Red Ink (Mad Jackals Brotherhood MC Book 2) (7 page)

“What happened to her?” Mia almost doesn’t want to know, but now that she’s heard this much of the story she has to hear it all, she has to understand.

“While we were struggling, the gun went off. I don’t know whose finger was on the trigger. It was all a blur. But the gun was pointed underneath her chin.” Mia winces at what she knows is coming. “Blew the back of her head out. I’ll never get that sound out of my head.” He passes a trembling hand over his eyes. “That’s when some of the Jackals burst in. Just in the nick of time.” He shakes his head. “They had seen the whole thing; they were watching.”

“They saw what happened and they didn’t do anything to stop it?” Mia looks up at him in confusion.

“Why would they do anything to stop it? They’d engineered the whole thing. They’d lured my mom away, fixed things so she would end up right where I had found her. From that day on, they had a triple homicide hanging over me. They owned me. They could get me to do whatever they wanted. It was either them or prison, maybe even the chair. Sometimes I think I should have just turned myself in. I thought about it a few times.”

“What stopped you?” Mia’s voice is small as she finally lets her arms drop from around his waist, her fingers catching on the gun.

“You did.” He looks down at her, smiling at her with so much love it makes her chest ache. “After that night I learned that this was the Jackals MO. It wasn’t the brotherhood that I thought it was. They ensure loyalty through blackmail and fear. If a biker would try to leave the MC they would threaten their family. The Jackals have a lot of strings to their bow – drug running, protection rackets, murder – they’ve done it all. But they know none of their men will betray them, won’t sell them out to the cops, because if they do the Jackals will kill their whole family. They’ve done it before.”

Mia’s hand flies up to cover her mouth. “Oh my God.” She can hardly believe what she’s hearing. In fact she wants desperately not to believe it, to think that Ray is making this all up, that it’s just some sick joke.

“I knew that if I went to the cops they’d go after the only person I cared about – you.” He holds her face between his hands, but Mia steps away from him, needing to put some space between them to let her mind think.

“That’s why you kept coming back to check on me, to make sure they hadn’t gotten to me.” It has all started to make sense. “How did you get away from them?”

Ray looks around her destroyed apartment. “It looks like I didn’t.”

Mia drops her gaze to the floor and sees the bag that had been hidden under the false floor of her wardrobe. Ray must have taken it out when he’d check that there wasn’t anyone still in the house. A thought suddenly occurs to her, one that she wants to quash but she can’t; it’s the missing piece. “The money, they came after the money.”

Ray’s shoulders slump, telling her that she’s right. “I’d been skimming money from the top of club funds for a while, trying to get enough together to get out of there. But I needed enough for the both of us, for you and me to disappear. I told them I was going on a little trip, that I’d be back in a couple of days. When I didn’t go back they must have looked more closely at the money trail. I thought I’d been careful! I guess not careful enough. They know that I have it and they’re not going to stop coming after me until they get it back.”

Mia works her mouth wordlessly, trying to speak. “They wrote RIP on the mirror. They don’t just want their money back.”

Ray looks at her, surprised that she’s able to think clearly after everything she’s just heard, everything that she’s seen. “The Jackals aren’t the forgiving kind. If they find me, they’re not just going to want to talk.”

“You killed those people.” It’s as if the reality of his words has just hit her.

“I’m not proud of what I did. It was the heat of the moment. It just happened.” His shoulders sink even farther as his shame at his actions comes to the fore.

“How many others were there?” She asks the question dully, not sure what she’s expecting to hear, not sure if she can even believe whatever comes out of his mouth.

Ray’s jaw hardens. “I didn’t kill anyone else. I was one of the Jackals enforcers but I trained myself to shoot. I could shoot the dot off a dice. I didn’t need to kill anyone, my reputation preceded me; whoever I went after were already scared of me.”

Mia looks up at the man in front of her, watching as the blinds come down over his features again. He’d done terrible things, hurt people, done whatever the Jackals had asked of him because he had to. She felt like she was looking at someone that she didn’t even know. “How does Eli fit into this? What did he do to make you hate him?” Mia’s voice comes out flat and dead like she was incapable of any emotion.

Frustration passes across Ray’s face. “I don’t know. I know that he’s involved somehow with how the Jackals found my mom. I know he’s the one who started all of this. I just haven’t figured out exactly what part he played.”

Mia barks a laugh that sounds more like a cough. “You don’t know. All this time you’ve hated him and you don’t even really know why.” She shakes her head at her own stupidity. “You made me question everything I thought I knew about Eli. You made me question a good man! And all you have to give me is that you don’t know! You need to leave. I’m calling the police.” She turns her back on him, dialing the final digit. “I’d like to report a break-in. 555 Fairmont Avenue, Apartment 1B. Thank you.” Her voice doesn’t tremble once but as soon as she ends the call her hands start to uncontrollably shake.

“Come with me, Mia. We can figure this out.” Ray reaches towards her but she backs away from him again. “You’re not safe. The Jackals will be back.”

