After Mouse took Astrid away from me to find out what spooked her, I immediately called my parents to come round.

Although it pained me that she wanted to get away from me, I knew it was the right thing to do for her. Once we solve this problem it will all be okay again.

I can't shake this hideous and heavy feeling from my gut, why did she scream at that photo? A little voice in the back of my head has an explanation, but I'm not listening to it until I know for certain.

My parents are sitting on the sofa in my study, my mum clutching at the picture that was in the now smashed frame. "Why would this picture frighten her?" Lila whimpers into my dad's shirt.

"I don't know baby, but it will all be ok."

My pa strokes my mum's arm as I wait for Mouse to call me. I'm itching to get on my bike and ride to meet them but this takes priority. There may be things I need to handle here first. Hearing Astrid's cries of fear ripped my heart from my chest. I wanted nothing more than to pull her into my arms and console her... but she looked at me like a monster. Like I'd hurt her.

I feel my eyes brim with salty tears, I hastily try to blink them away, but it only makes them escape down my cheeks. I wipe them away and try desperately to get myself under control.

My phone buzzes making us all jump, I answer it instantly. Taking a deep breath and a heavy swallow to push my tears away. I listen quietly as I hear Mouse speak to her softly like he always does. I know he sees her as a little sister.

"Come on girlie, talk to me."

"Vidar is a liar." Her voice crackles and staggers to get the words out, I drop to my knees before the phone on the desk. I failed her. I knew I had the minute I heard her shriek. I am a failure.

"He said he would never let Him hurt me again. But he lied. He's standing next to Him in a fucking photo!"

The little voice in the back of my head raises to a shout. It was him. He did this. My own brother? He wasn't a monster when he left, but he surely must be a monster now.

"Who was in the photo girlie, you tell me."

"V-Vidar, Lila, Erik an-and H-Him."

"The other man in the photo, girlie, was he the one who... hurt you?"

"Yes, I'd know that face anywhere."

I swear lowly as I hear my mother collapse into tears.

"My boy did that to her? Finn was capable of this?" Her voice crackles and fails her. My pa's face is set in grief and rage.

My fury boils in my veins as I clench my fists, itching to find Finn and rip his throat out. He deserves an agonising death for my Liam, my Astrid and my daughter.

"Girlie, Vidar didn't know it was his brother. He's going to kill him for what he did to you and Liam. He'd soon chop off his arm and eat it rather than even see you cry."

I can't move.

All this time.

The one she's been afraid of.

The one who hurt her.

It was my own flesh and blood.

It hurts like I never knew pain could. The betrayal of my brother burns like a brand. I want to scratch it off.

It's at this moment my father breaks our shock with a curse. "Fuck. He heard us talking about them! We used their names. He knows!"

"Shit!" I roar. I grab the phone and yell down it.

"He knows I have her! He heard me talking about her when he was on the phone. Bror. You have to get back now!"

My parents both jump up, but I'm already moving out of the door. I have to get there to meet them, to escort them back. They need protection.

I can hear my father running after me, his breaths heavy and laboured with the weight of the fight to come. Slamming open the club door I find the rest of my club sitting around a table getting drunk.

"We ride! Now!"

Within a minute we are all on our bikes. My father and Viper at the front beside me. I make a silent prayer that I got four of my men back from a run just this morning. Gunner and Hammer are some of my best fighters, along with Bolt- who is a crafty bastard as well as my 'interrogator'. I have a feeling I will have use for him soon.

Only a few prospects are left behind to guard the compound, we ride out 20 strong and deadly.

I scarcely have a pause to welcome the bitter sting it the ice laced air, nor the thunderous wind that braces through my body. Instead, as I try to calm my warring mind, I take a moment to imagine Liam grown up, I imagine myself teaching him how to ride a bike like my pa did me. And one day, when she's old enough, I'd teach my daughter too.

My happy drift down my future is shattered when Mouse's cabin comes into view, with the door broken down and the car on fire.

All the blood in my body ices over as I increase my speed, revving my engine. Not caring about the strained roar. As soon as I can, I leap off my bike and run into the cabin. The ground is icy so there are not footprints surrounding the cabin.

There is a piece of cloth doused in something on the floor, one sniff tells me it was a drug to render them both unconscious. A red colour catches my eye and I bend down to pick it up. It's Liam's teething ring.

I place it in my cut's pocket and walk out to meet the men.

"We find them, now! Hacker, you know what to do. Hammer, you check here for anything that might help us. Two prospects will stay with you. The rest of us, we leave and go back to the club house. If we don't find them... so help me God... I will set Bolt on each and every one of you!"

I will find them.

And then I will give my brother the long and painful death he deserves.