Page 49 of Harmless
“Yeah,” I agreed with the same tone. “You want to drive?”
His eyes lit up again, that smirk returned. “I did you that good, huh?”
“Shut up.” I went behind him and swatted his ass. “Your ego doesn’t need to get any bigger.”
In truth, there was no else I trusted more to ride in front of me.
17
RORI
Itried not to look too gleeful as I headed down into the safe house’s basement the next day. It wouldn’t be a good look if I appeared to get pleasure from interrogating someone. But I actually intended to enjoy this. Very much.
Nella had been cuffed around her wrists and ankles. From both points of restraints, a length of chain kept her tethered to a support beam running from the floor to the ceiling. She had been given just enough room to have free range of movement, but no more. She had also been offered a shower and two meals since coming here, both of which she refused.
As far as prison cells went, hers was luxurious. The basement was insulated, and she’d been provided with blankets and sweats for the colder nights. There was even a slim, rectangular window giving her some sunlight and a sense of night and day. Way more than what she gave Santos and Torr in that dark pit.
Nella had more than reasonable accommodations for a prisoner. And I was fully prepared to continue being reasonable, as long as she was.
For some reason, I wasn’t holding my breath on that.
I took my sweet ass time coming down the basement stairs, letting each of my steps register on the warped, wooden planks. Behind me came Carter and three veteran riders of the Valkyrie Network. Those three were men that Carter and I both trusted, guys who had ridden with my uncles’ and fathers’ clubs.
When I hit the concrete basement floor, I didn’t acknowledge Nella at first. I nodded to the two men on guard duty—younger ones around LJ’s age—and gave them a sweet smile. “Thanks, guys. We’ll take it from here.”
My posse stepped aside to let them up the stairs, and then it was just us and our prisoner.
“Hi, Nella.” I poured every ounce of control into my voice and smile as I grabbed a metal folding chair from the wall, opened it, and took a seat. “How are you doing?”
Her eyes followed me as I moved, the rage pouring off her in waves. No control over her emotions here. “You’re wasting your breath,” she spat. “I’m not telling you a goddamned thing.”
I manipulated my face into a mask of concern. “Hmm, that doesn’t sound like you’re very happy here. Is it the food? You’ve refused to eat it, so no, that can’t be it. Does the sunlight bother you? Would you prefer a cell in total darkness like the one back at the resort? We’d be happy to arrange it if so. Just say the word.”
I crossed my legs and clasped my hands on top of my knee, like a therapist having a heart-to-heart with a patient.
Nella shook her head, chains clanking with the movement as she let out a dry laugh. “You don’t get it, child. You’re too young to know how things used to be.”
“Tell me, then.” I gestured a hand imploringly at her.
“The Collapse,” she hissed. “Before, during, and after. Do you know how it was for us women? I mean, going back centuries. Do you have any clue whattheydid to us?” Her eyes flicked up to the men standing behind me on the wordthey.
“I have some idea.” I picked at my nails, looking bored. “It’s still happening, you know. The subjugation of women. Fucking terrible, isn’t it?”
“If you know that, then why am I a prisoner andtheyare armed and free?” Nella bared her teeth, pulling on her chains as the veins in her forehead popped. “I don’t have just ‘some idea’, Iknow.I know firsthand how they like to hurt us. Use us. They think they’re entitled to our bodies, our labor. We’re not people to them, we’re cattle.”
“So that’s what the resort was all about.” I cocked my head. “Getting back at men for what they’ve done to women for thousands of years.”
“Yes!” Nella actually sounded triumphant. “The balance has been tipped too far in their favor. Now we’re correcting it. Exerting control over them before they can control us.”
“Who is ‘we’?”
Nella snorted. “Every woman who can see the truth for what it is.”
I’d take that answer for now and circle back to it later. “Is it true you kidnapped innocent men off the street? How do you determine which ones to get your revenge on?”
She snorted again, casting a look of disdain up at Carter and the others. “There’s no such thing as an innocent man. They’re rotten from the day they’re born.”
I held back the anger that swept over me, just barely. “Seems you like men enough to fuck them. And to have an armed militia ready when you call. Those backup commandos looked expensive. That resort made you very wealthy, didn’t it?”
