by Evie Monroe
The ginger said, “But—”
“Leave us now,” he said, louder.
The two men filed out. He closed the door behind him and gave me a rueful look. “Oh, Ollie.” He knelt in front of me and started to untie the bindings on my wrists. “They have those guns, I don’t see why they need to tie you, too.”
“Dad,” I said, watching him as he struggled to find a way to untie the cords. Tears started to form in the corners of my eyes, but not because I was sad.
It was because I was so damn angry, I couldn’t see straight.
But he just continued to babble, almost as if I wasn’t there. As if I was a thing instead of his only child. “I told them it wasn’t necessary, for them to—”
“Dad!” I shouted. I would’ve slapped him if I had my hands free, but my voice did the trick.
He looked up at me, guilt in his eyes.
Now that I had his attention, I took a deep breath. “What the fuck did you do?”
His voice was fragile. “It was the only way. Please believe me.”
“What was the only way? Using me for bait? Treating me like a piece of shit? For what?”
“I love you, Ollie,” he protested.
I scoffed at him. How could he say that, after all this? After seeing me, tied up, while men with guns pawed at me? “No, you don’t. What you’ve done shows me exactly what you think of me.”
He held out his hands, pleading. “I did it to keep you safe. To keep us safe. You have to–”
“No. I don’t have to do anything. Being held hostage by men with guns is not keeping me safe!” I roared at him. I didn’t think I’d ever used that tone of voice with him before. He stopped speaking at once. I calmed my voice. “How did you even find out who I was with, anyway?”
He exhaled slowly and stepped away from me, finally freeing the cords. I massaged my wrists as he said, “When you were taken from the Pacific Acres Country Club, I got a message from Hell’s Fury that they’d done this, and if I wanted to ensure our safety and make sure it never happened again, I needed to do as they said. So I called them, and they told me you’d been taken by another gang...those Cobras. They knew this Phoenix person had taken you. They told me that if I ever wanted to see you alive again, I’d have to cooperate and do everything they said. So I have.”
“I don’t understand. You’re supposed to be so powerful. That’s what I hear. Why are we at the mercy of these thugs?”
“You don’t understand. I owe them. They have always been the ones providing my power and protection. But they’ve grown too powerful, now. And now they’re taking over everything. I’m nothing now.”
He shook his head quietly, standing in the corner, wringing his hands. For all he’d invested in his company, he was still weak.
I ripped the cords from my feet and stood up. “Get out,” I muttered.
“Ollie, I—”
“GET THE FUCK OUT!” I screamed at him. “I don’t ever want to see you again.”
With his eyes toward the ground, he nodded solemnly. And then he quickly stepped out the door, letting the two Hell’s Fury members in to continue watching over me.
I had no idea what was coming next. But I knew Blaze was right. There would be blood. Judging from the last gunfight, these men were used to it. And I had a feeling that this time, we’d be lucky to escape with just a bloody t-shirt.
We’d be lucky to escape with our lives.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Phoenix
Cullen’s house on the side of the cliff looked like a war zone. Even thought he’d boarded up the broken windows and cleaned up the shattered glass, the orange haze from the sun setting over the horizon gave the walls the impression of being on fire. The bullet holes scattered over the walls, the television hanging at a drunken angle on the wall with the screen busted out, and the dried blood all over the white furniture resembled the losing side in a third-world country conflict.
If I knew Cullen, he was probably getting tired of the place, anyway. He’d bring a crew in to completely gut the place. That was Cullen. He never stayed with one thing.
But I couldn’t give a shit about anything going on in Cullen’s life or any of my brother’s lives right now. Where before I lived to help them out—Cobras first, everything else second—all I could think about was Liv. Was she safe? What had they done to her? Hell, I didn’t even know if she was alive or dead.
I wanted her. I wanted her back in my bed, under me, letting out those sweet noises that made me lose control in the only way I wanted to. She was without a doubt the sweetest thing I’d ever had in my life. The sweetest, the wildest, the sexiest. She was my goddamn everything.
