Page 5 of Injustice and Absolution

Soon enough, an addiction forms.

They grow confident that their victim either can’t or won’t fight back. They’re empowered by their invincibility, and the addiction grows into a sickness spreading through them like a festering infection. Whether it’s a show of power or a form of eroticism, they get off on it either way because they gain control.

Control is an abuser’s ultimate weapon.

And I’m going to take it away from him.

CHAPTER TWO

ROYCE

Iwanted to go to that fucker’s house immediately after Delilah told me her story. But I’ve reacted to certain situations in the heat of the moment before, and it always gets messy.

Failure to prepare is preparation for failure or some shit like that.

So now I’m straddling my bike, hiding behind a mountain of old cars and car parts in the middle of a junkyard that backs up to where Delilah and her father live. As I scope out the layout of the trailer park, I take note of any person or thing that could derail my mission.

His trailer is situated at the back of the development, so I should be able to slip in and out easily when I come back for him. And since Maggie informed me Delilah will be spending the night at our house tonight, I’ll have the perfect opportunity to carry out my mission without worrying about her playing witness to it.

As she was relaying her horrific history to me, Delilah mentioned a crawl space beneath the trailer with an entrance via the hallway. She said the latch was broken, allowing her to come and go easily. That’s my best way in, I think.

She was finally starting to calm down as I washed the rib eye juice from my hands when Maggie re-entered the kitchen—without that shadow of hers, Fernando, trailing behind her for once.

She looked at me like I was the one who gave her friend the black eye because there was no way to hide how swollen and red Delilah’s eyes were from crying the way she was. And Maggie has never shied away from her dislike or distaste of me.

I wasn’t quick enough to come up with a cover story, but Delilah didn’t hesitate to respond to the question on Maggie’s face. No doubt she has experience quickly creating excuses for her injuries.

“I accidentally ran into the railing as I was chasing after you and Fernando. Your dad heard me crying and got me some … steak.”

She awkwardly points to the meat still laying on the table.

“Don’t call him that,” Maggie corrects her. She hasn’t called me ‘dad’ since she was four.

Maggie looks at the raw steak on the table and rolls her eyes.

“That’s disgusting. And it’s an infection waiting to happen. I’ll take it from here.”

Maggie and I have always had a strained relationship. A one-night stand with her mother when we were nineteen turned me into a disgruntled father andbaby daddy. But as bad a parent and partner as I am, I tried to do right by them both as well as I could.

I was just starting out in the stone business, and I took Penny in while she was pregnant. I told her I would be there for her and the kid financially, make sure they were protected, but that’s all I could give them.

I was a prospect in the club at the time with barely a cent to my name. I was working as hard as I could to establish myself in both the stone industry as well as the club.

In the last fifteen years, my company has grown into an enterprise, and I went from prospect to president quicker than most go from member to officer.

I brought the Gettysburg Bastards into my business to assist with the growing demand. I would feed 10 percent of my earnings back into the club, and I’d get promoted every few months. When our previous president came to me with a new idea—to use my trucks to transportotheritems—I couldn’t say no. Even if I didn’t agree with entangling my business further into my outlaw lifestyle.

So we started shipping guns to some of our other chapters as well as high-profile customers.

When the Rojas Cartel—of which Fernando’s family is extensively entwined—infiltrated one of our shipments, they were intrigued and wanted to forge a partnership.

And you can’t exactly say no to the cartel.

Now, begrudgingly, we transport their cocaine all over the country for them. It’s not the most desirable business arrangement, and not something I necessarily agree with, but success isn’t free.

And it’s most often shadowed by the devil you sold your soul to in order to achieve it.

But no amount of success could have prepared me to raise adaughteron my own. I’ve tried looking for Penny everywhere so I can bring her back here. I’ve asked the other Royal Bastards chapters to be on the lookout for her, but all we’ve gotten is crickets for the past two years. Regardless of my feelings for her, Maggie needs a mother in her life.

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