Exquisite Karma (Iron Horse MC Book 4) (16 page)

Turning my head to the side, I glanced at the blue digital clock on a distressed wood table next to the bed. There was a picture of a much younger Poppy standing with an older woman who looked a lot like her. They were hugging and looking into each other’s faces while laughing. The love they had for each other was evident, and I wondered if it was Poppy’s mother.

The clock read just after ten a.m. and I let out a sigh of relief. The extended-release anti-nausea pill I’d taken twelve hours ago had given me the first good night’s sleep since I’d left my parents’ house. My body thanked me for it and as I sat up, I wanted to cry with relief. Nothing, no urge to puke, just…blessedly normal.

“Well, little one,” I said to my belly, “looks like we just might be okay this morning.”

From behind me, Mimi said, “Was it that bad?”

I jumped a little bit before I caught myself. “Jeez, Mimi, way to give me a heart attack.”

As I turned over, Mimi slid beneath the sheets next to me, dressed for the day in a long black skirt and sky-blue blouse with a big smile on her face. “A baby.”

“That’s what the doc said.” I studied her, my mind rested enough to turn from constant, selfish, protect-the-peanut-at-all-costs mode to look beyond myself, and I took a deep breath then let it out. “Are you okay with talking about…this kind of stuff?”

Tears filled Mimi’s eyes and she nodded. “I will always mourn the daughter your father and I had together, the loss of what she could have been, but my other daughter is bringing a new life into the world, and that is the greatest gift any
nonna
could ever want. Plus, it gives my father leverage.”

“Uh—what?”

Sitting up, Mimi reached out and smoothed my hair back from my face, sending a wave of comforting warmth through me. “As I am sure you are aware, this is a very complicated situation, but you being pregnant-carrying a baby, allows him more room to maneuver on your behalf. Just about every major crime organization has a finger in this pie one way or another, either as a step on the supply chain or as an intended recipient. My father cannot openly bring the Stefano mafia into it, our enemies would use it as a way to settle old grudges, and our people will die.”

“No, I don’t want that to happen.”

“Hush, of course not. Neither does your grandfather, so while he does not ‘officially’ know we are here, he has supplied us with some of his top men, who just happen to be family, to help hunt your mother down.” She paused, then added almost as an afterthought, “And Vinnie, but that arrogant child annoys me, so I put him on spy duty at the clubhouse. Oh, and Swan arrived last night.”

I could easily see the tension Mimi tried to hide from me and narrowed my eyes. “What happened?”

“Your sister had some kind of fight with Miguel, climbed on the roof, sat there and stewed for a little bit before Miguel found her, made love to her on the roof—”

“Ew, enough of that.”

Mimi rolled her eyes. “Then somehow Swan found a transmitting device that was sending video and audio of the clubhouse to an unknown destination.”

“Holy shit.”

“Indeed. My sources within the clubhouse—”

“Wait, you have sources in Iron Horse?”

“Darling, I have sources
everywhere
.” I glared at her but she ignored me. “My sources have informed me that word has spread throughout Denver that Swan is there, and there’s a team of Russian bounty hunters employed by the Sokolov
Bratva
looking for her.”

“Shit. Why the Sokolovs?”

“My sources,” she gave me a poke when I rolled
my
eyes, “tell me that the new leaders of the Sokolov
Bratva
who have risen to power over the last ten years control almost all of the human slave trade in Japan, South Korea, and Eastern Russia, along with a good chunk of Siberia. Evidently, the bounty the
Sokolovs
have put on you is much higher than the bounty for your death.”

“Well…” I tried to swallow past the pain in my chest. “That’s nice.”

Mimi grabbed both my hands, hard enough to hurt, and pulled us almost face-to-face, near enough for me to smell her perfume. “It will never happen. I swear it. I will do whatever it takes to keep my daughters, and grandchild, safe.”

The fear that lurked behind her righteous fury had me pulling her into a hug. “I know.”

I sat up and eased my legs out of bed, waiting to see if my stomach was going to continue cooperating as I walked to the dresser and dug through my purse for another one of those wonderful, amazing pills that spared me the pain of being sick. “So, Swan…are we pulling a detail on her?”

“
We
are doing nothing. You will be going to a doctor appointment at a clinic, someone who is a friend of the family, while your cousins and I guard Swan.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“No, you’re not. You are going to go to a medical professional who is going to make sure both you and the baby are healthy. Sarah, you’re just about skin and bones, that can’t be healthy for the
bambino piccolo
.”

