“This isn’t the way to handle this. We need a separate meeting for this,” Colt said.
“But for now, we can take a vote on the plans for Diego,” Jace said.
“There are already plans for Diego!” Dean roared.
“Yes, but we haven’t voted on whether or not to take the plan on,” Jagger said.
“All in favor of sending a club member inside to kill Diego, raise your hand,” Colt said.
And Dean was the only one who raised his hand.
“This isn’t the same club I founded. All of you are pussies. You’ve lost your edge, and none of you deserve to—”
“Willow! Run!”
Our ears perked up. We heard something thumping off in the distance. I whipped my gaze down to Colt as his eyes widened.
“Did you hear that?” I asked.
Another thump. And then a crash.
“The girls,” Colt said.
“Willow! No!” Liv shrieked.
“That was definitely Olivia,” I said.
Another crash. Some tussling about. We all heard the girls screaming out for one another in the back room. We all kicked into action. Colt went dashing down the hallway as I started clearing corners. Something had happened, and it wasn’t good. I cleared every corner and room I came do as Colt rose his foot. He kicked down the locked door we had the girls behind, and suddenly Liv’s sobs filled the room.
“They—they have her,” she said, sniffling.
“Who? Who has who?” Colt asked.
But I knew who she was talking about.
On both accounts.
I kept my gun up as I walked into the room. Liv cried into Colt’s arms and his eyes flashed over to me. Relief flooded them, but anger slowly replaced it. I looked at the shattered bulletproof glass and furrowed my brow deeply. Coltoof glass as my brow furrowed deeply. Colt pointed over to the wall and I followed his trajectory, finding three gaping holes in the wood of the bedroom wall. I walked over to it. I dug out one of the rounds. And when my eyes fell in it, I cursed underneath my breath.
Fucking hell.
Some asshat had used armor-piercing rounds to get through the glass.
“What happened?” I asked.
I whipped around to face Olivia as she cowered in Colt’s arms.
“Olivia, I need you to talk to me. I know you’re rattled, but—”
“The first shot bounced off the window,” she said.
Her eyes met mine as the other guys gathered outside the door.
“The second one shattered the window, and that was when I was grabbed,” she said.
“Someone touched you?” Colt asked.
“Willow grabbed my feet and tugged me out of their grasp. Another bullet came through the weakened part of the window to make the hole bigger—”
“So, there were two people.”
“Yes,” she said.
“What happened with Willow?” I asked.
“She—just fucking dove out the window. I guess to chase down whoever tried to snatch me up. I tried to reach out for her, but—”
Before Olivia could get the rest of her sentence out, I pushed my way through the guys. I shoved Dean into the wall and practically knocked Jagger off his damn feet. I barreled through the lodge and slammed the front door open. I almost took the damn thing off its hinges.
“Willow!” I bellowed.
My voice filled the night, but all I heard was the sound of crickets chirping. Wings fluttering. No boot falls. No scuttling. No fighting. No tires peeling away.
“Willow!!”
I cupped my hands over my mouth and yelled. I cased the entire lodge, listening as Olivia’s soft sobs fluttered through the pierced window. I raked my hands through my hair. I felt my mind spiraling, reducing me to nothing but a pile of anxiety. I’d never intended for Willow to get involved with any of this. That wasn’t what I wanted for her. This was a bunch of bullshit she had no business being wrapped up in. It felt like Debra all over again. Like she had been ripped from me, and there was nothing I could do about it.
“Thor!”
I whipped around at the sound of Duke’s voice. A man who, up until this point, had been completely silent.
“Did you find something?” I asked.
Duke trotted up to me before he put his hand on my arm.
“How long have you been fucking around with her?” he asked.
I ripped my arm away from his grasp.
“You know I don’t mean it like that, Thor. Stop reading into shit. How long have you cared about her?” Duke asked.
I panted for air as my eyes scanned the horizon, looking for any sign of her anywhere.
“I can’t let anything happen to her,” I said.
“We’re going to find her, Thor,” Duke said.
“Why the fuck did I bring them here?” I whispered.
“Because you’re protecting them. Because Olivia is a client right now. You did your job. This isn’t your fault.”
“It damn well feels like my fault!” I roared.
I whipped around, taking in Duke’s stern stare.
“I refuse to let another woman I care about get fucked up because I’m in her life,” I said.
“Is that what you think is happening?” Duke asked.
“I will not let Willow get hurt because some bullshit situation is out of my control.”
Duke’s face relaxed. “This isn’t Debra, Thor. This is different. We’ll find her, just like we always do. She’ll be okay.”
“She better fucking be. Or Dean is dead,” I bit.
I meant every fucking word of it, too. As far as I was concerned, every single thing that came down onto our heads and the heads of those we loved and cared for was Dean’s fault. His fault for not being more patient. His fault for throwing us down this damn rabbit hole. His fault for being too quick to pull a trigger and get this shit over with.
And if something happened to Willow, I’d never forgive that man.
