BANE: A Devils' Due MC Romance Novel (22 page)

"You'll bring him back to his club?" I took that chance to remind the Don of his promise.

"But of course, child," he replied, his grin suddenly came back. "I'm a man of my word."

My eyes darted towards Trevor. He was still gaping at me as a huge man continued to support him. I tipped my head to tell him that everything would be alright... that he'd be safe and should receive medical care very soon. He just responded with a blank stare.

The Don raised his hand once again.

"Now," he calmly said.

Immediately, the bulky man who was holding Trevor drew out a gun. He pointed it on Trevor's head.

Trevor instantly knew what was happening.

He gave me one last gaze... his eyes were flushed with horror and hopelessness and defeat...

No... please no...

A loud bang.

A burst of crimson streaked through the chilly air.

Trevor's lifeless body fell on the ground.

His eyes were still open.

He was still looking at me.

My knees buckled in shock and anger and surrender. I knelt on the ground as the men continued to hold my arms. I wanted to throw up, but only empty air and whimpers came out of my throat.

"You... You promised that... that you'll bring him.. him back to... to his club..." I muttered as I tried my best to ward off my tears.

"Yes, I did," the old man said, still calmly, still with a grin that seemed to spur. "And I will. I told you, child. I am a man of my word. I guaranteed that I will bring him back to his clubhouse... but I made no mention that I will bring him back alive."

Everything turned black after that.

It wasn't because the vehicles that surrounded us turned off their headlights. It wasn't because the half-moon that illuminated the sky was swallowed by the clouds. It wasn't because the stars suddenly disappeared.

It was because everything I have done... everything I have chosen to give up... everything I have struggled to leave behind... all of them were made worthless.

My plan... my decision... my sacrifice... all was for naught.

Trevor was dead. I wasn't able to save him.

A devastating feeling of despair crushed me. Nothing meant anything anymore.

Nothing...

Except for single thought...

A single name...

Bane...

"What do ‘ya mean you don't know?!"

I wanted to slap the prospects' faces, so much so that the brothers had to restrain me. I assigned them one task - one fucking simple task - and they failed to do it. They just had to watch over Lana, and now, she's disappeared and they don't know shit about where she went.

"I'm so sorry, boss, but she really din'nit pass here." Bumbux was particularly repentant. He stood by the entrance and refused to bulge, as if he wanted to show me that he was still willing and ready to guard it with his life. If I wasn't too angry and worried, I would've believed him. He has always been reliable. But Jesus Christ! What a moment for him to fail, what with the Italians hot on us and the girl and all!

Romeo tapped me from behind. "She isn't inside, Bane. We've searched everywhere," he informed me.

"Fuck!" I yelled in frustration.

All the brothers were concerned too. They talked amongst themselves, discussing the possible things that could've happened. But there was only one scenario that was evidently plausible.

She escaped.

But why?

She was safe here. People were guarding her, and the Italians wouldn't dare launch an attack on our clubhouse in the middle of one of the busier areas of Buffalo. "She didn't even pack her things. As far as I could tell, she didn't bring anything with her. Even her purse was on the bed.

If she fled, where would she go? She didn't have a family anywhere. She didn't know anyone who would take her in.

Then it struck me. Willowville, her old home. She probably came.back there because... i dunno... maybe she missed her pops and shit.

I checked my watch. It was 8:45 in the evening. If I'd ride now, I'd reach Holland in thirty minutes at max speed.

I started to walk towards my bike when Loco came out of the building and called my attention.

"Brother, Cherry wants to talk to you," he said.

I turned around and saw the mama hiding behind Prez. She looked nervous and just as worried as the rest of us.

"Yeah, what?" I wanted to know. If she wanted to tell me something, she had to do it fast. Time was of the essence, and I couldn't afford any delays.

"I saw Lana earlier," she spoke.

"Did ‘ya see her leave?" I immediately asked.

"No, but I saw her walk into the kitchen. She never went out."

"The backdoor!" Loco exclaimed. "That sneaky chick used the other exit!"

That confirmed my suspicion. She really intended to escape.

"Bane... she sounded different," Cherry continued to say. "Like she was calmer... kinder... softer yet very determined..."

"Determined? About what?" I questioned.

"I don't know," Cherry replied. "But whatever it is, she seemed like she was expecting something that was inevitable. She looked like a soldier who was about to march into a war."

"Or a lamb who has accepted her slaughter..." I mumbled weakly as I realized what was happening. Shit! She went to the Captolis!

Loco came up with the same conclusion as well.

"How the hell would she even know where the Italians are?" he mentioned in disbelief. Then his eyes lit up with an abundance of alarm. He frantically scoured his pockets, desperately searching for something. "Fuck! My phone!"

Holy fucking hell!

"Shit! What time did ‘ya last see her?" I asked Cherry.

"Just before six," she said.

That was almost three hours ago. I felt a powerful force crumple my heart as I began to fear the worst. I started to breath faster as my face turned pale because of the dread that followed.

Mason whammed his open hand across my chest.

"Be strong, brother," he told me. "We will get her back. But we have to act fast. There's no time for that
emo
crap."

