Lyla

My back slides down the door as exhaustion sets in.

I have been banging my fists on the door for the last hour. Every second that has ticked by has heightened my anxiety. Adrianna. All I can think about is my poor daughter, sick, crying out for her mommy. The fear she must be riddled with gives me the strength I have to continue. I slowly get up, still aching from the beating I received from Griz and begin slamming on the door once more.

After a few minutes and a bloody set of knuckles, I hear some commotion echoing off the walls. I quickly stand, holding my cold body with my arms and back up. Griz walks in the room with a menacing smirk and slowly walks over to me. I step backwards until my body hits the wall with him looming over me.

"Want your daughter?" My eyes go wide and although I don't trust him completely, I can't pass up the opportunity to see Adrianna.

"Yes, please. Please, I will do anything. Just let me see her." He nods his head and grabs hold of my wrist tightly, then walks me back to the door he just came from.

The firm grip he has on my wrist tells me I couldn't escape even if I wanted to as we walk down a small dirty corridor. The whole place smells like dead rats as we hit a set of stairs and come up on another level much like the one we just came from. I look around, attempting to memorize each corner, each step, every speck of dirt on the wall. If I'm able to get Adrianna out, I need to know the general area of where I am going.

We stop at a wooden door and my heart races thinking of Adrianna in a cold lifeless room. Griz opens it and shoves me in, causing me to misstep and land hard on my knees. I ignore the sharp pain as I look around the room but see nothing but old boxes and computer parts.

She's not here.

I spin around with anger but before I can say one word, Griz slaps me hard on my face. I land on my back and suddenly he is over me. His hands are everywhere as they go for my shirt and rip it open. I scream and begin clawing at him, satisfied when I hear a loud growl. I crawl over to the door, but he pulls my legs back and kicks by back. I am paralyzed as I feel him go back in, this time for my pants.

"Please." I beg quietly, having almost no more strength left. "My daughter. She's sick." At this point I don't care what happens to me, I just want to see Adrianna. Make sure she's okay.

"That's right bitch beg me." I close my eyes and let the tears flow down. The pain I feel measures is small increments compared to my heart aching for my daughter. What if they do this to her?

Griz pulls my pants all the way down and is going for my underwear when I suddenly I feel his weight come off me, followed by a loud grunting noise. I look up and see not only Shane, but Max and Slice come running in. There is another man there, but I don't recognize him, and he's not wearing the Warriors cut. Instead it says Road Kings. My vision blurs a little, but I can see enough of what is happening.

Griz and Shane and fighting, fist landing on each other's faces as theirs curses and grunts echo off the walls. Max lifts me up, while Slice brings me my pants.

"H-help him." I mutter out, but Max shakes his head towards me.

"He needs this babe. Let him have it, let's get you out of here."

"Wait, Max. Adrianna, t-they have Adrianna. Y-you have to find her. She's s-sick, she needs her medicine."

Max's face goes cold and I lean in close to try and read what he is hiding from me. Please God. I can't take more pain. Max escorts me out and that's when I see a few more brothers. Slice lays me down to look at my injuries, but my gaze doesn't waver from Max.

"M-Max please. Adrianna, you have to find h-her." More tears flow. Why isn't he saying anything?

"We're still lookin' darlin'. But it looks like a Griz was alone in this building. We have some tire marks taking off and heading to the road, but we lost them after that. They might have known we were coming."

"W-what are y-you saying?" I shake my head trying to decipher his words. So, they already have Adrianna?

"She ain't here babe." Shane finishes. I look over at him ignoring the tampering on my waist from Slice. The pain I feel in my ribs is intense, but I think the adrenaline is blocking most of it.

Shane's clothes are bloody, he's holding a knife that is dripping red, and has a few bruises already forming on his face. I hiccup and can feel my body beginning to shut down. Shakes begin covering my body and I barely hear Slice say something to Shane about blacking out. Before I can process anymore, Shane calls out my name and darkness covers me.

