PRIZE: A Bad Boy Hitman Romance

by Sophia Gray

  Go for broke.

  I would not rest until Sage was safely home.

  Considering how fast I was going, it only took me about an hour to reach Douglastown, and another ten minutes to find the motel.

  So far, so good.

  I parked in the back of the parking lot. The motel was a dump. It looked like it hadn’t been renovated since the forties. It badly needed repairs and paint and to be fumigated. I almost stepped on a cockroach when I stepped out of my car. The shock of seeing the huge, swift bug had me sitting back down in my seat. Maybe I should find out what apartment she was in. I didn’t want to be seen snooping around and be caught and captured myself. This was a rescue mission. I couldn’t afford mistakes.

  But I also wanted to find Sage as soon as possible.

  I tried calling her again. No answer. I tried calling Grant. No answer there either.

  So I texted Sage. I’m here. At the motel. What room are you in?

  I held my breath and waited. What if she had been blindfolded and didn’t know? But she did know the city and the motel name. Please let her know the room number, too.

  A minute passed. Two. Five. Forget this. I didn’t come all the way here to wait. I’d find the receptionist, ask if Sage or Trenton had come here, and—

  My phone vibrated.

  Room 268.

  I bolted out of my car. The rooms nearby were in the 90s, so I found stairs and climbed them two at a time and up another flight to reach the 200s.

  My fingers curled around the knob, and I braced for it to not turn, but it did. It opened, and Sage was there, a little dirty and thinner than I last saw her, but alive and hugging me, and it felt so amazing.

  “Mom,” she whispered in my ear.

  I tensed. Why was she whispering?

  She trembling in my arms and crying, and I couldn’t get another word out of her. I tried to pull her out of the room, so we could make it to my car and get the hell out of here, and she was slowly walking with me, dragging her feet—was she hurt? Limping? I couldn’t tell—but we were half out the door when Trenton came.

  His face, oh God, his face. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. Terrifying and nasty and vindictive and evil. All twisted up. The handsome guy who had swept Sage off her feet was gone.

  And even worse, he had a gun.

  He waved it aloft, and Sage, still crying, began to whimper, released me, and slumped her way back inside the room.

  I rushed toward Trenton, but he easily threw me back so hard that I stumbled and fell onto my ass. He kicked the door shut behind him and pointed the gun at me. What the fuck was going on? Had he lost his mind?

  I jumped to my feet. “Let us go, Trenton,” I demanded.

  He laughed and waved the gun around. “I don’t think you understand how this works.” Trenton leveled the gun at my forehead. “As long as I hold this, you do what I say.”

  “I don’t take orders from a wannabe gangster,” I spat. Maybe it was stupid to argue with him, to call him names, but I was livid. He had a gun. He had threatened my daughter. He was threatening me. I would not cower. I had come here to fight for my daughter, and fight I would.

  He brought his arm down, trying to hit me with the gun, but I ducked and jerked to the side. I tried to sweep my leg out so he would fall, but he grabbed me.

  I kicked and screamed and punched and slapped, but it didn’t matter. He easily overpowered me, throwing me onto a chair and punching me in the temple so hard my vision darkened. Before I could react, he was tying me to the chair. I fought him as best I could, but it made no difference, and soon I was bound hand and foot.

  The entire time, Sage was crying, her words hardly comprehensibly. “Trenton, Trenton, please. Stop this. Don’t! Don’t hurt her!”

  He ignored her, tying another knot. I’d never get free.

  “Just let us go. Please. Trenton…”

  My heart broke, listening to her panic. “I’m fine,” I told her.

  Trenton backhanded me. “Shut up.”

  I spat blood at him. “You shut up.”

  The next slap was so hard my vision spotted again. “You listen here.” He held up the gun. “I’m the one in charge. You do what I say, and right now, I say that you should shut up.” He turned toward Sage. “And that includes you.”

  “But, Trenton—”

  “But nothing,” he snapped.

  “Why are you doing this?” I mumbled. My cheek hurt. My mouth was filling with blood, and my eye was swelling. He had no problem hitting a lady, and he sure did hit hard.

  “You think I’m gonna tell you everything?” He snorted, sounding like a pig. “I’m gonna solve all my problems.” Trenton kneeled down in front of me. “Actually, you’re gonna solve all my problems.”

  I shifted to try to get away from him, and my cell dug into my thigh through my pocket. Grant. Did he get my texts? Was he on his way? Maybe I should try to get Trenton to keep on talking and force him to stay here until Grant arrived.

  Then again, he was waving that gun around.

  “How can I solve your problems?” I asked. My heart was pounding so loudly my chest ached almost as much as my face did.

  “I’ve seen you.” He sneered. “You’re nothing but a whore. Like mother, like daughter.”

