Adam took a deep breath before stepping out of his car. The Kane mansion had turned into a biker rally as the members of Scarred Angels cheered their success. Adam knew he needed to talk to them, needed to tell them good job, but his ribs were screaming. The accident had slammed him against his seatbelt and he was sure he had re-broken a rib. It hurt to move, but not enough that Adam was going to miss this to go to the hospital.

 

“You all right, boss?” Joey asked, leaning into the driver’s side window.

 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Adam said wincing as he stepped out of the car and stood up. “Gentleman!” he cried to the assembled crowd. “Today was a good day. We did well and did what we were hired to do. Now everyone will know, when you hire Scarred Angels you get the best!” a cheer went out around the assembled men. “Now get out of here before we ruin this neighborhood.”

 

The men laughed as bikes roared around him and one by one the men not assigned headed back to the city.

 

Adam sighed as he turned to the Kane mansion. It felt so different from the first time he had spied it from his motorcycle. Back then, the mansion had seemed like a ludicrous display of wealth. It still was that, of course, but it was so much more now. It was where he had first met Dakota, first been with her. It wasn’t so imposing anymore, he knew his way around the mansion itself and the grounds, and it felt familiar to him, no longer so intimidating. He passed his Uncle Bill as he walked out of the mansion and towards his bike.

 

“How you feeling?” Bill asked him.

 

“A little sore, but I’ll survive.”

 

“Everything’s set up in there, guys on detail. You don’t need to stay; you should go home and rest.”

 

“I will,” Adam said. He felt his uncle’s heavy hand come to rest on his shoulder. It was a comforting gesture and Adam was grateful for it. Inside the house quiet fell as the members of Scarred Angels not assigned to duty all went home. The quiet felt strange after what had just happened, but it calmed Adam, made him tired. It had been a long twenty-four hours, but he couldn’t do anything until he saw Dakota.

 

He made his way towards John’s room, passing the nurse and the new live-in housekeeper and finally Dakota herself who closed the door to her father’s room quietly.

 

“Hi,” she said, smiling at him. “How are you? I heard there was an accident.”

 

“There was, but I had my seatbelt on, so I’m okay,” Adam said.

 

Dakota walked towards him, a worried look on her face. She pressed her palm lightly to his chest and looked up into his eyes. “Your ribs were already broken from the fight. Are they worse now? Should you go to the hospital?”

 

“I’m fine,” Adam said, taking her hand in his, relishing in the warmth of her.

 

“I think I should probably stay here tonight,” she said. “I don’t want my dad to feel alone.”

 

“I understand,” Adam said. “You need your rest, too. We were out all night.”

 

Dakota stood on her tiptoes and kissed Adam gently, her hands by her side, avoiding the sore places that stretched across his chest. Her hand lingered in his, as they walked to the front entrance. Dakota kissed him one last time before he opened the door into the bright sunshine of the afternoon.

 

He left her in her mansion, assured that she would be kept safe. Joey and Bill were waiting in the car for Adam who gingerly got into the backseat. They traveled down the lane away from Kane mansion and back towards the city. As they drove, Adam thought about the man they had captured. An ambulance had taken the attacker to the hospital in handcuffs. He regretted that he hadn’t been able to interrogate the assassin himself. He could have gotten him to talk, made the man spill all of his secrets. But that was the darker part of him, the part of him that worked for mob bosses and drug dealers. Adam had put that side of him away a long time ago. It was better the attacker was in police custody, and he might still talk. The DA might offer a deal, anything could happen; now all Adam could do was wait and hope the assassin named his employer.

 

But it wasn’t easy for a man like Adam Mendel to wait and hope. He was a man who went after what he wanted. He had taken Scarred Angels from an underground illegal organization to a legit operation that protected billionaire heiresses and did it successfully and none of that had been accomplished by waiting. They had stopped the attacks, but more would come unless they found out who was paying for them. It was like playing Whack-a-Mole; assassins and attackers would keep popping up until they found out who was offering the money.

 

As he drifted off to sleep in the back seat, Adam had to admit that the best thing that could happen to the Kanes would be for them to leave. They needed to run and hide, to find a safe place where they couldn’t be found. But then I would never see Dakota again, Adam thought to himself. In order to keep her safe, he would have to send her away. Adam Mendel was strong, everyone said so, but he didn’t think he would be strong enough to do that.