Chapter Fourteen

AXYL

The woman who’s held a piece of my heart for years is in danger, unconscious and in the hands of a man who doesn’t deserve her. She’s carrying my children. I can’t lose her. My boys can’t lose her. We all love her too much.

How can I get her away from him without her getting hurt? “Alexander, let her go! She’s not your property. You and your men can walk away from this if you just let her go!”

“She’s carrying my children. She had no right to keep them from me. I’m taking what’s mine and no one is going to stop me,” he retorts.

He smirks. “If they’re boys, they’ll run my club. If they’re girls, they’ll make my club plenty of money.”

“You won’t touch ~my~ kids. Now, let her go. You might not make it out alive after that comment.” Aliana starts to stir in his arms. They must not have given her enough of whatever drug they used.

“Look, the princess is waking up. This should be fun,” Alexander says, laughing cruelly.

ALIANA

My head is throbbing. These jerks. What did they knock me out with? I hope it didn’t harm my babies. I start to wake up and realize I’m being held by someone.

I open my eyes and try to focus, but everything is blurry. I blink a few times trying to clear my vision.

After a couple of minutes, I can see Axyl and the rest of the club standing in front of me, his gun pointed at whoever is holding me.

Everything is still a bit fuzzy, but I manage to look up and see that it’s Alex who’s holding me. I start to struggle, but that only seems to amuse him.

“Princess, I love it when you fight. Now be a good girl and behave while the men talk,” he chuckles, nipping at my earlobe.

I feel sickened by his touch, by his very presence, but right now, there’s nothing I can do about it.

“Let me go, Alex!” I yell, struggling to get out of his arms. “Get your hands off me!”

“You used to love my touch, and other parts of my body, all over you. What changed?” He asks.

“You did. You’re a sick bastard who gets off on hurting and raping women,” I spit out.

“Once I get what’s mine, I’ll let you go. You’re three months along? Just six more months and I’ll have what’s mine. But you won’t be alive when I do,” he says.

I know he’s lying. He’ll kill me before I even make it a step towards an exit, and there’s no way in hell I’ll let him touch my daughters.

Over my dead body will that happen, and I’ll make sure I go down fighting.

“Enough! Let my woman go. You’re starting to piss me off. Do you know why they call me Cannon? You don’t want to find out,” Axyl says.

I look around and see that my brother’s men have taken care of all of Alex’s men, except for his VP and road captain. He only had a few men with him, so it couldn’t have been that hard.

We have a few injuries, but no fatalities that I can see.

“You need better men. Let my sister go, you bastard,” Westyn snarls, stepping up next to Axyl. Alex starts to move towards where, I’m guessing, his vehicles are parked.

There must be a vehicle, right? You can’t carry an unconscious person on a bike. His movement doesn’t go unnoticed.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going with my girls?” Axyl yells, moving forward as Alex moves backward. “You’re outnumbered, Alexander. Give up now and let Ali go.

“I’ll blow your head off if you don’t.”

“You’ll risk a war for some woman? She’s not even that good!” Alex exclaims. Oh, the things I want to say, but my life is literally in the hands of my abusive ex.

He drops his gun, a stupid mistake, and pulls out his favorite knife. He positions the knife along my lower abdomen. “If I can’t have them, then you don’t deserve to either.”

“I’ll kill you! Get it away from my babies!” I’m not above panicking. What would you do if someone was holding a knife to your unborn children? Think, Aliana, think.

You need to get out of his hold and keep Jacey and Macey safe. Think…think…think. Let’s try distraction first. I’ll distract him enough for him to loosen his hold and I can elbow him in the gut or something.

After he loosens his hold enough, I can run for Axyl and my brother.

“Princess, as I said, I want what’s mine. I’m not above cutting them out of you,” he sneers in my ear.

“Okay. Okay. Alex, please, just take the knife away from them. Please. I’ll go with you. I promise. Please,” I plead.

“Ali! No!” Westyn shouts.

“Over my dead body!” Axyl shouts at the same time. I mouth a trust me to both of them. I’m not sure if they see it or not, but I hope they did.

“Alex, don’t do this. They’re too young to make it on their own. Please.” I plead. His grip eases a bit, but not enough. “We’ll come with you. They need their father.

“I need you, Ander. I miss you.” His grip slackens further. It’s the nickname I gave him when we first started dating that does it. He lets the knife fall from my stomach.

“I’ve missed you, princess. Don’t leave me again. Promise me. It won’t be good if you do.” He’s a twisted, dark, and disturbed man. I lift my elbow and slam it into his gut as hard as I can.

His hold on me breaks and I drop to the ground. I hadn’t realized he was holding me up. My legs are like jelly. I can’t stand. “You fucking bitch! You’ll pay for that!”

Two punches to my stomach.

A hit to my face.

A single gunshot.

Everything goes black.

AXYL

Everything happened so quickly. She elbowed him, he let her go. I wasn’t sure what she was planning at first, then she mouthed for us to trust her.

