The Biker Who Pretended To Be Her Grandson

Chapter 2 - The Eviction Notice

Her name was Margaret Ellis.

She lived in a narrow apartment above a closed pharmacy three blocks away. Ethan walked beside her slowly, matching her pace, one hand near her elbow in case she stumbled. His motorcycle jacket drew stares from people on the sidewalk. Margaret noticed and seemed almost embarrassed.

“I shouldn’t have asked you,” she said. “You have your own life.”

Ethan gave a humorless laugh.

“Not much of one.”

At the apartment, the landlord was waiting.

He stood in the doorway with two men in work jackets and a clipboard in his hand. His name was Carl Whitmore, and he had the satisfied face of a man who enjoyed being obeyed by people too poor to fight back.

“You again?” he snapped at Margaret. “I told you. You have until tonight.”

Ethan stepped forward.

Carl looked him up and down.

“And who are you supposed to be?”

Ethan did not blink.

“Her grandson.”

Margaret’s breath caught.

Carl frowned. “She doesn’t have family.”

“She does now.”

Carl laughed. “Cute. But unless you’re paying the back rent and legal fees, I don’t care if you’re her grandson, priest, or bodyguard.”

Ethan reached for his wallet, but Margaret stopped him.

“No,” she whispered. “That’s not why I asked.”

Ethan looked at her.

“I only needed someone to stand beside me,” she said. “So he would stop treating me like I was already gone.”

That sentence did something to Ethan.

It reminded him of his mother, working until midnight and still apologizing for needing help.

He turned back to Carl.

“How much?”

Carl smiled.

“Too much for a man who smells like gasoline.”

Ethan stepped closer.

The two workers shifted nervously.

Carl lifted the clipboard. “The building was sold. New owner wants everyone out. She’s the last holdout.”

Margaret’s face paled.

“You said I could stay until the end of the month.”

“I lied.”

Ethan took the eviction notice from the door.

At the bottom was the buyer’s company name.

Hale Development Group.

He did not know why that name made Margaret grip her walker so tightly.

“Mrs. Ellis?” he asked.

Margaret stared at the paper.

“My son-in-law works for them.”

Ethan slowly turned to her.

“Your son-in-law?”

She nodded.

“Lucy’s husband.”

Ethan’s blood went cold.

“My father?”

Margaret’s eyes filled with fear.

“I don’t know what Lucy told you about him.”

“She told me he left before I was born.”

Margaret shook her head.

“No. He took you.”

Ethan did not move.

Carl cleared his throat. “This family reunion is touching, but she still has to leave.”

Ethan looked at him.

“Not tonight.”

Carl smirked.

“You going to stop me?”

A rumble of engines answered from the street.

Three motorcycles pulled up outside the pharmacy. Then four more. Then five.

Men in leather jackets stepped off their bikes, calm and silent.

Carl’s smile faded.

Ethan leaned close.

“No,” he said. “They are.”