Page 10

Carrie

My father glared at me from the chair the guys had tied him to. The man next to him looked bored. There was no denying the resemblance. They looked exactly alike. They could be twins. Flagg was gagged and screaming angrily behind the cloth they’d stuffed in his mouth.

“God, what a whiner,” Torpedo muttered. That surprised me. He had been more of an observer the few times I’d been around him. Of course, only one day here didn’t really make me the leading authority. But the lessons my father had taught me stuck more than he probably realized. I might lack physical strength, but I wasn’t stupid. My intelligence was a very strong weapon. I’d learned to read people. Just like Flagg had taught me. So, I knew Torpedo was angry as fuck without looking at him. His voice was just that little bit tight, and his tone had bite where I’d never heard him anything other than calm and even.

“You’re not in a position to be a dick, Flagg.” Knuckles went to the restrained man and backhanded him before taking out the gag. “Before you die, we have some questions. And by we, I mean Carrie. Whatever she wants to know, you’re gonna tell her. You don’t, then you piss every last motherfucker in here way the fuck off.”

“Do you have the least comprehension of who I am?”

“I know exactly who you are. Zeb Randall. Partner of Seth ‘The Hammer’ Miles.” Knuckles leaned against one of the steel posts embedded in the concrete basement floor. “What I don’t get is how you don’t know who we are.”

“You’re a bunch of thugs! I own this city !”

“No. The Hammer owns this city. He’s had you running things here, but even if you were going to leave here alive, that’s changing as of about twenty minutes ago.”

“Nothing’s changing, Knuckles. I’ve already called Mr. Miles. He’s on the way and he’s not pleased.”

“Oh, I know he’s not pleased.” Knuckles cleaned one nail with the top of his knife. “Not pleased with a lot of things.”

“Knuckles? What the fuck’s going on?” A man who looked to be in his sixties descended the stairs to the basement. He was impeccably dressed, his silver beard short and neat. His demand was delivered without heat. In fact, there was an ice-cold look in those glacial blue eyes that gave me the fucking creeps.

“I’ll tell you what’s goin’ on, Seth. This dumb biker has kidnapped Carrie and is holding her against her will.”

“Which dumb biker?” Seth “The Hammer” Miles turned his gaze on me. This was the man who was my grandfather?

“That’d be me.” Hawk stepped solidly in front of me. He was always doing that when I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself.

“And you, Carrie? Are you here when you don’t want to be?” He sounded so reasonable when it was obvious I’d better answer correctly or there was going to be trouble. What I couldn’t figure out was how he was so confident when he had no muscle with him. Even if Miles was armed, this wasn’t a fight he could win. There were too many younger, stronger men, and he was in their lair.

“I’m exactly where I want to be. With Hawk.”

“He’s good to you?”

“I wouldn’t be here with him, wearing his property patch, if he wasn’t. And if he ever stops being good to me, I’ll leave his ass. Until then, though, I’m not going anywhere.”

Miles stared at me for a long time. He wasn’t as big as the men here, but he was tall and broad-shouldered. His appearance was striking enough that it was its own intimidation factor. A muscle ticked in his jaw as he looked down at me. “You’ll forgive me, my dear. I wasn’t aware of your existence until a few years ago.”

That got reactions out of Flagg and Zeb. Flagg was angry, but shiftier than I’d ever seen him. The more I watched him, the angrier I got. Just not for the reasons I probably should be angry.

“You’re lying!” I shouted, moving to stand in front of Flagg. Both Hawk and Miles moved to stay between me and the old bastard, but I managed to still be able to look him straight in the eyes. “You’re fucking lying, you son of a bitch.”

“I am not, you little whore!” He snarled. “You’ve ruined everything!”

“ I’ve ruined everything?” The fucking nerve! “What exactly have I ruined?”

“He was going to dangle you in front of me for control of the air and seaports out of Knoxville, and with it about seventy percent of the cocaine and fentanyl traffic.”

Flagg’s mouth opened, but before he could say anything, Miles nodded. Knuckles swung one huge fist, connecting with Flagg’s jaw. That’s when I noticed the brass knuckles. Because, of course. When Knuckles stepped back, Flagg’s jaw was askew. I’d never heard my father make that particular sound before. I found I liked it far more than I should.

Zeb Randall looked on in shock. Where he’d been so arrogant before, now he was sweating and trembling. “Oh, God.”

