went to stand next to his bike again. He’d heard the sound here before and tried to listen again. In the silence of the outside, he thought he heard the sound again, only this time it was weaker. He turned the corner to look along the side of the building. The brush was thick in this area but he took his time and searched again.

Looking under the bushes, he paused when he saw a shadow there pressed up against the wall of the clubhouse. He parted the bushes and saw a black hoodie. Pushing at the bushes even more, he found a small woman hiding there. He grabbed her by her upper arms and raised her up.

 Terrified, the woman screamed.

He got her up as high as he could then he scooped her up, lifting her entire body out of the brush. 

She fell into his shoulder and cried out in pain, “Oh God, that hurts so bad! Please don’t move me yet.” 

 Riptide froze in place. He waited a couple of minutes then finally he said, “I got to move or I’m gonna drop you and these bushes will tear you apart. I’ll try to go slow but I gotta get you away from this area. Hold on.” He backed up a few steps and then he stopped again. “Are you okay?” he finally asked.

The woman opened her eyes and tears ran down her face. “No, I'm not okay.” She whispered carefully. “Did I hear my dad and my brother yelling earlier? Were they here?”

 Riptide carefully lowered her to the ground. “If your name is Rika then yeah, they were here but Hawk didn’t know you were here. Not sure he would have given you back to them anyway. How badly are you hurt?”

Rika snorted, then looked up at him. “You know something? Nobody has ever asked me that before.” 

The hoodie hid most of her face but he could hear the pain in her voice. He carefully reached out and tipped the hoodie back from her face. He paused when he saw the bruises on her face and neck. “What the hell did they do to you?” he whispered softly.

Both her eyes were swollen and bruised. She had a split lip and dried blood at the corner of her mouth. More dried blood also marred her cheek and nose. She shivered and hunched over as she sat in the dirt. “Steve needed money to go out with his friends and he knew I just got paid. I’ve been putting most of my check in the bank so he can’t keep taking it as soon as I get it. So last night he didn’t like that. I only had 40 dollars and according to him that wasn’t enough for him. I was more than tired of him robbing me and I blew up at him. I told him if he wanted money to drink on, then he should get off his dead ass and get a job. He blew up and started hitting me. Then dad got into the fray and he was yelling at me that I knew how the rules went… how I owed him for raising me and my paychecks were supposed to be for the house. He worked the first twenty years and my check was for putting a roof over our heads. I told him that wasn’t fair. I told him it was my check and it should go for putting a roof over my head not theirs. They could both work and I was leaving to be on my own.” She paused and tried to shake her head but winced in pain. “Oh, that was the wrong move. Damn, that hurt.”

“I take it they didn’t take the news well.” Riptide scoffed.

“No, they didn’t.” Moving slowly she looked up at him and her eyes widened when she got her first look at him. “Boy, you’re pretty big, aren’t you? Then she noticed his cut and began to shake. “And you’re a biker too?”

 Riptide knelt down face to face to her level and met her gaze. His hands rested on his legs as he stared at her. “Look, you don’t have to fear me or anyone else behind these walls. I don’t know how you got here but you are safe here. Tallulah is worried about you and we searched for you earlier. I found you by accident but she will be glad to see you are here and you're safe.”

“Tula? Oh, thank God. I wasn’t sure where she was. I was a little delirious there for a while, so I wasn’t even sure where I was.” Rika shook her head. “Can you take me to her? Please? I’m not sure I can even move.”

“I can.” Riptide nodded as he got to his feet and leaned over to scoop her up in his arms. “Hang on now, this might hurt but I’ll try to be gentle.” He straightened his back and stood upright. 

Rika groaned at his movement. Pain washed over her anyway and when she could bear it, she nodded at him.

 He carefully moved toward the front door. He opened it and went inside. 

As soon as he stepped in, the whole room went silent. They had all been talking about Rika and where she might have gone when Riptide came in with her in his arms. 

Tallulah and Hawk looked over in surprise.

Tula called out her friend’s name, “Rika,” as she rushed over to her. She stopped a few feet away and gasped when she saw what Rika’s brother and father had done to her. “Oh my gosh, they really hurt you this time, didn’t they?”

 Riptide stared at her and stated with a growl in his voice, “This will be the last time they hurt her. The very last time, because I’m gonna give them back everything they gave her.”

Hawk snapped his head up and stared at him. He could see the same determination in Riptide’s eyes that he often felt. He gave him a nod of approval then looked at Rika. 

Queenie stepped up and said, “Let’s find her a room and try to clean her up a bit. Then we can take stock of what they did to her.”  

Riptide nodded then moved down the hall behind her. 

 Queenie led them to a room the club had set up as an Infirmary.

Riptide gently placed her on top of the bed.

 Hawk, Pony, Paladin and a few others joined them.

 Queenie carefully attempted to get Rika’s hoodie off to see what the damage was.

You could see that Rika tried hard not to cry as the movement hurt her.

Watching her in concern, Tula kept shaking her head as she fumed. “I’m gonna kill those scumbags this time.”

Riptide never took his eyes off of Rika either as he growled, “You will have to beat me to it.”

Chapter Four

Rika cried the whole time but Queenie finally got her hoodie off. Her arms were marked with small smudges. There were bruises of fingerprints where her brother and her dad grabbed her when they were smacking her around.

When Queenie drew her hair back away from her face, they could see more dried blood that had come from her ear.

With a whimper, Rika laid back on the bed and closed her eyes while the pain washed over her then faded away. She finally opened her eyes again and found Tula watching her. “I think this is the last time. I can’t go through that again.”

“It's about time, girl,” Tula grumbled. “You’re staying here until your dad and your brother are no longer a threat. Maybe they’ll finally figure out that you aren’t their punching bag anymore. What was it about this time?”

“Money... what else?” Rika told her. “Steve knew I just got paid again and he demanded my pay. When I gave him 40 bucks he said it wasn’t enough. He wanted the whole thing and I told him no.”

Riptide growled as he listened to her words then he glanced at Hawk. “How long has this been going on?” he asked.

Hawk shrugged and said, “About four years now. Her old man thinks her money should be spent keeping a roof over their heads. That way, he can spend his money in the bars and on a turn of the cards. She’s also supposed to work all day then come home and do the cooking and the cleaning.”

“Sounds like they want a slave not a sister or daughter,” Riptide commented. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the woman on the bed.

Hawk gave him a nod. “Yeah, Tula’s been trying to talk her into leaving home for a while now but I think this time Rika is listening. She’s over 21 and she should be living on her own anyway.”

“She sure shouldn’t have to go home to that.” Riptide growled. “A home is supposed to be a safe place and house people who care about you, not someone who would turn on you like that.”

Hawk nodded and said, “But you know as well as I do that terrible things can happen within the four walls you call home.”

“Yeah, I do but they never happened in my house. My mom  wouldn’t allow that. She told me to leave my troubles outside her door.”

Hawk nodded. “Dad never brought his trouble home either but he wasn’t there  often himself and it's hard to grow up without someone settling boundaries, you know? The housekeeper meant more to me than he ever did. When I got old enough I told him that… the day I left his house for the last time. Don’t need to tell you that he didn’t exactly appreciate it, in fact he looked downright shocked. Then he claimed he put a roof over my head and made sure I never went hungry, he asked me where was that acknowledgement? He really had no clue. He finally got his wake up call when I left and refused to even speak to him at all. So he did a little better with Lisa. Then when I joined the army, he didn’t like it but he liked it even less when I joined this club. He was worried my being in a club would mess up his political career. But he did that on his own. When it became known that he was divorced twice, more of the people turned away from him and he had a hell of a time gaining back what he lost. He had to become an honest man for once and that was harder for him to do than he realized. He’s been trying to get me to leave the club and take over his businesses but I told him to go pound sand. I love my club and these men are my brothers.” He paused to stare at Riptide. “Now I find out I have a real brother.” He paused then said, “It kinda blows my mind you know? He’s never mentioned you or your mom before.”

Riptide nodded. “I never reached out before because I didn’t know if I wanted to know him or not.”

“So why did you now?” Hawk asked him.

Riptide stared at Rika for a moment then he turned to look at Hawk. “I ran into a friend of my mom’s about four years ago and he told me something I never knew. My mother had a really strict family before she met him. She thought she loved him and when she was pregnant she begged him to marry her so she could face her family. But when she found out he was already married she knew then they would turn their backs on her when she told them about me. The whole truth would come out then and she knew they would disown her for messing with a married man. The fact she didn’t know he was married wouldn’t matter to them. So when she told them what happened they did in fact turn their backs on the both of us. She never saw her family again after they threw her out on the street. Alone and pregnant, she found a job and an apartment and she raised me on her own. It was only after she died, that her family even thought about finding her again. Then when they did, they were too late. She was already gone so they looked for me and when they found me they wanted to tell me they could forgive me for ruining her life. I told them they didn’t know her if they thought my being born to an unwed mother ruined her life. I told them that she truly loved me and once she had a taste of her personal freedom she thrived and we didn’t do so bad on our own. They wanted to know me but had rules I had to follow if they accepted me into their lives. I told them no thanks. If they could turn their backs on their daughter just because a man she thought loved her had lied to, then that was on them.  I told them it was too late for them to try and make amends now. I wasn’t interested in knowing them if they thought I was a bastard all along. She hadn’t done anything wrong. They asked who this man was but I wouldn’t tell them. I told them it was none of their business twenty five years after the fact. It just didn’t matter anymore and the damage that they did would never be forgotten or forgiven by me. Their opinion of me didn’t matter either. I didn’t know them as my family and that never bothered me before so I wouldn’t lose any sleep on it now? They didn’t like what I said and berated me but I told them to go to hell. They didn’t want me then and I didn’t want them now.”

“I commend that.” Hawk nodded. “You would have regretted trying to fit yourself into their world and living under their rules.”

“I totally agree. I would have never ridden a cycle or had an MC if they had come when I was younger, because I might have taken them up on the offer. I told the guy I had run into them and once was more than enough. He told me he knew about that because he once belonged to their church and when they came back from that meeting with me they told the church just how far their daughter had fallen from the faith. They told everyone how disrespectful I had been and how they tried to save my soul but that I turned my back on them and their church. I told him what I really said and he just shook his head. That’s when he decided to leave the church as well. He broke away and it started a revolution within the church. More and more younger people were turning their backs on everything they ever knew and they were finding their own way in the world. The church couldn’t handle the mass exodus and is now on shaky ground. This guy actually thanked me for telling my mom’s family off and he was happier now than he ever was before. The man even shook my hand. That’s when I made up my mind to find my dad and suckerpunch him for his behavior.” He shrugged and added, “But maybe I should thank him for fucking her life up to the point that she was out on her own instead. Yes, it was hard until she got back on her feet but you know something I don’t think she ever regretted it.”

Hawk chuckled and shook his head. “The old man will never believe it, like I said he’s never had to face the music of his own behavior before.”

Riptide looked over at Rika and found her looking back at him in tears. “Yeah well, neither has her dad and brother but they will now. I’m gonna make sure of that.” 

Hawk nodded. “Oh yeah, that’s a fact. And I’ll face them with you as will everyone here. I’ve wanted to take those two down for a while. But this shit ends now.”

Riptide agreed. “We will make this right. No one will hurt this girl again.” He kept his gaze on Rika.

Hawk stared at him. Seeing the resolve in his brother’s eyes he just shook his head. “You look like this is personal.”

Riptide nodded. “It is, somehow. Why would they treat her like that? It’s because they are scum. She never deserved this and I’m gonna show her she has value in my eyes. ”

Hawk nodded. He knew his brother had his work cut out for him in that case. Hawk moved him even further away into the hall, so he could tell him the hard facts. “Look, all Rika has known is betrayal and pain since her mother died. She was barely twelve when that happened and Billy Ray just dropped out after that.  He claimed it was grief but after a while everyone knew different. It had been her mom that kept him on the straight and narrow. So once she was gone he didn’t see the reason anymore. He started drinking and that was the beginning to his end. Rika took over the household while Billy Ray worked enough just to cover the rent and the bills. But he drank away the rest. Stephan wouldn’t work at all but then he wasn’t home much either. He was out running the streets while Rika was handling everything at home. Then she turned sixteen and Billy Ray told her she had to get a job.  She struggled with work and high school but Billy Ray didn’t care. Whatever money she brought home went to him. He squandered it and then he told her she should just quit school and work more as the money she brought home was never enough.”

Riptide now looked even angrier as he listened.

Shaking his head, Hawk went on, “Tula told me she worked it out with her school counselors that she would quit going to high school but she would continue with working toward her GED online. She chose not to tell her dad or her brother but she would work during the day and do her school work after they went out. She finished school early and got her diploma. Then she also stopped bringing her full check home. She always kept some of it back. Tula showed her how to get a savings account and she’s been putting some of her check in every week. But after this she’s not going back to that damn house anymore.”

“Damn right, she isn’t going back.” Riptide growled.  “She’s under my protection now and if her brother or her dad comes around again, I’ll set them straight. Her money is her money and I don’t need it. But they aren’t getting another red cent of it. That just isn’t gonna happen anymore.”

Hawk raised a brow at his newly found brother. It looked like Riptide had found more than just family since he arrived here.

Chapter Five

Rika looked over at Riptide after hearing what he just said, “Why would you want to protect me like that?” she asked. “We only just met.”

Riptide moved closer to the bed and knelt down, so he could look her in the eye. “When I carried you out of the bushes I felt something and I’d like the opportunity to find out what that is. Besides, I’m pissed, not at you but at your old man and your brother. They had no right to hurt you and from what I understand, this isn’t the first time. But by God, it will be the last. No woman deserves this kind of treatment.”

She studied him for a moment then whispered, “I don’t know what to say. Except no guy has ever told me that before.” She curled her finger at him to come closer.

Riptide looked at her and leaned forward. She eased forward to gently kiss his cheek. When her lips touched his skin they both felt the spark between them. Rika leaned back but Riptide leaned forward and their lips touched this time. The kiss was gentle and easy. 

Riptide then pulled back to stare into her eyes. “Yes, we have something between us.”

Nodding shyly, Rika agreed with him. 

Riptide took her hand to turn it over and kiss her palm. Then he nodded. “Just know that I am going to protect you. I want you to heal up and not feel afraid anymore.”

Tears shone in her eyes. “I don’t know how to be happy. I…”

He sighed. “It will take time but you will be free and happy,” he vowed as he squeezed her hand reassuringly.

Hawk walked over to the foot of the bed and gave them a nod of his head. “I’m sorry this happened to you Rika but you are safe behind these walls. You are welcome to stay here and heal and let us take care of your family. They will never do you any harm again. I just found my brother here.” He motioned to Riptide. “And although we didn’t grow up together, we both have the same feelings about men like your father and brother. They have to be stopped.”

“Please just leave my family alone,” she pleaded. “I don’t want any more trouble. Or for your MC to have any either. Not over me. I’ve already made up my mind to leave them but I’ll take you up on your offer to let me stay until I’m healed.” 

“Honey, if I have my way, you won’t ever see them again.” Riptide growled.

Rika looked at him in semi awe. Then she shook her head. “Wow, I don’t know if I can believe this. I mean I came here to get away from them and I find you. Are you for real?”

Riptide smiled at her. “As real as it gets.”