Chapter 17
Willow
I felt myself go lax even though I wasn’t completely out. Holding my breath and going limp helped the man with his arm around my throat to think that he’d actually gotten the best of me. But I still wasn’t in great shape. The world was darker than it had been, and it was hard to get my feet underneath me. I felt him dragging me. My heels scraped along the desert floor. Hitting rocks. Barreling over the slight vegetation allowed through the cracks of the earth. He had his fist in my hair. His arm around my wrist. Tugging me along, like I was some piece of unwanted luggage.
Or garbage.
I groaned, signaling the fact that I was “coming to,” and he slapped his hand over my mouth. From my hair to my face, in a split second. The man was strong and quick. Not a very good combination. I knew if I got out of his grasp, I’d be hard-pressed to get anywhere. Especially since there were at least two of them. One shooting that damn sniper rifle and another waiting to grab Liv out that fucking window.
Grab me out that fucking window.
I heard a car door open as I caught my breath. My vision cleared, but I still didn’t have my strength back. The man tossed my body into the backseat like a rag doll. Like I weighed nothing to him. I’d never be able to take on a man like that without motion behind my movements. That was the thing about my fighting skills. I didn’t have brute strength. I simply knew how to manipulate people’s energy as it came flying at me.
If this guy pinned me down, I didn’t stand a chance unless I could get my knee between his damn legs.
“Not the one we wanted,” a voice said.
I heard a gun cock off in the distance before the barrel fell to the top of my head.
“Well, it’s the one I got. So, step on it,” another voice said.
I slowly eased myself up into the seat before I felt something come down into my side. Like a fist. Or a boot heel. I groaned as my liver protested. As my body locked up. Someone in the front seat chuckled. Laughed disgustingly at me. Like my pain was solely for hi
s pleasure. I looked around the car as I caught my breath again, and I knew then and there that the only choice I had was to sit and wait this out.
Because there was no way I was taking on three men at once. Not without motion behind my movements.
“She’s pretty,” one said.
“Still not the one we wanted,” another grumbled.
“We still have leverage. Because this is who Thor’s fucking,” another voice said.
I froze. A shiver worked its way up my spine. Holy hell, someone had been watching us and I hadn’t caught it. And not only that, but they knew Thor’s name. I didn’t know how I knew, but in the pit of my gut I knew these guys were connected with the cartel. The car struck up. The tires spun out in the dirt. A silent tread muffled by the sand before the car shot off.
I leaned up enough to place my forehead against the window.
My eyes opened and I watched the lodge quickly fall from view. I saw two men standing out in the yard, and I knew the massive figure was Thor. The only solace I took from the entire thing was the fact that Liv was safe. They hadn’t gotten to her, and they hadn’t killed me yet. Both of those were very good signs. Especially since they were talking about using me as leverage. It meant I wouldn’t be dying anytime soon. Unless someone fucked something up.
I grunted as I sat up in my seat.
“Where the hell are you taking me?” I asked.
The man in the front seat answered me with only a laugh. I felt the butt of another gun press into my temple and I looked over at the man beside me. He actually wasn’t a big as I thought he was. Just had some beefy arms. Like it was the only thing on his body he worked out. He looked like fucking Popeye, and it made my giggle.
“What?” the man glowered.
“Your arms,” I said, giggling.
The man in the passenger seat began laughing.
“He skips leg day a lot,” the man said.
“Shut up,” the man in the front seat said.
“Before I shoot you, too,” the man with the gun said.
Too?
Wait, had someone already died tonight?
“What the hell do you want?” I asked.
“You can ask all the questions you want, but all I’ll do it knock you out,” the Arm Man said.
He pressed the gun further into my temple and I bit down onto the inside of my cheek. I slowly smoothed my hand over the door, hoping to find a handle. Or a lock release. I’d toss myself out of the car going seventy miles an hour if it meant not spending another second with these asshats. But the more I felt around, the more my stomach dropped.
The door handles on the inside had been removed.
“Gotcha,” the man in the front seat said.
I closed my eyes and tried to calm my racing heart. I drew in deep breaths, trying to settle my body. It was never good when my mind sped out of control. I needed to keep it focused. Keep it centered. But it seemed the only thing my brain wanted to focus on was the fact that I was outnumbered. Outgunned. Trapped in a car with no handles and probably child-locks activated on the back doors. My side hurt. My neck hurt. My head hurt.
Fuck. I was really in trouble.
At least they don’t have Liv.
“I see you panicking,” Arm Man said.
Without thinking, I pulled my leg back and jammed it into his knee. The man cried out and the car careened off the road. Something cracked. The man hissed. I heard the man in the passenger seat cursing as the gun clattered to the floor. I moved to try and reach it. I bit through the pain so deeply into my cheek it made my skin bleed. I felt my fingers grace over the metal as Arm Man wailed over his knee.
“She fucking dislocated it, you fucktards!” he exclaimed.
I heard him rattling off in Spanish, and it confirmed my theory. These guys were from the damn cartel this club was chasing. I had to get out of there. I had to free myself somehow. I couldn’t expect the guys to come after me. Rule number two that I was taught in my self-defense classes was never assume help is coming.