  My jaw dropped. “Don’t you dare—”

  “Your daughter goes missing, and what do you do? Fuck Grant multiple times.”

  My cheeks grew bright red, and I couldn’t look at Sage. What must she think of me?

  “You thought so lowly of your own daughter for being with me, for being with a loser in a motorcycle club, and what do you do? You fuck the leader.” Trenton stood, threw back his head, and roared with laughter. “Not so innocent, are you? Why are you still such a stuck-up bitch? Wasn’t Grant good enough for you?” He leaned in real close, and I tried to squirm away from him, but the ties were too tight. “He doesn’t care about you, you know. He goes through women like he goes through beers. One after the other. Pounds them down and calls for another round. Likes variety, he does.”

  “Leave her alone!” Sage’s voice was so shrill I could hardly recognize it.

  I looked at her and tried to discretely shake my head to warn her, but she wasn’t paying me any attention.

  “I’ve heard you two fight.” Trenton laughed some more and walked over to Sage, touching her shoulder and running his hand down her arm. She jerked away from him, but he seized onto her wrist. “You told her a couple of times she needed to get laid. Doesn’t it bother you that she waited until you went missing to do it? She gave you shit for being with me, and now look at her.”

  “She’s tied to a chair because of you!”

  “After having fucked the leader of Devil’s Horns!”

  “You’re…” Sage took a shaky breath and burst into tears all over again.

  I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. “Yes, I fucked Grant, and he’s gonna come and—”

  “Oh. Oh, ho, ho.” Trenton released Sage and walked back over to me. “Grant’s gonna save the day, all right, but it’s not gonna be to save you.” He grabbed my phone out of my pocket. “Looks like someone didn’t realize the drive here is one huge dead zone. Not all of your texts went through. Grant doesn’t know you’re here.”

  My blood ran cold.

  Trenton brought his face close toward mine. “I—”

  I leaned forward and bit him.

  He dropped my phone, brought up his hand, and lowered the gun. It hit the side of my head, and my world plunged into darkness.

  Chapter 14

  Grant

  My cell displayed Trenton’s name. After all this fucking time, the fucking prick was calling me. Like it was just a regular day. Like he hadn’t dropped off the face of the earth.

  I careened over to the side of the road to park and answer. I was shaking way too badly to attempt riding and talking, not that I ever talked while riding my bike anyhow. Just wasn’t plain smart.

  “Hey, Grant, how are you?”


  “What the fuck, man? What shit are you pulling?” I was pissed. So fucking pissed. Life wasn’t a game, and he had better get his head screwed on right or else.

  “I’ll tell you what I’m pulling,” he hissed, sounding a lot colder and meaner than I had ever heard him before. “I got her.”

  For a second, I couldn’t breathe. “Sage?” I asked even though I knew he wasn’t talking about his girlfriend—or ex-girlfriend if he was pulling this crazy shit on her, too.

  “No. Yes. Her, too.”

  Victoria.

  I couldn’t say her name. I couldn’t say anything. I was so fucking livid I couldn’t even see straight.

  “That’s right. I got your little fuck buddy,” Trenton said.

  That was when I found my tongue. “Listen, you little shit—”

  “Oh.” He laughed. “That hit a nerve, huh? Yeah, well, I’ve been keeping an eye on things. Not just you. You see, I need money, and now I know how I’m gonna get it. You.”

  “I’m not paying you one fucking cent—”

  “Either you pay me one million dollars, or else I’ll kill Victoria.”

  No. No way. This wasn’t Trenton. This wasn’t him.

  “What the hell happened to you? What shit did you get messed up in?” I demanded.

  He didn’t respond.

  “Put Victoria on,” I commanded.

  “No.”

  “Put her on!”

  “You got it bad for her, don’t you? I swear, Grant, I’ll do it. I’ll shoot her right between the eyes.”

  “That’s fucking cold, boy.”

  “Don’t call me boy,” he snapped.

  “Then grow up and be a fucking man already. You’re better than this shit. I know you are.”

  “That’s what you wanted to believe. That’s what you wanted to think.” Trenton laughed again, but it was a sad one, pathetic sounding. “I need the money. You need her. Even exchange, don’t you think?”

  I couldn’t believe it. How the hell could one of my own MC members threaten me? Threaten my woman? “You want the money?” I asked.

  “Damn straight I do.”

  “Then you have to tell me what’s going on.”

  He didn’t respond.

  “Trenton.”

  “When you bring the money. Or are you gonna have one of your lackeys drop it off for you?” he asked mockingly.

  “You want the money, let me talk to her.”

  “Nope. Oh, and, Grant? If you try to dare pull that informant shit on me, I will light her up and go after the entire club. You want all that blood on your hands?” His voice was shaking. He had the right words, but his delivery was all wrong. Trenton was scared shitless. He desperately needed the money. To make himself disappear? Or to pay someone off so he wouldn’t be the one to disappear six feet under?