Rika nodded. “How could this happen so quickly?”

“That little spark we both felt?’ Rip asked. At her nod, he went on to explain, “My mom told me one time that that spark means you just met the other half of your soul. I don’t know where she got that little bit of wisdom from but she said if I find it with someone, I’d better pay attention and make sure I give the woman my best. I felt it when I pulled you out of those bushes outside and I felt it again when we kissed. So at least give us a chance for this ride.” He gave her a wink. “You need to just hang on tight.”

“But people don’t fall in love like that,” Rika argued as she shook her head in disbelief.

Standing on the other side of the bed, Tula laughed. “It happens more often than you know. Hawk didn’t think so either when we first met but I did. I saw him standing there waiting for me to return his daughter and I fell in love with him right off the bat. I didn’t know it then but as the days passed I fell even harder for him.” She raised her gaze to Hawk. “I mean he can be an asshole at times.” She chuckled at his mock-scowl. “But that’s because he cares so much about his club and his family, which is the same thing.”

Hawk’s scowl seemed to be faked as he smiled at her words and nodded. “Yeah, I knew she was the one for me almost as fast but she told us her last name was Greer. And at that time that name was a hateful one for everyone in the Sinners. Then we found out she was never a Greer but she was the daughter of one of our own. She had been kidnapped as a baby and the Sinners could never find her until the day she returned my daughter to me.”

“Wow,” Rika said, shaking her head. “I knew some of that story but that must have been one of those moments that hit you like POW!” She chuckled then winced a bit in pain. “It’s a helluva story.”

Tula giggled and said, “You have no idea.”

Riptide looked from Rika to Hawk.

Hawk shrugged. “Let’s say that a lot stood between us but in the end, none of it won out. Tula is a part of our family now.” He turned to look at Rika and added, “And it looks like you’re part of us now too. So like Riptide said, hang on tight.” Hawk grinned. 

Rika studied him and then, she looked saddened as she bit at her lip.

“What’s wrong?” Tuka asked her in concern.

Rika gazed up at her and said, “I think I know why they keep demanding that I stay with them.”

“You mean besides being a slave for them?” Riptide asked in a low tone.

She stared at him and placed her hand on his to explain it to him, “My mom wasn’t the dummy everyone said she was. She had a plan all along, a plan we didn’t know about at the time of her death. She died when I was twelve. She left an insurance policy with her brother but she didn't want my dad or my brother to know about it. I didn’t know either until Uncle Danny contacted me a week ago and told me about the policy and the fact that she left it for me. He said she wanted me to be able to get out of that house and have a chance at something better than what my dad offered.  I think she knew what my dad would do if she wasn’t around anymore. Danny also told me that he wanted to take me in after she died but that my dad wouldn’t let him. But I’m old enough now to do what I want and he wanted me to be able to make a clean break and use the money my mom left me.”

“So you think they know about the money?” Riptide asked.

“I know they do.” Rika nodded. “I’m not sure how they found out but I overheard Dad and Stephan talking about it. Dad said he was going to talk to Danny and demand that he turn the money over to him to put a roof over our heads. I don’t think Danny will agree with that at all. He told me he promised my mom he would hold it for me.”

“So how did they find out?” Hawk frowned.

“I don’t know but I can’t get it before my 25th birthday,” she explained. “And my birthday is next week. I don’t know much about it though, because Danny never said. Like how much or any details.”

 “We can look into it and see what we can find out if you like?”  Hawk offered.

Rika studied him then nodded. “Please. I need to know. There was so much going on when my mom died that Dad never told us about. It might be good to finally know the truth.” Shaking her head she added, “I know it won’t bring her back but the truth needs to come out.”

Hawk nodded. “Right now, you need to be taken care of.” He turned and pointed to the bathroom. “There’s a shower in there if you want to clean up. I’m sure Tula has some clothes you can change into.”

Tula nodded. “Sure do. We’re about the same size, so it's not a problem. I’ll go and get them.”

Rika nodded as she laid back on her pillow again. Her whole body hurt and she knew she needed a shower but she also didn’t want Riptide to see just how bad she was hurt either. 

After everyone else left, Riptide looked at her and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Rika shrugged. “I was hoping Tula or Queenie would help me clean up, but I guess that’s not gonna happen, is it?”

“I can help you. I know I’m a guy but I would never take advantage of you. You don’t have to worry about that.”

Rika shrugged. “Tula’s always helped me in the past when they did this and I’m comfortable with her. You might just get mad all over again when you see me naked.”

Riptide cupped her cheeks with both hands and looked her in the eye. “I need you to know that they will never do this again. No way, no how. I’d have to be dead first. Even then I think I would fight my way out of hell to protect you from them.”

Rika had tears falling down her cheeks at his words as she slowly closed her eyes and leaned forward into his chest.

 He gathered her into a hug. “I’m not going anywhere,” he whispered in her ear. “I know you want us to let it go but I just can’t. They hurt you in a way no woman should ever be hurt. I don’t and can’t condone that at all. My mother raised me and taught me to never hurt a woman and to this day I never have. It just ain’t right no matter what.”

“Your mom was a wise woman. I don’t know what kind of a woman my mom was, she died before I got the chance to know her that well but she never let my dad hit us when she was alive.”

“So she was good to you?” he asked her quietly.

Rika nodded. “She was the best. She was always there for me when I needed her and she always kissed me goodnight when she went to bed. She didn’t think I knew that but I did. It was just one of her quirks but it always meant so much to me even though I always thought I was too old for her to do it.” She shook her head. “I really missed that when she died.”

He nodded, then he told her a secret from his childhood, “My mom was the first one to call me Riptide. She often told me I was her riptide. All calm on the surface but dangerous under the calm. I didn’t know how she figured that out but she told me there was one time when I was growing up that some kids were bullying our neighbor, Mrs. Jenson and they had her all upset. They were moving in to hurt her when I showed up. I calmly walked over to the biggest one there and said, “What are ya doing?” He told me he was just about to go in for the kill. I asked him if he was serious and he said yeah he was. So before he could do that, I hit him once and the big pussy went down. Then I turned to his posse and said, ‘Anybody else want a go?’ Then those boys looked down at their leader. His face was full of blood and he was still out for the count. Suddenly, they all turned around and ran away. I got Mrs. Jenson back to her apartment and she kept thanking me over and over again. I told her if she had any more trouble to just let me know and I would take care of it. By the time I got back outside, the bully was gone. Later on, my mom told me she saw the whole thing and that I was her hero.” He shook his head. “I told her I wasn’t no hero. It made me mad to see what they were doing. It just wasn’t right.”

Rika smiled. “I think that’s righteous.”

Riptide slowly shook his head. “But why is that? It should be normal for a guy to defend someone who is in trouble. I mean just cuz you’re a guy doesn’t mean you have to mow over any woman, young or old.”

Rika shivered. “That’s a lesson not every guy learns.”

He still looked perplexed as he went on, “I never understood men who could live with what they do when they assault women, their girlfriends, wives or whomever. Be a god damned man for once and pick a fight with a man if you want a fight. But they don’t cause they would lose. They aren't real men.” Riptide clenched his fists at his sides. “Your dad and your brother are about to learn that lesson, sweetheart,” he vowed with a gleam of anticipation in his eyes. “Come on, let's get you in the shower and get you cleaned up.” He helped her to her feet and assisted her into the bathroom. 

When he shut the door behind them, Rika felt super nervous. No, it wasn’t about him taking advantage, or about her being naked in front of him. She thought about his attitude on this whole thing and realized she was about to see how angry the man named Riptide could get. Her family had left her bruised and battered. 

No, the next few minutes weren’t going to be easy.

Chapter Six

Riptide helped her take her hoodie off and noted she had been wearing a t-shirt underneath. Her shirt crept up her belly and he could see bruises under it. He tried not to growl but it was hard. He just couldn’t hide his anger and utter disgust. What kind of men did this? Not men at all and one day soon, he would make sure they both received the same treatment. He couldn’t wait for that.

Rika turned around to see the scowl on his face and hurriedly pulled her shirt down. “This isn’t going to work if you get mad about every bruise.” 

“They beat you, woman.” He growled. “Of course it makes me mad.  I mean am I supposed to be happy about it? If that’s what you think, then I’m as bad as they are.”

Rika reached out and cupped his cheek. “I don’t know why but it matters to me that you care so much. No one but Tula ever cared before. I’m not sure if I believe in love at first sight but we do have some kind of connection, at least I hope we do. I’m not condoning what they did either. But they have been treating me like I don’t matter most of my life.” She shrugged. “I guess I’ve gotten used to it and that isn’t right but that’s been my life.”

Riptide pulled her close into a hug and wrapped his arms around her loosely. Tipping her head up to his, he said, “It isn’t right, not by a long shot but just know that it will never happen again. You will have a happier life as soon as I get rid of this vermin that claims to be your family. You’ll get used to being treated right like it should be. I found you and I’m keeping you and that means you are under my protection now.”

Rika stared at him. “Finder’s keeper’s, eh?” She chuckled. “I’m not sure I ever believed that someone like you would happen to my life. I…” She shook her head.

“Someone like me?” he asked as he clenched his fists at his sides. “You mean a male that would never raise a hand to hurt you?”

“Ok, Riptide, you're getting angry again.” She gave him a smile. “I understand but really what’s done is done.”

He shook his head. “No, it is NOT done. Until they are done.”

Grabbing his hand, she said, “I don’t want you to go to jail for the likes of those two. You hear me? They just aren’t worth it.”

“No, they aren’t worth much except as punching bags for me when I catch up with them…” He paused at the look on her face then he chuckled. “Ok, ok…I will try to tamp it down.”

She smiled at him, then said, “I think I need to call  my Uncle Danny soon.”

“Why?” Riptide asked her.

“Because I overheard my dad and Stephan talking about the life insurance policy my mom had. Danny told me they didn’t know about it, but I heard them talking about it 2 days ago. I need to know how they found out.”

Riptide looked troubled. “Hmm, we can check that out. But first, we need to get you cleaned up and then you need some rest and some food.”

He finished stripping her and he had to grit his teeth at the number of bruises she had. Then he almost lost it as he stared at the boot print bruise on her back. Who would do such a low-down-bastard-ass thing? He reached out to touch it but Rika hissed when he skimmed it with a finger. “Who?” Riptide whispered. “Which one of them did this?”

“Stephan,” she whispered as she hung her head. 

Riptide leaned closer to her and whispered into her ear, “Don’t you hang your head in shame. The shame is on your brother’s shoulders, not yours.”

Rika slowly raised her head and nodded. 

“Come on, let's get this done,” he growled. He quickly stripped off his own clothes but left his boxers on and they both stepped under the shower. Water ran over both of them. Riptide grabbed the wash cloth and soaped it up. Running it over her body he tried to be as impersonal as he could but he liked her curves. He was careful over her bruises but he washed her well. Then he shampooed her hair carefully.

 Rika moaned while he worked the lather up. “Oh man, that feels so good.” 

Riptide had to smile then he pushed her gently under the water flow so the suds could be rinsed down the drain. 

When they were done, Riptide shut the water off and just held her for a moment in the enclosure. “How are you doing, now?” he asked her.

“Better,” she replied. “At least I’m clean. That helps. And the hot water took most of the pain away.”

“Good, Let’s get you dry and dressed then we can get you some food. After you’ve eaten, you can have a nap.” 

Rika nodded and stepped out of the shower. “Wow, that all sounds good to me.” She reached for a towel.

 He grabbed it from her hands and began drying her off. 

Rika just smiled slightly.

 When she was dry, he helped her get dressed in clean clothes. Tula had dropped them off while they were in the shower. She felt a whole lot better. Then she turned her head while he got dressed and she appreciated looking at him while he covered his own body. 

Riptide noticed and grinned then asked, “See something you like?”

Rika’s face went pink as she nodded. “Oh yeah, I sure do.”

Rip grinned then whispered, “I hope you’re a quick healer cuz I don’t want to wait too long before we get together.”

Rika kept staring then chuckled. “Me either.”

He grabbed their clothes off the floor and when he picked up her hoodie her phone fell out of the pocket.

 Rika paused and picked it up. She noticed she had missed a call from her uncle. The text read to call him back right away. She looked up at Riptide and showed him the screen. “Speak of the devil…I wonder what he wants?”

Riptide shrugged. “Call him and find out.” 

Rika hit her speed dial number.

 “Rika, are you okay?” Danny answered the call right away. “Are you safe?”

“What’s going on, Uncle Danny?” she asked.

“Are you safe?” Danny repeated. 

“Yes, I’m finally safe. Why are you so worried?” 

“I found out your mom’s lawyer got a visit the other day from your dad and Stephan. Billy Ray showed up with a full copy of her will and he asked the attorney about it. He found out about the life insurance policy your mom left to you and he was pissed. After she died, the attorney only told them both about the parts that dealt with them. The policy didn’t make it to the reading because it didn’t belong to them and your mom asked him not to tell them either. When the attorney asked where he got the full copy, Billy Ray said he had a friend that got a copy for him. The attorney is looking into that right now but I wanted you to know that they were going to come after you about the money.”

Rika sighed hard. “Yes, we’ll you’re about a day late on that. They let me know they were pissed about it and I had to get out of there. I went to a friend's place and I’m still here. I have no plans to go home again.”

“That’s good. And if they come around here, I got my shotgun ready,” Danny told her. “I’ve also notified the cops about them. Are you sure you’re safe?”

Rika sighed then answered, “Yeah, I’m safe.” 

Riptide took the phone from her and he told her uncle, “My name is Riptide and I’m visiting the Sinner’s compound. I found Rika last night after she’d been beaten and she’s right when she said she’s safe. One of her friends lives here and she’s got about two dozen people between her family and her now. We don’t agree with men beating on women. Her dad and her brother showed up here already. They didn’t get far and they won’t even get inside the front gate anymore. She’s got protection now and that includes me. If they come here again, they’ll find that out the hard way.”

After a pause, Danny replied, “I believe you. I’ve heard the stories about the Sinners from her actually and I was hoping she would go there. I’m glad to hear that. At least she’ll be safe until her birthday. The only problem is the money is in a trust fund until she’s 25. I have final control over that but I’d like to add another name to the fund in case anything happens to me. Can I add your name?”

“Yeah, you can add my name,” he told Danny. “My legal name is Marcus Westerly.” 

“Oh and if something does happen to me, you have Rika question her own mother’s death. There’s something that just doesn’t add up about how my sister died. I wanted to ask back then but I waited until things settled down a bit. Now this can’t wait. If they did something to her, I want justice. For my sister and for Rika. Neither of them deserved what life gave them. I really hate that bastard Billy Ray. And I despise Stephan with a passion. Go talk to a Detective John Wake, if something happens to me. There is no time limit on a murder charge.” Danny ended the call. 

Riptide handed the cell back to Rika. “Come on, we need to talk to Hawk.” He led her out to the main room.

As soon as Tula saw her, she rushed over to study Rika’s face. “How are you doing, honey?”

“I’ll be okay,” Rika told her. “But I just got a call from Danny and there’s a shit ton of trouble coming.”

Hawk looked over to ask, “Like what?”

