Page 22 of Lord

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

KICKSTAND CAME THROUGH, and within a few hours, we had a location.Kickstand I hacked both their phones and found the spot where they held Sophia. Both Claudia and Jen’s phones pinged at the exact location. I felt some blame for this. If I hadn’t used Jen, maybe she wouldn’t have helped Claudia, not that it excused what she did. The bitch tried to sell Sophia and, even more heinous, my little girl into the sex trade. Both women were as good as dead.

“Any information on the man with them?” I asked Vampire as we loaded the van.

“No, but I’m not worried about him. Let’s go,” Vampire said as he slammed the door shut.

Viking, Stonewall, Soldier, Silver, and Shadow rode their bikes while Vampire and I took the van. We figured we could easily handle the situation without taking any men away from the clubhouse. Claudia has taken Sophia to a house outside of Hope Chapel in a rural area, and we would have to be careful how we went about getting into the place. Any noise we made could be heard in the quiet of the early morning.

About a half-mile from the location, we stopped and would walk the rest of the way. Each of us was armed, Vampire and Soldier carrying their rifles. We moved through the woods until we could see the small ranch-style house, and my heart stopped when I saw the man coming out of the home with a body wrapped in a tarp.

“Easy,” Shadow whispered, seeing mine and Silver’s distress.

“I’m taking the shot; my gun has a suppressor,” Soldier said, getting into position and firing off a silent shot; the man fell to the ground. He had already put the body in the trunk of the car.

“Let’s go,” Viking said, and we made our way to the car. I was shaking with fear of seeing who was lying inside that tarp. Vampire and Stonewall lifted the body out of the trunk and prepared to unroll it. Silver and I couldn’t look, turning our backs to the scene. I was in no way prepared to see Sophia dead.

“It’s Jen,” Shadow said, relief in his voice.

The relief I felt was indescribable; I didn’t feel any remorse for Jen being dead. I turned around to see her lying there, and my only thought was, thank God it wasn’t Sophia. Silver walked over, spitting on her body, “You deserved this bitch,” he hissed. Silver isn’t the forgiving type I should know.

“Sophia must still be inside,” I said, already heading toward the door.

Shadow stopped me. “Listen.”

I stopped listening, and you could hear what sounded like a scuffle going on inside. “We better get in there,” I said, my hand going to the handle on the door.

I HID BEHINDthe door, trying to keep calm. Claudia walked in, and I got lucky she didn’t look up until she closed the door giving me time to grab her from behind. “What the fuck?” Claudia screeched, trying to buck me off.

I tightened my hold on her, my hand going for her gun, but as soon as I lifted my hand, her elbow came back, hitting me in the stomach, causing me to loosen my grip, allowing her to turn. I brought my hand back, hitting her across the face, again going for the gun tucked in the front of her pants. I had my hand on it when she head-butted me; the pain caused me to fall to the floor.

I shook it off and started to rise, only to see the gun pointed at my face. “You stupid bitch, I might as well kill you, the kid is the only thing really worth any money,” Claudia snarled cocking the gun, and my only thought was of my little Roe and how I wouldn’t see her again. I closed my eyes, preparing for the shot.

The shot never came, only the heaviness of Claudia’s body as it fell on top of me, knocking me down. But, within seconds, her body was thrown off me, and my dad had me in his arms. “Jesus, Sophia, I was scared to death,” dad said, kissing my head. “I love you, little girl.”

“I love you too, dad,” I said, feeling Rowen’s presence behind me. Finally, my dad released me into Rowen’s arms.

Rowen held me tight, backing me into a corner so I couldn’t see around him. I knew he didn’t want me to see Claudia’s body. “Sophia, I don’t know what I would have done if anything happened to you,” he murmured next to my ear. “I love you so damn much; I don’t know if I could breathe knowing you weren’t on this earth.”

“I’m fine, Rowen, and you got here just in time. I thought it was over and I was going to die,” I said, the first tears starting with my adrenaline rush coming down. “Can we leave? I need to see Rowena,” I begged, the need to hold my little girl overwhelming.

Rowen looked over his shoulder before replying, “Yeah, let’s get you out of here.”

When he moved, I saw her body was gone, and the men had moved outside. We walked out the door into the early morning, where a black van sat, and several bikes were pulling in the driveway.

My dad got off his bike and threw Rowen the keys. “Take her home on my bike; she doesn’t need to be riding in the van. I will ride with Vampire,” dad said, walking off.

I WAS TERRIFIEDwhen we saw Sophia on her knees witha gun pointed at her face. I immediately raised my gun only to have Shadow motion for all of us to hold and point at Soldier. This would be a tricky shot with Claudia’s finger near the trigger. But, I knew Soldier was the best one to take the shot the man trained for this type of situation in the Marines.

And he didn’t let us down; the shot was clean.

Once I had Sophia safe in my arms, I shielded her from the clean-up. It was best in more ways than one that she didn’t see it. And color me surprised when Silver threw me his keys. I knew Sophia couldn’t ride in the van with the bodies but figured Silver would put her on his bike with him. Instead, he threw me a bone, and I was grateful. I needed Sophia’s arms around me to know she was really safe.

We pulled in front of the clubhouse, and Sophia wasted no time getting inside to Rowena. Lettie was waiting and grabbed Sophia. “You had me worried, bitch,” she hugged Sophia. “Rowena is in the kitchen with Jane,” Lettie said.

I followed the women into the kitchen. “Mommy,” Rowena yelled from where she sat on Jane’s lap.

Sophia lifted Roe and hugged her tight, giving Rowena a big kiss. “What are you having for breakfast, smurf?”

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