Haven: Renegade Saints MC (22 page)

Max

After I got off the phone with Talia, my mind and my heart were racing. I knew that I had to get to the hotel as soon as possible, but first I’d have to arm up. I drove straight from Dr. Young’s office to the Renegade Saints clubhouse. It was busy for a weekday—I saw Paul’s truck in the parking lot and about seven bikes.

“Shit,” I muttered under my breath. My original plan of grabbing a lot of guns and ammo wasn’t going to be easily managed if I had to sneak it by the guys. They’d all want to know why. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to tell them, but I wanted to figure shit out on my own first. After all, I was the president. It was my job to protect my guys, not put them in danger at the slightest whiff of trouble.

Except this ain’t a slight whiff
, I thought to myself.
This is a hell of a lot more than that, and you’re fucking well aware of that
.

I shuddered. I couldn’t believe everything that was happening, but I had to stop feeling so fucking bewildered and start getting down to business. If I didn’t nut up and save Tori, I couldn’t even begin to think of what would happen. And I was dying to speak to Talia, too, to ask why she’d gone away and faked her death.
I loved you, Tals.
I loved you so fucking much
.

“Hey, man,” Paul greeted me as I slipped inside the clubhouse. “You want a drink?”

I shook my head. “No time for that,” I said. “I gotta hurry. Bad shit going down.”

Paul stepped closer and I saw the concern in his eyes. “Did something happen with that abusive asshole, Silas?”

I shook my head, then remembered the previous day. “Well, yeah,” I said after a moment. “But that ain’t why I’m here.”

Paul nodded. “Talia?”

“Bingo,” I said darkly, pushing past him and letting myself out back. The Renegade Saints had a warehouse stocked with guns and ammo and all kinds of things for situations like this; it was better than going to a black market gun sale. I let my gaze wander all over our wares before finally selecting a sniper rifle and an AK-47. Even though I preferred handguns for this type of close-in work, but I knew that the sight of an AK was one of the more intimidating sights on this planet. Even Talia, fearless Talia, would have to back down when she saw her ex-fiancé toting a giant gun.

“Anything I can help with?” Paul slipped up behind me and stared. “What the hell is going on, anyway?”

“I’ll tell you later,” I said grimly. “People coming back from the dead isn’t a thing that happens every day.”

Paul threw his head back and laughed. “Ain’t that the truth,” he muttered. “Oh, yeah, some guy called for you a while back. Wanted to know if you’d be around today.”

I frowned. “Who? I didn’t get a call from anyone,” I said in accusing tone. Whenever calls for me reached the clubhouse, the guys were supposed to contact me immediately.

Paul shook his head. “It ain’t worth your time, I could tell the guy didn’t know anything about you,” he said. “It was a fucking scammer, or someone who just wanted weird info about you,” he added.

I frowned. “Still, though,” I said. “With all of this shit going on, I would’ve liked to know.”

“Sorry, boss,” Paul replied. He helped me carry a few boxes of ammo out of the warehouse and load up the back of my car. “Oh shit,” he muttered. “Here comes trouble.”

I whirled around to see that blond pussy, Silas, walking towards me with a weird look on his face. My hands balled into fists and I was just swinging my arm back to hit him when he held his hands up in the air.

“Wait,” Silas said. “I’m not here to fight you, man.”

I stepped closer and swung my arm back, holding it inches away from his face. “I don’t give a shit what you’re here to do, pussy,” I said in a menacing growl.

Silas shook his head and stepped away. “I’m here about Victoria,” he said quickly. “I want to help you, I know where she is and why Talia has her.”

I blinked and slowly lowered my arm to my side. “What?”

“I want to help you,” Silas insisted. “I know I’ve been a shitty person but I want to help. I don’t want anything bad to happen to her,” he said in a scared, nervous voice. “And now I’m fucking freaked out.”

I shook my head. “You’re fucking disgusting, you know that? You spend years abusing this chick and now you want to save her life? Why, so you can just go and keep doing the same thing?”

Silas shook his head. “I know that’s what it looks like,” he said hurriedly. “But I know that Talia took her, and Talia’s responsible for Kristoff’s death.”

