Page 115 of Ink's Devil

Beef moves fast and is over to her before I can get my feet moving. “Demon’s office.” He gives her no choice, taking her by the arm and leading her across the clubroom. His eyes catch mine and he jerks his head suggesting, or more likely demanding that I come along too. He gives the same signal to Thunder.

I pause only long enough to glare at the club girls and even spare one for Jayden who’s sitting on Pal’s lap. Pyro’s got his arms around Mel, holding her back and talking fast into her ear.

Bella and Titsy mime zipping their lips shut.

Beef’s talking on the phone as he opens Demon’s door. “Prez, need you back here fast.”

Then he points Patsy to a chair. Taking the one next to her, he turns it to face her, and reaching forward takes hold of both of her hands. “Tell us exactly what happened, Patsy.”

She needs no encouragement. “After he,” she indicates me with a tilt of her head, “came to tell me my son was dead, Bethany and I discussed it. It didn’t seem right, and maybe it’s just optimism, but we didn’t believe it.”

Christ, and there I was thinking I’d gotten away with it. I exchange a glance with Thunder, an apology in mine.

“Where does Phil come in?”

“I haven’t had contact with Phil for years, but he hasn’t changed his number. I called him to see if he knew about Connor’s death. If he was dead, well, I wouldn’t put it past him that he was behind it. And now he’s got Bethany…” Angrily she wipes a tear from her eye as if she’s got no time for it.

Strength runs in the family it would seem. She’s distraught but will leave her inevitable breakdown until later.

But hell, she’s right to be worried, and so am I. Phil stood by and watched two of his men kick and punch his son almost to death. What a fuckup of a job we’ve done of protecting Ink’s woman. Now Beth’s been kidnapped by a monster. I have no confidence she’ll be returned unharmed.What if he hurts her like Connor?I shift in my seat, knowing I could never look my brother in the eye again. Maybe if I hadn’t been so inclined to blame her, I’d have protected her myself. What did we do? Pass her and her Mom on to two hangarounds who we’re not even confident enough to patch in as prospects yet.

Thunder’s voice pulls me back to the here and now. “Go over the conversation you had with Phil.”

For a second, Patsy bows her head. “It’s my fault,” she says, quietly. “I shouldn’t have called. But Bethany was convinced Connor wasn’t dead, and I wanted to know if Phil knew. When he said he did, I, er, I asked him whether he knew Connor had left drugs with me.”

Phil might not have had that knowledge until she opened her mouth. Alder had, Connor had said his father had left the warehouse by then.

“And?” prompts Beef.

“He was mad, furious. He asked if I still had them. I told him persons unknown had taken the drugs.” She pauses, and her brow creases with pain. “That was the end of it. Until, a couple of hours later he turned up in person.”

“Didn’t Dirt confront him?” That man is never getting patched in.

“Phil bashed in the front door, came in with four other men. Dirt didn’t have a chance. If he’d tried to shoot him, he’d have ended up dead. They disarmed him and tied him up, hit him when even then he tried to help. I couldn’t do anything.” Her voice cracks, and she takes a pause to swallow a couple of times. “They searched the house as if they thought I was lying. Left it in a hell of a mess, but of course, they didn’t find anything. And then they… then he… he said he was going to take Bethany.”

“She was forced to go with them?”

“I thought I could stop him,” Patsy wails. “I thought—or I wasn’t thinking. I thought he’d leave her with me. I’ve just lost a son, I couldn’t risk losing my daughter.”

I stiffen. I notice Beef has too. It’s Thunder who asks, “What did you do?”

Patsy swallows. “I told them the Satan’s Devils MC had taken them.”

Jesus H Christ she’s dropped us right in it.

“But he took her anyway?” Of course, he did. It’s why she’s here.

“Yes.” She’s sobbing now. “He said she’d be staying with him until he gets his drugs back. I’m sorry…”

But who can blame her? I’d just told her, her son was dead. She was a mother doing anything she could to protect her only remaining child.

Beef, Thunder and I exchange glances while she quietly weeps. Behind us the door opens and the prez comes in. His eyes take in the distraught woman and then go to Beef with a raised eyebrow.

Beef sums it up succinctly, “Phil Foster has kidnapped Beth. He’ll release her when he gets his drugs back.” My eyes flick to Patsy and then back to the prez. “Phil knows we’ve got them.”

“Fuck.” Demon pushes back his hair with both hands. “Dirt?”

“Unharmed but overpowered. Seemed he couldn’t do anything. Phil came mobbed up.”

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