by Sophia Gray
Chapter Twenty-One
Vince
I remembered the first time I ever rode on the back of a motorcycle. I used to see them in my neighborhood, growing up. Mom’s face would always screw up when she saw them pass by, the men on the backs of their bikes. I learned then and there, without her ever having to say so, that men who rode in gangs were bad news. They weren’t good people. My brain made the association, and it stuck.
The older I got, the better I knew. Mom was right. They intimidated people on the street, started fights in bars. Eventually, they were asked to stay away from the bars, period. Then, rumors flew about the local club being involved with drugs somehow. They were bringing them into the neighborhood, putting dope in the hands of kids. They were mean and violent. They didn’t care how their actions affected the people around them, people who worked hard and paid their taxes. Whenever police dragged a body in from the river or found one in an alley or ditch, they blamed the club. Even if it was a random homeless person or something totally unrelated to the club, everybody wanted to believe the bad guys who rode motorcycles around the neighborhood had something to do with it.
Then I rode my first bike, and I was hooked. Mom died long before then, so the guilt went with her. Sometimes I still wondered what she would think of me if she saw the person I had become. Would her face screw up in distaste, the way it had when the gangs would ride down our block? Or would she understand that sometimes a bad man could be a good man who had to make big choices?
I didn’t know why I was thinking about any of this as I raced to the clubhouse. It was something to think about other than the mental image of Erica in a pool of blood.
I broke just about every traffic law in existence on the way—it was worth risking being pulled over if it meant getting to Erica just a minute sooner. A minute could make all the difference.
A plan was in motion. That was what Harrison told me. There was something already going down. Why did Alexander York always think he was smarter than me? Maybe because he was. I had the book smarts. He was cunning. I needed to be cunning in a time like this.
I’d thought I had the bases covered. Leaving Onyx behind to take care of things. I hoped Onyx was safe—the only way to get to Erica was to get around him. He’d have to be dead or unconscious to let that happen. He might not have liked her, but he would have protected her for my sake. We went back that far.
I rode on autopilot. My body was just going through the motions. All I could do was think about the club. I realized it might not have been just Erica they were after. I might walk into my clubhouse and find the entire club dead, taken out by the Wolves. What then?
I flew through the waterfront area, my guys behind me. They had no idea what was happening in my head. I had to rely on them to cover me if things got intense—I couldn’t keep an eye out for danger, or traps. All I could do was get to Erica and the rest of my club.
The warehouse where we’d set up shop years before looked fine, which was a relief. I had hardly switched off the engine before I was running for the door.
“Vince! What gives?” I heard Frankie’s voice calling out from behind me, but couldn’t pay attention. All I could do was run inside as fast as I could to get Erica in my arms. I needed to know she was all right.
The lounge was empty. I heard noise coming from the game room. The door was open. There was a poker game going on around the table, with the girls included. They we having fun, like nothing else mattered. They were safe, at least.
Then it had to be Erica.
“Vince!” They cheered when they saw me. I ignored them.
Sam was coming from the kitchen with a mug in her hands. “Where is she?” I asked, rushing to her.
“Erica? In the office. I’m bringing her some hot chocolate. She was so worried about you.”
That made two of us. I turned away from Sam and opened the door to the office. I expected to see Erica sitting at the desk. My heart sank when I saw the chair was empty.
“Erica?” I checked the bathroom. Nothing. I turned to Sam.
She shrugged, biting her lip. “I thought she was in here. She said this was where she was going. Maybe she went upstairs instead. She looked pretty upset and nervous.”
I brushed past her and ran upstairs. By then, Frankie and the rest had come in. Everyone looked as tense as I felt. They knew something was off, just as I did.
I opened the door to my room. Empty. I went up and down the hall, looking in every room. I checked the bathrooms. She was nowhere.
Running back downstairs, I called out, “Has anybody seen Erica?” By then, the game had stopped. Everybody knew something was up. They looked at each other, shrugging.
“She was playing cards with us a few minutes ago,” Brett said.
“How did she seem? Sick? Upset?”
Brett shrugged. Everybody shrugged. How could nobody know? I could have screamed in rage and frustration. It was like being in a nightmare where no one was able to help. I could have been speaking a different language.
Then, something else hit me. I looked over the group. “Where’s Onyx?”
Again, shrugging. “He was right here a few minutes ago…yeah, he was watching the game…standing in the doorway…I swear, I just saw him.” Their voices overlapped each other.
A sick feeling bloomed in the pit of my stomach. My mind wouldn’t let me believe it at first. I went back into the office. The window behind the desk was open.
No. It couldn’t be.
Axel was behind me. “You, Chip, whoever. Search the perimeter. Maybe one of them is just outside.” A few of the guys ran out the front door. I heard them walking around outside a moment later.
