Reunion Series-

 

Chapter One

It had been two years since the first arrival of the WarLords to Braaken Ridge, Montana. But those two years had been full of good times and bad, tears of pain and tears of pleasure for the five brothers and their families. Now everything had settled down and life was good.

Charli might have lost her grandpa to Andy’s bullet but she found Ace and a whole new life. The brothers had cleaned up this part of the world and now almost everyone was living the good life. 

Charli and Ace’s son, Ben, was six months old now. Luna was pregnant with their first child as well. King and Mags had just had their first baby too, a little girl they called Alison who was born a month ago. Then Jack and Jaden also added to their family with another little girl, they named Megan. 

Everything seemed to be almost perfect now in their world, almost. 

Charli was at the cemetery this morning visiting with her parents and grandparents when she felt a shiver run up her spine. A feeling of foreboding washed through her. She raised her head, searching the area with careful eyes. She hadn’t felt this particular sensation in a long time and the last time she did, her world came crashing down around her. In fact, it had been the day before her family was hit by that car…

She stood up from the grass where they had been sitting by the headstones and gathered baby Ben up in her arms. She got both herself and Ben to the four by four. With one last look around, she sped off toward the big house and the safety Ace provided his family.  

Charli came skidding to a stop just outside the house.

 The door opened and Ace came rushing out. “Babe, what’s wrong? Is someone following you?”

Charli just sat there in the four by four, her whole body shaking. She turned to gather her son in her arms.

Ace was right there when she slid off the seat with her son in her arms. Ace wrapped his arms around his little family.

With a huge sigh, Charli planted her face in his broad chest. 

After a moment, he tipped her chin up with his fingers and studied her face with questions in his eyes. “What’s going on, Charli? Why did you come tearing back here like the boogeyman was chasing you? Are you and Ben okay?”

Charli nodded. “Yeah, we’re fine but something is gonna change here real soon. I don’t know what’s coming but something is. It's like a black cloud looking for somewhere to bring the storm.”

Ace looked confused. “What does that mean?”

Charli just shook her head.

“Come on, let’s go in the house and talk about this.” He told her. He ushered them inside and were met with concerned looks from everyone else. 

King, Jack, Deuce, Joker and some of the women were waiting inside.

Mags came up and asked quietly, “Do you need me to take Ben for you?”

Charli shook her head and gripped her son tighter to her body. Her eyes looked haunted and she stumbled over to the sofa. She lifted her son higher in her arms and then rocked him back to sleep.

Ace sat down beside her.

 No one said a word for a long time, then finally Joker knelt in front of her and looking at her he asked, “What’s going on here, Charli? Why are you so scared and what are you scared of? Please tell us.” He paused, then he said, “You’ve always been so strong, so tough, but now you’re sitting here shaking like a damn leaf. Talk to us.”

Charli took a deep breath and looked around at them all. “You all know I’m part Gypsy, right?” 

Everyone nodded and waited.

“I figured out that it had to be that part of me that…” She shook her head. “...that feels things no one else can feel. It's like when the world gets tipped off its axis for a fraction of a second, you know? Most people just don’t get sensations like that but I do and I always have. I just  never talk about it. The first time I felt it was the day my parents died. Somehow, I knew that trip would be the last time I would see them. When they all the farm that day all I could do was watch them go. I was just a kid and the feeling I had scared the crap out of me, you know?”

Everyone just stared at her. 

Charli shook her head and her voice went low as it trembled,  “I knew they were gone the moment the crash happened. In my mind, I could see their souls leave their bodies and I was afraid to say a word about it to anyone. I laid in my bed here that night and I just cried. My grandmother was afraid for me because all I could do was cry. I was safe with my grandparents but I knew before they told me that my parents were gone. When they got the news about the crash she just turned and stared at me. She seemed to realize that I knew what happened to them before this. She and grandpa tried to speak to me but I couldn’t tell them the truth, they would think I was crazy or something.” Charli let out a long breath and looked up at the ceiling.

Joker patted her hand to encourage her to finish.

She nodded her head and spoke again, “I think they were a little afraid of me after that. For the longest time they would give me strange looks.  Then over the years, those feelings got stronger and I didn’t say anything to anyone about what was going on. But grandpa would watch me carefully. Then my grandma got sick. Grandpa knew what was coming just by watching me. He began making preparations and he was there for both of us. But he knew. Then after she died, he stayed close to me for the longest time.”

“Did you feel like he was going to die when he did?” Ace finally asked her.

Charli slowly looked at him and nodded. “I knew, I didn’t want to know but I did.” Then she raised a hand to her forehead and she began to rub the place between her eyes. “But this is bad and it's coming right to our front door. I don’t know what it will be exactly, but it will come.”

Ace glanced at his brothers then at the other people in the room and shook his head. Finally, he asked her, “Babe, what can we do?”

Charli raised her head and also looked around at everyone’s faces. “You don’t believe me.” 

“Its not that we don’t believe you but even you have to admit this is a stretch.” Ace shook his head. 

“You think I don’t know that?” Charli snapped. “You think I want to be able to know when bad things are coming that I can’t control? I hate it. I have never told anyone about this because I don’t want anyone to look at me the way you guys are looking at me right now. I shouldn’t have shared it. I knew I shouldn't but I can’t hide it anymore either. I care about you all too much not to warn you that trouble is coming. You all need to know that much but I don’t have to stand here and look at your expressions of disbelief and doubts.” She stood from the couch with Ben in her arms and  went down the hall. 

They all heard the door shut.

Ace sighed heavily. He had been stunned by what she said and he also heard the pain in her voice but he had no idea how to comfort her either.

“What the hell are we supposed to do about this?” Joker asked his oldest brother. “I mean can someone really feel disasters coming?”

Ace ran his hands over his head and shrugged. “I don’t know, but that’s not what’s important here.”

“What is important here then?” King asked his brother.

Ace gazed at his family, his brothers and their wives. “We have to stand behind her or we might lose everything we built here.” He surged to his feet. “And I’m not gonna lose the peace and the sense of family we have. I’m not gonna wait unprepared for something she thinks is coming. So for a while we’re gonna be prepared for anything to happen.”

King and the others glanced at each other, then they all turned to look at Ace. One by one they all nodded. They might not know what’s coming if anything at all, but they would be ready for it.

A few hours later…

 The house had gone quiet. Everyone was asleep.

Charli wasn’t sleeping as she became like a ghost that haunted the night. The same feeling she’d gotten at the cemetery this morning had come back to her, disturbing her rest. 

Now she walked silently through the house, keeping guard over her family. In her hand, she carried her rifle, cocked and loaded as she kept watch over her family. She knew no one believed her premonition but she believed in it. She’d lived with her secret all her life. 

She paused at one of the living room windows and searched the front yard. Then her body stiffened and she searched again. Whatever she feared was outside right this moment. She could feel someone staring back at her and the air around her seemed to go still, almost as if it was waiting too.

Charli turned on her heel and went to the back door. Peeking out, she halted but nothing out there alerted her, so she slowly reached for the door handle. She opened the door silently, then slipped outside, pulling the door closed behind her silently.

She used the cover of darkness to slip around the corner of the house and made her way around to the front. Staying in the shadows, she closed her eyes and cleared her mind, almost willing herself to feel where someone was standing.

Opening her eyes, she spotted some kind of movement in the darkness beyond. She raised her rifle in her hands and snapped on the sights. A red dot suddenly appeared and it landed against something solid. “I found you and I will kill you if you don’t tell me why you are here,” she called out softly, just loud enough for her voice to carry.

 The shadow moved slightly and someone moved into the moonlight. “Please don’t shoot me, cousin,” a voice called out. “I came here to warn you, not to hurt you.”.

Pausing at the familiar voice, she called out, “Mario? Is that really you?”

“Si, cousin, it's really me and I come with news that you have to hear.” Mario took another step out into the moonlight. “My papa sent me to warn you about what’s coming.”

Charli came down the steps and lowered her rifle. Before she could say anything the shadows moved again and she raised her rifle back to a firing position. “Who’s there with you Mario? Did you bring someone else here?”

“I did but she isn’t dangerous. Please do not shoot her. She found me on the road and begged me to bring her here. She says her name is Angela and she used to live here. She was just looking for a way to come home.”

Charli could hear the truth in his voice. So she once again lowered her rifle and stepped into the light. “Is there anyone else with you? Any more surprises I need to be aware of?” She glared at her cousin.

“No bella, there is just us and you, of course,” Mario called back. “Are you going to trust me or shoot me before I can tell you the news I bring from Italy?”

Charli shook her head, “You’d better come inside before one of the brothers that live here takes a shot at you before I can tell them who you are.”

Mario paused and stared at her. “You have men living here with you? What does Ben have to say about that?” Mario exclaimed with a growl in his voice as his hands clenched into fists.

 

Chapter Two

Charli slowly turned to look at her cousin and said, “Ben met them all before he died almost two years ago and he was okay with them living here. Besides, I'm old enough to make my own decisions. My husband lives here with his brothers and their families.”

Mario looked surprised. “You’re married? Since when? Why wasn’t anyone else notified of this?”

Charli scoffed. “And why would I have to tell anyone? What I do is my business. Besides, I haven’t heard anything from your side of the family since you all moved  to another continent.”

Mario looked annoyed. “You should have told us because you are Michael’s daughter, that’s why.”

Charli stared at him. “And what is that supposed to mean?”

“Let’s go inside.” Mario pressed his lips tightly together while still looking annoyed. “Someone should have told you some things years ago. They failed you then, but I will explain.”

As they entered the dark house, the lights came on before Charli could reach the light switch.

At the sight in front of them, Charli, Mario and Angela froze.

Ace, King, Jack, Joker and Deuce all stood there with their weapons in their hands. They looked fierce as they glared at the strangers, Charli had standing behind her.

 “Baby, you need to move away from him right now.” Ace growled as he raised his weapon and pointed it at Mario.

“Before you shoot him, I’d like to introduce you to him. He is Mario Benettinni, he’s a cousin on my father’s side. Please don’t shoot him, even if he deserves it. He says he has something to tell me about my dad’s family.”

The men paused then lowered their weapons.

Charli noticed that none of the WarLord men put them away, but this didn’t surprise her either. She nodded at them then led the other two into the living room. She motioned to the sofa.

Still looking leery of the brothers, Mario and Angela sat down. 

Mario didn’t take his eyes off the armed men but finally he turned to Charli and asked, “Which one of these men is your husband? They don’t look like the type of men you should even know, let alone be living with.”

“Who are you to say what I should be doing with my life?” Charli asked with a scoff. “Your entire family left me here to go back to Italy over fifteen years ago.”

Mario shook his head. “We left someone behind to watch over you. He should have notified us when you got old enough to marry.”

Charli shook her head in confusion and she glanced at Ace. Turning to reply to her cousin, she said, “I never had anyone but Ben around me growing up. And why would anyone care? You all made your positions clear years ago after my parents died.”

Mario shook his head. “Damn him.”

“Who?” Ace barked out.

Mario looked disgusted. “My Uncle Ray. He was supposed to keep in touch with you over the years and report back to us if there were any problems.”

Charli shook her head. “I’ve never even met the man. I don’t think Ben did either, at least he never mentioned him. What is going on here, Mario? Why would your family even care about me at this point? Ben was the only one who stuck around. It was like after you moved, that side of the family just stopped existing for me.”

Mario reached out and took her hand. His head turned quickly when he heard Ace’s growl at the contact. Mario recognized it as possession, so he very carefully let her hand go and he studied her carefully. “Who exactly are these men, bella?” he finally asked.

Charli raised an eyebrow at him. “These men are my family, Mario. Ben raised me, but these men saved me. Ace is my husband and the father of my child. When you and your family went back to Italy, you cut all ties. Ben might have been old but he and grandma finished raising me. They were there for me every day when I lost my parents in that feud that had nothing to do with us.”

