Murderous raiders of val.., p.1
Murderous (Raiders of Valhalla MC Book 7), page 1
MURDEROUS
RAIDERS OF VALHALLA MC
BOOK SEVEN
ELIZABETH KNOX
Murderous
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are all products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblances to persons, organizations, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Murderous. Copyright © 2023 by Elizabeth Knox. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the authors, except in the case of brief quotations used in articles or reviews. For information, contact Elizabeth Knox.
Cover Design by Clarise Tan, CT Cover Creations
Photographer: Wander Aguiar, Wander Aguiar Photography
Editing by Kim Lubbers, Knox Publishing
Formatting by R. Epperson, Knox Publishing
Proofreading by Beth Hale, Magnolia Author Services
Created with Vellum
CONTENTS
Note:
Commonly Used Terms:
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Author’s Note:
About the Author
Also by Elizabeth Knox
Raiders of Valhalla Members & Kids
NOTE:
Dear Readers,
First of all, I wanted to thank you so much for being so patient with me while I’ve been recovering from my brain injury. I’ve written about it in my newsletters, but there are a lot of you who have questioned why my publishing schedule has been a lot more tame than normal.
In June of 2022 I was in a serious car accident. I am very lucky given the circumstances, and I know it could have been a lot worse. I’ve been slowly working to get myself back to normal and get on a new ‘normal’ writing schedule.
I’m a long way from being able to publish books in the capacity and volume that I have through the years, but I am slowly working my way to get back to that point.
I appreciate you guys so very much,
Elizabeth
COMMONLY USED TERMS:
minn - mine
kirkja - church
hóra - whore
Sváss – Beloved
kone – wife
skytsengel or hamingja – guardian angel
cage - car/vehicle
PROLOGUE
Dag
14 Years Old
It’s the middle of summer and my mama is busting her butt making dinner for us, and our step-father, who’s going to be home any minute. His name is Loren and she met him at work. Mama is a secretary at a big law firm in the city. We live about an hour away, but she says she doesn’t mind the commute. She’s worked there since she was nineteen, still in the same position as she started in. I don’t really understand why she doesn’t want another job title, but she tells me she likes her job, so I don’t press her on it too much.
“Mama, can’t we just order a pizza? You went in early today, and you came home late . . .” I say to her, trying to silently beg her to take a bit of a break.
“No, baby,” Mama shakes her head adamantly. “Your step-father will be here soon and I want him to have a home cooked meal ready for him when he walks in through that door.”
“Mama, I don’t mean any disrespect, but you’ve worked a really long day. Can’t we just order a pizza? You should relax a little bit. I can help fold laundry and make sure Rayna has everything she needs,” Rayna is my little sister, who’s ten years younger than me. When my father left, mama found out she was pregnant. She said she told my father, but he still left. I don’t understand how someone could do something like that. He worked at the law firm and when he abandoned our family, the other partners made sure that he knew he wasn’t welcome there. Basically, they pushed him out. Mama thinks I don’t know, but I know what happened. He had a secret family, hidden on the other side of the city.
I was out with my best friend, Mason, and his family one day. I saw my father with his arm around another woman, with two little girls that looked just like him. Mason’s parents tried to get me to forget what I saw, but I didn’t. They even told me to not tell my mother, but how could I do that? I knew it would gut her, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I kept that sort of secret from her. I ended up telling her I saw him and I told her I never wanted to see him ever again. He chose that women and those two little girls over me, my mama, and my baby sister.
“Sweetie, I know you’re trying to help me out, but it’s okay. I promise. I just want to have a hot meal ready for your step-father,”
I slump my shoulders in defeat and walk over to where she is at the stove. “What are you making?” I smile, trying to lighten the mood.
“Hamburger mac and cheese. I think it’s going to be delicious. I’ll whip up a salad with some strawberries in it and some goat cheese. That way we can get some fruit and veggies in our tummies too,” Mama smiles brightly, liking the plan she came up with, and I like it too. I bet it’s going to be damn good. Shoot, I shouldn’t even be thinking that word. If I happened to let that slip out, my mother would slap me half-way across our ten acre farm.
“Mama! Help!” Rayna screams from the living room, and mama looks right at me.
“I’ll be right back, but can you stir this every couple of minutes? I need to see what your sister wants,”
“Sure thing,” I say to her and she hands the wooden spoon off to me. I wait a couple of minutes before I stir it like she asked, and the more I stare at the pan, the more my tummy rumbles. I don’t exactly know what kind of seasoning mama uses, but she tells me to season from the heart whenever I’m cooking. I do know she’s using garlic powder in this. She puts that seasoning in everything.
“Okay, I think we’re all set.” Mama tells me, wiping her hands on the front of her jeans.
“What happened?”
“A commercial came on,” Mama laughs, and I smirk. Rayna is still very much a toddler some days. Sure, she’s not two or three anymore, but she doesn’t like it when things don’t go her way.
