Page 124 of Their Property
I couldn’t hold back the snort. A female governor, in this day and age? It was a pipe dream.
“And what if I tell you no?” I said, folding my hands in my lap. “That I want nothing to do with running a territory anymore and just want to be an old lady to my biker men?”
Gerard shrugged, but he wore a little smirk that said he didn’t believe me. “I have no interest in keeping prisoners. You and your men will be free to go.”
“Really? So you just kidnap people when you want to have meetings but you don’t keep them?”
His smile only grew wider. “Did we harm you? Injure you or make threats to do so?” He gestured to my empty water glass on the coffee. “Or did I remove your restraints and give you something to drink like a hospitable host?”
“Your soldiers put the restraints there in the first place!” Was he trying to make me feel crazy? It seemed like he was going for some kind of Stockholm Syndrome effect.
“I wanted to make sure you heard my offer. Now that you have,” he shrugged again, “you are free to make your own decision with that information.” With another sip of whiskey he added, “I don’t think you want to say no though.”
“You’re not making a great case for yourself as a boss,” I threw back. “Maybe you know how to overthrow a government, good for you. But you’ve told me nothing that would make me trust you to run one.”
Gerard stared at me pensively for a long time before setting his whiskey down. “I give you my word that once you leave this territory, you won’t see me or my army again. We won’t be expanding our borders or invading other territories. All we want is our home and our rights back.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” I snorted.
“You will,” he said lightly, like it was inevitable. “And sooner, if you work with me.”
The balls on this guy were something else. Didn’t he know how many territories had risen and fallen since the Collapse? My father’s cartographers were constantly redrawing maps because borders and names were always changing.
“I’ll admit one other thing to you, Miss Vance.” Gerard’s face hardened. “The real reason I captured you and your men using my best units was to send a message to your father.”
“My father?” I blinked at him in confusion.
“Him and all his political allies.” Gerard’s face relaxed again as quickly as flipping a light switch. “Four Corners has never caused us any direct trouble, but I know they had agreements with the previous administration.” He leaned back, bringing the drink to his lips. “You may tell your father how we captured you. And if they choose to bring violence here in response,” his eyes flashed as he took a small sip of liquor, “we’ll be prepared.”
I kept my face blank, trying not to betray how badly I wanted to burst out laughing.Ha, joke’s on you! My father and I are probably never speaking again, and I don’t have sway over him anymore, dickbag.
Instead, I tried my best to look intimidated as I said, “Understood.”
I blinkedand shielded my eyes when the soldier in front of me opened the door to the main room. I hadn’t realized how dark it was in that basement, and my eyes were still adjusting when I heard T-Bone demanding, “Where is she? What the fuck happened?”
“I’m here, guys.” I stepped out from behind the soldier and rushed to hug T-Bone.
“Thank fuck.” He couldn’t hug back with his hands still behind his back but rested his cheek on the top of my head. “Are you okay, little lady? Please tell me he put hands on you because I swear to fuck—”
“No, he didn’t. And yes, I’m okay.” I looked over my shoulder at the soldiers just standing around. “Are you going to cut their ties off or what?”
My mens’ hands were free in the next few seconds, but I wanted to scream at the sight of their bloody, red wrists. Maybe none of us were badly injured, but I hated that they were hurt at all.
“Oh my God, you’reallbleeding!” I grabbed for their wrists like I could do something about it.
“Sweetness, we’re fine. It’s nothing.” Dyno stroked my cheek, dried blood on his thumb, while Grudge came up to sandwich me in a hug between him and T-Bone. “Just tell us what the hell happened down there.”
“We’re free to go,” I said numbly, my cheek against T-Bone’s chest. “Let’s go home, please.”
He loosened his embrace around me to look at my face more clearly. “They’re letting us go? Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
“What did their leader want to talk to you about?” Dyno demanded.
“I’ll tell you all later. Can we just leave?”
The three of them exchanged looks of disbelief while I pulled myself out fully from between them, looking for one soldier in particular.
