“Dani, you were always too smart for your britches. I’ve met someone and want to pursue it, but know Father would lose his ever-lovin’ mind. Not to mention Mother needs help before she fades away, as do the others. Took a while but I figured it out and realized what you and Dorothea already knew. The whole fucking community we have lived in at one time or another was not only wrong but also contained a lot of evil men. In my heart, I knew it needed to stop and when Noah talked to me, we came up with a plan. And now we are in the middle of it, though it’s not turning out how we had planned it.”
As we talk, I see Matty keeping an eye on our father, who is still out cold. From his backpack, Matty pulls out some zip ties and pulls both our father’s arms and legs together, making sure he can’t move or try to manipulate either of us for control. When we hear the lock disengage, we both shut up and look that way. When I see Noah being pushed in, his face bloody, I feel the panic coming off Matty.
“You want to save that little bitch, well now you can suffer with her. Thought you were smarter than that, Noah. For Christ’s sake, I taught you better. We have the ability to get as much pussy as we want and you have to go and feel sorry for the latest one. Like this isn’t the only bitch we’ve used and passed on, come on, little brother, get your head outta your ass. I’ll leave you in here to have some fun then get back to business. I’mgiving you a gift to have Daneira first, which you know I don’t usually do. Get that taste and then put her outta your mind. I’ll be back in a bit. Have fun, but don’t damage the merchandise too much.”
As Samson slams the door while chuckling, Matty turns to me for a second then he moves to stand in front of me as he turns. Noah sees it and I see his face turn to stone.
“Really, Matty, you think I’m like them? I’ve never put my hands or anything on a woman who didn’t want it. I’m not a rapist or child molester, for Christ’s sake. Remember, brother, this was my idea to bring your father and my brothers down at the same time. I had no idea they would involve Daneira and Dorothea. Sorry, fuck, forgot Dani and Dottie. Now we need to come up with a plan as, at the moment, the three of us are fucked.”
“Yeah, you are one stupid motherfucker. Goddamn it, Matthew, take these off of me this instant and help me up. What the hell are you waiting for? I’ve given you a direct order, son, now move your ass.”
Matty doesn’t move a muscle except to look down at our father. The mood coming off of Matty is scaring me but again, I bite my tongue. Better to fade into the background. Well, until our father opens his mouth.
“Son, come on, we don’t have a lot of time before the brotherhood arrives. I want to dip my cock into that whore once more before we sell her off. Both her and your other sister have a huge price on their heads. If there’s time, I’ll even let you get yourself some. Come on, Matthew.”
Something catches my eye and I see Noah has moved and is just about to kick our father in the kidney area. When he does, the sound coming from that bastard’s mouth is like music to my ears. After all he and the elders did to Dottie and me, I couldn’t care less if Noah and Matty beat his dilapidated ass to death.When Matty tells Noah to stop, I’m kind of shocked. Then he explains it to us.
“I want him dead just as much as both of you. My plan though is to trade him off to the brotherhood so they can deal with him. He’s been fucking them from the beginning. He used every one of the people who were trafficked and ended up at the ‘property.’ And he was skimming off the top, so he basically was stealing from them in all aspects. They told him not to touch the merchandise, and he did. And he stole their money. I’m sure they’d like a chance to punish the motherfucker for his sins. Noah, pull him over into that corner. Yeah, the one with the puddles and shit. Let him get a feeling of how those other folks felt when he was holding them. I need to check Dani’s injuries really quick.”
When my brother turns my way, I curl into myself on the chair. When his hands touch my calves I almost scream, but that’s where they stay. Carefully he removes my socks to look at my feet. His inhale of breath tells me they are really bad, which I knew by how they felt. Pulling his backpack off and digging in it, he brings out a jar of something. When his eyes hit mine, I can see the sadness in his.
“Dani, this is a mixture of aloe vera and arnica. It will give you some relief from the pain but your feet are bruised and skin is broken. I don’t have any pain pills but I’ll give you some Tylenol, which might help a little. Do you trust me enough to let me put this cream on your feet?”
Watching him and seeing the look in his eyes, I nod. Matty then grabs some gloves, and after putting them on, he starts to spread the cream on the bottom of my feet. At first it hurts bad, but gradually it starts to feel a little better. He’s right, it helps but doesn’t take the pain away totally. When I hear pills shaking in a bottle, I look up to see Noah opening up a bottle and shaking some into his hand. He leans toward me, his hand out, whileshowing me the bottle in his other hand. At this point I’ll take just about anything if it helps me with this pain. It seems to be getting worse as time goes by, even with the cream, though that cuts the overwhelming feeling of pain. Putting my hand out, Noah drops the Tylenol in it, then reaches down and grabs a bottle of water out of a bag he brought in. He opens it and again, hands it to me. I put the pills in my mouth then swallow them down with some water. Never knew water could taste so good. Maybe because it helped rinse out the blood taste that has been living in my mouth since Samson took me from the garage. Damn, I pray Duchess is alive and getting taken care of. Hearing a throat clear, I look to see Noah has two sandwiches in his hands, both stretched to me.
“Pick whichever you want, Dani. One is turkey with Swiss; the other is ham with cheddar.”
