Page 119

Story: Ghost

Spinning around, I glared at Travis. “What the fuck for?”

“Come sit down, Princess.”

“Why were you fighting?” I asked again, my arms crossed over my chest. This was the shit bikers pulled.

Travis walked around the table and took my arm. “Because he fucking deserved it.” He ignored my protest and sat me in a chair next to him.

“He wanted to beat the shit out of me so that when you saw his hands he could blame it on me. Thought you might handle it better.” I stared at Dani’s father.

“Way to have my back, brother,” Travis growled.

Danny shrugged and winked at me. I had never observed this side of him during any of our previous interactions, and I was unsure how to interpret the playfulness of his words.

King smacked the gavel on the table, pulling my attention to him. “A lot of shit has been going on. Mellie has been getting some problematic notes. At first, she thought they were from one of you two. After Dante stopped communication, Mellie started making plans for her and Dani to disappear—”

“You were gonna disappear with my daughter?” Danny asked, a hint of condemnation in his voice.

Straightening my back, I turned and faced him. “Yes. I was. I had no idea what had happened to either one of you. No idea where you were or even why you both left. I know Dante asked me to find Ellie, but when he said she was involved in the club—my brother’s club—I had no intention of bringing her here.”

Taking a deep breath, I steeled myself to continue.

“When Dante asked me to keep Dani, he was scared. He didn’t tell me what was going on, only that Dani wasn’t safe. When he mentioned his plans if he was unable to communicate, I knew it was serious. I figured if you made it back from whatever you were doing, you would know how to find me.”

Dante placed a hand on Danny’s arm. “We don’t need to go into all that here. Melissa is here and Dani is here. They’re both safe.”

“Apparently, they aren’t fucking safe,” Danny growled.

“Melissa, please tell us what happened,” Dante urged.

So, I did.

I explained about selling my practice, about when and where I had received the notes. How I thought I was being followed and buying a new car under the name they provided for me.

When I shared what happened in Little Rock, Cash slammed his hand on the table.

“Why the fuck didn’t he call us?” He glared at King as he asked the question.

“I don’t know,” he grumbled.

“In his defense, there were a lot of injured brothers, and they didn’t know it had anything to do with me. They just knew it was about a woman. I slipped out while they were preoccupied, and I’m sure Steele just forgot about me with so many men hurt. I didn’t tell him I was in trouble. He thought I was there because I was a single mom who needed her brother’s help raising her child.”

The words tumbled out of me. I knew I should have told them about what happened when they knew I had gone there. But to be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure myself if it was about me.

“It wasn’t about you,” King said. The words were meant for me, but his focus was on Danny.

“They didn’t have her name, only the club name.”

“Knowing they didn’t find her there, means it won’t take long for them to fucking find us here.”

I looked back and forth between King and Danny. The two of them knew what was going on, but by the looks on the faces of the other men in the room, they didn’t.

Except when I looked at Zach. His eyes were pinned on his computer as though he wanted to be ignored.

“Is this about—”

“Not now. That has nothing to do with Mellie, so let’s continue.”

I told them about the note in Albuquerque and the one in Vegas, again leaving off the information about meeting Kytten and her friends and their offer to help.