“We are all Vets and we formed an MC,” Ace said. “We came here looking for our brother that had disappeared right off the face of the earth. We found him alive and well due to Charli saving his life after he’d been stabbed while protecting her. We stayed and cleaned up this damn town. Ben lost his life in a shootout due to one man losing his temper. We settled his ass down hard and his father lost his own protection when we called his bullshit. She’s under our protection now.”

Mario lowered his head and sighed. “You never should have been left alone. Ray was supposed to step up and keep us informed of any danger coming your way. He failed that duty.”

“But that doesn’t explain why you’re here and who she is.” Charli motioned toward Angela. “Unless she’s with you?”

Mario shook his head. “No Bella, she isn’t with me in that respect. I picked her up at a diner on the other side of Chicago. She came along with me when I mentioned I was going to come to Braaken Ridge to find my cousin. She told me she knew that name and she thought she used to live here once upon a time.”

Everyone turned to look at Angela.

She shook her head. “I didn’t come here to cause trouble. About four years ago, I found myself in the hospital. My belly had been sliced open and I lost a lot of blood. The doctors told me that if I hadn’t been found I might have died. It was a trauma that took my memory of who I really was or why I was even there. I mean I didn’t know anyone there and I couldn’t remember my past. I was in Billings then and after I recovered enough to move, I left.” She took a deep breath and went on, “It was like starting all over with no memory of whatever I’d left behind. I got on the first bus I could and got as far as Chicago then I found a job but was no closer to remembering anything. Then I met Mario and the name of this town meant something to me when nothing else ever has, so I tagged along.”

Jack glanced over at his brothers. Then he looked down the hall at the bedroom where his wife and daughter were sleeping and shook his head.

“So what did you come here to tell me?” Charli glared at Mario.

“I came here for two reasons. One was to find Ray and check on you after word reached the family that things were blowing up over here and that you might be in trouble.” 

Charli paused and glanced at Ace. “And what does Ray have to do with anything? I haven’t head his name in over fifteen years.”

Mario shook his head and explained, “And that little one, is the problem. Ray was supposed to keep an eye on you and let us know if you ever needed us. He didn’t and now he’s missing.”

“Missing?” Ace asked. “What do you mean he’s missing?”

Mario sighed hard. “We found out that Ray was not keeping an eye on Charli. He also took our money, then set himself up in an arms running business with several others. They were selling American guns to whoever could pay the most. He disappeared ten years ago and dug himself a hole that protected him while he built his own small army to protect himself against not only us but anyone else that would one day be looking for him. Now we can’t find him and the family is about ready to go to war again on your behalf.”

Charli looked entirely lost as she exclaimed, “On my behalf? But why? I’m not involved in any of that.”

Mario shook his head. “Bella, you are our leader’s daughter. Your father, Mike Bennett, was our leader by birthright and we took over until you grew up. Now it's your birthright to lead our family.”

Charli sat down hard in the chair across from Mario and just stared at him. “What the hell are you saying?”

“Ray was supposed to be working with you all these years, getting you ready to take your place.”

Charli shook her head. “I already told you, I never saw him and Ben never said he ever came around. I also do not intend to run any family but the one I have with Ace.”

“Did Ben ever tell you who your father was?” Mario had to ask.

Charli shook her head. “He never talked about other side of the family. He told me you guys left me behind and went back to your real home in Italy. That the feud was over and my parents died in vain. That they were ambushed over nothing and they died over a feud that meant nothing.”

Mario shook his head. “He was wrong, bella. The feud was very real and the deaths on both sides ripped families apart for nearly a century.” He sighed then said, “But Ben was supposed to guide you and tell you about your dad’s position and someday, your own position.”

“Her position is that of my wife and the mother of my children.” Ace glared at him. “My brothers and I can protect her here and she isn’t going anywhere.”

Mario slowly turned to study him for a long moment, then he shook his head. “That will be determined by her father’s family. She has obligations to maintain here.”

Charli scoffed. “Then you get the council together and you bring them here to talk to me. I will be happy to step aside and let your father take my place. Meanwhile, they can decide what happens to Ray. If he’s broken the laws you live by, then you take care of him. You and your family left me behind, a long time ago. So now, you and your family can handle the family business. Ben raised me and I belong here. He left this farm to me and I’m happy here.” She looked around the room then turned back to Mario. “This is my family now and nothing you tell me will change that. I grew up here with people that loved me unconditionally, they were here for me every day after my parents died. You and your family never paid me any mind really. You only talked to me when it was convenient for you to do so. Then when I was fourteen, your family left me behind, yet again. You all moved to a whole other continent and I was left here with my mother’s family. When we buried my grandmother you didn’t show up, when I buried my grandfather you weren’t here either. You don’t get to decide how I live or who I love. You are my cousin and I have some fond memories of you. We were tight at one point in my life but you can’t tell me how to live anymore, you’re about fifteen years too late.”

Mario surged to his feet and his hands were clenched into fists. “You can’t denounce your heritage, bella! It is a part of who you are. You have your father’s blood in your veins and Michael would be so disappointed in you if you didn’t take your place in this family.”

Charli jumped to her feet as well and went nose to nose with her cousin. “Don’t you tell me that my father would be disappointed in me. You don’t get to do that, cousin. His family let me down, your family let me down. So don’t you dare bring my father’s blood into this. You’ve got no right to do that! My mother’s blood raised me, they cared for me when I was growing up. They were there for me when I was sick, they went to my graduation, not you or yours.”

She broke apart and went over to Ace, who opened his arms and held her tight while she sobbed into his chest. 

Meanwhile, Ace just glared at Mario.

 

Chapter Three

Mario shook his head and held his hands up, “Please Bella, you have to listen to me, you can’t just turn your back on the family. It’s never been done before.”

Charli turned to her cousin. “Well, it’s gonna be done now. Growing up, all I had was Ben and Grandma. They might not have told me what they should have but no one in your family ever checked on me either. I haven’t seen or heard from Uncle Ray since the last time I went to my father’s family side. That was the summer you taught me how to use the knives. Then the next thing I know you all went back across the ocean and I never heard from you again.”

Mario shook his head. “All this time he’s been sending us reports that you are fine, that he was in touch with you. Hell, he even told us you were receiving the money we sent to you.”

Charli stared at him as she looked puzzled. “What money? The only money I ever got was what I earned myself. And Ben would have given that money to me if I received it from your family.”

Mario sighed heavily. “Please stop saying my family, bella. They are your family too.”

“No, they are not nor have they been since my parents died. Your dad took over the family after that and as far as I am concerned, he can continue in that role. My life is here in this country. In America, Mario. Right here on this farm where I grew up.”

Mario just shook his head. “But the title is truly yours as Michael’s daughter, his only child.”

Charli just stared at him for a long moment then she shook her head. “You keep saying that as if you aren’t hearing me at all…” She paused and asked, “Why did you really come back? Why are you here?”

Mario stared at her. “We’ve been hearing rumors about something bad coming for the family. For you. People are looking for you but we don’t know who they are or what they want. My father thinks they are connected to whatever Tiarade has been doing, but we can’t say for sure because we can’t find him.”

King glared at him and asked, “Who is this Tiarade?”

Mario glanced his way then shrugged. “My Uncle Ray. It's a very old Italian name and he chose it to go by officially. I really don’t know why. But over the last fourteen years, we’ve sent him hundreds of thousands of dollars to give to Charli as support from her family but now she says she never got a penny of it. When we were all together, Tiarade pounded the blades. He worked the steel and he was very good at what he did. His blades brought in good money and his three sons were learning his trade. He volunteered to stay behind in America and watch over her when the rest of us went back to Italy. He stayed in touch for a while then seemed to drop off the face of the earth. Part of the reason I came back here was to find him and report back to my father.” He looked over at Charli. “I know we let you down when we moved back and lost contact. But the fact is you are Michael’s daughter and the title of head of the Family belongs to you.”

Charli looked disgusted now. “How many times do we have to go over this, Mario? I’m not moving, I’m not leaving my husband or my son behind for something I know nothing about. Ben raised me right here on this farm and this farm is my real legacy. Your dad leads the family now and he can keep doing that.”

Joker walked over to the table and opened his laptop. Typing quickly, he paused as his eyes widened and he slowly looked up at Ace. 

“What is it?” Ace growled at his brother.

Joker cleared his throat and said, “If I remember correctly, we only got about eighty percent of Whitmore’s forces. We thought maybe there was still one or two that we missed. Right?”

Ace looked perplexed by the question. “We’re still looking for the others but yeah, we still got one or two of them to find. Why are you asking about this now?”

“Tiarade,” Joker whispered. “It sounds a lot like Tirade.”

The room went silent at his words. 

Mario looked around at each of their faces. “What does that mean?”

Ace turned his head very slowly and his eyes were fierce as the rage inside him grew. “Tirade is one of branches of a very dangerous group dealing in the weapon’s trade and the drug trade. A man who called himself Whittaker was the mastermind of his empire and we’ve managed to take down most of it. We’re still looking for two of his men. Tirade and Hammer. Tirade might be your Uncle Ray.”

~****~

Mario swore in his native language, “Accidenti a lui! He is a traitor to his own family then because this is not what we do. We make blades and swords, a craft we were taught from generations before us. Custom ordered and custom made.” He got to his feet and paced. Five steps forward and like five steps back while his facial expressions went through an array of emotions. Confusion, shock and fear.  Then he stopped to stare at Charli. “I need to call my father. He needs to know about this.” Then he scoffed in disgust. “He’s not going to be happy on many factors. But he needs to know.”

He stepped outside to make the call and as he scrolled through his numbers, his hands trembled. Mario paused and took a deep breath then he tried again. He found the number at last. 

The phone rang four times. Finally, his father picked up and when he spoke, his voice sounded groggy with sleep, “Ciao,” Julien Benettini answered. “Che cos'è?” What is it?

“It's me, Pappa,” Mario answered. “I’m here at Benjamin’s farm with Charli.”

Julien paused, then asked, “Does she know why you are there?”

“Si, she knows and she does not want the leadership. She says we abandoned her fourteen years ago and she doesn’t feel that we are family anymore.”

Julien paused and then said, “You know that’s not true. We left Ray behind to watch over her. She can accept our money but not our blood?” He sounded upset.

“No Pappa, that’s the point, she never got the support we sent. And she hasn’t seen Ray since before we left to go back to Italy,” Mario pointed out. “He took the money we sent to her and used it to set up his own arms dealing. Charli’s husband says he might have become part of an empire that sells weapons to anyone willing to pay for them. Friends and enemies alike.”

A long pause of silence came from on the other end of the line, then Julien spoke, “Charli has a husband?” He did not seem to care about Ray’s illegal endeavors. “How is that possible? She never said anything about getting married and the family never gave their permission.”

“She thinks she’s not one of us anymore,”  Mario told him. “And she said she’s not leaving the farm or her husband behind.”

“Non c'è modo. We shall see about that.” Julien growled.

Mario hesitated then he informed his father, “You might have a problem convincing her. Her husband and his brothers are all living here in the house and she has a son now.”

Julien paused, then said, “You keep her there. I’ll bring the Council with me and we’ll be there within the next few days. We’ll straighten her out. She’s Michael’s only child and she has to fall into line with the family’s traditions. She’s old enough now to take her rightful place.”

Mario sighed heavily and said, “Forgive me for saying this, Pappa …But I don’t think you will win in this. She considers Ben to be her only family and he died almost two years ago. Besides, her husband and his brothers are bikers and they don’t look like they would ever be willing to give her or the boy up.”

Just then, the door opened behind Mario.

“They have no say in our business, son,” Julien concluded loudly with aggravation in his voice. 

Mario turned to see who had come outside.

 Charli stood there, she’d heard Julien’s final statement and held her hand out for the phone. 