“Well, well, are we going to have a decent dinner tonight, or what?” my step-father’s baritone voice fills the space, and he must’ve just come in through the garage door. I inhale deeply through my nose and look over at him. He’s about three hundred pounds, wearing jean overalls over a t-shirt. He has a beard that is unkempt, and it stops a few inches below his chin.
“Any dinner Mama makes is decent.” There’s no better cook than my mother. At least, not in my eyes. I’m looking right into my step-father’s eyes as I say it, and he takes a few steps, then backhands the hell out of me. It’s so forceful I stumble back a few feet and hit the wall behind me.
“Loren!” my mother snaps.
“What? He needs to learn some fuckin’ manners. Who does he think he is speaking to me like that? Not in my house.”
“It’s not your house,” I point out, seething every word slipping past my lips. Mama bought this with my father and she got it in their divorce settlement. He has to pay her child support and alimony too, but I’ll bet it’s not too much.
“Oh, he’s a dead kid.” my step-father announces, and he comes rushing toward me, but my mother slides in between us, pushing at him to get away from me.
“Loren! Stop it, you just got home. Why don’t we finish getting dinner ready and all eat as a family at the table? How does that sound?”
“It sounds like you’re delusional, in a fuckin’ fantasy world. I’m teachin’ this boy some manners, and I’m doing it right now. His own deadbeat father didn’t want ‘em and I see why now! Backtalkin’ little bastard.” He snarls, shoving my mother out of the way. He shoves her so hard she hits the counter and then drops to the floor, but she’s quick to rise up and runs over to me, somehow managing to get in between us.
“Get out of my fuckin’ way!” He’s screaming at the top of his lungs.
“No. You need to go calm down, but you don’t go near my son right now. Not while you can’t see reason,”
“I can’t see reason, huh?” He shoves my mother again, this time going after her instead of me.
She glances over at me with bulging eyes. I know she’s trying to not look so scared, but it’s all I see right now–her terror. “Get your sister and keep her safe!”
I run into the living room and Rayna is sitting in front of the television, watching her favorite cartoon. I scoop her up into my arms and run over to the closet in the living room, throwing the doors open. She’s furrowing her brows and I’m certain she’s about to give me an earful about moving her away from her show, but I look right into her chocolate brown eyes. “You stay in here, and you don’t come out until me or Mama comes to get you. Do you understand?”
I know the tone of my voice is coming out really strong, and I’m likely scaring her, but maybe her fear will make her listen to me. She ends up nodding. I shut the doors in front of her and run back into the kitchen where I left my mother.
Only, now my step- father has a bloody knife in his hand, looking down at my mother who’s grasping the counter. I think it’s the only thing keeping her standing upright, and I look at her, but she’s keeping her eyes on my step-father. “Look what you did. You could’ve just let me beat that boy’s hide and teach him right from wrong, but this is what it’s come to. Now I’m teachin’ you right from wrong. There’s a price to pay for going against me, darling,”
I can’t let him hurt her anymore. Mama showed me where our gun is in case I ever needed to use it. She taught me how to shoot, and everything I know about guns. I run into the foyer, open the cabinet and grab the black box in the top of it. I take off the lid in record time and grab the gun, pull back the safety and go straight into the kitchen.
“Hey!” I scream with all of my might, and he laughs as soon as he sees the gun in my hand.
“You know you need to know how to use it, right?”
“Leave her alone,” I grit.
He takes a few steps toward me and before I know it he’s lunging at me. A sharp pain hits me in my right shoulder, and I realize the knife is half-way in my flesh. The shock of it all rocks me for a moment and the next thing I know his hands are around my neck. He didn’t go for the gun, which was stupid on his part, so I pull the trigger, shooting him right in the stomach.
He ends up taking a couple of steps back, clutching his stomach in shock. Did he think I wasn’t going to? Did he think I was bluffing? I’m not. I’m not going to let him kill me, and I wasn’t going to give up easily. He might think I’m some scrawny teenager, but I’ll stick up for myself and my family whenever I need to.
“Call the police!” My mother shouts at me as she takes the gun from my hand, pointing it at my step-father. “Then call the firm, get processed through the emergency line and tell them who you are. We’re going to need one of the partners with us tonight,” my mother says, and Rayna’s screaming in the background, crying her eyes out. I round the corner and see she hasn’t opened the closet doors. Good. She listened. Thank God.
CHAPTER ONE
Esperanza
Present Day
“Hey, Rosie,” I say to my secretary as I walk in my office. I’ve been at court all day and after dealing with the cases I have, I walked down the street and got a much needed cup of coffee. After that, I picked up a salmon salad with mandarin oranges, feta cheese, and a vinaigrette dressing. I can’t wait to stick my fork into it, but I need to get into the safety of my office first.
“Hey. How did court go today?” Rosie questions as she rifles through some paperwork, eventually handing me some mail.
