Page 29 of Madison
I walk up to him and give a lame wave of hello. “Hey darlin’. Let’s go get your vitals and all taken care of. No hubby today? Here I was looking to make him blush again.” My laugh escapes as I shake my head. “He’s on his way. His last appointment went late.” He leads me into the first area to get my weight and vitals. “That reminds me I still need to make an appointment with him, I’m overdue for some work and since I moved here, I haven’t found an artist, but seeing his work has me sold.” We continue to make small talk as he takes my blood pressure.
Once he gets everything he needs he leads me to one of the rooms. “Dr. Hargrave should be in here in just a minute, doll. Have a seat and relax.” He closes the door behind him. I only have to wait a couple of minutes when the door opens and Dr. Hargrave walks in. She greets me with a smile and asks how I’m doing. We exchange pleasantries and she offers to go check on another patient real quick to give Mick time to get here. “I’ll be back in a few minutes and hopefully your husband will be here and we can check on your little one.” I know most doctors wouldn’t do this sort of thing, but she’s so understanding and kind. I know Jane and Kierstie have invited her and her kids to afamily day at the club but she hasn’t taken them up on the offer just yet.
A few minutes later the door opens and it’s Dr. Hargrave again. “I’m sorry, Madison, but I can’t wait to start. I’ve got appointments back-to-back today.” I can tell she’s not just saying the words, but she feels them. I smile at her kindness. “It’s fine. We can get started. He really should be here any moment.” She has me set my stuff down. “I’ll help you up onto the exam table.” She holds out her hand and I place mine in hers when the door opens. I turn around to greet Mick and it’s some man I’ve never seen before. He’s got a cut on and looks ragged as all get out. Dr. Hargrave speaks before I can. “Sir, I think you have the wrong room, if you—” She’s cut off by the man pulling out a gun and pointing it at us. “No, I’ve come to the right room.” He looks over at me. “You know, I’ve been searching for you for months.Months. Seems you all took something of interest to me when you were up on the mountain. I wasn’t too bothered that you rid the earth of that old man. Saved me from eventually having to do it. I want that box you took.” Huh? “What box? I didn’t take anything from up there.” He walks up to me and points the gun right in my face. “You weren’t the only one up there. It took me months to figure out it had to be one of your people. I only figured that shit out when I saw some of the people from up there workin’ for you and that club your family is a part of. Club is a very loose word for what those weak fuckers in your family got going on. Women being able to speak their minds and involving themselves in club business is bullshit. No real man would stand for that.” Who the hell does this guy think he is? “I don’t know what you want 'cause I don’t know anything aboutwhat you’re talking about. I-” He puts the end of the gun on my nose. Fuck. “I want you to pass on a message. You tell those fuckers you call your family that I’ll be looking and they better have that fucking box for me or I’m gonna start a war. Awaryou don’t fucking want and aren’t prepared for.” He studies me for a second and gets big eyes like he just realized something. “Well fuck. You’re the one the old bastard was going on about. I think I just changed my mind. You tell them to drop that box off at the split off on the road up the mountain where there’s a wood box or not only will I start a war, I’m gonna take you. YourfatherJoseph promised me things and I’m going to take them since your the reason he’s no longer here to fucking deliver.” He taps me on my forehead with the gun and looks me up and down. “I think my brothers would have fun with you…even if you are a little bigger than we usually go for.” I guess I don’t hide my look of disgust, ‘cause he smacks me lightly on the side of my head with the gun. “You’d be fucking lucky if we decided to keep you. We have contacts in the flesh trade. Let’s just say you’d never be fucking found if I sold you to them. You tell your people they’ve got twenty-four hours to get me that boxandeverything that was in it or I’ll start collecting in very creative ways.” He turns to leave and my mouth operates without thought. “They ain’t gonna just roll over and do what you want. They don’t have what you’re looking for.” He moves so fast, turning back toward me, hitting me as hard as he can with the gun on the side of my head. I don’t have my balance and try to reach out to stop myself from falling, but he kicks me and pushes me down to the ground. Almost as soon as I hit the ground, pain so intense hits me and I can’t help the scream I let out. “AHH!” I can barely concentrateto notice a scuffle going in the room. I feel wave after wave of pain, like my stomach is trying to rip out of my body. I feel wet between my legs and move my hand down there. When I lift it up, it’s covered in blood. I can’t see much clearly since my glasses were knocked from my face, but I can tell that’s a lot of blood on my hand. I hear Dr. Hargrave screaming for help out the door. She gets in my face to get my attention. “Madison, we’re getting a gurney and heading up to labor and delivery. Your baby’s gonna make her entrance into this world in the next few minutes. We can’t wait.” I look at her since she's close to me and I can see she looks serious with a twinge of fear and concern. “Mick. He-” She interrupts me as the door opens and commotion is all around us. “He’ll be escorted up to you as soon as he gets here, but Madison. This is