“I already know that, asshole,” I said. “She called me not twenty minutes ago.” I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. Time was ticking, and my wife was in trouble. I had to go help her, I had to save her—it was a visceral need in my bones, my blood, that I’d never felt before.

“I gave Talia information about Victoria,” Silas said. “I know her hotel room is a direct shot from the hotel next door,” he added. He glanced down at the sniper rifle that I was still clutching in my hand. “And you can use that to shoot.”

I shook my head. I couldn’t believe that I was accepting help from Silas, of all the people I wanted to see dead and buried. He was a disgusting weasel; he wasn’t even a real man. He couldn’t even bring himself to defend Victoria himself. I wondered how long he’d been sitting on the information about the hotel room.

“I’m telling you the truth,” Silas said as if reading my mind. “I know you want me dead, and I understand why, but just let me help you with this first, okay?”

I sagged my shoulders. My life was crumbling around my feet, and I didn’t know who I could trust anymore. Talia, my ex-fiancée, my love, wasn’t really dead. She’d faked her own death and lied to me for years. Tori, my wife, was keeping secrets from me. And now Silas, this ratfuck of a human being, was trying to act like he was a decent guy, like he was my friend.

“You should listen to him,” Paul said in a low voice. He stepped closer. “I wouldn’t normally tell you this, but I think he’s telling the truth,” he added. “And you have to do something, Max.”

I nodded. “I know,” I said. “You know it was Talia who killed Kristoff, right?”

Paul looked into my eyes. “I always knew that,” he said. “I mean, I didn’t know it was her specifically. But, man, I always knew that it wasn’t you. You believe me, right?”

We embraced in a rough, brotherly hug. “Thanks,” I muttered as we pulled away. “That means a lot, man.”

Paul nodded. “Of course,” he said.

Silas looked at me. “So, you ready to go?”

I nodded, feeling heavy and depressed and like nothing was ever going to make sense again. “Ready as I’ll ever be,” I mumbled. “Come on.”

Silas climbed in the passenger seat of my car and stared straight ahead. He was silent on the drive downtown, towards The Grand Best Hotel. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, and frankly, I didn’t much care. I just wanted this shit to be over so I could put a bullet in his head and forget about him.

It occurred to me that he could have been bullshitting me. According to Tori, Silas was a master manipulator. While this little piece of shit didn’t look like much, I knew that he had pressured Tori into doing lots of things she didn’t want to do, and had kept her from doing things that she actually cared about.

“Why did you treat her so badly?”

“What?” Silas turned in his seat and glanced at me. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t be a dumb shit,” I told him. “If I wasn’t driving right now, I’d hit you. Why did you treat Tori so badly?”

Silas didn’t say anything. He looked out the window; when I glanced down to his lap, I saw that his hands were twitching and fidgeting.

“I don’t know,” he said finally. “It wasn’t like I wanted to do it at the time. But I was so unhappy, and she seemed so unhappy…I guess it was like a way of controlling her, of trying to make our relationship better.”

I snorted. “You are a Grade A bullshitter,” I said, whistling low. “And don’t forget that you’re still on my shit list,” I added. “You ain’t getting away with this just because you’re helping me right now. In fact, half the reason why you’re in the car is so I can make sure you’re not lying.”

Silas swallowed hard. “Talia had been out to get out her for a long time,” he said. He glanced over and I saw that he didn’t look nervous anymore. There was a manipulative gleam in his eye. “She’s been biding her time and waiting for the perfect moment.” Silas looked at me. “And everything finally fell into place.”

I shook my head. “That doesn’t make any fucking sense,” I snorted. “Talia loved me. She’d never do anything to try to hurt me. She must have faked her death because someone was pressuring her, or because she was in trouble. I only wish that she could have told me!” The very thought filled me with anguish and pain, the kind of pain that radiated out from my heart and made my limbs pulse.

“Don’t think that way,” Silas said. He gave me a nasty grin and I felt my stomach flipping over. It was an unpleasant feeling. “Talia knows exactly what she’s doing.”

“Kidnapping my wife and holding her for ransom?” I glared at him. “Talia isn’t crazy.  Someone is putting her up to this. There’s no way she’d do that, not to me, not to Tori!” I paused. “Unless she’s jealous…”

Silas shook his head. “She ain’t jealous,” he said in a nasty, thin voice. “She ain’t jealous at all. She’s getting her dues, that’s all.”

