I was bouncing on my toes outside the courthouse in excitement. It had been three days since my ordeal and today Cain and the other five Hellhounds were being released from custody.

 

I spent a night in jail while the cops checked my story, but between my crashed car, my detailed description of the inside of the Red Rug Inn, the smashed clock and the cuts on Boyd head, not to mention the testimony of the diners in Sweetpea’s and several witnesses that I wasn’t even aware of in parking lot where I shot the second man, I had been released without charges.

 

It was a little harder getting the Hounds sprung. I had to endure a prolonged and harsh lecture by the judge about calling the police in a kidnapping situation, but in the end my pleading that the Hounds had been coming to rescue me and had saved my life and the life of our child, swayed him and he had granted them bond.

 

The moment Cain appeared, I dashed up the three steps and, once again, flung myself into his arms. He held me tight as I cried into his shoulder, the other five Hellhounds gathering around to thank me for my heartfelt pleading on their behalf. I tucked in tight and walked with Cain and the other Hellhounds to the parking lot where the rest of the Hounds were waiting, along with five motorcycles. Cain would be riding with me in his truck since my car and his hog were damaged beyond operation.

 

I held back as the Hounds greeted each other with hugs and back slaps. I had kept to myself in Cain’s apartment after being released by the police, ashamed and unable to face the club.

 

“I’ll see you at the clubhouse later,” Cain said as the group began to mount up before he turned to me.

 

“I’m sorry,” was all that I could think to say.

 

“Why?”

 

I could tell he was hurt, and I didn’t blame him. All of this was my fault, and we both knew it. “I realize now it was a setup, but I have something to show you. Can we go back to your place?”

 

He looked at me and I could see the anger and pain burning in his eyes. “Yes. But then I think you need to go. I will buy you a plane ticket home, as I promised.”

 

I nodded somberly. I had prepared myself for this and I could feel my tears threaten but they didn’t fall.

 

We drove to his house in silence and I sat down at his computer. “Can you log me in?” When he had, I opened my email and clicked on the link. I stood, moving from in front of the computer without saying a word.

 

Cain looked at me and then sat. He spent a couple of minutes looking at the documents and then looked up at me. “Is this true?”

 

“Sloane said it was.”

 

“And you believed her?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“This proves nothing!”

 

“I know. That’s why I just decided to leave. I didn’t know what to believe anymore.”

 

He turned back to the screen and spent the next forty minutes looking through the documents. He got up and retrieved a flash drive from the bedroom and copied all the files to it before he deleted them from the server.

 

“Let’s go.”

 

“Where?” I asked, suddenly afraid of what he might do.

 

“To get some answers.”

 

We rode in silence until we arrived at the clubhouse. “Cain…I don’t want to go in. This is all my fault.”

 

“Yes it is, but part of being a Hellhound is owning up to your mistakes. Are you a big enough person to walk in there and admit you were wrong?”

 

I started to cry. “I don’t know.”

 

He sat, staring at me, waiting for me to make a choice. I opened the door as I sniffed. “Let’s go.”

 

When we walked in, the party that was underway fell deadly silent. “Why is she here?” Eva asked.

 

“We have some business with Thad,” Cain said. “She’s still my old lady,” he added, his tone making it clear that he would still protect me.

 

“She fucked you, Cain! She fucked us all, and look what it got us!” Cherie snarled. “I liked you, Alex. How could you do this to us?”

 

“I’m sorry,” I said as I looked at my shoes, but then I raised my head. “I’m sorry for all of this. It was all my fault. I didn’t intend for any of this to happen, but…” I stalled, not wanting to outright accuse the club of killing my parents.

 

“The Bulls gave her some documents that makes it appear that we killed her parents about twenty years ago,” Cain finished for me. “It was obviously a play to try to use her as leverage, but the documents appear to be legit.”

 

I held my head up, though I wanted nothing more than to slink out of there with my tail between my legs.

 

“Can we see them?” Thad asked.