Mario didn’t want to give his cell to her but he finally surrendered it.

Charli took the phone and brought it up to her ear to say, “Uncle Julien, this is Charli.”

“Ragazza, as the standing leader, I insist that you go with Mario and take your place here with your famiglia,” Julien snapped.

“Considering, I haven’t seen you guys in almost fifteen years, you don’t have any say in my life at all,” Chari snapped back. “I’m not the one who moved continents, you did that. You left me behind and I haven’t heard from you people for almost half my lifetime. Mario said you left Ray here to watch over me but you know what? I haven’t seen him either. Nor have I gotten any of the money Mario said you sent me. I supported myself and I am proud of that. But I do not owe that money to you. So to my mind, you people have done nothing to help me in a long time. And every time I spent time with you all, I was made to feel like you didn’t want me around. So, no Uncle, I do not have to just pack up and leave my home. Ben and Grandma raised me, they opened their home to me, they opened their hearts to a grieving child and they kept me safe and warm. When Ben died, he left me his farm which has been in the Braaken family for five generations. I have a home here with a man that I love and he loves me back just fine. I have a son that will always know his mother loves him the same as I know my mother loved me. He has a father that loves him and five uncles that would die for him.” She paused.

Silence came over the line as her uncle did not reply.

Charli went on just to be clear on this subject, “You stay in charge of your family, your tribe. I don’t have a claim on anyone nor will I accept one. Mario was the only one of you that ever showed me compassion and I’m fine with that. If you want the money back, then you have to find Ray. If he had given it to Grandpa Ben, he would have told me, but he never did.”

“Maybe Ben kept the money for himself,” Julien suggested in a hard tone.

Charli froze then glared at Mario as she spoke over the cell to her uncle, “If you believe that, then you didn’t know Ben at all. He would have never kept what was mine and I think you know that. He was more honest than anyone I ever knew. But if you no longer want the title then pass it to someone who does. You have the power to do that but you aren’t forcing it on me.”

Julien paused for a moment, then he tried another way around things, “I have to tell you something very importante. You need to try and find someone to keep you safe.”

“Why?” Charli asked. “I think I’m safe enough with my family here.”

Julien grunted over the line. “But you aren’t safe enough. If Tiarade is part of this empire like your spouse thinks, then you are not safe at all. We’ve been reading reports about this Warlords group. Tiarade will be looking for them the same way they are looking for him. If you get caught in the middle, he will kill you. He seems to think taking you out will help his cause to get back into the hierarchy of the family. The word around this is that once you are dead, he plans to step up and claim the leadership. But you also have to watch out for this Warlords group that has been hunting him, they are dangerous too.”

Charli smiled as she chuckled a bit. “They won’t hurt me, Uncle.”

Julien protested, “You don’t understand these kinds of people, la mia bambina. They are ruthless and unforgiving. They would use you to find Ray and they might sacrifice you to get to him.”

“No Uncle, it is you that doesn’t understand. I’m married to the leader of the Warlords MC and we share this farm with his brothers.”

Julien gasped over the phone, then he went silent. 

Mario stared at her in shock. Nervously looking back at the house, he whispered, “Those men are the Warlords?” he whispered low as if he thought they might hear him. 

Charli nodded.

Mario turned around in a pivoted circle, then scooped his fingers through his dark hair and exclaimed, “Holy shit!”

 

Chapter Four

The voice on the phone spoke again, “Charli, I’m coming to talk sense into you and I’m bringing the Council with me. They will tell you about the rules we all have follow. Pack your bags because you will be coming back with us. We will protect you from Ray and from the Warlords.”

“Save your money for the tickets, Uncle Julien,” Charli replied. “I am safe here and I’m right where I want to be, where I need to be. You are the leader since my dad died, if I was so important to your clan, you would have taken me with you, not left me behind. You made your choice fifteen years ago and you know what? I’m okay with that choice. My place as you say is right here, right here on this farm. I inherited it when Ben died and this is where I will stay.”

“No child, you still belong to this family as you are my brother’s only child.” Julien growled.

“A child you turned your back on a long time ago. A child you didn’t want all those years ago and a child who grew up. I’m fully grown now and it's only when you think you can control my life that you come back for me. Well, Uncle Julien, guess what? It's far too late for you to care now, far too late to expect me to fall into line just because you say so. I don’t know your rules nor do I want to know them. You let go of me a long time ago and that’s just fine. My grandparents on my mom’s side raised me all these years and I don’t even know you anymore.” She paused then told him, “My husband and his brothers are going to find Ray and shut down his operation. He was part of an international drug and gun ring. They have taken down most of it but they will find the other two they missed out on. If Uncle Ray is on his way here, he won’t find it so easy to kill me. He’ll have to go through my husband and his brothers first, but let me tell you something, these guys have friends that will stop him at all costs and if you choose to help Ray, they will take you down too. Don’t you dare come here and expect me to go home with you. I’m not leaving my farm or my chosen family behind.” Charli was breathing heavily when her tirade ended and she handed the phone to Mario. 

He looked pale and as he took it back.

 Charli turned and went inside, slamming the door behind her. 

Mario heard his father talking and as he put the phone back to his ear.

Julien was ranting. “How dare she speak to me in that tone! How dare she.”

Mario swallowed hard and cleared his throat to say, “I think she meant every word, Papa. We didn’t do our job as family when we left this country. We should have taken her with us and we didn’t.”

“Si, I know that now, don’t I?” He growled. “Then I put Ray in charge of her. I should have known better on that as well.”

“Si Papa, you should have,” Mario agreed. “I was barely older than Charli at the time but even I wondered about that decision. Plus, we always knew Ray wanted something different in his life. Different from what the rest of us had. Yes, he worked the blacksmith flames well, he could mold and shape the blades we made well but we all knew he wanted more. I guess he found it and he used the family money to get him started. He took the money the family left for Charli to build his own empire.”

“I’ll be there in two days and I’m bringing the Council with me. They will put this mistake right,” Julien snapped.

Mario sighed as he knew his father would say something like this. “Papa, they won’t be able to force her to do anything she doesn’t want to do. Like she said she’s full grown now.”

“She will defer to what the family says.” Julien growled again. Then he ended the call. 

Mario shook his head. His father had always been stubborn but this was something else that would prove to be too hard to accomplish. Mario put the phone back into his pocket and turned to face the door. He didn’t know if he was welcome here anymore but when he tested the door, he found it unlocked. 

He walked inside and found himself facing six very angry, very big men. They all had their arms folded over their chests and rage building on their faces.

Mario swallowed hard. Holding his hands up at them he said,. “My father is coming here and he’s bringing the Council members with him. I can’t stop him and Charli told him to stay away but my dad is stubborn as hell. So he’s coming anyway.” He took a deep breath and went on nervously, “I don’t know what happened to the family fifteen years ago but we somehow lost track of what was important. We lost track of Charli and put uncle Ray in charge. I came here to get her and bring her back with me. I didn’t know she’d found a husband and a family.” He ran his hand over his face and said, “Nor did we know about what Ray was doing.” He paused and looked at Charli. “I’m so sorry bella. We left you behind and we never reached out until now. I am sorry that we never checked about the support before now. You are my cousin and I failed you at every turn.”

Charli’s expression didn’t soften a bit. “Yes Mario, you did. With your silence, your distance and the fact that after half my lifetime, you came here expecting me to fall into line because of who my father was. Well guess what cousin? My father died twenty years ago and instead of knowing his family, you all left me behind in more than one way. But my grandfather Ben never did that, no sir, he was there for me every single day. He stayed with me even when he no longer needed to. He was here, he’s the one who taught me things a father should have. He and grandma showed me what it meant to be family, they showed me love just like when my parents were alive. They protected me for all those years while you and your family never did.”

Mario kept shaking his head while looking saddened by her words.

“Then I met these men and you know what? They accepted me and Ben into their family. I love the man I married or I never would have married him. I made a vow in a church of God that I would stand beside him, in sickness or in health, for the rest of my days and I plan to do just that. Your dad can’t tell me that I’m not married, or that I have to give up my husband and my child. I don’t recognize his authority over me. He didn’t raise me, Ben did. He didn’t protect me, again Ben did that too. He didn’t feed me, Ben did. Your dad has been the leader of your tribe since my dad died and for all I care, he can keep that position. Because I don’t want it. I’ve long forgotten the rules your family live by, the rules my father lived with.”

Mario nodded. “My father thinks you are old enough now to take his place but I tried to remind him years ago he made a mistake in not bringing you with us. He told me then he wasn’t ready to raise you back then and once you knew how important the position was that you would come willingly enough.”

Charli shook her head. “No, I wouldn’t. And this is the last time I will tell you…NO. I am not willing to disrupt my life here to live in Italy. I have a home, a husband and a son here. I’m not going anywhere.”

Mario ran his hand over the back of his head again, “Yeah about that, he’s not going to recognize that you’re already married without permission from the Council.”

Everyone in the room froze. 

Ace looked over at Mario with a glare in his eyes. His lip curled as he retorted, “He has no authority here. And I’m not giving her up. I don’t care what  he or your Council says. She’s my wife and she’s not going anywhere.”

“She doesn’t have a choice,” Mario said softly. “She’s Michael’s only child. His seat should have passed to her when he died.”

Charli shook her head and scoffed at him. “I do have a choice. What do you think this is? A third world country? Here we can do as we wish, Mario. I don’t want the position my father held. We can go round and round about this but my mind is made up. I’m not leaving the only home I’ve ever known and I’m married in the eyes of God and man and I’m not leaving my husband and my son behind for anyone. If Uncle Julien comes here, he’ll be going home with only you in tow.”

Mario nodded then looked at the men again. They all shared the same expression and it didn’t bode well for Mario or his father. “How did things get so out of hand?” he muttered. “How the hell did Ray fool everyone for so long?” He looked at Ace and asked, “Is he really part of your takedown? Like a part of this guy’s empire?”

Ace didn’t want to answer, but he did anyway, “If he is Tirade, your Uncle Ray is part of the biggest gun and drug ring in the nation. We located the worst of the group and took them down but there are two factions we haven’t found yet. Tirade is one of them and Hammer is the other one.”

Mario slowly shook his head as he still looked upset. He looked over at Charli again. “Mia cara, I am so sorry for what the family has done to you. We should have checked on you in person. I don’t know why the Council never did, but the threats we found against you are very real. It saddens me to say this but I think it might be Uncle Ray himself. The more I think about it the more I realize that Ray thinks he can’t be found. But maybe, just maybe he thinks because the family has turned their back on you that you may not have family backing. Maybe he even thinks that you are here all alone.”

“But why?” Charli asked. “Why would he come after me? I don’t understand.”

Mario shrugged. “I’m not sure why. Maybe he thinks you shouldn’t take over? Or is it because he never gave you or Ben the money the family sent to him? And he wants to shut you up over that? I mean we haven’t seen him in years and now I am sure he has heard of us wanting you to come home.” He swung his gaze over to Ace and his brothers. “But I will just bet that he doesn’t know you have your own protection already in place. I don’t think he does, he wouldn’t be so brave or so stupid if he did. Stupid because he’s finally going to have to come out of his hidey hole to try to kill you, when you are with the very people he’s hiding from.” Mario nodded as he looked more upbeat and he actually chuckled now. “To think he fears the Warlords and then he comes waltzing in to get at Charlie and comes face to face with them?”

The brothers all stared at him as they didn’t join in his amusement.

 “Maybe I can help you guys find that miserable low life before he comes here,” Mario suggested.

“And just why would you do that?” King asked him with a raised brow. “Why would a man like you go against his family to help us find Ray? He’s your uncle isn’t he?”