serious, we’ve gotta get your baby outnow.I’m worried with that hit, fall and the way you’re screaming combined with the amount of blood that I see, that you have a placenta abruption. If we don’t get her out as fast as possible she’s gonna be deprived of oxygen.” As she’s telling me this, the nurse Darius has come in and is lifting me onto a gurney and yelling out to the other nurses instructions, though I don’t pay attention. All I can think of is I could lose this baby. I could lose this baby and my stomach feels like it’s determined to burst out of my body and I can’t help the screams that keep coming out of me. I look up at one point and we’re in an elevator. Darius looks down at me. “Don’t worry, Mama, you’ve got the best doctor in the hospital and she’s gonna do everything she can for you. The door opens and he starts pushing the gurney so fast down the hall.Please gods, let my baby be okay. Please. Please let Mick get here. Please help my little girl.
Mick
I swear not only did I have a client that did not understand the meaning of my having another appointment, but I caught just about every red light and got stuck waiting on the fucking train. I finally pull into the parking lot of the hospital and park my truck. I get out and hurry to the door to inside, but I see a bunch of cop cars over by the emergency room as I get to the door. I walk in and there are a lot of people in the hallway, a lot more than normal. I walk to the door to Dr. Hargrave’s office and go inside. I know Madison’s probably almost done with her appointment by now, but maybe I can catch the last few minutes of it. I walk up to the front desk and the attendant looks at me with a smile that seems very strained. “Can I help you?” I nod. “Yeah my wife is back at her appointment and I wanted to know if I could go back and join them, her name’s Madison Johansen.” The clerk’s eyes widen and she tells me to wait here just a minute as she gets up and scurries down the hall. Something doesn’t seem right. I have a feeling in my gut that something’s wrong.Shit, Mick. Don’t go borrowing trouble. She comes back out a minute later with a nurse and Sheriff Stone, Jason’s brother. What the fuck? “What’s going on? Where’s my wife?” The nurse, who looks like she’s probably around Mom’s age or so, starts to speak. “There was an incident a few minutes ago. Someone got into the exam room that your wife and Dr. Hargrave were in. We don’t know what exactly happened, only that your wife ended up being pushed to the ground. This caused her to immediately start bleeding greatly and have instantaneous, massive pain. Dr. Hargrave was concerned that she might have had a placentaabruption and that put the baby’s life in grave danger. They got her up to the labor and delivery into an operating room and she’s having a C-section as we speak. Dr. Hargrave couldn’t wait as the baby was potentially deprived of oxygen and this was life-threatening. They also needed to deliver the baby so they can get your wife’s bleeding under control as fast as possible.” Fear and worry like I’ve never felt come over me instantly, and a wave of rage over powers both. “Who the fuck did this and when can I see my wife?” Sheriff Stone steps up. “We’ve got officers with security now, combing through the cameras. I called Jason and he’s picking up your mom and calling Jonah too. We’re going to figure this shit out. Right now, you go with this lovely nurse and she’s going to take you upstairs so you’re ready as soon as they let you see your wife and baby.” I nod and he puts a hand on my shoulder. “Your wife is loved by a lot of people in this town and we’re not gonna stop till we find out who thought they could come in and do this, you have my word son.” I nod and follow the nurse down the hallway, but stop when I can see the open exam room she must have been in. The nurse stops with me. “We can’t go in there, it’s an active investigation.” I get that. “I can see her glasses on the floor. She’s practically blind without them, can’t I bring them up so once she’s awake she can have them?” The officer who’s at the door speaks up. “We’ll make sure there’s no evidence or anything on them and have someone bring them up to you shortly.” What I’m trying tonotfocus on was the amount of blood on the floor in that room. Nope, not going to lose my shit, knowing that had to be a dangerous amount to lose that fast. I focus on taking each step to follow the nurse. The elevator takes what feels like forever to get here and carry us to the thirdfloor. When the doors open, I step out and see nurses rushing around all over. The nurse who came up with me guides me to the desk that’s in front of us. The lady sitting there in front of a computer looks up at me. “Can I help you?” Trying to will my voice to work without yelling, I take a second to speak up. “My wife…my wife was just brought up here for emergency surgery. Madison Johansen.” Her eyes get big for a nanosecond before she speaks up. “Yes, she’s still in surgery. As soon as I hear anything I will let you know.” I rub a hand down my face. I need to see Madison. The same lady speaks up again. “She’s got the best doctors in this hospital working on her and your baby.” I nod my thanks. The nurse who came up with me points me to the waiting area. “Have a seat, I’ll let the people downstairs know to send your family up here when they get here.” I sit down and I can’t help but pray. We’ve only just begun our story. Madison deserves only good in this life. Please let them both be okay. I can’t imagine a world where I walk out of this hospital without either of them. I feel like I’m holding my breath, but that’s because my heart is in that operating room. My heart, my soul, my reason for being.
