Page 172 of Healed

“And what do we do from here?” Trent asked.

“Honestly, brother?” Dante sighed. “I’m damned if I know. Hacksaw is working every hour of the day trying to trace him. We have Walzer and Bambi pumping their contacts for info. We have moles in the Rider’s territory. We’re doing what we can. For now, it looks like we need to wait for Nico to show his face and make himself known. Then we can make a plan. Until then, life continues as normal.”

Dante banged the gavel, signalling the end of the motion.

“Would anyone else like the floor?”

“I would,” I said.

Everyone looked at me.

“Pivot, would you be interested in doing a quick rap to cheer us all up? Hey!” I snapped as everyone groaned and threw things at me. “Well, excuse me for trying to liven this place up.”

“Meeting adjourned,” Dante said, slamming the gavel down again. “I’ve had enough Vienna for one day.”

Chapter 54

Gabriella

Despite the chaos surrounding the Devil’s, life slipped by relatively uneventfully for the next few days. And around three weeks after I’d first arrived at the compound, I found myself once again at the breakfast table with Rachel.

The morning had been chaotic from the moment it started. Bee hadn’t wanted to wake up and go to school, she said her tummy hurt. Heather had pulled out some of her special medicine, which Bee would only agree to take if me and Rachel took it as well.

Heather had practically forced the spoon into our mouths, and me and Rachel had done our best not to spit it back out again.

Safe to say, I thought less of Heather for that. The stuff was fucking vile.

Then Axel hadn’t wanted to leave his sister and had screamed bloody murder until Heather finally relented and agreed to let him join them.

“Are you sure they should be going to school?” I asked Rachel once they left.

“She’s in a bulletproof car, Heather is trained and armed, and the car also has a tracker. They should be fine.”

“Should?” I questioned.

“Will. They will be fine,” she sighed heavily. “I don’t know what else to do, Gabriella. We already have social services sniffing around, Bee’s voice is coming and going depending on her moods. If I rip her out of her routine, she’s likely to retreat back into herself. I need her to still believe her home is safe. I want her life as normal as possible.”

“How far away is the school?”

“Ten minutes, if that. And the school have already been instructed that they will be arriving a little later than everyone else so we can keep an eye on her without the busy crowds.”

“It will be fine,” I reassured her, squeezing her arm.

“I know.” She offered me a shaky smile. “I know it will. And some of the guys are following them, so they will keep an eye on things. It’s just hard to let them go.”

I squeezed her arm again, and she straightened up, shaking off her sad mood.

From there, we seemed to feed the entire club and their old ladies their breakfast. Just when I was beginning to think I needed a nap, everyone disappeared to start their days until it was just me and Rachel.

“I’m fucking exhausted,” she sighed, flopping down into her seat and sliding a cup of tea over to me.

“This morning seemed more hectic than usual, right?”

“Thank you! I thought it was just me getting old or something.”

“I’m older than you,” I pointed out.

“I think after today we’re on even footing.”