Man these riddles are coming faster than I thought they would. I thought they would come within weeks of each other, not days. Whoever is sending these riddles must want Blade to either go stir crazy from these riddles or the person wants Blade to come after him or her. As if Blade is smart enough to figure out who is sending the riddles. Whoever is sending these riddles knows more about Blade's children then Blade himself. And that's what scares me most. I'm not ready for anyone to know that I'm related to Blade. I haven't even accepted in my mind that Killer is my older brother.

Mathis looks at me and I sigh. Just because I figured out the first riddle for them now they want me to figure out all of them for the club and for the sake of Blade's sanity. I wave my hand telling Killer to say what the riddle is. He pulls out a paper and hands it to me.

'Tick Tock goes the clock

Tick Tock goes the Belle

Tick Tock the clock strikes Four

Tick Tock find the Ticket

Tick Tock find the Place

Tick Tock time's running out.'

This riddle is just plain weird. I don't understand the first line unless the clock is on the sender's side. The second line is about me that one can stare at you right in the face if you know. The third, fourth, and fifth must be connected. Four must mean how many hours it takes to arrive at the mystery destination. The ticket can mean anywhere from a bus ticket, train ticket, or even a plane ticket. The place must mean where she or I mean myself was at recently. And the only places I was at was the hotel, Vice Versa Bar, and at the warehouse where Luca kept me captive. And again the last line was blatantly telling us that we or the club was running was running out of time.

When I got done thinking about the clues and looked up from the paper everyone was staring at me. I must love rolling my eyes when I'm around the club because that's what I did most of the time before answering them. Rolling my eyes I handed the paper back to Killer and took the dress bags from Mathis and starting walking down the hallway to Mathis's bedroom to place the clothing on his bed. Walking back out of the room and going back to where the majority of the club was at, just sitting there waiting for the answer. All eyes turned back to me when I walked back into the room.

"The clues are simple if you think about them. The person who is sending them don't want it to be too hard or too easy. The first and last line is a clock on the sender's side, Blade is basically being timed and the second line is still talking about the female Blade is supposed to be looking for. The third, fourth, and fifth line are all connected. The third line is talking about how long it is to get to the place line five is talking about. The fourth says you need a ticket to get there." I explained to them.

They looked like they were getting it faster this time. Maybe if they use their brain they won't have me tell them what the riddle means. Looking at the clock on the wall I saw that we had about four hours to get ready for the dinner. I looked at Mathis but he was busy talking to Killer, getting annoyed I walked back to Mathis's room or at least tried before some idiot opened their mouths. And that idiot was Blade.

"Where do you think your going? I still need help figuring this shit out." Blade shouted at my back.

And that just pushed me over the edge. "Since when do you need help from a slut who needs to learn her place? And maybe if you didn't piss people off then the club wouldn't have any threats from a mystery person. Maybe if you used your pea size brain of yours you mother fucker then you and the club wouldn't have to wait for me to take apart the riddle and give you the answer you need." I screamed to the top of my lungs.

I've had enough of this bullshit. I wanted to take my gun out and just shoot Blade into pieces. But that wouldn't go over well in the club no matter how bad he was treating me. Blade looked ready to say something else when the club doors open and in comes Kelly the slut. I groaned, wasn't it enough that I had to spend the majority of the afternoon with this bitch. Kelly was roaming her eyes over the club until they stopped at me. She suddenly had a smirk on her face, not that you could notice with the layers of makeup covering her face.

"Ariabelle I just wanted to let you know that Marco and I closed on the house quickly and it's now yours to have." She started walking out, but she stopped mid-step and she knew she had all eyes on her and that for Kelly was dangerous. "Aria I hope your mother won't be too pissed when you bring a biker to dinner, I mean we all know how being with a biker worked out for your mother."

Today was just over the top for me. Now all eyes were on me, whether the eyes were shocked, curious, or indifference. I pulled the gun out of the secret compartment and pulled the trigger twice. One bullet landed in the arm that I had just twisted and broken today. The second bullet landed deep in her leg. Walking over to her before she can get up and leave I placed a finger in her wounded arm where the bullet is at and twisted. She screamed bloody murder, taking the finger out of her wound I slapped her and placed my foot on her leg.

