Page 16 of Spider

I clear my throat and nod. “Right, silly me,” I mutter.

“Sit down,” he demands.

I grab the first seat and sit down quickly. He raises his brow at me. “Okay, I meant closer, but no problem,” he states before he gets out of his chair and walks down to me. He doesn’t sit, but instead he perches on the edge of the table next to me. He places a file down on the table and my eyes drop to it, wondering what he has in it. “Look, I’m sorry to say that your bakery was trashed,” he states.

“What?” I say, looking up at him.

He flips open the folder and hands me some pictures. The bakery I had worked so hard to grow, the only thing in my entire life that I loved, now destroyed.

I wipe away my tears. “Sorry, it’s just... I worked so hard for that place.” I sniff.

“No need to apologise,” he states. “There is one thing I need you to answer though.”

I look up at him. “Sure.” I nod.

“This happened the day after you arrived. The building is in your name, and the police would have contacted you by now. Have you had any calls?” he asks. I shake my head no, when in reality, I haven’t even dared to switch on my phone. “Any reason why someone would do this?” he asks.

I bite down on my bottom lip and look down. Do I come clean? Do they already know?

Ghost stands and opens the door, letting out a whistle. It is then that all the brothers of the club file in one by one. My eyes go wide as I feel the panic start to rise.

“What is going on?” I ask, my voice breaking.

“I wanted my brothers, the club that has put you up these past few days, the ones who have welcomed you into their lives, our family’s lives, to hear exactly what you have to say,” Ghost states, crossing his arms.

I swallow, my lip quivering as I fight back the tears. “A guy is after me,” I confess. No one says anything and I don’t look upeither. I keep my focus on my lap. “He is a bad guy. He got me on drugs, and when I couldn’t pay for them, he made me pay for them in other ways,” I continue. “I haven’t touched drugs in 4 years, 7 months and 1 day,” I affirm, looking up at them so they can see I’m not lying.

“You were drinking at the wedding,” Scar points out.

I shake my head. “I didn’t drink it. I just held it.” I pause. “I’ve drank little alcohol before. Not hard liquor, just a beer, but usually I don’t touch any of it. I was never a junkie. I never injected. I just smoked, swallowed, or sniffed. I was never on them out of choice. It was mostly used to black out the days that...” I pause, trying to fight back the memories. “There were days I never wanted to remember what happened, so I took what I could. I was young. I had nowhere to go, no family. I was trapped. Until, until a day came. I saw my opportunity and I ran.”

“What was your opportunity?” Cash asks.

“I stole 50 grand from him,” I confess.

“Fucking hell,” Hawk sighs.

“I know, I know. But I moved away. I hid for a year in a small flat. He never knew my real name. I was desperate to get out. Once I realised I was safe and that he wasn’t going to come and find me, I rented out the shop and started my bakery.” I smile a sad smile.

“How did he find you?” Rage asks.

“Social media.” I sigh. “The bakery took off, people liked my cakes, so people from all over the world would end up coming in. They would post it on their pages, which would then bring more people in. Which was great. Business was amazing, until someone took a picture of me.”

“And now he’s found you, he will stop at nothing to get his money,” Ghost states.

“He doesn’t want the money. It’s nothing to him. It’s the principle. I gave the other girls ideas. He wants me, because he owns me. He wants to use me to remind the other girls what happens when you steal from him,” I admit.

Ghost sighs and rubs his face. “So, it wasn’t about finding Acid?” he asks.

“Not entirely. I have been looking for him for years and got nowhere. Then a girl came into the bakery saying about this club. She was showing her friend pictures of a party here. She had one of Nash, and I recognised him immediately.” I smile. “I was planning to come and visit him and then I got a text. I knew it was Dean. I wasn’t going to stay and risk him dragging me back to that life. So I ran,” I explain.

“I think we need to find this Dean and end his fucking life now,” Rage fumes.

“Fucking easy, Rage. We ain’t going on no rampage. For now, anyway. He doesn’t know she’s here, so we’ve just got to keep it that way,” Ghost tells him before he turns to me. “There is one thing I won’t fucking tolerate in my club, and that is lying. If you had come to us with the truth, we would have still offered you protection and taken you in, but I understand the circumstances as to why you felt you had to lie. Star often reminds me I have a face that scares the shit out of most people on a daily basis. I’m well aware that we don’t exactly look like the fucking brady bunch. So from here on out, be fucking honest, and you are not to go anywhere alone until we have sorted this shit out,” Ghost warns.

I nod, a feeling of relief washing over me. “Thank you,” I say, choking on my emotions.

Ghost lifts his chin. “You can go,” he says, dismissing me.

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