I must be deep in my head ‘cause I’m startled at the noise at the elevator. When I look up I see Mom, Jason, Asher, Micah, Ma, and Pa. I stand up and Mom comes running over to me and hugs me. “Oh son, they’re gonna be okay, I just know it.” I hug her back, needing her strength at this moment because I honestly don’t know what I’m gonna do if my girl is not alright. As soon as she releases me I look in the eyes of Pa and what I see shocks and scares me. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen such a mix of rage at whoever did this and utter fear and worry for Madison. I can tellthe moment he gets himself together ‘cause he hugs Ma to his side. “My little one is stronger than anyone thinks and she’s gonna pull through this shit.” I can only nod at him and pray that he’s right. Over the next bit the waiting room fills up with family, though I don’t focus on them. All I can do is watch the door that leads back to where the surgery rooms are. It’s taking way longer than it did when Kierstie had her emergency C-section with Grace. Watching a few different people hurry down the hall and go through those doors doesn’t do anything to lessen my fear. Why hasn’t someone come out and said anything? Mom’s hand hasn’t left my back and as soon as Erik got here he sat down on the other side of me, not saying anything, but just being a strength next to me. What seems like an eternity passes till the doors open and Dr. Hargrave walks out in scrubs. I stand up immediately and walk to her. I watch her look over the waiting room and when she sees me she gives me a small smile. She walks over to meet me in the middle of the room. “Your baby girl was born about twenty minutes ago. She’s been taken to the NICU and I’ll take you there to meet her in a little bit. I have a feeling your wife was a week or so further along than we thought, which in this case is a good thing. Your daughter weighs four pounds three ounces and so far is as healthy as can be expected for being born this early. All our tests so far look like she wasn’t oxygen deprived after…after the incident. She’s gonna have to be in the NICU for a while since she is considered premature and they need to watch her lung development and continue to monitor her for a while for any issues that may still pop up.” The nurse from the desk that I saw earlier comes up and asks, “Do you have a name picked out? I want to get your information in soyou’ll be able to go back to see your daughter whenever you want.” I nod. I glance back at our family. “Yeah we picked out a name. Her name is Mikayla Erika.” I see both Mom and Erik realize the significance of the name, giving a nod in a way to Dad and the man who’s been the closest thing to another dad for me and is as important to my girl too. I’m fucking terrified as to why the doctor hasn’t said anything about Madison. I look back over to her and ask the question that I need to know the answer to more than my next breath. “How is my wife, is she..” Dr. Hargrave takes a deep breath. That action has a pit of lead forming in my gut instantly. “Your wife lost a lot of blood before we even got into the operating room. She’s had multiple transfusions. She did have to be revived twice after your daughter was born.” I feel my legs start to buckle and almost instantly I feel someone grab each of my arms to hold me up. I don’t even care about the tears that start. Dr. Hargrave continues. “We were able to stop the bleeding eventually, but due to the blood loss and some other complications that came up we did have to perform a hysterectomy.” Oh gods, my girl’s going to be absolutely devastated. She wanted more kids. Dr. Hargrave reaches out and touches my arm. “She’s alive. Focus on that. She’s in recovery and it’s going to be a bit before they have her settled in a room. She’s under heavy sedation right now, but once they have her settled, someone will come out and bring you back to her.” I nod at her. “Thank you…thank you for saving my world.” She squeezes my arm. “Your daughter is going to be ready to meet you shortly. Go and see her, meet her and we’ll find you wherever you are when Madison is settled in her room. I will be honest with you. She might need some moretransfusions and we need to watch her closely for the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours. She’s stable for now and we’re going to do everything we can to keep her that way.” I can’t even form words as I realize how close I was to losing my love and how the doctor is saying she’s not totally out of the woods just yet. Someone tells the doctor thank you. She’s got to pull through. This can’t be it, our story’s barely begun. I feel the sob shake my whole body. More sobs come and my knees completely give out, but the brothers