Cat looked over at the young woman and told her, “You are you, Tatum…no matter what. It doesn’t matter who gave birth to you. Someone I loved very much once told me that it didn’t matter who my mother or father was. I had a brain and a heart and I could be whoever I wanted to be. He told me it was my choice to be good or bad, loving or hateful. I didn’t choose my parents but I could choose who I wanted to be. When I thought about it, I realized he was right. I was more than a combination of my parents who hadn’t been around to guide me in this thing we call life.”
“But that’s just it isn’t it?” Tatum quipped. “I don’t even know what type of person I want to be … All I do know is what I don’t want to be.”
“Well, that’s a start,” Cat said. “You won’t be any different if you knew who your parents are. Look at me for instance, I now know who my mom is, and my dad, but it hasn’t made any difference. I am who I am. As I keep reminding these guys, I am not my mother. They are good men but they keep forgetting that.”
Luna nodded, glancing toward Kota. “With some men, you have to smack them upside the head with a 2×4 to get them to even listen to you.”
The men around her growled but Luna went on, “Some women are stupid like that too.” She nodded over at Dennis. “That’s a really stupid man over there. He spent over ten years in prison for various crimes including abusing me when I was too young to stop him and yet, the first thing he does when he gets out is look up Isobel McCormick. What a waste of time and energy.”
Tatum turned her head and stared at Luna. “Did you say Isobel McCormick?”
“Yeah,” Luna replied. “Why?”
“That was one of the things he and Mrs. Wyman argued about,” Tatum explained.
Luna looked at Cat then at Kota before finally returning her gaze to Tatum. “What were they saying about her?”
“He was saying something about getting arrested and going to jail for ten years then he said Isobel sent someone inside to try and take him out. It didn’t work but he got her message and now he needed to find her and even the score. He thought maybe she would know how to find her.” Tatum shook her head. “Mrs. Wyman told him she had no clue how to find Isobel and she didn’t want to either. But she never told him I was there or that I was still alive either. In fact, she told him I died a long time ago.”
Luna frowned. “He never saw you in the house?”
Tatum shrugged. “I was never allowed out of my room unless Mrs. Wyman needed something. When she saw him walking up the sidewalk, she told me to get to my room and I wasn’t allowed to make a sound or she would make me sorry. She never knew it, but I peeked around the corner when I heard their voices get loud. I listened to them as they argued and I was watching when he strangled her. The world will never miss that miserable woman nor will it miss him but if he can tell me, I would like to know who I am.”
Luna shook her head. “Well, don’t expect the truth from him. Like I said before, he wouldn’t tell you the truth unless there was something in it for him, and even then you couldn’t trust what he says.”
“All of this is garbage anyway.” Hawkins growled as he paced the room. “We have no fucking clue who she is or what the hell she’s doing here. We’re caught between a rock and a hard place again and it’s all we can do to protect ourselves let alone everyone else who comes here looking for answers we don’t have. We have Isobel plotting our demise and heaven only knows what she’s got in mind. She might come back with everything and just start shooting. She’s got to be nearing the end of her rope and she still has to take us out. Or at least, she thinks she does. She could also just move on and we’d never know it. We could still be sitting here a year from now, waiting for her to come back. Well in that case, waiting is good for her and not so good for us.” He shook his head. “We need to find her and put her out of our misery.”
Brute looked around the room at his brothers and saw Dennis was awake. “He might know where we can find her.” He nodded his head toward Dennis who was zip tied to the other bed.
Dennis glared back at him then his face went blank as everyone turned to him. Dennis tried to move but found that his arms and legs were securely tied to the bed frame. He looked back at Brute and snarled, “You can all go to hell. I ain’t telling you jack shit.”
Tatum slowly got off her bed and stumbled over to his bed. She looked at him and asked, “Do you know who I am?”
Dennis glared at her then his eyes widened as he slowly looked away. “That stupid old bitch. She fucking lied to me.”
“Who am I?” She cried out, as she got closer to the bed. “I need to know.”
When he didn’t say anything, she grabbed his shirt and tried to pull him up but he didn’t come very far off the bed. “You came looking for me at old lady Wyman’s house. You asked her where the baby you brought her all those years ago was, she told you I died a long time ago. So you know who I am. You know!” she screamed at him.
Dennis just sneered at her. “You should never have been allowed to be born, that’s who you are. You are a mistake, nothing more than a mistake.”
Tatum curled her fingers into his shirt as tears rolled down her face. “You’re lying.”
“Am I? How do you know?” He laid his head back on the bed. “There are only three people who know the truth about your birth, me, Isobel, and your mother.” He shook his head. “And your mother would never tell anyone what she did the night you were born. It would come back to bite her in the ass, that leaves me and Isobel and I know she wouldn’t tell you so that leaves me and I ain’t saying a damn word. Not yet anyway. You are gonna be my little secret for now. After all, a secret isn’t a secret anymore if you share it with too many people.” He looked around the room and glared at them all.
