by Addison Jane
He pulled his face back, his eyes running over my face as though he was seeing me for the first time. They finally came to rest on my lips just as his hand reached my face, cupping it softly.
The moment he began to lean in, I spat. My saliva, swirling with red from the blood that had settled in my mouth, hit him on the cheek.
He closed his eyes as if praying for strength. When he opened them, they flashed in anger. “I’ll give you that one.”
“Don’t do me any favors,” I snapped.
He pulled back, wiping the spit aside with the back of his hand before stepping away and slamming the door shut. The vehicle shook with his anger.
He walked around the front of the car, stripping away the bulletproof vest he was wearing and tossing everything to the ground, before climbing in the driver’s side and placing his gun on his lap, giving me a pointed look that said he really wouldn’t hesitate to use it.
He wanted to scare me.
He was doing a good job.
But I’d never let him know that.
I held my tongue as we pulled out of the compound and onto the main road out of town. I tried to take in my surroundings. I hadn’t been in Athens for long and had really only been into town. I hadn’t had much to do with the surrounding area, so my knowledge of where we were grew slimmer as we drove further away from the clubhouse.
“When they notice I’m gone, all hell is going to break loose,” I told him, staring out the window.
He chuckled. “I warned them that you were there. Let them know that you didn’t know what you’d gotten yourself into and were clearly innocent. So it was better for me to remove you before they start arresting the brothers.”
“I knew exactly what I was doing there,” I told him, turning my body to face him. “I was fucking the members, all of them, several times a day. It was good, real good.”
His features tightened, his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly in his hands.
“Sometimes I even had two at a time,” I whispered, knowing my words would be like venom, seeping into his veins.
Simon liked simple sex. He had control, he got off, that was all.
“How do you think I felt Hadley? Having to tell my company that my wife was now whoring herself out to a group of bikers?” I felt the tightness in his words. He was upset, he hated being made to look like a fool, and that was exactly what I’d done. He took a few deep breaths, calming himself.
I wanted to make him angry, I wanted to throw him off. Simon liked control. He liked order. But anger was like a disease, it made us do things we wouldn’t usually. It fueled us, and we ignored our instincts.
I wanted him to make a mistake. It was the only chance I had to make it out of this alive.
We pulled off the side of the road, the car turning down a driveway. The grass on either side was long like it hadn’t been used in a long time. When we came to the end, I spotted a large barn and a farmhouse in the distance. A forest bordered the property, and I licked my lips, eyeing the thick bushes inside it.
If I could get out, that could be my escape.
There were two more cars parked outside the barn, and I swallowed past the lump in my throat.
It wouldn’t just be us. There were more of them here.
“Before you think of outing me to these men…” he said as he pulled the car to a stop and switched off the engine, “...think about that beautiful little girl that you’ve grown so attached to. What’s her name? Macy?”
My heart raced. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Wouldn’t I?”
He was right. I had no idea if he would hurt Macy or not. I clearly had no idea who this man was that was in front of me. Was he the man I married, or some monster that had taken control of his body?
“She’s just a baby,” I whispered, my throat tightening. Macy’s face flashed in my head, her beautiful smile and sparkling eyes. Full of innocence and life. I slumped against the seat.
“Good girl,” Simon praised.
He walked around the car, pulling open my door and guiding me out.
Two men with rifles stepped out of the double doors to the barn, holding them open as we stepping through. They wore dark clothing and seemed older, maybe in their late thirties. They nodded to Simon as we entered, following behind us and pulling the barn doors closed.
There were more men scattered through the building, these men were different, though. They were dressed in baggy jeans and hooded sweatshirts, bandanas covering their heads.
Gangsters. These were the recruits that joined the gang just to be a part of something. Kids, looking no older than Meyah, nineteen at the most. They didn’t know any better, driven by power and false promises.
The roof of the barn was high with rafters, there were a few old pieces of farming equipment, plows and haymakers, all covered in dust and looking like they hadn’t seen sunlight for years and a well looked after tractor parked by the barn wall.
A table in the corner caught my eye, the two guys who sat at it looked up as we moved closer. One stayed seated while the other pushed his chair back and stood.
He didn’t look like a gangster. He had long black hair that was pulled back into a short pony at the base of his skull. His clothes were pristine, and he was clean shaven, a suit jacket over a casual shirt and dark denim jeans. Both casual and professional.
He scrutinized me with his eyes as he came closer. “I never can fault your taste in women.”
I frowned, confused as to what he meant. I looked out the corner of my eye at Simon whose chest seemed to puff with pride at the compliment.
“Hadley, meet Isiah Lenthum,” Simon introduced, gesturing to the man in front of me.
“I’d shake your hand but…” I said sarcastically as I gestured to the handcuffs that bound my wrists.
A small smirk came across Isiah’s mouth. “I’ve heard so much about you, Hadley. It’s nice to finally meet you.”
“Can’t say the same, unfortunately,” I replied, faking a sweet smile.
