I roll my eyes and shake my head. "She's insane. She told me she forgot to eat." Breaking away from Camilla, I brush my hair back from my shoulders. "I'll be back."
Hopping limberly down the three steps to the main floor, I stop to look out at the crowd. All the while I'd be up on stage, I had this hope that Ward had come in at the last minute and was standing along the back wall with the other guys, watching me perform. But I knew once I was down there that he hadn't arrived. My heart sank momentarily, but then I shook it off.
No. I couldn't be that way. He was busy trying to make sure we were all safe. If it hadn't been important, there was no way he would miss tonight. It sucked, but that was the reality of his life, and the life I had chosen to be with him.
Taking a glance behind the bar, I felt a swell of pride when I saw how many people were seated on stools or just standing there waiting for drinks, and just how hard the staff were working. Not seeing Lana there, though, I turned to head down the hallway to our office.
The door was slightly open but I didn't take too much notice. Pushing at it, I stepped inside, opening my mouth to call for Lana, assuming she was in here getting ready for her next set. Before I could get it out, I stopped short at the sight that was suddenly in front of me.
No. Please God, no.
Lana was sprawled out on the floor, her body at an awkward angle, the contents of her travel cup all over the floor from where it had fallen from her hand. A sound filled the room; I realized a few seconds later that it was a scream leaving my mouth as I threw myself forward to my sister's motionless body.
"Lan! Lan, what's wrong?! Lana!" My voice was frantic as I grabbed for my sister's head, pulling her up to look at her face. Liquid was dripping from her mouth, and as I shook her and she didn't come to I knew something was very, very wrong.
"Lana, wake up! Wake up!" My head falls to her chest, and pure agony shoots right through me when I realize she isn't breathing.
"Help!" I scream, reaching out to yank open her mouth, to do something, anything that can solve the problem, but I'm in a complete panic. My eyes sting as tears begin to fall, and I shake my sister again. "Help me, please! Lana!"
The music is too loud. If no one is in the hallway, no one can probably hear me. With my heart breaking, I jump up quickly, wobbling on my heels and nearly catapulting myself head first into the door, but I'm moving without even thinking about it.
I need help. Lana isn't breathing. She's dying. She can't die.
My twin sister. My best friend in the entire world. I can't lose her. I have to get help.
"Hel--" I begin to scream as I burst out of the door, but out of nowhere something swings at my face, delivering a brutal blow to my head.
I don't know what's happening, but suddenly, everything goes black.
CHAPTER 54
WARD
BREAKING EVERY LAW OF the road, we race towards the club, pushing our bikes to the very limit. Joker was right on my tail, Jekyll right behind, with Tank in a cage backing us up. We had no clue what we would be walking into once we got to Darlings, if we would get to Ortiz in time, but we wanted to be prepared with a van. I'd told Tank to call into any of the guys at the club tonight to warn them, to give us a head start, before I flew out of the clubhouse doors. There was no time to waste. We needed to get there. I needed to get to Leah.
As I flew down the road, I took a chance and called her cell phone. Every time I tried it rang and rang, but she never picked up. It could have been because she didn't have it on her and she was busy, but the sinking feeling I had welling up inside me was just a giant black hole now. I knew something was wrong even before we got there.
Leading the way to the back lot, I nearly skidded my bike through the gravel, sliding up to the door and hopping off almost without shutting my bike off. No one was at the back door. I had specifically instructed the men to have someone positioned outside the back door at all times.
My heart is pounding in my chest as I yanked my helmet off and throw it at my bike. Just before I get to the door, Jekyll calls out.
I spin around to find him idling next to two indents of tire tracks in the gravel. "Someone had to have just peeled out."
"Fuck!" I shout, spinning around to grab the door, storming inside with Joker hot on my heels.