“It went as well as could be expected. Judge Morrison didn’t offer bail for one of my clients, and then Judge Hanniby approved my motions for another client.”
“Okay, so not too bad then.”
“No, not too bad. I just wish some judges would see that not all of the people I’m defending are actual criminals.”
Rosie offers me a soft smile. “You have a big heart, Esperanza, but not everyone else will choose to see that. Some will think your clients are getting one off on you, while others will just think you’re in it for the money. The point I’m trying to make is that you shouldn’t give a rats ass what those judges think. All you need to worry about is the jury if you get in front of them.”
“I really needed your words of wisdom today,” I admit, and Rosie cackles.
“Well, it’s always here for you whenever you need it.”
“Thank you.”
“Any plans for the day after you leave?”
“I’m going to meet my sister and we’re going shopping, but before I can get over to the mall I need to catch up on some emails.”
Rosie shakes her head. “Esperanza, you bust your pretty little butt of here. Why not go now? You deserve the break, and you know it.”
“I might deserve one, but it just means I’ll have that much more to do in the morning.”
“I can’t with you, woman. You’re as stubborn and bull-headed as my kids,” Rosie might sound like she’s annoyed with me, but she’s really just annoyed. To be honest, when I hired her last year I thought I might get irritated with her. I . . . Lord knows this sounds bad, but I haven’t ever really gotten along with older people. I think I may just be meeting the wrong ones. Typically, they’re people who think they know everything about life, and it rubs me the wrong way. I don’t think any of us are experts, but I think we do a pretty damn good job.
Rosie has quickly become one of my favorite people. She worked at another law firm for many, many years before relocating here to Tallahassee, and I gave her a chance. I’m glad I did. I don’t know if I would’ve found someone who’s willing to work so hard if I hired someone twenty years younger than her. She jokingly calls herself a classic, and I don’t think there’s a better word for what she is.
“I might be, but you can’t say I’m fibbing about my workload.” I raise my brows at the older woman.
“You aren’t, but you could choose to take a couple less cases. You’re always saying yes, to everyone,” Rosie’s pointing it out like she’s my mother, which only causes me to laugh. “And I know what you’re about to say, because ‘they need you’.”
Yep, Rosie knows me like the back of her hand. “You’re right.”
“You should look through those. One of them looks interesting,” Rosie motions to the stack of mail in my hand.
“Oh?”
“Yep. I put it near the top for you. I know sometimes you get tired and don’t want to go through everything,” Rosie sticks her tongue out at me playfully.
“Okay,” I roll my eyes and peel back the first few envelopes, then see the cardboard colored envelope. I recognize the return address immediately. It’s from the Raiders of Valhalla MC. I use my acrylic nail to break the top of the envelope, and pull out the contents. Much to my surprise, it’s a wedding invitation. Rosie’s peering her eyes over the counter, trying to see what it is. She might be amazing, but she is nosey as hell some days.
“I got a wedding invitation,”
“Oh? Clients, or friends?”
“A bit of both I guess. Kraken is a guy at that motorcycle club, Raiders of Valhalla, who are clients. I guess I’ve gotten kind of close to the club over the years. I’m kind of surprised they invited me to their wedding,” I admit, realizing when the wedding is. It’s a short eight days away. Damn, they’re cutting it close.
“Do you think you’ll go?”
I end up opening my salad up and dig my fork in it as I’m standing here, having a social hour with Rosie. “Yeah, I don’t think I have anything to do that day, and it’ll give me a reason to get out. I don’t really get invited to many weddings, and who doesn’t love going to a wedding, you know?”
“Yes, you should go! I’m sure it’ll be a blast,” Rosie smiles from ear-to-ear.
I continue digging into my salad and we chat for a while, until I’m finished with my meal completely. I end up throwing the plastic tin in the trash and Rosie’s shutting down her computer. “You should get out of here too. Didn’t you say you had to meet your sister?”
“I do, but I need to go through those emails.”
“They’ll be here in the morning. Go have a good time for once. You work your pretty little ass off. You deserve some fun, Esperanza.” Rosie throws her purse over her shoulder and walks out from around my small receptionist area.
As much as I know I should go look through my emails, I do want to relax for a bit. “Fine, I’m leaving.”
I leave with Rosie and we head in two separate directions. I text my sister and let Soledad know that I’m heading that way. Her wig shop isn’t too far away from the mall, so she might have to leave five minutes early. Soledad works in the completely opposite side of the workplace spectrum than I do. While I’m a lawyer, she owns a business creating custom made wigs. Her business does a really good job, both in the storefront and in online sales. We grew up in a really rough life, so the fact we’ve both come this far shows just how strong and dedicated we are as women. Sometimes I think that if we didn’t go through the shit we did in our childhood, that we wouldn’t have ever made it this far in life. I think that if we grew up in a better environment, we wouldn’t have had the drive to get out of our neighborhood.
