Page 1 of Fate
Chapter One:A Million Bucks
Fate
We had been back at the Connor House for about a week. The very last thing I believed would happen when we arrived at Belle’s building was that we would see ‘Scary Sierra’ again. I never could understand how a woman with her looks and smarts could get so messed up in the head. Maybe her childhood? I shivered. Liberty always teased me about being a therapist. Well, there was no damn way I intended to dissect her reasoning and motives at all. I just hoped we would never see her again. I still wasn’t sure what she had intended to do, but she had almost killed Belle and that old lady.
Between Liberty and Briget, they had taken her down. Damn, I thought after she was taken in back in Houston that would be the end of it. Nope. She had gotten loose. I kind of felt a bit disappointed that I had nothing to do with the takedown in Belle’s apartment, but I really thought at the time that if I moved, Sierra would put a hole into Belle’s skull. I didn’t want to take the chance. Also, if Sierra had been a man, he wouldn’t have gotten as far as she had into the apartment in the first fucking place. Dealing with a woman was a whole different situation. I had never hit a woman, or had any violent altercation with one. Not even this Sierra nutcase. When she had waited in the backseat of my car that one time, I admit I almost attacked her until I saw that she was a female.
After the shock of the FBI card that the old lady produced, we had good ole Nickythe cousincome in with his handy gun and two of his fellow officers. When he got our names for his report, he then told us, he would not be reporting that it hadbeen Walkers who were involved. He had said what Briget had already told us. Walkers were bad news. There was also a million dollar darknet reward for anyone who could turn in an actual Walker family member.
A million bucks?Deacon had money to burn and a hatred that would not quit.
While packing up, Belle filled us in on why he had such hatred and a lust to kill the Walkers. At least what he had told her. She explained what Deacon and his possible sister had said. The Walkers had kidnapped Ophelia, their mother, they had kept her in a cage, tortured her and starved her. Then when she would not tell them what they wanted to know, they finally sliced her throat, killing her.
At the time, upon hearing this heinous and ghoulish story, Liberty and I had stood stockstill while staring at Belle. We felt stunned at how what had really happened had been severely twisted into a huge lie. Then again, Deacon had tried to convince her that the Walkers had committed all those crimes and horrible acts that he and his mother were truly guilty of. There were charges of human trafficking, drug dealing, weapons and arms sales. Taking over most of downtown Ramton and making it into a total red light district. Putting in bars, strip clubs and gambling halls. Deacon had insisted that the Texas Walkers had done all of that.
Liberty had let out a growl then he had told her all about the fact that Deacon had Glory, our sister kidnapped and was holding her as a threat to get O back as a tradeoff. This had been the reason we Sugarland, Texas Walkers were here in Louisiana in the first place. And while in custody, O refused to tell them where or even when the trade was to happen. She had devised this kidnap plan ahead of time with Deacon in case she ever got captured by the Walkers. That way, Deacon could trade a Walkerfor O to get her free. Her other son, Rip, had been trying to talk to her and get her to tell them where Glory was or even where the meet was to be. After an emotional face off between the two of them, O had gotten a knife from him and stabbed herself in the heart…she died by her own hand.
When Liberty finished with the Walker's version of the story, Belle and Briget shook their heads. They looked stunned by the true facts. Briget had said,who needed horror movies when all this was going on?That had us laughing a bit and we finished moving them out of their apartments.
Our getaway from Ramton had been interesting to say the least. We had to get to the carwash and this confused Briget to no end. It had been used by the Rebel Saints as a scramble area. If we wanted to be sure to lose a tail andnot befollowed home, we would use the carwash. Drive in, press the lever and go down to the tunnel. Then drive for maybe three miles underground. Coming out at a place that was just deserted farmland. The story was that O had it built in case she was being chased by the Walkers and needed to get away. Funny ending to this unusual evading tool was that now the Walkers used it to get away from her son. It had taken a lot of equipment and money to create that tunnel. But apparently, O and Deacon had money to burn.
