Allegiance (The Chicago Defiance MC Series Book 8) Page 18

  Strength.

  Determination.

  Willpower.

  I recite my mantra. “No. I’m doing this.”

  Vibe smiles as I turn for the door. I take in a deep breath and then head inside the room. Head high. Shoulders steady. Body erect and solid.

  I’m not sure what I expected to see when I entered, but it wasn’t this. The room is divided into two sections, split in half by a clear panel and a desk. There’s a phone situated on the wall and a singular chair is placed under the desk. Nothing’s on the other side, just an empty room.

  I’m not sure why I expected to see Raphael here, but at least this way I can prepare myself a little more. I have to keep my strength and determination together, so I walk on steady legs over to the desk and take a seat.

  Vibe closes the door as Lift stands to my right.

  Vibe protectively stations himself to my left like a lion waiting on his prey, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder.

  I bite down on my bottom lip, sitting taller.

  Suddenly, I hear a noise. I tense but try hard not to show it as I try to view the other side of the room, but I can’t see past the sectioned glass in front of me. I’m pretty sure the door is opening on that side of the room, and I want to make sure it seems like I’m completely unfazed when I am anything but.

  My foot taps so fast I feel like I might wear a hole in the floor. But he can’t see it, or the fact that my heart’s beating out of my chest. No. He can’t see my fear, and I absolutely will not let him.

  A guard appears in my line of sight, and then an orange jumpsuit slowly enters my view. Raphael’s hands are cuffed. His hair is oily like he hasn’t washed it for days. Goddamn, the man is slime. His uncharacteristically handsome face lights up with a devious smirk, but the malice behind it tells me all I need to know.

  This asshole had an inkling I’d show up here to talk to him.

  Maybe this was his grand plan after all?

  I don’t know, but either way, I have to do what needs to be done.

  The guard shoves Raphael into the chair hard, and he glares up at the guard in retaliation. My entire body fights so fucking hard to stay seated in this chair and not run for my damn life.

  The man before me is the face of my nightmares.

  He’s the reason Vibe can’t touch me properly.

  He’s the reason I’m broken.

  But if I let those thoughts get in the way right now, I’m going to fall apart in front of him, and the last thing I want Raphael Acosta to see is that he’s affecting me in any way whatsoever.

  I need him to think he didn’t win, he didn’t break me even if it’s not the ugly truth.

  Raphael leans forward, his eyes lingering on the lowered crease of my exposed cleavage, and he licks his lips like I am a meal served up to him on a plate. He slowly picks up the telephone with a waggle of his eyebrows.

  “We’re here. The whole time, babe,” Vibe assures me.

  “Don’t forget who you are, Rowdy,” Lift offers. And his words are just what I needed to hear.

  I nod, then pick up the phone with a strength I didn’t know I had.

  Raphael chuckles as soon as the phone hits my ear. “Well… well… I didn’t think I’d be seeing you again so soon, Hayley.” The asshole’s voice is smooth like honey. It’s no wonder he’s a master manipulator. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned by being in this club, is that to outsmart a manipulator, you have to use their weakness against them. So, I lean forward, resting my elbows on the desk, forcing my breasts to fall on the woodgrain, pushing them upward. His eyes sink straight to them. “Raph… you wanted my attention, right? That’s why you sent the Warriors after Lily, wasn’t it?”

  He chuckles. “Aww… sweet, gullible Hayley, if I wanted your attention, I would have gotten them to take you. Your attention in all of this is just… well, an added bonus if you will.”

  I furrow my brows. “So, you took Lily because you were after her? Not me?”

  He leans back in his chair relaxing. “Thing is, Hayley, this isn’t about you. Not everything is about you.”

  Anger scorches my veins like the fire of a thousand sons, but I make no move to show him. “You made this about me, Raph. That night. Do you remember that?” I goad.

  Vibe tightens his hand on my shoulder reminding me to keep grounded.

  Raphael chuckles. “Oh, I remember, sweetheart. Thing is, like I told you, not everything is about you.”

  “Oh, right. So, you’re telling me there’s a bigger picture here?”

