Chapter 2: Prologue: Part 2

The man they dragged in minutes later was by no means small. A hardened man who’d ridden for the past twenty years or more, he’d made his bones by serving his old leader well. His mistake was in thinking the son was like the father. Sure he might have some of his ruthlessness, but it was never aimed at the weak. The son didn’t seem to differentiate.

Gabriel stood up from his seat at the head of the table in the council room where he’d been listening to the latest account of this scourge’s actions. The man, Sam by name, at first thought, to look the younger man in the eye. After all, he’d been a lieutenant in the chapter for the past ten years and was due respect.

Bad enough, he hadn’t been promoted after the death of the old leader but instead was expected to follow this wet behind the ears educated asshole. Now the much younger man thought he could tell him what to do, with his own family no less.

“So, Sam, I see you refuse to follow my orders again.” He walked back and forth in front of the man as the others sat still, waiting to see what he would do next. Sam was sure that he’d get off with another warning, which he had no plans of obeying. What business was it of this usurper’s what he did with his own family? If he wanted to knock his wife and kid around every once in a while, so be it.

“She deserved it…” A strong hand came out quick as a snake and grabbed Sam around the throat. For the first time, Sam got to see first hand the strength in the man he’d thought of as weak. Behind them, at the table, his old colleagues looked on wordlessly as they had already learned what Sam was about to find out. The kid is not to be fucked with.

“No woman deserves to be hit; there’s no excuse.” Gabriel barely held onto his leashed anger. He pressed hard with his fingers until he saw fear in the other man’s eyes. “Now, someone stronger has you at their mercy; how do you like it?” He shook the man like a rag dog, a man who had him beat by at least thirty pounds, and the onlookers saw up close and personal just what they were dealing with.

Some sat up in their chairs, while some at that moment gained a new respect for their late leader’s son. The son they’d laughed and joked and taken bets as to how long he would last. Who would’ve thought the university boy would have it in him?

So far, his decisions, though different from what they were used to, seemed to pan out. He’d come in guns blazing with a razor-sharp knowledge of the workings of the place that seemed almost uncanny. He’d weeded out most of the bad seeds within days to the surprise of many, and from the looks of it, he was far from done.

They’d only just finished licking their wounds after the last ass chewing, and now this—his first show of physical strength. “Leave; if I see you within a hundred miles of this town in the next twenty-four hours, you won’t walk again. Do not return to your house. Do not contact your wife and daughter. You’re to leave with the clothes on your back and nothing more. The bank accounts you had hidden have already been confiscated. Your family will be cared for. Now get out of my sight.”

The room was silent as the man turned and fled, still clutching his throat and falling all over his feet in his haste to escape. Gabriel inclined his head for two of his men to follow and make sure his orders were carried out. They know what to do if that were not so.

He looked down at his hand where he’d touched the filth with disgust. Gabriel hates getting his hands dirty, unless it’s with his enemy’s blood, then yeah, he’s all for that. But the scum around here was so far beneath him he found it a waste of his time. Still, he’d promised his old man and wouldn’t go back on his word.

With that little skirmish out of the way, he turned his attention to something else before releasing the men from the room. Order is not something they’d seen in a while, apparently, but his no-nonsense approach seems to have them heading in the right direction. “That’s it for now. You may leave.”

Gabriel sat in silence as he tried to align his thoughts. Not one for dealing with domestic shit, he wondered how much of a dent in his time this mess was going to make. He didn’t know the first thing about handling an abuse victim, but somehow he didn’t think giving the woman a pat on her head and sending her on her way was enough. He came here hunting assholes of another breed and was in no way prepared for this.

He tried to imagine his mom in the same predicament and what he’d do, but the mere thought made him damn near postal, so he thought it best to scratch that line of thought. His mind went to all the work he still had left to do, shit that he was now very passionate about and needed to get back to.

In another room down the hall, a young girl sat nursing her face where her father had hit her hard enough to pop a vessel in her eye while leaving an ugly bruise on her soft cheek. The pain was numb now, but she still felt it as if it had just occurred.

She was more nervous, though, about what was going to happen once they left here. This injury was by far not the worst she’d suffered at his hands, and she knew only too well how much he hates being thwarted.

Her mother sat beside her holding her hand and silently crying. It was she who had made the decision to come here. It was her last hope. The old leader never cared too much about their plight. He’d all but turned a blind eye, only going so far as to give out warnings. But she had to take a chance before she or her child died at the hands of her husband.

Gabriel left the council room without another word, totally disgusted even though he’d hidden it well the last ten minutes or so when he’d pretended to go on with business as usual. It was too early to show his hand, so for now, that air of indifference that he does so well will come in handy.

He didn’t answer the calls made to him as he went in search of the two women whom he’d just saved from certain death. The asshole husband and father seemed to be escalating in the last few days, and he knew it would’ve only gotten worst had he not stepped in.

He found them in the game room where he’d had them taken before calling for Sam. He’d met the mother, but never the daughter who he was told was the victim this time around and not for the first time. Opening the door, he walked in on the two women sitting huddled together as if expecting the next blow.

He walked around in front of them and stood waiting until they lifted their heads to acknowledge his presence. He didn’t quite believe what he was seeing when her eyes first met his. Even with the bruises on her face, she was by far the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. Not at all what he’d expected in the midst of this rough and tumble rubble.