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Deke swiped his phone ending the call and looked over at Cassie. “Chance says Rossi just made his move. Sam thinks Mona will show up for Destiny.”
Cassie shook her head. “She’s crazy if she thinks I’ll turn her daughter back over to her. She abandoned her.”
“Honey, she thinks just being her mother is good enough. I don’t think she’s smart enough to know what’s going to happen next.”
Cassie got to her feet and stomped over to where Deke was standing. “I don’t give a shit. There’s no way even if Destiny was here that I would allow that woman to just come in and take her back.”
Deke wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer. “I love it when you get all territorial on me. I think it’s sexy as hell.”
Cassie grinned and snuggled closer. “I think you’re sexy as hell,” she whispered in his ear.
“Should I lock the door?” He rubbed his hard cock against her pelvis.
Cassie sighed. “I wish we had time for that, oh good lord I wish we had time for that but I don’t think we do.” She brushed her hand across his cock.
Deke sighed. “When this crisis is over you and I are going to lock our front door and fuck for three days. The only ones allowed in the same house will be our kids.”
Cassie chuckled. “Three days? Is that all?” she teased.
Deke leaned down and crushed her lips under his. “That’s long enough to take the edge off.”
Before Cassie could respond a knock came at the door. She groaned and leaned her head on his chest briefly before she pulled away. She gave him a smoldering look before crossing over to the door and opening it.
Mona Pearlman stood there with terror in her eyes and wringing her hands.
Cassie stood back and allowed the woman to enter. Mona rushed in and began talking before she noticed Deke standing there.
“Please I need to collect my daughter. I need...” Her eyes opened wide and she couldn’t speak.
Cassie walked over to her desk and sat down. “Please sit and we can talk about it.” She motioned to the chair across from where she sat.
Mona sat down and looked at Cassie. “I know I left Destiny here yesterday. Lester called me and told me to get my ass home. I didn’t have a choice. But I need to take her home now.”
Cassie just stared at the other woman for a moment. “Mona, you know we try not to judge people here. You wouldn’t have come here if you didn’t need our help and everyone needs help at some point in their lives. But when you didn’t come back for your child, we called DSS. They came and picked her up last night. She isn’t here anymore.”
Mona began crying at that point. She wrung her hands so hard they became red. “You shouldn’t have done that,” she whispered. “Oh god, Lester is going to be so mad.”
Cassie just stared at her for a moment. Then she leaned forward, “Mona, I don’t think you realize what’s going on here. You abandoned your daughter. We had to call DSS. Now she’s in the system. Now you have to prove you can take care of her before they’ll even think of giving her back to you. I didn’t want to do it but you left me with no choice.”
Mona pulled at her hair. “No...” she cried out. “I have to talk to Lester. I have to get her back. Time is running out.” She turned to dash out the door.
After she was gone, Cassie looked over at Deke. “Well, that went better than I expected.”
Deke shook his head. “I don’t think she has any idea what’s going on. I can’t imagine a worse mother. She wasn’t even concerned about Destiny. All she was concerned about was how mad Lester was going to be.” He scoffed. “It was like nothing else mattered to her.”
Cassie nodded. “She isn’t the worst mother I’ve seen,” she said quietly.
Deke felt shattered by her words for a moment then stomped over to where she was sitting. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her hard. “Oh baby, I’m sorry, I forgot for a moment.”
Cassie buried her face in his chest. “Don’t even think about that, I made it despite the obstacles thrown at me. I’m tougher than that. I found my way to you and you have always been there when I needed you. Now we have to get Destiny to a safe place. She’s the one who needs our help now.”
Deke kissed the top of her head. “And we’ll be there for her. Rossi and her parents aren’t going to get their hands on her. We got her now.”
“Thank god,” Cassie whispered.
“I’d better call Sam and let him know what went down here.” Deke stepped away and made his call. While he was on the phone, Amos came to the door.
“I need to tell you guys something,” he stated as he walked into Cassie’s office.
“What now?” Cassie asked almost tiredly.
