Chapter Twelve
“I’m still pissed at you,” Jamie said.
Lewis smiled. “Why?”
“I was really looking forward to hosting this event, and what do I hear of being replaced, huh? I get told in a damn newspaper that one of the country’s most eligible bachelors tied the knot in some quick wedding place in Vegas.” Jamie lifted up the paper in question. The rest of the guys at the Billionaire Bikers MC were laughing.
“Seriously? You really think Mandy or I wanted this big wedding? You were bringing cake to my office. Have you ever thought about becoming a wedding planner? You seem to enjoy that kind of work a lot more than anything else.”
“Bite me.” Jamie tossed the newspaper down and glared.
“Look, it was nothing personal about you or the way you do things. Mandy and I, we just wanted it to be about us, and we got our wish. If you’d like, and I will double-check this with her, we’ll renew our vows just for you.”
“I had picked out the perfect lemon cake. Both of you had liked it, and the buttercream was just divine. I’m upset, and it’s all your fault.”
Lewis didn’t like that he’d upset his friend, but he also couldn’t stop smiling. He was happy. The wedding band on his finger showed to the world that Mandy was his wife. They were also receiving calls from her family, and her brother had also been in touch.
That had been one of the hardest phone calls he’d ever experienced. He hadn’t spoken to her brother in years.
There was no way they were ever going to be friends. Too much had been said, and a lot of time had passed. When Lewis had begged for his help, her brother had slammed him against the wall, sucker-punched him, and told him to let it go. There was no way that she was ever going to be found.
It was a memory that had stayed with him for a long time.
Just another realization to add to the long list that no one was looking.
“Shall we get back to business now?” Russ said. “Congratulations on your marriage. I know this happiness has been a long time coming for both of you.”
Lewis nodded. “Thank you.” It had been a long time coming.
“Right, we have a problem,” Russ said. He had a folder, and he slid it down to Lewis. “This came in while you were getting married, but we waited for you.”
Lewis took the folder, flicking it open. There was a picture of Robert Jones inside a warehouse. “This isn’t real,” he said.
The picture was clear. Several women were chained to walls with gags over their mouths.
“It’s not one of your warehouses, Lewis,” Blake said.
“It’s not possible for it to be mine. I have them all on my security detail.” He went over the pictures.
“This is a trap,” Russ said.
Looking up at his friend, he saw that Russ was speaking seriously.
He went back to staring at the pictures, and his stomach rolled. There was a young girl there. She looked similar to Mandy, and he knew this was a challenge.
“Your security only works if someone is monitoring it.”
Lewis didn’t like that judgment. “Do you really think I’d slack in that department? Every single one of my warehouses is guarded. I have security footage, and none of them have been compromised. I’m guessing this is from one of the warehouses I couldn’t get. Someone snapped it up before me. A private investor.”
Lewis didn’t like this. The warehouses were going to be safe havens, not places to store women as if they were property or cattle to be used. This was a deliberate taunt. He couldn’t acquire this particular warehouse, and now they were storing women and girls there.
Anger began to build once again inside him. It had been dormant for so long he’d forgotten the rage that would often flood him, making it next to impossible to think straight. All he wanted to do was kill. Every single one of these bastards had hurt Mandy, and now they were taking women and girls in his city and storing them on his turf. That shit was not going to happen.
“What else do we know?”
“That Elijah wants Mandy dead,” Blake said.
“This is not really news. We’ve been aware of it for some time,” Lewis said.
Jamie leaned forward. “I don’t like this one bit. Something stinks here, and I have a feeling this is a trap to lure us there.”
“Then we tell our informant. At least we get rid of Robert,” Lewis said. He stared at the photographs, knowing he’d love a few minutes alone with this fucker.
He wasn’t going to get it, but he could hope. “We can’t just do nothing.”
“We don’t want to do nothing,” Blake said. “This is a test. I don’t want us to fuck this up either.”
“Do you think that he’s trying to get us there so that he can take Mandy?” Lewis wasn’t going to let his woman close to that monster again.
“It’s possible.”
“Then give this information to the informant. As much as I’d love to wipe that smirk off Robert’s face, I want him locked up. You’ve heard the rumors of what they do to cops inside. Let’s see if he can work his way out of that.”
He was sentencing the man to guaranteed torture and possible death, but he didn’t care. This fucker had laughed at Mandy and thought it was funny for her to be trained.
Lewis despised any man who worked off of others’ fear. They may not get every single man in the trafficking line. They were all over the world, and it was impossible to wipe out an entire mindset. Every single person he came into contact with, he wanted them gone.
****
Mandy went back to school, and even though she thought it to be a waste of time, she did it. This was a freedom that had been taken from her, and instead of hating it, she was going to enjoy it. The professor was boring, but she had come to realize that he taught the subjects so often it was probably all mundane to him by now.