I spoke softly and calmly, but I knew the whole club was listening. "Kelly the only reason you're still alive is stupidly because of Gabriel. Anyone knows that mouth of yours can get you shot and killed but everyone's too afraid of my brother to do shit. But bitch," I stopped mid-sentence and pressed a heel into her leg wound, she screamed even louder when I did that, "I'm not afraid to kill you right here for opening that big fat clown mouth of yours for saying shit you shouldn't even know about. And I'm sure that big commission Marco gave you for helping me even though you did cause me trouble and pissed me off will be gone if he was here and heard what you said. But don't worry I'll tell him when I see him tonight."

With that I pulled my heel out of her wound and literally kicked her ass out the door. When I turned back the whole club was staring at me, eyes full of wonder and curiosity. Killer looked indifferent to the news because he already knew my father was a biker. But these guys don't, all they know it that my mother was with a biker not that she was married or had kids with the biker. And that still gave me time to accept the fact that my father was back in my life. To accept that Killer was my brother. To help my mother accept that her ex husband would be around her life because of my marriage.

I didn't feel like answering any question right now or ever, so I started to walk towards Mathis's room to get ready for tonight. Opening the door to his room I quickly rushed in and locked the door, I breathed a sigh of relief while I leaned my back against the bedroom door. Stripping out of my clothes and throwing them on top of my suitcase, looking down at my suitcase I noticed I didn't have much clothes. Not much clothes isn't a good thing, the minimal clothes I had was because I thought I would only be in Vegas for a couple of hours and not married and living with bikers. I don't have time to think about that now, starting to get ready early is sort of something my mother has me do and does herself. She doesn't want to sit around while the workers does all the work. She would rather get ready early and only have to touch up her makeup than just sit doing nothing till the party started.

I really miss my mom. I miss her advice she gives me and the comfort I can find in her arms. I know tonight is about Marco coming home early but she will also make this about my marriage. She will probably even have a wedding planner there so Mathis and I can have a traditional wedding in front of all the family and mafia members and allies. I'm already screwed over because Blake and most likely Kelly will tell my mother that my new husband is a biker, they probably have already told her. Thinking of my mother is making me homesick and I don't need that feeling right now. I have a war to help Marco plan against the Baccari family not to mention there are threats against The Devil's MC. Pushing those thoughts away I walked towards the bathroom and started the shower.

Stepping into the shower with the water warm helped my back slowly untense from the stress of today. The warm water slowly became cold and that was my signal to get out of the shower, when I enter the bedroom Mathis was there looking at the suit. I pressed my towel closer to me not, not to hide my body because he's already seen everything but to hide the lashes made from Luca a few hours before we meet. When Mathis saw me, he handed me my dress and placed his suit on the hook on his closet. He sat on the bed and stared at me slightly, he looked like he had something to say to me. Before I enter the bathroom he came out and said, "I can't make it to the dinner tonight, I've got to do run tonight for the club."

"Sorry to burst your bubble Grim," I called him by his biker name and I swear I saw him flinch, "but you've got to go. Not only is this dinner for Marco it's also about us. Introducing you to my family and to try and calm them down because we didn't get married the traditional way. My mother and aunts will probably have a wedding planner there, so you've got to come big guy." I stated to him.

"Why the hell are they having a wedding planner at dinner tonight?" Mathis asked confused.

I smiled a little at that. "Because dear, my father side of the father won't accept our marriage until we get married in front of family and friends." I told him, I didn't mention anything involving the family mafia or it's allies.

Looking through his bathroom cabinets trying to find some sort of hair dryer but of course he doesn't have anything. There was a knock on the door, Mathis was still in his confused thoughts after what I told him. I walked out of the bathroom and to the bedroom door, when I opened there stood some of the bikers old lady's and they had some hair dryers, flat irons, curling wands and makeup lots and lots of makeup. They walked into the bedroom and kicked Mathis out, but before they slammed the door shut behind him I threw his suit at him.

"Your ass better be ready by the time we need to go. Get Killer to get someone to replace you, if you don't go I'll shoot your ass till you'll never be able to sit down again." I told him calmly.