“Rossi grabbed Lester this morning. He took him to a warehouse down by the old paper mill.” He nodded at Deke. “We had a guy follow him and as soon as our man picked up the trail, he backed off so no one would make him. We’ve been watching the warehouse for the last two days.”
“We know about the snatch, we had someone watching the Pearlman house.” Deke frowned. “But why have you and your men been watching Rossi? Do you know something about the man that we don’t?”
Amos snorted. “Did you think you were the only ones keeping an eye on this town?” When Deke didn’t answer Amos went on, “We been hearing rumors about Rossi for a while now and they aren’t the good kind. So we’ve been watching him and a few other players in this town. Then yesterday when we heard his name mixed up in this, we put more men on him.”
“Do you know what he uses the warehouse for?” Deke asked.
Amos glanced quickly at Cassie then turned to Deke. “Well, from what we’ve been able to determine, he uses it as his office outside the race course. All we can do is speculate mind you but we don’t think the business he conducts there is strictly legal if you get what I’m saying. People are coming and going all hours of the day and night. The only way in or out is through a gate that he has manned at all times and we think he’s got the back part of the warehouse set up as a brothel. The cars and men that go to that part of the warehouse are usually high rollers.”
Deke thought about this for a moment then asked, “How long have you been watching this guy to determine that and why have you never mentioned it before now?”
Amos scoffed. “I never mentioned it because the man is too smart to be caught out in the open breaking the law. Some of the space in the warehouse is used to conduct business.”
“How do you know that for sure?” Cassie questioned. “What kind of business does a man conduct in a warehouse anyway?”
Amos stared at Deke as if he were hesitant to say then turned to Cassie. “Miss Cassie I won’t tell you that. It’s not the type of business a woman should know about.”
Cassie bristled and turned to Deke to bitch about this statement then caught the look in his eyes and settled down. Maybe she didn’t want to know about it after all. Instead, she asked, “What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking we need to get our women and kids in lockdown,” Deke stated.
“Lockdown? But why?” Cassie was startled.
“Because this Rossi guy thinks he’s got muscle and he’s going to come after whatever he wants and he wants that little girl. He thinks he’s going to walk right in here and take her by force if he has to and I don’t want to get caught unawares.” He looked over at Amos. “Can you and some of your men get Cassie and the kids back to the clubhouse? I don’t want her to be alone until she gets back there. I have to make some calls and set some protection up.”
“You bet we will,” Amos agreed.
Cassie reached out and laid her hand on her husband’s arm. “Are you sure about this?”
Deke looked down at her. “I’m not taking any chances, not with you or those kids in the nursery. You’re my entire world and there’s no way I’ll risk losing that. Please just go back to the club and wait for me to join you.”
Cassie nodded. Leaning toward him, she kissed him quickly. “Don’t be too long.”
He nodded. “I just have to make sure everything we own is protected. If this idiot wants a war, he’ll get one. If he thinks he can take something we protect, he’s going to be sorry.”
“Come on Miss Cassie,” Amos urged. “Let’s get you and your babies somewhere safe.”
Cassie left the office to collect her babies. Amos, Frankie and Joel met her there and hustled her and the kids out to the SUV. Moments later, they were on their way to the clubhouse.
Deke watched them leave while he was on the phone to Gator and Sam. He’d gotten the phone coordination going and the women and kids on their way back to the protection of the club. The women knew the protocol and they knew Deke would only call for a lockdown if it were needed.
Within the next two hours, Deke was on his way back to the club. He had his men watching the city. At the moment, everything was quiet but he knew it wouldn’t stay that way. Whispers of unrest had been reported to him through some of the men watching Rossi and Deke knew before long, the man himself would make his move.
He wasn’t surprised Amos and his men were watching the players in this drama but he’d been surprised when Chance’s mechanic had touched base with him. Apparently, he and his friends were looking out as well.
Deke wasn’t sure what they were watching or how much help they would be but they seemed to know what they were doing. He just hoped they didn’t get themselves killed by being somewhere they shouldn’t be and getting caught. Jonah Rossi wasn’t known to be a forgiving man when someone stuck their nose in his business.
