Page 51 of Rage's Solace
Mia: Hurry Daddy, they’re shouting at each other now.
Me: You and your mom need to go to that safe space we talked about. Tell her you’re sick or something.
Mia: Okay.
When the bubble closes, I hold the phone to my chest for a brief moment. My emotions are a jumble. My daughter reached out to me and called me Daddy for the first time when she was in danger and scared out of her mind. That was bittersweet. When I said I was her father I meant it with every fiber of my being. Being a father doesn’t mean sharing blood, and whatever the DNA shows, that girl is mine if her mom will forgive me for being an asshole.
I flip to the location app and share it with my club brothers in our group chat.
“Talk to us,” Siege says. “What just happened?”
“Priscilla’s parent took her straight to Malcolm and Ashton. They’re trying to leverage her into getting hitched to Ashton. Mia said they’re all screaming at each other, and she’s scared. She wants me to come and get her right away.”
Siege makes a circle over his right shoulder by pointing one finger in the air and says, “Gear up. We’re burning rubber in ten minutes.”
***
This is the fastest we’ve ever geared up since I’ve been involved with the club. We’re on the highway within half that time. It takes us a while to get to the house and it’s anotherhuge one. It must be nice to afford huge houses for one or two people when there are families struggling to find housing. The Whitmores get on my nerves with their pretentious spending and always having to have the biggest everything. Rich assholes thinking they are above the law using people to get further in life. I hate scum like that.
So far, all their houses have been either empty or with the bare minimum of staff. Therefore, we surround his place and just crash right in without warning. There are two dozen of us and just a few staff. It makes me wonder what the old man was thinking in not keeping security in place. Though rich assholes always think they’re untouchable.
While my club brothers deal with whatever’s happening downstairs, I make my way to the second floor to look for my girls. I don’t have to look very hard because I can hear a deep masculine voice in a yelling match with Priscilla.
“Get out of the damn bathroom before I rip the door off the fucking hinges, you’re mine to control you fucking cunt and the sooner you accept it the better,” the man roars.
“I’m not marrying you, Ashton, I’d rather be dead than have you touch me again.”
“You damn well are and I’m going to make you pay for jerking me around and beat some obedience into my daughter.”
“No you’re not, and she’s not your fucking daughter!” I yell, as I take off running and ram into him with one shoulder. It’s a good old fashion football tackle and it sends him sprawling on his ass.
He rolls to his feet and charges at me. “Get the hell out of our house.”
I shove him hard, and he crashes into the wall.
He lets out a long string of curses as I run past him to knock on the bathroom door. “Mia, you and your mom can come out now.” When they don’t immediately unlock the door, I glance at Ashton and raise my voice an octave. “Mia sweetheart, I told you I’d come, it’s Daddy.”
The door flies open, and Mia tries to come charging out, but her mom catches her just before she screams, “Behind you, Rage.”
I step sideways to miss whatever the asshole had in store for me, only to discover it’s a knife. No, it’s a large letter opener. I step out and disarm him with very little effort, tossing the long skinny piece of metal shaped like dagger away.
Ashton immediately reaches inside his pretentious dinner jacket and pulls out a gun. Unfortunately for him, I realize way before he even opens his fucking jacket that he’s going for a weapon and get mine out first. “Do not make me kill you in front of my daughter, asshole.”
He looks like he’s going to continue pulling on that gun, so I step into his personal space and hit him in the face with the butt of my pistol. “Hands off the gun, pretty boy.”
I only say that because Ashton clearly got all the looks in his family right along with most of the crazy. The moment his hand goes to cover his bleeding nose, I fish the gun out of his inner pocket and step back. If Priscilla and Mia weren’t standing there I’d have no second thoughts about shooting the bastard.But they’ve both been through enough. I’ll deal with the asshole later, that’s if my club brothers don’t get their hands on him first.
“I’m gonna give you a five-minute head start and then I’m going to hunt you down and beat your ass for thinking you could steal my woman and daughter away.”
“I didn’t. They came to me.”
Mia shouts, “Liar,” and Priscilla makes an indignant noise.
“You got four minutes and thirty seconds and you’re not making good use of it.”
“I’m not turning tail and running away from my own fucking house.”
“Fine by me, I can do this all day. I’ll just wait for my club brothers to be done with the assholes downstairs, then once my girls are away, you and me will have a little talk.” I say as I stuff his gun in the back of my pants and keep mine trained on him.