Page 35 of Rage's Solace
I push the money back and tell her. “I’m not taking your money, Prissy. I’m doing just fine on my own. You’re gonna need that to buy a car and for Mia’s college fund.”
I can see she’s gonna argue the point, so I tell her in no uncertain terms, “Your money is no good here. Seriously, the club got a windfall on one of our last jobs.”
She slaps the end against her palm and responds, “I guess it’s foolish to give it away when we’re broke.”
She replaces it back in the safe and pulls out a jewelry case. She opens it and shows me a rather lackluster pair of gold earrings. “These aren’t real gold, but they were a gift from one of my best friends when I was little.”
She paws through the safe, pulling out the diamond earrings her grandmother bequeathed to her and the gold bracelet she got from her mother on her fifteenth birthday. She has a lot of trinkets both valuable and not, that mean something to her. She’s even got an old silk scarf that I gave to her. When I saw it, I did a double take. I remembered the day I gave it to her like it was yesterday. Back then I couldn’t afford much, I was living in foster care and broke. I’d actually gotten it from a thrift store, I felt bad about giving her something that had belonged to someone else, but the way her eyes lit up when I presented it to her, it was like I’d given her diamonds.
There’s also a thick file folder in the safe, but she doesn’t show any interest in it whatsoever. I’d almost forgotten what else I’d picked up, Whitmore had taken her laptop, but I found hercellphone under a book on the nightstand, “Got this as well,” I said as I handed it to her.
She took it from me but looked fairly disinterested, I’d gotten her a new phone saying she could let everyone know she was okay. But the look on her face when she said that she had no one to call was heartbreaking.
“Thanks,” she says and puts it on the coffee table, not even bothering to switch it on.
I need to talk to her about what we discovered today.
“We found out that your father-in-law pulled up stakes and moved. Me and a couple of my club brothers went to his mini mansion and there was no one living there anymore. The whole house was empty except the furniture in the living room.”
“Is that why you went to our old home? You were hoping to find him there.”
I nod. “We knew it was a longshot, the crime scene has been cleaned up, but the house has been left with bare floorboards and there was rotten fruit in the bowl. The electricity is off, and the door was boarded up.”
“That’s horrible. Why did Malcolm take the house from us if he didn’t care anything about it?”
“I don’t know but we need to locate either Malcolm or his son Ashton, preferably both. Do you have any idea where they are?”
Something flashes over her face when she hears the name Ashton. I want to ask her what it is about him she doesn’t like, but I don’t want to spoil her good mood about getting her personal items back. She thinks it over for a few seconds beforeanswering. “I was of the understanding that they had property all over. Maybe losing Conrad really messed him and he took off to another part of the country.” Pausing for a moment, she adds, “I know they have a place in Italy because we visited it once. I hesitate to think how many places Malcolm could go if he really wanted to disappear.”
“Our IT guy has been tracking his holdings and they’re all owned by shell companies hidden within shell companies.”
She slowly closes her safe and turns to me. “Do you really think Malcolm had something do with the rabbits?”
“I can’t think of anyone else who would be angry enough with you to do something like that.”
She glances away and again there’s a strange look on her face. “I know he probably blames me for Conrad’s death. Malcolm never liked me and tried to blame me for everything that went wrong in their lives.”
“That must have been awful,” I say while pulling her close to me on the sofa. “Did Conrad defend you to his father at least?”
She shakes her head. “No, he never did. He usually agreed with whatever his father said. He did whatever his father asked. It’s like our marriage, I don’t think he had any say in that either.”
Chapter 12
Priscilla
Rage holds me and lets me talk about the things I went through while married to Conrad. Everything but the thing that he needs to know.
I couldn’t bring myself to tell him about Ashton, or about Meli’s suspicions—which were my suspicions now, too. When he was out, I’d taken a look through his sideboard. I felt like a criminal rummaging through his personal belongings, I didn’t really know what I was looking for until I found it—his old military dog tags. His blood group is O, same as Mia’s. Mine is A, Conrad’s was B, I don’t know about his brother, but with everything else I’m starting to believe Meli. Rage is Mia’s father. I need to tell him, but I’m scared in case I’m wrong. I decide that tomorrow I’m going to see if I can get some of his hair and get a paternity test done. The thought that Rage really could be Mia’s father causes excitement to bubble up in me and for the first time in forever I feel hopeful. He’s sweet, understanding, and supportive. Everything I could ever ask for in a man. By the time we call lights out on the girls, it’s close to eleven. They were fighting sleep and complained about us turning the lights out, but I noticed their eyes were getting drowsy and they conked out pretty quickly.
When I join him in the hallway, he has a soft smile on his face. “You’re a good mom, Prissy girl. I always knew you would be.” Wrapping his arm around me, he gives me a little kiss on the forehead.
“Thanks, Rage. Mia is my whole world.”
As we walk to his room, he says, “Do you reckon you’ve got room in that world for anyone else? Maybe a certain biker medic.” His voice turns serious for a minute, “I’m falling for you hard Prissy, I don’t think I ever totally fell out of love with you. I want us to make a go of it, you reckon we’d work?”
I grin at him feeling like the happiest woman in the world. “I think I could definitely find a Rage-sized space for you.”
Picking me up, he throws me over his shoulder and carries me into his room. I giggle at his over-the-top display, “Now I wanna be inside my woman,” he says before throwing me down on his bed.