Pain shot through my cheek, forcing my face to the side. I gasped, breathing through the needles that seemed to be attacking my face, the blow not hard enough to throw me to the ground, but enough to stun me into silence. I took a few moments, inhaling through my nose as I rode through the painful wave and waited for the aftershock to ease.
I pulled my shoulders back, narrowing my eyes at the man in front of me. He was unfazed by my act of rebellion.
“May I have a few words with my wife?” Simon asked, his voice polite.
“Make it quick,” Isiah ordered, his eyes burning through my skin like a hot poker. “You’ve already taken too long to retrieve her. You’re lucky I’ve had the patience to wait this long.”
My head was spinning, and I couldn’t grasp what was going on.
Who was Isiah, and what was his part in this equation?
Isiah headed back to the table in the corner, and Simon dragged me to the opposite side of the barn, shoving me against the wall.
“You need to keep your mouth shut,” he snapped.
“What the hell have you got yourself mixed up in?” I growled.
“That’s none of your damn business, Hadley.” He got right in my face. “It stopped being your business the day you refused to leave Arkansas with me.”
“That’s why you’re angry?” I asked. “This is all because I wouldn’t go with you?”
“I thought if I let you have time, that you would realize that you needed me.” He turned his body so he could see the men across the room, but kept his voice low. “I watched you start stripping, I was so angry. Made me sick that you were using your body like that.”
“It’s who I am. You never wanted me to be that girl, so I didn’t. I kept her hidden for you,” I told him. “But when you left. I got to be who I wanted, what I wanted.”
“Like a whore?” he spat, slamming his palm against the wall beside my head before taking a deep breath and fighting through his anger. “I would have given
you everything. By the time the Syndicate realized I was still married…” his eyes drifted to Isiah, “…we were already beginning the merge. I didn’t think it would come to this.”
My breath halted in my chest.
“Wait. What?”
His eyes hardened, the small slip of emotion he released quickly covered. “Isiah is a businessman, he produces the product that we sell amongst other side work,” he explained. My stomach churned. “We are merging the Syndicate with his family business. Our production and distribution will be unlike any the States have ever seen.”
“What does this have to do with me?” The words tasted awful, I forced them out anyway, even through my fear of the answer I would receive.
“In order for the merger to take place, I must marry his daughter.”
I didn’t expect the laughter that bubbled up my throat and out my mouth. Simon quickly slapped his hand across my mouth, using his body to press me against the wall, the handcuffs pulling at my wrists painfully.
He slowly removed his hand. “Don’t fuck this up for me, Hadley. You’ve already made a mess. The phone call from Angelo, warning us away didn’t sit well with Isiah.”
Angelo called them?
This was new.
“Obviously, you didn’t listen.”
“Instead of just sending someone to kill you…” I shuddered at how easily he muttered those words as if I was nothing more than dirt that needed cleaning away. Instead of the woman he married and vowed to spend the rest of his life with. “Isiah demanded I bring you in as an act of good faith, so he could see it done himself.”
“So you’ve become his bitch?” I spat.
His hand went to my throat, his fingers tightening. I could still breathe, but it took a lot of effort to pull the small amount of air he was allowing. “I’ll be glad when I’m finally done with you,” he whispered, his voice so rough and deep that all I could think was that this was how I imagined the devil would sound.
“Why didn’t… you… sign divorce… papers,” I managed to gasp out, his grasp not loosening an inch. Shadows covered one side of his face.
It was like he was two people.
The man I married and the man greed had created.
Simon had never been perfect, but we’d had a good marriage. The moment he had a taste of the darkness, the money, the drugs, the power, there was no pulling him back. The other Simon was still in there somewhere, but he’d been smothered.
“If the Syndicate had’ve found out, we’d have both been killed.”
So he’d saved his own ass.
“I hate… you.”
The sick smile that pulled up on his face told me he didn’t give a shit.
I was beginning to feel dizzy when he finally released my throat leaving me coughing and gagging as I tried to draw air into my deprived lungs.
He reached into his back pocket, pulling out a small box. Lifting the lid, he revealed a daisy—
or what was left of one—only one petal remained, and just like all the other packages, this one had a note.
He raised the gun in his hand and held it against my chest, right over my heart.
I heard the words as he spoke them, his voice a low whisper that chilled my body to the bone.
I knew it was over.
“She loves me not.”
The bang that resonated inside the small barn drew the attention of all the men. Some came running from outside, waving their large guns around like a war was about to begin.
I gasped, realizing that I was still breathing.
Simon, on the other hand, had dropped to the floor and was writhing in pain, holding the bullet wound in his shoulder.
“Run!” I heard a voice scream, it was deep and familiar.
I didn’t wait to look around, thinking that the boys had already figured out what was going on and had come for me.
“Grab the girl!” Isiah yelled, striking my body into action.
I ran, ignoring the awkward way I moved due to my hands still being held behind my back. The door was only a few feet away, and I had no idea who was in this barn shooting, only that someone was on my side and was trying to help me escape.
