by Nina Levine
I’d fucking take steps. Joseph would never set foot near Marilyn again.
I needed to get off the phone and deal with this. “Thanks, Doc. I’ve got this covered.”
I ended the call and started my bike. Screaming out of the parking lot, I almost collided with Kick who was entering. Narrowly missing him, I sped towards Marilyn’s house. The ambulance might get there before me, but in case not, I wanted to check on her.
The ride home passed in a blur and as I pulled around the corner of her street, I watched an ambulance drive away.
My phone had vibrated with a call on the way there so I took a moment to stop and check who it had been. I was still waiting to hear back from Tatum.
There was one missed call from Devil. No message. I’d call him later. All I wanted to do was head to Joseph and deal with him. I didn’t want to involve Devil or any Storm members in that. I needed to put the past to rest by myself. And I also didn’t want to waste time waiting for help.
My phone rang before I pulled back out into the traffic. I placed it to my ear without checking caller ID. “Yeah?”
“Rhys.”
I froze.
Joseph.
A dark cloud circled over me as my gut twisted.
When I didn’t speak, he said, “I have something of yours.”
My world crashed down around me.
I dry-heaved.
Every good thing I had in my life, he ruined.
Tatum.
“Do not lay a finger on her, Joseph.”
“Oh, my boy, I’ve already laid every finger I have on her.”
I clutched my stomach and dry-heaved again as the ticking of a time bomb blasted in my head.
Joseph continued, “You can have her back, Rhys, so long as you give me what I want. It’s a fair exchange. But the longer you take to come to me, the more I’m tempted to sample her and find out what it is she has that you’ve traded everything for.”
I didn’t think he could wreck me more than he already had. I was wrong. The thought of him touching Tatum delivered me into a new state of madness. Complete and utter madness.
“Text me where you are. I’ll be there.”
I jabbed at the phone to end the call and slammed my hand down on my bike. “Fuck!” I roared, letting it all out.
This was unbearable.
It was every fear I’d ever had come to life.
To be the reason her life was in danger was a living hell.
And to even think about losing her spiralled me into a dark abyss full of violence and brutality.
He would pay dearly for this. And for everything else he’d ever done to my family and me.
40
Tatum
“Russian Roulette” by Rihanna
Pain radiated down my cheek where Joseph gripped it, his fingers digging into my skin. Hard. If there was one thing this asshole knew, it was how to inflict agony.
“He says he’s on his way, but we shall see,” he said, his crazy eyes boring into me. “We shall find out if he really cares for you or not.”
I wanted to spit in his face and claw out his motherfucking eyes. I also wanted to cut his balls off and shove them down his throat to shut him the hell up. This man never stopped talking. He loved the sound of his own voice.
I didn’t doubt Nitro.
I knew he’d come.
It was just a matter of time, and I was good at getting through shit, so I could handle myself until he arrived. I refused to allow Joseph to scare me. Nitro would come and he would kill him. Just like he’d done to that goddam biker months ago.
He won’t fail me.
“I’ve done my research on you, Tatum. You were a lawyer and a good one from what I can work out. How the fuck did you end up with a biker?”
Go to hell, asshole.
I’m not telling you a thing.
He squeezed my face. “Tell me!”
I struggled under his hold, trying to shake my face from his grip. It worked, but only for a moment. He didn’t squeeze me again, but he did slap me so hard that the force of it knocked me over. Me and the chair I was tied to.
My head hit the cement with a thud and I saw stars. My ears rang and more pain tore through my body. It especially hurt in my shoulder, which had slammed into the concrete.
Joseph’s men moved me back into a sitting position. He had five men in the room with us and I’d heard more outside. I wasn’t sure where he’d brought me. All I knew was that the room I was in was fairly large and seemed like an industrial warehouse with a cement floor and high roof. It was warm, too. No air conditioning.
Joseph crouched in front of me and placed his hands on my legs. They were tied together, as were my hands. I wanted to shove his hands off me, but I couldn’t, so instead I took a deep breath and reminded myself that Nitro was on the way.
“You and Rhys are a perfect match. Both as stubborn as the other. I’m only going to ask you this once more, Tatum, and if you don’t answer me, we’re going to have a problem. How did you meet him?”
I didn’t conceal the hate I had for him. “Why the fuck do you care?”
He jerked up and nodded at someone behind me. Hands landed on my shoulders, pulling me back against the chair. A second later, Joseph’s fist slammed into my face. He punched me so hard I struggled for breath. It was like I was drowning and couldn’t work my way back up for air, all while excruciating pain consumed me.
I counted to twenty before I finally managed to draw a long breath of air into my lungs. It had been short bursts of air up until that point, which hardly felt like life-sustaining oxygen.
As I wheezed and fought for air, the door opened and two men entered. I tried to focus on them to see who they were, but everyone had blurred and I couldn’t make out a damn thing.
And then I heard his voice.
“Vegas.”
His boots thudded on the cement and I knew he was coming my way, but then they stopped.