Before our ‘great escape,’ Belle and Briget seemed to want to take a UHaul sized load back with us. Belle had stated that if she had to leave for real this time that she wanted to take her ‘stuff’ with her. When she saidstuff,I had thought she meant some clothes and such. But no, she meant her plants, pictures, some dishes, an aquarium full of fish and the list went on. Briget wasn’t any better, she had all that and maybe the kitchen sink. We had to utilize the Rebel Saints pickup truck to handle the overflow.
I wondered if Belle was going to be okay about losing the life she had in town, despite bringing all her things here. But she seemed happy and content for now. Ma had told me that love would help her through. Love? Who knew? Especially that a girl could tolerate my brother at all. Let alone be in love with him. I smirked. Nah, he wasn’t so bad, I just liked to pretend he was.
Speaking of pretending… I’d been doing quite a bit of that. I pretended that it hadn’t hurt my feelings when Briget started to ignore and avoid me. I kept wondering why. Yes, at first, I followed her everywhere. I admit it. My brothers all teased me relentlessly about this like when we were kids, but I didn't care. I’d never had a hard time getting a date, not since junior high really. No, I wasn’t into football or sports like some of my brothers, but our dad insisted that we all stay in shape, so I did running and weights. I also liked outdoor stuff that was active. Fishing, camping and hiking if I ever got the chance.
I wasn’t into the limelight like Liberty, or involved in the world of politics and happenings like Justice. I certainly wasn’t like Redemption, who took everything too damned seriously. However, I was good looking enough to get a date with most girls that I went after. At least, I never had a problem with it.
Until her.
Briget just didn’t want to date anyone or so she’d said. I mean she was funny, outgoing and said what was on her mind. When I met her at Belle’s place, I loved her sense of humor and her quirky personality immediately. She reminded me of a little fireball. That had been the impression I’d gotten when I first saw her. I tried to talk to Belle about it, but she told me it wasn't her place to tell me anything. Briget had her reasons and they were hers to tell. This, I took as there wassomethingto tell.
I had believed she liked me at first as I could easily make her smile and she even laughed at all my stupid jokes. Like onthe trip back to Connor House, I would catch her staring at me, but she would then look away. Once we got here, I did go looking for her the next day. I found her on the back patio, sipping on a coke. I asked her if she minded being here at the Connor House and she had said that she didn't mind. Belle was important to her and that was why she had agreed to come. From what I’d gathered, she had lived alone for a few years now and Belle was her only friend.
I wondered what had happened in her life and about her family since she’d said she was alone in the world. I wouldn’t even know about feeling like that with three brothers and a sister, I’d never really been alone. Now, I had cousins and lots of them. Connor House may be our sort of prison, but it never felt like that. It was filled with family and lots of it.
So, in the name of self-respect and the possible crossing of the stalker-line, I decided to just leave her be. I had never chased a woman before. I felt like she was worth it, but I hadn’t gotten anywhere with her. I would just leave her alone. I winced a bit.Alone.It made me feel bad for her, but then again, I was offering her companionship and she didn’t seem to want it.
Now, I sat here at breakfast with the Walker family. Any meal with them was quite an experience. Loud, full of laughter, good food, jokes. Honestly, I think I would miss it whenever we went back home. I’d grown up used to a large family at meals, but this was beyond that number.
Today, I sat next to Liberty, then in the next seat was Belle and on the other side of her was Briget. He and I were talking about that same tunnel from the carwash. Since architecture and designing was my thing, he asked me what it would take to create something like that.
“They would have been working underground with the excavation for at least six months and that’s if they had a full army of excavators working around the clock.”
“Amazing,” Briget said from where she sat. “Why would someone spend so much time and money on that?”
I took this opportunity to get a chance to talk to her as I leaned forward to say, “From what the rest of the family has said, O had many hideouts underground. It was how she evaded Talon and Liv’s manhunts.”
“So, do they think Deacon is doing the same thing?” Briget asked.
“He is or was, last we knew.”
I looked up at the voice who had answered this question.
Prophet was staring at us from across the table. “He had an entire bunker under the Cotton Candy Club. That was where he was keeping my dad and Jewel,” our cowboy cousin stated. “He and his mother liked underground hideouts and tunnels too.”
Briget stared at him as she dropped her fork on her plate with a clatter. “Oh, wow. Now it makes sense!”
