by Khloe Wren
What sounded like an army came running toward us. I had no clue who this man was, and from the front of his vest, I couldn’t tell what club he was affiliated with. A fragile flicker of hope formed within me that maybe I was saved. Until the next man entered. I sighed out a heavy breath but, despite my head wanting to fall forward on my neck, I refused to lower my gaze as Blade, my father’s killer, entered the room.
“What the fuck, man? Don’t say you found her, when you know this isn’t the fucking her I’m looking for!”
The other man shrugged with a wince. “Sorry, Blade. Didn’t think, seeing her like this was a shock.”
Blade strode over to me as a dozen others came in behind him. This small room was suddenly very crowded.
“Where the fuck is she?”
I clenched my jaw tightly shut. I would say nothing to help this murderer. He waved a hand up and down, indicating my body.
“Why the fuck would you protect the ones who did this to you?”
I turned my glare on him, staring him in the eye, enjoying the pain I saw there. “Because you murdered my father, the man who took you in, took care of you, treated you like a fucking son!”
He shook his head. “I can’t believe you of all people don’t know the truth of what I was to your father. I was nothing more than a possession, like any of his weapons. I was never a son to him, he never took me in. My father sold me to him when I was sixteen to pay off a protection debt that he owed to your family. From there Antonio had me trained to be the killing machine he needed me to be, but he never could break me completely. That drove him nuts. Drove him to torment me with Josefina.”
I rolled my eyes, breaking eye contact with him. “That little piece of fluff was nothing to anyone. A little puta from across the border who caught my father’s eye.”
Blade’s palm stung as it connected with my cheek, causing my head to snap to the side and back against the wall with a thunk. I was surprised the pain registered when my head connected with the stone, considering the throbbing pain I felt from everywhere else on my body.
“Do not ever speak of her that way again. She was a sister to me and your father took her away and abused her for decades for no reason other than to hurt me. Your father was evil, the devil himself, and he did a great job in creating you in his image.” He paused and took a step back to stand directly in front of me, arms folded over his chest. Just as Makar had done before he’d begun his torture. “Last chance to do this the easy way, Elita. Who took her?”
I tilted my chin up, ignoring the throbbing in my head the smack against the wall had caused.
“Have it your way. Did Antonio ever tell you why they call me Blade?”
Somehow I managed to keep my expression blank, but my heart rate took off once more, beating so hard I wondered if it might burst within me. Wishing it would, as I was quite certain that would be an easier death than the one Blade would deliver. Because, of course, I knew how he’d earned his name. My father had shown me what all of his men were capable of as part of my grooming. He’d actually warned me never to cross Blade. That no matter what I might think I had to leverage against him, nothing would sway him. My father had attempted to break this man, but instead had created a monster he couldn’t control. I had forgotten that conversation when I’d planned out my vengeance upon him for killing my father. I’d been blinded by my grief and would now pay the ultimate price for my stupidity and ignorance.
My second, and I suspected my final, mistake. First was not fully investigating Veronica Jones’ past, now I’d underestimated my target. The results of the first had left me vulnerable to suffer the second.
My gaze stayed glued to Blade as he flipped the safety on his gun and holstered it before he reached for his pocket. He removed a closed switch blade. The grin on his face was enough for my false smile to falter. No one could hold their composure when faced with such a chillingly evil grin.
“Let’s play, shall we?”
Two of the other men came at me, releasing me from the wall and moving me to the table where I’d had Veronica strapped down such a short time ago. Makar had worked me over front and back with his belt and I bit my tongue to not cry out as my already battered body hit the cold metal. I kept my gaze on Blade, on his crazy fucking eyes. Hopefully he’d lose himself to his insanity and end me quickly. I knew, no matter what, I wasn’t going to leave this room alive.
I’d sealed my fate with two simple mistakes.
My father would be rolling over in his grave at the mess I’d created for myself.
