Page 119 of Ink's Devil

I stand, hold my hands out to my sides, and grin widely. “Hey, honey, I’m home,” I call out loudly, then chuckle at my own joke. It’s only seconds before I realise nobody’s laughing.

“Hey, I didn’t bust out. They let me go,” I say, wondering why no one’s rushing up to greet me.

“Ink.” Mace moves at last, coming forward and pausing, then his arms come around me in the bear hug I’d expected to be the first of many. But as we exchange back slaps, he doesn’t say how good it is to have me back. Instead he tells me, “I’m so fuckin’ sorry.”

Pushing him away, I hold him at arm’s length. “What the fuck you talking about?” I go to the only explanation for his behaviour that I can think of. “Who’s fuckin’ died?” I already know about Connor, but even so, can’t think Beth’s brother would cause my brothers’ sorrow. They didn’t know the man, unless, Beth’s too distressed.

“Beth…” he starts.

Beth’s dead?She can’t be.

“What’s happened?” I ask, at first quietly. Then start shouting, “What the fuck’s happened to Beth?” Beth can’t be dead. We never had a chance to find out what we were to each other. Pain slams into me at the thought I’m free, but it sounds like she’s still lost to me. “What the fuck is going on?”

“Beth’s been taken…”

“She’s not dead?” I ask hurriedly, wondering if my interpretation’s wishful thinking.

The VP comes up and pushes Mace to one side as if realising he’s making a mess of telling me what’s going on. “She’s been taken by her father. He wants to exchange her for the drugs.”

“What drugs? What the fuck is going on, Beef?”

Nothing makes sense. Beth doesn’t have anything to do with her father. And what the fuck is all this about drugs? The police had gotten what she was carrying that night.

“I left her under your protection, Beef.” My voice is growing louder. “What the fuck do you mean she was kidnapped? When? Where fuckin’ from? Who do I kill as they didn’t protect her?”

“I’m sorry…” he starts.

I interrupt. “Sorry? Fuckin’ sorry?” My hand slashes through the air as all everyone seems to be doing is apologising. “What are you fuckin’ doing about finding my ol’ lady?”

“We’re just about to meet about that,” the prez’s voice says, sharply and loudly. “Welcome home, Ink.” He draws closer, clasping my hand and pulling me to him. “So fuckin’ glad to have you back. I’m just sorry you’ve got out only to have to deal with this.”

Chapter Thirty-Three

Beth

Sandwiched between my sperm donor’s two henchman does not make for a comfortable two-hour journey. They’re big and muscular, and I’m not a small person, being so squashed, the invasion of my personal space is claustrophobic.

My father isn’t even in the same car, so I can’t appeal to him. Instead, another of his men is driving, and a fourth is in the front passenger seat.

I keep quiet. I have no expectation that anything I could say might appeal to any better nature they may, or probably may not, possess. It’s my father who’s in charge of the purse strings, he’s the one paying them. I’ve nothing to offer, except the one thing I couldn’t even bring myself to suggest. It’s not lost on me that the man next to the driver was the one who’d already made lewd comments and said things which made my blood run cold. When he glances over his shoulder and views me up and down carefully, the whole time leering, I want to shrink and disappear.Phil would never let his men touch me.Or would he? What do I know of the man who hasn’t cared he had a daughter for eighteen years?

He said he’d exchange me for eight kilos of heroin. He didn’t promise to give me back unharmed or unmolested.

Phil scares me, and with good reason. I had made myself believe Connor was still alive and breathing, the fact that Phil has come after me instead, means my optimism was for nothing. If he was convinced Connor wasn’t dead, it would be him he’d be going after. That he knew what had happened to my brother strongly suggests he had a hand in it. Condoned it? Quite possibly.

What will Mom do?I run through her options.Go to the police?And say what? That I’m with my father? I’m twenty-seven, not a kid, and Phil would probably say I’d gone willingly. To give all the background would drop all of us in it.Go to the Satan’s Devils?But she’s put them in Phil’s sights. How I wish Mom had kept her mouth shut, but I know she was only trying to keep me safe, taking a gamble which hadn’t paid off.

Maybe the Devils will just hand the heroin over.The only problem with that is they might have destroyed them already. I feel myself pale. If there are no drugs, what would happen to me and the Devils then? I’m not naïve, I can guess how much money those drugs were worth. Maybe not put a precise value on them, but it has to be one heck of a lot. More than I’ve got or am likely to ever possess.

Phil’s got at least five rough-fighting men working for him. I have no doubt he’s got more, or even a small army. Would he go after them for revenge, the Devils and my friends, their old ladies? Mel’s already lost so much, oh God, I hope no more harm or worry is heading her way. Heaven forbid she loses the baby she’s carrying. They’re Ink’s family. I’ve taken his freedom from him. If Phil starts a war, I could be taking his family as well.

How the hell has it come to this, me being abducted by my own father? I didn’t need Mom to spell out that he lacks empathy, he didn’t so much as turn a hair at his son being dead. No, his only concern is the drugs and therefore the money he’s lost.

I thought Ink being in jail and Connor dead was enough punishment inflicted on me. Now more people might die or be hurt because of the wrong decisions I made. Everything I touch seems to turn sour.

Maybe it’s best Ink’s locked up. Free, he might have tried to save me, and could have ended up killed instead.

The car rolls on. The men discuss a game they plan to watch at the weekend. Then, purposefully to unnerve me, they discuss their favourite sexual positions. I try to ignore their talk about women taking it in the ass. When I’m asked if I’ve tried it, I pay them no attention, focusing instead on my memory of Ink suggesting the very same thing. I hope, if I’m ever brave enough to try, it would be with the man who’d treat me carefully. I’ve no doubt I’d be forced if Phil lets his men have me.He wouldn’t, would he?He’s my father.

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