After the door was shut I looked at the old ladies that were in the bedroom. I was so confused as to what they were doing here, but they just sat calmly on the bed and I went to put the dress on. The dress was a perfect fit, I don't even know how Marco knew my size. The dress was exactly how I described it earlier a powder blue off the shoulder high low dress that was tight around the chest area and once you get to the waist it starts to flow. Looking at the dress now and standing completely still the dress looked like it was moving all on its own. Turning towards my back to see if you could see any scars and the only visible part of the scars were the tip and I was glad about that.

Walking out of the bathroom the ladies were still there. And when they saw me in my dress they were speechless. I was used to making people speechless but more for my work in the mafia and never for my appearance. I guess there is a first time for something. I cough trying to getting rid of the awkwardness in the room, one of the old ladies snapped out. She looked about as young as me maybe she was a few years older than me. She was the one that brought most of the makeup, while the others were still in shocked she grabbed my arm and brought me back into the bathroom. Without saying anything she started on my makeup and another girl started towel drying my hair then used a Remington Wet 2 Straight hair straighter. I was so confused, these ladies haven't bothered to get to know me and now they are helping me get ready.

By the time they were done it was about three and a half hours before the dinner took place. If getting to Gabe's took an hour then getting to the Manor would probably be hour and a half to two hours. Taking a pair of my black heels out of my suitcase and quickly placing them on, I looked back at the ladies and gave them a smile, but I was uneasy with them being in the room with my suitcase and knowing my mother would want me to bring my suitcase home. Grabbing the bag I walked out the door and down the hallway. When I got closer I heard rowdy laughter and people mocking someone, when I came into the bar area I saw they were mocking Mathis. Who looked damn well in the suit, it wasn't like the usually suit I saw, there was no tie or bow tie. It was like dress pants and a dress jacket with a deep blue dress shirt under the jacket.

I shook my head and walked out into the area, and when they saw me they were totally silent. Mathis looked ready to kill until he saw me, and his jaw dropped then he looked at everyone else and had his pissed off look back again. I for some reason wanted to say something smart-ass just to get them back for mocking Mathis. "Boys boys," I said shaking my head, "the only reason you're mocking Mathis for looking like this is because you know you can't pull off what Mathis is wearing."

With that I grabbed my keys from Mathis but before I could go any further Killer said something that got everyone's attention. "Ariabelle what's that on your back?"

Killer came over and pressed his hand to my back. It took everything I had in myself not to scream out in pain. Blade came over next to him and gently pulled down the back of my dress, well as far as Mathis would allow him too. I could hear the gasp all around as the bikers gathered around to look at the mess that was my back. Even some of the old ladies and club whores were shocked by what was on my back.

"Ariabelle these look fresh. What happened?" Blade asked concerned.

When they first saw my back I was transported back to the warehouse with Luca and his men. I had never killed that many men in my life or doing work for the mafia, Marco always made sure I didn't have any blood on my hands. But that day was horrible I can still feel the whip on my back, the blood running down my back. I can feel Evan's stitching up my back, the needle, the thread, and the stare of his questioning eyes. That horrible day still ran through my mind and fueled my revenge on Luca and his family. But when Blade asked me that question and acted all concern brought me out of the haze I was in remembering that day. I pulled away from them and straightened my dress back in place and walked out.

I knew I owed Mathis an answer but all the others can kiss my ass. I don't have to tell them anything, and Blade is a piece of work, acting like a dick to me and then acting all father liked when he saw my back. Mathis was right behind me looking at me like I was fragile, it killed me that he looked at me that way. I didn't want him to look at me that way, I had overcame so much in my life that I made myself stronger than anyone thought I would be. I didn't want to remember that night because I was already suffering from nightmares because of what happened with me. When both Mathis and I were both in the car, I put the keys in the ignition and pulled out of the compound.

"How?" Mathis asked in a calm and icy tone.

I looked at him with fury in my eyes. "Mathis Braden don't you dare take that fucking tone with me!" I screamed at him. "I don't fucking care if you use that tone on anybody else, but you never use that tone on me ever! Do you understand me?" I said still screaming.

"I didn't mean to use that tone on you, but you will answer me Aria." Mathis commanded.

