I didn't want to leave Ariabelle alone after the past couple of days she had. It's bittersweet that none of my family is around anymore so Ariabelle could have someone to talk to in times like this. I still can't believe her mother would disown her because of me, I know it took Ariabelle a lot to stand up and tell her mother no but I also don't want to cause conflict. I know how we got together wasn't ideal and that it was Ariabelle that didn't want to be with me at the beginning of this marriage but I think that after last night I'm the one person she needs and she knows it.
Ariabelle's past is coming to the forefront right now and it's causing her pain and I just want to hit something. And her past is her father and I can't hit Blade cause he's my former president and my father-in-law... well maybe I could just gotta make sure there are no guns around at the time. I wonder what Killer would say if I hit his father? I mean how could anyone forget Ariabelle? We've only been together for a couple of days and yet I know she's the best thing to happen to me and I will not lose her not to Blade and certainly not to that sin of a bitch Luca.
It's incredible that Blade could even forget his daughter. Aria is the most brave, kind, caring, sensitive woman I have ever known. She doesn't let her past define her, sure she's been a bitch around the club and Blade but I can't blame her. When we're away from the club she's a totally different person. I just want to beat some sense into Blade, how can he treat Aria like this. I still can't believe he didn't recognize her name, I mean Ariabelle isn't the most common name there is he should have figured it out sooner. But Blade is to into the club that he wouldn't know his own mother's name if you paid him, the only way he would know was if someone told him. And Ariabelle definitely isn't ready to know that she's the club princess.
"Killer man what are we going to do?"
"We're going to make sure that the club is ready for whatever is thrown our way and pray that my father keeps in head in his ass for now. We'll deal with him and forgetting his daughter after we find this bastard who likes to play games with us."
"No not with us with your father. He really must have pissed someone off if they're going through all this just to keep him off his game. And what if he's succeeding? Just using these riddles to distract Blade from this mystery person really wants?"
"Then Grim we'll figure this out and kill this mother fucker because nobody and I mean nobody hurts my father mentally, physically, or emotionally. No matter how pissed I am at my father I will not let anyone hurt him."
"But what if Aria wanted to hurt him?" I question with a smirk.
"Well Aria is an exception. She has rights to hurt him after he forgot about her." Killer said with a smile. "I mean how the hell do you forget about your own daughter? If Aria hurts him then it's his own fucking fault.he deserves whatever she gives him whenever she wants him to know who she is to him."
He's right about that. I still can't remember our first night together and I can't remember if we were protection. If Aria is pregnant I would never leave her and our child and I certainly wouldn't forget them. If they left I would do everything in my power to find them, not stick my dick into whatever pussy is available and drink myself into oblivion. What kind of father doesn't look for his children? After everything I found out today I don't know if I have any respect left for Blade, I didn't have a choose when my family gave me up and my adopted parents passed away before I entered the club. Blade willingly left his family, willingly gave them up. His children call another man dad, I don't know how I would feel about that.
I'm not one to talk or think about my past but seeing Aria and how her past keeps affecting her I can't help think about my past. It's a simple thought, not much to it. I have no idea who my birth parents are, they gave me up at birth and never crossed my mind until my adopted parents passed away when I was eighteen. So I broke into the adoption agency and found my file that held my birth parents address. So I went and what I saw made me angry, but I would never hurt them, they had a children and one of their child looked like he was almost my age at the time. I knew that they might have other children but I just had to see them at the time. After that night I never saw them again, didn't contact them. Headed to Nevada and joined The Devils.
Blade became like a father to me then and to hear that he willingly gave his family up pisses me off. He never got to see what a great woman Ariabelle has turned out to be. And for that he should be ashamed, his son went to join a gang so he could help his mother out and to give some protection to his little sister. Nobody knows how much strain that out on Aria, she didn't tell me or anybody but you could see it in her face last night and this morning that she was hurt but she was mostly pissed. Aria practically raised herself when her father left, her mother instead of letting go of her anger projected it onto her daughter because Alonzo's work made her daughter get kidnapped and marry a biker. But instead of making sure she was okay and that nothing had happened to her she goes and disowns her because of this situation.
Aria would never tell me but I know she needs someone strong to be with. She needs a strong man because she's been strong for everyone else for far too long. She needs someone she can lean on in times like this when her family wants nothing to do with her. Marco may be someone she can lean on but to her she can never let her emotions out and cry around him. But today she did just that with me, having eleven years of emotion bottled up isn't a good thing. Being around people who makes you have a tough shield up all the time is hard, so hard that even when alone she couldn't bring down that shield and cry. She needs me just as much as I need her.
