by Deja Voss
“Never forgot about you, Bella,” he says, and my goosebumps turn to straight-up chills. The way he says it feels like a threat.
He keeps his eye on me as he reaches over and starts to shake Driller. He moans a little bit and curls up in fetal position. “Kid told me you were special. Told me I was supposed to keep you safe. I’m not so sure I should believe him.”
His grip tightens around my shoulders.
“You can’t just show up here and start shooting people up and knocking people out, Bella. You know how much trouble you’re in?”
The commanding tone of his voice makes my thighs weak, my core tighten. He sounds like he wants to bend me over his knee and spank me, and for some reason I don’t think I’d complain one bit.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, but before I can get another word in, he’s on the ground, his eyes closed. Barret stands there shaking out his fist.
“Sorry, Annabella,” Barret says. “That was a close one.”
I want to punch him in the face, want to rake his eyes out with my fingernails. I slap my hand over my mouth at the sight of Ransom’s body sprawled out on the floor.
“He’ll be fine. Just a love tap,” he mumbles. He drops down to the ground next to the two of them and pulls a little vial of liquid out of his pocket.
“What is that?” I ask.
“Nothing bad. These two will sleep like fucking babies and tomorrow when they wake up they won’t even remember coming here. We’ll take ’em across town tonight after dinner. You got nothing to worry about.”
I press my fingers into my temples, trying not to lose my shit. I know it’s wrong for me to feel bad about any of this. These people don’t mean anything to me. This job is ninety percent done. They don’t understand what I’m doing here, and they probably never will.
I can’t hardly believe Ransom has the compassion in his heart to know my story or even care. Still, I feel bad seeing him laid out like this, so helpless, yet so perfect. Someone so tough and strong looking so vulnerable. I can’t help but feel like, if Barret wouldn’t have knocked him out, things would’ve gone very differently. I could explain everything. I could make him see my way.
There’s another knock on the door, and Barret steps over Driller and Ransom like it’s the most natural thing in the world. He peeks out the peephole and waves over at me. “Pizza’s here,” he says with a shrug.
I just nod over to him, wondering how the fuck I’m gonna get myself out of this mess, wondering why, for the first time since I got to town, I feel guilty about something. Neither one of these men did anything to put me in this position. Even worse, I know by now, no matter what I do, I’m an enemy of the club.
Something about Ransom makes me feel right, good, alive, but there’s no reason why he shouldn’t absolutely hate me. There’s no reason why he shouldn’t want me dead. I’m the bad guy. I’m the monster. No matter what idea Kid put in my mind, there’s no coming back from any of this.
13
Ransom:
My head is throbbing like I’ve been on a two-week bender. I blink my eyes open, but the room feels like it’s spinning. My mouth is dry, and all the muscles in my body feel weak. Everything is blurry as I take a survey of last night in my mind. I know we claimed Pearl. Had a couple drinks. Driller and I went over to Barret’s apartment looking for answers about Vinnie.
“Motherfucker,” I stammer, blinking my eyes open and trying to figure out where the fuck I am. Driller is passed out on a couch. Whatever happened to me apparently happened to him, too. I feel the lump on the back of my skull. I slowly crawl across the floor, knowing we probably aren’t alone. I was definitely drugged last night. I can tell by the way I’m seeing stars. My body fights consciousness. Every time I inch forward, jolting pain ripples through my temples like an electric shock, urging me to close my eyes and go back to sleep.
Whoever did this to us is playing fucking dirty.
Whoever did this to us doesn’t want us dead, though.
For whatever reason, we are more valuable alive.
“Barret, you slimy motherfucker!” Driller shouts. “The fuck did you do?”
“Shut up!” I hiss, not knowing what the hell we are stacked up against. There’s a low murmur of voices coming from the other room, and I have no idea how many of them or how heavily armed they are.
“Fucking Barret,” he mumbles. “Should’ve known better. We had no business going over there without backup.”
