I grinned at the sound of his body hitting the floor, but I didn't have time to bask in the sounds of his cries before two more men came plunging through the door. Two more bullets and they were on the ground as well, unable to move very far and crying out in pain for mercy.

The door to my office opened further and some of my guys burst in, their guns already drawn.

They took one look at the men on the floor before turning and finding me.

By this time I had already put my gun down and was making my way across the floor slowly, my eyes on the first man that had came through the door.

He was gritting his teeth, his hands clasped tightly to his hip from where the bullet pierced his skin.

The closer I got to him the angrier and angrier I felt until all I could feel was rage. For weeks this man has been the center of attention for my club, stressing everyone out and causing more problems then need be. Not only that but he chose to get people in on his little plan and make everything much more difficult.

He was the source of Scarlett's nightmares.

I crouched down beside him and took pleasure in the glare that he sent my way.

"You should've stayed away," I smirked. "Being reckless will never get you anywhere." I stood back up and looked at the man standing in the doorway. "Take them and put them in cells. Put as many guards as possible on them too," I ordered.

Several men nodded and started to drag them out.

Ripper came through the doorway and stood by me.

"The two people who were guarding have head injuries but it's nothing major. They're with Doc right now, and they'll make a full recovery."

I nodded and moved to put my gun back where it was under my desk.

"Who was guarding?" I asked as I turned back around.

"It was Butcher and Joker. They both have head injuries, possible concussions. Butcher was stabbed in the leg but it looks like it was only a flesh would. Joker didn't sustain any other injury besides his head so Doc said that he should be up and about in no time, especially if he doesn't have a concussion."

As he was talking, I was walking out of the room and down the stairs as Ripper followed me. The gun shots no doubt woke people up, and I needed to make sure that no one was left in the dark.

The first person who greeted me when I got into the main area downstairs was Lilly, followed closely by Scarlett.

"What happened?" They asked practically in sync.

"Adam and his friends showed up," I started. Their eyes widened in horror. "They must've known where my office was because when I heard them they didn't even stop anywhere else, they just went straight to me. Joker and Butcher were injured at the gate while guarding so I'm going to the medical bay to check on them," I explained as quickly as I could.

"We're coming with you," Scarlett stated, Lilly nodding along with her.

I didn't argue and instead let them follow me to the medical bay where some of the guys already were.

"Have you guys heard anything yet?" I asked as soon as I came to a stop by Spider, Ace, and Smiles.

Spider shook his head. "Nah Doc kicked us out so he could focus. Said we were too loud," he chuckled.

I shook my head with a smile.

"He's not wrong," Scarlett shrugged, laughing as Spider flipped her off.

I put my arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.

"How're you holding up?" I whispered. After all, the man who's been tormenting her is now finally in our custody because he was reckless.

She let out a deep sigh and shrugged.

"Shaken, I didn't think that they would just charge in like that. But at least they were reckless and went for you without thinking anything through."

"True."

We sat there for a little while, waiting for Doc to come back out. None of us were truly worried but we still wanted to be there as support.

It didn't take long, maybe an hour, for Doc to come through the door and into the waiting room. He glanced around before his eyes landed on me. Immediately he bypassed everyone and walked over to me.

"How're they?" I asked.

He sighed. "Those two will be fine. Both have concussions and Butcher's stab wound was very minor, he should make a full recovery in no time," he explained. I nodded and out of the corner of my eye I could see Butcher's wife visibly relax from where she was standing. Doc, as if knowing who I was looking at, made his way over to her and spoke to her quietly for a few moments before he nodded, leading her through the doors he had come out of so she could see her husband.

One thing that was hard to wrap my head around was the fact that they must've known exactly where my office was. When I was hearing their footsteps they didn't open different rooms or anything, they went straight up the stairs and to me.

I cursed silently.

"What's wrong?" Lilly asked.

"I'm going to go pay Raine another visit," I explained.

"You think she's involved in this again? How?" Scarlett asked.

I sighed. "She had told us some more information about the people that she knew about, and she's the only one where it would make sense. She probably told Ripper's mother where my office was, and Ripper's mother probably was the one who told Adam and his goons about it."

They nodded and I could tell they made the connection as well.

