Angeline tried to snatch the phone from Kane’s hands, wanting nothing more than to howl at him and tell him that if even one curl was out of place, she would rip his heart from his throat and stuff it into his mouth. But Kane held her tighter and spoke in smooth, eerily even tones.
“Where the fuck are you?” Kane asked.
They both heard him take a drag off his smoke, and he only continued after he exhaled. “Not too far gone,” Noel said. “Like not at the bottom of a cliff.”
Angeline gasped, and Kane kept her steady. Somehow Noel knew. Had he been following him from the first moment that he had fled with Ben leading the charge? Was it all just some joke? Some game at their expense?
“Truckers talk,” Noel said. “I figured you’d high tail it back to that sweet piece of ass, and he brought us to where you faked the whole thing. Ditching your jacket was a nice touch. But it didn’t fool me. I know the way you ride, kid.”
Feeling as if she would explode through her skin, Angeline couldn’t wait any longer. She grabbed the phone and screamed, “Where is he you fucker? What are you—”
Her voice came to a halt as the sound of Theo’s cries hit her ears. For the briefest of moments, Angeline was relieved to just know that he was still alive. But he sounded more scared than she had ever hear him, and when the word Mommy started to mingle with his tears, Angeline wished for the power to leap through the phone and collect him in her arms.
“Theo! Baby!”
Kane took the phone again, his jaw clenching as he spoke.
“Give him back, Noel,” Kane ordered. “They have nothing to do with this.”
“Guess we can agree to disagree,” Noel said. “But okay. The cunt can have her brat back if you come home and focus.”
Here was the way out, the fix that he had promised, but Angeline saw him shudder at the prospect of having to go back to the club and Noel’s wrath. He might keep him alive to keep him working, but what kind of a life would it be? Kane as a shell of the swaggering man that had first captured her heart? As much as she wanted Theo back, it seemed too great a price to pay when the crime was hers.
“Fine,” Kane said. “Where do we meet?”
She started to tell him no when he waved her off and started exchanging details. Angeline had to move fast if she was going to make this work, and she disentangled her body from Kane’s arms. Finding her purse, she grasped her cell phone and made her way back to the shattered nursery.
“Dad,” she said. “Here.”
“What’s going on?” Brent asked.
“Call for help, but don’t tell them about Kane or… or my baby.”
Brent’s face shifted into a mask of concern as she bit her lip and wiped the blood from his face.
“Angie?”
“You need to go to the hospital,” she continued. “But just say that we’re out and on our way to you.”
“Is Theo ok?”
“I know how to keep them both safe.”
Hugging her father, she kissed his bruised cheek and ran out of the room. Kane already had her keys in his hand, and he spoke without looking at her.
“I’m taking your car,” he started. “He said that the boys will bring Theo home.”
“And you really believe that?” Angeline asked, as she took his hand.
“I have to,” Kane sighed. “Only way I’m going to get through this.”
He was nearly out the door when she followed after him. “I’m coming with you,” she said.
“No, you’re not!” Kane said, as he took her face in his hands. Their eyes locked, and Kane kissed her passionately, his mouth claiming hers with so much longing that it could only mean the last time. And maybe it was. But she was still going with him.
“He’s my son, and I say how he comes home,” Angeline said.
Kane still seemed reluctant, but when she held his gaze, he stretched up and touched her face.
“You stay close to me,” he ordered. “He doesn’t get to touch you again.”
She nodded, and they hopped into her car.
Kane started to hit the brake as they neared a quiet patch of woods. Noel had been truthful about one thing; he wasn’t too far. Peering through the windshield, she saw three bikes, and she recognized Ben and Waldo as they awaited Kane’s approach. In that moment, her rage was for Ben. Maybe he hadn’t tricked Kane into running away, but he had to have a hand in bringing Noel to her door before they had a real chance.
“I… I don’t see Theo,” she whispered.
Parking the car, Kane told her that she need to stay behind him as he stepped from behind the wheel.
“What the fuck?” Kane said, as he lifted his hands in the air. Angeline stayed at his back as Ben lowered his gun and slowly shook his head.
“Not my call, man,” he muttered. “But he beat Gina bad. So I talked.” Ben stepped forward and hung his head and said, “I’m sorry.”
Angeline knew bits and pieces of Gina’s story, and she disobeyed Kane’s order and stepped forward even as he tried to hold her back.
“But she’s alright?” Angeline asked.
Ben cast Waldo a quick glance before turning his eyes back to her.
“She’ll live,” Ben said, and Angeline was grateful.
More so when Noel appeared from the shadows of the trees, and Theo was only whimpering quietly as he moved towards them.
“You know, in another life, I could have made a real Blood Brother out of this little shit,” he said.
No. Not my son. Not under your watch.
“That is not happening,” Kane said, as Angeline wished that she could have Theo and make all of it a bad dream.
“Cute little bugger though,” Noel laughed.
Angeline’s had to choke back the bile building in her throat when Noel curled his finger across Theo’s cheek. She had never seen her child glare, but he knew enough to be angry now.
Just like his mother.
“Angel! I said—”
She got right up in Noel’s face, as Kane gripped her shoulders.
“Give me my baby, you fucking asshole!” she said.
He seemed amused, high off of their sorrow.
“Boss,” Ben started, “come on.”
Noel spit at him and leered at Angeline. Her plan was already in place. But could she? Could she really do it?
“And what do I get in return?” Noel asked.
Before she could speak, Kane intervened and said, “Give the boy back, and I swear to you that I’ll fall in line.”
“I wonder…”
Noel kept the boy in his arms for as long as possible, but finally he smirked as he handed the boy off. As soon as she felt his body melting into hers, Angeline rejoiced at the feel of him safe, and as Noel listed off the ways in which Kane would have to pay for his transgression, she looked into Theo’s eyes and kissed his cheeks.
“I’m doing this for you,” she whispered. “I started this, now I finish it.”
Just before Kane was led away, Angeline rallied to his side and placed Theo in his confused arms. Then, she grabbed Noel by his collar and stared at him hard. “Take me,” she said.
Every man was confused as Angeline held her ground, and Noel cruelly smirked under his scar as he touched her face.
“Get your fucking hands off of her!”
“Let the bitch speak,” Noel ordered.
Angeline swallowed and glanced over her shoulder. Seeing Theo in Kane’s arms brought her some peace, and she knew that if she could take Kane’s sentence on her shoulders and become Noel’s toy, there was a real chance that he would never come back to Colorado or wherever Kane was able to hide him. However, the thought of what Noel would do with her caused her body to shudder.
But Kane had done his time for her. And now it was her turn.
“If you leave Kane and Theo alone, I’ll be whatever you want.”
Kane handed the boy off to Waldo and charged forward.
“She’s not going with you!” Kane yelled. “I won’t let you!”
Noel hit the back of his head with the butt of his gun. Angeline’s first instinct was to fall and tend to his wounds, but she had to see her plan through. His moans told her that he was still alive, and as she looked back, she saw Theo calming under Waldo’s arms despite the chaos all around him.
She was the chaos, and she needed to go.
“Theo, always remember that I love—”
Noel doubled her over with a swift punch to the stomach, and before she knew what was happening, her body was on the back of his bike and speeding off into the unknown.