Snake (The Road Rebels MC Book 3)

by Savannah Rylan

  “There a problem?” I asked.

  They both turned and looked at me before Ryan stalked off to his room.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  I watched as his wife followed closely on his heels, not bothering to answer my question. That told me this wasn’t the first time he had hit his wife. I started wondering if he had ever laid his hands on Harper. I was shaking with anger. The thought of anyone laying their hands on her made me see all kinds of shades of red. They had been standing right outside the room Harper was in, and I could only hope she was asleep. So she didn’t have to hear her father crack his hand against her mother’s fucking cheek.

  I walked over to her door and stood there, listening to see if I could hear anything. But when all I could catch was silence, I decided to head back downstairs.

  Blade had his perch, and it gave me some comfort knowing he was there. I sat down on the couch, allowing myself to relax. I wasn’t ready to tell any of the guys about Harper and I. It was obvious they didn’t recognize her, and I had enough I was trying to field. Harper didn’t need any more stress, and I was worried that Doc might pull me from her detail if he knew how personally involved I was in all this.

  After about an hour, Harper’s parents were filling the house with their snores. It was insane what the two of them could crank out. There was no way in hell I was going to be able to sleep with that racket, so I decided to go check in on Harper. Make sure she was sleeping soundly so I could settle my fears.

  But just as I got off the couch, I heard Blade padding around on the roof.

  I knew that was a bad sign. I ran for the stairs and leaped up them, skipping as many as I could to get to her room. Blade was running along the roof now, which meant there was something he saw. I could hear the spit of his silencer going off, and it filled my chest cavity with fear. Something was going down. We had missed something, and it was about to cost us.

  I ripped Harper’s bedroom door open and saw her bed empty. The bedroom window was open, and I felt the blood drain to my toes. I went over to the closet and ripped it open, hoping this was just some terrible prank. That maybe Harper had tried to throw whoever the hell it was off her trail by making it look like she wasn’t in the room.

  “Cade! Cade!”

  I heard Blade’s voice trickle in through the window. I heard him running across the roof, making his way to Harper’s room. I watched him crash through the broken window and tumble onto her floor, shards of glass digging into his leather coat.

  “Where the fuck is Harper?” I asked.

  “Just one person. A man. Tall. Broad. Tanned skin and a thick beard. Very light blue eyes, scar wrapping around his throat. I couldn’t figure out if it wrapped all the way around his throat.,” Blade said.

  “Where the fuck is Harper?” I asked again.

  “With him,” Blade said. “Whoever the fuck that man is… he’s got her.”

  “Who’s got who?”

  I turned on my heels to see Ryan standing at the door with Harper’s mother in his arms. I dug out my phone as my eyes locked with Ryan, my gaze settling hard onto his as Doc picked up the phone.

  “Get your asses back here,” I said. “Harper’s been taken.”

  Chapter 19

  Harper

  My eyes ached as they fluttered open. My neck was sore, and it was hard to swallow. My jaw felt like it was on fire and my legs felt restrained. I tried moving my arms and wiggling my toes, but I was strapped to something. Panic rushed through my veins as I looked around the room.

  I was in a small apartment. No bigger than half of the downstairs of my home. I was in a wooden chair, duct-taped in my place and going nowhere. Tears began to form in my eyes as I whimpered. I had to pee. I was thirsty. My child was tumbling around in my stomach, and I couldn’t even guard him from attacks. I tugged at the tape on my wrists and jumped around in the chair, but soon I heard footsteps falling.

  I whimpered as a large man in a ski mask appeared.

  “Well, well, well. Look who’s up.”

  My jaw quivered as I tried to block everything out. This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be happening. The guys were watching out for me. Cade was looking out for me. This was just a terrible nightmare, and in a moment I would wake up in my own bed.

  But what if it wasn’t a dream?

  “Help! Somebody help me! Please! Anybod-!”