Mario nodded. “Si senor, he is and he is also Charli’s uncle. But Charli is my cousin and I was always fond of her. Ray has blemished the name of our family as well. He’s broken one of our laws by taking the money the family sent back here for Charli to pay for her keep. He knew better than to steal it like he did. Then he used it to set up his own gun and drug running? The family will never accept that, as they shouldn’t. Ray will pay the price for his thievery. Whether you guys catch him or we do, he will pay with his own blood. That will be how this ends.”

Chapter Five

Charli looked over at Britney as the woman hadn’t spoken at all for over an hour now. “Are you okay?”

Nodding, she smiled. “I’m fine.”

Charli then looked over at Mario and asked, “What else do you know about Uncle Ray? Do you know where he is living?”

“No, I don’t,” he replied. “But I do know where the checks go to every month. They are mailed to a post office box in Billings, which I think is near here, is it not?”

Ace paused and stared at him. “Do you mean he’s close to here?”

Mario shrugged. “That, I do not know. He might just have a mailing address nearby.”

Deuce spoke up now, “Damn, he could be closer than we ever knew. And here we thought he had a long way to come. But we might only have a few hours until he arrives.”

“I guess it’s a good thing Mario arrived when he did and told us about Uncle Ray,” Ace growled. “But we need to lock this place down tight and get our weapons ready. Then we dig in as deep as we can to find this Uncle Ray asshole.”

The brothers all stepped toward the stairs to open the door beneath them. They had a small armory there as well as one out in the garage area. Then everyone paused as they heard footsteps coming down the hall. 

Little Annabelle came into the room rubbing her eyes and holding her white rabbit. She looked around the room and caught sight of Britney.

When Britney saw her, she gasped and slid off the chair to her knees. Trembling, she stared at the little girl. 

Jack glared at her then went over to Annabelle and picked her up.  “What are you doing awake at this hour, little one? You should be sleeping.” 

Annabelle looked at Britney then back at him. “Who is that lady, daddy?”

Jack smiled at her but he didn’t answer her question. “Come on sweetheart, let’s get you back to bed.” He walked her back down the hall.

They all heard a door opening and then closing gently. 

Mario looked over at the woman he’d brought with him. 

Britney still sat on the floor staring at the hallway with tears in her eyes.

“Do you know the girl?” he asked, kneeling down on the floor in front of her.

Britney shook her head. “No I don’t know her, but I feel like I should know her. There's something about her, something I should remember but I can’t. Oh god, my head hurts.” She raised her hands and rubbed her temples as if she were rubbing away a headache.

Charli studied her for a moment then looked at Ace and shrugged. Turning back to Mario, she asked him. “Just where exactly did you find her cousin/” She asked with a tense question in her voice.

Mario shrugged his shoulders. “I found her in Chicago. I stopped for coffee and she was my waitress. She asked me where I was from and I told her Italy then she asked where I was going and when I told her Braaken Ridge, she froze then she said that name sounded familiar to her but she couldn’t remember why. Then she asked if she could come with me because she thought she grew up in the area. Then she explained that one day about four years ago she woke up in the hospital with no memory of how she got there or who she was.”

Charli looked at Britney again and asked, “Have you figured out anything more about your past since then?”

Britney shook her head slowly. “No, it's like everything is locked behind a door inside my brain and I don’t have a key. I didn’t come here to cause trouble, I swear I didn’t. But when Mario said Braaken Ridge, a flash lit up in my mind. I recalled that name and I thought maybe if I came here I would remember something about my past. I’m just looking for answers as to what happened to me. Like am I really from this place, do I belong here? Who am I and how the hell did I end up in Chicago?” She sobbed and added, “I just want to know what happened to me.”

Charli just shook her head and knelt down to offer her a hand up.

Brtiney took her hand and stood. Then she sat back down in the chair.

Charli sighed hard and went over to Ace.

 He wrapped his arms around her and just held her and set his chin on the top of her head.

Deuce and King went back over to the stairs area.

Ace looked at his brother Joker and nodded. “Start digging into Ray Benittini. If he is Tirade then we need to know more about what he’s been doing for the last fifteen years.” Looking over at Mario, he growled. “And you are going to tell us what you and your family have been doing since you left here to go back to Italy fifteen years ago. And we need to know why your dad is so anxious to get his hands on Charli after leaving her behind.”

Mario nodded, then he glanced at Britney and asked, “Per favor? She’s been through a lot, she needs some food and a place to lay down for a while.”

Charli broke away from Ace’s embrace and walked over to Britney. “Come on, I can get you some food.” 

Britney  stood from the chair and followed her to the kitchen. 

Once they were out of the room, Ace glared at Mario. “Just what kind of trouble did you bring to your cousin’s door?”

Mario shook his head. “I didn’t know about most of this, I swear I didn’t know. The last time I saw Charli, I taught her how to use the blades we were making. I thought that was the least I could do and that maybe one day, she could use what I taught her to protect herself.”

King came back into the room as he carried a rifle and a handgun. “Oh no worries about that.” He chuckled. “We saw the moves you taught her back then and I must say I was impressed by her skill.”

Mario  paused, then he looked over at King. “She handled the blades well? She remembered the moves I taught her?”

Ace nodded. “She remembered the moves all right, scared the hell out of all of us. She honed those blades to a fine point then she showed off a bit.” He smiled a bit at the memory. “She told us while she sharpened them that her cousin Mario taught her all about her heritage and he taught her how to use them as well.”

“Bene.” Mario smiled. “She was always a quick study with the blades. I gave her an old set of her father’s. My father had kept them after Michael died. Shortly before she was supposed to go home, I gave them to her and asked her to keep the blades a secret.” Shaking his head he admitted, “I never told my father I gave her that set of knives. But I thought she should have at least something her father once owned. It was his last set of blades. My father didn’t know until it was too late and he couldn’t do anything about it. Let’s just say he wasn’t happy about the blades being left behind. But it was the right thing to do.”

“So why is he so interested in getting Charli back now?” Ace growled.

Mario shrugged. “I think it’s got something to do with the upcoming festival. All the clans in the family come together every ten years or so and this year it's our turn to host. There’s been talk about joining the two main branches together with a wedding and Charli being Michael’s only child would have been the bride.”

“She’s already married…” Ace growled. “...To me.” His eyes glittered.

Since this man was huge and he looked pissed off, Mario took a small step back and explained it, “But her marriage was never sanctioned by the Council. They have the right to dissolve your marriage and let her marry someone else.”

“The hell they do!”Ace exclaimed.

 All of his brothers growled at the idea as most of them now held weapons.

Mario looked rattled as he sighed. “My father thinks so but I feel if he wanted that right he should have taken her with us and taught her the rules of our clan, fifteen years ago. He didn’t do that so now he has no claim to her. But he thinks because she is Michael’s daughter that she has to fall into line. I heard him tell the Council that she would be grown before the Festival and when the time was right, he would send for her. He doesn’t realize he left it too late for her to just fall into line. Charli is right about that. Ben did raise her, we didn’t. They should have taken her in to raise her from the time her parents died. But they didn’t. I say they because I am nearly the same age as Charli. I had no say and really, I still don’t. They left her here with Ben and he had no idea what to do with her. He didn’t know all the secrets a child from our family needed to know in order to pass it down to the next generation. But my father liked having the power, he liked having the respect a leader has. Even now he thinks he can just command her to fall in line. And what’s worse, is that he’ll still be the leader of our clan because the bride always goes to the groom’s family.”

“Oh, hell no.” King snarled. “That isn’t gonna happen. Charli belongs right here on this farm with us. She’s already got a husband and they have a kid together. I can’t see her leaving Ace and Ben behind. No fucking way.”

Mario shook his head. “I don’t see her leaving this farm behind either. She told me about her life here with Ben and her grandmother when we were young. She once told me that while she couldn’t remember her parents very well, they were right here with her too…they are her connection to this place.”

“Then someone needs to tell your dad that,” Ace grumbled. “And make him understand that he screwed up by leaving her behind.”

“Si,” Mario agreed. “And I tried to tell him this today. Just as Charli tried. You have to realize arguing with this man is hard even in person, but over the phone it was impossible to make a point. I can understand that she has history here, her family history. Her mother’s history but then no one in her father’s family ever took the time to tell her about our side. Now she won’t even tolerate knowing that side of her history.”

Joker shook his head. “I think she will listen to the history and even be curious as to who is who. But I can promise you that she will not listen to the orders he will bring here.They showed her they didn’t want her when she was a child, well now she’s an adult. A wife and a mother even. So she doesn’t need them. It is years too late.”

Mario looked saddened by the whole thing. “And now it's her father’s family looking to kill her. Either that or take her away from her real home and marry her off to someone she doesn’t even know, let alone care about.”

“Let them come,”Ace grumbled. “If they come here looking for trouble, they’ll find it at the end of my fist. Charli has ties here and it's not just us. Ben’s spirit still lives here in her thoughts. He’s watching out for her from the other side, her mom and dad are too. She believes this and to her, they are still here really.”

Mario made the sign of the cross at Ace’s words and he paled a bit. “I never thought about that until you said something.”

“Why is that so important?” Deuce asked.

“Because the family never gave Michael a proper send off,” Mario whispered. “We allowed him to be buried with his wife and my father didn’t make preparations for his soul.”

Charli stood in the doorway and asked, “What preparations for his soul? What does that mean, Mario?”

Mario turned to look at his cousin. “The family has to make sure to do certain things when a family member dies. We are Catholic and some of it has to do with that. But my father didn’t take care of that when his brother died. Nobody did as far as I know.”

“What kind of things?” Charli whispered as she stared at her cousin.

“The family is supposed to have a priest give last rites, then have his body cremated. He is then to carry the ashes with him until they can bury him alongside his ancestors. In consecrated ground as it is called. The ashes are also not to be scattered. That is known as sacrilege. My father didn’t make sure to do any of the sacred rites. Instead, he allowed Ben to bury his brother alongside your mother.”

“Well, her father did get a proper American Christian burial as far as we know. So what’s wrong with that?” Jack asked as he returned to the room. 

“My father broke the basic rule of respect for the souls of our family. And this kind of venerated respect means something in our laws. It is something beyond the material, so that makes this slight even worse, you see?” Mario looked around at them. “He could lose his chance to remain as Quello in Carica… our Capo.”

 

Chapter Six

Charli moved around the kitchen with experience as this was the house she lived in most of her life. Her grandpa had built it for his family. Years later, he made improvements. Her husband and brothers did even more updates and renovations. To the whole house and the property. She loved her life here. It had her family both living and beyond.

She made Britney a sandwich and a cup of tea. She felt sure the woman needed it. 

Britney ran the rim of the cup with a shaky finger then she looked up at Charli and tried to explain why she was here, “Four years ago, I woke up in a hospital and didn’t know where I was or even who I was. The doctors told me I was lucky to be alive. I asked them how long I’d been there and they told me three weeks. They also told me that my belly had been sliced open and then they asked me where the baby was.”

“Baby?” Charli asked as she felt surprised.

Nodding her head, Britney replied, “I didn’t know I had been pregnant, let alone by who. They told me I almost bled to death, but I never remembered what happened. Like I said it was like everything that happened before I woke up is locked behind a door in my mind. If I tried too hard to remember, I got such a headache. I’ve never been able to remember that time in my life.”

Charli shook her head, “I don’t know what to tell you about that. Chicago is a ways from here. If what you said is true then someone might not have wanted you to survive, the fact that you did might just come back and bite him in the ass.”

Britney shook her head. “I’m not sure I want to know, but I have a feeling about this area and I just had to come back. Maybe it was a total mistake but I had to come. I need to find out what happened and why. I think I’d rather find out the truth then live inside this bubble of uncertainty like I’ve been doing.”

