Page 48 of Bounty
What the fuck had I missed?
“It is, Daria. You don’t see me as Effie’s father.”
“I swear I didn’t mean it like that, Lennon,” Daria said hoarsely. “A girl couldn’t ask for a better daddy than you. Effie adores you.”
“And I know what’s best for her, love.” His voice had gentled. “We’re calling in the cops.”
Lifting a brow at me, Cash folded his arms. I didn’t know what to say. I was on the verge of crashing out. Striker wanted the Death Dwellers to assist. Less collateral damage for his chapter, though I washisclub member nottheirs.
Striker got away with such fuckery because blood was thicker than water, and Riker allowed his brother the leeway he’d never afford anyone else. They didn’t want me going off on my own, half-cocked. No, Riker ordered me to stand downand Striker and Dad agreed. They didn’t care that Effie was a defenseless woman.
Ophelia plucked Daria’s phone up and smiled at the asshole on the screen. “Hi, Lennon. I’m Ophelia Donovan. Daria is quite distressed right now.”
“As if I’m not,” Lennon responded.
“I know,” Ophelia soothed. “But I’m asking on behalf of Daria and Effie to please just do as your wife suggests. I understand you want to call in the cops. You can’t.”
“I don’t know who you are, Ophelia, and I don’t care. I’m not listening to a biker slut who is tainting my wife and daughter just by breathing.”
Growling, Cash jumped to his feet, stalked to Ophelia, and snatched the phone. “Motherfucker, this is how this is going. Some of my brothers will arrive at your house shortly. If you call the cops at any time from now to the end of eternity, they will find fucking pieces of you.”
“Joke’s on you, sir,” Lennon said with indignation.
I agreed. More hyperbolic bullshit from Cash’s arrogant ass. No fucking way would he know what Lennon did, now or later.
Lennon snorted. “We have security cameras. You’ll be identified.”
“Not. They’d have to see the fucking footage,” Cash retorted. A doorbell rang. “That should be Saw and Ziggy now. My patience is gone. My nerves are raw and I’m highly fucking insulted on behalf of my woman. Don’t fucking piss me off any further.”
Lennon screamed. “How the fuck did you get in—” His words abruptly cut off and he gasped.
The distinctive sound of a body thudding to the ground came through the line.
“We got him, Cash,” a new voice said.
They…what?
“How do you want us to deliver him?”
“Alive,” Cash said grudgingly. “His woman wants him in one piece. Blindfold him and throw him in the back of the van. I suggest you gag his ass so you’re not tempted to fuck him up when he comes to, Saw.”
Saw snickered. “Got it, brother.”
“Watch your ass,” Cash said. “Satan’s Sinner motherfuckers are crawling. I would hate to have to blow them the fuck out of existence so far from home.”
“Damn, this motherfucker is heavy,” another new voice grunted.
“Stop whining like a pussy, Ziggy,” Cash said around laughter. He gave them the address of the Austin club. “I’ll text you directions from my phone.”
“You got it, brother.”
My phone alerted me to an incoming message. Unlike the first two messages, this one revealed digits, complete with a ‘601’ area code. A Jackson, Mississippi number.
The multimedia message took a moment to load. When it did, I opened it immediately and almost dropped to my knees.
Dutch stood behind Effie. She was topless, her nose and cheeks were swollen, bloodied, and bruised.
“Speak, Effie,” Dutch ordered.