on each side of me hold me up and move us back toward the chairs. “She can’t leave me, she’s everything!” Before they can get me in a chair, Pa comes up and grabs me by my neck and puts his forehead to mine, like I’ve seen him do with all of his kids over the years. “Let it out now son. Let it all out, ‘cause the minute they let you go back, both your girls are going to need you to be their strength. They’re going to need you to be their pillar, they’re going to need you to be their rock, and you’re going to be that. You’re gonna fucking be that and you’re gonna know that you have each of us standing behind you to help you in any way that we can. You’re going to be that anchor that they can both cling to in this storm and you’re going to let us help you. We’re going to help you with them and we’re going to help you find the devil that did this. We’re going to find him and serve him some justice because we’re knights in shining armor till someone hurts our family…” I take a shaky breath and say the words that I’ve heard as long as I can remember, but their meaning is so much more now. “Then we release the wrath of Valhalla on those who dare to do us harm.” He squeezes my neck once more. “Damn right, son.” He lets me go and Erik and Micah move me back to a chair and sitdown next to me. I take what Pa said to heart and let myself feel for a couple of minutes before I get my emotions under control.I don’t know if I can go see our baby without Madison.Erik reaches over and squeezes my knee. Oh shit, I must’ve said that out loud. “What would my little one want you to do? Would she want you to wait or would she want you to go see your little girl and reassure her that she’s not alone in this world?” Without even thinking, I know the answer to that. “She’d tell me to get my ass in there with Mikayla.” Erik nods in affirmation. “Damn straight she would.”
The nurse that asked me for our daughter’s name comes out with some paperwork for me to fill out and one of those bracelet things for me to put on so I can get into the NICU easily. She lets me know that they’ll be ready to take me back in about ten minutes. I look over at Erik and he gives me a determined look. “You’re going to go back there and meet your daughter and-” I decide to spill the beans ‘cause I know my girl would want me to. “Your goddaughter.” He crinkles his forehead. “What?” I can’t help but smile at him. “Both Madison and I have always been close to you and you’ve been the closest thing possible to a dad to me since Dad passed. It only seemed right. You're more than just her uncle or my godfather. That’s why we gave her the middle name of Erika, spelled just like your name.” I can tell that it touches him deeply as the man who rarely shows his emotions gets teary-eyed.
“You both honor me.”
The door opens again and the nurse comes out. “Dad, are you ready to come meet your daughter?” I stand up and nod. We get almost to the door when I think to ask the nurse. “Is thereany way my mom and my mother-in-law can come back with me and meet their granddaughter?” She stops at the door. “They can come back and watch you through the windows from the hall, but we can’t have that many people in the NICU.” That makes sense. I turn back to the family. “Mom and Ma, come with me and meet your granddaughter.” I can see both of them are teary-eyed as they get up and walk over to me. As we walk inside the nurse explains to both of them where they’ll have to stand and watch. Another nurse comes up and says she’ll show them both the best place and the nurse who’s with me shows me where to go and how to scrub up and what I have to do each time before I can enter the NICU. “You’ll become old hat at this eventually.” As soon as she says I’m ready, I follow her into the room. “She’s not able to be held just yet, but you can stick your arms in there and touch her. Talk to her so she gets used to your voice. She might recognize it from hearing it in the womb when you talked to your wife.” Is she serious? I look back at her. “Some people think it can help and she needs to learn her daddy’s voice either way.” Okay, good point. We go through the door and she walks over to this cube looking thing. She opens to circles on the side of it. She looks back at me. “I’ll get you a chair, but say hello to your daughter, Dad.” She moves out of the way and I move to stand in front of the thing she mentioned was called an incubator. I look down and see the most beautiful, tiny baby girl. I reach in and touch her little hand. She grabs onto my finger. “Hi little princess. I’m your daddy. You and I are going to be best buddies.” I know from this second on, I will do everything in my power to make sure she knows she’s loved and has an amazing life full of laughter and joy.