“Fucking Barret is right.” The overhead lights flick on, and standing there is Annabella, hands on her hips, sneering at Driller and me.
She motions to the body lying on the floor in the corner, fresh blood dripping from the hole in his head. Fucking Barret. Apparently he got the worst part of this deal.
“Who the fuck are you?” I manage to shout. I know exactly who she is. She knows I know exactly who she is, but if I’m gonna protect my best friend, I know I gotta keep it cool. Our conversation from last night comes rushing back to me. She came here to take care of her father. Kid sent her. She was scared shitless I was going to hurt her, and she should be. She’s fucking with my club, fucking with my best friend, and for all I know, she knocked me out cold and defenseless.
She doesn’t look so fearful now.
Three men come rushing into the room, training their pistols at Driller and me.
“Isn’t it fucking obvious?” she says with a sinister laugh, stroking her hand up my face.
I know my pistol is missing from my holster. I know Driller and I really don’t have a move.
“What do you want?” Driller asks.
She laughs and shakes her head as the men close in on us.
“I want a sit-down with Stoney. He’ll know exactly who I am. Tell him I’m not messing around, either. You think taking out Vinnie was bad? You ain’t seen nothing yet. That little funeral celebration you’re having over there at your clubhouse? It’s about to get quite explosive if you know what I’m saying. Get your uncle over here, and don’t say a fucking word unless you want me to hit the button.”
“Pearl’s in there,” Driller blurts out.
“She sure is. Saw her with my own two eyes. It was like looking in a mirror. A sad, pathetic mirror.”
“Give me my phone.”
“How the fuck do we know she’s not bluffing?” I ask. If she wants to play dirty, if she wants to pretend like I couldn’t call her bluff any second now, I’m going to do my best to make sure it’s not easy on her
She squints her eyes and runs her fingers down my chest. “That’s your call to make. I mean, you don’t know me like you know Pearl. You don’t know what I’m capable of. I will say, if I was going to blow up the clubhouse, though, today would be a fucking great day to do it. All your friends and family gathered in one place to celebrate the death of that piece of shit… it kind of makes me wet thinking about it.”
“You’re crazy, bitch,” I mutter. I can see in her eyes she’s enjoying every moment of this. The sadness, the pain, the fear, it’s all replaced by a woman high off her ass on power. That, or she’s an incredible fucking actress. I don’t know what to believe anymore. I don’t know why Kid would let her put our club through so much pain and chaos unless there was a really fucking good reason.
“Give me my phone,” Driller demands. “What do you want me to tell him?”
Before she can say another word, the floor beneath us vibrates so violently it feels like an earthquake is rattling beneath us. I pull Annabella down on the floor next to me instinctively, and she shoots me a dirty look like I’m about to blow her cover.
I don’t fucking care. I need her alive more than anything. At least until I get some answers.
The walls shake and the sound of glass breaking downstairs echoes through the apartment, and then silence.
“Please!” a woman’s voice screams from below. “Get away from me, Stoney! He’s not here! My father is dead! I am not who you think I am! I’m Pearl! I am not Lucy! I don’t know who Lucy is!”
“Vinnie! You motherfucker! You promised you got rid of this bitch!” There’s pounding from the stairway leading up to the door. I’d recognize the low growl of Stoney’s angry voice anywhere.
“Looks like you’re not going to need your phone after all,” Annabella says to Driller. “Why don’t you let them in?”
He slowly stands up from the floor, holding his hands over his head while the masked thugs keep their guns pointed directly at him.
“I’m sorry, Ransom,” she whispers. “I’m sure you’re a great guy. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”
She pulls her pistol out and without hesitation, she fires three shots, one into the back of each of the armed men, so quickly I barely have time to process what’s happening.
“I’m probably going to die today, Ransom. Tell Kid I said thank you. For everything.”
She walks over to one of the bodies on the floor and grabs a pistol from the man’s dead hand, sliding it across the room for me.
“Whatever you gotta do,” she says somberly. “I understand.”