Rika took a deep breath and said, “Dad found out about my mother’s life insurance policy being with my Uncle Danny. I don’t know how they found out but they were pissed. They want that money and they don’t care if I’m dead or alive to collect it, apparently.”

Riptide nodded as he looked angry all over again. “Danny told me that Billy Ray has a friend in the attorney’s office and this friend handed over a full copy of her mom’s will and that’s how he found out about the policy. The attorney is looking into that. Danny said he has a shotgun ready for Billy Ray and Stephan if they come after him. He also informed the cops about this. Some detective there anyway.” He looked over at Hawk then said, “And that if anything happened to him, Rika should ask the cops about how her mom died. That there’s more to her death than is publicly known.”

Rika gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. “What? Are you sure about that?”

Riptide turned and looked at her. Then he nodded. “He even had the name of a Detective John Wake. He also said there was no time limit of murder and he was determined to get the truth out.” He turned to look back at Hawk to add, “He was also happy she was here with you guys and asked that we protect her. I told him that wouldn’t be a problem.”

Hawk nodded. “I’m glad she’s here too. We can and will protect her.”

At the new revelation about her mom's death, Rika felt her knees grow weak as she stumbled. She almost fell into a heap on the floor.

Swiftly, Riptide swung her up into his arms. He carried over to a table and sat down with her on his lap. “Don’t you fret, baby girl. You're gonna be safe. I won’t let them touch you again and if there is something there about your mom, we’ll find it.”

Rika shook her head. “You don’t understand. My dad cremated my mom and buried her ashes. I don’t know if there is any evidence left to find.”

Riptide growled as did Hawk and a few of the others. That might make their search much harder but they wouldn’t just give up. They would look as deep as they needed to. 

“What can you remember from that time?” Hawk asked. “I realize that you were pretty young back then but you might know more than you think.”

Rika wiped the tears from her face and thought back to the time when her mom died. She hadn’t really thought about it before, being blinded by grief and only twelve years old at the time. But then she remembered something. With a sudden gasp, her eyes widened and she glanced at Riptide. Turning her head, she stared at Tula and Hawk. “Oh my God, he killed her.”

“Who killed her?” Hawk wanted to know.

“Stephan,” she whispered. “Stephan killed my mom. And Billy Ray covered up for his stupid ass.”

Chapter Seven

Hawk narrowed his eyes and stared at Rika. “How do you know that?” he asked.

Rika turned her head and said, “I had gone to my room that day. Mom and Steven were arguing again, it was something they did on a daily basis so I just went to my room after school. Steven was big enough and strong enough to hit me even back then and Dad was the only one who could stop him but he wasn’t home yet. Anyway, Mom and Steven’s argument was getting pretty loud, something about how he needed money to go out with his friends and Mom didn’t want him to just run the streets anymore. She told him he couldn’t go out and Steven said he was going. He hit her and she screamed. I came flying out of my room to see that Steven was hitting her and she was on the floor.” Pausing, Rika was crying.

Riptide reached out and took her hand in his.

She swiped her tears with her free hand and continued, “Then he grabbed a cast iron skillet from the stove and hit her with that. There was a pool of blood on the floor and that’s when dad walked in. He looked at Steven and then at me and he screamed at me to go to my room. I just ran. I shut my door and locked it then I went over into the corner and sat down, hugging my knees. I sat there all night and the next morning my dad came in. He busted the lock on my door and came inside. He asked me what I saw the day before. I just shook my head. Then he told me that my mom fell and hit her head. He took her to the hospital but she died on the way there. He also said there was nothing more to be done except to bury her.” She went quiet for a moment and cried a little more.

Everyone in the room listened and some shook their heads.

 Finally remembering what happened all those years ago, she went on, “I remember the days that followed her burial. My dad was ragging on me, saying that so what… it happened and now we had to go on without her. My Uncle Danny came over some after that but my dad wouldn’t let him talk to me and he wouldn’t let Danny take me home with him either. He said I was his daughter and he would raise me. So Danny just had to keep his nose out of his business. I remember asking dad to replace the lock on my door and he told me I couldn’t lock myself away from him anymore and he never did replace it. But both him and Steven left me alone for a while after that. So I was really careful about what I did and said I didn’t want to make either of them mad at me.” She clasped her hands together and set them on the table. 

“So you just went along with it?” Tula asked in a soft voice.

“I didn’t have a choice. Dad insisted that I start cooking and cleaning for them. Since both him and Steven were slobs I couldn’t stand the mess anyway so that’s what I did. I would get up early enough to fix breakfast then I went to school and when I got home, I fixed supper. Dad wasn’t so bad back then and Steven left me alone, so I got by. Then a few years later, my dad told me I had to quit school and find a job. I was sixteen by then and I could work. He told me he was tired of working so hard and that I had to find a job and start paying the bills. So I went to work and studied at night when they were gone. I got my GED and finished school early but then Steven started stealing my checks so he could go out with his rowdy friends. My dad let him do it because he just didn’t care. When I objected, that's when Steven started hitting me. Dad didn’t care about that though, he said I was a pain in his ass and sometimes he would join in and the two of them hit me as it began to become a habit. I tried to leave but they wouldn’t let me. I didn’t know about the insurance money until recently. Now it all makes sense somehow.”

Riptide shook his head as he looked angry. 

Hawk shook his head as well and asked her, “Why didn’t you leave before now?”  

Rika sighed heavily. “I tried, God knows I tried, but they would hunt me down and drag me back every time I took off. They even found out about the bank account I had. They took me there and twisted my arm to get the money out and when I gave in,  Steven grabbed it and he took it all. Then he gave my dad some of it and they left me to walk home alone as they went to the nearest bar. They never even left me a penny of it.” Shaking her head, her tears spilled down her bruised cheeks.

“What was this latest beating all about, honey?” Paladin asked while looking disgusted. 

Rika blew out a long breath again and replied, “When I cashed my check this week, I put the money in the bank, all but 40 dollars. When I got home, Steven asked me where my check was. I gave him that forty bucks and he got mad. I knew he was gonna be mad but at the moment I didn’t care. I was just so tired of him and my dad. They tried to break me but I wasn’t gonna let them, not this time. As soon as they started drinking at home, I sneaked out the back door and came here. I couldn’t let them find me again, so I hid in the bushes.”

Tula shook her head. “I’m so glad you did and that we found you. You did the right thing, honey and now, we’ll take care of you.”

Rika shook her head. “There’s been so much going on that I forgot about my mom,” she said quietly. “How could I forget about her like that?”

Riptide stepped closer and squatted down to look her in the eyes. He brushed a strand of her hair off her face and told her, “You were probably in shock when you saw what your brother did. You were only twelve and that’s a child, your mind probably was dealing with the trauma of it all and blanked out what you saw. Your dad and Steven wouldn’t want you to remember it at all. Don’t beat yourself up about it, you’ve remembered it now. We’ll protect you from them.”

Rika shook her head. She looked at Tula and said, “Can you guys do something for me? I need to know when my parents got married. Dad said something that I couldn’t get out of my mind a while back and I never got the chance to check it out.”

“What did he say?” Hawk asked.

“He said something about the time me and my mom came to live with him and Steven. But he said it in a way that made me think he regretted that day.” Rika shrugged. “I mean why would my mother leave her policy to me and not him, my dad?”

Tula snorted. “Maybe because she didn’t want him to drink it all away?”

Rika shook her head. “When she was alive, he wasn’t drinking that much. She had no idea he would start up, not like he did.”

“Don’t you believe that for a moment,” Queenie said. “I think your mom knew exactly what kind of man your dad was. She must have had to work hard to get him in better shape than he was at one point but she found something in him worth saving I think. I’m not sure what it was but I think it died when she died.”

“You could be right about that.” Rika paused then said, “He changed like overnight after she died. I didn't know who he was anymore. He had never treated me like that before. And fear was something I learned to live with then and I hated it.”

“You can finally be free of that fear,” Riptide told her. “You are under my protection.”

“Our protection,” Hawk added, reminding him of their presence.

Riptide dipped his head. “You are under our protection and we will stand beside you. When your pain ends and your bruises fade, just know that no one will ever hurt you again,” he vowed.

Rika nodded. “I’m taking you at your word on that. But I need some answers now.”

“I think the one person you need to speak to is your Uncle Danny,” Hawk told her. “He might be able to tell you more and quicker than we can search the records for.”

Rika nodded. “I think so too.”  Shaking her head, she admitted, “He thinks Dad and Steven might come around his place but he said he’s got his shotgun ready if they do.”

Hawk looked troubled to hear this and glanced around at his own men. “Why would he think that?”

Rika shook her head. “I don’t know but I think I should find out, don’t you?”

Hawk nodded. “Yeah, I do. Why don’t you call him and have him come here? That way, he’ll have some protection against your dad and brother as well.”

Rika nodded. “I can ask him to come.” She reached for her phone and called her uncle. When he answered Rika said, “Uncle Danny, can you come over and talk with us please? I need some answers and I think you can help. Hawk, the leader of the Sinners, wants to talk to you too.”

“I can do that,” Danny told her. Then he paused and said, “I think it's time some truths were told and there are things about the past that you need to know. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Ok, we’ll see you when you get here then,” she told him. “Be careful, Danny. Dad and Steven are all over the place and I don’t know what they’ll do next.”

“I know. Billy Ray is falling hard now and Steven is right behind him. They are spiraling fast. I’m hoping we can stop it before they do something so stupid, they can’t come back from it.”

“That's already happened, Uncle Danny. I remembered what happened the day my mom died and it isn’t good.”

Danny gasped. “You did? Then maybe finally the truth can come out and the real killers can be put behind bars.”

Rika sighed hard. “It was Steven, Uncle Danny. And Dad covered his stupid act.”

Danny was silent and then he said, “I’m going to ask Detective John Wake to meet me there. He needs to know what you remembered as well.”

“Please be careful. Steven and Dad might not want anything to be told about that night and I wouldn’t put anything past them now. They might not figure they have anything more to lose and I would sure hate to lose you to their brand of crazy.”

“I’ll be careful,” Danny promised. “I’ll call John and we’ll be there soon.”

“Ok. I guess I’ll see you when you get here then.” Rika ended the call and looked up at Hawk. “He’s calling Detective John Wake and bringing him along. I hope you don’t mind?”

Hawk shook his head. “No, this is better said with the police present.” He shrugged. “We would have had to call them in at some point anyway. This way, they know we’re dealing straight. Hopefully, we can all get some answers.”

Rika felt a cold breeze touch her soul and she began to shiver.

 Riptide noticed and he growled as he lifted her up off her chair then he sat down and put her on his lap. He rubbed her arms and legs to warm her up again. Leaning forward, he whispered in her ear, “Are you okay?”

Rika leaned back and let him wrap her up in his big arms. “Yeah, I’m beginning to think so. Stick around and I might just believe what you said.”

Riptide growled in her ear. “You better believe me. I got your back now and I’ll die before I give you up to anyone.”

Rika smiled and touched her lips to his cheek in a brief kiss. “I’m beginning to believe that.”

 

Chapter Eight

When Danny and John arrived at the compound, Hawk let them in and shut down the gate again. He had at least one man on the roof keeping watch for Billy Ray and Steven to possibly try to make an unwelcome visit again.

Danny and John entered the clubhouse.

 Danny got a good look at Rika and swore as his fists tightened in rage, “Those mother fu…” He paused and growled.

Rika shook her head and said, “Calm down, Uncle Danny. I’m never going back to that house and they can go to hell if they think they can bully me again.” Shaking her head she admitted, “I’m done with the pair of them.”

“Good, that’s the way it should have been all along.” Danny looked angry. “Billy Ray had no real claim on you anyway. He should have given you up when your mom died.” 

Rika looked confused but she just shook her head. “It doesn’t matter.”

Danny and John sat down. 

Danny looked uncomfortable as he stared at her but his niece looked comfortable while sitting in Riptide’s lap. “So tell me what’s going on?” he finally asked.

Rika shrugged. “After they beat me up this last time, they both went out to the bar. So I gathered what I could carry which wasn’t much, then I walked out of Dad’s house. I could barely walk but I didn’t stop until I slipped into the compound. I found a place to hide and I rested there. I must have fallen asleep because when I woke up again I thought I heard Dad screaming my name. I could hear them telling me I had chores to do, so I better get my ass back home. Then I heard the car start and I could hear them leave. I didn’t want to go back there, so I stayed quiet.” She turned to look around at everyone and said, “I could hear you guys calling my name but I didn’t want you to find me yet. I didn’t want to go back and I thought you guys would show me the door. I’m sorry but at that point I didn’t trust anyone.” Shaking her head she admitted, “Then the next thing I knew, Riptide was dragging me out of the bushes and I was in so much pain. I tried to fight him but he’s so much bigger than I am and he wouldn’t let me go. When he brought me in here, he told me this would be the last time my family hurt me. Then Hawk told me the same thing and I decided to trust them at their word.”

“Rika…” Danny shook his head. “I think it's time I told you the truth.”

“The truth?” Rika looked puzzled. “What truth?”

“You may not remember this but you were two years old when your mom met Billy Ray and Steven.” 

Danny’s words were followed by a heavy stunned silence.

Rika gasped as she raised her hand to cover her mouth. “What? What does that even mean?”

Danny shook his head and glanced away from her briefly, then he looked back at her and said quietly, “My sister was a caring woman and three years before she met Billy Ray, she found herself in a whirlwind romance. I didn’t find out about it until she came to me and told me with tears in her eyes that she was pregnant. When I asked her about who the father was she didn’t really want to tell me anything but I told her she had to tell me who he was at least. But she never did tell me his name. She was heartbroken because this guy named Richard had asked her to marry him and the whole shebang. He was a truck driver and he was supposed to come back for her and the baby. But he never did. She was a mess. She did get happier when you were born and she named you Rika Charleen Duke.”

One of Riptide’s guys started at this story and he just stared at Rika. 

Riptide noticed his reaction and asked, “What’s your problem, Spider? What do you know about this? You’re looking at her like she’s under a microscope.”

Spider stared at her unflinchingly. “I've been paying attention, brother. I just have trouble believing that this might be true.” He shifted in his chair and reached for his back pocket to retrieve his wallet. Opening it, he took something out and tossed it onto the table. “It cannot be true, but man it will be… a shock if it is. I need to ask her if she knows this person.” He motioned to the photograph.

Rika looked puzzled as she carefully picked up the photo he had tossed on the table. She sucked in a deep breath as she studied it, then she looked up at him to exclaim in surprise, “This is my mom!”

Danny took the picture from her trembling fingers to study it as well. “This photo was taken a long time ago.” He looked at the edges and saw they were yellowed with time.

Being a tall man with the same dark hair and green eyes that Rika had, Spider nodded. The two of them did have similar looks. “Yeah, it was. My dad carried that photo in his wallet. I was just a kid back then, but he told me that this was his woman. He’d finally found the love of his life and he told me our lives were going to change for the better. That this wonderful woman was going to make us a family and bring more love to both of us than we ever had before.” Spider raised his hands to his face and rubbed his cheeks for a moment. “God…” He groaned. “I haven’t thought about this in more years than I care to think about.”

Everyone there looked a bit confused and super curious.

