Shane

I hold Lyla as she wails on my cut. The pain I hear in her cry is enough to create my own tears.

"He was drunk. He never ever got that bad, but this night, he was completely wasted. I kept telling him repeatedly, that I didn't want it, but he wouldn't listen. I have never been hit that hard in my life." She sniffles, and I tighten my hold on her.

"What happened babe?"

"I was tired, he had kept hitting me and I didn't want to be hurt anymore. He's hurt me before, but nothing like that night. I let him do whatever he wanted that night, then he proceeded to pass out. As soon as I realized he was asleep, I ran out of there and straight for my mom's. I told her everything, and she didn't believe me. Figured I was acting out. Accused me of acting like that since we had gotten engaged. A blind man could tell I was only marrying Rory because it was what everyone expected of me. Our families were lifelong friends and partners. My family needed the money, and the Mitchelson's needed the power. It worked. just not for me."

"And the report?" I ask, wanting to go after the fucker that hurt my girl.

"I couldn't go back home, I was too afraid. I didn't know if he would remember or not. I went to the police, filed a report and restraining order, and hid out at a friend's house. I got a call an hour later, it was Rory, they had told him what I was accusing him of. That's when I knew I couldn't trust anyone in that town. I had to get out. I faked it, told Rory I was simply angry with him about some fight we had before. I saved up my money and had a plan to leave and live with Lisa. A month later I found out I was pregnant. You know the rest."

"Fuck babe. I'm sorry I didn't trust you. I should have talked to you first."

"Yes, you should have."

"Had trusting issues darlin'. Especially with women."

"Noticed that." She sniffles then leans away and looks up at me. Her eyes are blotchy from crying and the pain I feel in my chest tightens." Want to tell my why?"

"My ex-wife. She fucked me over, but not just in the way you're thinking." I blow out a breath, hating to relive this shit. "She was good for me at the time, good with the life I lead. She grew up an army brat, so she was used to not always having someone around. We met at a bar, got to talkin', eventually started somethin'."

"Why didn't you stay married?"

"She cheated, kept fuckin' doin' it, but I forgave her when shew came home one day and told me she was pregnant. She was scared she didn't know whose it was, but the other fucker she had on the side said he didn't want shit to do with it. Left her no choice but to come runnin' back to me. I was fine with raising the child. Didn't need to prove if it was mine or not. Thought we could be happy. Eight weeks later she had a secret abortion. Told me she didn't want the child if her ex didn't want her. I kicked her out, and the rest is history."

"Oh my god Shane. I'm so sorry. I can't believe she did that to you. What a disgusting human being."

"I took her faults out on you darlin'. When Rory confronted us, I thought you were just like Ronnie. I shouldn't have taken that shit out on you."

"I'm glad you told me Shane, but none of it no longer matters. You're mine now, and I'm yours, we just need to find Adrianna. That's all that's important now."

"We will. Snake and his crew are checking out a few places. If it's a positive, he'll call us, then we can head out."

"I can't believe this is happening." I hold her closer to me and we wait out the important phone call.

After ten minutes I feel Lyla breathing slowly on me and look down to see her asleep. I kiss her forehead and lay her back in Adrianna's bed noticing her clutch to the rabbit is still stiff. My phone vibrates in my pocket and I open it to see a text from Torque.

Torque: Meet outside. Now.

I lean down and whisper in into Lyla's ear. Promising her exactly what I plan to do in the next few hours. I will go and get our little girl. I will bring her back to us, unscathed. I will end every single one of the fuckers that dared to put their hands on her and our daughter, then I will come back and here and marry this woman. One last kiss on her forehead and I head out.

ùùù

I watch as Austin and Snake shake hands then turn back to their clubs. There is a total of ten of us here. Five on each side. Austin reaches us and turn back to watch Snake.

"He wants in on this. Says we don't owe him anything, just wants to make sure we get the fuckers responsible for kidnapping a goddamn child."

"Do you trust him?"Chance asks.

"Has some grandkids around Adrianna's age. Snake is most likely putting himself in Lyla's shoes. Max answers. Just hearing her name is causing my skin to feel like it's on fire.

