“Why would I give up my freedom for this? I like doing what I want, I like running my own crew without having to listen to you or your granny-fuck. I don’t have any connections to her or to her family, whatever happens to the bitch is her own fault.” I knew I was being harsh but I had no option other than being a hard bitch.
Harrison looked pissed off but Murchison laughed. His evil cackle echoed around the empty space.
“Damn, girl, I missed you by my side. I forgot how totally focused you are once you’re on a job.” He nodded slowly as he looked down at the girl. There was no life in his eyes when he looked up again. “I’ll give you the antidote for Tersha but you’re not leaving with it. Call one of your bitches in to fetch it. You hand over the file and I’ll have a look at it while we wait. And Alexander and the boys can have a bit of fun with this while we wait.” He dipped his head towards the shuddering girl.
I laughed and shook my head. “Nope, not happening. I’m not calling one of my crew in and giving you another hostage, and you’re not going to make me an accomplice to her rape. Not going to happen. You and I both know I never approved of your little games. He will be dead before he takes one step towards her, you know it and I know it. Is that why you’re doing this? You want me to take care of your problem? Is that it?”
Alexander Kolinic Harrison looked shocked as his eyes flipped between the two of us. Murchison and I. I kept my eyes on Murchison because he was the biggest threat. Harrison wasn’t a threat to anyone, only to himself. Like the little bitch on the floor he had grown up soft and pampered and believing he was untouchable.
Sorry for you asshole, you’re not.
Murchison smiled that dead smile of his I knew so well. “Maybe, maybe not. I haven’t decided yet.” He was silent for a beat or two. “Two of your people can come, one to drive and one to come inside for the antidote. I give you my guarantee that they will walk away unhurt. As long as you give me the file and stay here while I go through it. Do we have a deal?”
It was the best I was going to get at this stage. When he finds he can’t access the file without the key I will make my next move. Using the opportunity to negotiate for the little bitch’s release. Bloody hell!
“Fine. I’ll call them in. I’m reaching for my phone.” I said loud enough ensuring that his men heard me.
As I dialled Cuba’s number Murchison took the phone from me. I knew he was going to do it so I let it go. He put it on speaker then gave it back to me. Hmmm. That was new and a bit weird for him.
“Face. Are you done and on your way back?”
She didn’t say more, just waited. I had warned all of them this might happen and to say as little as possible.
“There’s a little complication. The club princess from next door is here, stuck her nose too deep into our business and it now complicates the situation. I need you to come and fetch the antidote while I see what’s to be done with her.”
Silence reigned for several seconds then Cuba was back. And I knew she was pissed by the growl in her voice.
“Fine. I’m coming with a driver who’ll wait in the car while I pick up the antidote and bringing it back to Tersha. She’s not doing well, so we need to hurry the fuck up.”
The call ended abruptly and I slid my phone back into the side pocket of my tactical pants. I knew Cuba wasn’t at our compound so the chances were very good that War and Rock had been listening. It meant the club would be getting involved. Fucking hell. This op was going downhill like a damned landslide.
“Done. Now what?”
“Now we look at the file.” He said as if it was a done deal.
“No. We don’t. Now we wait for Cuba to collect the antidote and only once she leaves will I hand over the file.”
Harrison tried his bravado bullshit. “There are more of us here than you. I’ll just take it from you.” He threatened.
Shaking my head I looked at Murchison and sighed. “Who the hell trained this little shit? He’s bloody well useless. Your granny-fuck really has to look into the weak ass men her brothers have been breeding. How many of them has she tried out now?”
The bastard smirked. “She’s working on a solution right now, a breeding experiment you might say.”
My heart clenched but I kept my cool and pretended ignorance.
“Anything has to be better than this asshole.”
Again with the smirk. “I tried to convince her to let Dom and you breed her heir but she refused to bite.”
I shrugged as if I didn’t care but hell, I did, I cared one hell of a lot. I prayed Bruno would get to Dom in time and stop the shit the vicious old bag was subjecting him to.