Blade
I’d morphed into my other half. The monster Antonio had created so long ago. Normally, I was extremely careful to keep my inner beast chained at all times. These past few days had been a constant struggle to keep it from rising up and destroying everything near me. What no one knew was, it scared me as much as it scared my targets, but there were times I needed that monster. Times like this. Someone had come and destroyed Elita’s world, burned her fledging empire to the ground before it had a chance to take off. And they’d taken my woman with them.
For Veronica, I’d allow the beast within to fly free and play. I knew Mac would help me rein it in once I was done. For now I allowed my entire focus to be on the fact that Elita had information I needed. Mac and Machete had pulled her from the wall and restrained her to the table before stepping away. I could hear the murmur of their voices. Mac was the only one here who knew what lived inside me. None of the other Charons had any fucking idea about this side of me. I could only assume Mac was sharing a few details, but I couldn’t focus on them. Elita had my full attention. Her eyes were bright blue, and the fact they were still that fake color meant her contacts were intact and she would be able to see clearly everything I was about to do to her. She swallowed as she continued to stare at me. She’d dropped her tough facade the moment I’d pulled my switch blade out, and now she was nothing but a mess of weakness. My gaze ran down her body, cataloging the damage already done to her. She’d been struck numerous times with what I guessed was a belt from the width of the welts covering her. There were several bite marks along her jaw and collarbones, bruising was clear to see among the red welts over her chest and down her torso. Blood slicked her inner thighs, over more welts, and had trailed down to her feet. Whoever had come to take her down had beaten and raped her, brutally. I would need to be careful as to not kill her before she revealed the information I needed. My instincts told me she was close to death already.
“Not so tough now, are we Elita? No Daddy to come save you, no army of blackmailed men to do your bidding. You’re all alone.”
I hit the button and my blade flew open with a small sound. A sound that had my target flinching against her bonds and making me grin.
“Your daddy told you about me, didn’t he? Yet you still decided to come after me. Well, bitch, here I am. You have my full fucking attention, just like you wanted.”
Ignoring everyone else in the room, I wrapped my hand around her foot, holding it still for me to make a small slice into the tender skin of the arch with my sharp blade. Her body tensed and I grinned at her attempt to remain stoic. Whoever had come before us had already broken her down to her limit, it wouldn’t take much to have her spilling all sorts of secrets.
After I made the fifth cut, I paused and shifted my gaze from her bleeding feet to her eyes and decided to start with something not about Veronica.
“Where are your brother and mother? Do they know about your plan?”
She shook her head as she panted through the pain for a few moments. “They ran the second we heard of father’s death. Pussies.”
“So your brother has no desire to take over the family business then?”
I needed to know, because if he did, I’d go take him out as soon as I had Veronica safe. No more loose ends.
She grinned wide, falsely, and refused to answer, so I moved up her legs, delivering more of the painful but non-lethal cuts to the backs of her knees with the precision that
had caused Antonio to start calling me Blade. With a rough grip on her knee, I shoved it out as far as I could so I could start slicing my way up her inner thigh. Her skin was slick with her blood and the welts showed her previous attacker must have restrained her legs open to reach all her most sensitive areas with his belt before he fucked her.
I’d known so many men who were so quick to use rape as a tool to hurt a woman, but I’d never once even considered it. The act ran against every moral instinct I had. Physical pain was one thing, but sexual pain was a whole other level in which I would never participate. But it didn’t mean I wouldn’t use the threat of it to help me to get the bitch to talk.
Skipping over her thighs that were already beaten enough I knew she wouldn’t even feel any cuts I made, I trailed the tip of my blade from one hip bone to the other, not enough to draw blood but the threat was clear.
“Your brother?”
Her body trembled and moisture welled in her eyes as I lightly scraped the tip of my blade over her mound, not that I gave a fuck she was upset.
“He’s soft. Too soft for this life. He has no interest in it. He’s studying architecture. He’s no threat to you. Nor is my mother.”
