by E. C. Land
“Fuck you,” I snap weakly.
“Oh, I intend to be doing just that with you here shortly.” He cackles, eyes glimmering with lust. “Now Darin, Randall get her up and take her to my room. I’ll have Lavina come up with two of her women and make sure she’s cleaned up for me.”
My head becomes fuzzy as my body begins to warm.
This is not a good sign.
What did they put in my body?
And again, I ask myself why did I leave that day and not turn back?
Chapter Six
Ranger
“Ranger, brother, you good?” Tracker asks as he takes a seat at the table across from me.
It’s been six months of feeling nothing. All because I’ve yet to find Harlow. I’ve looked and yet not a trace of her can be found. Even Tracker had tried to find her and the fact he didn’t means she’s so deep in a hole somewhere no one will be able to find her.
Talk about a fuckin’ sucker punch to the gut. To have a woman who can’t be found. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was a figment of my imagination, but I know she’s real. I see her face every night when I fall into a drunken stupor.
Yep. Drunken stupor because I’m the asshat who was cocky enough to think he could leave her alone without checking on her for the smallest amount of time that day at the hospital. I should have gone with her to Tinsley’s hospital room and said something to Coyote. This whole situation is fucked and a lot of it is my own fuckin’ fault.
“Nope,” I grumble honestly, lifting the shot glass filled to the brim with Crown Royal. Placing the rim to my lips I toss the shot back, savoring the taste as it slides down my throat.
“You gotta stop doing this to yourself, brother,” Tracker mutters, shaking his head at me.
“Why should I stop?” I retort, glancing away from my VP to flag down Jezebel, one of the newer clubwhores to bring me another shot. She’d come in not to long after Harlow disappeared and has been trying to jump my dick since she got here. Normally I’d go for it; however, for some reason my dick doesn’t react for shit to her or anyone else. I blame it on the liquor even if it’s a bunch of bullshit. I’ve never had whiskey dick in my life. No, the reason behind it pisses me off even to think about, since it all comes down to Harlow.
“Ranger, you’ll never stand the chance to find her.” Narrowing my eyes, I glare at Tracker.
“There’s no finding her. We’ve tried, remember,” I sneer as the main door to the clubhouse opens and several people step inside. It takes me a moment, but I realize several of them are wearing the Inferno’s Clutch MC cuts.
“I didn’t know you all were coming,” Tracker says, standing to greet them.
“I needed to be here,” the woman standing next to one of the men in front speaks up. She must be Raven’s mom considering the resemblance. “Somethings terribly wrong, I feel it.”
“What’s going on?” Tracker asks.
“Fury, Pitch Black, Lynch, what are you all doing here?” Blaze asks at the same time calling out their names as he makes his way to the group. I knew he’d been here getting a shipment ready to go and we’d needed to have ready for our Southeast charter to pick up.
“Blaze, sweetheart, where’s my daughter?” Ela asks, causing Blaze to tense.
“She’s at home with the boys, why? Have you seen something?”
Ela turns from Blaze to Tracker as she nods. “Where is Victoria?”
“At work, I was getting ready to head over to DP in a few minutes since Momma B was keeping Jamie for us tonight. Is everything okay?” Tracker mutters.
Nodding Ela closes her eyes. “Good, good. They don’t need to hear this,” she whispers, leaning into her ol’ man, Fury.
“What don’t they need to hear?” Blaze demands.
“That my sister is in trouble,” Lynch speaks up and my body grows taut. He’s Harlow’s brother and I don’t think he has another one he could be speaking of.
“We’ve been looking for Harlow and can’t find a trace of her anywhere,” Tracker informs them as I stand to my feet, ignoring Jezebel while stepping up next to my VP.
“Yeah and neither could we until Ela dreamt about her last night,” Fury states, squeezing his ol’ lady to him.
“I don’t understand,” I say finally speaking up.
“It’s all confusing. Everything about the dream was fuzzy, but a name stood out and I had Fury call Trevor, our nephew, to ask him about it.” Tears well in Ela’s eyes as she looks from each of us stopping on me as she continues to speak. “I’m sorry we didn’t know what she was doing. According to Trevor, he’d been working on trying to find her location for nearly six months. He knows who has her but where is another story.”
“Who has her?” I demand, fists clenched at my sides.
“A man named Ezra Rivas,” Pitch Black growls.
“Why the hell are you all talking about Ezra Rivas?” Shadow snarls as he joins our group.
“Do you know who he is?” Tracker demands.
“Yeah, I know exactly who the fucker is. He’s a South American dickhead who sells women into slavery all over the world,” Shadow states, curling his lip at the corner.
“Hold the hell up, is this the job Harlow was working when Tinsley had Chase?” Blaze growls.
“Yes. None of us knew. From what Trevor informed me of when I spoke to him, Harlow refused to have anyone else in on this not wanting to risk those who have families.”
“Like she doesn’t have fuckin’ family,” Lynch snarks, interrupting Fury.
“Easy, son, I know you’re pissed but contain it,” Fury orders. Lynch nods his head but stays silent. “Anyway, she told Trevor if he brought anyone else in, she’d go rogue on this one and no one would see her again.”