I rubbed my temples as I tried to think of a way out of this. She was right, I needed to see a doctor—the sooner the better. But there was no way in hell I was going to stay home, or wherever I was, while she went out and risked her life for us. No way. But I couldn’t challenge Mimi directly on it or she’d know I planned to blow her off.

Woman had a sixth sense for bullshit so I kept my response to one surly word. “Fine.”

“Sarah, you’ve done so much and risked so much already. I’ve been doing things like this for a long, long time. I can help you, I really can. But first I need you to help
me
by staying safe while I do what I need to do.”

Trying to argue with a retired professional assassin about a job was like trying to argue a horse into turning into a fish.

Not gonna happen.

“How about we discuss it after the doctor visit. Are you coming with me?”

“Yes, but I will have to leave afterward. Vinnie and Marco will be staying with you while I go join the men your father has watching Swan. If we’re lucky, the bastards behind the theft might be tempted into doing something stupid and go after her.”

“Why would they do that?”

“To further destabilize the situation. They’re not stupid. At some point anyone with a brain would figure out who your father is, and who I am. We could be a huge asset to the recovery efforts, but not if we were preoccupied with finding you or Swan after you’ve been abducted. They don’t know we’re here yet, we’ve been very careful to stay under the radar, but the longer we stay, the greater a chance of discovery. They could even trade her to the Sokolov
Bratva
for their protection—and that will start a war.”

“A war?”

“Absolutely. I will bring down the wrath of hell to keep you safe, and I have many personal contacts in Russia who owe me. I am more than prepared to bring in every single marker I’m owed to keep my daughters safe.”

The intensity of her words and the vibe coming off my normally chill stepmom were downright serial-killer crazy. In an effort to lighten the mood, I muttered, “Sheesh, dramatic much? Have you been hanging around Aunt Esmerelda again?”

At the mention of my very overdramatic aunt, a lovely Hispanic woman married to Mimi’s brother, some of the death leaked out of Mimi’s dark eyes. “Point taken. Now, off you go. Shower quickly because your appointment is in an hour and a half, and you need to eat first.”

“Yes, Mom.”

Giving me an affectionate smile, she tucked my hair behind my ear. “Brat. Stop being cute and get in the shower, time is of the essence and all that. Go.”

I went, laughing softly as the burden on my soul lifted the slightest bit and hope filled me that everything was going to turn out all right.

The first sign of trouble came in the form of a phone call Mimi received during my checkup. I was cleaning myself of the goop they’d used on my tummy for the ultrasound so I wasn’t really paying attention to Meems. I’d been shocked to see how much the little creature on the screen looked like a real baby instead of a peanut. My mind had marveled at the growth, the creation, that was happening inside of me and I couldn’t stop smiling, and crying. I wanted Beach here with me, badly, but it helped having Mimi at my side to wipe away my tears while cooing about the little baby. I swear she was as in love with my baby bump as I was.

While I was swabbing at the swell of my belly, Mimi had retreated to the corner of the room, whispering in rapid Italian. I wasn’t really paying attention, caught up in staring at the ultrasound pictures the tech had given me. By the time I had my flowing green empire-waist shirt in place, I registered for the first time the rage coming off my stepmother in waves. The color had drained from her face, but her chest was bright red and her eyes were wild with fury.

“Mimi?”

She held up her hand and I didn’t dare interrupt her.

After what felt like an eternity, but was really like twenty seconds, Mimi hung up and strode across the room before grabbing my hands in hers. “Brace yourself.”

I nodded, trembling as I anticipated the worst.

“Swan was ambushed by a Russian squad.”

“No!”

“Calm yourself,” she barked, “your sister is a little banged up, but alive.”

“Oh my God, I need to go see her, she must be freaking out. I need to protect her from—”

Mimi released my hands then cupped my face. “Sarah, I told you not to underestimate her. You imagine her as much more fragile than she actually is. She took out four professionally trained hitmen, by herself, without a flinch.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“Where were the guys watching her?”

Mimi closed her eyes and blew out a long breath. “Dead.”

“How?”

She ignored my question, releasing my hands as she checked her weapons hidden beneath her designer clothes. “I have to go take care of some business. Vinnie and Poppy are waiting for you outside, along with an escort. You are going back to her house with them, and you’re going to stay there. Please, do this for me. I will not be able to concentrate if I think you might be in danger. I want all your trackers on, am I clear?”