 

“Right here,” Cain replied holding up the flash drive.

 

“Come on,” Thad said and Cain and I followed him to his office.

 

Thad looked through the documents. “Why didn’t you bring this to us, Alex?”

 

“Because I was afraid. Afraid if the documents were true and you had killed my parents, you would kill me, too, to keep the secret. But I couldn’t be sure, so I didn’t want to go to the cops either. So I just decided to leave, to go home and forget all about the Hounds.”

 

“And now?” Thad asked.

 

“I don’t know. You risked so much to save me. I don’t know what to think. I’m sorry, Thad. I really am. I wish I could take it all back.”

 

“Is it true?” Cain asked.

 

“Honestly, I don’t know. But I think I know someone who will.” When he rose from behind his desk, I stepped back and lowered my head in guilt, but he pulled me to him and held me. “I’m sorry you had to go through all of this,” he said softly. “We don’t keep secrets from each other, Alex, and it appears that we may be keeping a big one from you.” He released me and I had to grit my teeth to prevent myself from crying. “Let’s see if we can get you some answers.”

 

When we stepped into the main room, all eyes were on us. “This club owes Alex some answers,” Thad said, then paused as he met each person’s eyes. “She should have brought her concerns before the club. She was wrong to not do so, but she’s new and didn’t know. But we’re much more in the wrong. She asked us a simple question, ‘Did we kill her parents?’ and it appears that we may have. This club doesn’t keep secrets from each other. She is one of us, and we may be keeping a secret from her right now. When she asked, I should have dug deeper into it rather than just assuming that she was wrong. Cain and I are going to go and try to find out the truth now.”

 

“And if she is wrong?” Cherie asked, her face hard.

 

“Then she was wrong. We all make mistakes. Her mistake was to not trust us, but of all the mistakes that we have made, that seems pretty low on the list, doesn’t it?”

 

“And if she is right? Are you going to the cops?” Eva asked, staring into my eyes.

 

“No. It won’t bring my parents back, and none of you are guilty. And you gave so much for me. No… I would never do that. I owe you too much to ever turn on you.”

 

I stood my ground, meeting their eyes, until Thad pressed his hand into my back to start me walking. “Let’s get you some answers.”

 

***

 

“What is this place,” Cain asked as we stepped out of his truck.

 

“This is Grapevine Lakes Assisted Living,” Thad said. “Del Kozlowski lives here.”

 

“The founder of the Hounds?” Cain asked in surprise. “I thought he was dead!”

 

“Not dead. Not yet,” Thad said as we stepped up to the door and he rapped on it solidly with his knuckles.

 

“Who is it?” a man’s voice called from inside.

 

“Del? It’s Thad. I want to speak to you a minute.”

 

The door opened and a silver-haired, stoop-shouldered man was standing before us. He appeared to be in his late eighties, and slightly frail, but I could tell that he was once a powerful man. He smiled at Thad and then his eyes went first to me, then to Cain.

 

“Del, this is Cain Rodgers and his old lady. They’re Hounds. Can we talk to you a minute.”

 

Del stepped back and we entered the tiny apartment. There was one central room that functioned as both living and eating area with a small bedroom behind. “It’s good to see you, Thad,” Del said as he settled into a well-worn chair.

 

Cain and Thad took the two chairs, and Cain pulled me gently to sit in his lap.

 

“Del, do you remember about twenty years ago, anything about an investigation into our business?”

 

“Twenty years? That was a long time ago.”

 

“I know, but can you remember anything about it?”

 

“Why do you want to know?”

 

Thad nodded at me. “There was a cop killed about the same time. This is his daughter. She has evidence that he was about to shut us down.”

 

Del looked at me. “What’s your name?”

 

“Alex. Alexandria Bernhardt.”

 

Del continued to look at me. “I remember,” he finally said, never breaking eye contact with me.

 

“Did we do it?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Thad and Cain looked at each other, but said nothing.