Finally, Spider looked over at Rika and noted the tears in her eyes. “My dad’s name was Richard Charles Cooper and he was a trucker. His route was Boston to New York City. We lived in Quincy where I grew up. He was on his way back from his last run as he was changing jobs so he wouldn’t be gone all the time. I stayed with my grandparents during the week when he was gone.”

“What happened?” Danny demanded. “Why did he just ghost her like he did?”

Spider shook his head. “He never ghosted her.” He growled and explained, “He was on his way back when he hit a snow storm that came out of nowhere. He was fighting the wind and blinding snow when he hit a batch of black ice on a bridge. He fought hard to steer out of it but he hit the guardrail and went through it. It was a high bridge and by the time he hit the water which was eighteen inches of pure ice at that time he broke the ice and his truck was submerged for three days before they could get to it. His body was recovered and we buried him four days later. “When my grandpa went through the stuff at our house, he found that photo but he never knew her name, other than Laura. We had no way of finding her either. My grandparents took me in and when I left their house, I took that photo with me. I used to look at it while I was growing up, dreaming of what could have been. I even used to call her my mom when I was alone but she never was and after he died, she never would be.” He shook his head and looked over at Rika. 

Rika had tears in her eyes as she listened to his story. Finally she whispered, “D-did he know… I mean what were his intentions for her?”

“Did he ever know about you? Hell, I don’t know. He never told me or grandpa and grandma about you so I’m not sure. But he did say that he was gonna marry her and we were going to be a family. But all that was gone when he never came back from that trip.”

Rika leaned into Riptide’s chest and sobbed. 

He held her tight as he looked at Danny and shook his head. 

Danny sighed and said, “I think she loved him a lot. She even named their daughter after him. Charleen for Charles. I didn’t know where to find him or even his name but she loved him, even after she thought he ghosted her, she still loved him.”

“He never ghosted her,” Spider insisted. “He would have married her if he could have. My dad was an honorable guy.” Shaking his head he defended, “He just never made it home.”

Rika looked up and stared at him before she whispered, “That makes you, my brother.”

Spider half smiled as he cocked his head at her. “Yeah, it does, doesn’t it?”

Rika looked up at Riptide and whispered, “I have a brother, an honest to god brother. Not like Steven, who always had a mean look in his eyes.”

Riptide nodded. “Yeah, baby you do. It is a huge coincidence, but I feel like there’s no such thing. This all was meant to happen. And Spider isn’t anything like Steven or Billy Ray. Thank God. If he was, I'd have to kill him.”

Spider chuckled and shook his head. “You could try, but I’m nothing like those asswipes and I’ll be damned if they ever get their hands on her again. I may not have ever known I had a sister but I know it now. My dad would have been so happy to know that Laura kept his baby. He would have been on top of the world to know about you.” He sat up and stared at her for a moment, “I have to tell my grandparents about you. They’ll be thrilled that I found you.”

Rika’s eyes widened as she realized she had more family. “I have grandparents too?” she whispered. 

Spider nodded. “Yeah you do and they will always be there for you the same way I will. And I’m not going away anytime soon.”

Rika searched the room and found Tula. 

Tula was crying silently and when their eyes locked Tula nodded slowly. 

 Rika glanced at her Uncle Danny. She took a deep breath and exhaled. “ Billy Ray knew I wasn't his and that’s why he never cared about me.”

“No, he never cared about anyone but himself,” Danny interjected angrily.

Nodding, her head Rika added, “Billy Ray and Steven have a lot to answer for.”

John Wake finally cleared his throat and spoke, “That’s why I’m here. Your mom’s death left too many questions we couldn’t answer. The doctor that saw her the night she passed couldn’t explain her injuries but Billy Ray’s story never made sense either. He said she fell down the steps into their basement and landed on a cement floor, but the doctor always said her injuries didn’t match what he claimed. He took her body from the hospital to the crematorium, bypassing the autopsy completely. That went against the law as each questionable death has to have an autopsy. He acted broken up so much that the orderly let it go and before the police could even question it, he was in possession of her ashes and putting them in the ground.”

Rika shivered. “She never fell down any steps. There wasn’t a basement in that house either. It was Steven and Billy Ray covered for his dumb ass.”

Danny looked from her to John then back to her again. “What do you mean it was Steven?”

Rika sighed hard and looked at him with true regret in her eyes, she did not want to tell him any of this. “Steven was 16 years old at the time and he ran the streets with a group of juvenile delinquents. He used to get into trouble with the law all the time. Mom told him she didn’t think he needed to go out and that he should just stay home that night. Steven argued with her and told her she wasn’t his mom and she couldn’t tell him to stay home. Then he hit her. And he kept hitting her. When she fell to the floor he grabbed a skillet and he kept right on hitting her with that damn skillet. It didn’t matter that the skillet was cast iron, not to him but when Billy Ray came home he found a mess. I was standing in the doorway, shocked to hell….” She pushed to stare off into the distance as if the horrific scene was in her mind as she spoke.

No one said a word and the silence grew. Tensions were high as she retold them the story of that night.

 “There was so much blood and mom wasn’t moving,” she spoke softly. “Billy Ray shouted at me to go to my room. I ran to my bedroom and locked the door. I went to my corner and just sat there. I think I was in shock. He left me there all night and it wasn’t until the next morning that Billy Ray even checked on me. He had to break the door down to even get in. I was so afraid they were going to hurt me. Even when I was so young, I knew they might.”

All of the men in the room looked like they wanted to kill someone.

Hawk felt the same way but he knew they couldn't act on their feelings. He glanced at Detective Wake.

Even he looked angry, then he swiftly covered his expression with a blank look.

Chapter Nine

Finally, Detective Wake broke the silence and said, “Please continue. What happened after this?”

Rika shuddered and said, “LIke I said, I locked the door and pushed a chair under the handle. I sat up all night with a blanket wrapped around me waiting for Billy Ray to come back and tell me my mom was dead. But he didn’t come back until the next morning and when he did, he smelled of BO and beer. He told me rather matter of factly that my mom was gone. He had no remorse at all on his face or in his voice. He also said that things were going to change around the house. I would be taking over the cooking and the cleaning. That I was part of his household and I would have to step up to take care of things.” She shook her head. “I was only twelve at the time and my mom had just died but I was supposed to step up and take care of them. I felt so confused and lost. But what really made me fall in line was fear. I saw what he did to my mom and it looked like he had just gotten away with it too. So I did what I was told to do.”

The detective blinked rapidly in a stunned pause and asked, “He expected you to take your mom’s place to cook and clean for them? At twelve years old? What about school?”

Rika nodded. “He let me go to school, but before I could, I had to get up at five A.M. and make him breakfast. Then he demanded that I throw his lunch together. I had to wake Steven up and make him breakfast before I could go to school myself. But I had to wash the dishes and make mine and Steven’s lunch before I left the house. After school, I was supposed to come right home to clean the house and make supper.”

Danny shook his head. “I talked to Billy Ray after your mom’s funeral and asked him if he would let you come home with me. I reminded him that you weren’t his child and that I should raise you instead. But he said that wasn’t necessary. That you were used to them and he wasn’t going to send you away from the only home you knew. He even suggested I stay away from you for a while. I don’t know why I ever agreed to that. I should have recognized what he was doing and stopped it before it got so bad. I’m so sorry, honey.”

Rika shrugged. “You didn’t know, Uncle Danny. But it was hard to stay there without mom. If I didn’t do things the same way mom did, Billy Ray would cuff the back of my head. Then Steven started in on me and that was even tougher. He liked to bully me. It’s part of his nature, I suppose? When I was close to 16, Billy Ray told me school was worthless to me and I needed to quit to get a job. He was getting tired of working so hard and if I got a job he could slow down a bit.” She snorted and added, “He really meant that he could quit his job and stay home to drink. He needed my paycheck to pay the bills and have money to buy his beer.”

“How many times have the two of them beat on you?” Detective Wake wanted to know.

“Too many times to count,” Rika told him with a shrug. “Maybe every other day? Sometimes, it was just the cuff to the head. Sometimes worse. It all depended on how drunk they were or what was happening around us. After he told me to quit school, I went to my counselor and asked what I could do. She suggested I could go online and finish with a GED so that’s what I did. I did not dare tell on them though. Steven taught me well what would happen. He said he would make sure I burned like my Mama…” She paused to swallow and swipe a tear away. “So after the evening meal, they usually left the house to go out. I would get online and do my schoolwork. I graduated after the first year and earned my GED. At least, I had that much.”

The detective shook his head. “So Steven beat your mom to death and they kept you silent by abuse and threats.”

“There’s only two things they need,” Riptide growled. “A severe and repeated head stomping. Done so viciously that it sends them to hell.” 

Spider agreed, “Then I would  do the sending myself with some gasoline and a match.” He too looked angry.

The detective looked back and forth between the two men.

Hawk snickered. “Sounds good to me. Stomp and burn.”

“Right?” his VP Pony said. “Might as well do the stomping then the hell trip right away. No need to book tickets, just send them immediately.”

Many men there grunted or said hell yeah in agreement.

Detective Wake had to smirk in a silent agreement. He shook his head and acted like he hadn’t heard any of that as he voiced his thoughts aloud, “Too bad we don’t have that skillet he used. With her blood on the murder weapon used as actual evidence we could actually investigate her murder.”

Rika stared at him then asked, “Who says we don’t have the skillet?”

Everyone in the room paused to stare at her.

Hawk looked spooked as he asked, “You still have the skillet? In that house?”

Rika nodded. “At some point during the night, I went back out to the kitchen and I took the skillet. I knew I would never want to use it ever. I was sure they would make me wash it and use it to cook with.” She visibly shuddered. “So I wrapped it in a pillowcase and hid it. They didn’t know I took it and Steven was gone.” She looked at Danny and whispered, “He had her cremated so there wouldn’t be anything left of her to notify the cops about. I heard him talking to Steven later that same day. When he told Steven that I cried. He knew Steven killed her and he was willing to cover for him. I went back to my room and sobbed the rest of the day. Billy Ray left me alone for a while but he came pounding on the door when it was time to fix supper. I just blanked my mind I guess. I didn’t want to remember what they did but I guess I overdid it. I forgot about her.”

“I wish now that I would have gotten the courts in the mix and fought harder to get custody of you back then.” Danny shook his head. 

“Can I ask why you didn’t leave when you turned 18?” John asked her.

Rika shrugged. “I couldn’t leave, Billy Ray wouldn’t let me.”

Riptide snorted. “He couldn’t stop you from walking out.”

Rika looked at him with tears in her eyes. “After six years of daily abuse, Billy Ray threatened me not to think about leaving. He told me things were working just fine in his eyes. So if I was thinking of just leaving, I could forget it. He liked the fact he didn’t have to bust his ass working anymore and that if I did leave him, Steven would find me and drag me back home. He said then things might not be so nice around there anymore. So I didn’t leave for a while. Until the beatings got so bad, I didn’t think I could stay anymore.”

“How many times did you leave for them to come find you and drag you back?”the detective asked.

“A dozen, maybe?” Rika whispered. “This time I wasn’t going to go back.”

“Damn right you’re not going back to them.” Spider growled. “It’s just horseshit that they would even think about getting you back. You’re well rid of them.”

Danny nodded his agreement as well. “Like I told you before, after Laura passed away, her attorney read her will but only the parts that applied to them. There was more to her will that he didn’t read because I asked him to leave out the part that applied to Rika. She was underage and I didn’t want Billy Ray or Steven to know about the life insurance part. That was meant for Rika and nobody but Rika should get it. When Billy Ray got in touch with her attorney last week to ask about the life insurance, the attorney was surprised and called me to ask if he should say anything or not. I told him not to answer Billy Ray’s questions. That money wasn’t supposed to go to him anyway. He’s looking into who in his office told him. That money is locked into a trust fund for Rika and only on or after her birthday can she get it. I have a feeling that’s the only reason she’s still alive today.”

“I turn 25 next week,” Rika told them. 

“Let’s get this done… one step at a time,” Detective Wake suggested. “First, we have to get that skillet and verify Laura’s blood is on it, so we can prove she was murdered. Then we get your witness affidavit to arrest Steven and Billy Ray. The skillet will help with DNA.”

Rika exhaled deeply. Laying her head on Riptide’s wide chest she said, “It's in my bedroom. Under the floorboards at the back of the closet there’s a trunk sitting on the loosened floorboards. The skillet is there, wrapped in an old pillowcase.” Shaking her head, she admitted. “ But I can’t go back to that house, I just can’t.”

“You don’t have to go back,” Danny promised her. He reached out to grab her hand. “You don’t have to go back there but we might need all you can tell us about the house.”

Rika squeezed his hand. “Yes, I can tell you about the house.”

Detective Wake looked at her and asked, “Do you know who Steven hangs out with? Has he ever brought people over to the house? Do you know if he knows someone named Howie?” 

Rika paled and shivered at the name he mentioned. “Does he have a scar?” She traced an imaginary line from the corner of her eye down to her throat.

He closed his eyes and cursed. “Damn, I was hoping you wouldn’t know him. I hoped that Steven would have kept him away from the house at least. You’ve seen him then, at Billy Ray’s house?”

Rika nodded. “That’s one very scary dude. His eyes are dead and cold. He doesn’t even blink like a normal person.”

Detective Wake nodded his head in agreement. “The man is an animal.”

“Who is this guy?” Hawk asked the detective.

“Howard Trask. He hangs with a very rough crowd. In fact, he leads them. He runs the streets and heads the underground here in Boston. They are nothing more than a  gang… a dangerous gang, willing to do just about anything they want. We would bust his stupid ass but no one will testify against him. We’ve been trying but everyone is afraid of him and this gang he runs. They are ruthless and just plain mean. They’ve already killed one witness and scared the others into not being willing to testify against him.”

“How the hell did they do that?” one of the Sinner's men called out. 

The detective looked around the room and said, “They got a hold of someone willing to testify and they dragged him out into the street to a post they buried in the ground. It was a cross and they hung the man up with his arms tied wide. Then they cut him open and spilled his guts out on the ground as they watched him bleed out.  But just before he died, Howie reached up into his chest cavity and ripped his heart out of his chest. The guy watched his own heart beating in Howie’s hand before he finally died. As you can imagine, this gruesome event scared the entire neighborhood. After that, no one would say a word to us.”

Rika gasped and pushed her face into Riptide's shoulder.

“Well Jesus,” Hawk said. “How come we never heard about this?”

“Same reason,” the detective replied. “No one talked about it.” He shook his head. “I wouldn’t have blamed any of them either. That man is a menace and he has no conscience.”

Rika shivered uncontrollably. 

Riptide held her tighter while whispering, “I got you, baby. He won’t ever reach you.”

Rika shook her head. “You don’t know this creep, big man. He wears fear like it’s a favorite jacket. He looks at you like you are nothing. Just dirt under his boots. He has a cold soul if he has one of those at all. You don’t want to get too close to him. You don’t even want to catch his eye. I always hoped I wouldn’t, but he is involved with Steven somehow. I just rushed out of the way when that sicko came to visit.”

Chapter Ten

Spider growled. “I don’t give a shit who this guy is. He isn’t gonna get to you. He’ll have to walk over my dead body first.”

Detective Wake snorted. “That won’t bother him much, I’m afraid. Like I said, he’s a real animal.”

