Chapter 8: The Man Behind the Accident
Nobody moved.
Darren stood in the garage entrance, sunlight outlining his shoulders. Warren remained beside the workbench, his fingers gripping the edge so tightly that his knuckles had turned white.
Cole looked between them.
“What accident?””
Warren swallowed.
“Cole, listen to me. There are things you don't understand.””
“Then start explaining.””
Marcus moved toward the door.
Raymond stepped into his path.
“Where do you think you're going?””
“Get out of my way.””
“Not until this is finished.””
Marcus looked around the room. The men who had once followed his every command were watching him with suspicion.
For the first time, he had nowhere to hide.
Darren walked into the clubhouse.
“I'll explain,” he said.
Cole turned on him.
“You'd better.””
Darren looked toward Warren.
“Eight years ago, Warren came to me with a problem. He'd discovered that someone was using the club to move stolen motorcycles across state lines.””
Warren's face tightened.
“That isn't what happened.””
Darren ignored him.
“Marcus had been taking bikes that came into the repair shop and changing their identification numbers. The motorcycles were then sold through people outside the club. Warren knew something was wrong, but he didn't want the police involved.””
Cole looked at Marcus.
“You were stealing motorcycles?””
Marcus shook his head.
“That's a lie.””
Darren pulled out his phone.
“Then perhaps you'd like to explain these.””
He placed the phone on the workbench and opened a series of photographs.
The images showed motorcycles parked inside a storage warehouse. Several had their identification numbers scratched away. In one picture, Marcus stood beside a truck with its rear doors open.
Cole stared at the screen.
“Where did you get these?””
“From the man who bought the bikes.””
“Why would he give them to you?””
“Because he was tired of being threatened.””
Warren slammed his palm against the workbench.
“Enough!””
The shout echoed through the garage.
He looked around at the men watching him.
“You think this is simple? You think I wanted any of this to happen?””
Cole stepped forward.
“You wanted to protect the club. I understand that. What I don't understand is why you decided my family had to pay for it.””
Warren's expression twisted.
“Because Marcus told me you were going to expose everything.””
Cole stared at him.
“I didn't know anything about stolen motorcycles.””
“Marcus said you'd found the records. He said you'd discovered where the bikes were going.””
“I hadn't.””
“I know that now.””
Cole felt something inside him snap.
“You know that now?””
Warren lowered his eyes.
“I made a mistake.””
“A mistake is forgetting somebody's birthday. You helped erase my life.””
Warren's shoulders sagged.
Darren moved closer.
“There's more.””
Cole looked at him.
“Go on.””
Darren hesitated.
“The night Elena disappeared, Marcus was supposed to convince her to leave town. Warren wanted her away from the club because he thought she'd overheard a conversation about the stolen motorcycles.””
Elena stepped forward.
“I never heard anything about motorcycles.””
“I know,” Darren said.
“But Warren didn't know that.””
Warren shook his head.
“I never told Marcus to frighten her.””
Marcus let out a sharp laugh.
“You told me to make sure she never came back.””
“I meant from the clubhouse!””
“You told me to handle it!””
Cole seized Marcus by the front of his shirt.
“Handle what?””
Raymond grabbed Cole's shoulder.
“Cole. Easy.””
Cole didn't look away from Marcus.
“Tell me what you did to Elena.””
Marcus's face had turned red.
“I didn't touch her.””
“Then what did you do?””
Marcus struggled against Cole's grip.
“I told her you were done with her! I told her you'd moved on. That's all.””
“You told me she was cheating on me.””
Marcus stopped struggling.
Cole's voice dropped.
“You told me she was carrying another man's child.””
Marcus looked toward Warren.
Warren said nothing.
Cole released him with a shove.
“You let me hate the woman I loved because you were too afraid to face the consequences of your own actions.””
Marcus straightened his shirt.
“You don't understand what was at stake.””
“No. You don't understand what you stole.””
Cole reached into his pocket and removed Elena's letter.
He unfolded it and held it up.
“She wrote to me two weeks after Malik was born. She tried to come back. Someone made sure I never received this.””
Warren's eyes fixed on the page.
“I never saw that letter.””
Cole studied him.
“Then who stopped it?””
Darren answered quietly.
