Freedom to Ride - Resolution (Raven's MC) (20 page)

“You know what? After everything that’s happened, I don’t want an exciting life anymore if it means people are trying to kill you. Give me a boring life from now on.”

“We both want more children. Do you honestly think we’ll have a boring life with our children running around?”

Nate smiled at the image. It was just what he wanted, so maybe he didn’t want a completely boring life after all.

CHAPTER 24

“You alright babe?” Nate whispered as he wrapped his arms around Deanna.

“Yeah,” she answered quietly, staring at the rippling water in front of her.

Deanna had been very quiet during their holiday and club run to Loch Ness. It was now the beginning of spring, months after her attack and Nate had thanked God she’d made a full recovery, with no repercussions from the drowning.

Whilst Deanna had been in hospital Nate had contacted one of their suppliers. Angus, who lived in the Highlands, created the Raven sculptures that they sold in the club shop. He’d told Nate of his friend who’d just finished building a small holiday park of ten modern wooden lodges on the banks of Loch Ness, in a secluded position with only an onsite shop and reception.

The club had decided it would be ideal and rented the whole site, assuring the manager that they would behave themselves. They’d all agreed they needed the break.

The site manager was extremely happy to have them there, hoping to promote his new business venture when word spread that his first customers were the well-known motorcycle club.

However Nate was worried about Deanna. Even though she was always smiling and joking, it was late at night when everything was quiet that he saw the worry eating at her, fear of how and when Shaun might act.

Shaun had been sent to HMP Glenochil, the same prison that Lee was an inmate of but they were kept separate, following his guilty verdict of attempted murder. He was currently serving his sentence of eighteen years.

What had been the most damning and unexpected evidence against him were the pictures from the secret cameras hidden in the pool area of McKnights, ones that Shaun hadn’t been aware of and which had recorded the whole event.

However there wasn’t a lot of information known on Alastair’s exact involvement in the whole plot, they only knew what Deanna had been told and witnessed.

What had come as a shock during the court case was that Shaun was ex-military. Not all the details were known, even though both Cameron and Ethan had tried to find out, but his military records were kept top secret. From the rumours they’d heard Shaun had apparently only served a short length of time in the army before being discharged due to bad behaviour and disorderly conduct.

Nate had made a promise to Deanna and he would ensure that he’d keep it. When they returned home he would find out if all his plans had worked. Even though there were no secrets between them, Nate had decided to keep his intentions secret from her, not wanting any more burdens falling on her shoulders. But nothing would change his mind and it was something he had to do.

“You’re freezing, come back inside,” Nate said, his thoughts interrupted as he felt the chill of the night creeping in.

“It’s so beautiful here Nate, so peaceful. Can we come back sometime?” Deanna asked wistfully, not wanting to leave.

She had an uneasy feeling that was telling her something had happened whilst they’d been away and she was worried about returning to find out what it was.

“Sure babe. Holly’s had a great time too. Even though she’s complained nonstop that she’s not once spotted Nessie,” Nate laughed. Holly was convinced the mythical Loch Ness Monster, Nessie, really existed, but had to be content with a soft toy version.

Deanna smiled as Nate grabbed her hand and they wandered back towards their lodge just a few yards behind them. It looked beautiful surrounded by flowers with the setting sun shining on the water.

They’d just held a small, but very exciting, club get-together in their lodge, theirs being the largest.

It had come as a happy surprise when Fraser had got down on one knee and proposed to Megan. Megan had recently confided in Deanna of her despair that Fraser was never going to fully commit to her.

After a celebration party the others had eventually left and Deanna had disappeared down to the banks of the Loch, needing time alone to think.

A few weeks before, on Christmas Eve, Logan and Heather had a large beautiful winter wedding at a cathedral in Glasgow city centre and then shortly after departed for their honeymoon in Paris. It had been a beautiful day.

“Everything okay?” Alice asked as they both wandered back inside the lodge.

“Aye, Ma,” Nate said as he sat down in one of the large comfy chairs, pulling Deanna down to sit next to him.

“Where’s Holly?” Deanna asked as she noticed her missing.

“I’ve just put her down. The air up here has really tired her out,” Alice said.

Ethan looked over at them and winked, Fiona fast asleep at his side. The Gunn family, including Fiona who was now practically one of them, were all sharing the lodge, including Jamie who’d not long ago left to go for a walk along the shores.

As Deanna sat with Nate she tried to feel truly happy but she couldn’t shake the niggling feeling that Shaun was planning something that could spoil everything for her.

Quinn and Olivia had been one of the first to leave the evening party, especially as Olivia was the size of a balloon and expecting their son in three weeks’ time. Deanna wasn’t sure that they should have come - being so far from home wouldn’t be good if she went into early labour - but Olivia had refused to be left behind. The couple had been so excited when Olivia had found out she was pregnant and Quinn had doted on her throughout the pregnancy, taking extra care with her.

“Come on. Why don’t we get an early night? We’ve got a long ride back tomorrow,” Nate said quietly a few minutes later.

“Okay honey. Night everyone,” Deanna said sleepily as they got up and she followed Nate into their bedroom in the lodge, feeling sad as it was their last night.

Shaun was finally leaving his cell on his way to the have some lunch. He really hated this shithole.

He was still fuming that the silly bitch had not only survived after everything he’d planned but he hadn’t been able to talk himself out of the charges.

Ethan, the sly bugger, had installed secret cameras in the pool area that Shaun hadn’t been aware of and that was the main reason he was now in jail. It had been Alastair’s job to check security at McKnights and he’d failed. It was a good job he was dead or Shaun would have killed him.

