Chapter 4
The room was dark.
Except for the rhythmic green glow of the heart monitor.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Grizz stepped inside, leaving the door cracked open for Tracker and Emma.
The smell of antiseptic and sickness filled his nose.
He walked to the side of the bed.
And there she was.
Lena.
She was paler than he remembered.
Thinner.
There were dark circles under her eyes, and a tube ran across her face, feeding her oxygen.
But it was her.
The only woman who had ever made him feel like a man instead of a weapon.
Grizz’s knees felt weak.
He dropped down to the chair beside the bed.
He reached out with a trembling hand and gently touched her fingers.
They were ice cold.
“Lena,” he whispered.
Her eyelids fluttered.
Slowly, painfully, they opened.
She looked confused at first.
Then her eyes focused on his face.
On the gray in his beard.
On the scars.
A tear rolled down her cheek, catching in the plastic of the oxygen mask.
“You came,” she breathed. Her voice was raspy, broken.
“I came,” Grizz choked out.
He brought her hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you let me fight him?”
Lena shook her head weakly.
“He had the police… he had the judge… he showed me pictures of you… with crosshairs on your chest. He said if I didn’t marry him, if I didn’t give him access to the trust… you would die. I couldn’t let you die, Grizz.”
Grizz felt a tear slip down his own face.
He didn't wipe it away.
“Where is she?” Lena asked, panic suddenly spiking her heart rate. The monitor beeped faster. “Where is Emma? David found her—”
“Mommy!”
Emma wiggled out of Tracker’s grip and ran into the room.
She scrambled up onto the hospital bed, burying her face into Lena’s shoulder, being careful not to hit the tubes.
Lena wrapped her weak arms around the little girl, sobbing openly now.
“My baby. You’re safe. You’re safe.”
Grizz stood up, looking at the two of them.
His family.
Stolen from him.
Broken.
But still breathing.
“I have the proof,” Lena whispered, looking at Grizz over Emma’s head. “Under the mattress at my apartment. The real birth certificate. The recordings of David threatening me. The wire transfers to the judge. I kept everything. Waiting for the day he slipped up.”
Grizz’s eyes hardened.
“Where is the apartment?”
“421 Elm Street. Apartment 3B.”
Grizz turned to Bones.
Bones nodded. “I’m on it. I’ll tear the place apart if I have to. I’ll get the proof.”
Bones slipped out of the room.
But before the door fully closed, it swung open again.
Violently.
David stood in the doorway.
His coat was soaked.
His face was red with fury.
Behind him stood three uniformed police officers.
Crooked cops. The ones David had bought and paid for.
“There they are,” David yelled, pointing at Grizz and Tracker. “Arrest them! They assaulted my men outside, and they kidnapped my daughter!”
The cops stepped into the room, hands on their holstered weapons.
“Step away from the bed,” the lead officer ordered.
Tracker tensed, ready to fight.
Grizz put a hand on Tracker’s shoulder, stopping him.
Fighting cops in a hospital room with a little girl and a sick woman present was a losing battle.
“You’re making a mistake,” Grizz said, keeping his voice steady. “He’s lying. He forged the papers.”
“Tell it to the judge,” the cop sneered. “Cuff him.”
David walked past the cops, a sickening smile of victory on his face.
He reached for Emma.
“Come here, sweetie. It’s time to go home with Daddy.”
Emma screamed.
She clung to Lena, digging her fingers into the blankets.
“No! You’re not my dad! You’re mean! You hit Mommy!”
The words echoed in the small room.
The cops hesitated for a fraction of a second, but David barked at them.
“She’s traumatized! These bikers brainwashed her. Grab her!”
One of the officers stepped forward to physically pull a crying eight-year-old from her sick mother’s arms.
Grizz couldn't hold back anymore.
He moved.
He stepped in front of the bed, becoming an impenetrable wall of rage.
“Touch her,” Grizz growled, his voice vibrating with lethal intent, “and you will lose that hand.”
The cop unclipped his holster.
The tension in the room snapped tight like a wire about to break.
Grizz prepared to die right there on the linoleum floor.
But then, a new voice cut through the chaos.
“I wouldn’t pull that gun if I were you, officer.”
Everyone turned.
Standing in the doorway was a man in a sharp suit.
He wasn't a biker.
He wasn't a thug.
He was holding a briefcase.
Behind him stood Bones, grinning from ear to ear.
And behind Bones… were ten more members of Grizz’s club, filling the entire hallway.
“Who the hell are you?” David demanded, his voice cracking.
May you like
The man in the suit pushed his glasses up his nose.
“My name is Arthur Pendelton. I am the legal counsel for the Iron Wraiths Motorcycle Club. And I believe you are in possession of fraudulent legal documents, Mr. Vance.”
