đŹ PART 2: "The Name He Buried" - Full Story
The bikers moved without a word.
Boots shifted on gravel. Leather creaked. Men spread out beside their motorcycles, turning toward the road like a wall rising around the child.
The little girl stayed behind the bikerâs leg, holding onto his vest with both hands.
The engine grew louder.
Closer.
He looked down at the bracelet once more, then back at her.
âWho gave you this?â
Her mouth trembled.
âMy mommy.â
His jaw tightened.
He crouched again, but this time there was something broken in his eyes under all the control.
âWhat did your mother say?â
The girl wiped her face with the back of her hand, trying to be brave enough to say it right.
âShe saidâŠâ Her breath hitched. âShe said if I ever found the man with the wolf patch, I should tell him she was sorry.â
That hit him like a bullet.
His face emptied.
The girl kept going, because now she was crying too hard to stop.
âShe said youâd know my name.â
He stared at her.
At the blue dress.
At the tear-streaked cheeks.
At the little silver bracelet with the name he had once whispered over a grave.
âWhere is your mother now?â he asked.
The child shook her head.
âI donât know. She pushed me out of the car and told me to run.â
A car engine turned onto the roadside.
Every biker tensed.
The little girl whimpered and pressed closer behind him.
He rose to his full height and pulled her gently behind his back.
The vehicle came into view.
Dark. Slow. Hunting.
One of the bikers muttered, âYou know him?â
The man in black leather never looked away from the road.
His voice came out low and full of something colder than anger.
âI know her mother.â
The car rolled closer.
The girlâs tiny fingers clutched his vest again.
Then she whispered the last thing her mother had told her.
âShe said⊠tell Daddy I found him.â
The biker shut his eyes for one second.
May you like
Only one.
Then he opened them, stepped forward into the road, and faced the oncoming car like a man with nothing left to lose.