  The man in the mask cracked his hand against my cheek. The thunderous sound was painfully reminiscent, and tears began to fall upon my cheeks. I had been taken. Holy fuck, the men that were threatening me had captured me. How was that possible? Wasn’t there a guy on the roof? Cade had been downstairs, right?

  Or had it been them all along?

  “I’m pregnant. Please,” I said, whimpering.

  “Then if you want your baby to live, you’ll do what I say.”

  “Okay. Okay, I swear. Just… just don’t hurt us. Please.”

  My cheek was swelling, closing the bottom portion of my eye. Tears were falling upon my skin like raging waterfalls as something was pressed to my ear. It was a phone, and it was ringing. My eyes darted to the man in front of me as I took in all I could think about him. His tan skin and his light eyes and his lopsided smile with his yellow fucking teeth.

  I wanted to rip the tape right off my hands and clock him square in his jaw.

  “Hello?”

  “Daddy?” I asked.

  “Harper? Harper! Is that you!? Where are you? Who has you?”

  “That’s not what I told you to say!” the man yelled.

  He ripped the phone from my ear as I struggled against the restraints.

  “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I just didn’t know who you were calling, I’m sorry.”

  I sobbed as I bowed my head. The man was looming over me, showing me that he was in control. That he was the dominant one. Thoughts of Cade swirled around in my head. How I had felt so safe with him. Protected with him. I had been an idiot to think I was truly safe with anyone. With any man who declared some sort of love for me. My father told me he loved me, but he loved me for what I could give him.

  And now, I had been taken right from underneath Cade’s nose.

  “Let’s try this again, you little slut,” the man said.

  “Harper? Harper! I swear to fuck if you harm a hair on my daughter’s little-”

  “Hello, Ryan,” I said.

  I was reading the prompt cards in front of me as a shiver ran down my spine. They weren’t serious, were they?

  “Harper, where do they have you?” my father asked.

  “If you ever want to see your daughter and grandchild again, you will do as they say,” I said.

  “What did they say, baby? What do they want?”

  “Put one hundred thousand dollars in cash in a bag and bring it to Pioneer Women’s Park. Tomorrow morning. Five. I am sick of rich guys running my town, and if this finally makes you realize you should give up the election, then so be it.”

  The guy ripped the phone from my ear and began to mutter to my father. My eyes darted around the apartment, looking for any signs or clues as to where I was. It was small and dank, and there weren’t any lights on. The streetlights were buzzing outside, but none of the surrounding buildings had power to them. I couldn’t hear the sounds of cars or other people, so I made a wild guess as to where I was.

  “They have me in an abandoned apartment somewhere, Daddy! Abandoned! No lights! No streetcars! Help! Come get me!”

  The man in the ski mask whipped around, cracking his hand against my cheek again. I could feel my skin splitting as blood pooled and ran down my skin. I fell back into my hands as my joints ached underneath the fall. I screamed out as urine started pouring from my body, soaking my clothes.

  The man hovered over me as he tossed the phone to the floor. He sat me back upright as his eyes scanned my body. My face hurt, and I smelled like urine. My hands were sore, and my little baby boy was wiggling around now more than ever. I sobbed as I bowed my head,
waiting for the man to kill me for what I’d done.

  But all he did was take a step back.

  “Your father agreed to my terms,” he said. “He’s a smart man.”

  “You’d be surprised,” I said breathlessly.

  “You don’t think your father is smart?”

  I chose my next words wisely before I lifted my head.

  “I think my father is a manipulator. But I think you are pathetic.”

  I watched his eyes rage as his fists clenched at his sides. I knew he was going to kill me. I knew it was only a matter of time. But instead of hitting me or shooting me, he walked around me and grabbed the back of my chair.

  “Where are you taking me?” I asked.

  But the man remained silent.

  “I said… where the fuck are you taking me!?”

  I jumped against my restraints, trying to pull myself free. The legs of the chair were scraping against the floor. He pulled me down the hallway before he opened up a closet door, then pushed me in. I tried to rip at the duct-tape on my legs so I could kick my legs free, but the more I struggled, the more exhausted I became.