And I’d lost her. If anything happened to her now, I’d never forgive myself.
Jet sat on the same couch he’d been bleeding on before, his boots up on the wrecked glass coffee table, a bandage under his t-shirt so big that it made him look like the Hulk. Our little drama queen.
I wasn’t in the mood to give him shit about it, though.
I felt like I’d had my balls cut off after that phone call from Blaze. Last thing I wanted was to have to bend over and take it up the ass from the Fury. But I had a feeling there was a lot more of that in store, if I didn’t get my brothers to help. When I got off the phone, I’d quickly called Cullen, who called church.
Now, the club was standing around, wanting to know what the hell was going on. I felt like the clock was ticking. I collapsed on the other side of the sofa and dragged a hand over my face. “All right. Let’s get this started.”
Cullen bristled in the leather chair in front of the fireplace. As president, that was his line. “Hey. Hold it, Trigger. Zain ain’t here.”
I looked around, impatient. Checked the time on my phone. “Fuck that. We’re wasting time.”
“I told them eight. It’s not eight yet. And we can’t do shit until you get that call from them.”
I gave him a dark look and crossed my arms.
“What are you so riled up about, big brother?” Jet said, taking a drag of his cigarette. “Wasn’t one gunfight this weekend enough for you?”
I turned my anger on him. I knew he was kidding, my baby brother who could flash his dimples and make everyone fall in love with him. But I wasn’t in the mood for him to be cute. “They’ve got her.” I looked at Hart. “Can’t you find out where Anderson operates out of? I bet you she’s there. Blaze said he was his partner.”
Jet gave me a blank look. “They’ve got...“ It dawned on him and he raked a hand through his thick hair. His gaze turned dark and he let out a hard, bitter laugh. “They got that bitch of yours? I should’ve guessed. Her middle name’s Trouble. What the fuck is going on?”
“Olivia. Hell’s Fury is partnering with Anderson, and now they have her hostage.”
“What?” Hart growled. “Fuck me. How could they? Why are they taking chances like this?”
When Jet finally got it through his head, he punched a fist into his palm. I wished he was smashing the bastard who had Liv.
“You’re shitting me,” he snarled, but I was sure he could tell I didn’t have a smile on my face.
Hart tapped on his keyboard and shook his head. “Anderson’s side business is purely underground. He owns a shitload of properties in the Bay but no one knows where the hell he operates out of.”
I shook my head as the patched-up back door slid open and Zain walked through. “What’s up?” he said, taking in the tension on each of our faces.
Cullen took a drag of his cigarette and said, “Yeah. So here’s the situation. Change in plans. We’re not gonna meet with the Fury at the underpass at midnight. It seems they wanted to fast-track things a little. Turns out they took Nix’s girl.”
Hart looked up from his laptop and frowned. “For what purpose?”
Cullen frowned. “They want us to fork over the contacts for the overseas car-boosting business so that they can take over the bay.”
Drake shook his head. “So basically
everything we have that’s worth anything right now.” Zain threw his shit down on the ground and started to pace.
“Well, we ain’t gonna let that happen, are we?” he asked, looking at Cullen for confirmation. “We can’t fucking let that happen, right?”
“Like hell we will,” Drake assured him, punching the pillow next to him. “The Cobras took decades developing that list. We do that and we can kiss the Cobras goodbye. That’s all we got.”
It was all we had. The list of contacts, over five-hundred mostly Russian names that we did business with on a regular basis, was so heavily guarded that only Cullen and I knew the details of it.
We couldn’t afford to lose the millions of dollars of business we made from it. Giving it up didn’t mean losing that business entirely, but it did mean an end to our monopoly. We’d take a major hit from the competition. It also felt like the first battle in a war that would eventually end up cutting the head off the Cobras for good.
Cullen dragged a hand over his face. He looked tired in a way I’d never seen him. Everyone turned to him, waiting to hear that the Fury was out of their minds, and that we’d get around this, but he didn’t offer the reassurance we needed. Instead, he looked at the floor. For once, he looked out of ideas.