“I’ve been ordered to arrange for you to be bred by this one here but I don’t think so. He’s genes are too diluted, too weak. I’ve decided you will carry my sons.”
Shock rocketed through me and I battled to keep my face emotionless. When his eyes narrowed I knew I had succeeded. Sweat slowly trickled down the small of my back, the only place I sweated when I was under pressure. And hell, I was under some pressure right now.
“You’re going for incest? How aristocratic of you. Why do you suppose the Harrisons are so weak and stupid? Could it be they had the same idea you did? Keeping it all in the family?”
The fucker gave his evil laugh and I was so tempted to smack it off his face. So very tempted. But not yet, not yet.
“It won’t be incest at all, Noelle. You’re not mine and Tersia wasn’t your mother either. Let’s just say I acquired you from a friend who turned out not to be a friend after all.”
What? What the hell was he saying? They weren’t my parents?
And then relief surged through me until I thought of Rentia. She was my family.
Why hadn’t Rentia and I done DNA tests to prove he wasn’t our father? Was it because at that stage of my life I had believed in his bullshit? That he had raised me as he would have the son he wanted from my supposed mother. It seems now that I had.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
“So, you’re saying you’re not my father and Tersia isn’t my mother. Which means Rentia isn’t my sister either. If you aren’t my parents, who is? Or should I say who were they?”
The bastard shrugged as if it wasn’t important and I wasn’t going to push. I wanted him to believe I didn’t care. But I did, so damned much.
“Let’s take this into the office. I don’t need these bastards to know my business.” He said as he kicked the girl on the floor. “Get up and stop snivelling, slut.” The girl rolled onto her knees and painfully got up. Both her eyes were red and swollen from crying, her dress was torn at the neck exposing red marks around her neck and scratches on her chest. It had obviously not gone well for her when she met up with the supposed love of her life.
No way was I walking in first. I waited for Harrison as he huffed out an exasperated breath, grabbed the girl by the arm and dragged her after him. Tears were running down her cheeks but she wasn’t sobbing anymore. Thank fuck for that.
The office was surprisingly clean. A heavy wooden desk and several chairs stood on a clean pale brown carpet. A laptop sat on the desk, turned on, ready and waiting. It was dark in the office because the windows had been blacked out. But as soon as the lights were turned on it lifted the artificial gloom.
Harrison shoved the girl into a chair and she flinched in pain then curled in on herself. Trying to make herself as small as possible. Not going to work, sweetheart, I thought silently. These men were predators and she was their prey. Young, spoilt, impressionable and weak.
“Let’s see the file, Noelle. Let’s at least acknowledge the fact that we are bargaining here.” Murchison winked.
And eeuw! That was sickening and creepy as fuck.
“If I give you the file it leaves me empty handed. Why don’t we do the following? I’ll allow a quick look to confirm it’s the real thing before I shut it down again.”
“Agreed.” He said immediately.
Sitting down at the desk I drew t
he laptop towards me and after tapping a key to wake it up drew the tiny USB from my pocket. I showed it to Murchison before I slotted it into the port and waited for it to load, opened the folder then clicked on the only file in it. The program allowed me to open the file but not to navigate through it. I turned the laptop and slid it across the desk to Murchison. He avidly dragged it towards him then laughed but the laughter stopped the minute he tried to scroll through the pages.
“What the hell is going on here? Why can’t I see the rest of the file?”
It was my turn to laugh.
“You really don’t think much of my intelligence do you? Why would I give away the only thing that stands between me and the door? You’ll get the key to open the files when I walk out of here, unharmed.”
His growl of rage was cut off by the deep throated sound of a racing engine that could be heard approaching fast, and I nodded towards the front.
“That will be my crew. You give me the antidote and I walk out of here with them. You get the key as soon as we’re safely away.”
