A Promise to Return (Shadow Souls MC Book 3) (2 page)

Chapter Three

Richard would never regret
that Sierra married James, even if the man scared him most of the time. It was necessary for the family business; but, he constantly felt like James held him—and everyone else—in disdain. If it wasn’t for the fact he was fairly desperate for James’ money, he probably would have run away from the man years ago instead of forming this close of a bond.

Maybe he wasn’t the smartest man in the world, but he wasn’t the stupidest either, and he knew when he was being played. He had been played by James. James had convinced him to join in his games and play his part, and now he knew he was trapped. James expected him to continue kowtowing to him for the rest of his life. However, Richard needed the man and there was nothing that could change that reality.

He had to turn his hopes away from his daughter and stay loyal to this manipulative psycho in order to keep himself above water, because really, James didn’t need him anymore. It was out of whatever goodness was in his heart that he allowed Richard to keep clinging to his coattails, a situation that would not change anytime in the near or distant future.

So, Richard knew he needed to make a choice. He needed to throw his lot entirely in with James or try to maintain some sort of independence.

He also needed to decide if he would remain devoted to his daughter—if Sierra was going to continue to be stubborn and ridiculous about this whole thing, she could do that on her own. He wasn’t going to have anything to do with her anymore. She was going to ruin everything for him, and he wasn’t going to let their association ruin his chance to have a good future.

Although, he reflected, he didn’t really have anyone except Sierra; but, he was going to alienate her, as well. His life was wealth, riches, and leisure. He didn’t need to think about what was going on. He just needed to do as he was told and collect rewards from a long, well-lived life.

Chapter Four

Chad didn’t want this to end. Even though he was locked up
, beat up, and at the end of his life and his rope, he wanted to keep it going. He figured that he was getting what he deserved for his crime. He had ruined everything beautiful about his life and the only good thing he had ever had. His relationship with Sierra had been beautiful, as long as she didn’t know what a horrible person he was. As soon as she knew, she fled. He considered it to be a logical and deserved reaction because he was a truly, horrible person. He had killed Scott and then tried to find a way to alleviate his guilty and anxiety.

But here, he could receive the punishment and treatment he deserved. There was nothing here except his guilt, pain, and need for reconciliation. They kept him on limited rations. He had not seen sunlight or smelled fresh air for weeks now. However, he knew that this was what was best for him.

He was in a tiny cellar room—or in a tiny part of a larger cellar. There was a grimy window that let in a sickly light.  A bare bulb hung overhead, but it had never been turned on, and there was no light switch, so perhaps it was just for show. The floor was dirty, and Chad spent most of his time watching roaches scramble back and forth across it. The walls were cinderblocks that seemed perpetually covered in a weird slime.

Chad was tied up, so he could not do much, except lie on the floor and think about his life and his life choices. There was not a lot he could do, and it wasn’t like he really wanted to do anything, anyhow.

His mind stayed focused on Sierra—on her beauty and gentleness, her passion, and the glow that surrounded her. He thought about the way she made him feel and the way she made everything in him seem better. In his mind, she was as close to perfection as anyone could ever hope to be.

However, it all changed when he heard a tapping on the window. He squinted through the window, trying to make out what was going on. He saw a flash of blond hair and perfectly manicured nails pecking on the glass; but, he knew it couldn’t be Sierra—she was living a life full of glamor and richness. As some of the grime on the window was cleared away, Chad saw it really was her.

He could not fathom why she was at the window. All he had to offer her was platitudes and attempts to reconcile but that wouldn’t appease her or make anything better for her.

“Chad?” she called.

He was tied up, but he could get a little closer to her. “Sierra? What are you doing here?”

“I’m here for you. Back away from the window.”

He complied, and she took off her shoe and broke the window with her heel. Carefully, she pulled the shards of glass out of the window, so she could slide through. “Hey,” she said, smiling at him shyly through her hair.

“Hey,” he said, trying to give her a smile, but pretty sure it came off as more of a confused and slightly-pained grimace. “So, um, awkward question. Why are you here?”

“I had to tell you something important. I had to make sure you know something.” She was trying to untie the knots around his wrists and ankles, but her long nails and delicate hands were proving useless against them. “You are wrong. The Shadow Souls are wrong. Everyone is wrong.”

“Wrong about what?”

“About Scott and how he died. James did it.”

All of the meaning and reality drained out of Chad’s world. “What are you talking about? How can you prove that?”

“Prove it? I don’t know if I have any direct proof so to speak, but he told me himself. I’m married to him,” she winced and continued, “and I know how ruthless and evil he can be.”

“What do you mean?”

She looked away from him. “He abused me. Hurt me.”

