I stared up at him, but I didn’t really see him.
“I can treat you like Chloe and fuck you right here on the floor, or you can put on the pretty thing I have chosen for you and step into Ciara’s shoes. You can be my wife.” He squeezed my cheeks together, his tongue lapping at my mouth. “What will it be? My wife, or my whore?” Reaching out, he dragged the red negligee towards us. “Are you going to behave and put this on, or do I have to punish you?”
I swallowed hard. I could take the beating; it wasn’t my suffering that concerned me. But it wasn’t just about me — he’d kill my unborn child. He had said as much and I believed him.
Caleb would kick my baby to death if I didn’t behave. Mutely, I nodded.
He lifted his weight instantly, dragging me up by my hands so I was standing in front of him. My face and head were pounding in agony.
Thrusting the red scrap of material into my hands, he stepped back. “Then strip for me, Ciara. Slowly. I want to see your body after so long apart.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
The wind and rain were cold and hard against my face as I slowed the bike to a stop. Not that the weather bothered me. My anger was keeping me warm. It heated me from the inside. Hell, my blood was burning through my veins.
I didn’t know what kind of sick fuck Caleb was, but if he had touched her, then he was going to die.
He was going to die anyway, just for taking her and making her scared for all of these years, but if he had touched her…
Yanking down the printed bandana I wore around my face, I waited for the others to join me. The London chapter swarmed around me moments later. Even though I didn’t ride with them anymore, they were still my brothers. There were even some of the Cardiff chapter in the mix. Men who were spoiling for a fight. Since I had taken over as president in Cardiff, things had gotten better but they weren’t great and I didn’t want to make things worse for the men who now looked to me for leadership, so I wanted them away from this. After all, it wasn’t club business, not really. It was personal to my London brothers because of whose daughter she was.
And it was my business because Chloe was mine. I had been such a fool to ever let her run away without looking for her. Hell, I should have at least asked questions. I had known deep down that she wasn’t sleeping with Ghost, but I hadn’t said anything. I had been a coward.
“What’s the plan?” Duke asked as he rode to a stop next to me. His eyes sparkled with the promise of violence to come.
My eyes scanned the assembled bikes until I found Domino’s. He was president of the London chapter now, so it was all up to him.
“This is your show,” he said, his eyes never leaving mine. “She’s the woman you want, isn’t she?”
“Yeah. But—”
Domino chuckled. “How do we all know you have feelings for the girl?” he asked, and around him a laugh went up. “You were into her before you even met her properly. It was all you could talk about.” He rolled his eyes. “The girl who saved your life. The angel. It was pretty clear from the moment she walked into the clubhouse that you were going to keep her. We all had bets that you would propose within weeks, but no,” he laughed, “you went and pulled a Legacy.”
Frowning, I rubbed my hand over my beard. “What the hell does pulling a Legacy mean?”
Duke answered, a deadly serious look on his face. “It means you made things a million times harder for yourself than it needed to be.”
“You think I should have fought for her?” Guilt tightened my chest. I thought I should have. I had been thinking about it for months.
“I think you are fighting for her now,” Domino said, his usually gruff voice gentle. “But you need to prepare yourself.”
“Prepare myself for…?” I trailed off, and taking a deep breath, I forced my shoulders to relax. “For what we might find up there.”
My eyes lifted to the block of flats that rose above me. They didn’t look like much from the outside, but I knew each one of those apartments was home to a millionaire.
“I’m ready.” That was a lie. If he had raped or murdered Chloe, there was nothing I could do to prepare myself. “Whatever has happened, as long as she is alive, then I can help her heal.”
“And her baby?” Duke asked softly. “Did you forget the fact that she’s pretty bloody pregnant?”
“I hadn’t forgotten,” I mumbled.
“What about her baby daddy?”
I closed my eyes. Of course, I had thought about the fact she might have a man now. I had been thinking about it non-stop since I had seen her at the cemetery. Exactly how far along she was in her pregnancy was anyone’s guess. But it didn’t matter.
“She’s mine, so I don’t care,” I said gruffly. “The baby is part of her and I’ll love it no matter what.”
“So you plan on keeping her?”
