I don't really care what people think, but Draven, God I don't want him to be a laughing stock in any way.
What will they think? That I slept with him, kept his daughter's a secret, and gave them up while I married another man? That Draven found out, got me back and then our daughter's?
I don't even know what kind of story Draven would spin to make people believe us. There are many out there who will question us. If people did a little digging, they wouldn't find anything, Lydia and Amber don't even have birth certificates. Hank never let me register their births. I never even went to the hospital to get checked out. How in the hell is this ever going to work?
“I want to marry you as soon as possible.” I stroke his handsome face with my fingertips and then my palm. God, I feel so selfish right now, especially after everything Draven has done for me already. “Will we be married before we find Lydia and Amber, do you think?”
“You'd like them there, wouldn't you?”
“I know that's not possible.” I don't want to talk about what won't be. It won't change anything. I was selfish bringing it up. “Brooke and I better get her dress sorted. Maria has something wonderful in mind for the two of them. So she told me.” I giggle.
Brooke, Maria, and little Jessica are going to be my bridesmaids. Hammer, Draven's best man. The whole wedding is already sorted, apart from the bridesmaid’s dresses, we were just waiting for the whole divorce thing to be sorted so we could set a final date.
Now it is, we can get married as soon as Draven wants us to. There's just one thing more I need to know right now.
“Draven, how are we going to sort Lydia and Amber's birth certificates? And what the hell are we going to tell people?”
“Do you trust me, Marnie?” I smile and nod my head in honesty. I do trust him, more than I've ever trusted anyone in my life. “Then leave it all to me, baby girl. It's all in hand.” He kisses me softly, and I hug him tightly. “They'll be home soon, beautiful. You'll see.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Draven
Is the gun really necessary?”
“Yes, Sam. The gun is necessary.”
My biker brother decided he'd come with me on this little trip. I could have done this alone, but for some reason, my brother doesn't believe I'll keep my cool, even with a woman. I'm not about to lose my temper with anyone. It's a simple in and out.
Unless the bitch gives me attitude, then something will have to be done about it. No one disrespects me and lives. Not that many disrespect me. I command it, and I get it. If not... well, then you die. Simple.
Choice is yours.
“Was it necessary to bring your brother?” Tank is following on his bike. The man isn't my brother, he’s my cousin thanks to our mother's being twins. Tank is also married to Hammer's wife's sister. So by extension, they're my family also, under my protection.
Since when are filthy bikers and their families under my damn protection? I must be losing the fucking plot, but their kids refer to me as Uncle, and kids are my damned weakness. Don't go thinking I allow anyone to use their kids against me. I'm not as soft as I might be coming across right now. I'm an evil motherfucker who thinks nothing of ending whole families should just one person push me.
Any kids involved, I make sure to find them better homes.
Hey, I'm not a total fucking monster. Close. But not completely.
All right, I'll confess, when I order my men to kill whole families, sometimes that means kids too. Only if they're of age to remember who ended their fucked up parents, uncles, etc. I can't have them growing up and coming for me. It would only end in their deaths anyway, so why prolong the inevitable?
However, more often than not, we find the small kids better homes with families that will love them as their own.
“He's here just in case. As are Jett, Ghost, Wrench, Hawk, and Stryker.”
Jett is my brother-in-law, the man who married my baby sister, big brother to both Hammer and Tank's wives. Ghost is the man I pulled back from death – because I so wanted to kill the cunt – and allowed him to marry Avery. If I didn't, I knew I would lose her, she would have attempted to retake her own life, and I wasn't sure she'd have survived it twice. There's nothing I wouldn't do for Maria and Avery. As much as I tried to keep these bikers away from them, it was God's wish to have them together.
Who was I to stand in the way of that?
Hawk is Marnie's brother-in-law, soon-to-be mine also. Wrench is Hawk's younger brother, and Stryker his older brother, so I'm entwined with these biker fucks no matter how I look at it. They're all following behind us on their bikes. All I damn well need is a convoy of bikers behind me. Like I want to give the wrong impression.
I'm not one of these guys. I'm Don Vidal for Christ's sake!