“So what’s the plan?” Hart asked, and they all leaned forward, waiting for it.
Cullen shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s what we’re here to discuss. If we go after them and try to save Olivia, there will be a lot of casualties. It’s a big risk.”
“Hey, I got an idea,” Jet said, looking pointedly at me. “How about we keep our business and tell this girl to go fuck herself? We don’t owe her anything.”
I jumped to my feet, ready to knock the shit out of him. “You little prick.”
“Oh, right, because Nix can’t get his head out of her pussy. Let me ask you a question.” He stuck his chin out at me. “Why isn’t her daddy helping her out?”
Cullen said, “Her father appears to be working with Hell’s Fury. He’s the one who offered her up as bait.”
“And how do we know this?” Jet’s eyes shifted between us. “She’s his daughter. You’ll never get me to believe she didn’t know what he was up to. How do we know she ain’t working with them all and setting us up?”
“She’s not,” I ground out.
“Again,” Jet persisted, crossing his thick arms in front of him. “How. Do. You. Know?”
I scowled at him. When had my brother gotten to be such an asshole? For so long, it’d always been just the two of us, and I’d protected him with everything I had. Why was he turning on me like this? “I know, because I trust her.”
“Your dick might know her.” He rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “Are we really going to risk our lives, risk our livelihood on Nix’s fucked-up sense of judgment?”
I scanned the faces of the other guys. They were nodding in agreement.
Here we go again, I thought.
I started to laugh, my hands tightening into fists. Just fucking what I needed right now, a bunch of doubt from the guys who should’ve been backing me, no matter what. My blood boiled as he continued to go on about how we shouldn’t be risking our entire livelihood for one woman in trouble, a woman who was probably a traitor, anyway.
I sat there until I couldn’t listen any longer. Then, without warning, I lunged for him, across the coffee table. I reached for his shoulders and almost made contact when two of the guys grabbed my arms.
Jet flinched as Zain and Drake held me back. He mumbled, “Fine. You go get her back on your own. But we’ll keep our contacts. None of this would’ve happened if you hadn’t gotten your dick stuck in her.”
“When did you become such an asshole, Jet?” I ripped myself from Zain’s and Drake’s grasp and launched myself at my little asshole of a brother, punching him square where I knew he’d wail like a baby—in his wound.
He growled, shoving me off him. “You’re her bitch, you know that? How could you do this to the Cobras?”
What the fuck? I’d risen to vice president just because of my loyalty to their cause. I was the Cobras, one of the reasons we were what we were today. Hearing him call me out didn’t feed my anger, though. It made me more sad than anything. Like everything I’d done these past few years was for nothing.
I turned away from him and grabbed my helmet.
“You used to trust me, Jet,” I muttered. “You used to have my back. What the fuck happened to you?”
“What happened to me?” He laughed, his jaw working, muscles tight. He looked at the other boys for confirmation, with a Do you believe this shit? Look on his face. “What happened to you? You’ve turned into a goddamn pussy.”
That was it. I was done. I ripped myself away and grabbed for him, but this time he anticipated the shot and blocked me. Drake and Hart held him back, while Cullen and Zain barred me from him. Stars clouded my vision as I tried to tear free and get my hands on him.
Fight as I tried, I couldn’t get there. And he must’ve known it, or else he would’ve shut his sorry ass up. Instead, he kept talking, getting me more and more riled.
“Ever since you found this bitch, you’ve been ignoring us, coming out of your hole to see us only when she gets your ass into trouble and you need us to bail you out. Well, I’m done. I warned you, you’re burying yourself. But you won’t listen, and I’m not going to let you bury the Cobras along with you. Get out of here. You’re an embarrassment to this club.”
“An embarrassment? Fucking really?
I’d never thought about disowning my brother until that moment. Never thought I’d see the day he chose the Cobras over me. I was the one who got him into the club, after all. Everything he had, everything he was, he owed everything to me.
And here he was, dropping me like a rock. “Fuck you,” I snarled at him, making one last play for his throat.
