Falling For The Biker: The Vice President's Girl Chapter 128

Wren

"Does that hurt?" Ajax whispers, tugging at the rope on my wrist.

I swallow and whisper back. "No."

"Sure?"

"Yes."

He straightens, testing the rope one last time and the chair. I'm strapped to a chair in a beaten down warehouse.

My wrists are tied behind my back, another rope wraps my torso around the chair. The position has my belly exposed and I wish I had my hands free so I can wrap them around.

But I can't.

I fight the tears that spring to my eyes. They won't see me cry. They don't deserve my tears.

It's Ajax, Donovan and some other men that are in here with me. Reggie went through a door, leaving the scent of damp earth in the air.

The only thing keeping in me check is that Ajax is here, and he said Ezra and Ray will be here soon.

I hate to say it, but right now, I want to be saved. Ajax and I can't take all these people, it'll be signing our death notes.

No one says anything. It's totally silent, all the men have hard expressions on their faces as they cling to their guns.

"What do you mean you can't find Tristan, Reginald?" A female voice rings out and my stomach drops.

That could be the woman Ezra talked about, the president of this MC.

My panic only increases when I hear two sets of footsteps approaching us from behind. I don't want to look.

My heart thuds in my chest, mouth going dry.

"Have you tried calling him?" She asks.

"Yes," Reginald replies. "We've stopped over at his place too, no single sign of him. I have a feeling he was taken."

"By Raven Reapers?"

"No. By Ezra fucking Jax."

I flinch at the sound of my boyfriend's name in his mouth.

"Hm." The woman hums. "Only one way to find out then."

And then she steps in front of me. "Hello, Wren."

Familiar black hair, and amber eyes and that tall frame.

I blink.

The woman that left Ray and I when we were still kids. The woman who despised me, yet, I looked up to her like she hung the moon.

It feels like I've seen a ghost.

Memories flood my mind, my childhood plays on a loop in my mind.

It's been years and she's still alive? Still here in New Orleans?

Lydia Carlisle…my dad's wife, and my mom.

"M-mom?"

Ajax inhales sharply from beside me.

Her lips pinch into a scowl. "Still stupid, huh? Thought you'd realize soon that I'm not your mom."

"I do."

"Then don't call me that," she snaps and straightens to her full height.

I swallow.

After that day at Ezra's basement, it was not hard to put two and two together. Lydia isn't my mom, and that's why she despised me.

But why did she leave Ray? And why is she after me?

"W-why are you doing this?" I ask. "I've not done anything to you."

She takes a seat opposite me, and Reggie stands beside her. "Where's my son?"

"Raymond? He—"

"Tristan."

My brows pinch. "Huh?"

"Where is my son, Tristan?"

I freeze, whole body stiffening. "Tri–Tristan is your son?"

"He is. My ray of sunshine," she replies. "Where is he? What has your silly boyfriend done to him?"

"I don't —"

Her hand shoots out, squeezing my jaw together. Pain flares up my face with how tight her grip is. "Don't you dare lie to me."

I try to speak, but it's impossible. Instead, I shake my head frantically, eyes darting this way and that, trying to communicate in the only available ways.

Tristan is her son. I'd be lying if I say that news doesn't shock me. Tristan was right, I've been a pawn since day one.

But why?

What did I ever do?

Why are they after me? Why did they have a whole plan for Tristan to deceive me for two years?

And most especially, what do they want from me?

Lydia pushes off me, and warmth returns to my face. I can't even soothe the pain with my hands.

"I don't know where he is, I swear," I reply. "Why am I here, Lydia? What's the point to all of this?"

"The point is revenge."

"Revenge?" I gawk. "What have I ever done to you? I adored you as a child, yet you hated me. And then you left! The same way your son, Tristan, proposed to me and left!"

Her eyes harden. "You're paying for your father, since Ezra killed him before we could get to him."

My breath hitches. "I don't understand."

"Your father was not only a drunk manipulative bastard, but he was a thief," she says. "After he convinced me to elope with him, I left my family—who hated him, by the way—and I agreed. We got married, and few years after that, we had Raymond."

I don't reply, I only listen. I need to know where all went wrong, I need to know my part in all this.

"It was all great, until he started having an affair. He lost his job, and became abusive. Emotionally, physically, verbally. He took from me, stole my savings, stole everything I had, my jewelry, my clothes."

Her eyes lift to mine. "In everything, I never got mad. Never. Not because he abused me, not from the affairs, not from his theiving. But then..."

She snorts and stands to her feet, pacing the floor between us.

"Your stupid father got some woman pregnant. And when I found out about her, I went to see her. He'd gotten her a nice little house, he started staying with her. Every money he spent on her was from me, every single dime!"

I flinch.

"He took from me to adorn her, and then, she gave birth to you. Died in the process, and it was unfortunate that I couldn't kill her myself. That would've been the perfect revenge, and I was mad." She seethes, shaking her head. "And then…after months of Raymond and I waiting for him, he came home with you. That day, I wanted to put a pillow over your face and suffocate you to death."

Nausea rolls in my belly. "W-what?"

"God, I hated you." She glares. "But he loved you. He never loved Raymond or me the way he adored you. Until eventually, his grief took over his love for you. Maybe because you reminded him so much of your mother, I don't know. But he began to care less about you, about all of us."

Tears well up in my eyes because I know what this is.

A woman scorned.

She's held this rage in her for so long, this hurt, that it has grown and there's nothing that will change her mind.

No apology, nothing.

Fear grips me because what if the only way she can let go of all of it is if she kills me.

Does she want me dead since my very existence seems to be the reason for her hatred?

"M-mom—Lydia," I try but one look from her traps the words in my mouth.

"Do you know what's even crazier? He expected me to take care of you!" She screams. "Me?! As if everything he did, every neglect was not enough. The fucking audacity!"

A sob rips from my throat, and the tears break free. I'm so terrified, for myself…for my baby.

"I'm s-sorry, Lydia! You didn't deserve—"

"Of course I didn't," she snaps. "I was young, I was in love. But not anymore. I've waited, bid my time. At first Reginald met him and offered to loan him some money. We were going to ruin him. We had a plan, you know, to take everything from him, including his pathetic life. And so we gave him, and he owed us."

Realization hits me. They planned it all. When my dad, Tony, needed money, they were there to give. And give.

And he owed.

And owed.

Until there was nothing to his name and I became collateral.

"You turned him into a deadbeat debtor." My throat tightens.

"We were going to collect," she continues. "We were going to destroy him and you after he signed you and the house as collateral. But your stupid boyfriend killed him!"

"He didn't know," I defend and I regret it the moment her hand cracks across my face.

It's so sudden, so abrupt. It takes a while to process, a while for the pain to tingle on my cheek.

And then it does.

My eyes, my whole face, they feel so hot. Stinging.

When I blink, a tear falls from my eyes. Ajax's fist is balled so tightly, the veins on his knuckles prop.

"Do not fucking interrupt me, silly girl!" She hisses. "Especially not to spew nonsense!"

A shaky breath leaves my lips as I hiccup.

And then something red splashes on my cardigan.

Blood.

My gaze cuts to Lydia's hands, and I see the rings on them with stains of my blood.

I look up at Ajax, and he looks away, jaw tight.

She…she cut me.