“Yeah?” Rika shook her head. “Well, Steven and Billy Ray aren’t much better. But you know something? Get Billy Ray away from Steven and I think that old man would fold before you even raised your hand. He kinda likes having Steven behind him all the way. But anymore I don’t think Steven wants to be his dad’s buffer. They have been arguing a lot and then Steven storms out of the house and Billy Ray just looks a little lost. Steven is spiraling to the point of no control, and I don’t think it's all booze.”

Detective Wake shook his head. “Hanging with a man like Howie probably isn’t good either. Howie is known to deal and use drugs.”

Danny sighed. “One step at a time. First, we have to retrieve that skillet if it's still there. Then we can arrest Steven on murder charges and go from there.”

Detective Wake nodded his head in agreement. “We have to see if Laura’s blood is on it then we build our case before we can arrest Steven. I want an airtight case on him and on Billy Ray. This is still an open case in my books but we have to do things right because we may never get another chance. We want the right people to pay for their crimes.”

Rika looked up at Riptide and stared at him. 

Spider caught the look and asked, “What’s going on? Is there something else we need to know?”

Rika paled and shook her head.

 Riptide lifted her chin with his finger and told her softly, “If there’s something we need to know sweetness, just say it.”

Rika gazed into his eyes and inhaled sharply then letting it out, she said, “You need to look into Steven’s room when you go to the house. There’s a locked trunk under his bed and it has more than just money in it. He doesn’t know I saw it but I did. I saw him putting what looked like small baggies in there then he put a gun inside as well. That was a couple of weeks ago, so I don’t know what is in there still, but the gun scared me.”

“Did you see anything else in that trunk? Anything we might be able to track?” the detective asked her.

Rika started to shake her head then she remembered something. “Maybe. The time I was watching him he lifted a small baggie out and held it up to the light. It was an emerald necklace that looked very old. I don’t know that much about jewelry but where in the world would he get something like that? It looked like something valuable.”

Detective Wake paused for a moment then he reached for his phone to scroll through his pictures. When he found what he was looking for, he turned his phone to Rika. “Did it look something like this?”

Rika took his phone and studied the photo then shook her head. “Not something like this, this is the necklace. I only saw it briefly but Steven’s eyes were glazed over with greed and they glittered with a sick kind of joy that only he seems to have. The same as when he...” She paused. “...beat me up. That same look.”

Detective Wake nodded. “Oh yeah, if he has this necklace it’s greed alright. It’s worth about a million bucks. Those emeralds are very real and worth a small fortune. The necklace went missing from a robbery about four months ago. The owners were beaten badly when their house was robbed and by the time the cops found them, they had been robbed of several million dollars worth of family jewels.”

Rika gasped. “I read about that robbery. Is the old couple okay?”

Detective Wake sighed as he replied. “The old man ended up in the hospital for weeks and the woman said they cooperated with the robber but he just beat on them then took everything they had. They said he didn’t need to hurt them as badly as he did but he seemed to enjoy hitting the old guy. The old man was lucky he survived at all. Meanwhile, we’ve been searching all over for the jewelry and this is the first time we’ve had any sight of it at all.”

Rika shivered at his words and hugged Riptide a little bit harder. 

Riptide looked down at her and growled. He could read the fear in her eyes. He glanced over at Spider and saw the same thing in his eyes as he himself felt. An obvious rage, pure and simple. He raised his gaze to Detective Wake and asked, “Did the old couple say how many men were there when this happened?”

Detective Wake nodded. “According to the report, there were three men who broke into their home but only one of them beat on the old man. The other two were cleaning out their safe.”

“Did the one that beat them have any tattoos or anything to identify him?” Spider asked with a growl.

Detective Wake paused as he tried to remember that case. “Yeah, actually the old lady did say something about that. The guy had a tattoo on his wrist.”

“A stretched out clock with the hands at five minutes to twelve,” Rika described it.

Detective Wake turned his head to stare at her. “How the hell…?”

“Steven has that same tattoo,” she whispered as she closed her eyes. “He got it two years ago. Said it was the doomsday clock and it showed time would never stand still for anyone and we never knew when time would be up for all of us.” Shaking her head she said, “It was almost a warning, as if he were saying if I didn’t do what they expected me to do, then my life might end before its time.” With a tremble, she burrowed her face into Riptide’s chest.

Detective Wake glanced over at Danny and then at Hawk.

 Hawk’s face seemed to be set in stone and his hands were clenched in fury. He looked as if he wanted to punch a wall or maybe Steven’s face. 

His bet was on Steven’s face. Then he looked over at Rika and asked, “You said this trunk was under Steven’s bed. We’ll need to know that for the search warrant.”

Rika nodded. “I'm not sure if it is still there exactly, but that is where he has kept it for a year now. Just don’t judge me on how clean that house is or isn’t. They are both slobs and have never cleaned up their own shit. You might find more than you’re looking for if you search the place. Steven has been in on a lot of crimes this last year.” With a disgusted scoff, she added, “One thing you will find is a lot of empty beer bottles and empty pizza boxes.”

Danny looked worried and said, “All I know is that the next week or so is what will count. If Steven and Billy Ray can’t get to you, they can’t get the money which will be turned over to you on your birthday.”

Rika shook her head. “I didn’t even know about that money until you told me about it. Hell, I don’t even know how much it even is. Why would they need it anyway? A couple of thousand? Hardly anything to have such a fit about.”

Danny stared at her. “Baby girl,” he said softly. “It's a lot more than a couple thousand dollars. The money was invested wisely and because she died almost thirteen years ago, the account has gained almost triple what it was worth. Your mom was very smart in that respect. The original policy was 250k and now, it's worth almost a million dollars.”

Rika just stared at him for a moment and then she swallowed heavily as she asked with a squeak in her voice, “Are you freakin’ kidding me?”

Danny shook his head. “No, I’m not. I’ve been watching over the account all these years. There’s enough money in it to change a person’s life for the better. But as Billy Ray went in the back door, I had to double check everything again and get the attorney looking into things in his own office. As of right now, you are the only one that can get that money, which is why they want you back. My guess is that you would have collected the check. Then they would have cashed it. After that, you would have become just another check mark on some status sheet.” Shaking his head he said, “And those two dumb bastards would spend that money like water.”

Rika paled at the thought but it was something she hadn’t considered before. “Maybe but that would depend on whether they told Howie about it. Steven is a dumbshit and if he tells his friends about the money, Howie might think he can get it first and cut Steven out completely. But I know for a fact neither one of them would care if I was dead afterward or not.”

Riptide growled low in his chest. “He won’t even breathe the same air as you. They will not get close to you.”

“No way. They will play hell getting to you,” Spider promised. 

Rika stared at them then shook her head. “You don’t understand something about Howie. He is an animal who would just as soon kill you as to look at you. The drugs he’s been on has turned his mind off to everything but feeling the power he thinks is his. In all actuality, he doesn’t even really know what he’s doing. He’s just stuck in a fog. I’ve seen him on the streets when he’s been high. Last week I watched him from a hiding spot because I didn’t want him to see me. He seemed so out of it. I didn’t really know what he was doing. And I don’t think he did either. He was almost like a zombie. His men joined him. There was one man who just stared at him then asked him to follow him. They walked into the bank and they robbed the place while Howie just stood there. They gave Howie a gun and told him to watch the tellers, then they went behind the counters and cleaned out the cash drawers. Howie just stood there. When they were done, they grabbed his arm and led him out. His men then disappeared down the street. The new man was laughing his ass off at how easy it had been. That seemed to snap Howie out of his fog. When he told Howie what just went down, Howie beat the hell out of him. He left the guy in a heap on the street, then took the money and disappeared.”

“What are you saying here?” Detective Wake asked.

Rika shook her head at him and said, “Howie has times where the drugs turn his brain off. I’ve seen it before. Then when he comes out of it, he’s mean and vicious. The bank guy was found dead with his throat slashed two days later. Howie is mean on his good days but when he comes out of that fog, he’s even worse. The fact that his own men think they can control him that way makes it worse for them and everyone else on the streets when he does come out of that mindless state. I have no idea what’s going on with him and these brain fogs are something new but that man is just scary.”

Detective Wake and Danny paused at her reasoning.

 Detective Wake said, “I’ve never heard of anything like that but I will check it out with some doctors. We may be dealing with a bigger problem than we thought.”

Rika snorted. “That guy was just plain stupid and because of that, he ended up dead. He had to know how cruel and crazy Howie was on a good day. The fact that he made him do something he probably wouldn’t even remember when the fog cleared, was his own fault. Then he laughed at Howie? This is not a man you laugh at if you value your own life and want to keep on breathing.”

Hawk and Danny shook their heads. 

Detective Wake just sat there staring at the table. He looked up at Rika and nodded. “Yeah, I hear ya. I watched the video of that robbery. Now that you mention it, one of the masked men did act like he was spaced out. Now it all makes some sort of sense. Howie is going downhill fast. The drugs are eating away at his brain and soon there won’t be any more of this coming out of the fog for him. He’ll just be a heartless, cruel killing machine. We have to get him off the streets fast.”

Chapter Eleven

Detective Wake stood and walked away from the table to call his partner. 

Riptide and Spider exchanged glances.

Hawk looked back and forth between them. “Hey now, I know this all sucks and you care about Rika. I get it. But try to let the law handle this.”

“The law?” Spider growled. “That failed Rika and Laura. How could someone get away with murder like that? Did no one even investigate? No, they didn’t.”

“Then now there’s this freak Howie fuckface?” Riptide grumbled. “The law has allowed him to do all this heinous shit. He seems to just keep walking around killing who he feels like killing. Well, he’d better stay away from here or Spider and I will end him.”

“With pleasure,” Spider murmured with a growling voice.

Detective Wake returned to the table. He looked at Hawk and Riptide. “I’ve got someone watching Howie. When I reported what you saw last week. Nick, my partner, got really concerned. He said he’s seen this before and it never ends well. He’ll get some guys searching for him to keep their eyes on him. He said if this has happened once it probably happened more than just once.” Then he turned to look at Rika and nodded. “And you’re right about that other guy from the robbery. His body had been viciously beaten before he ended up having his throat cut. Nick also said the beating looked like someone was out of control and the M.E. said he’d never seen anyone beaten so bad. He said he was told some of the punches caused major damage to his internal organs and that if the guy’s throat hadn’t been cut he probably would have died anyway due to internal damage. It just would have taken a little longer but that he would have been in severe pain. Slitting his throat had been more merciful.”

Hawk shook his head and looked around the room at the Sinners. “Boston might be in for a few tense days.”

Detective Wake agreed as he nodded. “Unless we can find and freeze Howie and his gang then yeah, it’ll be real tense. The Steven connection to this might be suspicious, especially if that trunk in his bedroom really has stolen jewelry in it. And if we can find that skillet with your mother’s blood on it that will tie him into that crime as well.”

“Don’t forget Billy Ray covered for his dumb ass.” Rika growled.

“We’re working on a warrant right now,” Detective Wake assured her. “But everything has to be by the book or it won’t be allowed in court and this is one case I want to see in court. After all these years, I want justice.”

Danny nodded. “You and me both.”

Rika snuggled into Riptide’s embrace as she felt warm and safe in his arms. Something she never thought she would find. She looked over at Spider and found he was looking back at her. “What?” she asked him.

Spider shook his head. “I think you and I need to talk later. I can tell you about my dad and you can tell me about your mom. But you know something? I can see bits and pieces of my dad in you. I think my grandparents are going to love you to pieces.”

Rika closed her eyes for a moment.  “My mom might have had a happier life with your dad, I think. I always knew she was in love with someone and I sure never thought that man was Bily Ray Looken. I think Billy Ray knew it too. Maybe that’s why their marriage always seemed impossible to hold on to. I know Steven didn’t like her much and neither of those losers ever liked the fact they had to have me in the house and more so after she was dead.” She shrugged. “But I was just a kid when she died and I never had a say in what went on in the house. But I think Billy Ray did have some kind of feelings for her. It must have been hard though, knowing she didn’t love him the way a wife should love her husband.”

"Oh, boo-fucking-who," Spider snapped. "The poor guy."

“Except that he was never her husband legally.” Danny shook his head.

Rika paused to stare at him. “What do you mean? He was never her husband?”

Danny blew out his breath and explained, “I mean Billy Ray never married her. He told her he would marry her the day she told him she loved him. I don’t think that day ever came.”

Rika just stared at him for a moment then she looked enraged as she exploded, “If they never married then why did she stay with him all those years? Why did he insist that I stay with them after she died?”

Riptide frowned. “Did she ever tell you why she stayed with  him?”

Rika shrugged, then shook her head. “Not really, I mean my mom and I talked about it once when I was about six I think. I asked her why she was so sad and she told me she’d made a big mistake and she didn’t know how to make it right. That she had given her word and she had to keep it even if he didn’t deserve it.”

 Hawk glanced over at Pony and said, “We need to find out if Billy Ray ever married her. If he didn’t then he has no right to come looking for Rika. Or to demand anything in fact.” He looked up at Danny. “He also should have let you have her after her mother died. He had no right to keep her as she was never his kid.”

Danny shook his head. “He told me they were married even if I didn’t see it. That they did a courthouse wedding and I asked him to show me a marriage certificate. He laughed and said he didn’t have to show me anything. And if I didn’t like it I could lump it. I should have pressed him on that and now I’m sorry I didn’t.”

Detective Wake’s phone pinged. He looked down at the screen and smiled. “Bingo, we got the warrant for Billy Ray’s house, maybe we’ll have some answers soon enough.”

Rika just laid her head back against Riptide's chest and stared at her uncle. “I don’t think Billy Ray could tell the truth if his life depended on it anymore. His brain is pickled in all the beer he’s drank in the last twelve years. All I know is that my last name has been Looken because that’s what they called me but if it's not then they lied to me all these years. But they are killers so I’m not surprised. I don’t even know what the truth is anymore.”

“Your last name should have been Cooper all these years, not Duke and never Looken.” Spider growled.

Rika nodded but didn’t say anything. So much had happened since she got here she wasn’t sure how to handle it. Spider had more or less laid a claim to her as family but so had Riptide. She wasn’t sure how to feel about it all. All she knew is that for the first time in her life she felt safe.

Detective Wake got to his feet and looked at Rika. “I’ll call you and let you know what we find.”

“Make sure to take plenty of officers with you,” she warned him. “Steven and Billy Ray aren’t going to let you look for the secrets they’ve been hiding. Even if Billy Ray thinks there’s nothing there to get them in trouble, I know Steven has plenty of damning evidence in his room, if nowhere else. The pan is in my closet and the trunk should be under his bed. At least that’s where it was before I left anyway.”

Wake nodded. “I’ll make sure I find both the pan, the trunk and maybe even more.” He narrowed his eyes and said, “I know one thing though… Steven and Billy Ray will be in cuffs as soon as I get there. For assault if nothing else. And they will be denied bail too when the whole story comes out.”

Pony looked up from his laptop and stared at Hawk. “I’ve been doing some checking and there’s no marriage between Billy Ray and Laura Duke. He lied about that.” He scoffed and then said, “And there is no adoption of Rika listed either.”

Danny looked sick and he raised his regretful gaze to Rika. “I failed to protect you honey. I’m so sorry.”