Charli nodded. “I hope it happens for you. I’m just not sure how bad it might be for you. Like someone hurt you bad enough to have caused a coma and memory loss?” She shrugged.” But I would feel the same way. I would demand the truth too. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the window overlooking the backyard for a moment. Then she opened her eyes and turned her head to say, “Eat up honey, then we’ll find you a place to sleep. I have a feeling the next few days are going to be more than any of us can handle. But like I told Mario, I won’t be going anywhere. I have no idea what the hell is happening. That whole family has to accept that I’m not their property anymore. I never was part of their world anyway. And I refuse to allow them to step up and tell me I have anything to do with them now.”

Britney nodded as she reached for half of her sandwich. She paused briefly then shook her head. “I think I know how that feels but I don’t know why.” She took a bite and sat there chewing while she tried to remember her past. “There’s a big chunk of my life that just seems to be blank.”

Charli watched her carefully then asked her softly, “You said Braaken Ridge sounded like a name you know. How is that?”

Britney shrugged. “That’s what I can’t remember.” She took another bite of her sandwich and stared down at her plate. “I know I lived around here somewhere but I don’t think I was alone all the time. I can remember someone looking at me all the time. I just can’t remember her face. I know I spoke to her and I can hear her voice I just can’t remember her.” Setting the sandwich down on the plate, she spoke in a shaky voice, “I think I remember her being braver than I was in every way. I think I remember her sneaking into rooms that we weren’t supposed to enter. She knew we’d catch hell for being in there but she said she didn’t care. She told me one time that our dad couldn’t stop her…” She snapped up her head and gazed at Charli, “She said our dad was keeping something from us and she wanted to know what that something was.” She paused then the door in her mind opened and her memory was coming back to her. “She said our dad…” Britney’s voice faded away. “Our dad,” she repeated. “She was my sister, I think. Oh my God, how could I forget my own sister?”

Charli shrugged. “I don’t know, but something happened to you, something that separated you from your sister, do you remember what that something was?”

Britney pushed her plate away, her stomach was churning now and she felt like she was going to puke. “I think so, our dad called us into his study one day and he told his minion to take my sister upstairs and make sure she couldn’t escape.” She frowned as her memory began to return. “Sometime later a green jeep pulled up and a man got out. He joined us and he talked to my dad and said he was ready to take me home. I didn’t want to go with him but dad didn’t give me a choice. When I said no, he backhanded me. Then the other guy dragged me to my feet and out the front door. He tied my hands behind my back and belted me into the seat. I couldn’t say a word. Then he turned the jeep around and began to leave. I was so scared, I didn’t even fight back.”

Charli stared at her then looked at the door to the living room. She saw Ace standing there.

He shook his head slightly.

Turning back to Britney, she asked, “What happened once you got to wherever this was?”

Britney shook her head. “I really don’t remember, I was trying not to think about it.” She paused then rubbed her fingers over her temples. “Maybe I don’t want to remember what he did next. All I can really remember is him dragging me naked down the hall and throwing me into a room. It was dark by that time and every move just echoed. I made my way to the far corner and sat down. Every movement I made hurt and I think I was in shock or something. There was no light in the room or any furniture either.” She looked up at Charli and whispered, “He just left me there in that room for maybe two days before he came back. Two women came in to get me and they ushered me to a big bathroom and they let me have a shower and wash my hair. Then they gave me something to sleep in but they took me back to that room. They gave me a blanket but they never said a word to me that whole time.”

Charli sighed as she recognized that this was a bad memory for sure. She waited for her to continue.

Shaking her head, Britney swallowed hard and said, “Then the next night he opened my door again and dragged me into the bedroom and when I protested he began hitting me. It was only when I was silent that he stopped. Then he abused me again. When he got off he got up, he twisted his hand in my hair and dragged me back down to that room. He locked me inside. It was hours later before the door opened again. It was one of the house maids I guess and she just shook her head at me. She’d brought a bowl of warm water and a washcloth. She said she couldn’t do much or the master would know someone was helping me but she got me cleaned up. Then she handed me some food and at that point I didn’t care whose food it was. I ate it. That went on for the longest time, he would attack me and the maid would clean me up again. The only good thing was that he was gone, sometimes for weeks or months at a time. I could almost breath again whenever he left.” Britney paused again and slowly shook her head. “Then one time he came home and the maids told him I was pregnant. I didn’t even know that myself. He seemed happy about that fact and he left me alone for a while, but it didn’t last. He went to an appointment with me and they did an ultrasound and he asked what the baby was, a boy or a girl. The doctor told I was having a little girl.” She paused then said, “That night, he damn near beat me to death. He kept screaming that I was even a failure at giving him a son.”

Charli reached over and took her hand. She didn’t say anything. She wanted Britney to remember, even though it was a horrible memory.

Britney didn’t seem to even feel it when Charli took her hand, she was too caught up in the nightmarish scene that was unfolding in her mind. Finally, Britney spoke again, “Later that night, I was lying in that room and I heard his jeep leaving. I got up and went over to the window. I watched as he drove away. I sobbed because the fact he was leaving didn’t bother me in the least. I think I even prayed that he would just never return. I hated him.” She looked down and raised her hand to her belly. “At first, I hated the baby in my belly too. But then the longer he stayed away and I felt my baby kick I began to love her. None of this was her fault. But I tried not to care about her too much. I had a feeling I wouldn’t see her born anyway.” Shaking her head she admitted. “And I was right. I went into labor and the maids called him. The pain of labor was harsh and I got only so far then he couldn’t wait. I was screaming with the contractions and he just came into the bedroom and because I hadn’t had the baby yet he got upset.” She lowered her head.

Charil shook her head as tears filled her eyes and she raised her gaze to Ace.

His expression told her that he was enraged by what Britney had recalled so far.

Raising her head to stare at Charlie her eyes glimmered with unshed tears. “I don’t remember what happened next. I woke up in the hospital with no memory and a slash across my belly. For the longest time, I couldn’t even speak. My mind was a total blank. They said I had a baby but I couldn’t remember being pregnant. They asked me where the baby was and I couldn’t tell them. At first, the doctors thought the baby was dead but eventually, they must have believed me. I finally asked them where I was and when they told me Chicago it never helped me. I was almost sure I didn’t know anyone in Chicago but how the hell could I be sure about that? I’ve been so lost and confused since that day. They let me go and wished me good luck. I had no money, no memory and no way to make a living. I had to find somewhere to stay. But first thing was that I had to find a job.  I found a place that didn’t do a background check. It was just a small diner and I barely survived those first few months, then I sort of got into a rhythm. I survived I guess but right up until the day I met Mario, I still had no clue who I was.” She looked around the room and seemed a little startled to see Ace.

He walked further in and went to the fridge to get a coke out.

“Now I’m here but I still don’t have answers do I?” Britney said almost to herself. “Maybe this long trip was for nothing. I still don’t have any answers.”

Charli shrugged. “Hey, you remembered something. Well, it was a lot actually. It wasn’t great but at least now, you now know about some of it. You gotta give yourself time. You just have to give yourself a chance.”

Britney studied her for a moment then asked. “You think I can get there? Like I will know it all?”

Charli smiled faintly. “Why not? I’ll bet there is someone out there right now that knows you. Someone that can tell you who you are and who that bastard who hurt you is.”

Britney shook her head. “I don’t want my problem to make me unwelcome here though. Like what about the trouble coming here for you? You surely don’t need and extra person in your way.”

Charli shrugged. “I’m not worried and I don’t think you will get in the way. I’m already in the way cause I’m not helping them at ll. My uncle has already been told off by me. Did he listen? No. But in the end… he can just suck it. They can all just kiss my grits.”

Ace popped his soda can open and then he laughed. “As usual, you have no problem telling someone off, babe. Grits. Too funny.”

Britney looked back and forth at them and then she actually smiled a little as she wiped her eyes.

Chapter Seven

 

Charli led Britney to an unoccupied room and gave her set of PJ’s to sleep in and bid her goodnight.

Britney changed and laid down on the bed. A tear rolled down her face as she stared at the ceiling in the dark room. She never even bothered brushing it away as she closed her eyes and felt the letdown feeling consume her. She fell asleep but it was an uneasy kind of sleep as more memories came forth.

She tossed and turned but nothing brought her out of her sleep. Finally, just as dawn broke the eastern sky she settled down and fell into a deep sleep REM.

The next morning…

Charli was busy doing dishes when Luna walked in. She looked at Charli and said, “I see we have visitors and the guys are discussing plans to protect the farm.  Deuce told me a little bit of it. But what is going on?”

Charli looked over her shoulder at her and sighed heavily. “We got some visitors late last night. That’s true enough. My cousin Mario arrived and he brought a woman with him. He came to tell me that his father, my that uncle wants me to join them in Italy for some kind of festival to join two tribes of my people. I’m supposed to marry some guy I don’t even know or have no feelings for in the main ceremony.” She shook her head. “We also found out that instead of taking me with them fifteen years ago they left another uncle in charge of protecting me, whom I have never met by the way. Yet, he’s been getting money from Mario’s dad to give to me but instead of doing that he kept the considerable sum for himself and the guys think he used that money to build his own compound and has been selling the weapons on the black market. They believe he is one your dad’s missing partners and they think he’s coming here to make sure I don’t say anything.”

Luna slid down into a chair at the table and opened her mouth in shock. It took her a moment to take everything in and finally she shook her head. “Damn, Deuce didn’t tell me all of that. He said it was a long story and he would tell me later. So, I can guess at the answer but what did Ace have to say about you leaving to marry someone else?”

Charli let out a sudden laugh. “He stared at Mario with death in his eyes. I thought Mario might pass out. Don’t get me wrong, he was the only family member that ever treated me decently. That ever acted like I existed anyway. But he knows I won’t be doing any of that. I got on the phone to Italy and told my uncle, I wasn’t leaving my husband and my son to marry someone else nor would I be accompanying him anywhere.” She paused and smiled when she reported, “Let’s just say I get my stubbornness from my Italian side and he did not listen to a word I said. So my uncle is on his way here with their Council to talk me into honoring their customs.”

“That is just insane.” Luna shook her head. “What excuse are they using to try to get you to bend over backwards like that?”

Charli crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head. “It appears that before my father was killed… he was their leader and my uncle took over his position because I was only five when he died. I was fourteen when the entire family left the States to rejoin the rest of the family in Italy but they made the mistake of leaving me behind here with Ben. He and my grandma raised me. They had no idea I had this family destiny. But it is just too bad, because my destiny is here with Ace and my son. They didn’t even know Ben was dead or that I was already married. Someone should have checked on me since I am all grown up now. So now, they just expected me to fall into with their plans? I told them all to go to hell.”

Luna sat there and thought for a moment. “I’ve heard of family drama but that is freakin’ wild, Charli.” She shook her head and asked, “And the woman? Deuce said that a woman came too. What about her?”

Charli walked over to the table and sat down on a chair as she slowly shook her head. “This poor girl. I mean I feel so bad for her. She says her name is Britney but she doesn’t even know that for sure. She said she woke up in a hospital in Chicago and she couldn’t remember anything from her past. The doctors told her she had given birth but she couldn’t even remember the fact that she had been pregnant. The only thing she can remember was that Braaken Ridge was a familiar name to her. She was working in a diner where Mario stopped to eat. They struck up a conversation and she asked if she could go with him.”

Luna’s eyes widened. “Wow… So she came here because of the name of the town?”

Charli shrugged then leaned back in her chair. “Apparently. She believes she might be from this area, but she isn’t sure about that either. She woke up in Chicago after a three week coma. She’d lost a lot of blood from a slash across her belly. She doesn’t know how she got there and she told the doctors she didn’t remember being pregnant. Nor did she know where the baby was. They were very suspicious of her story so they kept her a few days longer as the police kept questioning her. When they finally conceded that she was most like telling the truth, they let her go. But that poor girl had no memory. They released her into an unknown world. She was all by herself too. It must have been scary as fuck.” Charli got up and went over to the coffee pot to pour two cups of fresh coffee.

“Did she remember anything at all?” Luna asked.