A man stepped out in front of me but before he could lift his gun, I drove my shoulder into his chest, throwing him off his feet. I stumbled a little, smashing into the wall before I righted myself and slipped out the doorway, running full speed toward the forest. It was my escape. My breathing was heavy, and my throat ached as my legs pumped furiously across the grass field.
“Freeze or I shoot him!” Isiah called from behind me.
The threat didn’t make sense at first.
“Run Hadley!”
The voice, much clearer now, made me stumble to a halt just feet from the edge of safety.
“No,” I whispered, turning slowly. “Slider, no.” I gasped as I spotted him on his knees at the doorway, Isiah’s gun pressed to the back of his head.
“I’ll kill him,” Isiah warned loudly just as Simon stumbled into view.
Blood dripped from the bullet wound, and his face was screwed up in fury. He raised his good arm, using the butt of his gun to smash across Slider’s face, sending him sprawling across the ground.
“No!” I cried, scrambling across the wet grass. I tripped and fell. Looking up, I saw Simon rear his foot back, slamming it into Slider’s stomach, not once but twice, as I screamed at him to stop. I finally found my footing, tears streaked down my face as I hurried back toward the barn. The pain in my wrists was a dull ache compared to the hell my heart was feeling.
Two men pulled a crumpled Slider back inside the barn, tossing him like a rag doll onto the dirty floor. I dropped to my knees beside him, my tears dripping on his chest.
“What were you thinking, you idiot,” I whispered, wishing I could reach out and touch him or comfort him.
He coughed out a painful laugh. “Saw the Feds at the clubhouse and hid outside. When I saw him leave with you, I followed.”
His face was pale, and it seemed as though he was struggling to breathe.
“You could have been killed.”
“Gonna die anyway,” he muttered, his eyes staring into mine like he could already see the angels coming.
“Don’t say that,” I scolded.
He shook his head. “Doctor confirmed it. He said a few months, maybe a year at best.” His eyes glazed. “That’s not the life I want to live, Hadley. Confined to a bed as my family watches me wither away to nothing.” He gathered his body, moving his hands underneath him and pushing himself to his feet. I tried to help but it was no use, he was determined to hold his own. His legs shook with the effort it took just to stand, and I wondered how he’d followed us this far without coming off his bike again.
“Brothers by Blood,” Isiah mused, his glare turning toward Simon, who was slumped against the side of the barn. “Care to inform me why he is here?”
Realization hit me.
Not only did they not know that he was undercover with the FBI, but they had no idea of my link with the Brothers.
“Hadley is an Old Lady,” Slider told him casually.
Isiah studied me. “Funny, I thought you were his wife.”
“Sometimes I wonder if I was drunk for our whole relationship,” I sneered sarcastically.
“One of my brothers is quite fond of her,” Slider commented with a forced smile. He looked down at his bare wrist. “I’d be expecting them any time now.”
As if he had summoned them himself, gunshots rang out loudly from outside.
Slider grinned widely, his chest heaving with the effort it was taking for him to just breathe. “Have you got big balls? ‘Cause you’re gonna need them.”
I could tell Isiah was agitated by this little piece of information.
“Starting a war before our business together has even begun, Simon?” he accused, taking a step toward Simon.
“They’re not a problem,” Simon ground out, obviously in a lot of pain.
“It se
ems like they’ve become a problem,” Isiah snapped.
The doors to the barn all slammed opened simultaneously. Simon’s goons spun toward the invaders, holding their guns as if they were prepared at any second to start shooting. Men in club cuts appeared in the doorways, and I suddenly felt as though I had inhaled a breath of fresh air.
Simon pushed off the wall, stumbling forward as Isiah seemed to step in the opposite direction. I couldn’t help but smile as Judge walked confidently through the double doors, Leo flanking his right side and Skins on his left.
Leo’s eyes watched me, grazing over my body as though he was ticking off a list in his head. When he finally reached my eyes, he gave me a sharp nod, as if confirming I was fine but I could tell he was still tense. Slider and I were standing in the middle of a possible war zone, we were far from safe just yet.
I looked around the barn, members of both the Brothers and Satan’s Sanctuary stood in the different entrances, shoulders back, fully armed.
Simon’s men backed away, their eyes flicking toward him as if looking for some kind of guidance. They had numbers to almost match the brothers, and if the shooting began, it would quickly turn into a blood bath.
“It’s over,” Judge stated loudly, his voice calm and full of authority.
Simon clenched his teeth tightly together, his eyes flicking to each of his men before returning to Judge. “You can’t do this,” he spat.
“You forced my hand,” Judge growled back, pointing at Simon accusingly.
“Satan’s Sanctuary will have a target on their backs. Every criminal enterprise you’ve ever dealt with will be hunting you down.”
Judge laughed unexpectedly, and my heart stuttered.
“Funny, because as of this moment, Satan’s Sanctuary is no more. The members will disappear as though they never existed.”
I gasped. Oh shit. It was over.
They were shutting down the club.
With the shit that Simon had buried himself into, it was no longer safe for them. Their cover was blown.