Austin turns to me, grabbing the attention of everyone else at the same time. "This is your call Shane. We follow your lead on this." I nod my head and walk over to the small mound of dirt to sit down.

Placing my head in my hands, I contemplate everything that has gone down in the last hour. After leaving Lyla's house, I met Torque outside with Austin, Max, Chance and Ghost. Torque had explained everything he had learned from a very interesting conversation with Rory.

"What do we know?" I ask zipping up my jacket. The night is cool and once Austin had told us he didn't want us to have our cuts on for this project, I grabbed my jacket from Lyla's room.

"Looks like Lyla's ex fianc¨¦ has some power high up. He was able to find out exactly what we are dealing with. Turns out Alberts threatened some of the officers that were thinking of getting away from him. One of them, by the name of Goldberg, confessed to everything. We were right, Alberts hired those thugs he brought in from prison, gave them a new identity and told them exactly what he wanted. They needed to fake being an MC moving in on our territory. Once they had us taken care of, Alberts could control the drug and gun trade. They were made to scare everyone, meant to show everyone how dangerous having not only one MC in your backyard was, but two. That's why all the bullshit tickets and permit issues. The officer gave us this location, an old cabin up in Sterling Forest. It's a lot of land, but I've got the cabin on pinpoint. Shouldn't take us longer than two hours to get there. The name on the lease was recently changed from a Mr. Welch over to a now Mr. Henry Geller. He's the last piece of the puzzle, the one pretending to be the president of the Rejects." Torque finishes, turning around his laptop to face the group. The image of a man I have never seen before pops up and I memorize it.

He is the one that has Adrianna.

"So, we were right. Alberts was under this whole damn thing. Explains why he helped Julian by giving him the MC to begin with. Fucker was doing his dirty work for him." Max crosses his arms at his chest.

"Yes. Seems to be right. I've got the location, but that doesn't mean she's there." Torque says looking over at me. "It also doesn't mean there are only three of them. There could be more that we don't know of."

"Then let's go in with a plan. Time to end this shit." Austin says. "I want some of ours at the clubhouse, some here protecting the girls."

"What have you got planned?" I ask Austin, knowing damn well there is a plan brewing in his mind. Austin simply smirks and heads for his bike. We all follow right behind him, not planning on coming back until we have Adrianna with us.

"Got some movement." Max whispers as we clutch down on the small hill we set up on. We've been up here for a good ten minutes trying to find our way in and get a feel for how many of these fuckers we have to run over.

"Same guy?" I ask staring over at my best friend. Max takes the binoculars and places them back on his face. His eyes narrow and he stills like a statue. I know this is bringing him back to a place he never wished to go again, but I appreciate him being here.

"Yeah. Smoke break. Fucker is like a chain smoker. It's his fifth one."

"Could be nervous. If they haven't asked for ransom, they may not know what to do." Snake chimes in. He's right, and a nervous fucker is never a good thing in this situation.

"Alberts must have told them to come here and he would meet up with them." I state.

"That's my guess. Problem with that is, Alberts may just send in a cleanup crew. Make it look like those fuckers acted alone. He must know the Rejects fucked up by dropping of Miles at the wrong compound. If he gets rid of them, killing Adrianna will be a win-win for him. It sends a threat to us and it makes him out to be the goddamn hero." Austin states behind me.

"That's probably why he had them keep their cuts on. If he can prove the MC's mean trouble for this city, he has more power at his fingertips." Snake finished, and I look back over at the large cabin.

"Then let's move in." I grab my gun and switch the safety off. Snake, you and Max stay here. Shoot anyone that moves out of that warehouse that ain't us or Adrianna. Do not fuckin' shoot my little girl."

"Just get her out of there before Alberts shows up with the entire fuckin' city of cops." Snake exclaims, and I nod my head at the rest of the group leading the charge down the hill.

There are a few bins outside with wet logs in them and I duck behind them with Drift right behind me and Austin to my side. Snake had brought four of his men and I see them, along with Ghost and Chance on the other side ducked behind a van.