Her words were rushed and I nearly didn’t catch everything she said. I stepped back, removing the knife from her most delicate skin. But I didn’t give her long to catch her breath before I moved to hold her hand, forcing her fingers to splay out to reveal her palm. With the tip once more posed to break skin, I paused and holding her gaze asked again.
“Who came before us? Who has Veronica?”
Her jaw clenched and I pressed the blade down, entering the center of her palm slowly.
She spoke through clenched teeth, but I still heard her every word. “Don’t you mean Victoria?”
The beast rose to the surface, snarling, and Elita’s eyes went wide as she held my gaze before I started speaking.
“You’re reckless and impulsive. So I doubt you personally looked into Veronica’s past enough to know about her real name. That means her uncle was here, but unlike you, I’ve done my fucking research and know that there’s no fucking way he did this alone. Who fucking took my woman, Elita?”
Fury lit me up as the bitch stayed silent and in my rage, I stepped up my routine. No more small cuts. I tossed my switch blade onto the table, and she flinched as it clattered against the metal. Ripping open the holster that held my fixed blade hunting knife, I pulled it free and held her fingers out flat. After lining my blade up with the bottom joint of her pinky finger, I made fast work of removing the digit, ignoring her screams as I grabbed some shredded material off the floor and wrapped the bleeding stub.
“Here, use this.”
Machete handed me a roll of duct tape and tossing the material aside, I tore off a strip. She screamed again as I roughly sealed the wound enough she wouldn’t bleed out before I wanted her to, but I barely heard her as I imagined what Veronica was suffering through right now. Her uncle had come and taken her. Her uncle who had proven how much he liked to hurt her, had her. Fuck. Not only that, but another player was involved. Whoever it was could be with Jovan taking payment from my girl, or the doctor. We hadn’t found any sign of him yet, either.
“What about the doctor? Did they take him too?”
Aside from her panting through clenched teeth, she remained mute. I was past done with her bullshit. I moved until I was staring directly into her face, then holding her jaw in my fingers, I rested the bloody knife against her cheek, pressing the tip against the skin below her eye.
“I’m about out of patience, bitch, and you have plenty of other body parts I can chop off. So, stop fucking around, and answer my fucking questions. What happened to the doctor?”
Her breaths stuttered and when I felt the muscles of her jaw flex, I loosened my grip to allow her to speak.
“Jovan took them both. Your woman promised compliance if they let the doctor go. Although I highly doubt they will honor that promise. You know who she is to him, right? He’ll never release her, he’ll hide her away from the world now. She’ll never even see the sun again, let alone you.”
I leaned over her, getting my face close to hers so she could see the fury and determination in my gaze. She stopped talking and a shiver racked through her body as I dragged the tip down her cheek, making a shallow cut.
“You should have left me and mine alone. Your father got what he deserved. You know that. You should have just taken the windfall it gave you and enjoyed it, but no. You had to come after me. And now that you’re caught in your own fucking trap, you still insist on trying to hurt me with empty words. I know exactly who my woman is to that fucker. I’m not mob anymore, princess. I’m Charon MC and we have friends, ones who know exactly where Allen Jovan lives and plays. Need to know who else I need to chase down, so who the fuck helped Jovan?”
Her eyes flared with hatred. Interesting. She hated whoever had helped Jovan even more than she did me. That was saying something.
“Fucking tell me! Or you lose another finger.”
I turned back toward her hand and switched my grip on my knife, ready to take another digit off.
“Smirnov!”
I paused and turned back to frown down at her. “Makar Smirnov?”
The big Russian bastard had hung around Sabella years ago, trying to get in good with the man. I’d thought he’d returned to Russia after Antonio shut him down.
“Yes. He wanted control of L.A., and—” she paused and snarled before finishing, “and of me. Father denied him both, so he used Jovan’s request for a favor to get what he wanted. He doesn’t give a shit about your woman or the doctor.”