ùùù

Candice and Shawna hold onto me as I wail into my hands. We have been home for over two hours and so far, all that has happened is crying, crying and more crying. Adrianna is still missing and simply being in the place where all her things are, seeing the small specks of dirt, blood, and glass on the floor from the attack when I first walked in, is enough to give me a pain unlike anything I have ever felt.

Slice had fixed me up at a small house that the club rents out to women who come from battered pasts, then we headed straight here. Shane has been on the phone constantly and Max and Austin brought over Candice, Shawna and Julia. I have so many people surrounding me, taking care of my every need, yet I feel none of it. All I feel is loss and fear.

She's out there somewhere, they have her.

Shane, Bone, Slice and Austin left a few minutes ago to check out a few more places. So far, the MC has been to about a dozen different locations where they think either the Rejects MC have in their name, or Alberts. Hearing that he is most likely behind everything, is making me want to run down to where he lives, grab his children and hold them hostage.

Let's see how he feels when it happens to him.

Shane saw right through my plan though. We needed to play this smart, that's what he had told me, and as much as I understood it, I hated it just as much. It's not fair that he could possibly ruin my life and yet, he gets to go home to his children. Shane also introduced me Snake, the man responsible for killing his father. I had no energy at the time and was in too much pain to speak. I think he understood it enough because he bent down to where I was laying on the couch and told me they he was going to make sure I had my little girl with me at the end of the night.

That was two hours ago.

Two agonizing hours ago.

"Lyla, you need to eat something." Candice says for the fifth time. I hadn't eaten anything when I got home, too afraid I would miss something, but my body is craving substance, and I can no longer prolong it.

"Okay."

"I'll grab you something." She gets up and walks over to the fridge. Deep down I think she desperately needed to feel like she was helping. I can't fault her for that.

Shawna holds onto my arm tighter and I turn to face her. "We're going to get her back Ly. I promise." She consoles, and I lean my head on her shoulder.

"What about you Shawna? This can't be easy to be around right now." I tell her, I know it's not somewhere I would want to be after losing a child, she's a true friend.

"I'm doing okay, much like you, taking it one moment at a time. It's pain, and I hate that it's happened, but Max and I are going to get through this together. I have to have faith in that." I smile at her and face forwards once more.

I can hear whispers in the kitchen between Candice and Max. Only he and Chance are left while everyone else is out looking for Adrianna. Torque comes in every few minutes to ask me some random question, then he proceeds to go crazy on his laptop. Abby is also here but she is busy cleaning up everything. She had told me how sorry she was when she first walked in, but I can tell something was bothering her. Something deep. If I didn't have this hole in my chest where my heart should be, I would pin her down and make her talk to me.

"We're going to find her Ly." Max whispers when he comes and sits down next to me. Shawna is still on the other side of me holding onto my arm.

"What about the body Max? What happened to that Griz guy?" A few more tears flow down my face as I remember his lifeless body while they carried me out of there. As much as I should feel guilt for a man dying, he threatened me and my daughter who is still missing because of his men. He was going to rape and possibly kill me.

It was going to be him or Shane, and I for one, am glad it was him.

"Snake's men already took care of it darlin'. Don't want you worryin' about things like that. Need your mind focused so when we bring back your little girl, so you can take care of her. Knowing Adrianna, she is going to have a million questions for you, one of which will be can she watch The Little Mermaid?" A smile graces my face as I think of how this entire club loves Adrianna so much.

I ran them away from us. If it weren't for Miles.

A sob breaks free and I burry my face in my hands once more. Miles. He tried to save us. He gave his life to save us. Finding out that he was dead and that he died trying to find us chasing after the SUV, made my heart sink. I caused a man to die. A good man. Meanwhile those fuckers are out there with my daughter doing God knows what.

"It's okay Lyla, let it out babe." Max says cradling me.

"Lyla. Your food is ready." Candice announces, and I nod my head and start for the dining room table. Everything is cleaned up from earlier but as I look around I can still feel the mess that once was. I think I always will.

