Chapter 32 I do not know how he survived.
Catalina
I am safe and will talk to you soon. I looked at my phone and let myself smile. Well, that was one less thing to worry about. I left my room and headed for the kitchen. I found Torque kissing my sister’s neck while she cooked breakfast. Butcher and Viper were leaning against the counter, drinking coffee and watching them. I walked up to Viper and took the mug right from his hand.
“Never figured I’d see Torque turn into such a lovesick idiot,” Butcher said.
“Just needed the right woman, Prez,” Viper answered. He put an arm around my waist, took his coffee back, and kissed my forehead.
“I have to go out,” I told Viper. “I need more bullets and knives.”
“All right, angel. I’ll take you to our favorite shop. We own the place, so we get a good deal.”
“Oh, I’m coming too, please,” Jenna called from the stove.
We all ate, and half an hour later we were on the road. Viper drove us in a black SUV to a big building. It looked like a fortress, but the words LORDS SUPPLY were painted in huge letters on the side. Another sign, sprayed onto the dark windows, said CAMPING GEAR 50% OFF.
We walked inside, and I felt like I’d found paradise. Everything you could want for the outdoors was here. Racks of camping equipment, bows and arrows, little grills, fishing poles, clothes, and boots. There were shelves and shelves of bullets in every size, and rows of knives without handles. They even sold packaged meals, homemade jerky, and live bait.
“This place is amazing!” I yelled. I grabbed Jenna’s hand and pulled her into the store, which seemed to go on forever.
“Look at them. Like two kids turned loose in a candy store. Who knew our girls would love this shit instead of fancy jewelry and dresses,” Torque said.
“Could cost just as much,” Viper said, nodding toward Jenna. She was holding a very expensive compound bow, the kind used for hunting bear.
“Where’s she gonna use that?”
“Knowing her? To hunt men. Quieter than a gun,” Torque replied.
I glanced over at Viper and Torque watching us. “What do you think they’re saying?” I asked Jenna.
“Probably thanking God we aren’t shallow bitches who only want diamonds and handbags.”
“Speak for yourself. I like nice things too,” I said.
“Yeah, but you like things you can throw.”
“You aren’t wrong,” I told her. I picked up a mean-looking double-headed axe made for throwing. I stepped away from Jenna, testing its feel and how it moved in my hand with a few practice swings. Then I spotted a target mounted on the far wall. I threw the axe straight at it. A solid, heavy thud echoed through the store.
I heard someone mutter “Jesus” and another low grunt. I looked over at Viper. He was smiling and gave me a thumbs-up. An old man came out of a back room and glared at me.
“Hey! No throwing things in here.”
“But there’s a target right there.”
“That’s just for show,” he snapped.
“Samson, it’s fine. She’s with me,” Viper said, walking over.
“Viper, you know this girl?”
“Yeah, Sam. This is Catalina, my angel.” He pulled me close against his side.
“Oh. Well then, my apologies, Miss Catalina. You carry on.”
“Thank you, Sam.”
I stood on my toes and kissed Viper. Then I went to a case full of handleless blades and began choosing the ones I wanted. I felt their weight, checked their balance, rolled them over my fingers. I picked twenty. Jenna came up beside me, her arms full of boxes of ammunition. She grinned at me and opened her mouth to speak, but the front door of the shop opened just then. We both looked to see who it was. Viper and Torque were a few aisles over, looking at bullets.
Three men walked in. They all wore black tracksuits and white sneakers. They were tall, with short black hair combed back. One man had a scar across his throat. He looked familiar. I started to say something to Jenna, but when I saw her face, all the color was gone. She was white as paper.
“Jenna, what is it?” I asked her.
“He was one of them, Catalina.”
“One of who?”
“He was at the warehouse. Where they held us. You stopped him from killing Papa.” Her voice was very low.
My whole world narrowed to that man. How was he alive? I cut his throat before he could stab Papa.
I grabbed Jenna’s arm, but before I could pull her away, the man looked directly at us. His eyes moved over us, from our heads to our feet and back again. He tilted his head. He seemed puzzled as he stared first at me, then at Jenna. His gaze locked onto hers.
“Hey, you,” he said with a strong Italian accent. “I know you from somewhere.” He was pointing at Jenna, but his eyes kept jumping between the two of us. We were both shaking our heads when Viper and Torque reached us.
“You get everything you need, babe?” Torque asked Jenna.
Viper was watching the three newcomers. He looked at me and put his arm across my shoulders.
“You all right, angel?”
“Yeah,” I managed to say, my voice almost too quiet to hear.
“Yeah, I know you. I just cannot place it,” the man said again.
“Hey. You want to stop staring at our women?” Torque said, his voice a clear warning.
“No. I recognize them. Her more than the other one, but there is something about both of them,” he said, still pointing at Jenna.
“We have never seen you before,” Jenna said.
“Sure you have. Did we go out once?”
Jenna made a small, scared sound. Torque turned quickly to look at her. “Baby, what’s wrong?” He cupped her face and kissed her, trying to calm her. She just shook her head.
“Let’s go. We need to get back to the club,” Viper said. He waved at Sam to start bagging our things.
The three men watched us. We watched them back. Then two of them moved away and began browsing the shelves. The one who kept talking just stood there, staring. Torque kept his eyes on the other two as they handled merchandise. Viper paid, and as we walked past the man by the door, he spoke to Jenna.
“Non preoccuparti, bella, mi ricorderò’,” he said. (Do not worry, beautiful, I will remember.)
“Nei tuoi sogni, stronzo,” I shot back. (In your dreams, asshole.)
We hurried out to the SUV. Torque drove off, and Viper turned around to look at us in the back seat.
“What the fuck was that?”
“Jenna says he was one of the men who kidnapped us,” I told him. “He’s the one whose throat I cut. I do not know how he survived.”
“You were ten. You probably did not have the strength to cut deep. He likely just passed out and lost a lot of blood,” Jenna said. She was staring straight ahead through the windshield, pale and trembling.
“We have to tell Papa,” I said, pulling out my phone. I sent a text explaining that we had just seen one of the men from the kidnapping. I told him the man did not seem to fully recognize us, but that he was watching us and trying to figure it out. I asked what Papa wanted us to do.
I waited and waited, but he did not reply by the time we got back to the clubhouse.
We walked inside. Viper went to talk to Butcher in his office. I kept checking my phone, but there was still no answer from our father. I refused to panic. The guy could not place us. I was ten and Jenna was twenty back then. It was twelve years ago. We have both changed. Jenna’s arms are covered in tattoos now. Her hair is curly and dark. Back then, it was her natural pale blonde. I was just a kid, so I look completely different. I prayed to God he would never remember.