EXPOSED: Kings of Rebellion MC 6 Page 10

  “Her dad?” I ask and Tony nods. “But he’s dead.”

  Tony’s eyes widen as he shakes his head. “No, he’s alive!”

  “Ah fucking hell Tony!” His brother yells. “Tell them the truth.”

  “I am!” Screams Tony. “I think they faked his death, they would talk about that in the beginning when they first started coming. They hired someone to get a real body and make it look like Roberts death. They have a police officer on their side, helping them.”

  “Ah fuck!” Yells Devlin. When anyone has an inside copper it’s bad news, but we have our own.

  “You got security cameras?” Grim asks the owner and surprise, surprise he doesn’t.

  “There was a party last night, and Robert and the others were here. I took some photos of the girls for our website, they might be on them?” Tony suggests.

  “Baby and Ryder, go with him and fetch those photos.” Baby and Ryder push Tony along to fetch the photos we need as proof to prove his claim Erica’s dad is still alive. If he is, this is one fucked up situation.

  “I’m sorry about my brother.” The owner begins to talk. Probably out of nerves. “He’s always getting into trouble.”

  “Yeah well this time he nearly got you killed.” I snap. “Your brother has been fucking helping to threaten my woman! They terrified her into thinking she would be brought here to work!”

  The man’s eyes widen and he shakes his head. “I would never allow that, girls who work here want to be here, I don’t force anyone.”

  Baby and Ryder then return with Tony, he holds out his camera to Grim who ushers me over. “Come here, you know what Erica’s dad looks like.”

  I walk over, giving Tony an extra hard glare before looking at the camera which Grim holds out for me. I haven’t seen Robert for years but I would recognise him anywhere. His roundish body, dimpled chin and hard set eyes, that’s Erica’s dad alright and it has yesterday’s date in the corner to prove her father is alive and kicking.

  “Shit.” I sigh, this is going to really suck for Erica. “Yeah, that’s him.”

  Grim brings the camera closer to his face. “I recognise the police officer too, he’s easily handled.”

  He nods to Devlin, a discussion for later I’m guessing.

  “So you’re just in this for the money?” I ask Tony and he stupidly nods his head. “Then I suggest you stop, in exchange for your life.”

  Tony’s eyes widen in panic. He gets the point.

  “Where are they now?” Grim asks.

  “I don’t know.” Tony stutters. “They come in here every so often to meet, they pay me every time.”

  “Well I suggest that the next time you see them, you give me a call.” Grim hands Tony a piece of paper with Grim’s phone number on it.

  “Who is Robert mixed up with?” I ask Tony and he shrugs.

  “I don’t know but they don’t look friendly. They just want the money.”

  So Robert is trying to scam his daughters’ money from her, by faking his death and threatening his daughter. He’s going to win dad of the year for sure.

  “Call me when you see any of them.” Grim points to Tony before we leave and once we’re satisfied we’ve done enough, we walk outside. I’m thankful to finally be in the fresh air. The dampness and the smells inside the brothel were getting to me. Before we get on our bikes and leave, we arrange to meet at the café on the corner, before we return to the clubhouse.

  The whole drive back I think about Erica and how this is going to affect her. I know Erica and her dad weren’t the closet, but at the end of the day, that’s her dad and he’s faked his death, made her arrange his fucking funeral and is now after all her money. I can’t believe how fucked up this is. All the worry she’s been through lately and the stress when she saw what they did to her new her house, her dad was behind it all. How can you do that to your child? This is going to really hurt her but I’m going to make sure that I’m there for her.

  When we arrive at the café, we each go in and get a drink, coming back outside to talk in private.

  “I can’t believe her dad is alive.” Baby shakes his head. “How could he do that?”

  Learning that Robert faked his dead is surely going to leave a bitter taste on Baby’s, Devlin’s and Grim’s tongue. They’ve not long lost their own dad and here someone is, faking their own to spite their child.

  “It’s fucking disgusting.” Ryder scowls. “I feel sorry for Erica having a dad like that.”