I look up seeing Max and Snake's frames on the hill. It's dark, and tonight of all nights, I see not a slither of a moon, so I pray they are as accurate in their shooting as they claim to be. I look back at the warehouse and notice the man out for a cigarette break now pacing the floor back and forth, a phone clutched to his hand on speaker. He curses when a deep voice announces that they are not in but will call them back.

"This is our chance." Austin whispers and I nod my head and stand up.

All three of us rush the fucker and I slam my body right into his, causing him to fall and hit his head on the three-foot brick retaining wall aligning the cabin with flower beads inside.

"Fuck" He calls out, but I slam my fist into his face. He's out cold and I take the phone and place it in my back pocket. Signaling for Chance and his crew to go around back I look forwards once more when Drift opens the door and slowly walks in with Austin and I trailing right behind him.

Austin gets ahead of us and signals that one of us go left, while the other goes right. It's a vast cabin with at least six rooms. I see a set of stairs to my left and a large kitchen to my right. I head left and up the stairs with Drift, while Austin takes the right and searches the kitchen. They may have heard the fucker outside, so I place my gun at the ready just in case.

"Shane." Drift calls out from behind me and I turn to see him pointing at a dark figure walking across the other side of the cabin. It's pitch black in here but enough light from the outside illuminates the inside of the cabin to see that this fucker ain't one of ours.

I lift my gun up but before I can fire, Drift places his hand on my gun and lowers it. I narrow my eyes at him, but he ignores me and walks slowly over to the dark figure now pacing the top floor.

"Dennis where the fuck are you man?" He calls out.

The moment he spots me he pulls his gun out, but before he could fire, Drift comes up behind him and slices his throat. Blood spurts as he tries to cover his gaping wound. His body falls on the ground and I walk over and take the piece from his hands.

"Crazy fucker." I say shaking my head as drift cleans his blade with the asshole's fake fuckin' cut.

"Let's go, I can hear some noises from the outside, meaning the others have found some of these assholes too. Can't be many of them left." I nod my head and together we head for each room. We head in opposite directions and check the rooms lining along the sides of the stairs. One by one we head through the rooms checking for any sign of life of Adrianna. Just as we meet each other at the last one, I hear a loud banging noise from the other side of the door. The moment I hear a whimper, my body goes into action and I slam my foot into the door and watch as it bursts open.

My gun pointed right in front of me, I take in the sight in front of me, an image I will never be able to stop seeing in my nightmares. The mother fucker they have as their president, Geller, stands there with an unconscious Adrianna in his grip.

"Put her the fuck down." I demand. My eyes don't leave Adrianna's unconscious form. Her hair is messy and covered in sweat, her face is pale, and cheeks flushed. They most likely didn't hydrate her or give her food or medicine. I need to take this fucker down now, then get my girl to a hospital.

"Stay the fuck back man. I will kill this little fuckin' brat." He says and that's when I notice the gun he has trained on her head. Her little body sways as he moves back and forth.

"Put her the fuck down, or I will make your death slow." I cringe when he forces the gun further into her temple.

"I'm warning you mother fucker, stay back or I will kill her."

"You won't leave here alive asshole. My brothers have killed all your men and your outnumbered."

"Fuck" He says closing his eyes and shaking his head. "Then I'm takin' this bitch down with me." Before he could move his hand back, I fire two rounds right into his head. His body collapses onto the ground and I run over and grab Adrianna.

"Adrianna. Adrianna, wake up darlin'." Drift walks over and checks her pulse, then places his hand on her forehead.

"She's good man. Most likely passed out from exhaustion and being sick. You said she has a weakened immune system, so being sick is just making her extra tired. She needs meds and hydration as soon as possible, so get her to a hospital. I'll clean this up."

I stand with Adrianna in my hands and stare at him as he leans back up and grabs the gun from Geller. "Thank you." I announce, and he nods his head still starring over at Geller's body. Fucker has some demons to him, that much I'm sure.

I walk out with Adrianna's body held tightly in my grasp, right out the door where my brothers are all waiting. I notice Snake pulling up the man I had knocked out and placing him in the van they brought.