I left them there and started to walk out where we were keeping them with Ripper and Spider by my side.

"Do you think Raine told them?" Spider asked as we walked through the doors.

I nodded. "I think she told Ripper's mother and then she relayed that information off to those three. They probably assumed that if they took me out first then taking out the rest of the club would be a walk in the park. I don't think they realized though how loud they were being," I chuckled.

The other two smirked but I could see the torment in Ripper's gaze at the mention of his mother. That woman was vile, and for years we had never head anything from her until now. We all thought that she had forgotten about Ripper and the club, and wanted that to be true.

I didn't know exactly what had went down between the two because even though he and I had talked he did not tell me full details. However I know that Ripper did not have a good relationship at all with his mother or his father when he was still alive. No one knew how his father died because Ripper refused to speak about it with anyone in the club. No one even knew the extent of what his mother had done to him because whenever someone had asked about it in the past he had completely lost it, knocking people out on more than one occasion.

After that everyone quit asking about it until the day that she showed up to the clubhouse a few years ago.

"How did the job go?" I asked Butcher and Ripper as they came through the door. Ripped had only gotten into the club around a year ago, but he was already proving himself worthy of someday being a high ranked member.

"Good. As soon as Ripper got his hands on them they sang like canary's," Butcher chuckled. Ripper smirked and sat down to my right at the bar.

"Slow death I assume?" I asked. The darkness in his gaze gave me my answer but it was confirmed when he nodded slowly to my question.

I wasn't sure of where he came from or what his background was, but considering how the club had found him, he hadn't been in a good place to begin with.

Joker, Spider, Butcher and myself had been going out for a ride to collect money from clients when we had run into him on the streets.

His clothes were all torn and dirty and his hair was long and matted. He had blood on his face and hands and even more in random areas along his body. Some were from wounds that he had but some of the blood was not his own and we could tell. He didn't look that old, maybe around 18 years or so.

The guys and I had given each other a look and nodded before we pulled over in front of him. He had been walking along the side of the road, looking confused and dazed.

Watching him carefully, I took off my helmet and approached him.

"Are you okay son?" I asked slowly. As he locked eyes with me I could tell that the boy had been through hell. He had seen things that no human being should have ever had to witness and it was clear in his eyes that he wasn't okay.

We took him in and from that day on we had treated him like our own son. At first we had tried to ask him about what had happened but every time we did he flipped out and seemed to get sucked into horrific memories, so after awhile we had just stopped asking.

"Want something to eat son?" I asked. Ripper shook his head slowly but I could see him eyeing some of the other peoples food.

So without saying another word I had gotten up to get him something when the door to the club slammed open harshly, opening with enough force to where it slammed against the wall with a loud bang. On the other side of the doorway stood a woman who looked as if she was insane.

Her hair was a wild, untamed mess and her clothes were extremely dirty and torn in several places. Her eyes had a wild gleam in them that made me uneasy when I saw them.

Before I could question her Ripper was out of his chair and backing up away from the mysterious woman. Her eyes were locked on him and the way she was staring at him with her cold look made me instantly alert.

"What are you doing here?" He snarled. He knew this woman and she was not welcome.

The woman smiled. She was missing about half of her teeth and some of the ones that she still had were already rotting.

"You disrespectful little shit! You're supposed to provide for your mother!" She screamed. As soon as she had started to advance towards Ripper a couple men grabbed her.

"You are not my mother," he glowered.

The woman screamed as she was pulled out the doors and off of club property.

Later that night, he and I had discussed what had happened to him. About what his wretched mother had done to him to shatter what should have been a nice childhood.

He didn't give me complete details about what she had done to him, or about his father other than that his mother abused him and his father had died when he was a child.

And looking at him now, those memories still haunted him. No one gets over that kind of trauma in a short period of time. Even if the abuse had happened when he was just a boy, it still effected him in some way to this day.

Having her make a reappearance meant that Ripper would be put back into a dark place, the place that he was a few years ago when I first met him. Since he has been with Lilly, I've watched the small changes in him throughout the days. I can tell, just by looking at him, that he is more at peace than what he was before.

I sighed as I stared at the cell doors in front of me.

Was a normal life too much to fucking ask for?