  “She’s never had a good relationship with him, but I’m pretty sure she would never suspect this.” I add.

  “Has Erica got a lot of money?” Grim asks me. “Because her dad seems to think she has enough to blackmail her for it.”

  I shrug. “I don’t know, we don’t really talk about it.”

  “Might be worth asking her, so we know more about what’s going off.” Grim finishes his drink and gets back onto his bike, ordering Baby, Axel and Bomber to go with him. “I’ll dig some more, see if we can find the others.”

  “Where are you off to?” I ask him.

  “Going to track down a dirty copper.” Grim answers with a smile and the four of them ride off.

  “I wonder if they already had a dead man, or they killed someone who looked like Erica’s dad to fake his death.” Ryder thinks out loud.

  “I didn’t even think of that.” I frown. “I guess Grim might soon know though.”

  If there’s anyone who can get information from someone, it’s our President Grim. He has his favourite torture techniques, some of them quite medieval but they do the trick.

  “I bet that’s why they have the police man on the inside.” Ryder continues babbling. “So they can alter all the DNA and shit.”

  “He’s gone through a lot of trouble to make his daughter believe he’s dead.” Devlin shakes his head.

  “Do you think the funeral was an inside job?” Asks Zane and my blood runs cold.

  “Fuck, I didn’t think of that.”

  Zane nods. “We don’t know who they have working with them, they could have easily fixed everything and got Erica’s money that way.”

  “But they want more by the sounds of it.” Cyrus adds.

  The more I think about, the worse it gets. I’m really not looking forward to letting Erica know. I get back onto my motorcycle and try to mentally prepare myself for what I’m about to do. I think she’s going to take this worse than when she discovered her dad was dead in the first place. No wonder she’s never had a good relationship with her dad if he’s capable of doing something like this. I’m just glad Erica has me now, to help her through stuff like this. I can’t even imagine what it would have been like for her if she had kept this from me. If she would have gone through this alone and been in danger with nobody to help her. I dread to fucking think.

  When we arrive at the clubhouse, the men are all feeling a little down and it’s all because they feel for Erica and what I’m about to tell her. In her short time living at the clubhouse and getting to know some of them, she’s really made an impact and settled into club life. She’s going to make an amazing old lady, but first I need to get this shit out of the way first and I’m fucking dreading it.

  My men all wish me good luck before I head inside. I kind of wish I was with Grim, beating the fuck out of a dirty policeman and getting all my frustration out but then again, I wouldn’t let anyone else do this. Erica’s my woman, she’s the closest to me so she will hear this from me and nobody else.

  I walk inside the clubhouse and start looking for Erica right away. I soon find her in the main area with some of the girls as they kids play next to them. Erica looks really happy right now, a lot different to when I left and feel shit that I’m going to have to ruin that.

  Drew spots me first. “Hey!” She greets from her seat. “You’re back.”

  Erica turns to see me walking towards her, Drew quickly stands to make her way to Cyrus who is following behind me and Elise gets up from her seat looking very happ
y.

  “Oh my god Scrap!” Elise beams. “You should hear how Erica handled Talia!”

  “What?” I look to Erica, shocked at what my sister just said.

  Erica shrugs. “Well, she had it coming.”

  “She slapped her!” Laughs Elise. “She was bad mouthing you and Lewis, ain’t no woman standing for that.”

  I really want to learn more, but I have to tell Erica about her dad sooner rather than later. Erica then stands, coming to face me and frowns as she looks me over. “What’s happened? Is everyone ok?”

  Erica begins to panic, I place my hands on her soft, rosy cheeks to try and calm her down. “Everyone is fine, but I need to tell you something.”

  “What?” She urgently begs to know.

  “I need to tell you in private.”

  Erica

  When I turned and saw that Scrappy was back, I was so relieved. Elise kept saying over and over how she was looking forward to telling Scrappy what had happened between me and Talia, but as Elise started talking to him, it quickly became clear that something was up. At first I thought, could it be one of the men but Scrappy quickly assured me that nobody was hurt.