“Fuckin’ stupid,” Pitch Black mutters.
“Now what the hell do we do?” Blaze demands.
“That’s why we’re here. Harlow’s in trouble more than ever and only one person can truly bring her back from it all,” Ela declares, her gaze locked on me.
“How am I supposed to help her when I don’t know where she is?” I ask.
“I do. I know exactly where Ezra would keep her,” Shadow states, getting each of our undivided attention.
“Where is she?” I grind out through clenched teeth.
“In Brazil.”
Shit.
We’ll need a plane to get to Harlow and passports.
Fuckin’ hell.
“I’m calling Grigory, see if we can’t use his jet,” Tracker mutters, pulling out his phone. “Shadow, get with Nerd, pull up maps and do whatever you gotta do. We need a game plan in pulling this shit off. Ranger . . .”
“I need to get my shit together. Make sure I have any medical supplies we might need for any situation at hand,” I say interrupting him.
“I might suggest drinking some coffee to sober up completely first,” Ela murmurs quietly.
“Soon as I heard Harlow’s name I sobered up,” I grumble.
“That’s good. Now you just need to remember one thing as you and everyone else that goes with you to bring our Harlow home. She’s going to need you more than anyone else and that includes her family. As of right now she’s your family as I know you’ll do what you should have done the first time you met her,” Ela smiles.
“You’re right. I am doing something now that I should have done a long time ago. Harlow’s my woman and this time when we get her back her ass is never leaving my side again,” I state loud enough for the entire room to hear me.
Chapter Seven
Ranger
It’s been nearly twenty-four hours since finding out who had Harlow. Since then my gut has tightened even more so with the intel Nerd has been digging up with the help of Gadget, Cy, and Keys.
According to what they’ve found already, Ezra Rivas not only sold women into slavery, but he’s also been working with doctors he brought down to him in creating a drug they call Heavenly Rose. This drug is supposedly a date rape drug to wh
ich the women will want nothing more than to have their bodies used in every way possible. Or well that’s what they’re hoping for, but the reports Keys sent Nerd showed it’s only been tested on one woman as of now and she didn’t make it, ended up going into cardiac arrest.
This makes me even more nervous. I pace the hotel room we’d gotten in order to meet and figure out a game plan. Thanks to Grigory, Tinsley’s cousin and our Russian contact, we’d been in the air within three hours of Tracker getting off the phone. Evidently Grigory’s jet was already fueled and ready to go for a trip he was taking. After my VP mentioned to him Ezra’s name, he immediately informed us the jet would be on the way within the hour. None of us realized he would be accompanying us as well.
“You do not know what you’re up against when dealing with a man like Ezra. You all need me there to help direct attention from you snagging Harlow away from them. His sister, Lavina, is a crazy bitch. If you think what Burner and Ally went through with Miguel and whatever the fuck her name was, was bad, you would be wrong. Lavina is a sick bitch. She’s the one who trains the younger ones in how to pleasure a man and she takes great pleasure in doing so.” I’d had to swallow bile to keep from throwing up at the mere thought of what he meant.
While waiting for the jet to get to a landing strip near us, Tracker called Stoney, who was at home spending time with his ol’ lady, something he started to do a lot more often, to inform him of what was going on. He’d met us at the airstrip joining us in going to get Harlow. To say our Prez was beyond pissed to know what happened to one of our own.
“We do this, we do it smart,” Stoney declares, drawing me out of my head, his gaze meeting each of ours slowly. Those including Pitch Black and Lynch, who joined us as well. Which we all knew they would, it was their blood we were going after to bring home.
“Yeah smart and fast. Victoria and Raven are pissed to be left behind, Vi’s informed me if we don’t have shit situated in a day, she was coming to do it herself,” Tracker mutters.
“Typical Vi,” Pitch Black growls. “I’m callin’ Chains, get him to lock her down.” Considering Chains is Victoria’s brother, he’s probably already on top of it. We all know from experience what Victoria and Raven are both capable of and the fact she’s saying this means she’ll do it, consequences be damned. I’d witnessed this firsthand when Tracker bent her over his knee in the middle of the clubhouse in order to turn her ass red with his hand.
“That would be good,” Tracker grumbles nodding.
“So, what’s the game plan, we don’t know what they’ve done to Harlow and I’m sick of fuckin’ waiting around. I want to get my woman away from those motherfuckers. I don’t care how I have to do it. Long as she gets safe,” I snap, growing frustrated with simply standing around here doing nothing.
“We’ll get her, brother,” Shadow mutters, placing a hand on my shoulder in a calming motion.
“Then let’s get to it,” I growl, more than ready to find Harlow. I need to put eyes on her as I figure out a way to make things right and heal her. The note she wrote me six months ago still swirls through my head as the words burn in my wallet.
If I don’t do anything else right by my woman, it will be bringing her out of the dark and helping her find her light.
For the past several hours we’ve put a solid plan together and headed out in three separate all-terrain SUV’s. The ride out to the edge of Ezra’s property takes us a little under an hour to get there.
