32
I wake up at 6:00 a.m., after having the worst broken sleep ever. Walker woke up every two hours wanting to feed, and I feel the exhaustion down to my bones. I’m surprised with a visit from Katie, her son, David, in her arms.
“How are you doing?” she asks me softly, smiling down at Walker. “He’s so big and beautiful.”
“Yeah, he’s a little on the big side, isn’t he,” I grumble, the ice pack in my panties reminding me of that fact every time I move around a little.
She sits down on the chair next to my bed. “They said I can go home tomorrow, if I like. Did anyone manage to get in touch with Shovel?”
“Yes,” I say, yawning and rubbing my eyes. “He called Gage last night and Gage told him the good news.”
“Oh, good,” she whispers. Glancing down at the baby in her arms. “This is the first time he’s stopped crying all night. Do you think something is wrong with him? The doctors say he is fine, but I don’t know, I just get this feeling . . . I’ve been reading up on fetal alcohol symptoms, and with many of them, such as hyperactivity, hearing and vision problems, and a slow rate of growth, I won’t be able to tell for a while. He could have something wrong with him right now, and I won’t even know. I don’t know what to do.”
“Trust what the doctors say,” I tell her gently. “I’m sure he’s fine, Katie. He looks healthy. I’m sure you have nothing to worry about. If you’re concerned I’m sure the doctors will ask you to stay longer so they can keep an eye on the both of you just to make sure.”
“That might be a good idea,” she agrees, eyes going back to Walker. “It’s so crazy that we both went into labor at the same time.”
“I know,” I say, grinning. “Guess these two get to grow up together, huh?”
She nods quickly. “Yeah. Like brothers. I’m going to get a juice, do you want one? Or some snacks or something? They’ve got heaps of stuff in the mini kitchen thing.”
“A juice would be perfect,” I tell her.
She nods and heads off to the kitchen, returning a minute or so later with a glass of juice, some fruit, and toast on a tray. “Here you go.”
“Thanks,” I say, taking the tray from her.
All of a sudden, in a quick movement I don’t see coming, Katie moves to my side and stabs something into my arm. I glance down at it, then back at her. She’s starting to blur.
“Wh-what the fuck?” I stutter, trying to stay awake.
I call out, but I don’t know if anyone can hear me, and I don’t know if my sounds can be heard.
I wake up knowing: something is very, very wrong.
You know when your instincts kick in, and you just have this gut feeling that something is not right.
That female intuition.
I never ignore mine.
I quickly sit up, feeling like I’ve been run over by a truck, my eyes quickly darting to Walker’s cot, where he’s still fast asleep. I exhale slowly, my body on alert for some reason, my mind fuzzy and clouded. It’s like my fight instincts have suddenly kicked in, except I don’t know what for. I don’t know what happened, and I don’t even remember falling asleep. When I check the time, it’s seven fifty, so I pull my breast out and get ready to feed the little monster.
When I pick him up though, I realize that something is very, very wrong.
Because it’s not Walker I’m holding in my arms.
And then I remember.
Katie.
The needle.
I scream.
Knuckles had arrived early, just like he said he would, but they hadn’t let him into my room just yet. When he heard my scream though, he came running in like a bat out of hell.
“What’s wrong?” he asks, eyes darting between me and the baby in the cot.
“Knuckles,” I say, running to him and grabbing onto his shirt. “Something happened. That’s not him. It’s not him. We need to find him, now.”
“What do you mean?” he asks, dark eyes filling with confusion and panic.
It hits me that Katie was in here earlier.
She must have taken him.
Is that David in the cot right now?
“Call the men and tell them to find Katie now,” I bark at him, and without question, he rings all of his brothers. When he’s on the phone to Gage, he says to me, “Gage wants to know why.”
“She kidnapped Walker,” I tell him. “We need to find her.”
“What do you mean?” he asks me, ending the call and going over to the cot. When he picks the baby up, I can see the harsh realization dawn on his face. “Wh-what? Katie?”
I glance down at my arm, near the inside of my elbow. “She injected me with something,” I cry, now realizing that this must have been her plan all along. I bend down and pick up Walker’s ID bracelet that she must have cut off. I look to David, who isn’t wearing his, so she must have somehow put David’s tag on Walker.
She did keep saying how worried she was about David’s health, and kept comparing her pregnancy to mine, her son to mine, herself to me. She must have thought that David was unwell, or her drug abuse did something to him, I don’t know why she did it, and right now, I don’t care. That fucking bitch.
She clearly is mentally ill and has something wrong with her, but I have no sympathy for her right now. How can I? I was nice to her from the start, and treated her like my own family, and this is what she does in return? She’s fucking crazy, and I’m not going to rest until my son is back in my arms where he belongs. And Katie? She has to get the help she needs.
They say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned . . .
They haven’t seen the fury that comes from a mother trying to protect her children.
There are no boundaries I won’t cross, and nothing I wouldn’t do.
She fucked with the wrong mother.
I’ve never seen Knuckles so angry before, and I know that this is the old Knuckles, the one who used to get off on fighting and was so good at it he made a reputation out of it. He rages quietly at first, but then starts to punch the wall. When a doctor comes in to see what all the noise is about, Knuckles grabs him by the neck and pins him to the wall. It’s me who has to make him let go.
“A woman has come in here and took our son,” I explain to him. “Is there video footage, or something we can see to check what time she left? We need anything to go on right now.”
Everything after that is a blurred rush.
The police are called.
Surveillance is checked, proving my theory. She walked right out of here with my son.
The MC uses all their resources to try to find her, and Shovel is contacted to see if he can help in any way, maybe he knows of a place she would run to, any bit of information helps.
Erin runs up to me, crying, and hugs me so tightly that I can’t breathe.
I don’t want to breathe, not without my baby.
I go into shock, and the hospital staff have to pin me down.
I try to fight them off.
And in all of this, I feel sorry for the little soul, the one left in the cot, the one who no one seems to want right now.
David.
Last I saw he was in Rogue’s arms, so at least he is being cared for.
“Walker!” I scream out, just as they give me a needle. “Where are you?!”
Then all I see is black, and all I know is emptiness.
As soon as my eyes are open, I yell out his name, the pain in my voice so raw. Labor couldn’t make me scream out, but the thought of losing my son can.
“Ssshhh, it’s okay,” Knuckles says, holding me in his arms. “It’s over. We found him; it’s okay.”
“What?” I ask, my voice cracks from yelling so much. “You found him?”
He nods, swallowing hard, the relief in his eyes unmistakable. “Gage found him. He’s safe.”
“Where is he?” I ask, big teardrops falling from my eyes. “Where is he, Knuckles?”
“Gage is bringing him here right now. Katie was at her parents’ house, packing her things and getting ready to leave town. Shovel gave us the address, and luckily Gage made it there before she could leave. The police are arresting her as we speak, and Gage is riding with Walker in the back of an ambulance to the hospital,” he explains, as I try to piece it all together in my head.
“Is he okay? Why is he in an ambulance?”
“He’s fine, they just wanted to run a few tests, but Gage is with him and he won’t let anything happen to him, so don’t worry, Kitty, it’s over now.”
He rocks me back and forth while I cry in relief.
This whole incident could have had a completely different ending, and the thought scares me so much because I probably would have ended up in prison, and that’s the truth.
Never in a million years would I have been able to let this go, to be one of those strong parents who forgive.
I’d never have forgiven.
Ever.