  “I need to tell you in private.” Scrappy urges me. “Come on.”

  He takes my hand, leading me to his room and Lewis starts to follow but Elise stops him.

  “Lewis!” She shouts. “Come and play with Madi.”

  Luckily, Lewis does as Elise says so Scrappy can tell me whatever he needs to alone. I’m dreading it though and we near the room, my stomach is in knots for fear.

  “Oh god Ethan, what’s the matter?” I ask, stepping inside the bedroom and he closes the door behind us.

  “You might wanna sit down.” Scrappy advises, going to sit on the bed so I quickly copy.

  “What is it?”

  “I don’t know how I’m going to tell you.” Scrappy struggles.

  I slap my hands on my lap in frustration. “Scrap!” I yell. “Tell me!”

  Scrappy turns to face me, not looking fazed by my shouting. “So when we got there, it wasn’t what we were expecting.” He begins to explain. “There wasn’t any danger and the men there weren’t responsible to what’s being done to you.”

  “Ok.” I nod, wanting more but whatever it is, doesn’t look good by the looks of Scrappy’s glum face.

  “But they did know who was behind it.” Scrappy continues and he reaches for my hand. “Babe, they said that your dad is still alive and he’s behind all of this.”

  Scrappy words go over my head so fast that I’m not sure I heard him right. Or it could be because what he just said made no sense at all. A small laugh escapes my mouth. “I’m sorry, did you just say my dad’s alive?” Scrappy nods, sympathy written all over his face. “He’s not dead?”

  “No, he’s alive and I saw proof.” Scrappy describes. “I’m so sorry.”

  My head starts to spin and then it begins pounding. “This can’t be right, I got a call that he was dead. I had to come and arrange the funeral. This can’t be true.”

  “Erica.” Scrappy asks. “Have you got money? Like enough for someone to want to take from you?”

  Frowning, I think of that as an odd question. “Well, my mum left me fifty thousand when she died. She was from a wealthy family and they didn’t agree with her being with my dad and getting pregnant with me, so they disowned her but her grandmother secretly gave her some money, just in case she ever needed it. When she died, it came straight to me but I wasn’t allowed to touch it until I was twenty one and the only time I’ve really used it was when I ran away and for my dad’s funeral.” I look to Scrappy with wide eyes, realisation hitting me. “You think my dad would fake his own death to try and get his hands on my mother’s money?”

  Scrappy shrugs. “It seems like he would do anything.” Scrappy then frowns. “Tell me how you found out about his death and the funeral planning.”

  “Erm, ok.” I nod, thinking back to when I was first told about my dad. “My cousin, Dillan rang me to tell me that he was told my dad had been in an accident and that he died straight away but that I needed to ring this police officer who was dealing with it.”

  “What was the officer’s name?” He asks.

  I stand and go to my bag, picking the card he gave me out of my bag and hand it to Scrappy. “DC Palmer, he gave me this when I met him.”

  “You met him?” Scrappy asks me in shock.

  “Well, yeah. He’s a police man dealing with my dad’s death.” I answer but when I see how angry Scrappy looks, I begin to understand. “He works with my dad, doesn’t he?” Scrappy nods and I punch the bed. “Fuck! He gave me the number for funeral directors and everything in between, I suppose all of those were dodgy dealing too?” Scrappy nods again and I furiously shake my head. “He will do anything to get a hold of my mums’ money, but I won’t let him. Especially not now.

  “I think he planned it all, from his fake death, the fake funeral and now the house and scaring you.” Scrappy wraps his arm around me and brings me close, kissing me on the top of my head. “I’m here for you baby, he won’t get to you, so you don’t need to worry.”

  I look up at Scrappy as I’m secure in his strong arms. “I know.” He looks down at me in shock.

  “I thought you’d be more upset.”

  “Oh I’m pissed.” I nod. “But if what you say is true, I have you and Lewis and this big biker family. My dad can’t get to me here and besides, I didn’t even cry when I heard he had died, so why would I cry about this? He’s not my dad, he’s a lonely, sad old man.”