Cullen blocked me. “Listen you assholes. You’re wasting our time. Shut the fuck up and sit down. Let me talk,” he boomed, effectively putting an end to things. Cullen had always been good to me, and unlike Jet, I knew not to bite the hand that fed me.
I slumped back into the sofa and ignored the hell out of Jet. Until he came apologizing on his hands and knees, I was done with his shit. Done with him. Wouldn’t help him if he was bleeding on the street.
At least I told myself that.
Cullen said, “Look. Contrary to what you might think, Jet, this isn’t all Nix’s fault. Word on the street is that the Fury has been looking to take over our business for the past year, ever since their business went south. I didn’t pay any mind to it because I didn’t see how they could possibly have an in. They’ve been biding their time, waiting for the right situation to come along. Now they have the leverage on us they need.”
“Like hell they do,” Jet spit out. “The girl means nothing to me. I don’t want to get my ass shot fighting for her. Let them do their thing, and we’ll do ours. Business as usual.”
“That’s not the only leverage they have,” Cullen said. “They’ve been slowly taking over all the operations in the city, which was why they took Olivia. They want Anderson’s business as well. They have big guns, now, and they’re not afraid to use them on us. So this was going to happen sooner or later. The question is, do you want to live in an Aveline Bay that is completely owned by Hell’s Fury? Because I goddamn don’t.”
Hart nodded. “I’ve seen a lot of gossip online. Rumors, really. But goddamn. It makes sense. They’re all over Aveline Bay, stretching out their arms like a spider. It’s only a matter of time before they own everything. The cars, the guns, the women. Everything.”
Zain said, “Fuck. That would be hell. They’d run us out of town. Or worse.”
“What are we up against? Are they really that big now?” Dash asked. “I thought they were small time.”
Cullen nodded. “They’ve been gradually upping their numbers. I put them at twice our size. This isn’t going to be easy. I think if we’d met them at the underpass t
onight they would’ve wiped us out. So we got to be smart about this.”
Just then, my phone dinged with a text from an unknown number. All heads swung in my direction. I scooped my cellphone up off the table and read the message.
124 Coveside Road in the Aveline Bay business park. 11PM. Enter through the back. You and Cullen only. Fuck up and I’ll kill her while you watch.
I fisted my hands. Then I read it to them. They all growled in outrage.
“Fuck this,” Drake said. “ He can’t do this to us. Let me at him. If I get my hands on that Blaze I’ll rip his head off.”
“No. Just Cullen and me,” I put in. We had to do this right. Play by the rules until we were close enough to make our move and make sure she was safe.
Jet frowned. “Good. Cause I don’t want any part in this shit.”
Cullen shook his head. “We ride together. If we send the signal for backup, we need you guys close.”
Jet sank into the sofa, putting his feet up on the coffee table like he was in for the night. “Fuck that. I’m going home. Kicking back. Having a beer.”
I knew that was a crock of shit. He may have had it against me, but I could see it in his face. He’d be there. He might have deserted me, but he owed everything to his brothers and wouldn’t desert them all.
“You do want to put an end to Hell’s Fury’s rule before they own the whole fucking city, don’t you?” Cullen shot back, his eyes on fire with disappointment. “Before they think they can come into our backyard any time they want and take what they please? Jesus, Jet, get your head out of your ass.”
Jet frowned. “Yeah, you know I hate those fuckers, but—”
“Then we do it my way,” he said, leaning forward and rubbing his hands together. “Like I said people are going to get killed. But if we take them by surprise, we’ll limit our casualties. First, we make sure the girl is safe. Then we unleash our own fury on these Fury mother fuckers and make them pay.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Olivia
They removed my ties and took me out to a bathroom, letting me have a minute to myself before they started knocking, asking what was taking so long. I did my business, rinsed my hands, and stared at myself in the mirror. I looked terrified and sick, my skin pale and my eyes bloodshot. When I got out, they were waiting for me, leering at me as if I’d just changed into sexy lingerie or something.