  His cocky smirk is really starting to piss me right the hell off.

  “I can’t believe you idiots haven’t figured it out yet.”

  I exhale, flaring my nostrils in annoyance. “Okay, I’ll bite. Figured what out?”

  He leans forward so abruptly it makes me want to jerk back, but there’s no way I am showing him any fear. I let out an exhale like I am bored. I know he can’t touch me, but my façade is faltering.

  “This thing… this whole thing was planned. Sure, some details went awry. But the beginning, how this all started, it was my grand plan.”

  Cold sweat runs over my body. I am not liking where this is going. “Raph… what do you mean?”

  A slow smile creeps over his face. “Me, in the bar that night… I wasn’t there because of you… I was there for you. That was always the plan. I was there so I could get to Delilah.”

  My blood runs cold as I shake my head. “What are you saying?”

  Raphael’s grin is so evil that the sight of him right now scares me to the core. “What I did to you, I did so I could get caught. I did it on purpose with witnesses around me in plain sight.”

  I want to be sick. That bullshit was a planned attack with me as the intended victim. “Why?” it comes out as a breathy whisper, and I inwardly berate myself for that show of weakness.

  “Because I needed a reason to hire Delilah—”

  Anger surges through me as I slam my fist on the desk. “Then rob a bank, you fucking asshole!”

  Vibe tenses beside me, he can’t hear what Raphael’s saying, but he can sense whatever it is isn’t good.

  Raphael shrugs. “That wasn’t grand enough, Hayley. I needed to make a point. To show everyone the mess they created.”

  Not being a violent person normally, but the urge in me right now is to reach out and choke him to death myself. “Why me? Why choose me to be a part of whatever sick plan this is?”

  “Because you’re a part of Defiance.” He says it so casually like it makes total sense. I guess to him it does, but to me, it doesn’t. “I thought Delilah would have no trouble fighting a case against a club whore.”

  I curl up my lip at him. “Why do you hate Lily so much?”

  Lift tenses beside me paying more attention.

  “Now you’re asking the right questions. Delilah knew that her boss, Howard, was involved with my family. That we were connected. That’s why he trusted her with my case. She’s Howard’s shining fucking star.”

  I shrug. “So?”

  “So, Howard put all his time and effort into her rather than his own family. He needed to be taught a damn lesson. What better way than to make Howard’s outstanding pupil fuck up the case he so desperately needed her to win.”

  I think it’s starting to sink in, but I need it spelled out for me, so I know I have it right. “Raphael, why did Howard need Lily to win your case?”

  His eyes narrow in on me. “Because I am Howard’s bastard son. The one he tells no one about. The one he’s ashamed of.”

  My eyes widen as I let out a scoff. “So, you’re telling me you did all of this… because you have fucking daddy issues?”

  Raphael stands from his chair abruptly, slamming his fist into the hardened glass as if he was aiming for my face. I flinch back this time, not being able to help myself as he growls down the phone line. “You don’t know what it was like, Hayley. Growing up without a father. Knowing he was always on the other side of town wi
th all this fucking money and another perfect little family. He was living his amazing life while my mother and I were forced onto the streets to fend for ourselves.”

  “That doesn’t give you the right to bring other people into your family drama. To bring Lily into it… to bring me into it!” I yell.

  Raphael grits his teeth, finally sitting down as the guard pushes him. “You may not like the way I do things, Hayley. You might see it as violent or destructive, but it sure as shit got my father’s attention. He’s given my mother money. He’s seen me more these past few days than he has in the last year. Yeah, things might have derailed when Delilah fell for your guy over there, but still, that only worked in my favor because Dad’s star pupil was now just another screw-up like me. Can’t you see how this all worked out?”

  This guy’s fucking crazy. There’s no rhyme or reason to his so-called plan, it’s just completely fucked up. But I have to take the high road here and keep on talking.

  “Look, I can see your plan has almost come to fruition. I’m going to give you what you want.”

  Raphael widens his eyes. “Oh, yeah, and what’s that?”

  I glance at Vibe, and he nods at me to go ahead. “I will go now and revoke my statement. We have two officers on our payroll, who will destroy the evidence. But this happens only if you have the Warriors let Lily go.”