"Thank you, Candice." She nods her head as I lean in to eat my sandwich, happy she didn't make anything too heavy.

"Ly, I hate to do this to you, but don't you think it's time we called Rory. I know he isn't quite a ten out of ten, but maybe his connections can help." I swallow my food and nod my head. She's right, I didn't want to tell Rory about our missing daughter, giving him the ammunition to take her away will devastate me, but he can take whatever he wants out on me, as long as he helps to find our little girl.

After eating half of my sandwich, I grab my cell and head to Adrianna's room. Being in here is giving me the strength to face my fears, she's too strong and stubborn to let anything happen to her. I will see her again. I dial Rory's phone and he picks up on the third ring.

"Lyla."

"Rory, listen, I. I think you should sit down. I have something to tell you."

"Look, I'm pretty busy right now, is there any way this could wait?"

"No. It's about Adrianna. I need you to not be your usual prick of a self and listen to what I am about to tell you." I hear him blow out a breath, sounding bored with me, but I ignore it for now.

I need his connections. I need his connections.

"Fine, hang on a second." I hear him rummaging around, a few murmured voices, then everything goes silent. I check the phone to make sure he didn't disconnect but he quickly comes back on the line. "What's going on? Is she still sick?"

"Yes, but that's not why I'm calling you. She is missing Rory. Someone has taken her."

"Oh give me a fuckin' break Lyla. Does this have anything to do with the fact that she has to come over to my house tomorrow?" I had forgotten all about their scheduled visit.

"No Rory. If you come over right now, you would be able to see the chaos of my house. People are walking around, and everyone is out searching for her." I sniffle, and the line goes quiet once more.

"You're serious?" He says sounding a little more like the old Rory I used to know. The one that was perfect until his father got in his ear about what his destiny was, and who he was meant to be.

"Yes. Rory, I know you and I don't see eye to eye anymore, but she's our little girl. I need your help looking for her."

I tell him everything, from the moment the Rejects threatened us, to just hours ago when they took the both of us. He stays quiet almost the entire time, a random growl is the only thing I hear when I mention Shane, but other than that, nothing. Not. A. word.

"Rory? Are you still there?"

"You stupid bitch. You're the reason she is gone. You. you let those Neanderthals into your house, into your life, in between your legs, and look what they brought to your door. Our daughter is missing because of you." He shouts, and I automatically shield myself from his verbal onslaught.

He's right. I deserve everything he is dishing at me.

"You're right. You're absolutely, right, I should have made better choices, but this isn't the time to beat me up Rory, are you going to help me find our little girl, or not?"

A few more dull seconds go by and then his deep voices comes back on. "I'll see what I can find. Said the chief of police is Alberts?"

"Yes. He isn't a good man Rory, I think he might be behind this."

"Wouldn't doubt it. I personally know the man has a rap sheet longer than an anaconda. I'll see what I can pull up and then I'll call you."

"Thank you, Rory." He hangs up and I lay back in my daughter's bed cradling her stuffed rabbit.

"Lyla?" My sister calls out from the darkness. I lean up, still clutching the rabbit to my body and stare at her form as she nears me. "I have a phone call for you. It's uh. it's mom."

My heart drops at the fact that my parents chose to deny anything that happened between Rory and I that night. I had run to my mother that night after he passed out and told her everything that happened. She shook her head but told me that sometimes, for others to get what they need, we must make sacrifices. I was blown away by her selfish behavior and knew that no matter what I told her, she would defend Rory because of his money.

"No, I don't want anything to do with them. Tell them to never call again."

"Ly are you sure that's what you want?"

"I'm positive. I know they are only doing this because it gives them an excuse to be in our lives again, and that they are only doing that because of Rory now being involved. I won't let Adrianna be a chip to be played."

Lisa nods her head and takes the phone out but before she could close the door, Shane walks in and sits down next to me. I let him cradle me as I hold onto the last item Adrianna held.

"We need to talk babe. About your past." Shane says, and I close my eyes and begin.