Rule number one was always have a weapon. But I didn’t always follow that rule.
Maybe I should.
“Oh, no you don’t.”
I heard the growling voice appear in my ear before the gun was swept out from underneath my hand. I whimpered as I felt the gun metal disappear, no longer gracing my fingertips. I looked up and saw the man in the passenger seat hovering over me. Smiling with a maniacal smile. Eyes black as night. He picked up the gun and pointed it to me. Cocked the barrel of it. He pressed it against my forehead and I closed my eyes, readying myself for my death.
“Don’t,” the man in the front seat said.
“You’re no fun,” the other man glowered.
“My fucking knee!” Arm Man exclaimed.
“Shut up about your knee. You’ll be fine.”
Their voices started swirling around my head and I could no longer tell them apart. There was something in my ribcage. Something else pinning my leg down. The pain was great as I laid there on the floorboard of the backseat of the car. I felt how fast we were going. The turns we careened around. I felt myself getting motion sickness as my stomach rolled. My abs heaved.
I vomited in the car and should have expected what came next.
“Disgusting woman,” someone murmured.
Before I knew it, the butt of that gun hammered down into my temple. I crashed to the floor, groaning as my cheek fell into the mess I had made. The butt of the gun came down again, this time in my shoulder. I cried out in pain. Tears filled my eyes. But I wouldn’t cry out for mercy. I wouldn’t cry out for them to stop. I wouldn’t give them the pleasure.
Especially if they planned on killing me tonight.
“Just pass out already!” the man roared.
And when the butt of the gun came back down into my head, the world fell blank.
A reel played behind my eyes. Thor’s smile. His touch. His hand threaded with mine. I was in some sort of limbo world between sleeping and awake. Unable to move, but still somewhat aware of my surroundings. I teetered on that edge, clinging to the only life I still had left. Was I dying? Was I sleeping? Had I already died? Had they already killed me?
I saw Thor off in the distance, beckoning to me. Waving at me. Cupping his hands over his mouth and calling out my name.
“Willow!”
And as I took off through a field of wildflowers with a sundress fluttering around my knees, I felt myself slowly give over to the darkness. To the sleep.
To death, if this was supposed to be my time.
Rule number one, carry a weapon at all times. Rule number two, never assume help is coming.
Rule number three?
Never give up.
Chapter 18
Thor
I pulled away from Duke and began searching around the grounds of the lodge. And finally, I came upon tire marks about three hundred feet away. There was a massive mound of dirt kicked up, supposedly where Willow dropped out of the window. I followed the scuffle marks before two lines dragged for just shy of three hundred feet. Fear clenched my gut. Someone got the jump on Willow. And I knew what that woman was capable of, because she almost took my ass down along with Colt’s. Those had to be her heel marks as she was dragged along. And my fears were confirmed when the two drag marks turned into tire marks.
Treads that sped away from the lodge and toward the long desert highway.
“I’ve got one set of boot prints underneath the window!” Duke exclaimed.
“Got another at the back of the lodge!” Jace yelled.
“I think I found where the sniper would have been!” Maverick roared.
Three men.
Three men would have taken down someone like Willow. Because she would have needed movement to stay with them and she wouldn’t have had it if someone had been dragging her.
I closed my eyes and replayed the most plausible scenario in my mind.
The bullets ricocheting off the window until it shattered. Olivia b
eing snagged through the window. Willow grabbing her feet and pulling, just like Olivia described. Then, that man beneath the window grabbing Willow as opportunity. Pulling her out. Tumbling and rolling to the ground. The scuffle marks showed me she put up a fight, but in order to drag her the man would have had to have wrapped his arm around her throat. Cut off her ability to breathe in order to gain her strength.
I ran my hand around my throat as the scene played out behind my eyes.
“The sniper’s footprints lead back to the tire tracks,” Maverick said as he jogged up next to me.
“Same with the footprints around back,” Jace said as he caught his breath.
“So, the car was here. Empty and in the darkness. If we assume there’s a driver that sat with it, then there’s four men with Willow right now,” I said.
“Worst case scenario, yes,” Maverick said.
“Did you find the shell casings?” I asked.
“Two of them. Not the third. But I didn’t take the usual time to look around. Here,” Maverick said.
He held out his hand and showed them to me. The types of shell casings found on armor-piercing hollow-bullet rounds.
“Holy fuck, these men weren’t playing around,” I breathed.
“We have to assume it’s the cartel. There’s no one else that would come after Olivia with that kind of firepower,” Jace said.
“So, we’re assuming Willow wasn’t the original target?” Maverick asked.
“You heard Olivia. They snagged her and Willow pulled her out of their grasp. I’m almost certain she wasn’t the intended target,” I said.
“The tire tracks stop the moment they hit the road. It’s why we didn’t hear them screech away,” Colt said as he ran up.
“Do we know what direction they went in, at least?” I asked.
“The sand tread marks go left. Away from the lodge. They didn’t pass back by the front door, which means they’re heading back into town, most likely,” Colt said.
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