"We've got to get her to a hospital." I choke out. "She needs medical attention." The realization that I almost lost her is taking its toll on me and I nearly drop her when Austin comes and picks her up.

"It's over man. Time to call Lyla." Max says patting me on my back. I nod my head and make the phone call to the woman I love, that our little girl is going to be okay.

ùùù

The smell of coffee wakes me, and I blink my eyes a few times to focus the blurry room around me. I can still hear the monitor beeping next to me as I look up to see Lyla standing next to the hospital bed with a large white styrofoam cup in her hands. She smiles sweetly at me; the same one I have been receiving since we walked into the hospital with Adrianna still in my arms. It was hard handing her over to the staff, growling each time someone made an attempt to remove her from my arms.

Small brown curls move into my vision as Adrianna shifts on top of me. I look down and cradle her tiny body in my arms. She woke up in the middle of the night, calling out for Lyla. Once she noticed me in the room, she asked if I could lay with her.

No way in hell I was telling her no.

Now here I sit with a small frail little body on top of me, who is connected to about a thousand different tubes. Drift was right, she was dehydrated, and her immune system was working overtime, so she needed some meds and plenty of rest. When the doctors ran tests on her, they found small traces of a sedative given to her, no doubt by that piece of shit Geller. Because of her weakened system, it had put her in a coma like sleep.

The cops came, Alberts not included. In fact, it appears he has been missing these last few days. We told them that she had been kidnapped and that some threats were made but we found her on the side of the road. They didn't believe it, but they couldn't prove shit. Apparently, Rory's money does go a long way. He was able to give us an alibi and the cop that came forward with everything a new life for him and his family.

Rory came in for a few moments to see Adrianna. It took quite a bit of effort to stop myself from nailing him to the wall by his cock, but Lyla restrained me. Told me we owed him, I didn't think so, but I wasn't going to argue with her. He would get his in the end.

"Shane?" Adrianna shifts and opens her eyes to look up at me. I tug at her hair and give her a smile at which she returns.

"Yes darlin'?"

"I want jello." I giggle erupts from Lyla's mouth and I chuckle.

Adrianna thankfully didn't remember much. She thought most of it was a dream and we played along with it. Cops asked her questions, but when she mention me as her 'knight in shinny armor', they knew they didn't have much to go on.

"Hear that Ly? Seems like our little girls' appetite is coming back with a full force." Lyla wipes at the few tears she still has and smiles down at me. I hold my hand out and pull her over to us.

A knock at the door interrupts our moment and a few seconds later, in walks Adrianna's doctor who also happens to be Lyla's boss.

"Hey guys. Thought I would come and check in on my little patient."

"Hey Ben. She woke up a few minutes ago. Said she wants jello, so something tells me she is feeling better." Ben looks over at Lyla with a genuine smile and leans down to speak with Adrianna. He's a fuckin' tool, but I have to hand it to him, he's a good man.

"Hey there Adrianna. Heard you like jello. You know, the cafeteria has a few different colors. I'll have your nurse go and grab you one of each, but first let's get you checked out, how does that sound?" Adrianna nods her head enthusiastically and I take that as my cue to get up.

"Are you leaving Shane?" I can hear the innocence in her voice as Ben checks her over.

"No way darlin'. Uncle Chance has a surprise for me, so I need to go and speak with him. I'll be right outside those doors." I smile then look over at Lyla who gives me a reassuring nod.

Chance had come by earlier in a foul mood telling me that he needed to speak with me. I knew it was Rory and how the MC has him. He needs to know that although I appreciate what he did for Adrianna, his presence is causing a shit storm to brew within my family.

Walking out of the room, I come face to face with Candice and Slice. Candy is passed out in her chair leaning over on Slice who looks too uncomfortable to move her. Chance is in the corner standing with his arms crossed and head down and eyes closed. When he hears the door shut behind me he opens them and meets my gaze.

"You ready?" I nod my head in his direction and give Slice a chin lift. He knows to answer any questions if Lyla comes out looking for me, as well as Candice, who is nosy by nature.