Tatum collapsed to the floor beside the bed.
Dennis didn’t seem to care. He just glared at her for a moment then turned his head away.
Brute came over to her. He gathered her in his arms and hauled her out of the infirmary.
Hawkins just kicked the bed Dennis was in. “Did that little stunt make you feel like a man?” He snarled.
“I don’t answer to you or anyone else here.” Dennis snarled back. “So fuck off, you lousy bikers.”
“But you do answer to someone don’t you, Dennis,” Luna stated.
“You shut your pissy little mouth, bitch.” Dennis growled.
Luna looked over at Hawkins and asked, “Can you run his background?”
“Yeah, we can run his background,” Wanderer answered her. “We can dig up every transaction he ever made if we know where to start looking.”
“Start with his arrest records,” she suggested. “That should give you a list of his associates and known friends,”
Wanderer nodded. “That’s a good place to start. His prison reports will fill us in on the years he spent behind bars.”
“Then run down the name Joel Greenaway,” Luna instructed. “He spent a lot of time at the house before Dennis was arrested.”
“I told you to shut your mouth, girl!” Dennis pulled against the ties and spit flew from his mouth as he yelled at her. “Joel is not somebody you want to piss off and if you start digging into him, he will get pissed.”
“Tough shit, boyo.” Hawkins growled. He looked over at Wanderer. “Use everything you got and get us some answers.”
Wanderer smiled. “It’ll be my pleasure, boss.”
Dennis glared at Luna. “You don’t know what hell you’re about to unleash but you’ll find out girl. You’ll find out and I hope I’ll be here when he comes looking.” Shaking his head, he told the men, “Joel is not a man you want to face. I’m warning you right now.”
“Warn us all you want you, chicken shit.” Hawkins leaned in closer. “The only one sweating is you.” He then took a step back and cocked his head at Dennis. “I wonder what we’re gonna find out when Wanderer gets done with his searching?”
“Did the cops or Joel ever find your secret room, Dennis?” Luna stood at the end of his bed looking rather disgusted. “You remember that room. The one you tried so hard to hide from the whole world. I remember the night before you were arrested, you made a phone call. You called your cousin Rob. You told him you’d been betrayed and you were probably going to jail for a few years. You asked him to come stay there until you got out. Did he find your secret room? Did he even know to look for it or not even bother? I got a letter from the state. It told me you got out of prison. Did Rob go get you and take you home? Is that what happened Dennis? I prayed they would find a reason to keep you behind bars but they didn’t. They let you out.”
“Shut your damn mouth.” Dennis glared at her. “You have no fucking idea what you’re talking about. It’s all bullshit. Just bullshit..
Luna shook her head at him and went on, “I used to watch you sometimes at night. You thought I was sleeping but who could sleep with a monster like you in the house? I watched you go down to the basement all the time. A couple of times, I followed you down there.” She swallowed hard and began to shiver as she remembered her past. “That place was scary, especially for a five year old and you should be in bed but you just can’t help it. You have to see what your tormentor is doing down in the basement. Imagine what it does to a child that age when they see the wall open and swallow up the only other person in the house. You would disappear into another room and I always dreamed of running to shut the door so you couldn’t get out but, I never had the courage to try it. I knew if you ever did get out of that scary room, you would kill me.” Luna trembled badly. Then she looked over at Cat with tears running down her cheeks. “Why couldn’t I remember any of this before?”
Cat walked over to her and wrapped her arms around her shoulders. “The bad memories are sometimes hard to remember, especially when you’re just a kid and someone hurts you so badly that your mind shuts it all away to protect you from the pain.”
“So why did I remember it tonight?” Luna asked, confused.
“Because for the first time in your life, your tormentor can’t get to you,” Kota spoke up. “He can’t hurt you anymore.” He walked over to her and looked her in the eyes. “You aren’t that same little girl you once were and now you have people that won’t let him hurt you ever again. I got your back and so does Cat. He’d have to get through all of us here to get to you baby, and that just ain’t gonna happen, not on my watch.”
Hawkins leaned in again and glared at Dennis. “Give us enough time and we’re gonna find out all your dirty secrets, fool. And you’ll pay the full price for everything you ever did, to her and to everyone else you ever fucked over. You think Joel Greenaway is scary? You never met the Rogues of Hell before.” He scoffed. “Some people just gotta learn the hard way.” He leaned back and smiled. “But learn it they do and so will you. Some secrets just ain’t worth keeping, boy. I think the time has come for you to really pay your debt to society.”