I sucked in a deep breath and nodded, grabbing my purse with the gun inside and thumbing one of the straps, turning the tiny device on inside that would send out my location. Next, I fiddled with the small gold earring in my left ear, twisting it so the tracker activated, then the one on my bra strap. Mimi was a big fan of having back-up plans in case I lost one of the trackers.

Putting the strap of my brown leather purse over my shoulder, I secured it with my hand and followed Mimi out of the office, passing by the rather wide-eyed older receptionist watching us from the foyer.

Vinnie met us right away, with a nervous Poppy scanning the nearby road with a frown. Her normally smiling face was grim and her clothing reflected her mood, a dark denim pair of jeans along with a somber grey peasant blouse. She had deep circles beneath her eyes and I felt guilty for dragging her into this mess. Vinnie pulled me into a hug and, surprised, I hugged him back.

“You okay?” he whispered into my hair.

“Yeah, I’m good.”

He released me with an assessing look while Poppy wrapped her arm around my waist. “Come on, hot mama, let’s get out of here.”

I went to look for Mimi, but she was already gone.

Later that night, I sat next to Poppy on her couch while Vinnie lingered in Poppy’s Spanish-style kitchen, drinking some coffee and talking on his phone.

I was dozing off as we watched
Tommy Boy
, lounging back into the thick pillows of Poppy’s couch. My belly was full of some kind of Italian pasta dish Vinnie had made for us after I let him know that if he cooked or ate steak in front of me, I was going to barf all over him. It seemed to amuse him to no end that I currently found meat nauseating, and at one point he’d chased me around the kitchen like an asshole with a pack of bologna. Idiot.

Still, his antics had kept my mind off worrying over everyone and for that I was thankful.

On the giant TV screen occupying the far wall, the movie played on but I wasn’t really watching it anymore.

My blinks became longer and I started to fall asleep—that is, until the gas canisters were thrown through the windows, shattering the glass in a series of loud bangs coming from all around us.

Next to me, Poppy screamed, and Vinnie yelled something from the kitchen before loud gunshots boomed through the night, deafening me.

The smoke burned my eyes and I began to cough, searching beneath the table for my gun. Poppy fell to the floor not too far from me and I was afraid she was dead, but her chest kept moving. I managed to grab my gun, but the increasing smoke made it hard to see anything.

Black boots strode through the fog to the table I crouched beneath and I shot out the kneecap of whoever was approaching me. I could hear his scream even above the ringing in my ears and I strained to see if anyone else was near. I didn’t want to fire blindly into the gloom and waste my ammo, or accidentally hit one of the good guys.

My options were taken away from me when someone stabbed the back of my leg with electrical fire.

I tried to scream but the volts from what had to be a Taser roared through me, rendering me mute.

I was fucked. Mimi was off doing something important, Beach didn’t know where I was, and my father was focused on helping Beach retrieve the Iron Horse girls who had been kidnapped.

Ungentle hands picked up my still-twitching body and carried me through the gloom. Once we got out to the front of Poppy’s house, I could see the dark night sky above but that was about it. Controlling my neck was beyond me, but I did catch a glimpse of Poppy, taped up like a mummy, before they slid me in next to her. I got treated to the same tape treatment and I fought off tears of despair as I wondered if my baby had been hurt.

After a long ride during which I slipped in an out of consciousness, we finally came to a stop.

By this time Poppy was awake and I was completely out of options. I’d been wearing my pajamas so I didn’t have my usual weapons on me. While I’d managed to hold back my tears, she was crying as she looked at me and tried to convey something with her gaze. Before I could figure out what she was trying to tell me, the back doors to the van we were in opened and I was hauled out.

The first thing that caught my eye was a leather vest, and for a brief moment I hoped the Iron Horse Mc had rescued us, but when I saw the Los Diablos colors instead, I knew we were utterly fucked.

It was hard to find my balance as they set me on my feet with my thighs still taped together. I leaned against the side of the van while the men discussed me and Poppy in Spanish. I caught something about taking Poppy aside for questioning and keeping me isolated from her until the Russians arrived. Harsh hands gripped me by my elbows and dragged me into a dirty, crumbling adobe house. I had no idea where we were, but it was quiet and I had a feeling even if I screamed, no one would be around to hear me.