  Then, the man slammed the door in my face and left me in the dark.

  Chapter 20

  Cade

  My blood was running so hot I figured it was going to start cooking my skin. Harper had seemed so scared, and then flipped a switch and seemed so cool. I had no idea what kind of condition she was in, but I knew one thing was for certain. If whoever the fuck this were harmed one fucking hair on her head, I would slaughter everyone in his family. For every bruise he left behind, one of his family would die in front of his eyes. And for every pain that ached in Harper’s body, I would leave a pain of the greatest magnitude on his.

  “I’m getting the money,” Ryan said.

  “Now hold on a second. There’s nothing that tells us he’s gonna come with Harper,” Doc said.

  “He’s right. This might just be a setup to get your money,” Ink said.

  “I don’t give a shit about my money. I want my daughter back!” Ryan said.

  “Then we go with you,” I said.

  “What?” Blade asked.

  “Look, I don’t know how the fuck someone like this got by you, but we can figure that shit out later. For all we know, he was hiding in this fucking how the entire damn time,” I said.

  “No, he came in from the street. I saw him,” Blade said.

  “Not helping your case,” Vex said.

  “Ryan, we’re gonna go with you. If they have Harper, we can make sure he gets none of your money, and you get your daughter back. If he doesn’t have Harper, we can follow his car or put trackers on the undercarriage to get us back to your daughter. Either way, come five in the morning, we’re gonna be with you in that park,” I said.

  “Fine. I need to get to the basement,” Ryan said.

  “What’s in the basement?” Vex asked.

  “I have a personal vault where I keep our valuables. There’s cash in there in case of emergencies. I think I have enough.”

  “Someone’s going with you. You aren’t going to be alone from here on out,” I said.

  “That’s fine.”

  “I’ll go with him,” Ink said.

  “What about me?”

  We all turned towards Harper’s mother as she stood in the doorway. Her face was streaked with tears, and her eyes were completely vacant. Her hands were twirled up in a blanket she was holding to her face. I recognized the blanket. It was one of the blankets off Harper’s bed. I studied the light bruise on her face and the way her body seemed to crumble into the floor.

  Ryan dashed for her body as he caught her in his arms.

  “We’re going to find her, okay?” Ryan said. “We’re going to bring our daughter home.”

  “Can I come?” she asked.

  “You should stay here, sweetheart,” Ryan said. “I think that’s for the best. I can’t risk having you get hurt, too.”

  “I’ll stay behind with her,” Blade said. “Keep eyes on the house.”

  “Better eyes than the first time around, I hope,” Doc said.

  “Stop fighting. It’s already done. We’re on to the next thing. Mrs. Thomas, you’ll stay here with Blade. When we come home, you’ll have your money and your daughter. I promise. Ink, you’re with Ryan. Get everything put together. We’ve got five hours before we have to be at the park,” I said.

  “Cade?”

  Ryan’s voice had changed in an instant. From confident and concerned husband to frightened, feeble father.

  “Yeah?”

  “You do whatever the hell you have to do to make sure my daughter and my grandson are okay.”

  Son. That part hadn’t even registered yet. Harper was pregnant with a boy. I was going to be a father to a bouncing baby boy. I stood there as I watched Ryan cradle his wife as tears flowed down her face, and the only thing I could think about was how I wished I was doing the same with Harper. Cradling her stomach in my hands. Protecting her and my baby boy. But instead, I was now forced to chase down whoever the fuck took her from her own damn bed.

  “I’ll do whatever it takes. You have my word. I love your daughter. I’ll get her back.”

  I felt everyone’s eyes on me as fire burst behind Ryan’s eyes. It was now or never. If we were working on shortened time, then I needed to go ahead and come clean with everyone here and now.

  “What the fuck do you mean ‘you love her’?” Doc asked.

  “Do you know our daughter?” Patrice asked.

  I could feel Ryan’s eyes on me as he looked me up and down. He unraveled himself from his wife and slowly approached me. I could feel everyone gathering behind me, waiting for me to make the call so they could pummel this shithead into the ground.

