Lynch's Rule (Ruthless Sinners MC 9)

"That's exactly what we should do." Hawk gave me a pat on the shoulder. "Good thinking, brother."

Hawk took out his phone and dialed Menace's number. As soon as he answered, he filled him in on the situation, then waited as Menace tried to locate her phone. Firemen continued to work feverishly to get the fire out while we all stood there in the street waiting for Menace to give us some idea of what happened to Sophie.

Unfortunately, he wasn't much help.

After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, Hawk finally grumbled, "You gotta be fucking kidding me. That’s all the way across town."

Hawk was silent for a moment, then said, “Good deal. Thanks, brother.”

As soon as Hawk hung up the phone, Jagger roared, "What? Did he find her? Does he know where she is?"

"He was able to ping her phone," Hawk huffed. "He's about to text me the address."

We all waited with bated breath for the message to come through on Hawk's phone. As soon as he hung up, he looked down at the address and asked, "You got any idea why she'd be over by Riverfront Park?"

"No fucking clue.”

“Then, I guess it’s time we find out."

Jagger nodded, then turned and started for the SUV. We all followed, and moments later, we were on our way to Riverfront Park. There wasn't much to the place—just a large grassy area and walkway next to the Cumberland River. Folks use it for open-air concerts and various events, but I had no idea what Sophie would've been doing there at this time of day.

None of us did.

As soon as we pulled up, we all parked and started looking around.

Nothing seemed to be out of the norm.

It was a beautiful afternoon, and people were out enjoying the weather.

Several were strolling along the bank while others were sitting on the steps. I hoped one of them might be Sophie, but sadly, she was nowhere to be found. After searching every inch of the place, Jagger threw his hands up in the air and shouted, “Where the fuck is she?”

“I have no idea, brother. It doesn’t make any sense.” Hawk immediately called Menace. He turned on the speaker, then said, “She’s not here.”

“She has to be,” Menace argued. “I’m sitting here looking right at her location on the map. She’s right on the edge of the water.”

“Sorry, brother, but you got your wires crossed or something.”

“I’m texting you the exact coordinates. Use them to find her.”

Once Hawk got the coordinates, we followed them over to the bank. After a little maneuvering, Hawk was able to move to the exact location Menace had sent.

That’s when we spotted the cell phone resting on top of the rocks.

Jagger sounded absolutely gutted as he bent down and picked it up. After studying it for a moment, he shook his head and muttered, “It’s hers. Goddamn it! It’s hers.”

“Does this mean what I think it means?” Fritz asked.

“I know it doesn’t look good”—Hawk shook his head— “but this isn’t the time to jump to conclusions.”

Jagger was on the brink of losing it when he growled, “There’s only one conclusion to be made.”

“Don’t worry, brother. We’ll find her,” Shotgun assured him.

“Damn straight, we will.” Everyone in the park stopped and stared at Jagger as he turned to them and roared, “You fucked with the wrong man! When I find you, and I promise I will find you, you’re as good as dead!”

RAELYN

"Why don't you tell me a little about this fella you're seeing?"

"What?" My mouth dropped as I looked across the table at my beautiful, precious, loving, but impossibly nosy mother. "How did you know?"

"You can just call it mother's intuition." Mom always had a way of knowing things. I could never keep a secret from her, which drove me nuts. She may not have been my biological mother, but our connection was just as strong. She smiled warmly, then added, "I knew the second you walked in. You're practically beaming."

"I am not beaming," I argued.

"You are! In fact, I can't remember the last time I’ve seen you look this happy."

I relaxed back in the chair and gave her a playful scowl. "So, you're saying I can't be happy without a man?"

"Oh, stop." Her smile grew even wider as she gave me a little nudge. "You know I don't think that. I just—"

"I know," I admitted. "I'm just messing with you. I have been seeing someone."

"I knew it." Looking excited like a kid at Christmas, Mom leaned forward and said, "You have to tell me all about him!"

"Well, his name is Conor, and I've never met anyone like him."

I went on to tell her all about our whirlwind romance, including how we'd met and that Conor was a member of the Ruthless Sinners. I was concerned she might disapprove of him belonging to such a notorious MC, but she didn't bat an eye and even asked, "When do we get to meet him?"