Her eyes are clear and bright. She has a calm smile on her face. She winks at me and rushes out the doorway.
“Annabella!” I shout after her, struggling to get up. “What the hell?”
My ears ring with the sound of gunshots being fired in the stairwell, and I expect the worst as I round the corner.
14
Annabella
Fake it til you make it. I’ve read all the self-help books. I’ve heard all the speeches. I’ve done the meditations and lit the candles and washed the crystals just like my mom taught me to. I’ve always known exactly how to put on an air of confidence, even when inside I was dying. If you can feel it, you can be it.
That is, until the day I finally came face-to-face with my sister for the first time.
Sure, I’d been watching her from afar for a few days now. I knew enough that she was just your normal everyday person trying to get by in the world, not some criminal mastermind who helped my father and Stoney run some sort of trafficking racket. I knew she was oblivious. When I finally got close enough to her that I could touch her, I had a sneaking suspicion that everything Riley told me about her was false. I could see in her eyes she had no idea I existed. I could tell by the way she reached for me
And it threw me completely off my game.
I didn’t have it in me to end Stoney’s life. My father was easy. I never had to look him in the eye.
The men in the apartment were easy. I knew they would’ve killed Ransom and Driller the first chance they got.
“Send me to jail,” I pleaded as the club rushed in to rescue Pearl. “Please, let me be arrested,” I begged until Ransom slapped his hand over my mouth and dragged me out the back door. I have four murders and an attempted under my belt. And the attempted is the worst one of all.
Because I didn’t do what I came here to do. I choked. The tough girl persona that I’ve learned to live in was all washed away when I realized even though my mom is dead, I still have a family.
“Shut up,” Ransom growls at me as he tosses me in the back of a white van. I don’t struggle. “Stop making a fucking scene, woman, or you’re gonna regret it.”
He’s stronger than he looks, and that’s saying a lot. Every inch of his body is corded with lean muscle, and fighting him is like trying to fight a brick wall.
“Not so tough now, huh?” he shouts, slamming the door behind me.
“Send me the fuck to jail!” I shout, kicking my heels into the door. I don’t know where he’s taking me or who’s coming with us, but I know, either way, I’m royally screwed. I have a whole crew of pissed off bikers after me, and I managed to render my only potential help unconscious. Kid’s in solitary. I’m a dead woman walking.
“Shut up, psycho,” a man says as he slams the passenger door shut and leans over the seat. He’s got these crazy green eyes that don’t belong on his cruel face. His skin is wrinkled into permanent frown marks and his biceps are bigger than tree trunks. His cut reads “Decker” and “Enforcer” and he pulls a roll of duct tape out of the glove compartment and slowly starts pulling off a piece with a slow sticky rip.
I don’t even have words anymore, at this point I’m just screaming at the top of my lungs. I know the police are in on this, but I’m hoping I can grab the attention of someone, anyone. I don’t care who I have to turn myself in to. At this point, I’ll call the fucking FBI. A life behind bars doing hard time has to be better than the fate I’m about to face.
Decker manages to pin me down to the floor with one swift push of his hand. It’s a lot less painful than I imagined, but I can tell I’m not going anywhere. He wraps duct tape around my wrists tight enough to pinch my skin. I can’t scream anymore due to the pressure of his hand around my throat, so I just look up at him with watery eyes, snapping my teeth and kicking my feet.
He grabs my flailing legs like he’s catching a butterfly, rendering me completely helpless in just one swift grab. He binds my ankles with the tape and looks over my body with a sort of sick fascination at his handiwork. I spit directly in his eye.
“You got such a pretty fucking mouth. It’s a shame you’re gonna make me do this,” he says with a grunt. He grabs the neck of my t-shirt and tears it with one swift rip.
“Stop!” I try to scream as he shoves the fabric into my mouth.
“Decker, chill, dude,” Ransom says through the open driver’s side window. “We need the bitch to talk.”