“I’m not safe because of you.” She points an accusing finger at him. “I’m not safe because you stole from them and now they think I’m involved! You’ve done nothing more than lie to me since you came back. Was anything you said true?”

The hurt in Ray’s face makes her heart clench, but she can’t let herself go to him, not after everything he’s just told her. “I told you I love you. That was true, Mia. That was the most important thing I’ve ever said to you, that I’ve ever said to anyone and it was true.”

Mia swallows hard, feeling her eyes overflow with tears. “How can I believe anything you say to me?” It’s a plea more than a demand. She wants nothing more than for him to give her a reason to trust him.

The sound of sirens echoes in her ears and she watches as an array of emotions play out across Ray’s face. He’s conflicted, just like he always was. He knew that the right thing to do would be to stay and face up to his responsibilities, face up to the consequences of his actions. Mia bites her lip, hoping he’s going to make the right decision, hoping that he’s going to prove to her that he wants to be a better man, that he wants to be the man that she thinks he is.

“Dammit, Mia. Please understand. I have to go. I can’t protect you from jail.” He throws a last imploring look at her, a plea for her to understand.

That’s when she knows that he’s going to do what he does best. He’s going to disappear.

Chapter Twelve

She dials Cassie’s cell, hearing as the call rings out. “Dammit.” She remembers that Cassie had a date that night; it had probably gone as well as she had been hoping. She could call her dad, but she doesn’t want to worry him. A bad heart meant that one bad shock could put him in danger again and she couldn’t do that. There was only one other person that she could call at this time of night. She chews her cheek, knowing that it’s not an ideal solution, but her need for some comfort, for someone that cares about her outweighs any trepidation she had about making the call.

He picks up on the third ring. “Mia?” He sounds half-asleep, which wasn’t so strange at midnight.

“Hi, Eli. Did I wake you?” She cringes at her question; of course she’d woken him up, it was the middle of the damn night! She clenches her jaw hard to stop her teeth from chattering. She gathers the blanket that the cop had given her tighter around her shoulders.

“It doesn’t matter. What’s happened? Are you all right?” His voice sounds wide awake now, wide awake and concerned, scared for her. She feels the tears that she’d been holding back start to slip out of her eyes. “Has he hurt you, Mia?” The growl in his voice tells her that Eli would have no qualms in hunting Ray down if that was the case.

“Not in the way you think.” She breathes in, struggling to get herself under control before she collapses in sobs. “My apartment…they…they trashed it. I wouldn’t ask but I can’t get hold of Cassie and I don’t want to call my dad.”

“I’m coming to get you, Mia. Stay where you are. Are you on your own?” She can hear him moving around, dragging on his clothes as he talks to her.

“No, the police are here; they’ve taken my statement already. I’m so cold, Eli. I can’t get warm. It’s eighty-five degrees and I’m shaking. How crazy is that?” She knows she’s babbling and sounding more than a little crazed, but she can’t seem to stop talking.

“You’re in shock, Mia. It’s completely normal. I’m coming to get you. Just sit tight, all right?” His voice is soothing, comforting, but she can hear the coiled anger behind it, anger at whoever has scared her.

“Eli. Will you stay on the line until you get here?” She bites her lip, hating the pleading in her own voice, but desperately needing to know that he was there for her, that he could depend on her.

“Just try to stop me.” He chuckles quietly into the phone and she grips the cell in her hand tighter.

“You were right, Eli. You were right about Ray. You were right about it all.” She doesn’t try to stop the tears from overflowing this time.

“That doesn’t matter. None of it matters anymore, Mia. I’m coming to get you and everything’s going to be all right. I’ll fix everything.” The certainty in Eli’s voice gives her a warm feeling of reassurance.

She had made such a big mistake believing in Ray. She’d so desperately wanted to believe that he was a good man, that he was the one for her, that he was the only one that she would ever need. She’d ignored all the signs, all the secrets and now she was paying for it. She deserved this, this pain in her heart; she’d done it to herself.

She feels eyes on her, a prickling at her neck, as if someone were staring at her. Her head whips round to the road, wondering if whoever had totaled her apartment had come back to enjoy his handiwork or maybe to do something to her this time. But it’s not a violent stranger that she sees; it’s Ray. He’s straddling his bike, a bulge on the back of it. She doesn’t need to look any closer to know that it’s his bag of blood money. She would know his shape anywhere.

He had slipped out when the police had arrived, not wanting to answer any searching questions. But now he was watching her, like he had for all those years, checking up on her, checking that she was all right.

Mia locks eyes with him, feeling the pain stab at her heart like an open wound. Then, deliberately, she turns her back to him, not wanting to see him anymore. She had been right the first time, she thinks to herself. The man staring at her was a violent stranger. The Ray that she’d thought she’d known didn’t exist anymore. He had left that day eight years ago. Whoever had come back wasn’t the same person that she had known, that she had loved. He was an intruder in her life. All she knew for sure was that he was a liar and a coward and she never wanted to see him again.

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