Don't you just hate it when people command you to tell them something you aren't ready to tell. I hate Killer now. If it wasn't for him commenting on my back then nobody would know there was anything wrong with me other then Mathis. And I would be able to tell Mathis when I was ready and when I got my revenge. So he would be pissed that I hadn't told him sooner but that would be my decision and my fight. I knew he would want to know everything, but I wasn't sure I would be able to tell him everything he wanted to know. I was never good when it came to words and describing the situation.

I was quiet on the way to the manor, I was driving pretty fast and my thoughts were all over the place with what to tell him, how to tell him and when to tell him. Everything was going way too fast and I didn't have enough time to think things through. I started to slow down when we were nearing a heavily policed area, you never knew where the cops were going to show up and where they were hiding. Even though my father and Marco had cops in their back pockets they still had to play by the rules, so internal affairs wouldn't become suspicious of them. It was certainly bittersweet at times. Turning the corner and seeing a billboard where officers usually were at. Looking over at them and quickly looking back to the road, then I was looking at the clock, we were making good timing.

The dinner was starting exactly at six and it was now close to five o'clock. My mother would be happy to see me, but unfortunately Kelly's words were sticking in my thoughts. My mother wouldn't be happy with my choice of husband but once she got to know him, she would love him. I hope. Driving around town brought back memories I both loved and hated. Fifteen minutes later we were pulling into the manor driveway. This house always left me speechless, but when I looked back to the road I saw an unfamiliar car sitting across the road. The unfamiliar car was probably the reason I didn't see any guards around the property. Shutting the car off and opening the car door I was about ready to go inside when a hand stopped me.

"Aria?" Mathis asked.

"I'll tell you when I'm ready." I stated to him, waiting till I heard Mathis's car door shut I turned back around. "Oh and Mathis I saw that look you were giving Marco earlier. Trust me you don't have anything to worry about." With that I turned back to the manor and walked up the stairs before I had even placed my hand on the door handle, the door opened.

When I looked back at Mathis I could see he was gawking at the manor. And I could see why, this manor is a Victorian Manor, still had it's original paneling and all. But the inside was complete renovated to perfection. Outside the house was two stories with a wrap around porch, honestly I don't even know how to describe it, it makes me just as speechless and I grew up half my life here. Looking back at the doorway completely shocked me. What the hell was Brenda doing here?

"Brenda what a pleasant surprise. What are you doing here?" I asked her.

I knew that the shock in my voice is what brought Mathis back to the here and now. I could see Brenda looking over Mathis, Brenda's eyes were lighting up, she liked what she saw. Mathis was getting a little uncomfortable with her staring at him, and working with the mafia Brenda knew that so she redirected herself at me and answered my question.

"Well your mother called me and said that you had gotten married. And both your mother and I knew that the family wouldn't accept the marriage, so as you know they want a wedding. So here I am. I'm here to enjoy dinner and take your husband's measurement and to listen to any idea you have about your wedding gown." Brenda explained in one breath.

I looked at Mathis and was like told you so in my eyes and facial features. Mathis grimaced and I couldn't blame him. Brenda was known for doing everything extreme when it came to her designs and fittings. Like getting someone aka me up at five o'clock in the morning to get started on any dress I needed for a special occasion and standing in one place for hours on end till she was down. Brenda slowly moved away from the door to let us in. I could tell that Mathis was even more shocked. But before he could see anything I pulled him into the kitchen where I knew my mother would be.

As soon as I stepped one foot inside the kitchen all work stopped, I could see my mother was about to yell at them because they stopped. Until someone pointed behind her and she turned. The moment she saw me I could see tears coming into her eyes. I stepped away from Mathis and wrapped my mother in a hug.

"Momma don't cry. I'm here. I'm safe. Please don't cry you'll ruin your makeup." I told her softly trying to calm her down.

And it was working but before she could say anything to me the doorbell rang and my mother perked up. Looking at the time on the kitchen wall I knew it wasn't time for the party so who the hell was here earlier? My mother rushed out of the kitchen and I followed her with Mathis behind. When I saw who was with my mother I groaned. I hadn't seen her since I was thirteen and didn't want to see her now, but I put a smile on my face and gave her a hug.