Deke didn’t think the man was connected with the Family as he knew it, he didn’t think so but he wasn’t going to dismiss the man altogether either. Before he left Redemption House, he placed a call to Leon.
“Hello Deke, to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?” Leon asked.
“I have to ask a question. I don’t ask you about your business, I don’t want to know but I have to ask this time.”
Leon paused then said, “Why are you asking?”
“We have a possible threat coming down on us and I need to know if Jonah Rossi is part of your organization.”
Leon let out a mirthless laugh. “No the man is not part of my Family. I won’t say he doesn’t try but we don’t deal with his kind of business. We’ve been watching him only to make sure his dirty business practices doesn’t slip into what we already have set up. That’s all I’m going to tell you about it.”
“That’s all I need to know Leon. I promise,” Deke assured him. “If push comes to shove I didn’t want to cross a line by killing one of yours without checking with you first.”
“I appreciate the heads up. When this is over, let me know what the outcome is. I’ll be more than happy to come in and clean up the mess I know you’ll have. From what I’ve heard, the man has a head for business and we would be interested in some parts of his ventures.”
Deke snorted. “From what I’ve heard of the man, he’s dealer and a pimp of the worse kind. I’m learning more than I ever needed to know about this scumbag.”
Leon agreed. “Do I want to know what the threat is?”
“It concerns a four year old little girl he has his eyes on. Her father is deep in debt and Rossi is willing to trade the debt for the girl. We aren’t about to let that happen.”
Leon was silent for a moment then told him, “If you don’t kill both of them I will. What about the mother of this child?”
“She’s so far under her husband’s thumb she would hand her over and not even think about it.”
“She needs to learn her lesson too.” Leon hinted.
“Yes she does and she will. But we don’t usually kill women.” Deke hesitated then added, “But she will be dealt with.”
“Is Peaches and her children safe?” Leon demanded.
“All the women and kids are safe,” Deke assured him. “They are part of our family and we protect our own.”
“I know but she’s also my family. Rossi might know this and come after her to get to us. We’ve refused him in the past and will continue to do so. I don’t want her caught in the crossfire.”
“She won’t be.”
“She’d better not be,” Leon warned him.
“Do you really think Iceman would allow anyone to get to his wife and sons?” Deke asked. “Anyone coming after them would have the Sinners and the Bastards after their asses. They couldn’t find a big enough rock to hide under if they hurt one hair on Peaches’ head or her sons. They may be your family but they’re also ours.”
There was a moment of silence on Leon’s end of the call. “Thank you for that.”
“We’re going on lockdown with the women and families. I called to check on his ties to you and yours. I didn’t want to kill him if he were one of yours.”
“Feel free to end his miserable life.” Leon seethed. “I’d like first crack at the race track though. It is a legitimate enterprise that could be beneficial for us.”
“You got it.”
“I’ll expect a call when this is over.” Leon ended the call.
Deke swiped phone and went out to his bike. Looking around the parking lot, he noticed the man sitting in the shadows. It was someone he didn’t recognize and he was unwilling to lead him back to the clubhouse.
Deke made a call and put Gator on notice. He also called Amos to let him know someone was watching the House. Moments later four or five men came outside and moved around the building as if they were standing guard.
The man in the shadows noted the extra men and turned to glare at Deke. Then the roar of more bikers coming could be heard. Seven more men joined Deke and the man turned and walked over to his vehicle. Getting in, he drove off. As he turned the corner, they could see he was on the phone with someone.
Deke looked over at Gator and grinned. “I guess he knows we’re protecting the House huh?”
Amos came over and joined them. “My man Mikey will pick his trail up a block or so away then follow him back to where he needs to be and report in.”
Deke nodded. “That’s good. Can you let me know where this guy went? I just want to be sure we’re all on the same page here and that it’s Jonah Rossi we’re actually dealing with here.”
Amos nodded. “Ok, we’ll keep an eye on things here, day and night. You just keep Miss Cassie and those babies safe.”
Deke grinned. “Oh, you can count on that.”