Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 74122 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74122 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
He wasn’t sure just how cold that trail was, but they’d find out. And Dawg had no doubt if anybody could find Emma’s ex, it would be them. D said he’d put Hunter and Walker on the job.
Then follow up with Mercy if need be.
Emma’s ex was going to regret ever taking her little girl.
“Got it covered. Just gotta be a good hostess for Heaven’s Angels an’ not worry ‘bout a thing. Got me?”
“Hard not to worry...” She chewed on her lower lip.
“Know it, baby girl. Your ex wouldn’t hurt ‘er, right? Outta spite or anything?”
“No, I doubt it. I don’t know about his girlfriend though.”
“At least she wasn’t your best friend, stealin’ your husband an’ your kid.”
“She can have my husband. I just want Lily back.”
“Ex.”
She tipped her eyes up to him. “What?”
“Ex. Said husband.”
When her eyes slid to the side, a knot grew in his gut. “Ain’t officially an ex, is he?”
The warm breath she exhaled in a rush swept across his bare chest. “No, when I ran out of money, I couldn’t afford my attorney, either. Everything I had, everything I made, went into finding Lily. I figured I could get the divorce papers filed later, when I recovered financially.”
“Fuck,” he muttered.
“Sorry.”
“Ain’t gotta apologize to me, baby girl. Gonna get that taken care of, too.”
“How?”
“The DAMC’s attorney. She’ll take care of the legal shit.”
“The club has an attorney?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
He shrugged. “Legal shit.”
“Like representing people in court?”
“That an’ business shit. The DAMC’s got a lot of businesses. A lot of irons in the fire.”
“You must keep her busy. But, Dawson, I can’t afford her, either.”
He sighed. “Not gonna tell you again. Got it covered.”
“But—”
“She’s part of the club. She’ll help you out.”
“Oh. The club doesn’t pay her?”
He had no idea how much she charged an hour, or if she would even bill him. “She’s Hawk’s ol’ lady.”
“Hawk... I met him tonight.”
“Yeah,” he grunted.
“Diesel’s brother with the mohawk.”
“Yeah.”
“And the woman who was stuck to his side was—”
“Yeah, Kiki. Smart. Capable. She’ll get shit done. Also, gonna stop at the pig pen tomorrow an’ talk to Bella’s ol’ man.”
“The cop.”
“Yeah,” he grunted.
“The cops haven’t helped much,” she said softly.
“Yeah, just wanna run a few things by ‘im.”
“Dawson...” she whispered, reaching up to cup his cheek.
“Yeah?”
“I want to thank you for everything.”
His nostrils flared as his chest got tight. He grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips, pressing them against her knuckles. “Nothin’ to thank me for yet. Can do it after we get Lily back.” He dropped their clasped hands to his chest and squeezed hers gently.
“You don’t know how much that means to me.”
She was wrong. He did.
Dawg closed his eyes and saw his own daughter walking out of the school’s entrance the day he tracked her down. She had been wearing a plaid skirt and a maroon polo shirt. What looked like a school uniform that all the girls wore. Her dark blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail and he wanted to see if her eyes were the same green as his.
As she had bounded down the steps at the end of the school day toward the curb, he fought to keep himself from getting out of his truck and calling out to her. His hand had been on the door handle when he saw the vehicle she approached. A top of the line Mercedes sedan, a male in a suit behind the steering wheel. Caitlin’s smile was wide when she opened the passenger side door and climbed in after throwing her book bag in the back seat. Then the man leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Dawg watched them as they drove off.
A few minutes later he followed, eventually parking down the street from their huge home in an upscale neighborhood.
That’s when it hit him hard that he had nothing to offer his daughter.
Nothing at all.
He drove away not allowing himself to look back. He never returned to the school, and he made sure to stay out of that particular neighborhood.
He didn’t belong there.
Not only that, but seeing her and not being able to talk to her or have anything to do with someone who was a piece of him, ripped him apart and twisted his gut painfully.
He hadn’t spent one fucking moment with his daughter and it pained him to be kept in the dark, to be kept from her for all those years. So, yeah, he could understand the hurt Emma was going through.
And that shit just pissed him the fuck off.
Chapter Eight
As Emma sat facing a metal desk, Dawg slouched in the chair next to her, his thighs spread so far apart his knee almost touched hers. The uniformed man on the other side of the surprisingly neat and organized desk had asked her questions. Lots of questions. Mostly the same ones the police at her local station had asked her right after Lily’s abduction.