She’d never wanted to be a teacher. There was no way she wished to command a roomful of students. By the end of the day, she was still confused by algebra and hated history. She often wondered if she hated history because of her own.
Either way, there was no fighting it anymore.
At three she left the college grounds, and paused as she saw Lewis leaning against his car. Normally her guard for the day was waiting for her. He didn’t lurk in the hallways as Lewis originally wanted. She didn’t want a guy hanging around her every second of every day. That would only remind her of the life she’d been rescued from. She didn’t want to be a prisoner, and Lewis had listened to her. A guard was on the campus at all times, but he kept his distance.
Smiling, she rushed toward him and threw herself into his arms, not caring that the books she’d been holding were now on the ground.
“I’ve missed you,” she said.
“I can tell, baby.” He swung her around and pressed her against the car. This was the first time in weeks they didn’t have the press rushing at them. Another big scandal had hit the newspapers, and they were saved.
He slammed his lips down on hers, and Mandy sighed, melting against him as her body heated up once again.
“I love you,” he said.
Opening her eyes, she stared at the man of her dreams. “I love you, too.”
Lewis glanced around them and chuckled. “We’re causing a few curious stares.”
She hadn’t even noticed. “I only care about you.”
He opened the door for her, and as she went to grab her books he shook his head. “I’ll do it.”
Mandy didn’t argue as she figured he wanted to do this. Climbing into his car, she held out her hands for the books, waiting for him to join her.
Once he was behind the wheel, he pulled a folder out of the compartment in the driver’s side door.
“What is this?” she asked. The moment she flicked it open, Lewis didn’t need to tell her any more. It was pictures of captured women and girls being guarded by that monster. There was a girl, no more than ten, being locked up as well. Seeing the young girl made Mandy think of herself. The number of times she’d been beaten and left in chains was too much for her to bear. “This is a trap.”
“We figured as much. We’ve already informed our guy in the police force with the warning of Robert’s interference. We’ve got all the information we need about what is happening.”
Mandy had heard some awful things through Jamie’s surveillance device. Elijah wanted her back, and he was willing to do whatever it took to take her or silence her.
Either way, if he got his hands on her, there was no doubt in her mind. She wouldn’t live to tell about it again. Her life would be forfeit.
The Billionaire Bikers MC usually went in for this kind of retrieval. They had the experience, the training, and the equipment. Since the traffickers had realized their identity and tried to lure them into a trap several months ago, they had to be careful.
Their life was never meant to be public.
The club was meant to be just a rumor.
She knew it cost each of the men dearly not to do anything. They were not men born into money. Each of them had come from nothing and worked his way up in the world. It was during their time that they had seen the danger inflicted on the most vulnerable, and they worked to protect them.
Closing the file, she stared straight ahead as Lewis navigated the traffic.
“I fear our time of being a club could be coming to an end,” Lewis said.
“Why?” She gave him her full attention now. “You can’t possibly mean to break up the club.”
“We’re known by those two men, possibly more. I can’t risk it, and neither can the rest of the guys. They don’t want to put anyone else’s lives at risk.”
“This is not about you,” Mandy said.
“This is a trap.”
“For me.” Mandy couldn’t allow him to think for a second that this was his fault or that of the club.
“No. I’m not going to allow you to blame yourself. Those monsters don’t have a right to you, Mandy. They took you once and believed you were nothing but property, and you never fucking were!” He glared at her.
“They’re doing this because of me, Lewis. How can you not see that?”
“I do see that, and I know what you’re thinking. Lure them into a trap, and then we can get them or some shit like that. It’s not happening. I lost you once, and I’m not willing to put you at risk again.” He took her hand, pressing a kiss to her knuckles. “You can hate me all you want. It’s not going to happen. I won’t let it.”
She allowed for a few seconds of silence. “He’s not going to stop, Lewis. You know that. I know that. He’s going to keep on coming and try to find a weakness.”
“He won’t. The club is strong, Mandy. He’s not going to get to you.”
Mandy knew that Elijah’s reach was far. If he wanted to get to her, he would. There was no doubt in her mind that he’d do whatever it took to take her.
All she had to do was wait. Only this time, she wasn’t a defenseless ten-year-old girl. She was a woman, and ready to take her revenge.
They often said that revenge was a dish best served cold. Hers had been simmering for years. Long before she was freed, long before he even realized that she’d been plotting it. Mandy wanted him to come for her. She wanted him to come on her turf.
Being with Lewis, her husband, this was her place, her domain. There was no way she was going to go hunting for Elijah.
This time, he had to come to her, and when he did, he better be ready because she was going to hurt him. Once it started, she knew in her heart it was never going to stop.