Chelsea (The Club Girl Diaries Book 2) (8 page)

“I pinkie promise,” I murmured, hooking my little finger around hers.

We smiled at each other for a minute before she jumped up and launched herself into her father’s arms. He caught her with complete ease. “To the playground!”

I pushed myself off the floor as they walked to the door.

“Three days. That’s all you get.” Our eyes met and I could see the warning that was laced in his stare. “You pinkie promised.”

With that, he was gone. His deep voice and the echo of a five-year-old’s giggles moving down the hallway until I could no longer hear them.

So I ran.

“Still making the club whores cry I see.” Sugar leaned against the pole of the swings as I pushed Harlyn gently. I glanced over my shoulder to see Chelsea packing her bag into her car. I turned away before I got the urge to run over and ask her to stay.

It was better this way. If we were being watched then hopefully they would think she was unimportant—letting her leave without someone to watch her.

What she and everyone else didn’t know was that there was someone watching her. Kit had already sent one of his boys, Lift, to tail her all the way to Troy. The kid was good and I knew she’d be safe.

“They know what they’re getting into when they come here.”

“That’s not a
‘kicked puppy’
look. That look is more like a puppy that you took home, played with, named, fed and then threw off a bridge a week later.” I glared at her, but she just stared me down. Sugar was sweet and soft and caring, but the girl was strong.

“It’s complicated,” I muttered as I pushed softly against Harlyn’s back.

I could see her frowning at me through the corner of my eye. She was studying me. “Oh, Optimus. Not again.”

I stopped the swing as Harlyn jumped off and ran toward the jungle gym. I followed after her hoping to avoid Sugar, but she shadowed me the whole way.

“Don’t do it.”

I folded my arms across my chest. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“The reason you bought us here. There’s something big going down isn’t there?” She pulled at the sleeves of her sweatshirt, tugging them over her hands.

“You know I can’t talk to you about it. But yeah, it’s pretty damn big.” I could see the wheels in her head moving as she put together piece by piece just what was happening.

I felt her hand on my arm. “Don’t push her away.”

My body stiffened. “I’m doing what I have to do to protect my family.”

“And how did that work out for you last time, Op?” The strike was low and she knew it.

I growled and turned on her. “You and Harlyn are still alive aren’t you?”

She scoffed and met my gaze head on. “Yeah, congratulations! Because of what you did our relationship fell to pieces and you see your daughter once a year. Good work.”

“You never wanted to be a part of the club anyway,” I accused, jabbing my finger at her. “You’re the one who wanted out, refusing to come home.”

She looked hurt for a moment before shaking it off. “You pushed us out and you pushed us so far away, it hurt. And after everything that happened with your dad, I was young, pregnant and scared,” she sighed, “there was no coming back after that.”

“I did what I had to do to protect you and my daughter,” I muttered, watching as my beautiful girl scaled the climbing frame like a pro.

“No,” she whispered. “You made a mistake that hurt all three of us.”

I couldn’t look at her. Sending her away with my child had been one of the hardest decisions I’d ever had to make. She was right. I knew it wouldn’t have worked between me and Sugar, but I could have done more to fight for them, I could have kept them safe and been more involved in Harlyn’s life.

I’d made a mistake.

“And now you’re about to make it all over again,” Sugar said as she stared up at our little girl. “Except this time, she won’t have a reason to keep you in her life.”

“Daddy, catch me!” I moved under the jungle gym just as Harlyn threw herself off the top and into my arms. The girl had no fear. She had absolute trust in me. She knew I would catch her.

“Come on. Let’s go get some lunch,” I told her as I brushed her wavy hair back from her eyes.

“Daddy?”

“Yeah, baby girl.”

“Are we going to get a puppy?”

This child doesn’t miss a thing. I needed to remember that.

I spent the day with Harlyn until around 3:00 p.m. when she crashed out on the sofa in my room while we were watching a movie.

Harlyn was smart.

I knew I’d have to watch what I said and did around her because she picked up on everything, even the moods of the people around her.

There was a sharp banging on my bedroom door. I shuffled Har so she was now laying down across the sofa instead of propped up against me, and quickly moved to answer before they started banging again and woke her up.

Ham stood there, his foot tapping. “Prez, we need you outside now.”

It was the first time I’d seen him look nervous, even through all the hazing and shit the boys had thrown at him. “What’s going on?”

“Coupla big Italian guys in suits are waiting at the gate to speak with you. Blizzard’s already heading out there.”

Fuck.

“Find Sugar, tell her to go to my room and wait with Harlyn,” I said as I pushed past him and jogged down the hallway.

I was curious to hear what these guys had to say. They hadn’t come in guns-a-blazing and that for me was suspicious to begin with.

Blizz met me at the door and I made sure I had my pistol tucked in the back of my pants.

“Prospect!” I called into the room behind me. Neil popped up from behind the bar with bottles tucked under his arms and in his hands, obviously restocking. “Round up all the girls and tell them to go to their rooms and stay there until a club member comes to get them.”