The back hallway was dark, and the club itself is loud, the base nearly vibrating the walls. Cheers and applause filled the entire building, the audience completely unaware of what could possibly be happening just beyond the stage. Just behind us, the door opens quickly and Tank rushes inside. I'm already tearing towards the right to where I know the girls' office is.
"Get to the front and let the guys know what's going on," I shout to Tank. "See if Ortiz is still here, get Silver, and find the girls." I don't wait for his response before I'm running around the corner, nearly colliding with Camilla.
She lets out a scream, her eyes wide as she jumps back. "Ward! What the hell are you running for?!"
"Leah! Where is she? Where is Lana?"
Her brows furrow. "I was just going into the office to find them..."
Joker bursts past us, his boots thudding heavily against the floor before he bursts in through the door. I follow just behind him when I hear the most agonizing sound.
"She's not fucking breathing!"
Throwing the door open, my eyes fall on Joker crouched on the floor, grabbing at Lana's lifeless body, immediately jumping to administering CPR. From behind, Camilla lets out a scream, but I can hardly hear her.
I'm moving and speaking before I even realize it. "Get the guys! We need to get her to the hospital!" My body takes me back into the hallway and I run towards the back, down the hall, to the other side of the building.
Girls are milling about, coming in and out of their dressing room. They become startled when I start running towards them, shouting. "Where is Leah? Is Leah in there? Have you seen her?!"
All of their answers mesh together, but I don't see her red hair. I don't see her anywhere, and deep down I know that she isn't here.
We were too late. Leah is gone, and Lana may be dead if we don't get her help immediately.
Running back to the other side, there is a crowd in the hallway of the office now. Just as I get there, Silver bursts through the crowd.
"Where are my sisters?? What's going on?!" The horror on his face slices through me, but when he looks into the room and sees Lana and Joker, I watch the man I had seen grow up right in front of my eyes revert back to the little boy that sobbed in my living room after witnessing the murder of his parents.
"Lana!" His cry is heartbreaking, and in the blink of an eye, his body surges forward to run towards his sister. Luckily both Bear and Moose are able to grab him and hold him back.
"Get him in the van," I shouted, pushing through to get into the room. "Tank, take them to the hospital." Joker is already standing, cradling Lana's limp body in his arms.
"She's breathing, barely, but we gotta go." Everyone ignores the fact that tears are streaming down his face, and they step aside as he rushes frantically out of the building. Tank grabs Silver by the shoulder and follows.
Spinning around, I grab Bear's cut without even realizing what I'm doing. My control is slipping by the second, and all I can think about is finding my woman. "Who spends the most time with Ortiz. Who knows anything about him?"
Bear's eyes widen and he shakes his head. I'm about to start shouting in his face when Moose comes to his rescue. "Bright! Bright would probably know."
"I got him," Jekyll says, taking off before I have the chance to start running myself.
Camilla bursts forward then, her eyes bloodshot, her body shaking. "What's going on?! What is happening??"
I can't answer her because it's taking the very last shred of my willpower to not absolutely lose it. Moose steps in, scooping her up and carrying her away.
Every minute that goes by, Leah could be dead.
I would die myself before I let that happen.
Jekyll came back, pushing the giant man I remember hiring for security the same day we brought on Ortiz. "Alex Ortiz. What the fuck do you know about him?"
His dark eyes are wide, and he looks from me to Jekyll, but I grab his shirt. The man has to be half a foot taller than me, but right now, I could take down a giant. "Everything! I need to know where he is!"
"Uh, I don't know much! He didn't talk a lot. Never went to his place.. Said he had a girl but I never knew her name. I saw him with a girl that worked here a few times, though."
"Who?" I nearly shouted in his face.
"Little Hispanic girl, purple hair? Worked as a cocktail waitress."
Jekyll's head jerked in my direction. "Mercedes? The one that was here the day we found the threat."
I turn quickly, searching for someone. Without saying anything to the two men, I go running back to where I last saw Moose, and I find him with Camilla in the back.
