Page 102 of The Heir

No one had a right to shame that woman for what she did to survive and fight another day for her child.

And what of the asshole? What would become of him after Mackie torched his house and taught him a lesson? My mind spun.

Even if they put him in jail, they wouldn’t hold him forever.

Her life would become a constant state of hypervigilance that would leave her looking over her shoulder worse than my mother did. Even if her daughter was unfazed by everything that had occurred, what future did she have with that scenario? Thatlittle girl would be no different than me and Marchella, and the idea of someone casually fucking with a child like that, it didn’t sit well with me.

Not. At. All.

I didn’t mean to sound pissed, but I could hear the emotion in my own clipped tone, “What time?”

Mackie lifted his chin to me the same way he had his father a few moments ago, “Two hours.”

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Marchella

I hated the position he put us in, even if I’d kept my mouth shut and went through the motions. His presence brought a calm to me that I couldn’t describe. When I was with Blaze, my world became brighter. He only had eyes for me, and he made me feel like a goddess. I wasn’t sure how I felt about him working with my father, but it really wasn’t fair to whine about his choice of job, when I’d been the one to bust his balls for not having one. The man hadn’t even been in town a week, and he’d not only landed a job, but he was also going to be co-owner. Shit, most of the douchebags around here were pushing thirty and the only things they could get in their names were criminal records and social media accounts.

I felt bad for pressuring him on top of all the other hell he was catching from his mom and Easy. Especially now that I was sitting there listening to Nikki and watching the way the room changed and charged around me. I’d known my father was a disciple all of my life, but I never really grasped what it meant until now.

Nikki’s baby daddy, Dwayne Corey was an informant. She couldn’t go to the police, he practically was a cop. They protected him like one of their own. I’d gotten that much out of her on the ride over. She’d actually been clutching a torn order of protection when I found her.

The police were aware their dog had gone rabid, and no one had bothered putting him back in the cage, or better yet– putting him down.

For the first time in my life, I understood that maybe if the club hadn’t been between us and the mob, none of us would be here today. Afterall, hadn’t that war started because my grandfather’s drug trade got his Valentino wife killed?

What if they’d come after my family, and there had been no club?

I was numb for a moment as my mind spun.

The front door quietly popped open, and Donnie started toward us. His thumb hitched back toward the parking lot where my car was no doubt, still kissing my brother's motorcycle.

“Yeah, yeah. It’s good,” Blaze quietly assured him.

Donnie nodded and stretched his neck a little to see what was going on in the office.

“I ain’t seen her in a hot minute,” he mumbled. “The fuck happened to her–?”

“Some dude beat her ass, made her suck his dick, and poured gasoline on her. I think her kid saw the attempted bonfire or whatever–” Blaze summarized in a low, respectful tone that I doubted Nikki heard.

“Is he still breathing?” Donnie casually asked.

My father made a throaty sound of confirmation and Donnie nodded and glanced toward Blaze.

“What time you got?”

“He said two hours.”

“Hmm?”

Blaze looked at him finally, his features slowly shifting as he studied Donnie.

“Not him, you.” Donnie pointed to the bracelet on my husband's ankle. “What time do they put you back on lockdown?”

“Shit,” Blaze cursed.

“It’s nothing. I can take care of it, but I need a timeline.”