“Fucking let me go!” His voice ricocheted around the room, and I finally zeroed in on him to see that two of Joseph’s men had restrained him, holding him back from me.
“All in good time, son,” Joseph said. His back was to me and he’d moved towards Nitro.
“I told you not to fucking hurt her,” Nitro snarled.
“When will you ever learn that I don’t listen to you? It’s you who needs to listen to me,” Joseph said. I hated hearing him talk to Nitro like that. Hated knowing the power he still held over him.
My sight returned to full capacity and I stared at Nitro, taking in his eyes. They were dead. Oh, there was life there, but the way he looked at Joseph was as if he wasn’t even looking at another human being. I was certain he’d come to kill and that he’d switched off the human side of himself to do it.
He struggled and fought to escape the men holding him back. When that didn’t work, he kicked out at Joseph, landing a hard kick to his groin.
Joseph grunted loudly and boomed, “You wanna fight, Rhys? Let’s see what happens when you do that.”
He spun around, stalked back to me and grabbed my neck. Yanking me to a standing position, with the chair hanging off me, he snarled, “This face won’t be recognisable if you keep that shit up.”
My breaths turned choppy as I stared at him up close. I believed every word he said. Joseph didn’t seem to make empty threats.
“Stop!” Nitro yelled.
Joseph didn’t loosen his grip on me, but he turned to face Nitro. “Are you coming to your senses?”
Nitro nodded but didn’t say anything.
Joseph let me go and pushed me back to a sitting position. He then strode back to Nitro and punched him hard in the gut. I cringed as Nitro bent forward, winded.
And then the punches kept coming.
Joseph was savage. It was as if he was on auto-pilot. Nitro was his punching bag, and he worked out his anger on him.
I couldn’t watch. It was brutal and bloodthirsty. I couldn’t even imagine doing what he was doin
g to my worst enemy. As much as I might want to hurt someone, I wouldn’t have the stomach for it.
It lasted longer than I cared to think about. It felt like an eternity.
Joseph was breathless when he finally ordered, “Take him away.”
I didn’t know what he planned, but the two guys holding Nitro up took him out of the room. Joseph faced me and for the first time since I’d arrived in that shithole a few hours prior, fear filled me. I believed Nitro would get us out of there, but I didn’t want to think about what we’d have to go through first.
He came to me and ran his finger slowly down my face. “I’ll be back,” he said.
They were his last words before he left me alone in the room. As the door clicked shut behind him, I exhaled. I attempted to give myself a pep talk, but no matter how hard I tried, it didn’t work. Because this wasn’t just about me. I could pep talk the fuck out of shit if it only involved me. But Nitro’s life was at stake, too, and that drove more fear into me than I knew what to do with.
I couldn’t lose him.
* * *
Joseph left me alone for hours. It was dark by the time he came back. There was one tiny window in the room and night had fallen a long time before he returned.
“Dinner,” he said as he dumped a tray of food on the floor in front of me. I didn’t look at it, but rather kept my eyes on him. “You need to use the toilet?”
I couldn’t figure out why he cared. But I took the opportunity he presented and nodded. “Yes,” I croaked. My face was in a world of pain and I found it hard to talk.
He placed a hand on the back of my chair and motioned with his other hand for me to stand. My hands were tied behind my back and as I stood, he held the chair in place so my hands could slide up.
He then said, “Come.”
I soon realised he meant for me to shuffle my way to the toilet because he didn’t undo the rope he’d tied around my ankles.
The toilet wasn’t far from the room, but it took me ages to get there. Joseph became frustrated with me and curled one hand around my throat and the other around my waist so he could pull me along. My bare feet dragged along the cement most of the way after that, and they were a bloody mess of cuts and scratches at the end of the journey.
He kicked open the toilet door and pushed me inside. I stared at him, wondering how the fuck I was supposed to use the toilet if I couldn’t undo my pants. He met my gaze and his eyes glinted with an evil smile. Before I knew what was happening, he flicked the button on my pants and slid the zip down. His hands then gripped my pants and he yanked them down.
He hissed as his eyes landed on my lacy panties. “Rhys is a lucky man. I bet he spends most of his spare time inside this cunt,” he said as he slid a finger inside my panties.
I froze.
Oh, God, no.
This could not be happening.
I squeezed my legs together. “Don’t fucking touch me.” My heart beat so damn fast I thought it might explode, but I was proud as fuck that my voice held no trace of my fear.
“You’re a feisty one,” he murmured, but he let his hand linger near my vagina.
The sound of shoes on the cement in the hallway signalled someone approaching. “Joseph! We need you.”
His eyes met mine. “It’s your lucky day.” With that, he pulled my panties down so I could use the toilet. “Be there in a minute,” he yelled back, not taking his eyes off me.
I hated every fucking minute of this. But I never stopped telling myself that Nitro would get us out of here.
I had to believe that.
I finished using the toilet, and he pulled my pants back up and returned me to the room that sadly was mine. He undid the rope around my wrists and I ate the dinner of chicken and salad that he’d given me while one of his men watched. When I finished, my hands were secured together again. The guy left the room and I sat staring at the door, willing it to open. Willing Nitro to burst through and tell me everyone was dead and we could leave.