As I expected he shook his head from side to side, his face an expressionless mask. Turning to Harrison he motioned toward the door.
“Bring them in. Both of them.”
Shitballs.
I sat silently waiting and almost swore out loud when Rock burst through the door. Fucking hell! This op was well and truly blown. Cuba walked in after him and by the look in her eyes I knew she knew I wouldn’t be walking out of here with them.
“Now this is very interesting.” Murchison looked at Rock who had a sobbing Keeley in his arms. “How did the Sinners get involved in our little arrangement, Noelle?”
I played it the only way I could. I knew nothing. “No idea. I’m as surprised as you. What the hell, Cuba?”
“I’m sorry, Boss. He came over to discuss a truce between us and them and overheard me on the phone. Before I knew it he forced himself in the car and refused to get out. He’s a big bastard, short of killing him there was nothing I could do.”
Sighing as if exasperated I looked at Murchison and shrugged. “I have to agree, he is a big bastard.”
“A truce? You were going to discuss a truce without your boss present? I don’t think so. I think he’s more than just the next door neighbour. Which one of you bitches was he fucking in Johannesburg?”
“He wasn’t fucking anyone. We were working.” I tried but I knew it was in vain.
Murchison focused on Rock. “No, don’t believe you. So, here’s what’s going to happen. I don’t have the time to get embroiled in shit with the Sinners Sons right now. We’ll make a trade. The little bitch and the antidote for Noelle. Easy.”
Rock and his spoilt little sister had screwed us over so completely I knew there would be no way out of my present situation.
So much for the plans Dom and I had made. They were useless now.
Fuck.
I was so screwed.
Rock’s shocked eyes flicked my way but it was too late for that shit.
Between them he and his little bitch of a sister had totally screwed my exit plan.
Fuck.
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
Face
“I’ll give you the key if we walk out of here with her and the antidote.” I tried to bargain.
“No. They leave, you stay. We have a few things to discuss.” Murchison had a look in his eyes I knew very well. He wasn’t going to budge on this.
We were out of options.
So I made the trade to the eternal disgust of Cuba. She protested vehemently. But we had no other cards to play. We had to do what he wanted.
My only bargaining chip was the key to open the files.
And he wasn’t getting it without blood being spilt. Mine or his, I didn’t care. I just wanted Cuba to get them out of here, fast.
But Rock wasn’t done.
“Who put his hands on my sister?” He snarled.
Murchison didn’t hesitate. He nodded at Alexander Harrison. “Him.”
No one expected what came next. A knife flew whispered through the air and lodged in Harrison’s abdomen. He gave a scream of pain and clutched at his midsection before falling to the floor.
Rock turned to Murchison. “We’re done. The Sinners won’t come after you for retribution.” With that he picked Keeley up again and walked out of the office. Cuba stood for a few seconds, shook her head then gave a stiff nod and left.
Turning in my chair I looked at the bastard on the floor moaning in pain. “You going to call someone in to take care of that?”
“No, why should I?” He said coolly. “I now have the Sinners right where I want them, in the palm of my hand with the heir to the throne’s fingerprints on a murder weapon.” He virtually crowed with glee and I just had to burst his bubble. Had to.
“You won’t find a single fingerprint on that knife, no DNA other than the dead guys’. Nothing that will link him to the Sinners or to my crew. But seeing that he’s here, in your warehouse, it links him to you and to Winifred.” I sat as if relaxed in my chair and watched him lose his shit.
Maybe I shouldn’t have needled him but he made it so damned easy.
“Get in here!” He shouted and two men came running into the office. “Take out the trash then get back here. We have work to do.”
By the look in the men’s faces they were looking forward to whatever the hell he had planned for me. I knew that as soon as Bruno had Dom secured he would come looking for me. All I had to do was hold on. I was good at that, at holding on. I held on to my sanity for ten years. I could hold on through whatever was coming. It wouldn’t be pleasant but he couldn’t kill me. Disfigure and maim me, sure...but kill? No, not as long as I refused to give him the key.
