Captured (Devil's Blaze MC #1)(42)

I look at him lying beside my daughter and figure there’s a way I can make him pay. Finding the money and keys on the nightstand just makes it that much easier. I quickly pack the whelp’s overnight bag. She annoys me almost as much as Beast, but she’s the last piece of Terry I have. I grab the money and the keys and stuff them in my pockets. Beast is snoring loudly. Fucker always did—another reason to hate him.

I pick up Annabelle. “Mommy?” she asks sleepily.

“Quiet, Belle. You’ll wake your daddy,” I tell her, choking on the words. “We’re going to run out and get a surprise for daddy.”

“We are?” she whispers excitedly. “What are we gonna get? A puppy? Daddy likes puppies!”

“That’s it. Exactly. But we have to be quiet so no one sees or hears us. We have to sneak out so it will be a real surprise,” I tell her, and I could nearly laugh out loud when she does as I tell her. She’s going to have to toughen up in this world. She can’t be as stupid and clueless as a man. Women have to make their own way. I’ve depended on Beast, and he just kept f*cking me over and holding me back. This will be a new start.

Annabelle’s car seat isn’t in the vehicle. Fuckers must have taken it out when they went to drink. I just buckle her in the seat without it. That’s good enough. I get in the car, start it, then drive through the lot. The tricky part is, there’s a gate up ahead. I slow down. That f*cker I sucked off is manning the gates—him and another prospect.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he asks through my window. “Skull said no one in or out.”

“Beast gave me his keys. I have to take my daughter to the doctor. She has a fever.”

“They didn’t tell me. I think Beast would’ve said something, or else be with you. I’m going to have to clear it with them before I can let you go.”

Son of a bitch.

“What? Why? I just sucked you off! You owe me, you miserable f*cker!”

“Please, you weren’t even that good,” he says, walking away and grabbing the phone inside the small guard shack.

He’s going to ruin it all. I can’t let that happen. I look over at Annabelle. “Hold on. Mommy’s going to drive through the gates so we can get out of here.”

“But mommy… daddy can go with us to get the puppy! We don’t have to—”

Her voice drones on, but I ignore it, jerking the car into reverse, then pushing the accelerator to the floor. It lurches backwards, then I brake hard. That stupid idiot jumps in front of the Durango like he can stop it. I jerk the lever back to drive, floor it again, then bounce him off the hood. Annabelle screams and even that makes me smile.

Yeah, I’ll toughen her up. She’ll learn what the real world is about.

We slam through the gates and they break away with the sound of crashing metal. Once we make it through them to the main road, I don’t slow down. I’m laughing louder than Annabelle’s crying. I’m free! I’m finally f*cking free! I don’t let off the accelerator. It climbs to fifty, fifty-five, sixty, and then something strange happens. At sixty-five, there’s a loud click. I can hear it over everything else, even Annabelle’s screaming. The car loses power. There’s a loud boom from the back of the vehicle, startling me out of my laughter. Heat swallows us from all directions.

“Daddy! Daddy! I want my daddy! Take me to my daddy!” Annabelle cries, her tears and sobs racking her little body. Fear blooms through me. I look in the rearview mirror just in time to witness the explosion. Fire consumes everything—including us.





It’s a f*cking mess. Beast’s kid and that bitch Jan are gone. There’s nothing left of that vehicle. We finally got the fire out, but there’s… nothing. Beast won’t even have true ashes to bury.

He went crazy. It took four men, myself included, to pull him away from the fire. We finally had the club doc tranquilize him. He gave him a double dose and still the f*cker fought it. His hands suffered horrible burns, his face and chest too. Another member had to beat the flames out while the four of us held him down. They took him to the hospital while we stayed here and tried to regroup.

We haven’t told anyone but the patched-in members. I don’t want Beth to know. She’s already feeling like this is her fault. If she finds out about Beast’s kid, she’ll completely lose it. Me? Fuck, I’m dealing with my own guilt. I made my choices and I didn’t even think how it would affect my brothers. I guess I didn’t realize this type of blood. All of us know that death can come at the drop of a hat. We know it and embrace it; it’s part of why we live wild. We take our freedom and we make our own rules because that freedom was built with our brothers’ blood.

But nothing can prepare you for the death of a child.

I caused Annabelle’s death. I did this. I should have just taken Beth and left my brothers out of it. This is my war. Instead, I went full steam ahead. If I could go back, I would have done things differently. It’s just too f*cking late now.

I look over at Pistol. “Call your brother. We need the men now. We attack at nightfall and we attack hard.”

“Plan A?” Torch asks, and for once, the motherf*cker isn’t cocky. No, he’s something else entirely: he’s furious. That’s good. We all need to be.

“Plan f*cking A. Saddle up, boys. Before dawn breaks tomorrow, I want every piece of property and every business the Donahues own hit and in flames.” My words are met with a huge battle cry. My men scatter, except for Briar. I grab him by the arm. “I need you to stay with Beth. I want her away from the others. Tell her there’s been a breach in security and I’m doing all I can to make sure she’s safe until I’m back. Do whatever you have to do. I don’t want her to know about Beast or his family until I can be the one to tell her. I can’t take the chance she won’t go off half-cocked.”