“You know the plan, teams of two and silent non-vocal communication until the guards are all taken out,” Stoney states when we are all out of the vehicles. Nodding, I look from Stoney to Shadow who decided to team up with me, while Pitch Black and Lynch flank us. The rest of the men surrounding us were going to spread out as we all work in teams to make our way into the house in order to find Harlow.
Grigory ended up swaying Ezra and Lavina out of the house for an afternoon meeting claiming he had a proposition for them stating he was looking to make an order for a group of girls for his home.
During this conversation, I’d had to walk away from listening to it through the speaker. The way this fucker Ezra spoke caused me to see red. This is the man who has my woman and has been doing God knows what to her for the past six months.
“Let’s get this done,” I mutter and start in the direction we needed to head.
“Remember, brother, keep your head on straight. No matter what state of play we find your woman in,” Shadow orders calmly.
“I’m good, now let’s go,” I grumble, pulling my gun out of my shoulder holster under my cut.
Shadow nods to me and the both of us go silent as we come to the backyard of the place holding Harlow. Glancing to my left, I meet Blaze’s gaze where he and Neo and Nerd are standing. Blaze jerks his chin toward the house giving me the all clear on his side. Turning to Shadow, he gives me the high sign it’s all clear on Stoney and Tracker’s side.
Nodding to Shadow, I start across the lawn with my gun held low, safety off, and ready to take aim if need be.
The first shot comes from my right as men begin yelling in Portuguese. Focused on getting to an entrance of the house, I don’t pay attention to what’s being yelled. Even if I were, I could only take a guess as to what they were saying since I don’t know the language.
More shots are exchanged before I make it to the house with Shadow on my heels, Pitch Black and Lynch flanking us not far behind.
Glancing to the three men, I signal to them I’m going in. Inside the house we’d split to find Harlow. Upon finding her, we were to send a message in a group chat to let everyone know and get her the hell out of there.
With the place having three floors and a basement slash cellar, I figured to start there. At the bottom of the stairs my stomach turns at the sight of the chains and the blood splattered everywhere. The stench isn’t much better. Other than that, the area was silent with no one around.
Moving back up the stairs I decide to move to the third floor as everyone else continues their search. As I pass the second floor, I nearly have to cover my ears at the screeching noises of women’s screams. One of them must have come upon a room filled with some of Ezra’s slaves.
Shaking my head, not wanting to think of it, I rush the rest of the way up to the third floor. Turning to the right, I head down the hallway and stop at the first door I come to. Opening it, I push the door fully open.
My heart stops beating at the sight of my woman. Naked, withering against the sheets, arms stretched above her head, tied to the headboard. Tears stream down her face and the part that nearly kills me are the whimper moans coming from her as beads of sweat coat her entire body.
Shit.
Moving forward, I slide my gun in the holster, I grab my knife from its sheath and cut the ropes holding her in place.
“P-Ple-Please make it stop,” she begs, arching her body into mine.
“Easy, baby, it’s Ranger. I’m gonna get you out of here and home where I can take care of you,” I murmur, sliding the knife back in its sheath and looking down at her to meet her glossy eyes.
“Ranger,” she whimpers my name like she didn’t really hear me. “Please, make it stop. I’ll do anything. I can’t take it anymore,” Her pleas come out on a pant as she reaches for me.
“Hold on, Harlow, baby,” I murmur into her hair as I wrap the sheet around her middle and lift her far too light body into my arms.
Harlow cries out in pain before going slump against my chest.
Motherfucker.
If it were not for needing to get Harlow the help she needs right now, I would be going for Ezra’s blood right about now; however, feeling his blood warm my fingers will have to wait. At least for the time being, he will pay for what he has done to my woman one way or another.
I will make sure he feels every ounce of fury I hold within me for what Harlow has been through and what it’ll take to get her to where she needs to be.
Chapter Eight
Harlow
“Need to get her somewhere safe.”
“Fuckin’ gonna kill the motherfucker.”
“Neither Lavina nor Ezra made it to the meeting with Grigory.”
More words are muttered around me; however, their muffled by the sensations firing my body. A moan vibrates in my throat and I burrow further into the heat holding me.
Wait that’s not any heat, it’s someone’s arms wrapped around me, holding me securely to them.
Opening my eyes, the first thing I notice I’m not in the room Ezra tied me up in anymore. Instead I’m in a room filled with men.
Tensing I try to fight the one holding me to him. “No. I won’t let you. I don’t care what you pump into my system I won’t do it,” I yell, thrashing my head around. “I’m not going to give in and let you fuck me.” The man holding me tightens his arms around me as they tense.
“Shh, baby, no one is going to hurt you. You’re safe. We’re taking you home where I can take care of you.” My eyes begin to burn as tears well causing my already blurred vision to grow fuzzier when I recognize the voice. A voice that even drugged I could never forget. It was his voice. The one I longed to hear for the past how many months.
Ranger.
Oh God.
He found me.
I’m safe.
Slumping against Ranger, knowing I was safe for the moment, I let out a sob as I bury my face into his chest, ignoring the fire my body was feeling, even when the feel of Ranger’s body against mine makes me want to beg him to take me here and now.