Charli came back, put one cup of coffee in front of Luna and kept the other one for herself. “She told me this story about when she was trapped in this house with her sister, they were raised in fear and kept hidden she said. When she was eighteen, they shipped her off to some man. He became her captor. She was…” Charli sighed and couldn’t seem to describe the details. “…treated very badly by this man. Like he took advantage of her and he was very cruel. She then got pregnant by him.”

Luna stared at her then she set her coffee mug down. “T-that is horrible. My sister was taken from me at eighteen, you know? She rebelled a little but really, she never meant to make dad so angry. I missed her so much and I always felt guilty about her getting into trouble over me really.””

“That whole story is so horrible…” Charli shook her head.

“She died after she disappeared. She was my twin, not identical only paternal. She also had a child from the story I was told. But after Collette disappeared, my dad made it very clear to me that the only way he thought about us was as assets to his business ventures. He used Collette to bind another man to his empire and that was just wrong. She never wanted to go and leave me behind but he forced her to. And she didn’t even know this other man but our father didn’t care. The man wanted a place at my father’s table and that’s how he chose to get there. He’d married Collette off to a total stranger. When I found out her supposed asshole husband had let her die after she gave birth, I about lost it. I hoped one day to find the child and I did finally.”

“Annabelle,” Charli spoke softly.

Luna nodded. “And now she is all I have of Collette.” She had a tear running down her cheek, but she wouldn’t wipe it away. She went on in a flat voice, “That fucking Gauntlet didn’t even give my sister a proper burial. He just left her body behind.”

“I’m so sorry for all that you went through. I know that it must haunt you.”

“Well, you telling me this woman who came here has no memory and was told she had a baby? It really brought all that back to me. I will always regret not finding her before Gauntlet killed her.”

“I know and I don’t know how to help this girl. Right now, the timing of her arrival sucks. My Uncle Ray might be after me now to shut my mouth and I got another uncle coming here to take me back to Italy to marry someone I don’t even know.”

Reaching out, Luna patted her hand. “You can’t help her much. Just allowing her to stay here and being supportive is about all that you can do.” She looked up at Charli and asked, “Where is she?” Her eyes looked overly bright now and her hand shook as she raised her coffee mug to take a sip.

Charli watched Luna closely now as she set her mug down. With a heartfelt sigh, she took her hand in hers and gazed into her eyes. “Luna, you need to think about this. I mean I know that you have wondered what happened to your sister. But I really don’t think that she would just show up here out of the blue.” She paused as she knew she needed to choose her words carefully. “She told me some of what she went through and she’s sort of messed up because of all that.”

“I know how that feels. I know that I will never get over my sister’s death. I should have been able to help her.” Luna shook her head as tears glimmered in her eyes. “My sister had always been a gentle soul. I was the opposite but I always tried to protect her when we were growing up. When she was taken, my dad had me locked into my room for three days, no food and no water until he unlocked that damn door. But by then she was gone and I couldn’t find her. He thought he broke me and while I might have stayed quiet, it wasn’t because he broke me. No, I was pissed. I had to be smarter than him until I knew where she was. It took me a year to find her and on the night I was gonna leave that house forever, I found the report that said she died. And yes, that about broke me right there. You see I felt that I failed her. I failed to find her in time to save her and suddenly she was beyond my reach.” Shaking her head, she went on, “And I hated my father so much. I hated him with a passion I couldn’t handle. That’s why when he told me he was letting his minion have me I ran from both of them. I wasn’t going to become a checked box on the coroner’s table, because I knew that’s exactly what happened to Collette. So the morning Deuce found me, I was running from not only my father but the creep he sold me to.”

“So you think by helping this woman, it will help you?”

Luna shrugged as she swiped a fallen tear from her cheek. “Maybe? But I do know that you all helped me. And I at least understand how she feels.”

Charli tilted her head at her. Then she stood from her chair. “Just be careful, you could be stirring up more than you realize. Just take is easy and slow, ok?” she advised. “Just listen to what she has to tell you before you tell her anything. You have to listen to not only her words but her feelings too. She been broken, abandoned and thrown away like her life meant nothing. I watched her eyes this morning when she began to remember. She’s bound to remember more now and I don’t know how she’s gonna handle that. But that is one thing you can do, listen to her and just be supportive. Since your family was broken apart too, maybe you can help each other?”

“W-what if she’s…” Luna shook her head.

“…your sister?” Charli stared at her.

Nodding, Luna bit at her lip.

“I don’t know, but try not to be disappointed, Luna.”

“I will try. Maybe I can help her and therefore help myself. The injustice of what happened to my family…” She sighed. “And Whittaker didn’t suffer enough for what he did to Collette.”

“I know, his death was way too quick.” Charli got up and motioned for her to follow her. She walked down the hall and stopped at Ben’s old bedroom.  “Please be gentle with her.”

Luna nodded then reached for the door. Opening it slightly, she went inside leaving the door open as she moved toward the bed. She paused at the side of the bed and studied the woman sleeping there. Then she reached out and turned her head so that she could see her face. She gasped. Then she pushed up the sleeve of the PJ top the woman wore. There was a long scar there on her forearm.

The room was full of a tense silence.

Luna fell to her knees and whispered her name, “Collette.”

Charli went inside and knelt beside Luna. “Are you sure it’s her?” she asked as she felt shocked.

 Luna nodded as tears ran down her face. She reached a hand out to brush a strand of her sister’s hair away from her face. “She got that scar on her arm because she fell while we were both running away from our dad when we were twelve. She hit the ground and rolled onto a piece of broken glass. He grabbed us and hauled us up to our bedroom and locked us in for two days before he unlocked the door. He didn’t know she was hurt but I patched her up and he never knew about the cut.” Luna’s whisper echoed in the room and when she paused, her words faded into silence. Then she whispered, “She’s alive and she came back on her own. I have my sister back and this time no one can take her away from me. Come hell or high water, I have her back and she’s going to stay.”

 

Chapter Eight

Ace and Deuce wandered into the kitchen and found only Charli there, fixing breakfast.

Ace studied her then noticed her worried expression. “What’s wrong, babe?” he asked as he moved in closer and wrapped his arms around her waist. 

Charli leaned back against him as she sighed. “You want the good news first or the bad news?” she whispered.

Ace stiffened as he glanced at his brother then back at her. “Well damn, there’s more bad news?”

Charli nodded then turned around and looked at him. “Not even I expected this but I don’t think it’s going away anytime soon.” She glanced at Deuce then back at Ace. “Britney… She is someone that…Well, she isn’t Britney.”

Ace stared at her. “What the hell do you mean?”

Charli sighed and explained, “When I told Luna this morning about what happened during the night, she insisted on seeing this woman. I told her that Britney had just gone to bed and she insisted I take her to her.” Shaking her head she admitted. “I didn’t know what she thought to find but the moment she saw her, she knew. She checked for a scar on Britney's arm.” She looked up at Ace. “Britney is Luna’s sister! I mean how can that be? Braaken Ridge sounded familiar to her because she was raised here. She’s Luna’s missing sister that everyone thought was dead all these years.”

Ace raised his brows as he looked over at Deuce then he broke his hold on Charli. He moved over to the table and sat down heavily, staring at the floor. Then after a long moment, he raised his gaze to Charli. “She’s Annabelle’s mother? Damn, Jade became her mother after her sister died at Gauntlet’s hands. Jack is practically her father. What a fucking mess.”

Charli walked over to where he was sitting and knelt in front of him. Reaching out, she took his hand. “I know the timing is bad and right now things are up in the air as far as things can be, but Luna just found her sister. A sister she thought had been dead for four years. How do you think that makes her feel?”

Deuce stepped over and he shook his head as he shared his disgust, “That family was so fucked up from the beginning. Whittaker did those girls wrong in so many ways.”

Ace nodded. “That’s true and this is one of the results too. But you know as well as I do that Jade and Jack aren’t going to let anyone take that little girl away from them.” He released a long breath and ran his fingers through his hair. “But that’s not the only thing we have to worry about. We got a gunrunner coming here to shut us down, so he can keep his business and a crazy group coming in to take Charli away and marry her off to some guy. This is all kinds of fucked up.”

Charli growled and stood. Looking down at him she snarled, “No one is gonna marry me off to some guy. What do you think I’m gonna do? Give in? Fuck that! I will not be dictated to or told what to do nor will I listen to anyone telling me what protocol I need to live by. And you should know that by now. Whatever Jullian tells me is my birth duty he can stick it up his ass. They left me behind. I didn’t leave them. Ben raised me because they didn’t want to. They do not get to come back now after I’m all grown up and tell me what they say goes. They left me behind when most of them went back to Italy after the feud was over. I haven’t seen any of them in fifteen years and for all I care now they can stay the fuck away.”

Ace shook his head. “Baby, it might not be that easy.”

Charli crossed her arms over her chest and seethed. “It is to me. When they left I only had Ben and my grandmother as family.  When my mom and dad left me here to visit them, they protected me from harm. That they never made it back to me says a lot. I didn’t hear from my dad’s family for five years, then Mario wanted to meet me again. Ben took me to meet him back then Mario and Jullian came to see me. But they left me with Ben after that. This is the first time I’ve heard from them and their demands don’t even register with me. They didn’t raise me. And the money they sent for me went to someone else who used it to become a criminal. My Uncle Ray is just that… a fucking criminal. Now when he’s been exposed for the thief and liar he is, he wants to come here and kill me? Well, I have a few weapons that will argue with that.”

Ace and his brother shook their heads.

Ace chuckled at her usual brazen attitude. “Baby, you have at least five loaded weapons. They are called the Warlords.”

Deuce nodded at her in agreement of the obvious.

She huffed and said, “I’d better have that, but I was adding in my knives and my favorite shotgun and maybe that old pistol I like so much. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have things to do and people to see.” She tuned and stalked down the hallway. She went to the room Luna and Britney were in and as soon as she opened the door she found the two girls talking. 

Luna looked up and smiled even as tears rolled down her face. “Charli, I want you to meet my sister.”

Charli smiled at her. She looked over at Britney and asked, “Do you remember now?”

Colette/Britney slowly nodded at her. “I’m beginning to. When we were young, we made up a safe word, that only we knew. As soon as I opened my eyes and saw her sitting there, I remembered the word and the both of us burst into tears. It opened a door in my mind and I’m remembering lots of things now.” She wiped a tear away and added, “Luna told me what happened to my baby, what Gauntlet did.” Looking at Charli, she whispered, “I just woke up at the hospital in Chicago up from a three-week coma because when they found me I was almost dead from being sliced open. They kept me in a coma while they tried to save my life. When that cold hearted bastard sliced my belly open to get the baby, I damn near bled to death but a neighbor found me and he got me a hospital. I still don’t know how the hell I got to Chicago but that’s where I finally woke up. So honestly, I’m not sure how I feel about having a daughter. I mean I hated and feared her father. I’m not sure I felt anything for the baby I carried for eight and half months.”

Charli frowned at her and asked, “Don’t you mean nine months?”

Collette shook her head. “Something happened and he couldn’t wait any longer. He needed to get the baby out of me and escape before someone caught him. He took the baby early. I remember screaming and it hurt horribly. I believed that I was going to die. I passed out thinking that, in fact. The doctors told me he cut me open and took the baby without worrying if I would even survive. I think he was hoping I wouldn’t. I know he sure as hell never had any feelings for me. All he needed was an heir, not me. I’m not sure I felt anything at all the whole time I was there. I never loved him. How could I? He was intentionally cruel to me. I was more afraid of him than I ever was of our father.”

