Page 90 of Wild Ride

“Dakota is not back. But I have a bone to pick with you, fucker,” he growls.

The leader tilts his head to the side as his eyes search Bishop’s, and I watch as his lips twitch into a smirk. “You’ve been talking, haven’t you, Briana?”

Bishop shakes his head. “It wasn’t Briana. Not that it matters. You’re a dead man standing in front of me.”

I hear some screams from the other people, and that’s when the room fills with more men. They’re all wearing Vicious Reapers cuts, what I’ve been told are their leather vests. And they all have guns in their grasp.

Nobody is walking out of this room alive. I know that should bother me, but it doesn’t. “Want to tell me who the fuck yourcustomersare?” Bishop asks, his voice showing his disdain and disgust when he says the wordcustomers.

The leader has the audacity to appear shocked. “I’m not in the habit of asking more than once lately,” Bishop says. “My patience these days is beyond limited.”

I almost laugh because it’s true. We’ve all been through enough recently, and his patience is something teetering on the edge of everything else. I’m surprised he even has an ounce left at this point.

“It doesn’t matter, does it?” he asks. “None of us are surviving this, whether we tell you or not. So why say a single thing?”

Shocker takes a step forward, his shoulders squared. I don’t know what he could possibly say, but I suck in a breath because he is ready to talk, and what he says makes my heart squeeze.His words are full of feeling, of remorse, and are laced with the rage I also feel.

“Taking innocent and beautiful creatures to do your bidding, to make you money, to use for sick pleasure, it’s the lowest of the low. You are not even a fuckin’ human,” he states, then sucks in a breath before he continues.

“You’re not even an animal. I don’t know what you are, and I don’t care to analyze it, either. What I do know is that none of those girls deserved an ounce of what you put them through. You’re a monster. And you are going to die today. Your people are going to die as well because of what you are. Not a single one of us is going to mourn any of you. In fact, I would venture to guess nobody on this planet will mourn you. Not for a single second. Whoever you’re protecting, we’ll figure it out, with or without you, and when we do, we’ll make sure they know you sent us their way.”

God.

That was a great speech.

Shocker lifts his hand with his gun in his grasp and points it at the man. “For the girls,” he says and then squeezes the trigger.

Blood sprays on the window behind the leader right before he drops to the floor in a crumple. Everyone screams except Uncle Freely, who stands to his feet. He doesn’t look at me or the leader. His gaze is focused on Shocker and only Shocker.

“I can give you the list,” he says.

I’m surprised by his instant agreement to help even though he knows that he’s as dead as the leader. Nobody asks any questions, though. Freely turns toward the hallway. I know the office is down there. Shocker and two other men follow behind him, no doubt toward that office where everything is still kept on paper.

“What do we do with the rest of them?” Bishop asks, turning to look back at Briana. Her eyes are wide as she stares at theleader dead on the floor, a huge hole in the back of his head where the bullet exited.

She lifts her chin and shifts her attention to Bishop, and I see unshed tears in her eyes. She releases her grasp on my hand, then walks over to Bishop. I watch as she wraps her arms around him in a hug. I hold my breath at the sight. He returns the hug, patting her on the back for a moment, then she looks up at him but doesn’t release her hold.

“They are not all guilty,” she whispers. “But they are all complicit. The only innocent people in this entire group are the children, if there even are any.”

There aren’t.

I was one of the last. I never asked why nobody was having babies, even though they were doing each other on a regular basis. It’s a weird phenomenon that I never questioned before now. And I’ll probably never have the answer to it, either.

“I want you girls to leave. Wait by the car.”

Bishop announces his order, but I can tell it’s not because he doesn’t want us near him. It’s because he doesn’t want us to see what’s about to happen. Briana takes a step back from him, her wet eyes finding mine, and she holds her head up high.

But before she walks out of the building with me, she makes her way to the leader’s body. She slowly lowers her head so that she’s looking down at him, then I watch as she spits on his dead body.

“That is for what you did to me and every other girl you stole. Rot in hell.”

She turns, her eyes meet mine, and together, we walk out of the building and down the driveway to wait inside the car. Her car. Her eyes find mine again the moment we’re both in the car, and she lets out a sob.

I reach across the center console to wrap my arms around her. She wraps hers around me as well, and we have a good, longcry. “I didn’t think I would feel this way,” she whispers against my ear.

Shifting back slightly, I look into her eyes. Her lips curve up into a smile. I didn’t expect to see her smile at all. Then she sucks in a deep inhale before she lets it out slowly.

“I’m free, Dakota.”

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