I had to hold on to the key until he agreed to let me leave.
The only other person who could give it to him, other than me, was Dominick. Which he didn’t know, obviously.
And by now Dominick was most probably not in a state to give anyone anything. Neither one of us were in a good place right now.
Half an hour later I was hanging in the exact position I had been in fifteen years ago. This time unlike before I was strong, much stronger than any of them suspected. I wasn’t wearing my clothes, only my underwear. The bastards had enjoyed cutting my clothes from my body. I silently thanked Cuba for her insistence on the unsexy underwear. It covered more than a bikini would have.
I stood on the balls of my feet on the cold floor and looked down at the bleached cement, an indication of blood having been removed plenty of times. I had to do it a time or two when I was younger. I didn’t say a word. I saved my strength and waited.
Murchison sat in a chair one of his goons had brought in and scrolled through my phone. Not that he was going to find anything other than the numbers of my crew. No texts, no social media connections, no emails. Nothing. Just phone numbers.
“You live a very boring life, Noelle.” He finally said as he threw the phone to the side. I didn’t look to see if it was broken because it didn’t matter. No one needed it to track me. Everyone knew exactly where I was.
He slowly stood and walked over to me. The way I was stretched out I was taller than him and I could see it pissed him off. He couldn’t look me in the eyes without lifting up on his toes.
“And here we are, right where we ended fifteen years ago. Isn’t it strange how life circles around and around? I have a surprise for you. Now, I don’t want you to be too shocked so let’s just say I’ve brought your past back to life to say hello.”
I had no idea what the hell he was talking about so I said nothing and waited to see what was going to happen next.
I couldn’t stop the gasp even if I had tried. He was right. He had brought my past back to life and he walked in through the door, very much alive.
Olaf. What the hell?
At first I was shocked and stunned and then rage started burning in my gut. Especially when he started talking.
“I thought that by now you woul
d have the information we need. What the fuck is taking so long?” His voice was the same, deep and rumbly but his eyes weren’t. They were cold as ice and dead, exactly like Murchison’s.
“Who the hell are you?” My voice sounded scratchy and not like my own.
“Hello wife, long time no see.” He grinned before slamming a fist into my abdomen. It would have hurt a lot more if he hadn’t advertised what he was about to do and gave me time to prepare. But it did hurt. And so did my stupid, stupid teenaged heart that broke into a million sharp shards.
It couldn’t be. I saw him die. Or did I?
“I’m no one’s wife.” I rasped angrily.
Two more punches to my midriff left me swinging and gasping for breath. I had heard and felt my ribs give under the power of those punches.
“Wrong wife, you are mine until I say you’re not.” He snarled in my face. He had no problems looking in my eyes because he was almost seven foot tall and with the width to go with the height. And that’s why those punches had so much power behind them.
Me, his? No, not only no but hell the fuck no.
“You lost...that privilege...fifteen years ago, asshole. Had that mistake of a marriage annulled the minute I was able to.”
He was about to hit me again when Murchison moved him out the way with a tap on his back and took his place in front of me.
“I can make that marriage reappear as if by magic and you know what it would mean for you, Noelle, don’t you? If you die everything you own becomes the property of your husband. That includes your business, the property, the cars, the crew, the baby, all of it becomes his. And I’ll rip that place and those women apart to find the key. You know I don’t make idle threats.”
If I could have shrugged I would have.
“I’m not the owner of the business, the building, the cars, the crew or the baby. If I die you’ll get nothing, absolutely nothing. The key isn’t there anyway, how stupid do you think I am?”
Olaf shoved him out of the way and pushed his furious face into mine. “You were stupid enough to fuck some filthy biker where everyone could see you, you whore! You are mine and you fucked him! Why the fuck would you do that after staying faithful for fifteen goddamn years?” He raged.
Neither Black Nor White (Iron Dogz MC, #6) Page 40
