CHAPTER FOUR
Luke
I wished I hadn’t reacted so strongly when she told me her parents’ names. It wasn’t like she could help who her parents were. It just took me by surprise. The Hell’s Renegades worked closely with battered women’s shelters so we saw personally how much it hurt them when their funding was cut for political clout. But that wasn’t Addie’s fault. I believed her when she said she didn’t agree with their politics.
Even if she did, we would help her. We weren’t monsters who would send her over to be put in a brothel somewhere.
Slowly, Addie calmed down as she realized we were telling the truth about helping her.
Melody came in with a tray of tea as well as a smoked salmon platter and some soda bread before leaving again. The food and tea seemed to help Addie as well as she eventually relaxed a little.
Chase was thoughtful as she ate and I knew he was putting together some sort of plan. “I think it’s likely the Demons are trying to kidnap you so they can get your parents in their pocket. After all, they are constantly trying to influence politicians, police, and other authority figures to advance their own agenda.”
“This is probably a stupid question, but who are the Demons?” Addie asked timidly.
It never even occurred to me that she wouldn’t know who they were. Most of the people around here knew the Demons or had at least heard of them. After all, we were positioned in the town of Newbury and the Demons had ripped the town apart. They were only just starting to rebuild now.
But of course, Addie didn’t know about them. She wasn’t from around here.
“They’re a biker gang,” I said. “They deal drugs and run brothels full of kidnapped women. With a few well-placed bribes, law enforcement looks the other way.”
Addie bit her lip. “They wouldn’t be able to sway my parents, then. My parents would never publicly support bikers.”
“They might if the Demons kidnapped you and threatened to put you in one of their brothels,” Chase said.
Addie shook her head. “They pride themselves on integrity and they would never do it even for that. Besides, a kidnapped daughter would give them a lot of sympathy in the polls.”
I couldn’t believe how matter-of-fact she was about her parents being so cold. Was she used to be treated as nothing more than a political pawn?
“We’ll make it clear that you’re under our protection,” Chase said. “The Demons should think twice about kidnapping you when they know that.”
“When do you think I can go home?” Addie asked. “My family will get worried about me.”
“We’ll get you home as soon as we can,” Chase said. “In the meantime, just relax. You’re safe here.”
There was a knock on the door and Melody opened it. “Sorry to interrupt. But there’s something you should see.”
She passed around her phone to show us all. It was a press release with a video about Addie being kidnapped. The video showed her parents at a press conference, holding back tears. “My baby girl’s missing,” the mother said. “This is not about politics. This is about our daughter’s life. Please, if you have any information on this man, let me know.” There was a still taken from the gas station. It looked like it came from the security camera and it was a closeup of me.
Then an edited security video played, making it look like I had grabbed her out of the blue and pointed my own gun at the cashier.
“This makes no sense,” Addie said. “Obviously it didn’t happen that way. Why would someone give my parents doctored surveillance footage?”
Chase and I exchanged a look. I was beginning to think her parents weren’t so innocent in the grand scheme of things. But I wasn’t going to be the one to tell her that.
“The Demons have contacts in the police,” Chase said carefully. “It’s possible they’re trying to frame Luke. God knows they’ve tried to vilify us plenty of times before. But we must get Luke to a safe house while his face is in the news like this.”
“I’m so sorry,” Addie said. “This is so unfair to you. I’m going to call my parents and get this straightened out.”
“Wait,” I said. “Not here. If the police trace the call to here, then they’ll have even more evidence that the Hell’s Renegades captured you.”
She frowned. “But I’ll tell them what really happened and that it’s all a big misunderstanding. They’ll have to clear your name then.”
“If they’re working with the Demons, they won’t care what’s true or not,” Chase said. “It all depends on how they can twist it.”
“I’ll take you to a safe house,” I said. “One that’s not connected to us through any sort of paper trail. You can call from there.”
Addie bit her lip, and I knew she was wondering again if she could really trust us or not. I didn’t blame her. We were hiding something from her this time. But how the hell were we supposed to tell her that her parents might have arranged to have her kidnapped?