I'm pulled out of my thoughts when I see that we have arrived at the clubhouse. Suddenly I remember that everyone had crowded around Ariabelle like she was the enemy and probably would be put into one of the cells in the basement if she hadn't yelled out. There will be hell to pay for treating her like she's the enemy when she damn well isn't. And after last night I'm not in a forgiving kind of mood today. They are done acting like she's the enemy even when she's helped this club with those damn riddles. Before getting out of the truck I make my face emotionless, they want to treat my wife like a enemy then I'll treat them the same way. Hopping out of the truck I can already see someone of the club members grimace when they see my face.
I look at Killer and see his face is just as emotionless as mine, this ought to be good. "Get all your asses into the clubhouse now!" Killer yells at the members who are outside.
"What the hell is the meaning of this Killer? We didn't do a damn thing wrong!" Bull says.
"Oh so treating my wife like she's the damn enemy when all she's been doing is helping us out with whatever shit Blade got us pulled into?" I counter back looking straight as Bull. "Surrounding Ariabelle this morning and probably thinking to put her into the cells?"
I look around and see the looks on their faces and know it's true. Well I guess it's time to make them pale a little. "Well if you idiots had done that it would mean war. And not between me and the club, but the club and Ariabelle's family."
"And why would that cause war?" Blade asked smugly. "Not like her family could do a thing to us."
"How wrong you are dear father. Ariabelle's family is one of the strongest mafia families ever." When Killer states that the whole room goes deathly quiet and many of the guys faces goes deathly pale as well. "Now you idiotic mother fuckers let's get to work and figure out which enemy from Blade's past wants to hurt whoever this Belle person is. So find the bastard and find the girl we don't know when this guy is going to strike and how."
"One more thing. Ariabelle has been helping us now why the fuck would you want to throw her into the cells when you assholes knew you would face my wrath?" I asked still pissed off.
"Grim you really can't be pissed off? I mean she started coming around and then those riddles started coming around, we thought she was sending the riddles." Bull said for everyone.
"Oh yes I can and why would she want to send Blade riddles when she could go for someone bigger and badder. What the hell do you think she was doing in Las Vegas she was going after another mafia family. And her coming around Bull...she's my wife of course she's going to be coming around." I told them all.
"Now get to work!" Killer yelled and they all started working even the club whores for some reason. Walking away from the others Killer and I started talking. "Grim Ariabelle wasn't in Las Vegas for another mafia family, she was there for her mafia family business."
"Well yeah we know that but the don't." I tell him.
Walking away from Killer and to my room, so I can get my laptop to check on the club rivals to see which ones would do something like this when a memory of last night crossed the forefront of my mind.
"I just came by to wish the happy couple a congratulation. If I hadn't waited so long Ariabelle would be mine, wouldn't you Belle?" Luca asked.
Belle? Luca called Ariabelle Belle. Why the hell didn't I see it sooner? Ariabelle wasn't the one sending the riddles, she was the one the riddles were about. Damn it. Of course Blade wouldn't remember because he forgotten everything involving Aria and he hasn't remembered her for eleven years. We are all idiots, and why did we leave Aria at the house all by herself? What if instead of coming to the club this mystery guy heads to Aria first? Forgetting my laptop I run down the hallway and into the common room where everybody still is. Shit, I need to tell Killer but I can't with everybody here. I'm at cross roads, I don't want to tell everybody Ariabelle's true identity but not telling everybody may endanger her life further.
"Grim what is it you look like you've just seen a ghost." Killer says from across the room and that shuts everybody up and looks at me.
Ah hell looks like the decision has been made for me, everybody is going to know who Ariabelle is to this club. "The Belle in the riddle is Ariabelle."
Killer tenses up but before he can ask Blade pipes in with his question. "What makes you say that?"
"Something Luca called Aria last night that just came to the forefront of my mind. Luca called Ariabelle Belle. And she didn't seem to like being called Belle." I told him.
"Who the hell is Luca?" Blade asked. But I didn't need to tell Killer because he got what I was saying right away.
"Gather the families, we're going in lockdown the prospects will say here with a couple of other men and the rest of us will head over to Grim's and Ariabelle's house now" Killer states but nobody moves, they stare at Blade which pisses Killer off more. "This is my club now you answer to me and not to Blade. So get your asses on your bikes and lets go."
But still nobody moved and Bull being the idiot he is starts talking. "Ariabelle isn't in Blade's past, we would know if she was."
About ready to shoot everyone I explain knowing that I'll have a pissed off wife. "You wouldn't know but the older club members would."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Blade asked.