“Yes, Prez,” he called followed by clanging bottles and heavy footsteps.

“This could turn to shit very quickly,” Blizzard said as we marched toward the front gates of the compound.

“Honestly, how much more to shit could things get at this point?” I said dryly.

“Bullet-between-the-eyes shit?”

“Did you text, Kev?”

“Yeah, he’s on his way up there.”

There were some large industrial buildings that were spotted around the edges of the compound. We had sensors in them so we’d know if anyone was in them watching us, but they provided the perfect vantage point for our men if anything like this were to happen.

I stepped through the small opening of the gate.

Slider and Wrench stood stoic on the other side, staring down the sharply dressed men who stood next to a large Mercedes. Our third prospect stood just behind them, trying to imitate their stance, but it was quite clear that his hands were shaking.

“What can I do for you?” I asked sharply as I stepped in front of my men, Blizzard right at my side as always.

One of the men stepped forward but didn’t answer. His hair was dark and slicked back and his dark shades hid his eyes. He stared at me for a moment before reaching out for the door handle of the car. The man that climbed out was so cliché that if I didn’t know how deadly he was, I would have almost laughed. He had a black turtle neck shirt underneath a dark gray suit that was perfectly creased. A light black shadow shaded his jaw and around his mouth were specks of gray that matched the color of his hair.

He took a deep toke of the cigar that hung between his fingers before flicking it at my feet as he exhaled. I watched it bounce on the asphalt, the smoke soon reaching my nose and causing me to screw up my face.

“You are Optimus?” His Italian accent was thick to the point where I wondered if he actually spoke fluent English.

I broadened my stance slightly and folded my arms across my chest. “I am, and you are?”

He nodded. “Anthony DePalma.”

“What can I do for you?”

He shot me a dark smile. “I am looking for my son, Kenneth DePalma.”

I scratched at my chin with my hand. “Sorry, don’t know anyone by the name Kenneth.”

“Isn’t there a guy who works at the hardware store in town called Kenneth?” Blizzard offered with a snap of his fingers.

Anthony’s smile didn’t falter. “I believe he joined your club, you may know him as Target,” he continued, his eyes refusing to even acknowledge my brother but instead staying glued to me.

“Can’t help you there. Target hasn’t been around for a while now,” I told him with a shrug.

His eyes drilled through me, I wasn’t even sure he was blinking, but I didn’t waiver. I wasn’t scared of this asshole.

He hummed and pulled on the cuffs of his suit jacket. “Well, that is a shame.”

“If you say so. I’m not really too disappointed myself. He was kind of ugly anyway.”

“Yeah, he reminded me one of those animals,” Blizzard tapped his head like he was fighting to remember, “What is it called again?”

I stared straight into Anthony DePalma’s eyes. “A rat.”

“That’s it!”

The smile dropped from his face instantly and I was met with a hard glare. This man was used to people cowering at his feet. He practically owned the east coast and seemed like he was looking to expand, and the Brothers by Blood were at the top of his hit list.

The DePalma family had their fingers in almost every type of organized crime that you could think of. Drugs, guns, prostitution, contract killing—if it was illegal then they were in some way involved. They had plenty of competition from others, the Russians, the Irish and other street gangs, but for some reason they’d chosen to come after my club. If that wasn’t a declaration of war then I didn’t know what was.

“I believe you misunderstood. It’s a shame for you that I
will
have to hold your club responsible for my missing son.”

“Maybe Kenneth got sick of his daddy being up his ass all the time and decided he needed a break.”

“Do you know who I am?”

I didn’t speak, but he knew the answer—of course, I did.

“I have a lot of resources at my disposal. My reach is a lot further than that of your club.”

“Yet you still chose to come after us, well before your precious son went missing.”

He sneered at me, his composure falling. “You hurt my family, and where I come from there’s only one way to rectify that. Blood for blood.” He straightened his suit jacket, his face relaxing as he took a step back toward his car. His little minion quickly pulled the door open for him. “I will be in touch very soon. You can count on that.”

I didn’t speak, but we watched silently as the car pulled away from the curb.

“Well, that was enlightening,” Wrench scoffed.

“Call church,” I ordered sharply. “We need information and a plan. Target must have left a clue somewhere.”

My men quickly scattered and I pulled my phone from my back pocket, dialing a number and holding it to my ear.

“What’s up, brother?” Kit answered.

“She there?”

He laughed. “Yeah man, she’s here. Her and Harms haven’t left the bedroom since she arrived.”

I sighed in relief and pulled at my hair in frustration. “Good. I’ve just had a house call from Anthony DePalma.”

“Any clue as to what’s going on yet?” Kit asked, his tone quickly turning serious.

“No, but until we do, you watch her like a hawk,” I told him sternly.

“I will, bro.”

I hung up. I had full faith in my brother.

Kit and I had known each other for a very long time and even though we came from separate chapters, we were basically raised together.

I knew he’d do whatever was needed to be done in order to keep Chelsea safe, but until she was back here with me and in my arms, my anxiety levels would be through the roof.