Then came a sound.It was a faint cry, muffled, from deeper inside.Viper spun toward it, heart hammering.He ran down the hall, boot steps echoing.Another locked door stood in his path.
He raised his boot and kicked it open.
Inside was Mara.She was tied to a chair, blood at the corner of her mouth, a bruise forming along her jaw.Her eyes widened the second she saw him.
“Viper,” she gasped, her voice raw, broken.
He moved before the word even finished leaving her lips.Two strides, and he was at her side, tearing the gag from her mouth.He furiously worked at the knots binding her wrists.
“Jesus, baby,” he rasped.His voice shook for the first time in years.“I got you.You’re okay.”
She clung to him the instant she was free, trembling so hard he could feel it through his vest.
“Viper, you shouldn’t have come,” she stammered, choking on a sob.
He pressed his forehead against hers, his chest rising and falling with harsh, uneven breaths.“Of course I’d come after you,” he told her.
Then came a low whistle from behind him.
“You actually came.So, you’re Viper, huh?”
Viper froze.He turned slowly, his entire body tensing.Rex stepped inside the room.Mara’s father looked older than he imagined.
“It’s over, old man.Viper’s brothers have you surrounded.Let us go,” Mara whispered.
Viper didn’t like seeing the fear in her eyes.He automatically shifted, blocking her with his body.
“So, you’re the asshole who sold his own daughter off to pay his debts,” Viper said.
Rex smirked, a cruel twist of his mouth.“You think I had a choice?It was me or her.”
“So my life isn’t worth shit to you?”Mara demanded.
Her father didn’t look at her.“You should’ve come back home obediently and do as you were told, girl.”
Rage burned through Viper so hot it felt like acid.He took a step forward, hand on his weapon.
“You were going to hand your only daughter over to animals,” he said, his voice low and lethal.“You knew what they’d do to her.”
Rex’s grin didn’t waver.“You don’t know shit, boy.”
Viper’s knuckles went white.He could hear Mara behind him, whispering his name, but he couldn’t look at her.
“Rex,” he said, each word slow, deliberate.“Walk away.Now.”
Rex laughed and it was a dry, bitter sound.“You think you’re hot shit?”He raised his gun, the motion swift and smooth.
Viper moved without thought.The shot went off, close enough that it made Mara scream.The bullet grazed his shoulder as he tackled Rex hard into the wall.
Rex swung wildly with the butt of his pistol, catching Viper across the jaw.Pain flared bright and sharp, but Viper barely felt it.He drove a fist into Rex’s ribs, hard enough to crack something, then slammed him down onto the concrete.
“Stop!”Mara screamed, but neither man heard her.
Rex clawed for his gun.Viper kicked it away, the metal skittering across the floor.
“You don’t get to hurt her again,” Viper snarled, pinning him with his knee.
Rex spat blood, then pulled a knife from his boot.He slashed upward, Viper caught his wrist, but Rex was desperate.The knife came within inches of his throat.