"It mean that you and the older club members would know who she was to you when she first walked into the clubhouse but don't because you can't remember everything from eleven years ago. And I'm thinking that you can't remember those years is because you blocked them out. And you blocked them out because you walked out on your eleven year old daughters birthday. And your eleven year old daughter's name happens to be Ariabelle...my wife."
After I said that it became so quiet that you could hear everyone breathing. Suddenly Blade dropped out of his shock and he just stared at me. I knew he was going to have questions about the mafia family so I save time with the questions and kept explaining. "The mafia family she is doing business for is her stepfamilies business. Her mother met the former mafia boss who's now her husband two years after you left. Ariabelle now calls her stepfather daddy.
"The biker that the woman Ariabelle shot yesterday...she was talking about you. Your son Gabriel is now second-in command in a gang maybe an hour and a half away from here. That's where she went when we first got back the day after yesterday. And you wanna know about Luca? Luca was the reason Ariabelle was in Las Vegas. He kidnapped her and put those lashes on her back and drugged her hoping to marry her. He killed her stepfather's men last night and told her mother that her daughter was walking in her footsteps causing Belle's mother disowning her because if she didn't she would have to deal with the man who walked out on her and their children on their only daughter's eleventh birthday.
"You know what she told me today when we left this morning? She couldn't even enjoy her birthday party because she kept waiting for you and the club members that knew about her. She waited up for you to come home, she watched the front door of her house waiting for you to come home."
With all that said I walked out of the clubhouse with Killer by my side. By the time we got our bikes started Blade and the rest of the MC had just started to come out and get their bikes ready. Without waiting on them Killer and I left the compound and rode to my house, soon we heard the other behind us but we didn't slow down. I knew we were going way beyond the speed limit but I needed to know that Ariabelle was okay at our house and just catching up on her sleep. If not then it's time to call in Marco. He probably won't be too happy when he knows something is wrong with Ariabelle and that Blade know the truth.
About maybe twenty some minutes we arrive at the house and already something is wrong. The front door is wide open and looks busted, seeing as how we just got the house yesterday we haven't have time to get an alarm system and that was the biggest mistake ever made. Killer and I leave our bikes running and run inside, the living room is a mess the couch is on it's back with it's cushions thrown everywhere, there are holes in the walls that look like bullet holes, the living room table legs are broken and the legs look like they were hit over something hard, maybe like someone's head. And there is blood.
I didn't care what the club thought of me at that moment. I crumbled, I couldn't believe I left her here. I knew she needed some time alone but with all that was going on recently I knew I should have pressed her to go with me. But I didn't because I didn't want her to have to face Blade after what she told Killer and I today. I will find that bastard and make him pay but first I have to call Marco. I need his help, this now just doesn't involve club business it is now also Marco's business too. Getting up and going outside I head towards my bike and grab my phone out of the saddle bag but before I could call Marco with the number I got out of Ariabelle's phone Blade comes storming out and straight towards me.
"How could you leave my daughter here with all that's going on!" Blade yells in my face.
And that just pushes me over the edge. "I left her here so she wouldn't have to deal with you. She heard what you said to Killer when he called so Aria could figure out the riddle for you 'I don't know anyone name Belle.' When you're probably the one to give her the nickname in the first place. Also let's not forget that you called her a slut since she got here and a bitch. I left her here so she wouldn't have to deal with the memories that you've forgotten. I left her here because of you." I tell him calmly.
Killer comes between us. But I'm not done. "Now get out of my face and let me call Aria's step brother Marco and Gabe because it's not just club business anymore. We're going to need their help but what you can Blade is go into the house and see if the bastard left you a note before I decide to put a bullet in you and forget that you're my father-in-law."
With that said I walked away from them and pressed the talk button to get the call started. Knowing how Marco is going to feel I steel myself up and wait till I hear him. But instead of Marco answering the phone I get his voicemail, I really didn't want to tell him over the phone anyways so I tell him I need to talk to him and Gabriel that it involves Ariabelle and end the call. When that's over I head back to the house to see what they have. I know it's going to be worse than the mess in the living room when all the guys look at me with somber expression. In the kitchen Killer is staring out the kitchen window and Blade is looking down at the table. Killer looks my way when I enter and I shake my head signaling that I didn't get ahold of them, Blade looks up and hands me a piece of paper. Seeing it I thought we were done with all this shit.
Tick tock goes the clock
Tick tock goes the Belle
Tick tock goes the princess
Tick tock I have her now
Tick tock I had her then
Tick tock come find me if you can
Tick tock your time's running out
Tick tock I've got a head start
'This is riddle is your first message figure it out and the second will come.'