Page 47 of Sniper

I nodded because yeah, I got it. “Of course I get it.” But I needed him to get it. I went to my bag and dug until I hit the small box at the bottom where I kept important documents. I opened it up and retrieved the long envelope with my brother’s name written in my handwriting. I stood and closed the gap between us, smacking the envelope against his chest. “I can’t tell you,” I said again in a lower voice that shook from the tears I held back.

“I get the fear,” he said in a low voice.

“Maybe you do but I thought I was going to die!” I inhaled deeply and let it out slowly. “I was so fucking sure that I was going to die that I wrote a goodbye letter to my brother. I needed him to know that I loved him and that I was sorry for not listening to him. I needed him to know I was gone so that he wouldn’t spend the rest of his life looking for me.” I knew he would and after everything I put him through, I couldn’t let him live with that uncertainty.

Sniper pulled out the paper, his gaze scanning line after line while his hands balled tighter and tighter. “Why didn’t you send it?”

“I never got the chance.” I dropped down on the floor and hugged my knees. “The night I left was the worst it ever was.” I couldn’t look at him, couldn’t let myself witness the pity in his eyes. “I’d packed only two bags because there was no way I could remove anything else from the house without him noticing. It was all planned out, I would cook dinner and power through the sex he would inevitably demand and spend one final night in his bed.”

“Katey,” he growled. “You don’t have to.”

I shook my head, still not looking at him. “Ethan was out doing whatever it was he did after the Crimson Cobras cut him loose. He kept long hours and always had lots of cash, which was why I assumed he sold drugs. Or guns, possibly both.” I paused before I continued, “Anyway, that night I went down to the garage in search of the spare tire he’d taken out of my trunk. I knew I might need it or end up at the mercy of another bad man. It wasn’t anywhere that I could see, so I started looking behind shelves and plastic totes, anywhere it could be.”

I stopped speaking and risked a glance at Sniper, his entire body was tightly coiled, his face dark with anger.

“I spotted a door I’d never noticed before because I didn’t park in the garage. I wasn’t allowed to.” I looked away again, thinking aboutwhyI’d been banned from the garage. “I figured it was a storage area so I grabbed the bolt cutters, and it took me a few minutes but I managed to get it open. What was inside…” My eyes slammed shut and I couldn’t even think about it. “Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I’d find a young girl inthere.” Tears streamed down my cheeks as her face flashed in my mind. “She was so skinny and dirty. So fucking young, I was in shock.” A bitter laugh escaped. “I don’t know how long I stared at her while my mind tried to figure out what was happening.”

“A girl?”

I nodded. “At first, I thought she was one of the club girls, you know? But she was so terrified I just knew she wasn’t in there because she wanted to be.”

“What happened?”

“I did the only thing I could think of, I freed her from her bonds, one lone chain attached to the cement floor. I gave her my t-shirt and cardigan, and a fistful of cash and I told her to run.” I wiped the tears from my face on my t-shirt, not giving a damn how unladylike it was. “She ran and I put everything back to rights.”

“And then you left?”

I laughed bitterly. “No. I still had to make dinner and stick to my plan, which I did. I went to sleep knowing it was the last night I’d ever sleep in that house beside him.”

Sniper began to pace inside the small room, his body practically vibrated with energy.

“He woke me up out of a deep sleep with a fist to my face. And then another and another.” I shook my head trying to block out the memories, but they flooded my mind, so real it was as if they were happening again. “He grabbed me by the hair and dragged me down the stairs and into the basement. The door was open, and he was furious. I’d never seen him look so mad. He yelled at me that she was already sold.He shouted at the top of his lungs, kicking me and punching me while he freaked outsaying that a very powerful man had paid good money for that young girl and how I fucked it up.”

“You saved her,” he growled.

“I know but he made it clear that the men who bought and sold people were not men to be messed with. He promised they were untouchable and would extract their revenge somehow.” I shook my head and got to my feet, suddenly feeling the urge to pace. “He beat me all night, saying it was so that he could prove to them thathe’dtaken care of me so they wouldn’t have to.”

“That motherfucker!” He punched the wall, leaving a giant fist-sized hole in it.

“He left early that morning. Twenty minutes later I left, I drove six hours before I stopped at an ER. And I kept running every few months, working low-paying jobs for cash. I didn’t want to stay in one place too long in case he found me. You know the rest—he found me, my landlady managed to hold him off giving me a chance to run, and I landed here.” There it was, the whole sordid tale. My body shook and trembled as the memories and the pain returned, their impact as intense as it was when it happened.

Sniper didn’t speak. He didn’t ask any questions either. When I looked up at him, his face was twisted in anger.

My breath caught in my throat, and I slid back until I was flush against the wall. I knew that kind of anger and I wanted no part of it. “That’s it, I swear. I don’t know who they are, only that they are rich and powerful.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” His voice was low, the words came out tightly controlled as if he was trying to hang on to his own anger.

“Because I’m scared! I don’t know who they are, but I can guess about the kind of men who have the money to buy people! They will probably burn this place down with everyone who matters to you in it.”

“Maybe. Maybe not.” His green eyes were practically black as they glared at me. “But we’re weeks behind because you didn’t share this information.”

His words hit me like a blow. I should have told him sooner, but I couldn’t. Even now I couldn’t shake the idea that telling him was a mistake. “If you even try to go up against these men, you’ll lose. They can have the DEA or FBI come after you, and then what?”

“No matter what you think of us, we’re more than a bunch of dumb fucking bikers.”

“I never said you were!” More tears came and I let them fall because I had no control over them. But I refused to cry.

I saw anger all over his face and I braced myself for whatever happened next. I didn’t think he would hit me, but he was furious with me, looking at me as if I’d betrayed him and his MC. “Goddammit Katey!” And there it was, that look of hate mixed with disgust. He hit the wall again before he walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

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