 

“It was all fucked up,” Del said slowly. “I sent Griffin and a couple of the new guys to Houston to talk to our guy on the docks. We had gotten wind that the cops were pressuring him. I don’t know how they tracked him down, but they had.” Del continued to look at me. “Your dad, he was a bulldog. When Griffin got there, he found out the guy had turned and he called me, wanting to know what to do.” Del finally broke eye contact with me and looked at Thad. “I told him to kill him. If he talked, we were fucked and the lot of us were going to jail.”

 

“I didn’t know any of this. Why did you keep it from the rest of the club? Why didn’t you tell me about this when I took the chair?” Thad asked.

 

“Because of what happened next. Griffin found out that…what the fuck was that guy’s name?”

 

“Kendrell?” Cain suggested.

 

“Yeah, Kendrell. Before he killed him, Griffin found out that Kendrell had talked to a Dallas cop. Kendrell had the signed papers where he had given his statement and everything.”

 

“So you had him, the cop, killed?” Thad asked.

 

Del looked at me. “No. I never gave the order. I didn’t even know about it until it was done. Griffin came back into town and told me Kendrell was dead. I thought that was the end of it. I didn’t even know about the statement until much later.”

 

“So who killed her father?” Thad asked.

 

“Griffin, and the two others that went with him to talk to Kendrell, Chuck Holly and Jim Peters.”

 

“Jackknife Jim Peters, the President of the Bulls?” Thad asked loudly.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“What the fuck?” Cain muttered.

 

“Griffin decided that he would handle the problem of the cop himself. I don’t know if he knew I would never give the okay to kill a cop or what, but after the death made the news…he admitted that he had set it up. He was right proud of himself, how he had made it look like an accident.”

 

“How did Jackknife get to the Bulls?” Thad asked.

 

“We had a meeting of the club, just the founding members. The heat was coming down on us. The cops couldn’t prove it was us, but they knew. We took a vote. Holly and Peters were stripped of their colors and expelled for their involvement. Peters joined the Bulls and I don’t know where Holly ended up. He just disappeared.”

 

“Son of a bitch. No wonder the Bulls have it in for us,” Thad said. “What happened to Griffin? Wasn’t he a founding member, too?”

 

“Yes…and I killed him.”

 

I felt Cain stiffen under me. “You killed a brother?”

 

“I had to. I beat him to death myself.” Del looked down as if ashamed of his actions. Perhaps he was. “It was the only way. He stood there and took it for as long as he could. After he was dead, we burned his marks, cut off his fingers, pulled his teeth, and disfigured his face with a hammer. Anything that we thought would lead the cops back to us. Then we dumped the body where it would be found along with a note that said he was the one that had killed the cop.”

 

“Fuck…” Cain whispered.

 

“There was a war coming. The cops, they wouldn’t have stopped. We had to end it.”

 

“And the case my father was building?” I asked, the first time I had spoken since he asked my name.

 

“They had a statement, but no witness, no corroboration, and no hard evidence. It was all hearsay. I guess the DA decided not to pursue charges.”

 

“Del! Why didn’t you tell my any of this?” Thad asked. “You always said the Hounds never kept secrets!”

 

“Because your hands were clean and I wanted them to stay that way. I didn’t want our stain to remain with the club. I was getting old. My brothers were killing cops without my knowledge. I knew then it was time for a change. That is why I started grooming you for the chair.”

 

Thad looked at me. “I’m sorry, Alex. I didn’t know.”

 

Before I could answer Del took my hand. “I’m sorry, too. I didn’t know what happened to you or I would have tried to make it right. I couldn’t bring back your parents, but I avenged them in the best way that I could. It’s ironic that you, the daughter of the last man we killed, should join the Hellhounds. Can you find it in your heart to forgive an old man?”

 

I held my tongue, not telling him that I was responsible for so many deaths at the hands of the Hellhounds. That stain was on me. I leaned forward and pulled Del into a hug. “I can,” I whispered as I held him.