“Why would he try to use me against you? I don’t even know you,” Lily protested.
“Look at me, Lily. It’s obvious.” His eyes stared into hers.
“No.” Lily shook her head, denying the possibility, squeezing her eyes closed as if she could make him disappear. She couldn’t shove the truth away, though. Lily gave a bitter laugh. “So not only was my mother a prostitute, my father was her pimp?”
King nodded his head. “Among other things. I’m afraid being a pimp isn’t the worst of my sins. You didn’t stand a chance.”
Lily lowered her head, her hair falling forward to hide her face. “Do you even know that I didn’t know that fathers existed? That when I found out, I cried for three days? Do you even know the things she did to me and made me do?!” Lily’s eyes raised, the purple depths filled with hatred stared at King who went pale at her outburst.
His face quickly became an impassive mask; however, Lily saw the torture in the eyes that were so much like her own, and her hatred fell away, replaced with pity. She had suffered for eight short years while this man had suffered for much longer than that.
“I…” King cleared his throat. His impassive voice belied the eyes staring back at her. “I didn’t know. My sister was violently murdered. She had been kidnapped and cut to shreds. I loved my sister. It was why I did some of the things I did when I began my business, so I could drag her out of the filth of that neighborhood. When she died like that, I swore I’d never let anyone hold someone over me like that again. The men I dealt with were too dangerous. The night they returned Ariel’s body, I had to make the arrangements for her funeral and pick out the clothes they were going to bury her in the next day.”
Kings hand ran through his dark hair. “I went back to my apartment, got drunk and did some coke. Brenda must have come by. I don’t even remember the bitch being there. I remember stinking like sex the next morning, but I didn’t remember anything from that night. I stayed out of the neighborhood Brenda lived in. It brought back too many memories.
“Then, one of my girls got hurt bad. I went there to settle a score and as I was leaving, I heard kids laughing—little girls. It’s an unmistakable sound. I looked over at the playground and I saw you. You looked exactly like my sister had at that age. When Brenda came outside to get you, yelling at you to go inside, I knew what that bitch had done.
“I made her come to my office. She said she didn’t tell me about you because she was afraid I would kill her. She was right. It was everything I could do not to kill her that day. The only reason I didn’t was because I knew that I didn’t want you hurt like Ariel. You were too beautiful to drag into my world.
“I gave her money for you. She had enough to move out of that rat hole, but she stayed there to be closer to her suppliers. I knew she was doing drugs, so I paid Marshall to move in with her to keep an eye on you, to protect you. Instead, he became another one of your tormentors.
“I had no idea what she was doing to you until that night when Marshall called. He was so mad at Brenda for letting another man have you that he called me. I don’t think the dumb bastard thought I would ask you. I knew the son of a bitch wouldn’t care if Brenda fucked fifty men.” His voice was full of disgust.
“So you killed them then started the fire.”
“I enjoyed it. I wish I could have brought them back to life and done it again.” His eyes blazed hatred for the people he had so ruthlessly killed.
“How did Beth’s parents come to adopt me?”
“Saul Cornett was my uncle. I called him and asked him if he would take you. He said he would, but he told me that if he did, I had to agree to stay away. He wasn’t going to endanger his child. He knew Ariel had been killed because of me. I had an acquaintance in the morgue that falsified papers of a body there, showing you had died in the fire. I wanted to make sure no one would ever think to look for you.”
“So, he was my great-uncle?”
“Yes. He was a religious fanatic, but I knew he wouldn’t touch you.” Lily didn’t tell him that her adopted father had been a sadist who had tortured Beth. Lily wondered if he hadn’t touched her because of Beth and the Sheriff’s threats or because of King.
“You’re the one who owned the house behind ours?”
King smiled at her ingenuity. “Yes. That way I could keep an eye on you. I would always vacation there during the summer because you were outside more often. You grew into a beautiful woman, Lily. I heard you got married during Christmas.”
Lily nodded her head. “Small town gossip. I suppose you know everything about me, probably from just talking to a waitress at the diner.”
King nodded his head. “All except one thing. Are you happy? When I would see you during my trips, you always seemed so reserved, I never could tell.” Lily thought she heard a small break in his voice when he asked the question.