“God can’t help you now.” Knuckles grinned as he cracked his knuckles. “And I doubt he’ll be the one welcoming you where you’re going.”

“What did you mean when you said you didn’t know about me until a few years ago?” The question was out before I could censor it, but once free I knew I had to have the answer.

Miles brought his attention to me, and I actually saw warmth there. Sorrow too. “A man I had working for Randall so he could report to me what was really going on, learned of you one of the times Flagg had to send for a doctor to see to your injuries. It took me some time to confirm you were my daughter’s child, but I finally did. The same as I finally confirmed what really happened to my daughter.”

Neither Flagg nor Randall bothered to say anything. I doubt they could do more than moan at this point. It was funny. My father, the man who was universally feared by his enemies and allies alike, who buried himself and his children so deep in anonymity and trained them to be assassins and elite soldiers, was whimpering, drooling and, I thought, might have pissed himself.

“You’re nothing like what I built you up to be,” I mused out loud.

“He’s a shadow of his former self,” Miles told me. “For three decades he’s been my muscle. After my daughter passed, I never fully trusted him but could never figure out why. He gave me no reason not to trust him, but I blamed him for Margaret’s death.”

“Wait. Stop.” Chains held up a hand, like a kid in school asking for permission to speak.

“Yes?” Miles raised an eyebrow, an expression somewhere between amusement and annoyance.

“Her mom’s name is Margaret? You’re shittin’ me right now. Right?”

“Why would I make that up?”

Chains looked more uncomfortable than I’ve ever seen a man look. “Uh, no reason.” He scrubbed the back of his neck. “I’m just gonna, ah, I’ll be in my apartment, Knuckles. I gotta…” The man was actually pale.

“Yeah,” Knuckles sighed. “Go on. Superstitious little shit.”

Everyone roared with laughter. Well, everyone but Miles, Flagg, and Randall. The latter two were in misery while the former just looked confused.

“I’ve really got to watch that movie.”

Miles stiffened. “Movie?”

“Yeah. Apparently, there’s a movie named Carrie . Chains is freaked out by it or something. I’ve not watched it yet.”

To my utter surprise, Seth “The Hammer” Miles, criminal kingpin in charge of the region, burst out laughing. In fact, he laughed until tears rolled down his cheeks and someone had to get him a chair. He actually wheezed with laughter.

When he finally calmed down, Miles sat with his head down for several minutes. When he looked up at me, it was with such grief and pain, but also a love so heartbreakingly deep it brought tears to my own eyes. “Your mother would have loved this story. I know how you came to Kiss of Death. The men you killed. All of it. I couldn’t get to you, so I drove you this way by putting people in your path who would help you get here. To these men.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Because, when you left, I knew Flagg would be close behind you. What I didn’t know was how he’d started to lose his mind. He was always a mean son of a bitch, but I’ve been getting reports he was becoming worse.”

“Why would you just… give him your daughter?” I was on the verge of shattering. If this man had been so cruel as to force my mother into marriage with a monster, I wasn’t sure I could handle it. The thought was too much to contemplate.

“Carrie, I swear to you, I didn’t. Margaret told me she was in love with him. She begged me to allow it. I didn’t want her to marry him, but I wasn’t going to deny my only child what she wanted most.”

“Then what happened?”

Miles looked over at Flagg, then nodded at Knuckles again. Knuckles grinned, then hit Flagg again, this time on the other side of his jaw. Flagg tried to scream, but it came out more of a strangled gurgle. His jaw now hung loosely. Next to him, watching the whole thing with dawning horror, Zeb Randall looked like he was going to be sick and was pleading with Knuckles not to hit him all at the same time.

“She had a difficult pregnancy with you. Looking back, it was probably stress and anxiety. I didn’t know it at the time, but the abuse started a few months after Flagg found out Margaret was pregnant. She told me she was fine, that she was just tired from all the vomiting and swollen feet and just being pregnant.

“Two days after she was ordered on bedrest, I got called overseas to… arbitrate.” He sidestepped whatever his reasons were, but that was OK. I didn’t want to know about his businesses or whatever. I only wanted to know about my mother. “Are you sure you want to talk about this here?”

“Why wouldn’t I? If you’re trying to get me to go with you somewhere to talk in private so you can take me away, you can try something else.”

“Honey, no.” He shook his head. “I just want you to have the option to hear this in private. Family matters are often sensitive.”

I thought about that. “Yeah. They are. But this is my family. They’re the ones having to live through it with me now.”

