Page 70 of Grim

“Jimmy and Steven are gone. They’re both dead.”

“That’s unfortunate, but it doesn’t change the fact that I don’t have my money, and you were the last one seen with my goods.”

“I gave it to Jimmy, just like I always did. I have no idea what he did with it. They didn’t tell me anything.”

“You best get to figuring it out. You’re a smart girl. I’m sure you will come up with something.” He took a menacing step forward as he announced, “And just to make sure you don’t try to pull a fast one like your brother, the kid’s coming with me.”

“What!” My breath caught in my throat as I clutched Luna protectively to my chest. “NO! You can’t!”

“We’ll see about that.”

Before I had a chance to react, two men stepped out of the shadows, and both were armed and had their weapons aimed right at me. Delgado reached over and wrenched Luna from my arms. She immediately woke and cried out, “Momma?”

Out of pure instinct, I lunged for her, but he raised his hand into a fist and slammed it into my face, knocking me back. My cheek felt like it was on fire, but I didn’t care. I wanted my daughter back. I was about to try again when he warned, “Don’t even think about it.”

“Please, don’t do this!” I felt like a cat who’d been cornered. I wanted to lash out and claw at him again, force him to give me my daughter back, but I couldn’t take a chance on his men hurting Luna. My only hope was to plead for his mercy. “I’ll do anything!”

“Get me my money.” The words had barely left his mouth when a black SUV pulled up. “Then, and only then, will you get your daughter back.”

“Momma,” Luna cried. “I want my momma!”

“Hush!” Delgado snapped. “I don’t want to hear any of that shit.”

Luna immediately stopped and looked over to me with panic in her eyes. “It’s okay, sweetie. Everything’s going to be okay.”

I felt gutted, completely gutted, as I watched one of Delgado’s men open the back door to the SUV and wait for him to get inside. Before closing the door, he leaned forward and warned, “Don’t call the police. That would be a deadly mistake for both you and your daughter.”

“I won’t tell anyone.”

“You have twenty-four hours. You know where to find me.”

And with that, the men got in the truck with him, and they drove away, leaving me feeling utterly destroyed. I collapsed to my knees and broke down right there in the parking lot. I cried for a good bit, but then it hit me. Luna was counting on me. I was all she had, and me sitting in that stupid parking lot crying wasn’t helping her.

So, I got up, wiped away my tears, and got in my car.

I had no idea where I was going or what I was going to do, but come hell or high water, I was going to get my daughter back—no matter what the cost.

Grim

I keep my circle small and my walls high. Only a few have ever managed to get close, and even then, there were limits. I didn’t share my deep, dark secrets or divulge my past. I certainly never told anyone about the memories that haunted me in the stillness of the night.

There were so many, like barely being able to talk when my ol’ man started beating me senseless, breaking arms and teeth, or the years we spent living out on the streets, and it was so damn cold I thought we’d freeze to fucking death. I shook so hard I prayed for death to come. It was a constant fight for survival, and there were many, many days when we barely skirted by.

Those were memories I kept locked away.

I saved them for moments when I needed them—moments when I needed to do the unthinkable. As I sat there in Prez’s office with him and Creed, I had this gnawing feeling in my gut that I would be calling on them soon. I just had no idea why. Things seemed to be going well.

I’d had a good night and even better morning with Jenna. I hadn’t run into any major hiccups at the clubhouse, and things at the Vault seemed to be running smoothly. And our run to Memphis had gone off without a hitch. But something was coming.

I could feel it in my bones, so I turned to Creed and asked, “Any more talk about the Kings?”

“Not much,” he answered. “Just that they’re scrambling to keep things going. They’d burned a lot of bridges, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they disbanded altogether.”

“If only we could be so lucky,” Prez scoffed. “But assholes like them tend to repopulate like fucking rabbits. It’s best to keep an eye on them and make sure they don’t sneak up on us.”

“Agreed, and we should do the same for Delgado. Talk may be down, but he’s still out there, and he can’t be happy about losing such a large source of income.”

“Already on it,” Creed replied. “We have sources monitoring the situation, and if there’s a change of any kind, they’ll let us know.”

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