  He purses his lips like he’s debating it in his crazy-ass mind. He smirks, then glances up at Lift, then to Vibe and back to me. “Bubbly Creek, off Benson Street. There’s a bunch of shipping containers. You’ll find her in there, but you’ll be in for a fight.”

  My heart swells with excitement, so I turn to Lift. “Bubbly Creek. Off Benson Street. Shipping containers,” I relay.

  Lift’s eyes ignite with a rage I’ve never seen from him. “You’re telling me she’s been literally a five-minute ride from us this entire time.”

  Raphael chuckles down the line. “That idiot just realized how close she is. Bikers can be so damn stupid.”

  Lift rushes off to the side of the room, he yanks out his cell, while I turn back to Raphael. “Thank you for telling us where she is.”

  He shrugs. “I’ve got what I wanted. The destruction of my father. Delilah’s career down the toilet. Plus, I get out of here. Looks like I pulled this one off pretty fucking well if you ask me.” He looks up to the ceiling. “Who’s the dumb one now, huh, Dad?” he yells into thin air.

  I grimace. If he weren’t such a conniving, sadistic pig, I might actually feel sorry for the guy. But I don’t. He’s done too much. Said too much. He’s too far gone to be saved. To go this far to get a little attention from a father who never cared about him is depraved.

  “Raphael, keep your unwanted dick in your pants in the future.”

  Vibe squeezes my shoulder in warning as Raphael stops his rant and stares at me. “You think you can control me, sweetheart?”

  I stifle a laugh. “Nope, not in the slightest. But if you think the next time you pull a stunt like this that it’s going to work out the same way, you’re sorely mistaken.”

  He twists his lips up on one side cockily. “You think you know me?”

  “I think I know what happens to people like you.”

  “Is that a threat?”

  “No. It’s me telling you to make better choices. You’ve been given a second chance. Take it. Don’t screw yourself over.”

  His eyes drop to my cleavage again, and I instantly know my words are falling on deaf ears. “Sure thing, sweetheart. Whatever you say.”

  “Goodbye, Raphael.” I look him dead in his eyes and hang up the phone.

  The second that receiver clicks, it’s like something shifts inside me.

  I am free.

  Free of Raphael and the pull he somehow had over me.

  He didn’t pick me because of the way I dressed or the way I was acting toward him that night.

  I did nothing to encourage his debauched behavior.

  No, I was the unlucky woman who fit his criteria.

  Raphael’s actions are not my fault, and there’s a certain power in that fact.

  I stand from my chair and step back from the desk feeling his eyes on me the entire time. But I don’t turn back to look at him. “C’mon, we got all we need. But Lift, there’s so much about this situation Lily needs to know.”

  Lift focuses on me as Vibe walks us to the door. “What do you mean?”

  “This is all about her. This whole thing. The club, me, everything. It all revolves around Lily and Howard. I don’t think he was counting on you and Lily meeting that day. It changed things up, but it still worked in Raphael’s favor. Thing is, Lift, Raphael… he thinks he’s won. His family is destroyed. Lily’s no longer working for Howard. And we’re doing exactly what he wants. We need to get to Lily.”

  Lift cracks his neck to the side. “Then what are we waiting for?”

  LIFT

  Bringing this all back to Torque was easy. He knew the second we walked out of that place, we would have a location to get my woman, and I knew he would have some kind of plan to put into gear already for her extraction. But as I watch Vibe say goodbye to Rowdy, my chest swarms with uncertainty. Rowdy’s lost so much already, so much of herself for this cause. She shouldn’t have to go through this too. So, I storm over to them interrupting their moment. They’re locked in a tight embrace as I approach, and I clear my throat making Vibe glance at me.

  They pull apart. “Vibe, as my brother and my friend, I think you need to sit this one out.”

  His brows crease together, and he cocks his head. “What? Why the fuck would I do that?”

  “No. No, Lift. I know what you’re doing, and I love you for it. You’re a good friend to me, but simply no. I’m okay, and if Vibe sat this one out for me, and you guys didn’t get Lily home, I would never forgive myself,” Rowdy argues.