“Yes, I’m very happy. I couldn’t have asked for a better sister. I have friends who I care about, and I love my husband, Shade. He’s everything to me,” she said softly, seeing her answer was important to him.
King nodded his head.
“Take me back to him. Shade and The Last Riders can keep me safe from whoever wants to hurt you.”
“You’ve almost been killed twice because Digger has a hit out on you. I have to take care of Digger or you’ll never have a normal life,” King said resolutely.
“How do you plan to stop him?” Lily saw she wasn’t going to change his mind.
“I have a meeting scheduled in two hours. I’m going to let him have me. Once he kills me, you become unimportant. Of course, I’m planning on taking the bastard with me to Hell.”
* * *
When the Last Riders pulled into the parking lot of Rosie’s bar, The Predators were already there waiting.
Viper and Cash pulled to the front while Shade rode his bike to the other side of Viper where the three waited.
Ice and Max rode their bikes forward, and the men faced each other down.
“Where’s Rip?” Ice’s cold eyes searched the riders behind them.
“You mean, Eightball?” Viper asked sarcastically. He pointed to the mountain ridge to their left. Two men moved to the edge, one held with a gun to his head.
“Are you going to tell us why you planted a traitor in our club and what the fuck it’s got to do with Lily? Or is your brother going to take a leap of faith?” Viper finished, turning back to Ice.
Ice gave a whistle and two bikes at the back of the lot moved. Penni stood with a gun to her head. The terrified look on her face made Shade want his rifle; however, he knew the men wanted their brother as much as he wanted his sister.
“Ice, man, this wasn’t part of the plan.” Two men toward the back got off their bikes, walking forward. Shade remembered the one with the goatee from the diner. The second one was recognizable to anyone that could turn a television set on.
“I told you I would let you talk, Colton. You got ten minutes before I do my own fucking talking.”
The one named Colton walked a step closer to Viper before the large man next to Ice put an arm in his way, stopping him.
“My name is Colton, this is Kaden. Our wives were friends with Lily when she was a little girl. A man named Digger runs a sex ring; he kidnaps young women then sells them as slaves. Digger is in a power struggle with a man named King. Last year, my wife was kidnapped and held hostage by Digger to gain information to destroy King.”
“What did she know?” Shade asked.
“That King had a daughter, Callie. Your wife, Lily. It was only when Penni started working for us that we discovered Callie was still alive. Unfortunately, so did Digger.”
“That must be who’s been trying to kill her,” Shade said thoughtfully.
Shade saw the men pause and look at each other. “We weren’t aware someone had tried to kill her yet. We didn’t know until Friday, when Digger escaped, that he was aware of Callie. They found information that he had taken a hit out on Callie.
&nbs
p; “Our wives have been tortured by this information. They love Callie and want to be reunited with her, but didn’t attempt to do so because they didn’t want to lead Digger to her. Ice was doing me a favor by trying to put a man in to keep an eye on Callie, and to be honest, make sure she was happy. That’s important to them.
“If you bring Callie here, she can confirm that she knows them. She was just eight, but she should have been old enough that she would recognize one of them. We have them waiting. When you bring Callie, I’ll send for our wives to be brought in.”
“What’re your wives’ names?” Shade questioned.
“Sawyer and Vida. Are you willing to bring Callie?” Colton asked.
“There’s a problem with that. She’s missing,” Shade said, carefully watching their reaction.
Shade could tell from their faces that they didn’t have Lily. They had told them what they knew. Viper could tell, too. That was why he lifted his hand. The two men disappeared from the edge of the cliff.
“You can have your man back. Any idea where Digger would take her?” Viper asked.
“No. He’s been in prison. We don’t know where the houses he operates are or which routes he still has open. The FBI have been trying to find information and can’t. That’s why they didn’t kill the bastard when they took him in custody.”
The sound of a motorbike filled the air as Train pulled into the lot behind Viper. Rip got off the back of the bike, going to his brothers who started cheering.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Shade’s voice snapped out.
“Jackal!” Ice yelled.
The man holding the gun moved it away from Penni’s head, and he gave her a shove forward.