Shaun had been unable to stop laughing as he’d watched the whole recording in court, the bitch’s husband looked absolutely furious as he’d witnessed exactly what Shaun had done to her. Nate’s face had been nearly enough to satisfy Shaun, but it just wasn’t, only Deanna’s death would have pacified him completely.

It had taken him some time to recover from the injuries Nate had inflicted. The big bastard hit with phenomenal force and speed, Shaun hadn’t stood a chance against him.

But he’d already started planning. Shaun still had one friend on the outside. Malcolm had a strange relationship with his wife – they both enjoyed beating the crap out of each other and relished excessive physical pain. It had been easy for Shaun to pay them a bit of cash to cause a scene in the restaurant where Ethan and his dwarf slag were eating, once they’d followed them there.

But Malcolm had got greedy. Cheeky sod was asking for twenty thousand to finish Deanna off. Shaun thought of refusing to pay it if he didn’t know for sure what the man was capable of. After all Malcolm had been discharged from the same regiment as himself. Shaun’s disciplined training from the army had come in useful over the past few years of planning Deanna’s downfall. Malcolm was now waiting for Shaun’s decision and wouldn’t act unless he was told to do so by him.

Shaun had plenty of time to try and get the money together somehow, the bitch wasn’t going anywhere.

“Oi, watch it you eejit,” a huge bald man shouted as Shaun walked into him, not concentrating on what he was doing. Shaun scolded himself, he needed eyes in the back of his head in a place like this.

“Sorry,” he mumbled and hurried away before the man could answer.

Shaun knew him to be one of the most dangerous criminals in this section of the prison and even though he himself wasn’t scared of many people, he didn’t want to get on the wrong side of this nutter. From all reports he was an utter fucking animal.

Shaun grabbed a tray of the disgusting filth that they had the nerve to serve as food and sat down on a small table in a quiet corner away from the other inmates.

Picking at his food he frowned when another prisoner appeared and sat beside him without warning or invitation.

“Fuck off,” Shaun said not looking at the man. He only wanted to try and enjoy the few minutes he had out of his cell.

“D’ya know who I am?” the man asked in a very deep Glaswegian accent, the tone of his voice indicating that Shaun should.

“No, now piss off,” Shaun replied, turning his back on the man, which wasn’t a wise move.

The man laughed and Shaun was annoyed at the guy’s audacity so he turned to glare at him, however his stomach dropped when he saw the stranger’s face. The huge bear of a man in front of him would have been good looking, apart from the large slash across one entire side of his face which hadn’t healed well.

“What you looking at - this?” the stranger asked indicating his face. “You should see the other guy,” the man continued, smirking.

“Is he an ugly bastard like you?” Shaun said with fake confidence, a startling realisation hit him that that he was surrounded by prisoners who were far more dangerous than him.

“He was the last time I saw him. When I set him on fire he was screaming like a fanny as he burned alive,” the man answered, laughing manically.

Shaun gulped at the dark glint in the man’s eyes, knowing this human was capable of extreme violence, but Shaun refused to be intimidated and straightened his spine as he tried to act nonchalant.

“Whatever. You can fuck off now you’ve told me your life story,” Shaun taunted.

“But I haven’t introduced myself yet.”

“Not interested.”

“Oh, you will be. I’m Magnus Glenn.”

Shaun swallowed when he clearly remembered the name from the court case. It was the same surname as the woman involved in the hit and run he’d carried out.

“I see the name rings a bell. Good. I won’t need to explain what I’m doing here,” Magnus growled, leaning towards him.

“Listen, I don’t know what you intend doing but I didn’t mean to hurt that woman and cause her miscarriage.”

“That woman, as you call her, is married to my nephew, a man who I raised as my own since he was a wee baby. I don’t like seeing him hurt, especially when the bastard sitting in front of me caused the death of his unborn wean.”

“I didn’t mean it. I wasn’t aiming at her, she just got in the way,” Shaun protested, his voice high pitched as his bravado fled in the face of a much bigger and deranged threat.

“I know all about you and why you’re in here. Going after a woman, you cowardly piece of shite.”

Shaun tried to move away but the man held onto his arm in a crushing grip that even he was unable to shake off.

“This is from Quinn and Nate,” Magnus whispered menacingly.

Before Shaun saw it coming, the man shoved the shank he’d been concealing so deeply into the side of Shaun’s neck, only the end was visible.

Shaun slumped to the floor, choking on his own blood, his vision blurring, panic washing through him and he knew he was going to die.

He tried to stem the flow of blood but it was impossible as he kept slipping on the blood pooling around him, the size of the patch growing alarmingly every second.

“Nate wanted you gone. When Quinn told him I was in here I agreed to take care of it. This is for that poor wee wean who didn’t have a chance to live. I’ll make sure Deanna is always safe, none of your cronies will ever get near her. I have a lot more friends on the outside than you. Your only friend is being taken care of right at this moment,” Magnus whispered as he crouched down and leaned over him.

Shaun felt a terrifying coldness enveloping him and his body was unresponsive as he gurgled on the last of his blood, panicking as he struggled to breathe.

The other inmates had finally caught sight of what was happening and they crowded round them excitedly, a large number of prison guards fighting to get through the jeering crowd.

Shaun tried to move but there was nothing left. He couldn’t believe Nate had set this up, he had more guts than he expected.

His last rational thought was anger and failure that Deanna the bitch would in fact outlive him. He stopped feeling anymore as he choked and exhaled his last breath as the blackness consumed him.

Magnus stared coldly down at Shaun’s body, not feeling the slightest bit of sympathy and he laughed as the guards finally got to him and forced him onto the floor. He was serving too many years in prison to count anyway, so another few more years added on to his sentence were nothing to him. Killing the piece of shit had been worth it.