I frowned. Silas wasn’t making any sense. He was like one of those dolls with a string in the back and when you pull the string, the doll talked to you. He was so deluded, so hurt by Tori’s actions that I could tell he’d do anything.

“So,” I said as casually as I could muster. “You going to kill me when this is all over?”

Silas looked at me in surprise. I couldn’t tell whether I’d guessed his plan or guessed the exact opposite. “You won’t keep me around,” he said, swallowing hard. “You’ll get rid of me the first chance you have.”

I paused, letting his words sink in. It was true that I planned to kill him as soon as Tori and I were both safe. Even though she’d rushed to his defense in the park, I knew that I couldn’t let him live. Silas had abused my wife for far too long, and he wasn’t going to get away with it. I had no way of knowing that he wouldn’t do the same to another woman in the future, and I didn’t think I’d be able to rescue her.

“I’m not talking about that now, not with you,” I said. “We have to find Talia and Tori first.”

Silas leaned back against the head and let his forehead rest against the window. I stared at him once I pulled up to a stoplight: he didn’t look well. His pale skin was greasy and full of acne, and his face was bloodless, like he hadn’t been sleeping well. His blond hair was plastered across his forehead and his eyes, though evil, mostly just looked tired. I couldn’t believe how someone like him could have manipulated Tori for years, but I was starting to realize there were a lot of things in the world that I didn’t know.

“It’s over here,” Silas said. He pointed towards two buildings. “On the right.”

“Thanks, genius,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I can tell.” My heart started to pound as we pulled into the parking lot of the hotel. With as much subtlety as I could, I readied the guns and ammo in a duffel bag, hoisting it over my shoulder.

“You ready?” Silas looked at me.

I nodded and swallowed hard. “Let’s do it.”

Victoria

Talia and her man were huddled in the doorway, talking. I was laying on the bed on top of my hands, twisting and moaning in pain. My wrists and hands hurt so badly that I worried they’d have to be amputated by the time someone came for me. I hoped desperately that Max would come, but part of me knew that was impossible. After the way he’d treated me for sneaking out to Baker Park before, I could just see him nodding to himself in satisfaction and telling me that I deserved whatever awful thing was going to happen to me.

Then I realized that he’d definitely come, but not for me. He’d come for Talia, his first love, who was still alive. Miraculously. Max had thought this woman was dead for almost ten years, and here she was, in the flesh. Her black hair and dark eyes made her much more beautiful than I could have imagined, and I felt like an ugly little shrew in comparison.
When Max finds out that she’s still alive, he won’t want you anymore
, I realized sadly.
You’re going to get a divorce and then I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before Silas comes sniffing around once again
.

I knew Talia would kill me if Max didn’t show. While I desperately wanted to live, I didn’t feel as though I deserved it. I’d gotten myself into this mess—I’d risked my own life and Max’s, time and time again, and here I was. I’d snuck out and I deserved to be caught like this. I shuddered, hoping that Talia would make it quick. She didn’t seem like the sadistic type, but I knew that appearances could be deceiving. Obviously she was more than content to sit there and watch me writhe around in pain.

“Stop whining,” Talia called over to me as if reading my mind. “I can hear you all the way over here.” She gestured to her man, I’d heard her call him Rocky in little snippets of conversation. “Do something about her,” Talia said, waving her arm in the air. “I don’t care, just make it quick.”

Rocky walked over to me, a menacing look on his bulky face. As I winced and shut my eyes, preparing for the blow, he struck me across the face so hard that I saw stars explode in front of my eyes. The pain was delayed for a moment and then it sunk in, so strong that tears came to my eyes. I could feel blood gushing from my nose and I sniffled, trying to breathe.

“Bitch,” Talia said under her breath. “You need to learn how to be quiet.” She walked over to me and glanced down, like I was some pathetic species of bug. “Do you really want to know why I’m doing this?”

“Please,” I begged. “Please don’t kill me.”