Rika shook her head. “No Uncle Danny, you didn’t fail. Billy Ray lied, he lied to you, to my mother and he’s done nothing but lie to me my whole life. The sorry ass tales and made up stories stop now and he will finally have to face the consequences for all his lies. And I am hoping Steven will finally pay for everything he’s done too. He is selfish, greedy and ruthless.”

Wake rapped his knuckles on the table and gave her a firm nod of his head. “Those two are going to pay for what they’ve done. I hope you will come to their hearing and show the judge just what they did to you this time. The judge will take one look at you then throw them into a cell and throw away the fucking key.”

Rika closed her eyes and nodded. “I hope every single thing they’ve done comes out.”

Wake looked over at Riptide then at Spider. “You need to take pictures of the damage done to her. In case they hold up the hearing.”

Suddenly, Spider growled and slammed his hand down on the table. He got up and his chair scraped against the floor as he then stomped to the front door. Throwing it open, he went outside and roared in rage.

Rika just stared at the front door without saying a word.

The Detective slowly shook his head as he seemed to recognize the rage the man felt over her bruises, cuts and black eyes. He went on as he stared at Riptide now, “Lawyers are necessary for proper justice but they usually slow shit down. So we will need photo evidence too. But the heavier crimes such as murder will all start from what we find inside that house. Hopefully, the skillet will be there with some DNA evidence on it. If it has your mother’s blood on it that will be a solid piece of evidence. If it also has his fingerprints on it that would even be better.”

Rika stared at him and asked in a quiet voice, “How about Steven’s fingerprints in my mom’s blood? Would that convince a judge?”

No one said a word for a moment as they all stared at her.

“Is there such a thing on that skillet?” Danny finally whispered.

“I know I was in shock that night,” Rika explained quietly. “But after Billy Ray left the house with her, so did Steven. Before he did that though, he went through mom’s purse and took whatever money she had then he left me alone. I hid her purse right there. I stuffed it behind the couch. But I do remember there were bloody fingerprints on it.”

Wake stared at her. “Did you leave the purse there?”

“No…Not that they would ever move the couch, being as lazy as they are. But a day or so later when they were asleep, I took it and hid it next to the pillowcase. I think I did it cause it was Mom’s? I don’t know. I only knew she was gone.” Hesitating, she said, “I was young but I knew what happened was a crime. That he killed her. I waited for the longest time for someone to ask me what happened but nobody ever did until now.”

Detective Wake just shook his head. “As you know, he bypassed the autopsy and had her cremated the very next day. At least the police got the medical reports and they don’t exactly match what he claimed happened, but they do match your rendition of the murder. I’m going to contact the funeral home as well and see if they have records of what she looked like that day as well. Somebody fucked this case up big time and I won’t stop digging until I know who that was for sure.” 

She looked at Danny and asked, “And what did they get from my mom after she died?”

Danny shook his head. “Her job had a small life insurance policy and her retirement but Billy Ray can’t collect it because Laura had it set as a rollover to an IRA upon her death. Her work life insurance was only ten grand but her retirement is worth considerably more. I think you can fight it if you want. You are her direct heir and because they weren’t married at the time she died, everything should have gone to you, not Billy Ray.”

Rika shook her head. “They already got that life insurance but I don’t think they should get her retirement. If you can prove the marriage never happened, that might not be theirs.”

Danny nodded. “I’ll get her attorney to look into that. But you’re right, if there was no marriage then you should get the money. It rightfully belongs to you as her daughter.”

Rika nodded. “I don’t think I need it but I don’t want him to have it either. Call me selfish but he shouldn't get something he isn’t entitled to. And I sure as hell don’t want Steven to get any part of it. He murdered her in cold blood, then Billy Ray helped him to cover it up.”

Danny and Detective Wake nodded. 

“Billy Ray is almost old enough to start collecting the pension now,” Danny stated angrily.

“Well, don’t expect him to get much older,” Riptide muttered.

Hawk scowled at him as he shook his head and glanced over at the detective .

Detective Wake pretended he hadn't heard it as he turned and headed out.

 

Chapter Twelve

 

Detective Wake led the squad of cops to Billy Ray’s home.

 When they got there, Billy Ray answered the door. He frowned and asked him what the hell he wanted there.

Detective Wake slapped the warrant onto Billy Ray’s chest and pushed him inside the house. Then he motioned for two cops to watch him. Looking over at him, Detective Wake told him, “We’re here to search this house for some contraband, Billy Ray.”

Billy Ray looked puzzled as he asked, “Contraband? What the hell kind of contraband you looking for?” He gazed around at the mess the house was in and told them, “My daughter ran off yesterday and hasn’t had a chance to clean properly. She got a little lazy the past week or so and I don’t want anybody in the house right now. You’ll have to come back another time.”

Detective Wake shook his head, “That’s not the way this works Billy Ray and you know it. I’ve got the right to go anywhere in the house or on the property to look for this contraband. I have a warrant stating that and there ain’t  damn thing you can do to stop me.”

“The hell I can’t!” Billy Ray blustered. “You got no right to be here in the first place and you damn well know it. Did that little witch tell you some stories? Is that it? Well, she lied, she’s a habitual liar in fact. This is a good home and I’ve been a good dad to her all these years. And it wasn’t easy either. She ain’t no kin of mine but I’ve been there for her all the same.”

Detective Wake glared at him and said, “Yeah, I’ve seen how you’ve been there for her.” His voice was cold. “Good dad.” He scoffed in disgust. 

Billy Ray looked a bit worried now, but he kept up with the facade,“Like I said, she ran off. I have no idea where she went or what kinda trouble she’s in right now.”

Detective Wake just shook his head. “Really? No clue? Give me a break. You and Steven beat the hell out of her again, didn’t you?”

Billy Ray sputtered, “I-I did n-not. Me and my boy Steven didn’t touch her. If she told you that, she’s a damn liar.” Then he snorted, “She’s always tellin’ that same ole lie.”

“Really? She’s telling lies? Is that what your neighbors are gonna tell us too, huh, Billy Ray?” Detective Wake's voice was growling and cold while glaring at Billy Ray. “Will your neighbors tell us Rika is lying? That they never heard the noise over here when you were yelling and beating on her. Nor did any of them see her beaten up? Think long and hard about that before you tell me Rika is a liar, again.” 

 Now the older man had a film of sweat coating his face. “Neighbors don’t know what goes on in my house. They never come around peeking in the windows so they don’t know what goes on in here,” Billy Ray whined.

Detective Wake just nodded. “They don’t need to peek into your windows to know what goes on behind these walls, Billy Ray. They can see Rika every day and they know what you’re doing in here. So, I tell ya what… you just sit tight and let us look around a bit.”

“You can’t just walk in here and have a look around, not without my say so and I say no! What goes on here ain’t none of your business. It ain’t.” Billy Ray snarled.

Detective Wake glared at him and said, “Like I already told you, I got a judge signed warrant that tells me I can. Now sit down and shut up.” He pulled out a pair of plastic gloves and put them on, then he turned and walked down the hall, looking for Rika’s bedroom. He came to a door that was busted in and he carefully opened it and walked inside. The room was tidy and the bed was made. He found the closet then opened it, looking through her things. He found the spot she’d spoken of earlier then he flashed a light on the flooring underneath the shelves. He tested the boards and found them all loose. 

Two of his officers had followed him into the room and one of them asked, “What did you find, Detective Wake?”

Wake looked over his shoulder and nodded his head. “Exactly what I was told I’d find. Better get a big evidence bag ready.”

The officer turned and headed back out to do so.

 Detective Wake lifted the floorboards and then he found the pillowcase with the skillet in it. It did look old and it had a brown stain on it. He carefully pulled the whole thing out. He looked up to see his officer coming back in with the evidence bag. After taking the bag from him, he opened it and placed the wrapped skillet carefully inside. Sealing the bag shut he said, “Let's find Steven’s room next. I can’t wait to see what’s in that trunk under his bed.” He looked at the officer and handed him the evidence bag. Then he dug a set of labels from his jacket pocket. He handed it to the officer. “Label one is already filled out. Take your pen and initial next to it. Then he looked at the other cop. “You both stay with me until we get back to the station. I’m not breaking the chain of evidence here. You stay two steps behind me at all times.”

The cop nodded. “I’ll stick to you like white on rice, Captain. We’ve been looking for a way to bust these guys for a number of years now. We’ve seen Rika Looken around town too and she’s always got bruises on her face.”

Detective Wake shook his head. “Her name was never Looken. Billy Ray and her mom were never married. Her name has always been Rika Duke.”

The other cop looked angry but he tried to cover it. “Who’s the real liar here then? It sure as hell isn’t Rika.”

They walked toward another bedroom.

 When he opened the door, Detective Wake had to swallow hard. 

The room was as different from Rika’s room as night and day. Steven’s bed looked dirty and there were dirty clothes strewn all over the floor. A pile of dirty socks were in the corner and the whole room stunk like stinky shoes. The sheets were stained with god only knew what and the blanket was half laying on the floor. 

The detective just shook his head as he walked closer to the nasty looking bed. He bent over and as soon as he saw the trunk sitting under the bed, he grabbed it and pulled it out. He set the trunk on the bed and stared at it for a moment. Then he tried to unlock it and just shook his head when the trunk easily popped open. He looked over at the cop standing beside him and snarked, “Well, he wasn’t too worried about anyone else opening it, was he?” He sighed hard. “Let’s see what Steven feels is important enough to keep in here.” He opened the lid and just stood there in shock at what the trunk contained. 

A small tray took up half of the opening and inside the tray was jewelry. Very expensive looking necklaces and other pieces.  

The other cop began opening evidence bags. Each piece went into its own evidence bag. The second cop marked different labels and stuck them to each appropriate bag. 

When that was all done, they removed the tray and looked into the deeper recess of the trunk. Detective Wake wasn’t too surprised to find a couple bricks of drugs and a couple of stacks of money. 

The officer with the bags took each item out putting it into other evidence bags. The labeling officer wrote down what each set of items were and placed the labels on the bags. Detective Wake then initialed each of the bags.

Then when they reached the bottom, everything they’d found was now in bags that they placed back inside the trunk. The evidence bag officer lifted the entire trunk up and then they went back to the living room. 

“Cuff him and read him his rights,” Wake instructed. He looked up at a waiting group of cops in uniform. “A couple of you will have to stay and bring Steven in when he gets home. Be careful though. He is unpredictable and he hangs out with some dangerous characters.”

Billy Ray scowled as he asked, “What did you find then? Did you find the contraband you were talking about?”

Detective Wake nodded as he watched his officers cuff Billy Ray. 

Billy Ray was turning and twisting his body to face Detective Wake. “What did that stupid kid bring into my house anyway? What contraband?”

Detective Wake shook his head. “How about a shitton of drugs and money along with stolen jewelry? If that ain’t enough, we found a cast iron skillet with blood stains on it.” 

Billy Ray paled as he looked ashen and slumped down to the floor then began to dry heave. In a cold sweat, he trembled and looked pathetic.

No one present looked a bit sorry for him. They all wore hard glares.

When Billy Ray finally seemed to be finished with his breakdown, Detective Wake grabbed him by the hair and hauled his head up. “Where is he, Billy Ray? Where is Steven?”

“He’s out with Howie and the boys,” Billy Ray whispered in a shaky voice. “I don’t know where they hang out.”

“Any idea when he’ll be home?”

Billy Ray shook his head. “No, he usually stumbles in around early morning.” He shrugged. “I usually leave a light on for him cuz by then he can’t see straight.”

Detective Wake nodded. “My guys will just wait for him then.”

“Just don’t put him in the same cell I’m in. He’s gonna kill me for sure,” Billy Ray whined. “That stupid bitch is the fault for all of this shit, isn’t she? She’d better watch her back now, Steven won’t let this go.”

Detective Wake slowly raised his head to glare at the idiot. “Steven won’t let this go? Steven is gonna be in jail until he goes to trial, then he’ll be in prison for the rest of his miserable life. And you’re gonna be right there with him.”

“For what?” Billy Ray shouted. “I didn’t do anything!”

“How about you covering up Laura’s murder? Or the many assaults on Rika?” Detective Wake growled. “You aren’t exactly innocent here.”

“I may have slapped Rika around some but I never hurt her mom.” Billy Ray snarled.

“That’s true enough you didn’t bash her head in, Steven did that all on his own, but you lied to the doctors and the cops. You never allowed an autopsy. Because you knew the autopsy wouldn’t follow your reasoning for her injuries. You lied and said she fell down some steps in your basement. Well, tell me Billy Ray, where is this mystical basement of yours? Huh? Show me the basement,” Detective Wake demanded.

Billy Ray flushed as he glared at Wake. “You know I ain’t got no damn basement.”

The detective nodded. “Then you cremated her before Rika could even say goodbye to her mom.”

Billy Ray shook his head. “Her mom never knew that. I couldn’t let that girl see what Steven did to her.”

Detective Wake scoffed. “She saw what he did to her. Steven was so far gone that night he didn’t even know Rika was there.”

Billy Ray shook his head then hung it down. “No, he didn’t know she was there. I had to scream at her to go to her room before she could even move. She was just frozen in place with the horror of what she’d seen, I guess. I really didn’t know she saw it though. That poor girl.”

“That poor…Now you say that?” Detective Wake’s voice rose as he sounded incredulous. “As usual, you’re way too late and did too little to have regrets or to even think about what Rika saw. All the lies you told her, all the pain you put her through. And for what? You never really loved Laura, all you did was use her. You used her to make your life a little easier, didn’t you?”

Billy Ray shook his head. “I thought she would be a mother to my boy, that’s why I brought her here. For Steven's sake.”

“And yet, he didn’t want her here, did he? He hated her so much that he killed her.” Wake growled. “Is that why you never married her? Because Steven wouldn’t accept her?”

Billy Ray just stared at him and didn’t say anything else. Then after a couple of tense minutes he tried to defend his position, “I never mistreated Laura. We did try to make it work.”

“Maybe but after Laura died, you didn’t even try to make it work for Rika, did you? How long before you and your kid began beating on her? How many times did you hit her? How many times did you lie to her and tell her she was your daughter? Huh? How many times?” Detective Wake snarled.

Billy Ray just shrugged. “She assumed she was my kid and I just never told her she wasn’t. Then after Laura died, I never corrected her. By then, there was no need for her to know.”

“You make me sick.” Wake growled. Looking over at the other officers, he said, “Get him out of my sight before I beat on him the same way he beat on Rika.”

Chapter Thirteen

Detective Wake walked into the police precinct and hand delivered the evidence to the crime labs. He even stayed with the evidence until they tested the skillet for blood residue. Then he took the other object, the old purse and made sure it was added to the chain of evidence for a fingerprint matching.

When the light showed the presence of blood on the skillet he asked the lead lab tech if there was enough to type it and then check it for Laura Duke’s blood.

After checking on the forensic web links, the lab tech found that they had an old blood typing test of Laura’s blood on file with a local hospital. The lab tech nodded and said that they could. 

Wake then filled out the order for all the tests to be done. It would take time but Wake told him to do the tests.

Then he walked over to the robbery department and handed over the stolen jewelry to Evidence.

The lead detective Pacer was amazed by the fact they had this jewelry from several heists. 