  “We’ll find him, don’t you worry.” Scrappy promises me.

  I smile up at him, giving him a kiss on the lips. “I know you will.”

  We sit there, on the bed with Scrappy holding me tight. I think about my dad and wonder how could someone do this? I think of my own child, Lewis and just know that I would never do this to him. It wouldn’t even be a thought or a consideration but here’s my father, scheming with god knows who in order to steal the money my mother left to me. Not only is faking his death bad, but he went out of his way to scare me. His own daughter! I have a feeling my mother knew what kind of man he turned out to be and it’s why I was in control of the money, not him.

  “You ok?” Scrappy asks me.

  “I will be.” I sigh. “I have to be.”

  In fact, now that I know my own dad is behind this, I’m not so scared anymore. Before, I had no clue who was behind this and I was terrified. Now? I’m not scared at all, just angry at the man who is supposed to my dad.

  I just can’t wait for him to be found and for Scrappy to get his hands on him. Perhaps I’ll have a little talk with him too, try and find out what fucking up reasons he had for doing all of this but until then, I have enough right here. The new family I am building here means everything to me and I won’t let something like this put a damper on it.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Erica

  It’s been a couple of days since I discovered that my dad was behind all the threats I was receiving. Since then, I’ve been sleeping and eating a lot better. It seems that now I know who was behind my terror, it doesn’t seem so scary anymore. I don’t think the shock of it being my dad will ever fade though. As much as I hate him, it still does hurt a little when you learn your dad faked his death in order to rob you of your money. I guess I won’t be getting back the money I spent on the funeral. So it’s a good job I saved money where I could.

  I just keep thinking of it from a parent point of view and every time I become bewildered and disgusted when I come to the same conclusion that it shouldn’t and wouldn’t happen if you were a decent parent. I always knew he was a shit parent. Growing up with him as my solo parent, I knew I got a shit deal but I dealt with it and ran as soon as I could. Now he’s pulled me back into his hell, but at least there’s one good thing, it brought Scrappy and Lewis together. I’ll bet my dad will hate finding out he did something good in all of this shit. A smile spreads across my face at
the thought.

  “Well don’t you look happy, considering?” Lauren joins me on the sofa, I’m sat watching Lewis play out in the garden. Connor runs outside to join him and they begin playing together. Best pals back together again.

  I smile across at her as she sits on the other end of the sofa. “I’m choosing for it to not affect me.”

  “Well good for you.” She grins. “It can’t be easy though.”

  “It’s a tough one, on one side I’m not that bothered because we’ve never had that relationship but on the other, he’s my dad.” I answer, shaking my head. “I’m angrier that he dare try to take my mother’s money from me. He has no right.”

  Lauren nods. “Yeah, I can understand that.” Baby Franky begins to stir and I offer to pick him up, he wriggles in my arms for a little bit but then settles right back, falling into a restless sleep. He’s so adorable. I place my finger next to his tiny hand and Franky clutches on. I think it’s so cute when babies do that. “You’re a natural.” Lauren smiles over, watching me with her son.

  “He’s so adorable.” I stare down at him, completely mesmerized.

  “So, I heard about you and Talia.” Lauren holds in her laugh, pinching her lips together.

  “Let me guess, Elise told you.”

  “You know it.” Lauren giggles. “She’s always hated Talia and her obsession with her brother, so I think she was very happy that you slapped her.”

  “I wasn’t going to slap her.” I burst out laughing. “But when she bad mouthed Lewis, it was an automatic response.”

  Lauren nods. “Oh I’d be the same, but she also needs to realise her place here. I know it can seem harsh and a little crazy, but she picked her role here and she needs to live with it or go. She has never and will never have a chance with Scrappy.” Lauren leans closer. “He only has eyes for you.”

  I can’t help but smile now she’s said that.

  “Have you thought about having more?” Lauren asks and I freeze. “I wasn’t supposed to scare you.” She laughs.