VOLUME ONE: MEANT TO BEDenise Cunningham pulled back the curtains covering the window pane in her front door with shaky hands. The knock that had sounded moments before wasn't the gentle knock of a friend over for a visit. Staring back at her through the glass, she saw two Warren County Sheriff's deputies holding papers. Dread rolled up in her throat as her stomach began to churn. She let the blinds fall and took two deep breaths before she unlocked the door and faced the men standing on the other side. As she stepped out, the brightness of the sun assaulted her eyes, the warmth of the summer day made it even more difficult to breathe past the lump in her throat."Denise Cunningham?" The taller of the two asked.Not trusting her voice, she could only nod her head in acknowledgement of who she was.With cold efficiency, he handed her the papers in his hands. "Denise Cunningham, I'm serving you with papers from Kentucky Housing." He produced a pen and requested her signature.In mi
Roni Walker sighed deeply as she stood outside the city jail. Unfortunately, in the past few months the employees had come to know her by name. Every time she turned around, someone in the MC was getting into trouble. Being a female, she wasn't privy to club information, so most of the time she flew in the dark and under the radar. This, however, was beginning to piss her off. Grabbing a peppermint from her pocket, she waited for the two members of the MC she'd been dispatched to bail out. This place gave her the heebie jeebies and she bit down hard on the candy, cursing as a sharp edge sliced her cheek.Trying to keep her mind off of what could possibly be going down inside the jail, she took in her surroundings. The beautiful South Central Kentucky day belied the butterflies in her stomach. The warmth of the sun beat down on her head, and the sky was a deep blue and cloudless. If she had been someone else, part of another family, she might be out on a picnic. She might be parked in
"We should use her."Liam ground his back teeth together. He didn't agree with this at all. In fact, he thought the idea was about the stupidest thing he had ever heard. "Denise did what she did for Roni, not because she wanted to get an 'in' with the club. She made that very clear to me when I tried to say thank you for her part in getting us out. We don't need to use somebody who doesn't want to be involved. That's dangerous.""I say we take a look at her financials. We might be able to persuade her," William Walker Sr. disagreed with his son. "Steele," he yelled. "I need you in here. Get me a credit report and everything else you can on Roni's friend, Denise Cunningham." He steepled his fingers together and rested his chin against them.Dread settled over Liam at those words. There was a reason she had so readily picked up an extra shift at work on what he had been told was her birthday. When he'd approached her, he could see weariness in her eyes. It wasn't weariness caused b
"I'm fucked," she said out loud. No one was there to hear her or to see her break down, but for the first time since this had started, she sobbed. Really sobbed. It was full body and it was ugly.Denise sat on her couch, her head in her hands. The last year and a half had taught her many things about herself and about life. She had come to some grim realizations and some new revelations.She wasn't as strong as she had once believed. When she had been a teenager having twins, she had taken the world by the balls and dared it to talk back to her. This time, when the economy had tanked and she had lost her job, she had cowered. For months she had sat on her living room couch, just knowing the factory would call her and tell her to come to work on Monday morning. When that hadn't happened, it had taken her a few weeks, but she dove headlong into looking for something else. It had taken months for her to find the minimum wage job she now worked at. Gone were most of their DVD's and any
A car was parked in your driveway during the night with keys located in the visor. Once you get in the car, plug in the GPS. Follow the directions, and it will tell you where to go. After the drop is made, someone from the club will pick you up. Further instructions await you at your destination.Denise read the text message again to make sure she understood what it was saying. Last night before Liam left, he provided her with a pre-paid cell phone and told her to wait for someone to contact her. With stunning realization, the fact that she was about to break the law hit her. Never in her life had she broken the law."Why am I doing this?" she whispered as she glanced around her kitchen.A stack of unpaid bills caught her attention where they lay on the counter. Beside them sat open house fliers for her kids. If she didn't do this job, there would be no clothes for school, no supplies. They would be forced once again to go to the resources office. Denise knew that the other kids
"I'm telling you, there have been some huge deposits lately. One of them is striking me as odd."Meredith quirked her brow and put her phone in between her ear and shoulder. Picking up a pen, she poised it to take down the information from her contact at the most prominent bank in town. For months she had been watching large deposits come in for numerous people. She had begun working on tracing the money back, and she was finding a pattern. Most went back to judges, police, sheriffs, and members of the city council, others went to just your normal run of the mill citizen. She knew that most of this was for the Heaven Hill club. They had to be paying people to do their dirty work. If there was a new development, it could break this wide open."Who is it?""Denise Cunningham and let me tell ya how odd this is. She's been in the red for over a year. Not too long ago her account was frozen by a creditor, and they couldn't even get any money out of it. That's how broke she's been. Thi
"Momma, where are we goin'?"Denise sighed. It was moments like these that she wished there was someone else to help answer the children's questions. "To a friend's house, Mandy. Like I've already told you three times."Her patience was beginning to run thin. She had no idea where Liam was taking her, only knew it was her job to follow. Gripping the steering wheel, she thought back on the choices she had made. No matter what happened here this afternoon, they had been the right ones. The only ones she felt that she could make. It wouldn't do to second guess herself now."We don't know anybody who lives out here," Mandy argued."Amanda Cunningham, I'm going to say this one time and one time only. We are going to a friend's house, and if you open your mouth again you'll wish you hadn't."Properly scolded, Mandy sat back in her seat and began picking at the nail polish on her fingers. Every once in a while, she glanced up at her mother in the rearview mirror and rolled her eyes.
"You better go after her."Liam glared at his sister as she walked over to stand beside him. Nothing about any of this was easy, and he didn't want to hear other people's opinions."She obviously wants nothing to do with me or us." He blew out a breath and ran a hand through his dark hair."That's not her decision anymore, and you know it. You've claimed her, and she's been seen with you. Our enemies will be after her and her family now. I feel horrible about this," she whispered. She had always been the worrier of the two of them. Above all, Roni tried to be a good person, and he knew hurting Denise would be tearing her up.He slung his arm over her shoulder and brought her close to his body. "You didn't mean for this to happen any more than I did. It was our bastard of a father. Unfortunately, we can't say no to him."Truer words had never been spoken, and it wasn't the first time that Roni wished their mother was around. She would never speak those words to anyone, but at