“Find her,” I snapped at Cyber. He didn’t look taken aback at my curt tone; he just nodded his head, his fingers flying over the keys.
“Fang, it’s going to be fine, we will get to her in time.” Hansel tried to soothe me but he may as well have been talking to himself. He above everyone else knew what losing my sunflower would do to me. If she died then I would lose myself.
When Corinne had died, it had been him that had pulled me from the ledge. We both knew he wouldn’t be able to do it again.
“Fang?” Cyber's voice was urgent, and my head snapped around. “She hasn’t left the town.”
“How do you know?”
He shrugged his muscular shoulders. “I hacked the traffic cams, the last place she was seen was heading down Grendor Road. That’s a dead-end. Wherever Melanie has Gypsy, she is still within the town limits.”
Grendor Road. The road to fucking nowhere. It was nothing but fields and trees at the end of it. A perfect place to take someone if you wanted to do them harm. There weren’t any houses around. No one to hear you scream.
It was also less than two miles away.
Gypsy was so close. And yet I still doubted I would get to her in time.
“Let’s go.” Hansel's hand on my shoulder made me jump. Every nerve I had was wound so tight it felt like I was going to snap. “Fang, let’s go. Your woman needs you.”
I nodded, shaking myself from the daze. I had to pull myself together if I had any hope of getting to her in time.
* * *
Somehow Pope gotto the door of the little camper van before I could. He flung it open and the sound of screaming that filled the night air doubled in volume. Great ear-piercing screams that gurgled in someone’s throat like they were choking on them reached my ears.
Pope stopped dead, giving me a chance to catch up to him. Turning, he took a step away and vomited. In all the years I had known him, I had not once seen him lose his lunch over anything.
The moment I stepped up to the doorway, I knew why though. Vomit flooded my mouth, and I had to swallow hard to stop myself from throwing up.
Gypsy, my sunflower, was laying on her back, with her hands cuffed above her head. Her face was a white sheet, her mouth nothing but a red hole where agonised sounds poured out.
And the blood.
There was so much blood. It seemed to coat every inch of her from the neck down. Her left breast looked like it was hanging off, stab wounds littered her body like tiny little mouths that were leaking her life’s blood away, but it was to the mess of blood and flesh on her lower half that caught my attention.
Blood flowed from deep gashes on her upper thighs, her genitals… I wanted to close my eyes, just for a split second, but instead I let the rage take over me.
I couldn't break down, I had to be as strong as my sunflower was.
The sight of what had been done to her would be forever ingrained in my mind. It would be etched behind my eyelids for eternity.
“Fang?” Gypsy whispered my name and it was all I needed to act.
With a roar, I launched myself into the tiny, cramped space of the van. My hand curled into Melanie’s hair, dragging her back. The knife in her hand clattered to the ground as I tossed her behind me. I knew the Sons wouldn’t let her go. They would hold her until I could deal.
On my hands and knees, I climbed towards Gypsy. The closer I got, the worse her injuries seemed.
“Fuck,” Monster spoke from behind me, his usually cold eyes appraising the situation with horror. “Fuck.”
The van shifted as he climbed in next to me. “We need to stop the bleeding in her thigh before she bleeds out. Jesus, Fang.” He shook his head. His cut and shirt were already off his body. The shirt he wrapped around one of her thighs. I followed suit.
Instantly, they were soaked in her blood.
“We need something to put pressure on it. Otherwise she is going to…”
I pulled my belt from its loops and passed it to him. But I didn’t stop to watch as he tightened it around her leg. My attention was solely on her face. Reaching out a trembling finger, I ran it down her cheek.
“It’s ok, Sunflower, I got you. I got you. No one else is going to hurt you, I promise.” It was a promise I was going to keep.