I think she thought she’d be able to run when he let her go, but she just collapsed. He screamed. Two punches to the stomach.

One hit to the face. She’s unconscious, but not before I take out the bastard in front of me. I’ve just started a war, but it’s worth it to save her. I just hope our kids are okay after everything they’ve seen.

“Mommy!” I hear behind me. I turn to see our sons running out. How did they get out of the safe room?

“How the hell did they get out?” I ask, not really expecting an answer as I rush to Aliana. The boys are already there. They snap me out of my shock.

“Why is mommy bleeding, daddy?” Murdock asks. I look her over. Her nose is clearly broken, but that’s not what scares me. It’s the blood coming from between her legs.

A broken nose will heal, but I’m not sure Ali can recover if she loses these babies.

WESTYN

He shot him before I could. We’re going to have a war with his club. It’s not a question of if, but when. Axyl became Cannon the moment he threatened my nieces. No one threatens my family and gets away with it.

I didn’t have a clear shot while he was holding Ali.

My little sister shouldn’t have had to go through this. Maybe if Axyl had pulled his head out of his ass years ago, she wouldn’t have left, but that’s not the point now.

I can’t blame him for anything. He thought he was doing the right thing. Two kicks to the stomach and I knew it wasn’t good.

She can’t lose the only good thing that came out of this messed-up situation. “Why is mommy bleeding, daddy?” Murdock’s question snaps me out of my shock.

That one question could change everything for my little sister.

“Clean this up! DOC! Get to Ali now!” I shout orders to my brothers before rushing to my sister. Axyl is holding her in his arms. He’s a wreck. Her face is cut up from the kick.

Her nose is broken, her lip is split, and there’s a gash on her cheek, but that’s not what has my attention. It’s the blood coming from between her legs. She can’t lose her babies. She’ll be devastated.

This is the one thing that my strong, incredible, stubborn sister might not survive, at least not intact. I can feel it.

“Cannon, I need you to put her down so I can examine her.” Doc is trying to get Axyl to let my sister go, but he’s holding on to her like his life depends on it. He’s begging her not to leave him.

He’s screaming at the sky, praying they don’t lose their babies. He won’t be the same if she does either. He stepped up and claimed those girls as his own when he didn’t have to.

Those are his babies just as much as they are Aliana’s. Blood or not.

“Ax, let her go so Doc can check her out. You’re not helping by not letting him do what he needs to save her and your daughters.” I put my hand on his shoulder.

He needs physical contact when he’s like this. I’ve seen him lose it many times, but only this bad once before. That was when he was about to kill Lana for hurting the boys.

“Pull yourself together, man. Your sons are watching. They need you. They’ve already lost one mom and they might lose another and their sisters. Get your head in the game.

“You need to be strong for them.” I turn away from Axyl and face the boys. “Boys, go get your grandpa. Tell him your daddy needs help.” Danny and Murdock run off shouting for their grandpa.

He’s here in no time. My dad is right behind him.

AXYL

“Son, let Doc check her out. She needs a hospital and a doctor.” He tells Axyl.

There’s only one thing on my mind right now. I can’t lose them. Any of them. Ali is my world. The girls are too. Everyone is trying to get me to let her go, but I can’t.

I know I won’t lose her physically, but if we lose these babies, I’ll lose her mentally. They’re the only good thing that came out of her nightmare with that bastard. I’d kill him a hundred times over if I could.

My dad approaches, and I gently set her down. I need to reassure my sons, to tell them everything will be okay. But how can I promise that when I’m not even sure myself?

I need to be their rock, but she’s my world. She always has been. If I’d pulled my head out of my ass sooner, she wouldn’t be in this predicament.

She wouldn’t have left. Even if she had, she’d be safe. But then, I wouldn’t have my boys, and she wouldn’t have her girls. They’re two of my reasons to keep going.

“We need to rush her to a hospital. I can’t do much here. She could lose the babies if we don’t act fast. She could start hemorrhaging any moment. We need to move.” Doc’s voice cuts through the air.

I drop to my knees, pulling my boys into a tight hug.

“Everything will be okay, boys. Mommy isn’t going anywhere. I promise you that.” I can’t bear to tell them they might lose their sisters. If I say it out loud, it’ll make this nightmare too real.

Westyn starts barking orders, but I’m frozen in place. They move her to the vehicles parked out front.

“Axyl, get your fucking head in the game! She needs you. Your boys need you. Those girls my little girl is carrying need you!” His words jolt me into action.

I hand the boys off to my dad. “Daddy is going with mommy. Grandpa will follow. You two go with him.”

One of the few bright spots in this hellish situation was when they asked if Ali could be their mommy. How could I ever say no to that?

If she loses the girls, the boys might be the only thing that keeps her from completely falling apart.

I jump in the car with Doc, Reaper, and Westyn. As we speed towards the nearest hospital, one thought consumes me: ~Please don’t take them from us. Hang on, baby girls.~ They’re strong. I know they are.

It’s a battle they shouldn’t have to fight, especially before they’re even born. But they have to. They have no choice.