Decker looks over at him and rolls his eyes. I swear Ransom’s gaze is on my exposed chest, and it sends a chill down my spine. I realize I have a bra on, but for some reason I feel really naked. Really naked and really helpless.
He pulls the scrap of t-shirt out of my mouth and I gasp for air and start screaming again. “Fuck you!” I shout. “Fuck you both.”
Ransom shrugs and winks at me, “Suit yourself, then,” he says. Decker shoves the shirt back in my mouth and grabs the duct tape, wrapping it around my face. My heart races. I’m fucked. He pinches my nose shut for what seems like an eternity, and I feel like everything is going black.
“Enough!” Ransom shouts, opening the door and getting in the truck. “She ain’t no good to us dead.”
“Yeah, well, she’s gonna wish she’s fucking dead if Stoney doesn’t pull through. I’ll make it my life’s fucking mission.”
“Pearl said nobody’s laying a hand on her,” Ransom says, putting the van into drive. I’m flat on my back in the back, and I can’t see where we’re going. I tug on the tape around my wrists, but I can barely move them, let alone pull them apart.
So many years of my life were spent just laying down and taking it. Going with the flow. Hoping that if I was good and compliant, nobody would hurt me.
It wasn’t until Kid came along that I realized that was bullshit. I gotta fight.
“Who cares what Pearl wants? This bitch is a danger to our club.”
“Pearl’s one of us now,” Ransom says calmly. “Gotta respect her wishes. Besides, we don’t know this woman’s whole deal yet. Who knows who she’s connected to. She could just be the tip of the iceberg.”
He looks back in the rearview mirror at me and I swear he winks.
I roll over on my side slowly, staring right back at him, trying to psych him out. Maybe he has a heart after all. I don’t need to stick around to find out though. I spot a piece of sharp metal where the seats attach to the floor and know that if I can slowly shimmy my way over to it without getting their attention, I can probably use it to free my hands.
“Oh that’s right,” Decker says with a dirty laugh. “What was that like? Getting all up in Pearl last night? She’s not my type, but I wouldn’t say no to that pussy if it was sitting on my face.”
I gag up against the t-shirt in my mouth. When I look up, Ransom’s not looking at me in the rearview. He’s looking down at the steering wheel. I don’t know why, but my will to fight just kind of up and leaves me. I flop over on my back, s
taring up at the ceiling.
I don’t know what planet I live on where I thought maybe Ransom really was looking out for me. Did he honestly fuck my sister? Did they have something going on? It would only make sense.
Even since before I was born, Pearl was always a priority over me. When my father and Stoney sold my mom to the traffickers, they made an arrangement so Pearl would never have to worry. She was raised and cared for. I was left out to pasture.
Then I came here to do Kid’s bidding, and instead of him being here to help me, he got himself locked up in solitary. He left me on my own to fight my way out, while Pearl once again got to call the shots.
Now, the man who Kid told me I could rely on, the man who I felt this electric connection to from the day I laid eyes on, turns out, he’s on team Pearl, too. Why shouldn’t he be?
I’m a nobody piece of shit. I’m a murderer. I’m the lowest of low in his eyes. Tears wet my face and I begin to choke.
“Get that shit out of her mouth,” Ransom growls. “She’s gonna choke.”
Decker sighs and frowns as he rips the duct tape off my mouth. He pulls the t-shirt out and I just lay there staring up at the black ceiling. “You’re lucky we claimed your sister. If I had my way you’d be under the clubhouse by now.”
I don’t scream. I don’t do anything. There’s nothing in this world I want right now. So many years of my life I’ve spent wishing I never existed at all. Now, I wish that more than ever.
15
Ransom:
“The fuck are you going?” Decker asks as I turn off the highway onto a long dirt road.
“She’s coming to my house,” I say. I know if I take her to the clubhouse, it’s not going to end up good for her. I can’t keep my eye on her there, and if anybody gets ahold of her, there’s no telling what they’re going to do.