  “Trenton, we can work this out like adults. We can be reasonable. You need money. That’s clear. How much? To whom?”

  “Grant, I’m not—”

  “There doesn’t have to be any deaths. Not Victoria’s. Not Sage’s.” I paused, and Trenton did inhale slightly. He did care for the girl. Good. Hopefully that meant she was all right despite this shit. “Not mine,” I added, “and not yours.”

  “I’m not dying,” Trenton said desperately.

  “I don’t want you to.” The truth. For now. If he did anything to hurt Victoria or Sage, for that matter, then all bets were off. “Who are you in deep with?”

  “Grant. Stop playing games with me. I’m not a kid.”

  “Damn straight you are. You’re acting like a petulant—”

  “You think insulting me is gonna get me to open up to you? You think it’s gonna keep me from blowing your fuck buddy’s brains out? Keep it up, man. I swear I’ll do her in.”

  “A real man wouldn’t threaten a woman. A real man wouldn’t kidnap anyone. A real man would ask for help when he got in too deep.”

  He didn’t say anything for a little while. I strained to hear anything in the background, but I heard nothing. He must not be with the women right now because I knew Victoria would try to shout and let me know she was all right or what was going on if she could.

  I’m all right. Her last text to me.

  I’d do anything to make sure you’re all right.

  “You gonna man up and ask for help?” I asked.

  “I’m manning up by finding a way to get funds. Now are you gonna—”

  “Kidnapping and extortion. That’s how you’re gonna man up? Really, dude?” I shook my head. “Having a shitty upbringing does not mean you should—”

  “You have no right to criticize me—”

  “Are you for real?” I couldn’t believe it. The kid had gone off the rails and jumped off at Loonyville.

  “You have two days,” Trenton said. “Two days to get me the money. One million.”

  “That’s a lot of cash. You can’t expect me to just go up to the bank and—”

  “I expect you to do whatever it takes,” he said coolly. “You always act like you’re big and bad and tough, but what are you? What have you ever really done? Sure, you’re the leader of a motorcycle club. So what. Big deal. You’re nothing but a loser.”

  What the hell? “I’m the loser?” I asked quietly. Keeping my damn cool was nearly impossible, but I couldn’t risk him going off. “Listen, I get you’re in deep. You need money, and you need it now. Let me talk to whoever you owe money to. Maybe I can get them—”

  “Fancy yourself a white knight?” he asked.

  I could hear the sneer in his voice, his tone shocking me—not because of the harshness in it but because of the fear. He was terrified. Fear had led him to this. Just what had he gotten himself involved him that he was so afraid, afraid enough to kidnap and blackmail?

  “I tried to help you,” I started.

  “You’re not my father.”

  “No. I’m not.”

  For a measure, we were both quiet.

  Then he asked, “Will you have the money?”

  “I’ll bring it myself,” I said, “within twenty-four hours.”

  “Good. I’ll text you later with info about where to drop it off”

  “But first I want to talk to Victoria.”

  “Dude, how many times do I have to tell you no?”

  “You want my money? You let me talk to her. Otherwise, how the fuck do I even know you really have her?”

  “No dice.”

  “Then no money. Take it or leave it, Trenton. You have her? Let her talk.”

  “She’s sleeping,” he muttered.

  “So wake her. Wait. Sleeping or unconscious? Did you hurt her? I swear to God, if you touched her—”

  “Grant.” He didn’t sound tough, not at all. He sounded like the young teen who knew he had done wrong and needed forgiveness, from me and from himself.

  “Just let me talk to her.”

  “Hold on.” The sound of rummaging went on, like he was covering up the phone. A few mumbled words, maybe some crying, and then…

  “Grant.”

  A shot went straight through me. Victoria. She sounded out of it. Didn’t seem too frightened, though, but maybe that was just because, like I said, she was out of it.

  “There,” Trenton said. A door slammed in the background. “You happy now?”

  No, and I wouldn’t be until Victoria and Sage were out of his clutches and away from harm, but I didn’t want to stir the pot, so I just said, “Yeah.”

  “Thank you,” he had the balls to say, and he hung up.

  Thank you? Thank you? You said thank you when someone held the door for you so it wouldn’t slam into your face. You said thank you to a waiter or waitress. You said thank you if someone said bless you if you sneezed.

  You didn’t say thank you after someone agreed to pay you one fucking million dollars because you snatched their girlfriend.

  Where the hell did I go wrong with him? I knew deep down he was responsible for his own actions, but fucking hell. I tried t
o help him, to get him straight. I even bought him a fucking bike—albeit one he had to fix up, which I taught him how to do. I treated him like he was one of us, like a part of the family, and this was how the fucking guy repaid me?