Chad’s world was suddenly colored red and black. He was filled with anger and hate. “What do you mean?”

“I…I don’t want to talk about it.” She looked like she was on the brink of tears, and he wanted nothing more than to reach out and comfort her. “But I am going to get you out of here. You didn’t do anything.”

“So, what actually happened?”

“As much as I can piece together James either hired someone or he himself drove the drunk that plowed into you guys. I’m not sure if he had anything to do with getting you drunk or not, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he did.” She frowned. “He is an awful man. I’m pretty sure he is coming to kill you.”

“What?”

“He considers you a loose end of some sort, I believe. Therefore, he needs to get rid of you. You are a hindrance and a nuisance to him. Also, I think he is afraid I would do what I’ve just done. I think he thought he had more time though.” She grinned triumphantly. “But we can’t just laze around and expect everything to work out beautifully. We need a plan. We need to convince the Shadow Souls that you are innocent, so they will let you out of here.”

“I don’t know how well that will go over.”

She tossed her hair over her shoulder. “I’m sure I can figure something out.”

He smiled at her, the first sincere smile he had in months. She was the only person he really ever wanted to smile at anyway. She was perfect, beautiful, amazing, and wonderful. “I know you will. You always do.” He hesitated. “I saw you on TV for your wedding. You looked so dead.”

She sighed and said with a shiver, “I’ve felt so dead. Since you…you know. I have felt cut off from my air supply, like I was drowning. But also like I was just…there. Nothing more than a receptacle for the surroundings and situations. It was awful. I’m so sorry for how I reacted. Everything has spiraled out of control. I don’t even know how to explain it to anyone, let alone you. I know you’ve probably been blaming yourself for all this, but please don’t. This is all on me, especially now that I know just how wrong I really was.”

And for the first time, doubt started to creep into Chad’s mind. She had left him, she had changed everything about herself and about what he loved in her to run away from him; but, when he looked at her, he saw truth and sorrow in her eyes.

However, he didn’t know if he could trust her. He knew he wanted to, but he wasn’t sure if he could. He could make another mistake, and she would just walk out again. Plus, she was married, and he doubted James would be willing to divorce her. She was an acquisition to him, not a human. He would just have to see how it all played out.

“I understand if you don’t trust me,” Sierra said.

“It isn’t that I don’t, not entirely anyway. Although I am nervous to entrust my welfare and future to someone who was more than willing to just walk out on me not too long ago.”

“I know. I hope I can prove myself to you. Now, I better go. I have a meeting.”

Chapter Five

Sierra now had to figure out
how to keep her promise to Chad. There were so many ways this whole thing could go so badly. It was such a delicate situation. The easiest course was to just sneak Chad out and then run away from everything, but she was tired of running. All she had done her whole life was run from everything that bothered or hurt her. She wanted to actually confront a problem.

She wasn’t sure if this was a problem she wanted to confront. She didn’t know if it was fair to Chad to take him away from everything he knew. Plus, she wasn’t sure if she could leave James freely.

This was her fight and her battle, and she needed to see it through to the end, wherever that end may be. At this rate, the end would not be somewhere particularly pleasant; but, she wasn’t going to let this chance to make a difference slip away from her. Now, she could redeem herself after all those years of self-centeredness. If she loved Chad, and she believed she did, she would make sure this worked out.

She went into the front door of the building and looked around for the man she was supposed to meet. She wasn’t exactly sure what she was going to say in this meeting. She knew what she wanted to accomplish, but the best way of accomplishing that was unknown to her.

She felt distinctly out of place here. Her clothes were dirty from crawling into the cellar and a piece of glass had ripped her pants; but, she was obviously still wealthy. She looked suspicious and conspicuous in a place like this, but fortunately someone came to her rescue.

“You must be Miss Hall,” said a burly man in a leather vest, offering her his hand.

She shook it gratefully, but then remembered who this man was and fear shot through her. “Yes. I am. You must be Mr. Richards.”

He laughed. “I am indeed, but you can call me Red. Everyone does.”

She smiled and found it hard to believe this man was part of any sort of torture, kidnapping, and interrogation scheme, or really, any criminal activity. She knew for a fact the Shadow Souls were at least somewhat involved in a few illegal activities; but not the bad kind, Chad had repeatedly assured her.

“Sit down here. Can I get you anything to drink?”

“Just water. I drove here so I don’t want anything too strong.”

“That’s fair. Want anything to eat?”

She shook her head. “Thank you though.”

He walked off to the bar, and Sierra had a few brief moments to attempt to compose her thoughts into some semblance of order. She had to get his attention, and she had to get it quickly and then convince him to believe her. She had to have a plan of action and knew she should have planned everything out beforehand.