He was right. Now wasn't the time to be weak. Her life was in terrible danger, and we had to do things swiftly.

But how? Where do we even begin? What approach should we take?

"Let's get inside and discuss this," Loco ordered. "The sooner we can plan our next move, the sooner we can act."

Everyone agreed. We all hurried inside the clubhouse. Some of the brothers briskly moved the tables to create a makeshift chapel in the middle of the lobby for our unexpected church. We sat down. Loco began to talk before he could even reach his chair.

"So what do we know," he said. "The girl left at around six. She probably called the Captolis using my phone - dammit, why did I misplace that piece of crap again - and set up a meeting with them. Why would she do that? There's only one logical explanation. She wanted them to free Trevor."

"At the expense of her own life?" Pip wondered aloud.

Everyone fell silent. Including the girls who have started to flock the clubhouse and formed a crowd behind us. They couldn't believe how brave she was... how much she wanted to ensure the safety of a man who wasn't even a target of the Captolis' wrath...

How much she wanted to prove that she wasn't her father...

"It's been three hours," Romeo mentioned. "If the exchange was made, shouldn't Trevor be here by now? What if we wait for him? Ask him what happened? Ask him where they took her? Ask him if... if... if she's still alive..."

"She's still alive!" I screamed at him.

"We don't have that luxury," Loco told the table. "Every second counts, boys. We don't even know if they really freed Trevor... and if they did... we don't know when he'll be able to get back to the clubhouse..."

As if on cue, we heard the screeching sound of a vehicle speeding away from the road just outside our building. Some of the brothers got up and drew their guns, running towards the exit to check it out.

I was about to do the same, when Bumbux and Dimwit came in, their faces painted with horror and sadness.

"Boss... come... you gotta see..." he muttered as if he was in the verge of crying.

"What?" Loco demanded to know.

"It's... It's Trevor..."

The brothers lined up on the sidewalk by the tailoring shop that served as a front for the Captolis' headquarters. They started singing and shouting and throwing bottles of beer on the facade of the store. They laughed as loud as they could as they screamed the few Italian curses they knew.

It was all a ruse, though.

We were all devastated by Trevor's murder. We didn't expect that, especially with W\what Lana did. His death... it only proved what kind of a man Don Vito really was... ruthless, vindictive, evil.

He couldn't be trusted. Not anymore. Not even when the dust settled on this beef we had with them.

When Trevor's body was dumped in front of our clubhouse, many of the brothers wanted to attack the Captolis immediately. Prez had to pacify them. Retaliation was in order, yes, but a disorganized assault would just lead to a massacre... ours in particular.

We became more desperate than we already were. Our need to rescue Lana was only fueled by the blood of our fallen brother that spilled on the floor of our sanctuary.

In the midst of our brainstorming, an idea arose and it gave birth to a plan.

And for that plan to succeed, we needed to play our roles... all of us... me, the patches... including the prospects.

Now, the brothers picketed the tailoring shop as they tried to be as loud and as rowdy as possible. The purpose was clear...

We needed to make a commotion.

We needed a distraction.

For me.

My role was to infiltrate the Captolis' hideout and rescue my ol' lady. That's just half of what I had to do, though.

There was a back alley that led to the side of the building behind the shop. The blueprint that Talon acquired from his contact at City Hall indicated that there should be a fire escape there. As I reached the area, I saw it. The information was accurate.

I just had to wait.

I could see the brothers from the distance, in between the railings and the steel fence that separated the back alley from the road. They lit up a rubber tire, setting it ablaze with flames that reached the roof of the shop. They pranced around the jerry-built bonfire like they were pagans worshipping a false god, screaming and singing and laughing hysterically as they danced.

And just as expected, a handful of Captoli goons came out to make them stop. The brothers spat at them and continued with their faux merrymaking, prompting even more of the Italians to exit their hideout. In a matter of minutes, the brothers were face-to-face with around twenty Guidos who were ready to blow their brains out. But my club didn't care. They went on with their wild charade as if the enemies weren't there.

More men came out. As their number reached thirty or so, I knew it was time to move.

More Italians outside meant less Italians inside, which would give me a better chance to execute our plan.

I unhooked the fire escape ladder and started to climb up. The building had six floors. The top floor was where the Don took his residence. The other floors were just stockrooms and barracks for his thugs. If Lana was alive, she should be on the sixth floor, in one of the unidentified rooms based on the blueprint.

The voices of two lackeys greeted me as I reached the sixth. They were talking in their mother tongue, which I didn't understand, bit it was clear that they were discussing what was happening outside. They were so animated with their conversation that they didn't notice my arrival. I sneaked behind them. Bear's billy club came in handy. I struck one on the back of his head and he immediately fell. Before the other could turn around, I grabbed his ugly face and rammed it against the wall.  A sickening thud later and he, too, dropped unconscious. I drew out my jungle knife. I wanted to slit their throats. I wanted to kill the motherfuckers for what they did to Lana... to Trevor... but I stopped myself from doing so. We didn't need the bodycount to rise.