To my surprise, Miles nodded. “I suppose you’re right.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “He waited until he knew I was gone. Then he called in a doctor he paid to deliver the baby, then kill Margaret and make it look like an accident. He chose insulin.”

“Why didn’t the coroner rule her death a homicide?”

“Because they didn’t check for insulin since she wasn’t a diabetic, and her doctor was at her bedside when she died. I wasn’t there and no one questioned the doctor’s account of what happened.”

“What about me?”

“He told me you’d died with Margaret during the birth. Then he paid the funeral director and the doctor to file all the appropriate paperwork for a stillborn death, had a closed casket for the child, then buried both side by side with a nice headstone and everything.” The longer he spoke, the more fury filled Miles’s face. He nodded at Knuckles again who punched Flagg in the crotch with those brass knuckles with what looked like all his considerable strength.

My father squealed over and over, crying and begging. I really should have felt bad, or been uncomfortable with seeing someone so obviously suffering, but I couldn’t really muster the energy to care.

“Took me years and years to find out differently, Carrie. The second I did, I reached out to Vic.”

That got a gasp of outrage from Father’s brother, Zeb Randall. “Vic? You betrayed us!”

“That’s rich. Coming from you.” For the first time, Vic joined the discussion. He reached out his hand to Knuckles who handed over one brass knuckle. Vic put it on his right hand, then hit Randall across the as yet uninjured side of his jaw. He now looked similar to Flagg. Sounded about like him too. “It was your idea to get rid of Margaret so you could groom her child to be the perfect pawn in your game. You could marry her off to create an alliance. She’d be wife and bodyguard in one. You’d program her to be subservient and obedient. Then you’d gain an ally as well as a spy in the home of your new friend.”

“After Vic and I had our little discussion, we put a plan in place to get you to safety.”

“Which we did.” Vic grunted as he punched Randall again. “Worked pretty good too, except I lost track of you just long enough for those punks to assault you. By the time I found you, you were already fighting them. I killed the one attacker you lost track of and did it where I knew Knuckles’s people would see me.”

“I don’t know you.” Knuckles took a threatening step toward Vic. “And you didn’t lead with the fact you were here with Mr. Miles’s knowledge.”

“I wasn’t sure what your relationship with him was, and thought it better to get Carrie to safety than to play nice before I was ready.”

I felt like I was in some sort of bizarre dream. All these men, killers, criminals, whatever they were, all plotting and planning around me, for me, because of me. I looked at Miles, my grandfather, then at Hawk, the man I’d chosen, then back at the pathetic creatures who’d made my life hell. “So what happens now?” I asked, my voice steadier than I expected.

Miles looked at me with those piercing blue eyes. “Now? That’s entirely up to you, Carrie. These men hurt you. They killed your mother. They stole your childhood. What do you want to happen to them?”

Everyone in the room went still, waiting for my answer. I felt the weight of their expectation, but also something else. Power. Real power, not the illusion of it I’d been chasing all my life.

“I want to say kill them, but I’m not sure I can do that. It’s one thing to not mourn their passing, but to actually say that’s my wish and wait for you to make it happen isn’t something I’m sure I can live with.”

Miles smiled at me. “Sweetheart, you don’t have to. They killed your mother, but they also killed my daughter.”

I thought about that for a long moment. My grandfather simply stood there waiting patiently. Then, finally, I made my decision. “If they’d do this to my mother and me, they’ll do it again. Maybe to someone who doesn’t have anyone looking after her like I did. Though…” I turned my gaze to Vic. “I didn’t realize I’m not your full sister.”

Vic shrugged. “Honestly, who your mother was didn’t matter to me. You’re our sister. We protected you the only way we could until we were able to get you out.”

“Where are the others?”

“Taking care of business back home. Gage went to help, but it will take all of them to put us in a position to take over for Flagg and his brother. They worked together, since they looked so much alike. No one knew they were dealing with identical twins. The family were the only ones who knew we were their private army. We kept the other families in Nashville in line for them. We also had to protect them both, so there was no keeping it from us.”

“Any other questions, honey?” Hawk was behind me, one arm around my waist, the other at his side within easy reach of that big-ass knife he had strapped to his thigh.

“Yeah, but not for them. I’m done with Igg and Ook.”

“What is it?”

I lifted my chin. “What’s your relationship with Knuckles, Mr. Miles?”