“Too late for that,” Talia said, her eyes flashing. “There’s a bomb in this hotel room, and it’s going to explode in two hours. That means the end of you, honey.” She winked at me and I felt a sickening feeling in my stomach. “And the end of whoever else is here, too,” she added, grinning. “I don’t give a shit about the people in this town.” Talia stretched and began to pick at her elegantly long nails. “Marquette is fed by drugs and the Renegade Saints, so I have no qualms about wiping it out.”

The blood was still flowing freely from my nose and I felt myself gagging on it as I tried to sit up. “Please,” I croaked. “Please, Talia.”

Talia shook her beautiful head. “No,” she said in a sad little voice. “I’m not finished with making you suffer yet.”

Rocky paced the hotel room with his hands shoved in his pockets. He glanced over at Talia. “Boss,” he said in a hushed voice. “Come over here.”

Talia got up glanced down at me again, the same pathetic, pitying look. “Don’t go anywhere,” she said nastily. “I’ll be listening.”

I watched as Talia’s perfect figure sashayed across the room. She leaned her ear close to Rocky’s big mouth and he whispered something I couldn’t hear. A crease of worry appeared on Talia’s forehead.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Talia glanced back towards me. “I’m going to tell you a story,” she began slowly. “Listen up.” Her voice was sharp and harsh and not like I was used to hearing it. “This is why I hate you so much.” She glared down at me and I shivered; just the force of Talia’s gaze was enough to make me regret sneaking out of Max’s house.

“Why?” I stared up at her, suddenly feeling brave.

Talia slapped me so hard that all of the air gushed out of my lungs. “Shut up, bitch,” she said softly. She sat down on the edge of the bed and crossed her legs primly at the ankle. “When I was a little girl, my father died,” Talia began softly. Her eyes took on a new cast of light, like she was staring at a fireplace. “My mother and I were alone. We were poor, Victoria. Really, really poor. Do you know what it’s like to be poor?”

I shook my head. “No,” I said softly.

Talia grinned. “I didn’t think so, cunt,” she said, tangling her hand in my hair and yanking my head back painfully. I let out a yelp of pain and Talia laughed evilly. “Back to my story,” she said primly. “We were very, very poor. My mother was really beautiful.” Talia sighed. “I always wanted to look like her. She was tall and thin with long black hair, dark eyes, and tan skin.” Talia looked down at her own hands. “Even though we never had a lot of money, Mommy always looked beautiful.”

A shiver went through my body.

“Mommy dated a lot.” She reclined on her back and propped herself up on her elbow, staring at the ceiling. “Mommy dated a lot of men, she always had a new boyfriend. These men weren’t serious—they loved her beauty and her youth, but they didn’t even mind she had a little daughter. I think I was two when my father died. And after he died, she began dating about six months later.” Talia cackled. “I could give you a string of names from all of the men who paraded around. There was always a new one. Mommy liked younger men, and I always thought they were handsome. But she never fell in love with any of them, she just didn’t want to be alone. Do you know what that’s like, Victoria?”

I shook my head. “No,” I said softly. “I don’t.”

Talia smiled at me, catlike. “I know,” she said softly. “I know you don’t.” Her eyes took on that far-away dreamy quality once again. “Anyway, Mommy loved having boyfriends. There was always one man who pursued her, but she wouldn’t go out with him because he’d been married. Mommy was pretty strict—she only wanted to date men who would be devoted to her.” Talia grinned. “She loved the thrill of making them fall in love with her and then dumping them without thinking twice about it,” Talia added. The sick feeling in my stomach got progressively worse as Talia continued talking. “Can you imagine what that was like for me, Victoria? I idolized my mother, but she didn’t seem to want to spend a lot of time with me. She was always too busy doing her own thing, and she didn’t really care for being a mother.” Talia sighed. “She never should have had me, really, but I can’t think about that now. It’s so very painful.” Talia reached up and wiped a tear from her eye.

I looked at her. “Are you okay?”

Talia blinked. “I’m fine,” she said. She smiled. “I’m exactly where I need to be right now, and I’ve got you with me.”

“So what happened?” Against my will, Talia’s story had begun to suck me in. I could just imagine what it had felt like to grow up with a mother who ignored you—not that my father had done the same thing, but he hadn’t really known
how
to be a father and a mother, which is what I’d needed as a little kid.