I get what he’s trying to do by letting me have choices, which is nice of him. With my belly so upset, not sure I can eat but I grab the turkey and Swiss. Matty already has a sandwich and is eating while our father is still out or at least faking to be out. Slowly unwrapping the sandwich, I take a small bite. Damn, it’s good, lots of turkey with the Swiss and some lettuce and tomatoes with mayonnaise.Yummy, I think to myself just as we hear a moan coming from the corner. Great, the old man is waking up. Why couldn’t he stay out until we were done eating? Matty walks to him, his one hand holding a sandwich. When he leans down, he reaches for our father’s wrists, and cuts the zip tie. I watch as Matty helps him roll over and then gets him in a seated position. He hands the sandwich and then reaches behind him to Noah, who is holding a bottle of water. Dad looks first at Matty then the food and water. Cautiously, he takes both and tries to sit up a bit straighter. It dawns on me that our father is not getting old, he just is old. The years have not been good to the unkind man. That’s karma when your soul is black and youdon’t have a heart or soul, so I guess that’s what happens. A very small part of me feels bad for him, but then our childhood flashes before my eyes and all the pity I have evaporates. There is nothing that can happen to him that would be enough for what he’s done to his family. As that thought passes through my mind, his eyes find me and the look on his face I can’t make out. Well, until the old bastard opens his mouth.
“Don’t worry, Daneira, your time is coming quickly. I might be a bit bruised and battered but it ain’t nothing to what’s coming your way, slut. I made sure the brotherhood found the vilest human being they could find to sell you to. His playthings generally don’t last a month or two before he is looking for a new one. So prepare, daughter, your last days on this earth are about to be very painful. I hope he breaks you before he kills you and gets rid of your body.”
Before I can say a word, Matty backhands the old man hard.
“Don’t talk to her, you old fuck. You are not in charge any longer, hear me? Sit here, shut your mouth, eat your food, and mind your business, you got me?”
That brings a smile to my face just as our father looks my way. For some reason I’m feeling brave, so I lift my left hand and give him my middle finger as I take another bite of my sandwich. Matty sees me and starts to laugh, as does Noah too. Hearing the two of them, even with the situation we are in, I can’t help it……I giggle. This pisses my father off, which was exactly what I wanted to do. Mission accomplished. Guess this isn’t over yet, not by a long shot.
TWENTY
HALO
BENJI
The evil in this building and surrounding area has the hair on the back of my neck standing straight up. Waiting on someone to get here to help Dottie’s family is driving her nuts. I can see she wants to continue searching for Dani, but she’s torn. Hearing boots running, I turn just in time to see both Dr. Mal and Yoggie pushing into the room, both carrying huge bags across their shoulders. Since we had no idea what we were walking into, Dr. Mal wanted to be prepared. Just as the two men get settled in, Dottie grabs my hand, pulling me out of the room and moving down the hallway to the next closed door.
Before she can even touch the handle, I gently put her behind me and with a swift lift of my boot, I kick in the door. Carefully entering there are more people in this room, all handcuffed together, and then each end hooked to a circle in the wall low down. Dottie turns screaming for medical as we move out, heading back down the hall. We’ve kicked in more doors than I can comprehend when we come to one that is locked and has a padlock on the outside. I put my ear to the door and can hear some faint talking but can’t make it out as this door has recently been replaced. I look to Dottie, who is unaware of Avalanche,Panther, and Shadow making their way to where we are. Leave it to Dottie’s club sister to speak her mind.
“Whatcha waiting for, Halo, lightning to strike? Well, don’t think that’s the case here, so kick the fucking door in already.”
I hear both men mutter under their breaths but I just stare at Shadow, who is doing the same thing to me. This goes on for who knows how long, until Dottie loudly tells us to both grow up and knock it off. Then she reaches up, pulling me closer, asking me to please kick the door in. Not able to refuse her anything, I press her away and kick the door in. To my utter surprise my eyes are met by three sets of eyes, hands full of sandwiches, surprise written all over two men and, holy Mother of God, Dani. Dottie pushes me out of the way with such strength I literally tilt to the other side of the doorway. I can hear screaming, crying, and laughter as I try to right myself, well, with the help of Avalanche grabbing my upper arm I am able to do so.
Shadow and Dottie have Dani in their arms and I’m shocked to see the badass enforcer wipe her eyes, though she is nowhere near crying as hard as the twin sisters. I take a minute to look around and see Panther speaking to the two men, and that’s when I see an old man crouched down on the floor in the corner. His eyes are on the two sisters with such hatred in his glare I know, without anyone telling me, this asshole is Dottie and Dani’s father. Not even thinking about it for a second, I stomp my way to the old bastard, who is now glaring at me. I reach down for him and my fist connects with his nose first. The second punch hits him square on the jaw, and my third strike is from my boot into his side. Before I can continue beating his ass, I hear two distinctive voices begging me to stop. Turning, Dottie and Dani are right behind me. I look down to the miserable piece of shit and hock up a huge mouthful and spit it at him.
“Old man, you’re lucky they are such good women because I was on the path to beat your ass to a slow death. Don’t say aword, you’re already on thin ice that has some major cracks in it.”
Turning, I move away, grabbing both Dottie and Dani’s arms, pulling them with me. My eyes are going over Dani, seeing all the bruises and how she is leaning into Dottie, trying to stay off her feet. Moving quickly, I lean down, lifting Dani into my arms. She looks at me with shock then back at her sister, who is watching the both of us. My eyes shift to her feet then back to Dottie. She gets it when she nods and looks around, moving to grab the half-broken chair so I can place Dani on it. Hearing a man’s voice call for Dorothea, I turn to see a man who is definitely a sibling to Dottie and Dani. I feel her beside me before she leans into me. Something about the way she’s looking at her brother has me coming to attention. That is right before Dani grabs her sister’s hand with her eyes on their brother across the room.
“Dottie, remember Matty? No, don’t be mad at him, he’s working with Noah so they can take down not only our father but the brotherhood too. Swear, tell her, Matty. Noah, can you explain your part to Dottie?”