“Before things went sideways for him, Knuckles and Kiss of Death MC were my muscle. He helped me keep the city running smoothly, and I gave him the drug highway through the prisons in the area all the way to Terre Haute.”

“And this is where we take our leave.” Torpedo offered his hand to Knuckles, and Knuckles grasped it in a firm grip. “You’ve got your club locked down tight. You’re following the natural order of the land and helping keep the void filled so supply chains aren’t disrupted. Any killin’ you do is the same as all of us. You don’t kill innocents. Having said that, I don’t need to know your business now. I’m satisfied this will be what the city needs.”

Knuckles tilted his head. “Are you guys leavin’ then?”

“Yeah. You’re ready to take over and I hate the fuckin’ city.” Torpedo grimaced. “We’re only a phone call away if you need help, but we’re headed home.”

“I appreciate your help, brother.”

“Any man who’d go to prison to avenge” -- Torpedo glanced from Knuckles to Gunnar -- “or to protect his sister, is all right in my book. Because, sometimes, a man just needs killin’.”

“No arguments there,” Bohannon said with a grin as he extended his hand to Knuckles. “You’ve got a solid, loyal club. You’ll hear no complaints from me.”

Torpedo and Bohannon shook hands with everyone as they left. I felt like I should stay. See the end of these fucks, but I was done. I simply couldn’t handle any more.

I turned and wrapped my arms around Hawk’s neck. “I don’t want to be here anymore.”

Without a word, Hawk picked me up and headed toward the stairs. I wrapped my legs around his waist and buried my face in his neck.

“You’re not stayin’, Hawk?” That from Knuckles. “You’re SAA now, like we talked about.”

My heart sank. I couldn’t expect Hawk to step away from a duty he had in order to take care of my fragile emotional state.

“Yeah. I’m also Carrie’s man. She’s not up to the killin’, and I’m not sending her to our apartment by herself.” I waved a hand in the air. “Get Tiny to fill in for me. He loves shit like that.”

There was a satisfying whimper from one of the brothers waiting to die. Don’t know which one. Don’t care.

“Go take care of your woman, you prick. She’s way more important than these sick fucks.”

“Yeah.” Hawk looked down at me. It was all I could do to keep from crying. This man loved me. It was there plain as day for anyone who could see. “She is.”

“You got a preference about these brothers of hers?” The question caught me by surprise, and I stiffened. Hawk rubbed his hand up and down my back.

“Yeah. They ain’t got no prison record, but if they want in, let ’em. Otherwise, put ’em in touch with Rocket. That’s my suggestion, for what it’s worth.”

“Any of your brothers who want to can work for me, Vic.” Miles held out his hand to Vic who took it without hesitation.

“Appreciate it. But I’m pretty sure we’ll all want to stick together. Once we get this mess cleaned up, we’ll sit down and have a long talk about what we want to do.”

“Talk to Knight before you leave,” Hawk said. “He’ll get you in touch with Crush and Byte at Grim Road. That way you know what all your options are.”

“Appreciate it.” Vic gave Hawk a courteous nod.

“Flagg’s territory is yours to run if you want it.” Miles waved his hand in a small gesture, like it made no difference to him what they did. “You can do so among yourselves, or join with Knuckles and work together.”

Vic shook his head. “We’re ensuring there isn’t a void left when Flagg leaves, but we have no designs on running anything. So if you want Kiss of Death to fill that opening, we’ll gladly assist with the transfer of power. I’ve got all the records and contacts organized. I can pass them to Knight for your officers to review when you’re ready, Knuckles.”

“You know my thoughts, Prez. But I’ll go with the majority.”

“Get on outta here, Hawk.” Knuckles waved his hand in my direction. “I’ll come talk to you in a few days. Get some rest. Both of you.”

“‘Bout fuckin’ time,” Hawk muttered as he took the stairs two at a time, me still clinging to him like a baby monkey. I might have looked ridiculous, but I didn’t fucking care. I needed out of that basement and the smell of blood, sweat, and urine. I needed a shower. Then I needed Hawk to make me forget my own name. “Hang on for a couple more minutes, baby. Then you can do what you need to.”

True to his word, two minutes later he opened the door to our rooms and kicked it shut. Everything inside me was suddenly free, and I cried out into Hawk’s neck. His hand came down on the back of my neck and pressed me against him while I raged.

When the storm passed, when all I could do was lie in his arms and let the tears slowly dry, I curled my hands in his shirt and took a deep breath. Then let it out slowly.

“I love you, Hawk. I love you.”