“I don’t think I can.”
This time, when she goes for the door, I don’t stop her.
Effie
I prize my eyes open and think I’m still dreaming of escape. Every inch of me hurts but it takes a long minute to realise it’s the light shining in from the hall that is burning my eyes. The door is ajar. I dare not move but somewhere deep down in my soul, my streak of stubbornness still runs strong. I have been preparing to die for what feels like months, knowing they would drag it out for my benefit, but if there’s still a glimmer of hope I can go home, I have to take it. Sitting up, my heart begins to pound as I move across the room on shaking hands and knees. I reach the door, not having made a sound, and listen out to see if anyone is close by. There’s nothing but silence. I don’t know when the music was shut off, or when they headed to bed in thisplace they call their home. It feels like it is the middle of the night, but I can’t be sure. Sticking my head around the door, the hall is empty, and all the doors are closed.
I continue to crawl my way out of the room and along the hall until I reach the top of the stairs. I stop, listening out for anyone down in their bar. Climbing up to my feet, I use the rail to help hold my legs steady.
I hold my breath with every step I take down the stairs, anticipating any creaks that could give me away.
Four steps to go.
I can’t see much, not one light has been left on, but I see the door as if a hundred torches are lighting it up. My feet hit the floor, the door so close now.
I tiptoe from the stairs toward the door, every step heavy and numbing at the same time. The first thing I’m going to do when I get home is order the death of every Lost Soul in the land. I will have every one of their clubhouses burned to ashes. There will not be a trace left of the Motorcycle Club once I’m done. My revenge will be cold and brutal. It will be swift and unforgettable. And once they’re wiped out, I will regain control of this city and life will go back to normal. I won’t make the same mistake when I move onto the Haywards’. Without their pawns running around for them, they are alone, and I will make sure they rue the day they came against me. I’ll wipe them out and they can spend eternity with their precious allies.
“You really thought I’d let you go.”
I spin around and a light comes on over the bar. Ford sits closest to me, a gun in his lap. The other men, my captors, are sat at various tables staring at me.
They set me up for their amusement. I stow away my disappointment and hold my chin up. I won’t give them the satisfaction of seeing me begging and pleading for my life. Theywon’t relent and release me. At least dying means I’ll be free of this place.
“It’s a little dramatic waiting around in the dark, isn’t it,” I point out.
“Nah, I wanted you to have one last piece of hope before I snatched it away.”
The cruelty in his plan stings. He reminds me of my father. Ford stands and as I look around, I catch Luca’s gaze. His small smirk gives me a shudder. He’s enjoying this. I underestimated this club, but more so, Luca. I took his youth for weakness and it’s going to be the biggest mistake of my life. Ford steps closer to me. I won’t back away. There’s nowhere to go.
“You’ve believed you’d somehow get out of this, get free, and take the city back. What I’ve been waiting for is the moment when it hit you that you wouldn’t.”
He presses the gun into the side of my head, keeping his eyes locked on mine.
“You’ve given me that moment, Effie.” He moves around me, standing at my back, the gun never leaving my head. “I’m a Lost Soul…” he releases the safety, the click echoing in my ear. “We always get what we want.”
Ford
Her blood spatters across my face and her body drops to the floor. The brothers don’t move, don’t say anything. The moment lingers and I close my eyes. She’s gone. She can never take shit from me again. She’ll never be a threat to the club again.
I should be at peace, and I would have been, but Phoebe fills my head, and I know until I have her back, the Effie shit will never be truly put to rest.
“The fight with the Rathbones is done,” Luca announces. “Ford, prospect, get rid of her, and we’ll never speak of her again.”
He heads up the stairs with the dog following. The longer it takes to wrap her body, the more time I have to process. Regardless of Phoebe, I’m fucking glad Effie Rathbone is out of my life. Her blood won’t stain my hands, she won’t haunt me. She got what she sowed, and she failed.
“You ready to lift her?” The prospect asks.
“Let’s do it.”
On the count of three, we lift her lifeless body and carry her through the bar and kitchen and out the back door to the van.
“Where are dumping her?” I ask.
“The river.”
Seems perfect for her. She won’t be buried on her family plot with the rest of her family. She will never find eternal peace. I hope she spends the rest of time in purgatory.
The city is sleeping as we drive through street after street. The lights twinkling on the black water for as far as I can see.
