*Please be aware that these teaser chapters include some strong language*
One
Sofia
“Ana! Ana, come
on! Are you up yet? I have to leave for work in ten minutes so if you want a ride…”
“I don’t need
a ride. I’m going into Copenhagen, I’ll take the train.”
“Copenhagen? I
thought you were working with Lea in the shop today?”
Headstrong and
too street-smart for her own good, I should be proud of my daughter, that she’s
turned out this way. I am proud of
her. After her father walked out on us when she was just five years old it’s
been hard trying to juggle work while bringing her up on my own. I’ve tried to
keep her close, make sure the decisions she made were the best ones for her;
tried to make sure she grew up confident, not scared to make her own way in the
world, and I think I’ve done okay. She’s twenty-two now. The same age I was
when her dad left. She’s making her
own way in the world, and I’m terrified that, one day, she’s going to leave me.
One day she is going to leave me. I
can’t make her stay with me forever, even if that’s the way I’d like it to be.
We’re a team. Me and her against the world. The way it’s always been.
“Lars and I
are meeting with a guy from the company who supply the leather off-cuts Lea
uses to make our wrist cuffs. They’re big sellers, we’re buying more and more
stock from them, so, we think it’s time we struck a better deal.”
“And you’re
having this meeting in Copenhagen?”
“At Nyhavn
Quay. Not every business meeting has to take place in an office.”
“Yes. I get
that.”
“We do things
differently, that’s all.”
I watch her as
she looks in the mirror: runs her fingers through her long, silver-blonde hair.
With her ice-blue eyes and her stunning smile she’s every reason why I still
feel the need to protect her. Men love her, that’s understandable. And she
likes the attention, of course she does, she’s young. She’s beautiful. She’s
all grown-up, and that’s what scares me. But she’s also super-smart, she’s
sensible. She runs her own business – a small bohemian clothes and accessory
shop in Vesterbro – with her best friends, twins Lars and Lea Janssen. It’s
successful, they’re making money, and I know that for sure because I’m their
accountant. And I’m insanely proud of all of them. But my daughter – she has a
weakness that concerns me. Bad boys. Men I wouldn’t necessarily want her to be
with, but I can’t watch her twenty-four-seven. I can’t make choices for her.
She’s been hurt before, and I can only hope that she stays careful. That she
doesn’t let anything distract her from the good life she’s building for
herself.
“We do things differently?” I ask,
raising an eyebrow.
She turns to
face me, a slight smirk on her face. “Our generation.”
“I’m only
seventeen years older than you, missy. You should think yourself lucky you’ve
got one young, cool mama.”
She comes over
to me, stands up on tiptoes and kisses my cheek, and I catch her waist: pull
her against me for a hug. My baby girl. My whole fucking world.
“I love you,
Mama.”
“Yeah. Right
back at ya, kiddo. Go on. You have a good meeting, and keep me in the loop, okay?
Remember who controls your finances.”
She shoots me
a smile and runs out the door.
She’s going to
work. So am I.
Her business
isn’t struggling. Mine is.
Another day of
keeping my head above water is about to begin.
Skip
“What you got
for me, Joel?”
Joel closes
the meeting room door behind him and throws a pile of papers down on the table.
“All done. Rik
isn’t gonna do shit, we’re clear.”
“How much?”
“A thousand. And
he wants paying in US dollars. Wade’s transferring the money now.”
“Krone not
good enough for him, huh?”
“As long as he
keeps his side of the bargain I don’t care what the fuck we pay him in.”
I flick
through the papers, throwing them back down on the table. I’m satisfied. “We
need Rik with us. Jakob being transferred left us vulnerable, but that place,
Jesus, it’s full of fucking saints and do-gooders now, not like the old days.
Finding a replacement was one major headache I’m in no hurry to go through
again.” I get up, stretch my legs: start pacing the length of the room. My club
means everything, it’s my haven. My home. I spend my days doing anything I can
to protect it. Keep it safe. Keep it running. “He understands that that
payment, it was a one off. Anything else, he has to earn it. He has to prove
his loyalty before we fully trust him.”
Joel leans
back against the wall and flips a cigarette between his teeth. “He
understands.”
“Good. We need
a lawman on board, and he’s the only option we’ve got right now. Let’s hope he
doesn’t fuck us over.”
“He knows that
wouldn’t be a sensible decision.”
“Keep eyes on
him as much as you can. Get a couple of the prospects on to it.”
Joel blows smoke
up into the air before stubbing his half-smoked cigarette out on the wall
behind him.
“Jesus, Joel,
use an ashtray. What are we? Fucking animals?”
“Most of the
time, yeah.” Joel grins and drags a hand back through his hair.
Joel Madsen. One
of my closest, most trusted friends. We met over twenty years ago, when he came
to this chapter a messed-up sixteen year old with no direction. No clue where
his life was going. Now he’s one of the most lethal brothers this club has
known, the Vikings made him the man he is today. A man I rely on to help me run
this chapter, I’d trust him with my life. We’re as close as blood, yet there
are still things I keep from him. When it comes to some aspects of my life, I’m
a fiercely private man.
“I’ll get Kit
and Jep on Rik’s case. I’ll be in the workshop if you need me.”
Joel leaves,
closing the door behind him, and I make my way across the room, to the window
that overlooks the compound. My
compound. Now.
I wasn’t born
into the biker world, even though my father had once belonged to a club, one
based just outside of Malmo, Sweden, before he crossed the bridge into Denmark.
That’s where he met my mother. She was the one who’d persuaded him to leave the
life behind, settle into normality, and he let his dick take the lead on that
one. He did what she wanted. They bought a house close to Christianshavn,
got married. Had me. He never returned to the biker life, preferring instead to
run a small bar and restaurant in the Copenhagen suburbs before returning to
Sweden. I’d been seventeen, hadn’t wanted to go with them, and they’d
reluctantly let me stay. Denmark was my home, I had friends. A life. I’d
started hanging out at a bar frequented by a local biker gang – The Viking
Bandits. Started to hang out at their clubhouse. Their world became one that
fascinated me, and by the time I was nineteen I was a fully patched-in member,
I was all in, a true brother. I had a place where I belonged, I had focus. And
now I’m president of the club I love, and I think, deep down, even though he
never told me as much before he died – I think my father was secretly proud of
me. I was living his life. The one he never got to fully experience. He was
happy, with my mother, but I know there was always a part of him that missed
this world. So, I owe it to him to be the man he never had the chance to
become. The best man I can be in a world that can fuck with your head, but
sometimes the shit it throws at you is worth all the crap.
This is my world.
But it’s not one
I live in constantly.
My father had
another side. I have one, too…
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