  “You’re the father, aren’t you?” Ryan asked.

  “Holy shit, I thought she looked familiar,” Vex said.

  “You’re the father of my grandchild,” Ryan said.

  I nodded to answer his question, and it was followed by an eruption behind my back. Everyone in my club was slinging me questions. How long had I known? Did I just find out? Is that why I insisted on taking this job protecting her? How did I feel about everything?

  But I rose my hand to shut them up as my eyes stayed connected with Ryan’s.

  “I wondered,” he said.

  “You wondered what?” I asked.

  “What your relationship was to her. I saw the way the two of you looked at each other at the rally.”

  “Then why did you allow me to guard your daughter?” I asked.

  “I couldn’t prove it. And I figured any man who loved my daughter like that would always have her best interest at heart.”

  “You’re the father?” Patrice asked.

  It was like she was just beginning to wrap her head around things.

  “But… how? When did the two of you meet?” she asked.

  “We should probably save that conversation for later,” I said. “Your daughter’s in danger, and she’s carrying my son.”

  “If you get her out of this mess,” Ryan said, “you have my blessing.”

  I heard the guys chuckle behind me, and they knew what was coming.

  “I don’t need your blessing, Mr. Thomas. But I will save your daughter.”

  Then I turned around to the guys and began to fill them in on the story.

  “When I saw Harper at the rally, I knew the baby was mine. It was the only logical conclusion. I haven’t been able to get her out of my mind since that rally-”

  “What rally?” Patrice asked.

  “She’s pregnant with my son, guys. I won’t apologize for lying because lying to you guys got me this job. It got me closer to her. I got me one step closer to my family.”

  “You told us there was a looming threat and that we needed to protect this family,” Doc said. “You weren’t lying.”

  “But my intentions were… misleading,” I said.

  “Who the fuck cares about that?” B
lade asked. “You’re gonna be a dad, and the mother of your child has been taken. We’re getting them both out alive.”

  “I fucking knew it,” Vex said. “I’m surprised you didn’t burst on me sooner for all the jokes I was cracking. I was waiting for it, you know.”

  “You’re an asshole, and I’ll deal with you later. Ryan, go get your money. Ink, make sure the GPS trackers work in case we need them. Our next stop is Pioneer Women’s Park.”

  Chapter 21

  Harper

  The door ripped open, and my head snapped up. What time was it? What was going on? I felt my chair moving along the floor as I was pulled from the closet, but I didn’t have the energy to scream. I was tired, my legs and my wrists hurt, and my jaw was swollen from the hits I took yesterday.

  At least, I thought it was yesterday that it all happened.

  I stayed silent as my attacker untied me. I didn’t try to fight him because I knew he was stronger than me. I wouldn’t be able to take him, and I would risk my child’s life in the process. I stumbled out of the apartment as he dragged me by my arm, my shins scraping against the ground as I tripped and fell.

  “Get the fuck up,” he said.

  His grip was tight, and I knew it would leave a bruise. His arm came around my neck again, and I started choking on the pressure. My nails clawed at him as a blindfold came down over my face, and it was tied tightly behind my head.

  “Hold still, or this knife is gonna find that pretty little belly button of yours.”

  I could feel the cool blade slithering up my leg. I whimpered and tried to pull away, but I was being restrained. My eyes were clouded with tears, but even if I could see it was no use anyway. They soaked into the fabric of my blindfold as the knife made its way further up my leg.

  I grunted and tried to kick the man away, and that was a mistake. He ran the blade along the inside of my thigh, and I cried out in pain. A bag was shoved over my head before I was pushed back into the van, and I jumped as the doors closed with a thud.

  I didn’t know where we were going, but I knew I needed to shut the fuck up.

  I could feel the blood pooling on the floor of the van. My hands were shaking, and my legs were weak. My stomach was gurgling with hunger, and my mouth was bone dry. I had no way to get to my prenatal vitamins, and it worried me that my little baby wasn’t moving around in my body.