Pa
As soon as Linnea and Romona follow Mick back to meet our granddaughter, Erik and I give each other a look and get up and go sit by Jason. As soon as I sit down, Jason gives me a look that tells me he knows I’m about to say something. “You know we’ve never had a problem between our club and the sheriff’s office. We’ve done right by this community and its residents.” Jason nods his head. “If we find out who did this before you do, I’m gonna be obligated to keep that information to myself and handle things how I see fit. That going to cause a problem for you?” Jason leans back in his chair and looks like he’s thinking for a minute. “I don’t see that as any more a problem than your bonfire all those years ago. Maybe even a couple since then.” I can see out of the corner of my eye that Erik’s eyes get big in surprise. I lean back in my chair and look at him. “What do you know about that?” He gives me a slight grin. “What I know is what my dad told me and my brother when we became officers. He said we should always tell the truth but needn’t always be telling it. He said to me that sometimes bad things happen to bad people. Sometimes for the better good, the letter of the law is to be blind.” Well fuck me. He continues, “Now in this situation, there are a lot of cops involved and I don’t know what I can do to stop it, however, I can tell they haven’t talked to your daughter’s doctor just yet. Imagine if she knew that piece about when to and when not to tell the truth. Now, I’m going to go downstairs and check with my brother and bring back some decent coffee for us. I’d wait till I was in the elevator before you find her and have a chat.” I watch him walk over to the elevators and step inside. Assoon as the doors close, Erik speaks up. “Well fuck me.” I look over at him. “No shit. Either we’re not as sly as we think or he’s just a lot more observant than we gave him credit for, but holy shit. Guess it might not be such a bad thing to have him around at family dinners and shit since it would seem he knows most of our biggest secrets after all.” Erik nods in agreement. Ben, Mike and Jackson walk out of the elevator toward us. Jackson speaks up. “Cops can’t tell us much of anything. Sounds like whoever it was has some serious IT people in their corner ‘cause the feeds that are in the area where Madison was were magically all turned off for five minutes before and after everything happened.” Shit.
“I think our best bet is to get to speak with that doctor lady before the cops do. We need to find out what she saw and if there’s anything we need to ask her tonotdivulge to the officers. I know she knows my boys and Shane pretty well. Do you think one of them is the best bet to speak to her?” Ben surprises me by answering. “Fuck no. I’ll go talk to her. She’ll listen and she’ll give us everything she saw.” He goes off in the direction of the desk like a man on a mission. I look over at Mike. He shrugs his shoulders. “Apparently they’ve been dancing around each other since Kierstie and Jane each last gave birth. Seems she’s not catching on to what he’s putting out there. I’ll go make sure we get the information we need. Wyatt and Anna went to help Nicky and Jane with the kids since everyone else is here. I’ll let you know what we find out.” Seems to be a day for uncovering hidden information. Now to get my little one out of danger and on her way to going home with her family. Waiting when it comes to my girls ain’t a strong suit of mine.
Dr. Hargrave
I’m writing my orders down on Madison’s chart for the next shift of nurses only because it keeps me busy, I know I won’t be leaving the hospital for the rest of the night. Thankfully Brian took the kids for his time today.
It’s been years since I had a patient come that close to death. Sure I’ve had stillbirths and late term miscarriages, but it’s been since my residency that I had a mom almost die on my table. A mom whose family has become more like friends.
I try to get back to my notes on the chart when I hear a noise and look up and see Ben and the man who I think is Jane’s dad if I remember correctly. “What can I do for you gentleman?” Ben glares at me. “What happened to your face? Who did that to you?” I reach up and touch my cheek that I’m sure has a nice bruise. “Same person who caused everything else today. It was his parting shot.” Ben looks like he’s ready to commit murder. He brings his hand up and lightly touches my cheek. “He hurt you anywhere else?”
I shake my head, “No, I wasn’t the one who he was focused on.”
