“I’m telling you, I don’t know where she is. I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Russell says, spewing blood that pours from his nose, running down into his mouth. His face was still fucked up from the last time he and I had a talk. Now, not all the bruises were behind the fresh blood from the beating I’ve been giving him for the past ten minutes.
“You’re a lying piece of shit,” I snarl, pulling my knife from its sheath and bringing it up to his throat, piercing the skin, gritting my teeth, “Where. The. Fuck. Is. My. Woman?”
“I’m telling you I don’t know,” he croaks, the first hint of fear filtering through. “You gotta believe me. I don’t know anything more than they were just supposed to fuck with the ranch. That’s what they said. They were gonna hurt some horses. I didn’t think they’d hurt my kid. They hurt my boy, man, I didn’t . . . I fucked up.”
“Shadow,” Lucifer calls, getting my attention. Keeping the knife at Russell’s throat, I cock my head in his direction. “We’ve got a location. Let’s roll.”
I nod and look back to Russell with a sneer as I pull the knife from his throat. “You more than fucked up. This is the last time I’m gonna tell you this, Russell. You come near my cousin or Dylan, I’ll put you in the ground. You best get the fuck out of town and stay gone. The next time I see you, will be the last time you take a breath.”
The only reason I won’t kill him now is Dylan. I can’t look the kid in the eye with his father’s blood on my hands. He might hate his dad now, but he still cares for him. I refuse to be the one to take his life. But if he doesn’t get out of Saddle Ridge, I’ll damn well do it if I see him again.
Stepping away from Russell, I watch as he falls to the floor when Tormentor lets him go. He’s not worth dealing with anymore. Not when we have a location on my woman. It’s time to get her back.
“Where?” I ask, looking to Lucifer as we make our way out of Russell’s place.
“Some hunting shack over the Chester County line. Dread sent me the pin for it,” Lucifer explains, climbing in the driver’s seat of the SUV we decided to take out instead of our bikes. We didn’t know what shape we’d find my woman in, but I knew in my gut she wouldn’t be able to ride on the back of my bike.
“He’s sure that’s where they are?” I shouldn’t have to ask, but I’m not looking to go on more of a wild goose chase.
“Affirmative. Shade, Heavy, and Creeper are there now. They’re sitting on it watching, awaiting orders.”
“We know how many are in there?” Tormentor asks from the seat behind me.
“Don’t know, but they reported three cars and a cargo van were in front of the shack. Could be three people. Could be more. They could probably take them out, but I’m not risking it. Heavy and Creeper have earned their patches, but they’ve not dealt with anything like this before.”
Lucifer’s right. They hadn’t. Heavy and Creeper were twin brothers who joined the club together right out of high school. They weren’t ready for something like this. They’re loyal to a fault and would do anything for the club, seeing as we’re their family. The only one that counts, at least. We took them in years ago, let them hang around, kept them out of trouble when they were heading down a damn dark path at an early age. We made them wait until they graduated high school before we allowed them to prospect. Then they had to spend a longer time prospecting than we typically would have done for others. Their twentieth birthday, we patched them in.
“That’s good, they’re not ready for what’s about to go down,” Nightmare says from behind Lucifer, his face in the medical bag with his phone shining on it. The man is meticulous about making sure he has everything he might need for worst-case scenarios.
I look at the time and let out a heavy breath. It’s damn near two in the morning, and my woman has been missing since before lunchtime. I need her to hold on a little longer for me to get to her.
Closing my eyes, I do something I haven’t done in my life. I pray.
Twenty excruciating minutes later, Lucifer pulls down a dirty road. He doesn’t let up on the speed. We’re all ready to get there and get my woman.
I know what he’s doing, and any other time I might have questioned his decision to announce our arrival, but I’m looking to get my hands bloody. Bloodier than they already were. I want the blood of the men who have my woman.
We barely skid to a stop behind the other vehicles blocking the way, when the doors are thrown open, and two men step out, arms stretched, guns in their hands.
Ignoring the gunfire, I sprint around the cars. The two men raise their guns and attempt to fire at us, but their aim is terrible. Bullets spray wide, missing their targets and failing to slow our approach. They seem too cocky as they expose themselves to danger while trying to defend their position.
When I get close enough, I take one of them to the ground in a tackle, having pulled my blade from its sheath once more. I sink it into the guy’s throat and twist, embedding it in place. I hear the thump behind me as I get to my feet to see Tormentor dropping the other man’s body, his neck in a discorded position, from my brother breaking it.
Lucifer steps over the body of the second guy and steps into the house like the devil himself has come seeking vengeance.
I step in right behind him and scan the room, finding my sweet little mouse, bloody and bruised, on the dirty ass floor. I ignore the rest of the room, not caring who else is in there. I hear words, but I don’t focus on them. All of my attention is on the woman who holds my heart.
I drop to my knees next to her. I grab my secondary knife and cut the zip-ties on her hands and ankles. I gently pull the duct tape off her mouth as Nightmare joins me and checks for her pulse.
“It’s there, but it’s thready, VP. I hate to move her, but we’ve got no choice. There’s no waiting for an ambulance to get here. I’ll work on her on the way to the hospital.”
I scoop Della up in my arms as gently as I can, and my heart slams against my ribcage when she doesn’t make a sound. Her body feels too light, too damn fragile against my chest. The sight of her beaten face has me seeing red all over again.
“Let’s move,” I growl, cradling her close.
Nightmare stays right by my side as we head back to the SUV. He moves ahead of me as we approach and opens the back door. “Lay her across the backseat. I need room to work.”
I hesitate for a split second, not wanting to let her go, but I know he’s right. With careful movements, I slide into the backseat, placing her head in my lap while Nightmare climbs in from the other side. It doesn’t give him much room to work, but it’ll do for now.