When he asked where they found it, Wake told him, “Hidden in a trunk under Steven’s Looken’s bed and he might be the one who beat up that old man.”

Detective Pacer snarled. “He didn’t have to beat them up the way he did. It was pure meanness and aggression for aggression’s sake. Like the thief got off on beating an old man nearly to death. Just for shits and giggles.”

Wake nodded. “When we asked that older man who’d been beaten if the guy who did the beating had any tattoos or other identifying traits he did say he had a tattoo. Then today, Rika told us about the tattoo Steven got two years ago without any prompting. The elongated clock showing the doomsday timeline and it matched the old man’s description too.” Shaking his head, he told the other detective, “Odd thing about that tat, Rika said it was her timeline as well. He was always that close to killing her…”

Pacer looked disgusted. “I don’t know which one is worse, Steven or Howie.”

“We might end up taking both of them off of the streets,” Wake told him. “Maybe if the gang Howie hangs out with loses their fearless leader, we might actually get a handle on the rest of them. All I know is that Steven and his worthless father have beaten Rika up for the last damn time. Danny Duke and I went to the Sinner’s compound and we found her all beaten up and in the care of one the bikers that looked enough like Hawk to be his brother and one of the other bikers he brought with him turned out to be her real brother as they discovered they both shared the same father. Turns out, Rika was never Billy Ray’s child at all. But she was only two when her mom and Billy Ray got together. Laura must have thought he could be a good dad for her girl, which we all know wasn’t true. Why Laura stayed with that loser is a question we may never know the answer to, not now.” Wake just shook his head.

Pacer nodded. “Billy Ray was always right on the line but I think when Laura died, he crossed over and became a drunk and a loser. I think she was the only one that kept him on the straight and narrow.”

“Yeah?” Wake snorted. “But his own son killed Laura. Rika told us what happened that day and her account is right on with the emergency room doctors report. He beat her to death with a cast iron skillet. Billy Ray covered up what he did twelve years ago and now he’s going down for what happened to her along with Steven. Forensics’ is looking into the skillet and purse right now. Rika told us there were Steven's fingerprints in her mom’s blood on her purse which was in the pillowcase with the skillet. If they can match it, he’s going down finally… twelve years after the fact.”

“That would be sweet if they match it,” Pacer said. “Even this late is better than never.” He paused then asked, “Any idea why this latest beating happened other than them being the lowlifes they are?”

Wake Wake nodded. “Yeah, Steven wanted more money from Rika and she refused, bless her. But the real reason they kept her under their thumb was because ole Billy Ray discovered Rika is coming into some money her mom left her and he decided he wanted it. It's actually enough money to set them up for the rest of their lives if they were careful but Billy Ray and Steven aren’t the careful type. They would have both drank it or shot up within a year and when they ran out of the green they would both be dead. So that would have been good too, considering what losers both men are. But Rika would have suffered longer. She is finally free of them and the money will now be hers like it should have been all along. Her new protector and her brother will make that happen. Not to mention her Uncle Danny.” Shaking his head he added, “But that’s not to say if Steven shot off his mouth and told Howie about the money. Howie is a whole other problem to deal with.”

“Yeah, we all know about that freak,” Detective Pacer replied. “The entire department wants that psycho off the streets. He is literally a menace to any society.” 

Nodding in agreement, Wake said, “Right now, Rika is safe behind the walls of the Sinner’s compound until we get a handle on Howie and the rest of them. I believe that's the only place in the entire city where she's safe until her birthday.”

“And when is that?”

“Next week,” Wake told him. “That’s when Danny and the attorney are allowed to release the trust her mom set up.”

“Well, let’s hope forensics can come up with the right answers we need,” Pacer stated. “Then we can take them all down.”

“Yeah,” Wake agreed. “Then maybe the inmates who hear about Rika's beatings as a child, will do the same to Billy Ray and Steven...” He smirked and added, “You know, just for shits and giggles.”

Back at the compound.

 Riptide was shown to a room and he took Rika along with him, she needed some rest. She had fallen asleep on his lap. When the door closed behind him, he looked down at the bundle in his arms and shook his head. 

He didn’t come all this way to find her but he was glad he had. When he pulled her out of the bushes yesterday something inside him told him she was his home. He came here to find his brother and confront his father but with this trip he found even more. This little bit of a girl had become his all. 

He walked over to the bed and laid her down carefully. He looked at her and took note of her bruises again. He growled low in his throat.

With the sound, her eyes flew open and she tried to move away. 

“No, no, you don’t need to run away,” he whispered softly. “Not from me, never from me.”

Rika stared at him then slowly nodded her head. “I think I knew that when you hauled me out of those bushes. I guess I just slipped back into that fear. Sometimes I would wake up to Steven hitting me. So I just reverted to that by instinct. I know you wouldn’t hurt me.” She shook her head. 

Riptide closed his eyes and sighed heavily in disgust. “How in the hell could someone…” He took a deep breath then released it. “No one will ever hurt you again, not while I’m alive. I’ll always be around to protect you no matter what.” Shaking his head he chuckled. “And if I’m not around, my man Spider will be. You won’t ever have to be alone ever again.”

Rika laid back on the pillow as tears spilled down her cheeks and she murmured, “I never knew about him.” She spoke with wonder in her voice, “I always thought Steven was my brother and Billy Ray was my father. I hated it but I didn’t know it was a lie.”

Riptide shook his head. “It was a lie they told you. Both of those men knew it was a lie but they kept it up. They used and abused you all your life but that ends now. The truth has set you free now, well free from them anyway. You belong with me.”

She turned her head and stared at him for the longest time. “I’m not sure any of this is real yet. For all I know, this has been a dream and I don’t want to wake up.”

Riptide leaned forward and touched his lips to hers. He deepened the kiss and she groaned. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he crushed her lips. Rika cried out in pain and Riptide lifted his head to stare at her paling face.

 Fresh tears ran down her face and she whimpered. “I’m sorry but it hurts,” she whispered.

He leaned away for a moment and shook his head. “No, I’m sorry, you need to heal and I’m all over you. I lost my everlovin' mind for a moment. That kiss just lit up my world. I think we both need to rest for a while.” He got up, walked around to the other side of the bed and climbed in behind her. Then he carefully gathered her in his arms and just held her. “You rest awhile, I’ll just hold you. I just need to hold you, protect you while you get better but just so you know, someday very soon I’ll kiss you again and you’ll be moaning in pleasure not pain.”

Rika smiled as she snuggled in his arms. “I can’t wait for that day,” she whispered.

“Neither can I,” he assured her. “Rest now and heal fast.”

As Rika closed her eyes she took a deep breath and inhaled his scent. She smiled as she fell asleep.

Riptide looked down and had to grin at the hint of a smile on her face. He could see the bruises on her face and arms and had to wonder where else she had them. His mouth tightened as he thought about the pain she was in and he vowed no one else would ever hurt her again. 

Trying to tamp down his anger, he gazed up at the ceiling for a few minutes. He held her closer and then closed his own eyes and dozed.

In the main room…

Spider looked at Danny and then at Hawk. 

Hawk was looking back at him and growled, “What? You got something to say?”

Spider pressed his lips together for a moment then he snarled, “Yeah, I got something to say. If this has happened before I mean the fact that Rika ran away from that house again and again, why didn’t anyone ever step up and help her before?”

“Because she didn’t want her family to hurt anyone else,” Tula responded.

“But those bastards weren’t her real family.” Spider growled.

Tula shook her head. “But she didn’t know that, did she? She didn’t know Billy Ray lied to her and to Danny. She would have been better off if he had let her go twelve years ago but he couldn’t could he? Billy Ray couldn’t risk Rika telling anyone what she saw that night.”

Spider sighed. “I’m just frustrated that she has suffered like this for all this time with no one to help her.”

“I have tried helped her,” Tula defended. “But she kept going back. I tried to stop her each time too. She just did not want a war to happen over her.”

Spider gave her a slow nod. “I only wish my dad would have told us about Laura. My grandpa would have reached out and told her about the accident and what happened to him. If Grandpa ever knew she was pregnant he would have given her a choice. A better life than she had.”

Danny shook his head. “You didn’t know my sister, she was as stubborn as a mule. But in her heart, I think she was waiting for your dad to come back to her. I never knew his name but when she told me she was expecting Rika, I stayed behind her all the way. I loved that girl from day one. It killed me to see what those two did to her but Rika never came to me before now. When Billy Ray told me to leave her where she was, I didn’t want to but I thought his house was all she knew. I didn’t want to hurt her again by taking her away from what she knew.” Shaking his head he admitted. “I should have listened to my instincts that were screaming at me to get her the hell out of that house.”

Tula shook her head. “Billy Ray wouldn’t let that happen before and he sure isn’t going to like the fact she escaped from him now.”

Hawk snorted. “Yeah, but John Wake isn’t gonna wait for anything. He’s gonna move on that and catch Billy Ray and Steven with their pants down for sure. I’m betting that even as we speak, Billy Ray and Steven are in cuffs being arrested. All he needed was a warrant and to get that evidence. ”

“Oh, they better hope so.” Spider growled. “At least in jail, they’ll be safe.”

“Safe?” Hawk questioned.

“Yeah, safe.” Spider nodded. “If they get out of that jail, I’ll be waiting for them both in the shadows. If I meet them outside, they will learn about pain. They will feel all the pain they’ve handed out to Rika over the years.”

Chapter Fourteen

Hawk gave him a slow nod as if he approved of his plan. 

Then one by one, each of the men sitting around the table gave him their nods. 

Spider got up and went outside. He had a call to make to let his family know about Rika. 

He tapped his grandpa’s number and when the old man answered, Spider smiled upon hearing his gravelly voice. “Hey Pops, I found her. I found Laura.”

The old man gasped on the other end of the phone. “You did?”

“Well, I did and I didn’t. Laura died twelve years ago. She was beaten to death by her stepson, but guess what?”

“Boy, don’t dick around with me. You said you found her.” Ben Cooper growled.

“Well, I did find the next best thing. Laura had a little girl and she’s ours.” Spider let the words sink in.

“Ours?” Ben asked. “How can that be?”

“Rika is my sister, Pops. You know dad was quitting his usual run for a job closer to home, well that was because Laura was pregnant with his baby. When dad never went back for her she thought he’d ghosted her, but he never did, he died on his last run. I found Laura’s daughter and she looks just like him.”

“Oh, my God…” Ben choked. “I wish we had known about that. All this time…”

“I know, Pops,” Spider agreed. “But now we know and I’m never going to let her get hurt ever again.”

“Hurt? What the hell is going on down there?” Ben growled.

“Laura got mixed up with a weak man and his son after she lost dad. She never married him but she raised her daughter in his house. About twelve years ago, the man’s son beat her to death with a cast iron skillet. Rika hid the skillet and now she finally told the police about it. As far as we know, the cops got the guy and his son in jail, but if they get out, I’ll be looking for them. They beat on my sister and that’s not something I’m willing to overlook. Rika might not have known about us but she does now and I’m ready to defend her.” Then he chuckled. “Oh and I think Riptide is too. He’s taken a liking to her so I have no doubt she’ll have plenty of protection from now on.”

Ben chuckled on the other end of the phone line. “Where is this girl? Your grandmother and I are dying to meet her.”

“Would you believe Boston?” Spider told him.

Ben gasped and exclaimed, “That close?”

“Yeah Pops, my sister has been that close all this time,” Spider told him softly. “If she’s anything like her mother, then my dad would have been a very happy man. She’s got all his good qualities and none of his bad ones.”

Ben laughed. “Boy, your dad was a good man.”

“I know Pops, I’m told that Rika is as stubborn as a mule and we all know where she got that from.”

“Yeah, my Richy was just as stubborn.” Ben chuckled. “Ok then, I’m gonna get off the phone. Your grandma and I will see you later in the day. I hope that girl can accept us. Your grandma is gonna be thrilled to see her.”

“I’ll let her know,” Spider told him.

“I’ll call you when we get there and you can give us the address. We got that GPS crap and it will lead us there.”

Spider laughed. “We’re at the Sinner’s compound,”

 “Like I know where that is,” Ben joked. “I can’t wait to meet this girl. I got so much to tell her about Richy. I just can’t wait to see her for myself. Your grandma’s gonna go nuts when I tell her.”

“See you later then, Grandpa.” Spider paused and said, “I can’t wait to get to know her better too.”

“We’ll see you in a while,” Ben said as he hung up the phone. 

The last thing Spider heard before the line went dead was Ben hollering for his wife. He smiled as he put his phone away and walked back inside.

Riptide and Rika were sitting at the table again. They had gone back to one of the bedrooms for a nap and while it was a short nap they were back now.

 He went over to his seat and looked at Rika. “You are going to have visitors later today.”

Rika cocked her head at him and asked, “Who even knows I’m here?”

“My grandparents and yours,” he told her with a smile. “In fact, Pops can’t wait to meet you and grandma will probably hug you to death. She’s like that.”

Rika blinked her eyes at him then grew quiet. 

Riptide stared at her then he glanced at Spider and back at Rika. “What’s wrong?”

Rika looked up at him and said, “I have grandparents,” she said with wonder in her voice. “I mean I’ve never had them before. What if they don’t like me or what if they hate me because I don’t know them?”

Riptide smiled easily. “I’ve met them before and you’ll love them. Ben is a big ole teddy bear and Louisa? Well, she’ll take one look at you and hug you to death. They are fine people and don’t forget you are a surprise to them as much as you are to all of us. If we’d have known about you before we would have been there for you all along. Billy Ray and his miserable son never would have laid a hand on you. I can guarantee you that much.”

Spider nodded. “If we had known about you and your mother, your life would have been so much better than it turned out to be.” 

Rika nodded. “I wish mom would have known what happened to Richard. Maybe she wouldn’t have felt so alone the whole time. Maybe she wouldn’t have gotten involved with Billy Ray and Steven in the first place.”

Spider nodded. “But you’ll meet the next best people, my…I mean our grandparents. They raised me after dad died and better people you won’t ever meet. I told grandpa about you and he can’t wait to meet you.”

Rika sighed hard. “I hope he can overlook the bruises. They won’t heal overnight.”

Spider shook his head. “Shit, I never thought about that. Gramps won’t like that.”

Riptide snorted. “I wouldn’t worry about Ben seeing her bruises, I think I’d worry more about Lousia seeing them. She’s likely to grab a wooden spoon, hunt Steven down and beat him to death with that spoon.”

 Around the table, Spider and a few others chuckled. They were all well aware of Lousia’s temper. 

“Yep,” one they called Jazz spoke up. “Heaven help your grandfather if he ever steps out of line.”

Spider snorted. “Pops knows better. He used to tease her only so far. But it took a lot before she lost her legendary temper. When she did that, he used to tell me to run and it was every man for himself.” He shook his head. “Even as big as grandpa is, he would always get out of her way when she was pissed.”

Riptide scoffed. “That man would never harm a hair on that woman’s sweet head. He wouldn’t dare.”

Spider smiled. “You got that right. He loves her to the end of the earth.” He paused and looked at Rika. “The same way our dad loved your mother. He would have loved the both of you so much.”

“I wish I had known him,” she whispered.

“I can tell you some stories about him if you like,” Spider offered. “He was a generous guy. Liked to fish, loved to bowl and had many friends.”