My head was spinning. There were two scenarios forming. In the first, somebody from the Wolves came in through the open office window. They took Erica. Then they somehow incapacitated Onyx and dragged both of their bodies out of the open window.
Right. In the time it took Sam to make a cup of hot chocolate.
I couldn’t bring myself to consider the second scenario before I knew everything. I realized I was hoping they’d find Onyx on the ground outside. I honestly hoped my best friend was dead or dying out there. It would have been better than the alternative.
He wasn’t. Axel came back. “Everything’s clear,” he reported, sounding grim.
I was sitting in the chair behind the desk. I stared up at him, wishing he could tell me what it all meant. He looked just as clueless as I felt.
“What do you think happened?” he asked.
“I can’t say it out loud yet.” I tented my fingers, closing my eyes. It wasn’t possible. With Onyx gone, Axel was my next in command. I had to tell him everything. “Sit down.”
I went through the entire story, almost as much for myself as for him. I had to get it out, think about it, piece it together.
“So what you’re saying is, Harrison told you there’s a plan already in motion. You assumed it had to do with Erica.”
“What else could I assume?” I motioned around the room. “She’s gone, right?”
“So is Onyx.” His words were heavy, loaded.
I nodded miserably. “Yeah.”
Axel mulled it all over. “Here’s a question. Did you ever find out how they hacked into Erica’s mom’s Facebook account? Like, how did they know how to find her?”
“Shit. I didn’t think about that.” I drummed my fingers on the desk, thinking hard. Then, my heart sank even further. “Do you know her last name? Erica’s, I mean?”
He shook his head. “No, why would I?”
“I didn’t either. It’s Quentin. Erica Quentin.” I stared at Axel. “Onyx knew it.”
“He found her on Facebook,” Axel said, his voice hard.
“And he found her mom through that.” I nodded. “Fuck me. Fuck!” I swept my arm across the desk, knocking everything to the floor. “How? Why?”
“I don’t know, man. None of us saw it.” Axel looked as sick as I felt. “I would never have believed
it. But it had to be him. He’s the only one not here. The only one who knew how to track Erica down through Facebook.”
“I don’t get it. I just don’t.” My best friend, my most trusted advisor for years. How was it possible?
“That’s not important right now.” Axel stood, towering over me. “We have to get her back. We have to get all of them for this. Get your head in the game.”
I knew he was right. Now wasn’t the time to get lost in the reasons why. I might get the chance to ask Onyx myself, I might not. Either way, there was time to take care of that later.
The phone rang. It was mine. I pulled it from the pocket of my kutte. I held up a finger to Axel, wanting him to wait while I took the call.
“Hello?” I didn’t know who to expect on the other end of the line, but I knew it couldn’t be good.
“Vince Baldoni.” The voice was warm, friendly. Gloating.
My jaw tightened. I mouthed, “York” to Axel. His fists clenched.
It was a struggle to keep my voice under control. “You got him.”
“I know I’ve got him.” The leader of the Vicious Wolves laughed bitterly. “I’ve been a step ahead of you all along, haven’t I? All this time, you were supposed to be the smart guy. The one who would take the Fury Riders into the future. You’ve studied great leaders, right? You know how to negotiate and get people to work together. You know how to stand in front of a room of people and get them to agree with you.” He snickered. “Or do you?”
I closed my eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“The one thing you always sucked at was seeing what was right in front of your face. Pride? Probably. Or maybe you never had the balls to be a real leader. You’re so sure everybody wants what you want. That they’ll go along with you.”
“What’s your point, York? Get to it.”
“I’ll get to it. I have your girlfriend here.”
I closed my eyes, my throat tightening. “Don’t touch her,” I warned. I heard Axel let out a sharp exhale, like he was barely holding himself back.
“I’ve already touched her,” he said. “I’ll do any damn thing I please.”
“I want to know she’s still alive.”
“She is.”
“Proof, York. I want proof.” A moment later, I heard her screaming. My chest tightened. I saw red.
“Vince! Stay away!” she screamed. Then she cried out, but the cry was muffled by something. I guessed they were gagging her again.
“Okay? She’s alive and well.”
I bit my lip, hard, to bring myself back around. The sound of her voice… “What do you want for her?” I asked.
“Your club. Simple as that.”
I looked at Axel. “You want my club?” Axel’s eyes went black. He shook his head, hard.
“It’s what I’ve always wanted. You don’t have the balls to lead it the way it deserves. I do.”
“What if I don’t hand it over?”
“What do you think?” He laughed. “She’s dead. Your choice. Be here by tomorrow at dawn. If I don’t see you before then, she’s gone. Don’t press me, Baldoni. She means nothing to me.” The line went dead.
