Page 53 of Bride for the Bikers

“Took you long enough,” quips Outlaw.

Vincent laughs harshly. “I could say the same. You didn't think I expected someone to find Eileen? That was the whole point of taking her in the first place. My only surprise was that it took you meatheads so long.”

“You have no right to keep her here,” I snap at him, slipping the gun into the back of my jeans. “I'm just here to discharge her from this place.”

He chuckles. “Should we just settle the bill then? Operations, gene therapy, convalescence… I mean, it's a pretty hefty bill you've racked up, and you can't possibly expect me to let you just leave without settling it.” He looks at Mom. “How are you doing, Eileen? Not very well apparently, but such is life. It's got to be at least, what? Twenty years? Twenty-one? Time passes so fast.”

Mom glares at him with more energy than I’ve seen her have in a long time. “It’s too bad it wasn’t longer.”

He cocks his head and puts on a very fake-looking expression of innocence. “Oh, so cruel. To think you ran away before letting me know that I might have a daughter, and such a lovely one at that.” He gestures at me. “Very headstrong though. Did you know she ran away from her own wedding? Devin was quite disappointed.”

Oh, give me a break. “I should never have contacted you in the first place. I’d rather be paying medical bills until I die than feel like I owe you anything.” I look at Devin. “Disappointed? You don’t even know me.”

He laughs. “You would’ve been fun, you know that? For me at least.”

Vincent sighs. “Well, I suppose this shouldn’t be that big a surprise. Deceit runs in the family after all.”

“Like father, like daughter?” I spit at him.

“Oh absolutely, but I can’t take any credit for that.”

I blink. “What? But the DNA test…”

He just laughs. “God, you really are as trusting as he used to be. You want to tell her, babe? Or should I? Did you even know for sure?”

“Nathan…” she whispers, and the realization hits me like a truck.

Nathan. Nathan Carnell. Blond hair, blue eyes, something neither Mom or Vincent have, but Carnell definitely does. Just like me.

Carnell is my real father.

30

LIGHTNING

I slama security guard face first into the wall just as Carnell and his guys rush in, tasing the last one to the floor. The guard flops like a fish on land. My guy sags into a pile on the floor, knocked out. Carnell'd better appreciate our restraint. When fuckers come gunning for us, I prefer to gun right back rather than playing nice.

“Everyone alright?”

“I'm good.” Havoc drags another unconscious guard over and drops him on top of mine. “But this is bullshit.”

“Fuck yeah, it is. Now let's get up there. Anyone get a bead on Outlaw and Harper?”

“They fucking vanished,” Thunder rumbles. “My call's to go back for them.”

Shadow shakes his head. “Nah. Outlaw's taking care of her. Either he made the call to get her out, and we'll have to haul her mom outta here by force, or they kept going and need our support. All alarms have been set off. We gotta make this happen now, or get the fuck outta here.”

Carnell nods in agreement. “These are just the on-site staff. Pretty soon the building will be crawling with police or better trained security.”

“Alright, let's get a move on then.” And if any of these fuckers have hurt Harper or Outlaw, I'm gonna fucking eradicate every last one of them.

The back stairs take us up to the fourth floor, which is eerily quiet. Did everyone rush downstairs, or are they waiting above? There's voices coming from down the corridor. I shush the others and wave for them to follow me quietly.

“You can't possibly believe that they're coming to get you now.” Fuck Mesner and his slimy gloating. But who's he gloating at? “They're dead or gone, and no court would blame my people. They defended themselves and the poor innocent patients in this facility from a rogue cop and the criminal bikers he associates with. Who've already assaulted me and my property once, remember? Not to mention kidnapping my poor, innocent daughter on her wedding day.”

“I don’t believe you, and nobody else will either,” Harper snaps back. Hopefully, that means Outlaw’s still standing too.

I inch closer, getting my iron out. If I get Mesner in my sights, fuck non-lethal means. The others follow, quietly, with their pieces drawn, too. Carnell doesn't look happy about it, but I don't give a fuck. Harper's safety comes first.

---