Talia sighed. “You really want to hear the end?”

I nodded.

“Well, Mommy started dating someone who she actually liked this time. They started spending all of this time together—he even slept over at our house a few nights a week. Mommy would skip work and go to the beach with him and she said he made her laugh. His name was Kristoff.”

My blood ran cold. “What?”

Talia smiled at me. “And we’re almost the same age, aren’t we?” She cocked her head to the side. “Don’t you think that’s funny, that your father would have stepped out like that?”

I couldn’t reply. I only swallowed instead. My heart was pounding fast and I was suddenly all too aware of the bomb in the room that Talia had mentioned. How much time had gone by? She was such a drawn-out storyteller that I didn’t even know how much time I had left.

Talia laughed. “You’re thinking about the bomb, aren’t you?”

My face blushed beet red. My hands were completely numb and I could tell that they were swollen to an incredible size. My feet were aching and tingling and I could see that they were swelling, too. The man, Rocky, glanced at me.

“Talia, she’s losing feeling in her hands,” he said gruffly. “Don’t you think we should cut her loose?”

Talia raised her hand and slapped me so hard that I couldn’t breathe. I was gasping and choking for air when I heard the sound of her high, cold laughter.

“I don’t give a shit if this cunt is suffering,” she said in a placid tone. “In fact, that makes it all the better.” She reached a hand down and stroked it roughly through my hair, making me cry out as she tugged at my scalp. “I want you to suffer,” she said, looking deeply into my eyes. “Don’t you know that? Don’t you know that I want you dead, little girl?”

I blinked back tears and prayed hard for Max to come.

“Anyway,” Talia said, shifting on the bed and rearranging her long legs. “I wasn’t finished yet.” She flashed me a grin. “Mommy fell deeply in love with Kristoff. And Kristoff fell deeply in love with Mommy. The three of us were like a little perfect family. He used to take us on weekend trips and he absolutely spoiled me. He brought me candy and toys and he brought Mommy flowers and jewelry all the time.” Talia’s idyllic smile turned cruel. “That’s when the problems began. Mommy kept saying that she thought she was losing money; she’d pull out cash and it would disappear somewhere. She didn’t know what was going on. Kristoff was worried, too. But after a few weeks of that, Kristoff confessed to Mommy that he was in bad financial shape, that he needed a lot of help. By this time, Mommy was so deeply in love with him that she gave him everything he asked for, and more. She bought him a car,” Talia said with a smirk. “A red Corvette. You remember that, Victoria?”

Chills ran down my spine. I
did
remember that car. My father had loved it—he’d driven it everywhere and treated it like a prize possession. One of my earlier memories was sitting behind the wheel, on his lap, while he steered my hands around the wheel.

“I remember,” I said softly.

Talia smiled. “Good,” she said indulgently. “It’s nice to know that I’m not crazy. Mommy did everything for her new boyfriend. He promised that he would marry her, that he wanted to be a family with her and me forever. He promised her that he loved her, that he’d move the earth for her.” Talia licked her lips and smiled. “Kristoff made Mommy the sweetest promises of love that I could imagine, the nicest, kindest things in the world.” Talia’s face changed, became stormier and troubled. “And then he disappeared,” Talia said flatly. “Mommy looked everywhere for Kristoff. She hired a private investigator to find him. She was worried that he had died, but the reality was in fact much worse.”

“What happened?” I didn’t want to know, but I was eager for Talia to hurry up with her grisly tale. If there was a chance I could bribe her with money, offer to send money to her mother…

“I think you know what happened, Victoria,” Talia said sweetly. “Kristoff took Mommy for every penny that she had. We were poor again, destitute. All of the money that Mommy’s other boyfriends had given us, all of the money for our future, that was gone.”

I let out a shaky sigh. “What happened to your mother?” My arms started to go numb and I started rolling around on the bed, trying to massage them with the weight of my body. Talia watched me struggle with an odd look on her face. Her smiles had disappeared and now she looked stormy, like she was about to unleash a massive amount of rage.

“Mommy killed herself,” Talia said simply. A tear ran down her cheek and she didn’t wipe it away. “Mommy killed herself because of your father. And now, I’m going to kill you.”