We were surrounded by thick forest and I almost choked on my spit when I saw the two U-Haul trucks partially hidden in the thick woods, one with an “Atlanta, GA” motif on the side, the other with “Seattle, WA”.

Holy shit, those were the stolen trucks.

I tried to keep myself from turning to take another look, not wanting them to figure out what I saw. A bright sodium security light flooded the dirt yard before the home and dozens of cigarette butts stood out against the dark ground. Some of the butts had lipstick marks on them.

A good many bore my mom’s signature color, “Passion Pink”.

I must have stopped walking because the guy behind me kicked me in the ass. The man dragging Poppy snarled at the man behind me not to harm the merchandise. Dimly I was aware of what they were saying, but my mind was mostly freaking out over the thought that somewhere inside that home, my mother waited for me. I was scared, more scared than I’d been in a long time, and I wanted to sob with fear, but if I did I might choke due to my mouth being taped shut.

That would be a terrible way to die.

We were dragged into a living room painted a god-awful purple color that made my eyes hurt. Inside the room sat an older man in a Los Diablos vest and long grey hair pulled back in a braid. His face was weathered and grim, his clothing worn, and the big knife strapped to his thigh looked well used. Dark eyes, like those of a snake, studied me before he looked over at Poppy.

“Take the blonde bitch to the slut hut. I’ve got some questions for Ms. Poppy here.”

I began to struggle as they dragged me away, trying to yell behind the tape to leave her alone. She let out a loud cry and I knew they’d ripped the tape from her mouth. Rage burned through me but I was useless at the moment, trapped as I was dragged down the hall. We passed a room where two men were arguing in a harsh language I didn’t understand. Before I could get a good look, I was thrown into a small bedroom with a pair of full-size beds and a dresser.

On the bed with the lilac silk comforter, my mother stared at me in shock, and then, without missing a beat, grabbed a needle full of who the fuck knows what and jabbed it into her already mangled arm. She dropped her gaze for a moment while the asshole behind me cut through the tape binding me, none too gently. I considered taking him out the moment I was free, but I had no idea who was around us at the moment and I couldn’t risk what could be my only chance to rescue Poppy.

As soon as my wrists were free, I tore at the tape around my mouth, panic filling me with the need to breathe. My mother withdrew the needle from her vein and her bleary blue eyes found mine.

My heart raced as I took in how much she’d aged since I’d seen her last, somehow looking worse than before even though the bruises from her beating had healed long ago. For one, she was emaciated. I’m talking skeleton-thin. Her augmented breasts sat on her chest like weird lumps beneath her overstretched skin, and I could see the bumps of her collarbone as she fell back into the pillows and watched me with heavy-lidded eyes.

The man behind me whispered into my ear in a snide voice, “Say hi to Mommy.”

Fucking figures she would take the cowardly way out. Instead of facing me, giving me some kind of answer or explanation, she’d simply drugged herself to the point of oblivion.

“Useless bitch!” someone yelled behind me as Poppy screamed. “What the fuck kind of plants are those?”

I tried to turn instinctively toward her cry of pain, but before I could move, a hood was placed over my head.

With a harsh chuckle, the man behind me said, “Listen very carefully. You’re gonna cooperate with everything we say or I will personally go out there and start cutting off your little friend’s fingers and toes, then I’ll make you eat ’em.”

He groped me, his rough hands pinching my labia as I cried out in revulsion and jerked away from him. Before I knew it, I was thrown onto the bed then held down by at least four guys while a fifth expertly tied me up. I wanted to fight, but my belly was so exposed and I’d do anything to protect my baby. Sour bile filled my mouth as despair ran through me, the agony inside of me reflected by Poppy’s screams for mercy, that she didn’t know anything.

The door slammed shut and I strained uselessly against the ropes, the hood smelling faintly of stale sweat. For a gruesome moment I wondered how many people had died wearing this hood. The ropes pinched my wrists and I stopped struggling for fear of injuring myself.

A moment later someone touched my arm and I tried to jerk away, a cry escaping me before I could stop it.

“Shhh, Sarah, it’s me,” came my mom’s slurred voice.

“Is anyone else in here?”

“No.” Her clumsy fingers pulled at the ropes holding me and for a brief moment I hoped she was going to release me, but all she did was loosen it enough that my fingers no longer tingled.

“Please, you have to help me get out of here.”

“Can’t,” she replied and the bed depressed next to me. “Can’t, can’t, can’t. Never ever cross the Chief.”