However, as we're entering a most unsavory neighborhood run by these guys, we should be fine. Yeah, I let the Snakes Henchmen run parts of my town. I don't ordinarily fraternize with bikers and their stupid little clubs. I could wipe them all out if I wanted, but this is my baby brothers club, he was born into it, it's all he knows. Just as the mob is all, I know. My baby sister and cousin married into that club, so it's easier for me to keep them safe by, I suppose you could say, working with them. Even though technically they work for me.
Who the hell in this state doesn't?
Look, if it was a choice between wiping out the whole MC or having my brother, sister, and cousin in my life, there's no choice to be made. I'm the older sibling. I'm the one who would die for either of them.
Don't get me wrong; I'm in charge no matter what the clubs president might like to believe. They do their thing, I do mine, but nothing happens in this city without my say so, bikers or no bikers.
Be that as it may, I shouldn't be complaining about them following me, even though Mafioso don't usually travel with bikers, but I need all the help I can get with this. Plus, I refuse to be ashamed of my brother. He's more of an asset to me than not, and the first person to harm one hair on his head is as good as dead, and I do mean I will personally murder them in the worst way. Not one person would dare go against me.
Hammer may not have grown up with Maria and me, he may be an outlaw biker of the most dangerous kind – which is what makes him an asset to me – but I love the big idiot. I've made sure everyone in this damn city knows what will happen if anything happens to my brother. It pays to be the Boss. Although, with the shit, he gets himself into I'm surprised he's not dead already.
“This is ridiculous.”
“You love me really.” I roll my eyes as Hammer laughs.
I adjust my tie and try not to smirk. “Think yourself lucky that I do. Just remember who's in charge.”
“Yes, big brother.” I roll my eyes at his chuckle.
It wasn't that long ago this man hated the ground I walked on. Hated everything I stood for, and wanted nothing to do with Maria or me. He came around to the idea of me, a mafia boss big brother when I saved his then-pregnant girlfriend's life. It took Maria almost losing her daughter for Hammer to realize having her in his life not all that bad.
He even helped me with this whole divorce thing for Marnie. In fact, it was his idea just to forge that motherfucker’s signature. Of course, I'd thought about it before. It wasn't until I heard Marnie and Brooke talking about the wedding, heard how excited she was, and then how down she sounded when she told Brooke, she was afraid we wouldn't be able to get married before the baby was born, did I decide to go down that route.
Hammer was right, and he's been a smug cunt about it ever since.
However, the second I handed those papers to Marnie and saw her face, that smile when she realized it was real; it was all fucking worth it.
I couldn't believe she thought I'd killed the prick, though. Although I will as soon as I catch him, and I will catch him, bastard can't hide from me forever.
“This is the place, Boss.”
The disgust I feel at the sight of the two-story rundown house to the left of the car is un
believable. This is the place Hank Webster brought his granddaughter's to live? It's one of those dark, dank, filthy shack looking houses. I can only imagine what's on the inside of this place. This isn't the place Marnie described coming to see her little girls. But then, I didn't actually believe she would've been brought to the right place.
I didn't say anything to Marnie about where I was going when I left her this morning. I didn't want to get her hopes up. If I can't find what I'm looking for today, she'd be heartbroken. The only reason these bikers know is that Hammer explained things to them after they insisted they help. All seven men are Lydia and Amber's uncles in one way or another, and those little girls need family, as many members as they can get.
The only other person who knows what we're up to is Nova, Tank's wife. She agreed to take the girl's, including mine, out to lunch. She's then going to take them all back to the MC's clubhouse – not that I want Marnie there, but I need her to be somewhere she feels safe. How she can feel safe, there is beyond me.
Regardless of that, if all goes the way it should, Marnie will be a very happy woman come this evening. All Nova has to do is wait for Tank's call. Once she has it, she'll keep Marnie from leaving.
After telling Tony to wait in the car, and Hammer's men to remain by their bikes, he follows me to the front door. I can do this by myself, but the fool thinks I'm going to start a damn shootout. Only an idiot – which I am not – would start anything in this neighborhood.
As many guards as I have, even a man like me can be taken out if not careful. I am always careful. I have eyes and ears all over this city. Anything happens, I know about it. Nothing happens without my say so. I run a clean city, mainly, I have made sure this is a safe enough place to live. Even if we do still have those few, who think it's okay to run a mock.