She started to silently berate herself, “Of course, I’m stupid. When have I really ever have to think about something, let alone something as complicated and careful as this sort of interaction? My life has never prepared me for anything like this.”

Then, she decided there was really only one thing she could do. She decided to tell the truth.

Red sat back down and handed her a glass of water. “So, you are Scott’s sister?”

“Yes, I am.” She fiddled nervously with her the glass, unsure of how to go about doing this.

“So, what did you want to know?”

She took in a deep breath. “I didn’t come down her to talk about Scott. Well not directly.”

“What do you mean?” He narrowed his eyes. “What is this all about then, girl?”

“This is about Chad.”

“What?”

“Hold on, hold on, let me tell the story from the beginning. There has been some gross misunderstandings about this whole situation.”

“All right then, missy. Start talking, and this better be good.”

“All right. So, in the accident it looked like—and Chad reported—that Scott and Chad were coming up and were a little drunk. They were driving somewhat recklessly, Chad swerved into oncoming traffic and then swerved into Scott to get out of the way of an oncoming tractor-trailer. That’s the official story. That’s how the news reported it. That’s what everyone believes. The truck driver was never located because Chad didn’t see a license plate, and he didn’t realize he had caused an accident—so there was only Chad’s story. My father never pressed charges, but Chad was ostracized from his only friends because of what looked like manslaughter.

“But, that’s not what happened. I was very, very close to my brother. Our mother had left us when we were both very young. She couldn’t stand my father, and we were left to deal with him on our own. To our father, we were just tools in his quest for wealth and power. We were not his children, and he had no real love or devotion for us. So, naturally, this brought us closer together. 

“But Scott was always looking for a way out for us, so he was gone a lot. When he died that was the last straw for me, and I ran away from home. Weird to say because I was twenty-two at the time, but it wasn’t like I could just leave. My father had complete control over all my finances. He owned my car. He owned everything I could possibly call my own, including myself. But, I left anyway.

“Then, my father turned his attention to Chad. He was broke and alone and felt incredibly guilty for the death of his best friend. He wanted to make things up to him. My father seemed to be opening his arms to Chad, offering him acceptance and a chance to relieve his aching mind. Part of what my father wanted was to get me to come back. So, he charged Chad with bringing me back to California.

“Of course, I didn’t want to go. I explained to Chad how manipulative and evil my father was, and he agreed that he was an asshole. So, he stayed on with me. And… And then we fell in love.” She smiled and looked down, knowing she was still in love with him. “We decided to run away. Run away from all the bad things and guilt in our lives. We wanted to find somewhere for us that didn’t revolve around how everyone else used us for their own ends.

“But then he told me about his involvement in Chad’s death. See, I had never been told much of anything because… Well, because my father was in charge of all my interactions with people, and I guess he didn’t want me to know. So, I didn’t. Anyway, then Chad told me, and I left. I couldn’t stand the sight of him. I returned to California and married James Northorp.

“I thought that I could just live the life my father had intended for me and never worry about anything else ever again. I’d just be a puppet, a doll, doing what I was told. Staying blond, skinny, young, involved in the right charities, and saying the right things. Maybe I would end up on some reality TV show eventually or something. Who knows?

“But then James revealed himself to be far more abusive than my father would’ve ever dared to be. He also told me that he was the one who killed Scott. He arranged the whole thing. He wanted to get Scott out of the way, so I would be the only person bearing the Hall name. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was somehow planning to kill my father. Not that I would be too terribly upset about that particularly development to be honest.

“So…um…I guess, in short, everyone has been horrifically mistaken, and James Northorp is evil incarnate.”

Red frowned. “We knew Northorp was involved in the death of Scott. We were told he had hired Chad to make sure it got done.”

Sierra shook her head. “Chad wasn’t involved.”

“How do you know?”

“I’ve lived with the man for four months. I know that he wants to do all his dirty work himself. I also know that he told me he was responsible for the deed.”

“I’m sure you can imagine how I’m not exactly convinced about all this, but you probably wouldn’t come down here to tell me everything if you weren’t convinced.”

She tried to look as convincing as she could, but Red seemed stone-faced.

“What do you want to do?” he asked.

“Well, for starters, I would like to you release Chad. Then, we can do something about James because I don’t want to let him get away with this.” As she said the words, she knew it was exactly what she wanted and needed to do. There wasn’t any other option that she would consider.

“Well, let’s get Chad then. We will have to talk to some other people.”

She felt her heart soar. “You’re going to help me?”

“We will see. There are a lot of things to question and sort out first.”