  Vibe rolls his shoulders. “You want me to stay back because of Rowdy?”

  “I want you to stay back because we don’t know what we’re heading into, and we’ve already lost one brother. Rowdy, you’ve been through so much. If anything happened to you, Vibe…”

  A slow smile crosses his face as he pulls Rowdy to him. “I’m coming home to my woman, just like we’re bringing your woman home to you. This is going to work, Lift, and we’re doing it as a team. If Scratch showed us anything, it’s that we don’t go out without a fight. It’s all of us in or none of us. It’s how Defiance works.”

  My stomach flips as I glance at Rowdy, but she nods in complete agreement. She knows that Vibe might not come back, and it will be all in the name of helping me, but she’s completely fine with it.

  Yeah, Rowdy’s definitely an Old Lady now.

  “Thanks, brother, you really don’t know what this means to me.”

  Vibe slaps my back, but his eyes are on Rowdy. “Yeah. Yeah, brother, I do.”

  Torque walks out with Foxy on his arm. He leans down giving her a kiss on the lips as she squeezes him tight. He glances up taking in the room of brothers with their old ladies. “Okay, everyone, we’re about to head out to recover Lily. I know right now with everything that’s happened, we’re not in the greatest of headspaces, but we have to keep our minds on the prize. Remember your training. We’re going to get Lily.” Torque exhales, slapping the club logo on his cut. “We’re a brotherhood. We may be in mourning, but you have to push that aside right now and fight with the brothers beside you. They’re here, they’re alive, and they won’t be if your mind is on what happened yesterday. Say your final goodbyes. Let’s roll out.”

  I inhale with a nod toward my president. Torque always says the right things. He tips his chin at me as he turns back to Foxy, and I face Rowdy again. “You make sure everyone here is in good spirits. And when we get back, be prepared for anything. We don’t know what they might have done to Lily.”

  Rowdy’s eyes mist. We both know the deep harshness of that statement. Lily’s been taken by the men with the same values and horrid depravities as Raphael
. My stomach churns at the thought of what might have been happening to her.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll be here ready to help her through whatever she needs, Lift.”

  I grip her forearm in a gesture of thanks, glance at Vibe, and spin to head for my bike out of habit. In the corner of my eye, I see Medic comforting Tiny. My chest tightens seeing her, feeling the emotions of knowing we’re all heading out, and the possibility of us not all returning again is probable.

  I change course and rush to the van, unease storming in waves crashing over me. I understand with how things are right now, the loss wracking through the club, that I have to let my brothers have the appropriate amount of time to say their farewells. But fuck! We have Lily’s location, and we’re messing about. I need to get to her. Who knows what the fuck those asshole Warriors are doing to her as we speak. The thought terrifies me to death even to think about the possibilities.

  I jump into the passenger seat, clenching my eyes tight. Images of Lily’s stunning face swarms my mind as I hear my brothers starting to finally head for their rides. Knowing she’s so fucking close is killing me. The fact I could have run to her in a matter of minutes annoys the shit out of me. But I need to keep my head in this. Focus on the issue at hand.

  The driver’s side pulls open, and Vibe slides in. “You good, brother?” he asks, his Finnish accent coming through strong.

  “No. But I will be.”

  “Great! Because we need to get your woman back. So, let’s do this. Yes?”

  I puff out my chest as I see Torque hopping onto his ride. “Yeah, let’s do this.”

  Vibe starts the van, and we pull out of the clubhouse as the old ladies wave us off. We exit the compound first, followed by an array of bikes. I wish I were riding my bike to feel the vibration of the engine under me and have the wind blasting my face making my skin tingle letting me know I’m alive. I’d give anything for that rush right now. But I need to bring the van. I don’t know what state Lily will be in when I get to her. She may not be able to ride on the back of my bike. So, we have to think logically. We need transportation, and there’s no way I wasn’t going to be in here with her when the time comes. So, I’ve had to forgo the calming effects that a ride will do and sit here in sufferance while I wait the five minutes to get to her.