Absolution (Road Kings MC And Underworlds 1)

I didn’t know where my son was, or even if he was okay. And I couldn’t get to him or his aunt without jeopardizing the safety of my other son.

Walker was still crying, so I numbly did my best to settle him down as I stared at the screen, hoping to see Hendrix moving around in amongst the cushions.

Looking blindly around the room for something—anything—to help me fix the situation, I stopped on the phone and patted down my pockets.

I had my gun, but I’d left my cell on the counter in the bathroom, and I didn’t know people's numbers off by heart because they were all there stored in the damn device.

A man like Taras would have numbers saved on the phone in the panic room, though. So I snatched it out of the cradle, and frantically hit buttons on it.

Sure enough, there was a list of people on it.

Tearily, I held Walker against my chest, and buried my face in his neck. I needed to calm down so I could talk, or whoever got the call wouldn’t understand a word I was saying.

How did a mother calm down when one of her kids was either missing or dead, and all she could see was her best friend’s body?

God, Lena.

If she was injured, she needed medical help, and if Hendrix was down there, he needed it as well. So I had to get my shit together.

“Your daddy will know what to do, baby.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Taras

“Taras,” Yakov said, holding a phone out to me. “Simeon for you.”

I’d left Simeon and Zoran behind with my family today, and we’d been calling them since we found out about the explosion, but no one answered any of the phones.

Nell wasn’t answering, Lena wasn’t answering… No one. Was fucking. Answering.

Calm, Taras. They’re doing their jobs making sure the women and babies are okay. They can’t answer when they’re doing that. Speak to Simeon and get some fucking answers before you lose it.

Grabbing the phone out of his hand, I snapped, “What do you have? My family, are they okay?”

“Penny’s in the panic room upstairs with one of the boys,” he rasped, his voice barely audible over the mayhem going on around him.

Smoke alarms were beeping, people screaming and yelling, the sounds of things falling. And then there were sporadic gunshots.

Yeah, it was mayhem, and my kids and woman were inside it.

“Ribeiro got them to dig a tunnel from the old cabin in Laidlaw’s woods to under the house, Simeon. That’s what we were missing.”

“Blyad’,” he swore, just as three shots went off near him. “I’m back.”

I could hear him moving over what sounded like bricks as they hit each other. “I think they’re going to force the Road Kings and us to hand over the routes to him. Maybe even—”

The shots that cut me off this time sounded like they’d come from right next to him, but it was the deep voice yelling that got my attention.

“Lena, wake up! Simeon, she’s not fucking moving and I can’t find the baby. They were in here, I saw them on the monitor in the other room before the explosion,” Hunter roared. “My sister’s upstairs, but—”

“This guy,” Simeon barked. “He doesn’t have him?”

“He was standing over her, pointing his gun at her head when I shot him. He doesn’t have jack.”

“Taras, there’s another call,” Stefan murmured from the front, him and Yakov looking at each other uneasily. “It’s the Pakhan.”

Dad.

Snatching the phone out of his hand, I answered it, just as we pulled over to the side of the road and the door opened.

“Who’s he talking to?” Dmitri growled, holding a phone out. “I’ve got a call for him.”

Not even waiting for the door to be shut properly, Yakov started off again once Dimi had most of his body inside the vehicle.

Hitting the speakerphone icon, I put the phone on the seat between us. “Lena’s unconscious from the sounds of it, one of the boys is missing, and Simeon says Nell’s in the panic room with the other baby. Dmitri just got in the car with his phone—” I looked questioningly at him.

“It’s Bruce. He’s just arrived at the house, and has five detained.”

“I’ve told him to stow them,” Dad snapped down the line. “Nell called from the room. She’s got Walker in there with her, but she can’t see Hendrix on any of the cameras.”

“Simeon,” I said into the phone I was still holding, hitting the speakerphone icon on it now. “I have you and the Pakhan on speakerphone, and Dmitri’s putting the Road Kings on, too. I want you to look under everything for Hendrix. If Lena’s stable, get Hunter to help.”

I heard the loud crunches as he walked over debris. “The couches, one second.”

I held my breath as we waited for an answer, hearing more noises as he lifted them to look underneath.