Her voice had weakened as she’d spoken. She was resigned to her fate and no longer gave a fuck about withholding information from me. Her words helped me understand the condition her body was in. I could easily see Makar getting his vengeance on the Sabella family by torturing Elita as he had. I’d also bet he planned on returning in a day or so to torture her some more before taking her with him. He’d either keep her as his own personal whore or sell her off to be used as one. All things considered, she should be thanking me for what I was about to do. Because there was no way in hell I would allow this bitch to breathe air in a world where my Veronica lived.
“All of this could have been prevented, Elita. None of this was fucking necessary. None of it. But you started this shit, so I’m finishing it. Just know, it will take me less than a day to have Veronica back in my arms, where she belongs. While you will be lying here dead with no one left who cares enough to even mourn your loss. Enjoy hell, bitch.”
With that I lifted up and delivered the final slice, deep across her throat. I stood there, staring into her eyes as she gasped her final breath, then taking both my knives I turned and walked away from her. Pausing briefly on my way out of the room to pick up some of her discarded clothing to wipe my blades clean. I’d clean them with bleach later, but for now I just put them away.
“We need to head back to Texas. Her uncle has her and the doctor. I’ll get Keys to keep an eye on Smirnov, but I can’t see him worrying about us now he has what he wants.”
I was sure he’d be angry when he found Elita dead, but he’d wanted control of the mob more than her so I was fairly certain he wouldn’t give me another thought.
Mac came to walk beside me. “You didn’t let the prez do his usual spiel, Blade.”
I gave him a fast glare before I focused back on where I was walking. While I appreciated that he was just trying to get me out of beast mode with some humor, until I had Veronica back, it wouldn’t work.
“Scout likes to explain how the Charons are named after the Greek ferryman who would decide if souls went to Hades or the Elysian Fields—”
“Mac?”
“Yeah?”
“Shut the fuck up, brother.”
“Right.”
I really didn’t give a fuck that Scout normally liked to play with his victims, fuck with their minds. Personally, I th
ink I did a fine job of messing with Elita’s head before I took her out. I got to the van and opened the door to get in, wishing I had my bike here. My beast was out and didn’t want to be caged.
“Blade! Hold up a sec.”
I paused before I slid into the seat to turn to face Scout. I’d thought Mac had been joking but now was wondering if the club president would really be mad that I’d killed Elita before he could do his thing. I opened my mouth to apologize but he waved it off.
“Don’t worry about that, Mac was just trying to lighten the mood. You did just fine. Fucking scary as hell, but got the job done. What I want to tell you is that we’re heading back to Bridgewater first. Some of the Satan’s Cowboys are coming down to meet with us to plan how to deal with Jovan.”
I shook my head. No fucking way.
“I can’t wait, Scout. He won’t. He’ll rape her as soon as he can. He started grooming her basically from birth. He made her life a living hell, when her folks sent her away to boarding school to try to save her. He’d had them killed to get her back. His own brother and his wife.” I shook my head again. “I can’t sit on this.” I gestured to the mess around us. “We’re only a few hours behind them. We ride to Greenswood and take them down before they can get settled anywhere. Before he can get her locked away.”
Scout stood with his fists against his hips, glaring at me but his silence indicated he heard what I’d said, that he was thinking it through. With a curse, he sighed before he pulled his phone out.
“Hey, Viper, Scout here. Looks like there’s a change of plans. We’re coming to you.”
He continued speaking into his phone but I didn’t track the words, relief that he wasn’t going to force me to go back to Bridgewater and sit on my fucking hands while Veronica was being abused flowed through me. The Cowboys were located in Cutler, only about a twenty minute drive away from where Allen had his home. I liked the idea of having another entire club to back us up when we rode in. It also helped that, despite the Cowboys being a one percenter club, they were firmly against human trafficking of any kind. And holding a woman against her will as a sexual slave fell under that category.