Luna snorted. “It turns out that Whittaker wasn’t our real father anyway. Our mother’s name was Lucy Jean and he supposedly loved her but she didn’t love him. She ran off with our real dad, a man called Keller London, but he found them shortly after we were born. He slit dad’s throat and took us from our mom and our big brother Traven. Our brother was only six at the time, so there was nothing he could do. Later on, Traven went to work for Whittaker in a twist of fate somehow, but he told us there was nothing he could do at that time because Whittaker had a standing order that if he were dead then his men were supposed to kill us all. Traven came to see me not too long ago and he said he couldn’t save you but he could take out both Gauntlet and Whittaker.”

Colette listened as another tear fell from her eye.

Luna wiped her own tears from her cheeks and went on, “He even knew who Annabelle was. That was a year ago. He also told us that Whittaker had put a tracker in us when we were young and he found out too late where you were.”

Collette’s expression had gone blank, as if she were getting too much information in too little time and she was overwhelmed. “Oh, my god,” she finally whispered, “So what happened to Whittaker? He isn’t still alive, is he?” She looked very afraid as she asked this.

Luna shook her head and explained what had happened, “Traven used what Whittaker did to his advantage. He sold faulty safety vests to the military, he then put a couple on when Traven came after him. So Traven shot him in non-lethal places, knowing that the vests wouldn’t hold up. In the end, he sliced his throat just like Whittaker did to our dad and then dumped the proof right on our doorstep. So we would all know that Whittaker was gone for good. Then Traven just disappeared.”

Collette went silent for a long moment as she took all of this in, then she scoffed. “So the man died the same way he lived, but I can’t say that I’m all that surprised. He really was a cold, inhuman monster. I did remember that when were little kids we were always locked up in our rooms. He wasn’t a father… he was a warden. Then when we were older, he sold us off to the highest bidder. Like who does that? He enslaved his own daughters then he made deals when he cashed us in. Like we were merchandise. It’s sick.”

Charli went over and sat down on the bed. Then she reached for Collette’s hand. “I know you have a lot to consider. But I need to ask this as it is…” she paused. “…Really important to this family. What are you gonna do about Annabelle?”

Collette shook her head. “I don’t know. I hated her father for what he did to me. I felt nothing for the baby I carried and I should have cared even a little bit, right? I mean she was my child too. She was innocent of the sins of her father.  I think it was because I thought the baby and I would never make it out of there alive.” She paused then stared at Charli. “What about the couple she is with right now? Do they at least care about her? Do they love her, will they take care of her?”

Charli smiled at her. “They love her dearly. She is showered in great blessings, believe me. She is a happy little girl for sure. Jade took her because the woman who raised her from an infant was Jade’s sister. She asked Jade to take care of her and to love her. Then Jade met and married Jack, one of my husband’s brothers. I know Jack and his brothers absolutely consider Annabelle to be one of their own.” She sighed heavily. “But now Ace is wondering about what might happen since you know you have a daughter here.”

Collette shook her head. “At the moment I can’t even think about it really. I haven’t even seen this child yet.” She hung her head. “But like I said, I hated her dad and I never felt any sign of maternal instinct when I carried her. I don’t know if I could love her or not. And I feel horrible about that too.”

Charli patted her hand in understanding. “I think I understand even if it’s hard to think about. I know I loved my son the whole time I carried him but our circumstances were different from the start. I don’t know how I would feel if I had gone through everything you did either. It is just a miracle that you came back here. Really, it is.” 

Collette nodded. “Like I told Mario, when I heard the name Braaken Ridge I had to come with him. It meant something to me I just didn’t know what. Now all the pieces are beginning to click into place and I still don’t know what it all means to me. Some of the memories I have here aren’t pleasant at all and I’m beginning to remember even more the longer I’m here. I just don’t know if I want to remember any more of it.”

Charli nodded. “Yeah, I get that. It’s going to be hard for a while. There may be some decisions you will need to make, but those can wait. I’ll just leave you two to talk some more. And breakfast will be ready in a half hour.” She got up and walked to the door. Before she left, she turned back and said, “Things might heat up around here very soon. But you don’t have to get involved in what’s coming. If you want, you can just stay in here. But just know that you are welcome to stay.” Then she walked out and closed the door behind her.

 

Chapter Nine

Charli walked down the hall to her own room. As soon as she opened the door, she went over to the crib and looked down at her son. Ben was sleeping so peacefully and she reached out to touch his cheek softly. “My sweet baby boy, I’m here and I will protect you above everyone else.”

Ben opened his eyes briefly and smiled at his mother. Then closed his eyes to be lost in that sweet baby slumber again.

Charli went over to her bed and curled up covering herself with the blanket folded on the end of the bed. She tried to close her eyes but her mind wouldn’t let her sleep. So much had happened and she raised her hand to brush away her tears. She just laid there with her eyes open as the stillness of the room surrounded her. Lost in her own thoughts on the bed trying to wipe her tears away.

Ace quietly stepped into the room. With a troubled sigh, he went over to the bed and knelt next to the bed to face her. “Baby, please don’t cry. I’m sorry.” He took her hand in his.

Charli just stared at him, then she sighed and closed her eyes. “I’m not going anywhere and I’m not giving up this farm or my family. I just won’t.”

Ace nodded and squeezed her hand in his. “Good, because I love you more than you realize and I won’t give you up either.”

Charli rolled over onto her back and stared at the ceiling and didn’t say anything then she finally spoke, “I’ve been here since I was five years old. I watched Ben and my grandma bury my parents and you know who else was there? Mario and Jullian. My dad had four brothers and three sisters and the only ones who showed up was Jullian and Mario. They stayed long enough to see my parents put into the ground, then they left. I didn’t see them again until I was fourteen because Mario insisted I come for a visit. We spent two weeks together but I only saw Mario and his father. No one else came around, no one else even called to talk to me. When Ben came to get me and we traveled back here, he never said a word to me about them not showing any interest in me. Mario would call me now and again, he seemed to be the only one who cared. Then I heard they all moved back to Italy. But I didn’t hear from them in person, mind you. I got a postcard from Mario telling me about the move. He wrote that he didn't have my phone number. Then nothing until last night.”

Ace nodded. “Ben mentioned this to me once. It was when we were both up one night before that last battle. He poured us a drink and talked a bit. Yes, he wasn’t a man who said a lot but his few words told it all. About your parents and a few things about your dad’s family.”

“What things?” she asked.

He slowly shook his head. “Nothing detailed. Just that he did like your dad but he wasn’t keen on that family at all. They weren’t to be trusted and he was more than relieved to have not seen them over the years. Said they were trouble.”

Charli sighed again and kept staring at the ceiling. “He never talked to me about it. But that was Ben. He would never badmouth them to me. He wasn’t built like that. But that’s only part of everything happening right now.”

Ace nodded. “Annabelle, Jack and Jade. Do you think this woman really is Collette Whittaker?”

Charli nodded. “Yeah, she really is Luna’s sister. She began to remember her life as soon as she saw Luna. And before you ask, yeah she’s Annabelle’s mom.”

Ace sat there for a long moment then he sighed heavily. “Does she want the baby back?”

“You’ll have to ask her,” Charli told him softly.

“This is gonna break Jade’s heart along with Jack’s.” Ace growled.

Charli nodded. “I know but in the end, someone isn’t going to be happy about it.” She opened her mouth to say something just as a frantic knock sounded on the door.

Ace got up, walked over to the door and opened it.

Deuce stood there, holding out his laptop. They both surveyed the camera feeds from the woods.

Ace turned his head and told Charli, “He spotted someone hanging around the tree line area. We have to check this out.”

Charli got up and turned the baby monitor on. Then she grabbed the small hand held receiver. She joined her husband and brother-in-law.

They all walked back to the kitchen.

Luna and Collette stepped out to the hallway and joined them as well.

Deuce set the laptop onto the kitchen table.

When she saw the laptop screen, Collette gasped and her knees buckled. It showed face of the man standing there while glaring at the main house. 

Luna steadied her.

Joker grabbed another chair and slid it over.

She sank into it and then she looked up at Ace and whispered, “I know this man.”

Ace growled and motioned to Deuce. “Get King and get after that asshole.” Then he looked over at Collette. “Do you recognize him?”

Collette nodded. “He came to Gauntlet’s house all the time. I never knew his name but every time he came, I would be locked into my room.” She shook her head. “No one ever talked about him, at least not to me. But I heard hushed and fearful whispers from the staff.  They were all afraid of him. Gauntlet was always respectful to him but after he left, he was always pissed. It was almost as if he hated being respectful to a man he hated. He would rant and rave about how one day he would show him who was in charge and it wasn’t him. But he always talked the big talk like that and never had any real power. He would bitch and gripe but he wouldn’t admit he had no real power.” She looked over at Luna and added, “We both knew who really had the power and it wasn’t Carmen Vance. It was always Jedidiah Whittaker.”

 Luna nodded. “But in the end, not even he had any real power, it was all illusion. The man who claimed to be our father never really had any real power either. He only had money that wasn’t even really his. He played a game of smoke and mirrors all his fucking life, but even those weren’t enough to hide behind for long.”

Collette grabbed Luna’s hand and asked, “At least tell me he lost in the end. Everything he stole, borrowed or tried to steal. Please tell me he lost it all and he died a broken man?”

Ace nodded. “Yeah, he lost it all, including his life. Our brother saw to that. He died in the same way he killed your real father. Shot all to hell with the same fireproof vests he sold to Uncle Sam and a slit throat.”

Collette nodded. “Good, I know it sounds horrible to say, but he deserved at least that much. And us, the ones he ruled…”

Luna nodded. “We’re picking up the pieces and pushing through. It’s all we can do.” She smiled at her sister. “At least we found you again.”

Collette smiled faintly. “I can never get back the years I lost. Too much has happened, too much has been erased.” She looked from Luna to Ace. “But that doesn’t mean I won’t try. You see…Jedidiah never thought I was strong. He always labeled me as the weak one but he didn’t know the real me. I was always stronger than he thought. I survived Gauntlet and I will survive this too.” Lowering her head, she admitted, “Gauntlet used and abused me in ways no man should ever do, but when he started in I would go to a place in my mind where he couldn’t hurt me. When he figured that out he would do his worst and when I came back he never understood how I always healed so fast. But every time I did, I grew stronger than he thought I was capable of. Then the day he cut me open and took my baby, he was just going to let me die. But when I woke up in that damn hospital, my mind had shut down. It wouldn’t let me figure out what that man did to me. He wanted me to die but instead I became someone different.”

Luna took her hand in hers as she looked upset by all that had happened to her.

 “I didn’t know what happened to the baby they said I had carried,” Collette went on. “And I learned to live under another name. Then Mario told me he was coming here and I knew what I had to do. I had to come back here and learn what my mind helped me to forget. I had to remember those secrets in my past.” She looked at Luna again. “But as soon as I saw your face, the past came back to me, all of it. I remembered every detail of the life we had and what happened when I was taken from you.” Her hand lowered to her belly. “I remembered the baby I was forced to have, the day Carmen came into my room and he screamed at me that the labor was taking too long.” Her eyes glazed over as if she were remembering everything from that day. “I remember him tying me up then taking a knife out and approaching the bed. I kept screaming when he cut me open and lifted the baby up from my womb.”

“Damn,” Ace muttered as he looked a bit ashen.

Joker agreed as he slowly shook his head.

“The baby was crying and I was screaming and I remember him turning his back to me while he wrapped a towel around the baby. I laid on that damn bed as I was bleeding out. That was the day I vowed… never again would he hurt me. I believed I was going to die. Then I think I passed out.” She lowered her head. “Someone came in and took me from the bed. Then just as I passed out again, I remember being in the back seat as someone drove me away.” She paused as her words dropped into a whisper, “So when I woke up, the doctors said I had been in a coma for three weeks and when they asked about the baby, I couldn’t tell them a damn thing.” Shaking her head, she admitted, “I couldn’t even remember being pregnant.”

Luna looked upset too, as she tried to console her, “Being used and abused then having your body cut open, left you weak and in shock. I'm just glad you survived it. I always felt in my heart that you were alive somewhere.”