It took a minute for me to catch my breath. Erica. Screaming. He thought he could take her from me. He thought he could take my club from me.
The worst part was he could. The way I saw it, he held all the cards.
“You can’t let him take the club,” Axel said. “There’s no way.”
I looked at him, and even with all the screaming going on in my head I heard what he was saying. The club was all he had. For a long time, it was all I had, too.
Until I met Erica. Before I found her on the street, I didn’t think I had it in me to feel the way she made me feel. I should never have gotten in so deep with her.
“You can’t leave her to die,” I said, shaking my head. “That’s not like you. It doesn’t matter how I feel. She’s innocent in this. We can’t let him kill her without doing anything about it.”
“What are you gonna do?”
I looked at my new vice president, at a loss. “It doesn’t look like I have a choice, does it?”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Erica
I woke up slowly, one bit at a time. First, it was my feet. They were a little numb. I tried to move them, then realized I couldn’t. It was the same thing with my hands. My wrists were tied together. Behind me. My arms were so achy and stiff, pulled behind me at an awkward angle. It hurt like hell to move even a little bit.
My head was foggy. Why couldn’t I think straight?
Where was I?
I couldn’t see. I was blindfolded. My heart raced. I struggled to focus, to avoid a panic attack. I took a deep breath.
“She’s awake.”
The voice startled me. I jumped away from it, then moaned when the muscles of my arms stretched painfully. I couldn’t slow my breathing, couldn’t keep from panicking. When footsteps approached, I nearly screamed.
“Relax.” It was a man’s voice. Then the sound of something being dragged across a floor. A chair? It stopped in front of me. “I already told all my men they weren’t allowed to touch you. Not yet anyway.” I heard him snicker. “It won’t be easy to keep them away, though. You’re hotter than Harrison told us.”
Harrison? Who the hell was that? Who was this person in front of me? His voice had a warmth to it, like we knew each other. Or he knew me. It was unnerving.
“I figured you’d have to be a hot piece of ass if you were enough to get Baldoni to fall for you.” Another snicker. “Sorry. I mean, Vince.”
Vince? The sound of his name made me raise my head. Where was he? I took another deep breath to calm myself. God, it stank in there. Where had they taken me? A garbage dump?
I remembered it all. The photo of Onyx. The way he overtook me. It all went black after that, though I seemed to recall coming to at one point. I was on my back in a vehicle—I could feel the engine humming. I heard somebody comment that I was waking up, and that cloth appeared over my face again. It went black again, until I woke up in a stinking room. Tied to a chair. Terrified and in pain.
“Don’t you have anything to say?” he asked. He was making fun of me, trying to get into my head. He wanted to take me down. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing me crack. I had to be strong. Somewhere inside, I knew it was what Vince would want me to do. It was what he needed me to do.
“I’m thirsty,” I whispered. My throat felt like sandpaper. “Please. Some water.”
Footsteps on the other side of the room. How many people were in the room with us? To that point, I’d only been paying attention to the man sitting in front of me. He was close, but not too close. I could just barely smell aftershave or cologne over the stench of garbage. I let my senses expand a bit, trying to get a sense of how many others there were. I kept my ears tuned to movement, breathing, anything that would give me a clue.
My mind was racing. I knew, somehow, that it didn’t matter how many men were there. It wasn’t as though I could do anything about my situation. They had me tied, trapped. I needed something to focus on, was all. Anything other than panic or hopelessness.
“Why won’t you let me see?” I whispered. “Does it really matter?”
“Why do you need to see?” he countered. He thought he was really clever. But I’d figured it out as soon as I got my thoughts to quiet down long enough to think it through.
“I’ve heard so much about the leader of the Vicious Wolves. I thought I might as well get a look at him for once.”
I heard a sharp intake of breath. “How did you know that’s where you were?”
I smirked without intending to. “Where else would I be? Last time I checked, I didn’t see a member of any other club kill somebody. It was one of your men, wasn’t it?”
“Smart girl.” The blindfold left my eyes in one quick, rough motion. I blinked hard against the sudden light. It took a moment for me to get my bearings.
When my
eyes focused, I got my first look at my surroundings. I almost wished the blindfold was still over my eyes. It was disgusting, run down, dirty. There were a few tables and chairs around, a pool table in one corner, a dart board on the wall. A thousand empty bottles and cans. Cigarette butts on just about every flat surface. It was dimly lit, which was a blessing. I wouldn’t want to see it under bright lighting.
Was this their clubhouse? Why would they want to live and work this way? I thought back to the Fury Riders, and how comfortable and clean it was there. I knew the girls had something to do with that. Weren’t there any girls around for the Wolves? I couldn’t imagine who’d want to be.