"You brought that girl home the day of the threat here. Mercedes?"
Moose looks sceptical for a second, but Camilla raises her eyebrows. "Mercedes? Our employee? What about her?"
I don't answer, I just keep probing Moose with questions. "You took her home, didn't you? Where did she live?!"
Moose stammers for a second while he thinks, before blurting out an answer. "Logan Street!"
"Come on!"
I'm running back to where the guys were, grabbing as many as I can. I barely register as I yell for them to follow and we run out to our bikes. I don't even grab my helmet from off the ground, I just started my bike and peel out of the parking lot.
I can hear the clock ticking in my head. The longer she's out there, the longer I take to get to her, the bigger the chance that I'll lose her.
I can't lose her.
Before Leah, the club was the reason for my existence, but without her now? I couldn't go on.
I would burn this entire town down to ensure her safety.
Burn the entire world down to get justice for my family.
CHAPTER 55
LEAH
"Tape--"
"Toss her wherever--"
"--fire...quick."
I was hearing voices, but they were so far away. I could barely make out what was being said. Fragments, just a few words here and there.
It was almost like I was in a tunnel. There was a ringing in my ears, a heavy fog lying over me. My head throbbed, the pain making it almost impossible to make sense of what was going on around me.
My body was heavy, but I soon began to realize that I was being moved. Not moved, tossed. Hitting against something hard, my limbs jerking unnaturally, agony shooting through me. I then heard a ripping sound, before something sticky hit my wrists, my arms being yanked behind my back.
A groan fills my ears, which I soon realize is my own, and as my eyes blink open, another searing pain shoots through my brain. There is a blinding light; where it's coming from I'm not sure, all I know is that it kills to keep my eyes open.
Suddenly I'm being shoved again, the left side of my body hitting against something I can only imagine is a wall.
"The bitch is awake."
The voice is clearer now, closer. A female, one I'm not sure I recognize, but my mind is buzzing so badly that I'm not quite sure I'm even actually hearing anything.
There are muffled words again, this time from someone else.
What the fuck is going on?
I force myself to open my eyes. Blinking rapidly, all I can see is darkness at first. Shadows surround me, and I catch something out of the corner of my eye, which can only stay half opened with how heavy they feel.
Someone is next to me, gripping me.
Out of instinct, I jerked away, hissing in pain with the way my arms yank back.
The figure next to me grabs hold of my arms and shakes me violently.
"Stop fucking moving!"
The feminine voice is so loud in my ear that I wince, but that doesn't stop me from moving. "Wha--"
"Shut her the fuck up!" A male voice booms from across the room, heavy footsteps thudding as the mystery person comes closer. "We need to get out of here."
"If you fucking help me tie her up, it'll go faster!"
Fear shoots through me. I have no clue where I am, or who these people are, but I do know that I'm in danger. Being tied up, left somewhere alone, that can't be a good sign...
And then, out of nowhere, it hits me.
Lana, lying lifeless on the floor of our office.
Me, screaming. Desperate to get her breathing.
Something slamming into my head as I went for help.
With a shocking surge of adrenaline, I let out a piercing cry and thrust my body away from the figure holding onto me.
"What did you do to my sister?!"
In the movement, I find that my legs haven't been tied yet. With all of the strength I can muster I kick, violently, in an attempt to connect with whoever is closest. I roll my body, or try my best to, and kick again.
It hit something, someone. They curse loudly.
My eyes finally adjust to the darkness and I can make out two people.
Maroon hair on a small figure, obviously the female. She isn't facing me at first since she had stumbled from my kick, but when she whirls around, rage in her eyes, I immediately recognize her.
"Mercedes?"
There stands the girl we hired not long ago, who we were just training to dance. A nice, quiet girl, someone with passion and drive to do more, to learn from us and take on a new role at the club.
This isn't the same girl. This is someone I don't recognize.