Collette nodded her head. “I suppose when I woke up, I had nothing left to give by that time. Everything in my life was gone, I didn’t even care about the baby. I had no feelings one way or the other about what happened to it. I didn’t even know if I had a boy or a girl or if it even survived.”

Jack spoke now, “You had a little girl.”

They all looked up.

He stepped further into the kitchen as he stared at Collette. “Gauntlet took the baby to another state and handed her over to a woman he kidnapped. He ordered her to raise her, then he left her all alone. He never came to see the girl and in the end he killed that woman. He didn’t care about the little girl. My wife Jade found her. The woman was her sister but she was too late to save her life. We thought the baby belonged to her sister until we found a note left by her in a toy Annabelle loved. We didn’t know who the mother really was until now.”

Ace turned his head to look at her. “So, I guess you have a decision to make.”

Collette nodded slowly. “But not right now, I hope.” She looked back at the laptop screen on the table. “I think you have a more pressing problem to deal with.” She motioned to the screen.

Ace looked determined as he gave her a nod. “Yeah, we do. Deuce and King are out searching for him.”

Mario came in just then. He walked over to the laptop with the man’s image frozen on the screen and studied his face then he looked over at Ace. “That’s my Uncle Ray. I haven’t seen him in a long time but that is Raimondo Benittini for sure.”

 Ace curled his large hands into fists and growled in rage. “This is the man who needs to kill us all to escape being caught for his sins. Well, I for one, am not about to let him do that. He will be sent to hell instead.”

Joker looked up and asked, “You gonna call Shay in on this?”

Ace shrugged. “I’ll call him to update him but I think we can take care of this asshole ourselves. He’s got a hell of a lot more to lose than we do.”

Collette reached over to take Luna’s hand in hers again and she gripped it tight.

Chapter Ten

“I don’t like the look in his eyes,” Joker said as he stared at the laptop screen and leaned back in his chair.

Mario nodded. “He’s a desperate man, I’m sure. My dad said he couldn’t get a hold of Ray and he warned him about needing to talk to him.”

 “And that’s supposed to shake a man like Uncle Ray?” Charli grumbled. “He’s probably all packed up with his stolen money ready to light out but he has to shut me up before he heads off to some place where no one knows his name.”

Mario shook his head. “No Charli girl, he came here for a reason and it might be something more than just to shut you up.”

“Like what?” Ace growled.

Mario shrugged. “That I’m not sure of, but he knows the time is coming for my father to come and collect Charli. Ray hasn’t been around family in years but he knows the old ways. He might be here to do more than kill Charli.”

A cold feeling swept the room and everyone there felt it.

Charli snapped her head up and stared at him in horror. “You think he might be here to kill your father?”

Mario shrugged. “I don’t know but he’s standing out there waiting for something, isn’t he? He finally showed up for the first time in fourteen years and he’s staying just out of sight. There must be a reason why he is waiting.”

“But why would he have to kill your dad?” Ace asked. “That doesn’t make any sense to me.”

Mario sighed hard and explained the family dynamics to them, “My dad is the second of five sons. Michael was the firstborn, my dad Jullian was next, then Ray was the baby brother. He knows he doesn’t have a chance at leadership of the tribe as there are two more boys between him and my dad. My uncles are in place to take over if something happens to my dad. He chose to stay here to look over Charli but we all know how good a job he did on that, don’t we? He also knows that the money he kept should have been hers and what he did with that money goes against everything we believe in. And that wherever he goes after this we will try to find him. He might just decide to muddy the trail as best he can before he slinks away.” He shrugged and added, “It might gain him a day or two before the family begins to track his ass down.”

“Can’t you warn Uncle Jullian that he's here lying in wait?” Charli asked her cousin.

Mario nodded. “I can text him but right now he’s probably on a plane halfway across the ocean.”

Charli nodded her head at him. “Well, at least he’ll get the text when he lands. I’d rather have that happen than let him drive into an ambush. If Ray is waiting until Uncle Jullian gets here, I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

Mario nodded grimly and took his cell out of his pocket, then he sent the text. He looked up at her and cleared his throat. “Bene Charli, there might be more secrets you should know about.”

Charli looked puzzled and asked, “What kind of secrets and do I really want to hear them?”

Mario shook his head. “This is old stuff. And these secrets have been pushed into the family lore but they happened and should never be forgotten. No one speaks of them but they did change the history of our family.”

Charli just rolled her eyes and said, “Mario, come on…Say what you got to say and quit dragging it out.”

Mario stared at her. “You just got more sassy by the year, haven’t you?”

Ace chuckled. “You just now noticed that, did ya?”

His brothers all chuckled.

Mario shook his head. “So the last battle, the one that killed your parents never needed to happen. Michael and his wife were ambushed on the way to settle the feud. Your dad worked hard to try and settle it for about a month at that time. Only a few of the others in the family didn’t want to settle. No, they wanted the feud to go on forever and they went rogue to try and keep it going. It was right after that shooting that the tribes signed the papers that ended the feud. The other tribe went back to Romania and we stayed here for a while then dad wanted to go back to Italy.” He paused then shook his head. “There was no reason for your parents to die. They were on their way to sign the papers to end that feud."

Charli just stared at her cousin. Then she whispered, “That information is about twenty years too late, isn’t it? How long has this been known by the Council? By your dad?”

Mario didn’t want to tell her but he thought she deserved to know. “They found this out weeks after we buried your parents. Before my father took over leadership of the tribe.”

Charli just stared at him for a long, tense moment then without a word, she turned and left the room. 

The silence she left behind was broken only when they all heard the bedroom close behind her.

Ace looked over and glared at Mario. “Do you have any other dirty little secrets to share with my wife?”

Mario swallowed hard and replied, “I only found this out a lot later. I was young at the time her parents were killed, same as Charli. I just learned this last year. Many years after Michael and his wife died.” Shaking his head he admitted, “I told my father that what happened could have been avoided if Michael had gone to that meeting with support. That his brother didn’t have to die like that. My dad said it was a tragedy but the other family couldn’t take it back, that it was too late now and life moved on. But not everyone agreed with his statement. Even if we agreed, we couldn’t change the past.”

Ace growled and clenched his fists. “Your father’s greed cost Charli. If he had no compassion for her then he’s not much of a leader.”

Jack glared at Mario as he agreed, “You father might have lost a brother but Charli lost her whole world. Tell me asshole, who lost more? Your dad got everything while she had nothing left, nothing except her grandparents. Her dad’s family was just gone, you all moved away and never told her. They left her hanging for fourteen years and now they just expect her to do what? Greet your dad like someone who cares about her? Well, hell no to that. Then he wants her to follow the supposed rules and marry someone she doesn’t love? Nah man, that’s just wrong. She’s already got a husband and a son. I don’t see her walking away from the family she’s got now.”

“We’re her family now.” Ace growled. “She’s not alone anymore and she’s under our protection. She’s Charli Bridges now and no longer Charli Benittini.”

Mario nodded. “I know.” Raising his hands, he agreed, “I told my dad the same damn thing, I even told the Council that. But they are following old gypsy laws and my dad believes she’ll just fall into line because she’s Michael’s daughter.”

Ace leaned closer to tell him, “She’s more than just Michael’s daughter. They all turned their backs on her for years and years. What does that say about your fucking family? She’s Ben’s granddaughter and has been since they turned their back on her. Now she’s a woman in her own right. Your family chose to walk away from her when her father died in an ambush we now know didn’t have to happen. Your family couldn’t… no, they wouldn’t protect their own. They gave her away at one point and let Ben raise her, none of them get to claim her now.” 

Mario kept shaking his head at him. “Man, I am just the messenger and I wanted her to know the truth too.” 

Ace folded his arms over his chest and scoffed. “Did you ever think of the fact that your family could be charged with aiding and abetting your Uncle Ray in a criminal enterprise? They sent him the money to start his gun running adventure. I mean he did use the money you sent for Charli to get him set up, right? She never saw a dime of whatever money your dad sent.” He nodded. “I could make a case to Shay on that alone.”

Mario paled at this development. “You wouldn’t?” he whispered.

Ace grinned evilly. “Yes, I would. If your dad gets too aggressive I will do just that. And Shay would follow through with it, once he hears the truth of what’s been going on all these years.”

Mario swallowed hard and took a moment to look around at all of them. Every single one of their faces told him the same story. They would do exactly that.

“But first,” Joker broke in. “We have to let Shay know what’s going on here and get him here to take charge of good ole sorry ass Ray, don’t we?” Reaching for his phone he had Shay on speed dial. Soon everyone could hear the phone ring as Joker had put the call on speaker.

“My Cards, what’s up?” Shay's voice sounded jovial as he answered the call.

“We might have found Tirade,” Ace informed him.

A silence fell over the line before Shay asked in a hushed tone, “Tirade? Are you sure?”

“Yeah and get this… Tirade is Charli’s Uncle Ray,” Ace replied. “And he’s waiting for another uncle to show up before he comes in here to kill everyone.”

“Shit,” Shay swore over the cell speaker then he growled, “Like hell he will. I’ll get there as soon as I can. Just try not to kill him before I arrive, ok? I need to stop that man before he leaves the country. We’ve been getting messages that’s exactly what he plans to do but we’ve never been able to find him.”

Ace scoffed. “Well, we got eyes on him now and more shit coming.”

“Like what?” Shay asked.

“That’s a long story and we still don’t know all of it yet. But basically, after ignoring her for better than half her life, Charli’s Uncle Jullian is now coming after her to drag her back to Italy to uphold a promise or some ass-backward family tradition. To bond two families together by forcing her to marry some guy she doesn’t even know and he’s dragging his council here along with him to make her comply to something she had never even known about until fucking yesterday.”

Shay was silent for a long moment before he said, “Well that’s pretty fucking stupid on his part, isn’t it? He left her alone for how long? Almost fifteen years and now she’s married and has a kid. He must be delusional.”

“Oh, he is that for sure,” Ace agreed. “She tried telling him over a phone call and he just acted like he did not hear it.” 

“I’ll be there soon,” Shay ended the call.

Joker looked at his screen again. Pointing at the shadow of the man standing there, he said, “So this clueless dumbass might think we don’t know he’s there but that’s on him. He also has no idea Charli is well protected. And none of us will allow her to be hurt.”

“Damn right, we aren’t.” Ace growled. “He’s got no claim on my wife and I’ll tell him that with my fist if I have to.” He stared at the screen as well. “But first, we need to get that clueless dumbass on ice. All nice and tidy. Get him ready for his trip with Shay.”

Mario shook his head and looked around at the Bridges brothers. “I need to warn you. He is a man that always has more than one trick up his sleeve. And right now, he has a hell of a lot more to lose than just his freedom. A lot more than just the money he stole too.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” Deuce wanted to know.

Mario shook his head. “I heard strange things before while in Italy. Then also when I got here. Things I didn’t understand at first but seeing Ray standing there bold as shit… I think those things I heard were right on.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Jack growled.

 “Several of my other cousins stayed behind as well,” Mario explained. “They texted me over the years and what they tried to tell me didn’t make any sense before. They used odd names like this Gauntlet and those other men…. Cannon Ball, Axe and Anvil? It all sounded like some video game to me. Then they told me stories about weapons. I honestly didn’t know what it all meant. Then I heard the story you all told here yesterday. You mentioned the names my cousins mentioned. One of the texts I got told me about Tirade or Ray taking this man Carmen’s inventory that no one else knew about.”

The Bridges brothers all looked at each other as they went tensely quiet now.

“So what does all that mean to you?” Joker naked Mario as he broke the silence.

Mario looked very afraid as he explained it, “That he’s got enough weapons and ammo to start over someplace else. Uncle Ray isn’t the kind of man to not back himself up. He probably has a new place already. He just needs to make sure no one else can stop him. So I think he will try to wipe us all out.”