That never happened.
* * *
I didn’t see Joseph for another day and a half. His men delivered one meal to me in that time and took me to the toilet twice. Other than that, I saw nothing and heard nothing. I had no idea what was going on outside of the room I was in. If I thought I’d lived through hell before, that had nothing on this. This kind of hell could send a person mad. The not knowing was the worst, but equally as bad was the silence and time alone. It did crazy shit to my mind.
My relief when Joseph finally showed his face again, was short-lived. He entered the room and then Nitro was shoved in after him. I almost vomited when I saw Nitro. He’d been so badly beaten that his face was swollen and he could hardly open his eyes. Dried blood coated his face and where there was no blood, there were bruises and cuts. His body was in so much pain that he walked with a hunch and grunted with each step he took. The pain in my face from being punched felt like nothing compared to the hurt blaring from him.
Joseph eyed me. “Rhys is more stubborn than I thought. He still refuses to join my army, so I figured I’d give him some reasons.”
Moving behind me, he wrapped his hand around my throat and squeezed hard until I couldn’t draw breath. I couldn’t move my legs and I couldn’t move my hands because they were still tied together. All I could do was sit there and struggle for air. I gasped and frantically tried to suck air in through my nose, but he realised that and blocked that passage, too.
Nitro screamed for him to stop, but soon I couldn’t even hear that. All I could hear was the blood roaring in my ears as death beckoned. My head and body thrashed as I fought and finally Joseph let me go, sending me to the floor in an almighty crash. I fell headfirst, smashing my face into the concrete. Pain splintered through my head and radiated to every part of my body.
“Let her go!” Nitro roared, his voice making its way to me as I lay gasping for air.
“Not until you agree to my terms, son,” Joseph said right before he kicked me in the stomach.
He then ordered two of his men to haul me up and he beat me in the same manner that he’d beaten Nitro the last time I saw him.
Time stood still.
I heard Nitro yelling that he would do whatever Joseph wanted, but I couldn’t push my way through the haze of pain circling me.
Bone crunching.
Blood spilling.
My soul breaking.
I wasn’t sure I would survive this.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to.
The pain was too great and death seemed easier.
Eventually the punches stopped coming.
I lay curled up in a ball on the cement.
Boots sounded next to me, until they were a distant noise I could hardly hear. The door clicked shut.
And then came silence.
Beautiful silence.
I was alone.
Floating.
Drifting.
Dreaming of heaven.
Arms embraced me.
Pulled me into a lap.
Warm breath whispered across my skin.
A hand gently smoothed my hair.
“I’m so sorry, Vegas.” Nitro’s grief-stricken voice broke through the haze, and I blinked my eyes open.
He stared down at me. His eyes were filled with tears. And pain. So much pain. I didn’t want there to be any more of that for either of us. We’d had enough. Done our time. Paid the price for our sins.
He rocked me for what felt like hours. It could have been. Or it may have only been minutes. It didn’t matter how long it was. The only thing that mattered was that those final moments together were filled with so much care. The kind of care a person searches their whole life for. In those moments, Nitro loved me.
41
Nitro
“State Of My Head” by Shinedown
“Send her home.”
Joseph narrowed his eyes at me. “And then?”
“And then I will do what you want.”
He watched me closely f
or a few moments. “You will give up Storm.”
I winced as I shifted my weight onto one foot. My leg screamed with pain and I needed to take most of the load off it, but it only brought more pain to the other one. Joseph’s beatings over the last two days had been severe. Worse than any I’d ever received. I could barely see him through swollen eyes, and bruises covered every inch of me.
My chest squeezed at the thought of what Joseph had done to Tatum earlier. He’d beaten her so badly that at one point I thought he would go too far and kill her. It surprised me that he’d left me alone with her when he was finished. In hindsight, though, I realised he used it as another way to break me.
If watching her go down hadn’t been enough, sitting with her had shattered me. Holding Tatum in my arms and knowing that everything I saw and heard was because she’d chosen to be with me had torn a chunk out of my heart. I’d realised just how much she meant to me and that I would do anything to keep her safe. Agreeing to return to Joseph had been a small price to pay in return for her life.
“I will give up Storm,” I agreed.
“Very well,” he said and took the few steps to the door of the room where he kept me locked up.
“Joseph,” I called after him. When he faced me, I said, “If you ever lay your hand on her again or hurt her in any way emotionally or physically, I will leave you and I will never come back. I will fight you to my death if I have to, but I won’t allow Tatum to be hurt again.”
He smiled that evil fucking smile of his that I wanted to wipe off his face. “It seems we have found your reason, Rhys.”
“My reason?”
“Your reason to stay with me. I won’t touch her unless you leave, and you won’t leave unless I touch her.”
I allowed him to believe that because it guaranteed Tatum’s safety. “Come and get me once she’s gone. We have shit to discuss.”
He raised a brow. “Now this is more like the soldier I raised, son.”