It takes us only ten minutes to get to the clubhouse where we have Rory in the back shed. It's been years since I have used the shed to beat out my aggressions, and lately, because of all our drama, no one steps foot in it anymore. Today changed all that.

"Sure you want to do this brother? Could be bringing our club more shit than we need." I narrow my eyes at Chance. Ever since we had rescued Adrianna, his attitude has turned up sour.

"Look asshole, I don't get why you've been acting like such a dick, but until you understand coming close to losing a child, you don't get to call me out on my shit."

"That's where you're wrong Shane. I know more about losing a child than you think." He mutters looking back at the shed's doors. I shake my head, ignoring his sullen look and open the shed doors.

Austin, Max, Ghost and Dipp stand there with a beaten Rory tied to a chair. I move in closer and inspect what my brothers have already done to him. We won't kill him, his fate was sealed when he helped me rescue Adrianna, but he needs to learn a lesson on placing his hands on someone. Then he will be persuaded into moving back to Texas and never coming back.

I circle Rory like the prey he is to me and stop once he looks up and notices me. He is in nothing but boxers and his hands are tied behind his back in zip ties. His eyes are swollen, and he has a puffy red nose. There are burn marks along his shoulders and arms, and a cut on his legs making a trail of blood flow to his feet.

"You know who I am?" I ask in a deep voice. Anger is pouring off me in waves as I recall Lyla's story.

"Y-yes." He says sounding relatively calm.

"You know why I'm here?"

"Y-yes." He spits out some blood and I lean in close to get in his face.

"I won't kill you, you helped us with Adrianna and for that, I won't take your life. But hear this, you're going to get a beating, one you know you damn well deserve. You're going to take this beating and go back to Texas with it and stay there. You and I both know you don't give two shits about that perfect little girl, so interrupting her life was purely selfish. Understand?"

"I d-didn't rape her. Please, you have t-to know when she t-told me, I thought she w-was lying."

"She wasn't motherfucker. You took what wasn't yours. Were you drunk? Maybe, but that don't change shit. You've put your hands on her in the past, leaving her black and blue. And now you plan on ruining your daughter's life?"

"Y-you're w-wrong."

"How so?"

"I care about h-her. I-I wanted to s-see herto m-meet her."

"And the first fuckin' thing you did was use her. Instead of being her father, you became yours." Rory stays silent but looks down in shame. Once he nods his head I stand back up and crack my knuckles.

"I'll stay away f-from her. I'll go b-back home and n-never bother you all again. But please, if I c-can have one wish, will you make sure she knows that I love herthat I did care for her. I-I'm the bad guy, I k-know that, but." He slumps his head once more and I look over to Austin.

"Your call brother. Think you understand that sometimes fathers make mistakes." I close my eyes at that, and when I reopen them I stare into Rory's swollen eyes.

"Fine. But if I think, for one goddamn minute that you're causing trouble, I will find you motherfucker." With one last nod, I unleash everything Lyla has had to endured from him and don't stop until he blacks out and Max pulls me back.

"Shake it off Shane. Go and shower, then get to your girls. We'll handle the rest of this mess." I nod my head, knowing I need a few minutes to get my anger back in control. I can't be like this around Lyla and Adrianna.

Half an hour later, I am showered and walking back in the hospital. I pass up Candice and Ben as they speak quietly and walk right into the room designated for Adrianna for the next twenty-four hours. I can't wait to bring my girls home and spend every waking moment with them.

"Shane, your back." Adrianna shakes her fists and smiles. I match her smile and scoop her up, mindful of the cords still attached to her. "Where were you?"

"Miss me darlin'?" I ask then look over at Lyla. Her smile is content, and she looks relaxed.

"Yes. I wanted to see you. Dr. Ben says I can come home tomorrow morning."

"That's great news little one."

"Does that mean you are coming home with me?" I look into her eyes, and see her innocence reflecting off them in waves. This little girl undoes me, and I will never walk away from her again.

"Of course it does Adrianna. Shane isn't going anywhere honey. Mommy and you won't let him, will we?" Layla stands and walks over to us. I open my arm out for her and she leans her body in.

I have both my girls in my arms, I couldn't have found a better place.

"No, daddy's always stay."