Chapter One

Dani shook slightly as she grasped the phone in her hand, preparing herself to make a life-changing phone call. She had found them. She had found her family at last—Or at least she was fairly sure she had.

She had been ripped away from her family when she was a young child, kidnapped by soulless monsters. Dani had escaped her captors a little less than a year ago. She had spent the first six months recovering from injuries she had sustained in the weeks leading up to her escape as well and giving herself some time to learn how to feel human again after what she had endured. The next five months she had spent trying to find her family. She knew her approximate age when she was taken, and despite her captors attempts at brainwashing her to answer to a different name, she had clung to her identity, whispering it to herself each night in the dark. "My name is not Diana; my name is Dani. My family wants me, Find them."

It had taken some time, she had not had much to go on except her name, she didn't know where she was taken from, or even her last name. Dani was likely a nickname for Danielle, but it could be anything really. It was as she was sitting in her room one night combing through missing persons reports online, reading the rather colorful details given by a witness. "Well that's charming" she thought to herself sardonically as she crossed the case off her list. The case didn't seem to match as the girls who was kidnapped had been a few years older that she was when she suspected she had been taken and the physical description didn't quite match up. She was about to click on the next file in her search when she paused at her turn of phrase. "That's charming… charming." She briefly recalled a flash of childhood pride at being able to spell charming, as if that word had significance. A last name maybe. It was worth a try. She opened a new tab and typed into the search engine Dani Charming Missing Persons.

As the results loaded, she found herself having trouble breathing. The second result was for Danielle "Dani" Teller Missing from Charming, California. She knew before she clicked on the details that she had found herself. It just clicked. The news article stated that Danielle Teller was taken from a park in the middle of the day while her family was there for a group picnic with a club they were a part of. She learned that her parent's names were John and Gemma Teller and she had two older brothers, Jackson and Thomas. Further research into her family told her that Thomas had died about a year after she was taken due to a heart defect, and that her father had died from injuries received when his motorcycle malfunctioned, causing him to collide with an oncoming semi-truck. She also learned that the club referred to in the article about her kidnapping, the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, had several other articles detailing the club's charitable works, as well as other articles detailing some more allegedly questionable activities.

Public records indicated that Gemma Teller had married a man named Clay Morrow, a fellow member of the Sons of Anarchy and partner in Teller-Morrow Automotive. The business had given her what she had been searching for- a way to contact her family.

She sat up the rest of the night, absorbing the information. She briefly wondered what she was getting herself into with this motorcycle club but knew despite whatever concerns she ay have that she had to try and reach out to these people. She had to know if they were in fact her family. Part of her felt it instinctually that they were, but the logical part of her brain needed that confirmation.

She sat there until daylight, and after checking the time to make sure it was withing business hours in California she dialed the number for Teller-Morrow.

"Teller-Morrow Automotive." A female voice answered.

Her throat closed for a moment before she coughed and replied "Uhm, hello, I'm looking for Gemma Morrow?"

"Speaking." The woman replied.

"I know this is coming at you from out of the blue, but did you have a daughter that was kidnapped 20 years ago?"

There was a pause on the other end. "Who is this?" Gemma demanded rather harshly.

"I think—I think I might be your daughter."

"My baby girl is dead." Were the harsh words followed by the sound of the line disconnecting.

'Well that could have gone better.' She thought to herself. Taking a few long, deep breath she pressed redial, hoping that giving Gemma a moment to get over the shock would get her better results.

"Teller-Morrow." She heard Gemma come on the line again.

"Please, if you just give me a moment I can expl—"

Gemma cut her off. "If you call here again I will hunt you down and make you wish you were dead." With that the line disconnected again.

Dani sighed as she tossed her phone down. She knew this was not going to be easy, but she was hoping to catch a break at least once in her life. She had been hoping to have a conversation with her mother, that she might be open to the possibility that she was telling the truth. In retrospect she knew that was naïve. Gemma had lost her daughter to a kidnapper, a son to a heart defect, and a husband to a horrible accident. After all this time she understood why she may have lost hope that her daughter was alive.

Dani knew she needed another plan. She stood up and began packing. It didn't take her long. She hadn't accumulated much since she had escaped, if fact, all of her belongings fit comfortably inside a second hand duffel bag. Once she had her belongings packed with her laptop sitting on top of the bag before she zipped it closed she sighed and stared at the bed. She had been up all night and had quite a journey ahead of her. Perhaps she could get a couple hours sleep before the dreams tore her from her rest. When she woke, she was going to find her family. When she woke, she was going to Charming.