Just then, Hawk’s phone pinged and he paused to read the message. With a shake of his head, he took a moment to text back. When his thumb hit the send key, he looked up at Riptide. “We might be getting company soon.”

“Oh, yeah?” Riptide asked. “Who?”

“Dear old dad. I told him you were here and that he should stop by.” Hawk shrugged.

“Well, let's see if he has the guts to come by then. I can’t wait to meet him.” Riptide snarled.

Hawk nodded. “He’ll come, he has no choice. Besides, I'm interested in seeing his face when he sees you. After all you could be my twin, except for the fact I’m older. You still carry his last name despite the fact he was married to my mother when you were born. He’s probably got to find out for himself what kind of man you are. He’s gonna flip when he finds out that two of his sons belong to an MC. He’s always hated the fact that I'm the leader of the Sinners.”

Riptide snorted and shook his head. “Like I said, I came here looking for him so I could shove that check down his throat and ride away. He never wanted me so why the hell should I want him?”

“I’m hoping you don’t just ride away. I want you and your guys to stay a long time.” Hawk nodded his head at him. “I can see you guys wearing our colors and maybe we can finally be brothers.”

Riptide studied him for a long minute then he said, “Yeah?”

Hawk nodded at him. “Yeah. At least give it some thought.” He glanced over at Rika and smiled. “Besides, I think someone here needs you even more than I do.”

Rika flushed a bright red. 

Riptide agreed. “Maybe we’ll stay for a while longer even after I meet the man who gave me life. Even if I do leave, I’m not leaving her behind. We’ll just have to play this out like the cards tell us.”

Hawk nodded. “That’s a good idea. We’ll just have to wait and see what the old man does. I know he doesn’t appreciate me being here, oh and if he offers you to come into the business, don’t do it. He thinks that’s his way of controlling what you do, where you live and what you can eat. His thumb will definitely be down on the neck and pressing in deeply. Right now, our sister’s husband is running his office and he is about ready to tell my dad to jump into the lake. But Lisa’s so far under his thumb she can’t think for herself anymore.”

Riptide frowned. “I have a brother and a sister?”

Hawk nodded. “Yeah, and I do think you’ll like Lisa. She’s gonna be so happy that you’ve finally got here. Anything to take the pressure off her and Reed.”

Riptide harrumphed. “If she thinks he’s gonna tell me how to live my life, both of them are dead wrong. Not even my mother did that after I turned about fourteen. She did her best to make sure I knew what was going on but she never told me what to do after that. I made mistakes but she always had my back when I did. She always told me to learn from what I did and remember the lesson I learned.” He shook his head. “I miss that woman.”

Hawk nodded. “My mom might have left him but I knew where she lived and I would go see her all the time. The old man never knew it but she was there for me. When Lisa’s mom left, she really left, so my mom took Lisa in too. Dad never knew it or didn’t really care but we both spent a lot of time with my mom. I asked her once why she left and she told me she had ghosts in their bedroom and she couldn’t live with ghosts. I think she knew about you but she never told me.”

“I guess we can always ask the old man when and if he shows up,” Riptide told him. 

Hawk nodded but didn’t say a word. 

Just then, a honk sounded at the gate. Pony got up and looked outside and then he turned to Hawk. “Well the guessing time is over. It looks like your old man’s car. 

Hawk and Riptide both stood from the table. 

Hawk nodded and told Pony, “Let the man in, then lock the gate again.”

When Pony left to open the gate, Hawk looked at Riptide and said, “Let’s get this show over with, we still have more to deal with.”

Chapter Fifteen

When Harlan Westerly entered the clubhouse he looked around and froze. He saw Hawk but someone else stood there as well. He could see the man looked enough like Hawk that they could be brothers and indeed they were brothers if he was the man Harlan thought he was. This man could be his son Marcus. The son he had never met before today. He finally took a step forward and whispered a name he never had said aloud before, “Marcus.”

Riptide nodded. “That’s what my mother called me.”

Harlan closed his eyes in pain. From the sound of his voice he didn’t have the feeling his son would ever forgive him for staying away all his life. “Son, things were so different back when you were growing up. I can explain.”

“Sure, you can explain…” Riptide repeated the words Harlan had thrown out there. “But how can you explain a lifetime of never knowing you, of you turning your back on mom and me? How can you explain the fact that you never told mom you were married and your wife was expecting a baby the nights you spent with my mom? You go ahead and explain to me why I had to grow up without ever knowing you were my father?”

“Now, hear this young man.” Harlan snarled. “I made a mistake but I cared about your mother a great deal. I didn’t leave her all alone. I sent support checks to make sure you had what you needed.”

“Oh yeah, you supported me all right.” Riptide reached inside his cut and withdrew a piece of paper. It was the check his mother had given him the day he left home to live his own life. He held it out to him. 

Harlan took it and looked at it as his face paled. “What is this?”

“That’s the amount of support you sent my mother over eighteen years. She saved every penny of it and the day I left home, she wrote me a check.” Riptide snarled at him. “That’s all I ever meant to you wasn’t it? That’s all I was worth to you.”

Harlan looked up at him and shook his head. “This money was for you, for her to provide a place for you to live and money to live on. Why didn’t she ever spend it?”

“My mother was a proud woman, motherfucker.” Riptide growled. “She had a job and place to live. She worked her fingers to the bone to provide for me. She saved each and every check you sent her and the day I left she said that I should have some money to start my own life. She took care of me all alone and she never had another man around. I asked her about that one time and she told me she’d been burned once by a man who could lie so smoothly she never guessed you were already married and had a family. She said when you told her you couldn’t marry her because you already had a wife and newborn son, something inside her broke. She loved me alright, she just didn’t trust any other man not to lie to her again. When I left her, she was all alone but she told me I had to go find out who I was. Well, I did that. I found my first MC and I fit right in.”

“But you can’t live that sort of life!” Harlan cried out.

“Why not?” Riptide asked. “I find it suits me very well.”

 Harlan groaned and said, “It's bad enough Jimmy is doing the biker thing, I can’t introduce you to the world as another biker. It's just wrong for the image.”

“Wrong for the image?” Riptide demanded of his father. “I could care less what people think of me and if you do… well I’m sorry for you then. I’ll live my life the way I want to live it. So Daddy, why don’t you take your check and walk away yet again? You already left me once. So do us both a favor and walk away from me again, you lousy excuse for a human being.” Riptide growled. “I didn’t need you when I was a kid and sure as hell don’t need you now. I’m all grown and have my own feelings and opinions. I’m living free from expectations and I like it that way.”

Harlan shook his head. “I can’t believe this. I thought one of my own children would be respectable. I thought at least one of you would live up to my expectations.”

“Old man, I didn't know you when I started out on this journey. Maybe if you had chosen to step forward, I might have turned out differently. My mom never told me anything about you but even the fact I exist should be enough to show the world you aren’t kosher.” Riptide shook his head. “You’re a man with no conscience, aren’t you? You had a wife and child at home and you went out looking for a side piece. How many of your people know I exist? Huh? How many people know I’m your son?”

Harlan paled and began to shake as he got the implication. “You wouldn’t?”

“Tell me something dad,” Hawk cleared his throat. “Is there anyone else like him somewhere in the world?”

Harlan froze and stared at Hawk. “No, there aren’t. He was the only one besides you and Lisa. I don’t have any more children out there.”

Hawk shook his head. “I don’t know if I believe that at all. I didn’t know he was out there until I saw his face.” He paused and said, “But you knew and you never said a word. Why is that, I wonder?”

Harlan shook his head. “I tried not to think about that too much. I was a married man after all.”

Hawk snorted. “Yeah, married. Some kind of marriage, but not an honest one. You were never there for mom or me growing up. You were always off, lying to people. Running your campaign about honor and morals and all the while you were sleeping with women other than your wife. Did you cheat on Lisa’s mom as well? Is that why she left you after only four years? Too much competition for your time?”

“How dare you.” Harlan growled.

“Yeah, I dare.” Hawk nodded. “At least I was faithful to my woman.”

Harlan shook his head, knowing he would not win here. He laid the check on the table and turned around to leave.

 Riptide called him back, “Better take the money, dad. I don’t want it. You were never there for me and now you can go to hell.”

Harlan turned, snatched the check up and stalked to the door without another word. He didn’t bother to turn and look at either of his sons again. He exited the building, got into his expensive looking car and sped away. 

Pony barely got the gate open before he roared through it. Pony just shook his head as he closed the gate again. He walked back inside and shook his head. “I don’t know what happened in here but he left like the devil was chasing his raggedy ass.” 

Riptide chuckled. “Damn, I'm glad he’s gone. I feel better now. Let’s just say he couldn’t take having two sons in an MC and leave it at that. He was disappointed to say the least and that pleased me the most. Even though I didn’t shove that check down his throat like I’d always wanted to, I think he got the message I came here to give him.”

Spider’s cell buzzed and he looked down to read the text. Then typed a message and sent it. 

“And where does that leave you?” Pony asked Riptide. “Are you gonna stay or go?”

Riptide took a deep breath and exhaled. “I think if Hawk will have us, I’d like to stay and get to know everyone. I’ve never had a family before except for my mom and I’d like to know my brother if he’ll let me.”

Hawk smiled and held out his hand. “I’d like that.”

The two men shook hands and then gave each other a brother hug.

“We have a lot to discuss.,” he told Hawk. “Like why you took Hawk as an MC name. What kind of bike you ride and where you got the coolass tat on your wrist. Among just a few subjects.” Riptide stepped back from Hawk, then he looked over at Rika and said, “Besides, I think my woman is going to need me.”

Danny finally spoke up and said, “You seem like a good man. At least, I will know she is totally protected.”

Rika had tears in her eyes as she shook her head at her Uncle Danny then looked over at Riptide. “Your woman? I don’t know about that.”

“That’s ok sweetness, I know.” He leaned over her and kissed her. 

 The kiss went on and on as they wrapped their arms around each other.

“Down boy, let my sister breathe,” Spider teased. “She ain’t yours yet, brother. You have to pass the grandma and gramps’ loyalty test. Only then can you claim her as your own. Pops texted me a few minutes ago. He and Grandma are heading this way.”

Riptide broke the kiss then gently passed his fingers along Riks’ lips. Finally, he turned his head to stare at Spider. “I’m not good at conforming, Spider and you know it.”

Spider shrugged. “Hey boss, look at me. Long hair, ink, all the leather and a patch. I’m sure they will be lenient on that shit.” He laughed.

Just then, another vehicle honked at the front gate. 

Pony looked at camera footage on his cell screen and then said over his shoulder as he headed to the doors, “Dang, this day just keeps getting better and better. The badge is back.”

Hawk gave him a nod. “Yeah, I know you don’t like cops, Pony. But just let him in, he's got some news.” 

Pony went out again. Heading toward the gate, he opened it. 

Wake drove through and parked near the front door. 

Pony walked him inside. 

Detective Wake looked at his friend Danny and then he found Rika’s eyes. He gave her a nod then made his way over to the table. “Well Rika, you helped us find out a great deal about the Lookens and I’m grateful for that.”

“What happened?” Riptide demanded.

“We got the warrant for the skillet and when we got there, Billy Ray was home but Steven wasn’t. We entered and Billy Ray was giving us all kinds of shit about how we couldn’t just barge into his house and look around. I left him with two officers and went to the bedroom Rika had been staying in. I think Steven trashed the room after they couldn’t find you. Anyway, we went to your closet, lifted the flooring and sure enough, that pillowcase was there with the skillet and your mother’s purse. It hadn’t been disturbed. Then we went to his bedroom and found the trunk under his bed. Not only did we find the jewelry but we found money and drugs, enough to arrest him for possession with intent to sell. We arrested Billy Ray on the spot but I put out an APB on Steven. I turned the skillet and the purse over to the lab and they found what you said they would find. Laura's blood and a very clear fingerprint in Laura’s blood. That fingerprint belonged to Steven.”

Rika was holding Riptide’s hand as she slumped a little with this news. Then laid her head on his shoulder.

 Wake took a deep breath and nodded at her. “My men found Steven about an hour later. He was with Howie and it looked like they were fighting. When we told Steven what we found and that he was under arrest, Howie took exception to the fact that Steven had so much product in his house. He called Steven a thief and before we could stop him, he stabbed Steven in the belly. We didn’t have a choice. We ordered him to drop the knife and when he refused, he actually came after the officers. They had to shoot him. He took six bullets before he finally went down. All Steven could think about on the way to the hospital was that he was dying, he made a full confession to the murder of your mother. He wanted us to know it was all on him and that his dad had nothing to do with it. As long as we were in the Emergency Room, I checked with the hospital administrator and Steven’s account matched up with the report the doctors filed that night.”

 Rika nodded as tears rolled down her face.

The detective went on, “Anyway, when Steven woke up after his surgery,  he tried to tell us he was coerced into confessing and that he lied. But the DA isn’t having it. I had it all recorded on my phone. Evidence of his confession. He did the deed and his father lied about it. We got both of them nailed. They will spend the rest of their lives behind bars.” He nodded. “Your mom will finally get her justice and you are finally free.”

His words were heard throughout the room.

Danny had tears in his eyes as well. “You hear that, Rika? You are free.”

Nodding at her uncle, Rika raised her gaze to Wake. “That’s wonderful news Detective. She can finally rest in peace now.” She took a deep breath and said “And I won’t have to look over my shoulder anymore.”

Riptide wrapped his arms around her shoulders. “Baby, I told you, no one's ever gonna hurt you again. They will have me standing between them and you.”

“And me.” Spider growled. “You’re my sister and I’ll be damned if anyone hurts you again.”

Pony, who had gone back outside, escorted an older couple into the clubhouse. The man was gray-haired but he was a huge man, tall and commanding. “And if they fail, I’ll turn my wife loose. She swings a mean rolling pin.” He motioned to the woman next to him. 

She looked a lot like Rika. Only she was very petite and had some gray in her long hair. Nodding, she said, “Where’s this fool who did that to your face?” She looked around. “Tell me who did it.”

The men in the room raised their brows or muttered under their breath.

Rika shook her head at them then she stared at the older couple. She felt like she knew them but she also knew she’d never seen them before. She looked at them and said, “Do I know you? I feel like I’ve met you before.”

They looked at one another then back at her while shaking their heads.

 “You may not know us yet but we know you. We’re your grandparents, child,” the older man told her. 

Her grandma stared at her and said softly, “Oh child, I can see our Richy in your eyes. And dang if you don’t look like me after all,” She looked proud of this fact. “You are his little girl alright. We’re your family and we are so happy to see you.” She held out her arms and beckoned Rika into her embrace. 

Rika stood from her chair with tears in her eyes as she stumbled toward them and welcomed their embrace. The pair both hugged her. She finally felt at home in their arms and she felt safe. 

Then Spider joined them and wrapped his arms around all three of them. 

Riptide shook his head and joined them. He smiled as he stretched his arms around them.

 Rika looked up and caught his eyes. She smiled and then she whispered, “I found my home, Marcus. I finally found my home. And it's not a house, it’s a family that truly belongs to me and I belong to them.”

Riptide smiled at her. “And we will all make sure that you are happy, you have my word on that.”

 

THE NEXT CHAPTER BOOK IS