“Marcus.””
Marcus turned toward him.
“You said you'd stay out of this!””
Darren's expression hardened.
“I stayed out of it for eight years. That's long enough.””
Cole stepped between them.
“Why were you involved at all?””
Darren looked down at his hands.
“Because I knew Elena before she met you. She was a friend of my younger sister. When I found out what Marcus had told her, I tried to help.””
“By telling her I was dead?””
“No.””
“By keeping her away from me?””
Darren's jaw tightened.
“I didn't know the whole story at first. By the time I realized what had happened, she was terrified. She believed someone would hurt her baby if she tried to find you.””
Cole shook his head.
“So you let her believe the lie.””
“I thought I could find proof before I brought you back into it.””
“You thought?””
Darren looked away.
“I was wrong.””
The admission didn't soften Cole's anger.
“You knew she was raising my son alone.””
“Yes.””
“You knew I was alive.””
Darren hesitated.
“Eventually.””
Cole stepped closer.
“How long?””
Darren's eyes flicked toward Warren.
“Four years.””
The words struck Cole like a physical blow.
Four years.
Darren had known Cole was alive for four years while Elena struggled to raise Malik.
Cole's voice became dangerously quiet.
“And you still didn't tell me.””
“I was trying to protect them.””
“From what?””
Darren finally looked him in the eye.
“From Warren.””
Warren straightened.
“That's enough.””
“No,” Darren said.
“It isn't.””
He turned toward the room.
“Warren paid a man to destroy Cole's motorcycle and make it look like he'd died in a fire. The plan was to scare Cole into leaving the state long enough for Marcus to move the stolen bikes and destroy the records.””
Cole stared at him.
“You said somebody arranged my accident.””
Darren nodded.
“The motorcycle was supposed to burn in an empty lot. You weren't supposed to be near it.””
“Then how did you know I'd survive?””
Darren's expression changed.
“I didn't.””
Cole stepped forward.
“What do you mean?””
Darren took a slow breath.
“The night of the fire, Marcus called Warren and said the wrong motorcycle had been taken. The bike that burned belonged to a man who'd bought one of the stolen machines. He was inside the garage when it caught fire.””
Silence crushed the room.
Cole stared at Warren.
“Somebody died?””
Warren's lips trembled.
“One man.””
“And you covered it up?””
Warren didn't answer.
Cole looked around at the men who had once called Warren brother.
Nobody spoke.
Darren reached into his pocket and removed a small flash drive.
“This contains copies of the original records, photographs, and messages. Everything I could recover.””
He placed it on the workbench.
Cole didn't touch it.
“Why bring it here now?””
“Because somebody sent another message to Elena this morning.””
Darren unlocked his phone and showed Cole a screenshot.
The message was from an unknown number.
*THE BOY HAS HIS FATHER'S MARK. MAKE SURE HE NEVER LEARNS WHY.*
Cole felt the room tilt.
Darren continued.
“I recognized the wording. It was the same kind of message Warren sent me when I first started asking questions.””
Warren shook his head violently.
“I never sent that!””
Darren stared at him.
“Then who did?””
Every eye in the clubhouse turned toward Marcus.
He stood near the exit, breathing hard.
Then he reached into his pocket.
Raymond moved immediately.
“Don't.””
Marcus froze.
Slowly, he withdrew a small phone and placed it on the workbench.
“I can explain.””
Cole stepped toward him.
“Then explain.””
Marcus's eyes filled with something Cole had never seen in him before.
Fear.
“The messages weren't meant to hurt Malik,” he said.
“They were meant to make you leave.””
“Why?””
Marcus swallowed.
“Because the records Darren has aren't the only records that exist.””
He looked directly at Cole.
“There's another file. It proves Warren wasn't the one who started this.””
Cole stared at him.
“Who did?””
Marcus opened his mouth.
Before he could answer, every phone in the clubhouse began vibrating at once.
Raymond checked his screen.
His face went pale.
“Cole.””
“What?””
Raymond turned the phone around.
A live video was playing.
Malik sat on Denise's front porch, holding Captain the stuffed bear.
A car had stopped at the curb.
A man was getting out.
May you like
And the name beneath the video made Elena scream.
*MARCUS WHITAKER.*