With a snarl on her lips, she lunges forward and grabs me by my hair. "Surprised, Leah? Never would have guessed the enemy was right under your nose the whole time, huh?"
"Stop fucking gloating, we don't have time for this."
The deep voice is now one I recognize. My head jerks in its direction. There stands a man I had grown accustomed to seeing at the club for the last two months.
Ortiz. One of our security guards.
Two people that had been around my sister and I almost every single day. Two people I trusted.
"What did you do?!" I shriek, flailing in an attempt to fight back, which is nearly impossible with my arms taped behind my back. "Why are you doing this?!"
Ortiz whirls around then, his dark eyes flashing with what I can only describe as murderous. "Why? We're sending a message. Making your family feel the pain we felt when they killed our father."
I realize he has something in his hand now. A red can of some sort, and he's pouring liquid...gasoline. Gasoline is being poured onto an old, ragged couch from the gas can he holds, which can only mean one thing.
They're going to light this place - wherever it is - on fire, and leave me here to die.
"Your father?!" My head swivels between the both of them.
"Luis Acevedo."
Los Chingados. I should have known. Should have realized. "That piece of shit murdered my parents! He deserved to die," I spat, pure venom in my voice now as it regains its strength.
Mercedes slaps my face. "Don't you dare fucking talk about him!"
Rage is burning through me, and when I take one look at the woman I almost would have called a friend, what I feel is utter disgust. Without a thought, I spit right into her face. "Rot in hell. Right next to him!"
With a feral scream, the younger girl rears back and punches me in the face. Searing pain shoots through my jaw where she connected.
"Don't you dare speak of him, puta!"
It likely wasn't my best idea, riling them up, but I'm not in the right frame of mine. All I can feel now is pure, raging hatred. My sister is somewhere dying. I don't know if anyone found her, and if they haven't yet, there's no chance she could live. My twin, my absolute best friend, the one human that has been by my side since the very moment our lives began, could be taken from this Earth, all because of the two evil beings in front of me.
And I might be right behind her.
<
br /> I scream, trying to lunge at Mercedes, but I'm grabbed by larger, stronger hands. Ortiz is rapidly speaking in angry Spanish, and I can only make out a few words. Despite my struggling, he knocks me back down with another hard blow, this time to my chest, and wastes no time in taping my legs together tightly.
"Fuck you! You're both dead! When the club gets--"
Ortiz shoves a long strip of tape across my mouth, an ugly, heinous grin on his face. "The club won't do shit. They won't know what hit them." Grabbing me by my shoulders, he shoves me into a corner, the back of my head hitting the raised plaster hard. "And you can go to your grave knowing that every single person you care about - your brother, your old man, Crow and his wife, they're all going to die. One by one, slowly and painfully. Every member of that club, and everyone they love. All. Dead."
I scream, or try to. Only muffled sounds come out as I struggle, my eyes stinging with tears. Ortiz and Mercedes ignore me as they stand.
"Get outside and into the van. Now."
Mercedes does as she's commanded, running out of the front door.
With one last look, Ortiz grins at me. "Ironic. You'll be the one burning in hell."
Reaching into his back pocket, he pulls out a silver lighter. A flick of his wrist lights the flame, and within a second, he lit the couch on fire. Tossing the lighter onto it, he turns and heads out without another passing glance.
The door shuts heavily, and I hear the lock click into place.
Flames are spreading now, taking over the couch, which is only a few feet from me.
Screaming, I try rolling forward, unable to just sit there and die.
But what can I do with my limbs taped tightly together?
There isn't much time.
Even if I can get to the door, I can't open it.
The temperature in the room is rising rapidly, smoke filling the room.
I'm done. I'm dead.
I'll never see my family again.
Ward. Oh god. I'll never be with him, never get to marry him, have a family with him, grow old with him. I can't warn him that they're all in danger. Every person I love and care for will meet the same fate as I will.
Heart of a Rebel: Rebel Aces MC Part 1 Page 28