Jane’s dad clears his throat and gives me a small smile in greeting. “I know we’ve met, but it’s always been when a baby is being born. I’m Mike. Do you remember anything about the man? What he looked like and what he said?” Not wanting to talk about this at the desk with other nurses, I gesture with my head toward the coffee station. We move over there and I start getting a cup for myself. “I remember everything he said. He didn’t give us a name but he was wearing one of those vest-like things like you guys wear when you're doing charity events forthe community.” The two of them exchange a glance-the kind that is a conversation with no words. “You mean a cut?” I nod. “Yeah if that’s what they’re called. His didn’t look like yours though. His looked kind of dirty and on the front it read "president”.” Ben looks at me with concern. “Did you get a look at the back of it?” I stir some cream and sugar into my coffee. “Yeah, but I only saw the first letter of the first word. It read something that started with an S and the word on the bottom said Devils.” Both of them immediately look like they’ve seen a ghost. Mike asks me, “Could the first word have been Sangre? As in Sangre Devils?” I try to picture it. “I think so. I know it had a skull with like devil ears and blood dripping from its mouth.” I can tell this gets both men angry. No, angry isn’t a strong enough word for it. Rage, both filled with rage. Ben looks at me and asks me to tell them everything he said. I replay everything that he said just a couple of hours ago. By the time I’m done, Mike thanks me and takes off to the group in the waiting area. Ben moves closer to me. “You get that our club and that fucker’s club are nothing alike, right?” I may not know them but knowing the women of the club that I do, I know they wouldn’t be with men like that. “I know that. It’s like all oranges are orange but not all orange things are oranges.” Ben explains to me that they’d like me to keep the part about the name of the club to myself and a couple other aspects. I may not be a part of illegal activity but the fact that this man made me almost lose a patient, a patient who’s a great person and liked by so many, makes me understand their request. Sometimes we have to help karma a little and karmaowesme damn it. “I understand. You guys do your thing and find him. Find him and make him pay.” Ben nods and he lookslike he’s about to say something more when his name is called from the waiting area. He looks at me. “You and me. This ain’t over Kimbra. We’ll talk soon.”What the hell does that mean?
CHAPTER 12
Mick
It’s been two days since Mikayla was born. Two days since I kissed my wife and was able to see her smile. Doctor’s say all the tests show she’s doing well, but she hasn’t woken up. More than forty-eight hours since I’ve heard her voice.Madison, please come back to me. I’m here baby.
Madison
What the hell is all that beeping? I’m trying to sleep, damn it. Finally after a few minutes of trying to ignore it, I open my eyes.Where the hell am I?This ain’t my bedroom. I see to the left of me, there are a couple machines, and that’s what was making the noise. I move my hands. “Where’s my baby?” What’s going on? I hear movement and look over to my right and see Mick asleep with his head resting on my leg. He’s sitting in a chair and leaning over the bed in a position that can’t be comfortable. I shake his arm. “Mick!”Where’s our baby? He jolts awake. “Where’s our baby?” He looks at me with wide eyes. “Baby, you’re awake!” He stands up and hugs me and kissesmy forehead over and over again. “What’s going on?” He moves back to his chair, but puts my hands in his. “Baby you’ve been out for almost three days. Do you remember what happened at your doctor’s appointment?” I try to think and it all comes rushing back to me. I can’t help the tears. “Our baby?” Mick smiles at me. “She’s beautiful, just like her mama. She’s in the NICU since she’s a preemie, but she’s doing well. I haven’t gotten to hold her in my arms, but every time I’ve gone and seen her I can touch her and she wraps her hand around my finger. Today we’re supposed to be able to hold her for a little bit for some skin to skin time. Let me push the button for the nurse so they can come check you out and we can get you over to meet Mikayla as soon as possible.” Through my tears of relief and joy I ask him to tell me everything that happened. He squeezes my hand and tells me everything including what they had to do to save me. As much as it hurts that I’m not going to be able to be pregnant ever again, I know there are lots of kids out there who need parents and there are other options as well. I let myself have a good cry on Mick’s shoulder for a few minutes to mourn what might have been, but I know I’m luckier than a lot of women as I was able to enjoy a pregnancy once and I have the love of a man who would do anything for me. I lean back from Mick’s shoulders and wipe my eyes. I look at my amazing husband. “Go tell them I’m awake. I need to go see our girl.” Time to focus on Mikayla and our family.
Epilogue One
One week later
Him
These do-gooders don’t get it. They haven’t brought the box or what was inside of it and I’ve given them extra time. This means war, and war means the long game. Time to let them think they won then we’ll swoop in and take everything that means something to them. I don’t have any respect for fucking law abiding so-called bikers, especially those that welcomed our rejects. Sure we told them they were “retired”, but that’s ‘cause they couldn’t handle the new business ventures we were diving into. Time to retire them permanently. This war is going to be fun.
Epilogue Two
Three months later
Mick
