Page 205 of Reaper
She shakes her head as she leans back and looks up at me. “I wanted to reach out to you because I knew you’d be able to help me, but Justin and Daniel threatened to kill you if I did.” Fresh tears run down her cheeks as she clings to me tighter. “I’ve been trying to figure out how to get away from him, well them, butevery time I’ve tried, they track me down somehow. After that last time, which was about a month ago, they told me they killed you because of my disobedience and unwillingness to ‘submit’ to Daniel. They even showed me pictures.”
They told her they killed me?
More tears trail down her cheeks and I reach up, cupping her cheeks as I dry her tears with my thumbs. Her hands come up, clasping my wrists, and something inside me loosens even more at the gesture. I caress her jaw but then freeze when she winces slightly. Lifting my hand, I gently brush my thumb over a greenish-yellow bruise I hadn’t noticed before.
“Whose handiwork is this, Honey Bee?”
She lowers her gaze and swallows thickly. “Daniel’s. A few are from Justin, but most of the time it’s Daniel.”
My anger spikes again, but I stomp it down. I need to stay calm for Sara, I don’t want her freaking out if I lose control.
“I need your honest answer, Sara,” I say, purposefully using her name so she knows I’m serious, and wait for her to look back up at me. “Did you want to marry him?”
She shakes her head vehemently. “No. That day, after leaving you, I ran some errands and then went home to work on a website for a client. Justin was there, waiting for me inside my apartment. Somehow, he’d gotten a key. He was pissed that I was seeing, in his words, a ‘biker scum’ and that I’d pay dearly for letting you put your hands on me. When I told him he had no control over any aspect of my life, he backhanded me so hard I fell and saw stars.
“Turns out, the asshole needed me as a bargaining chip so that Daniel would agree to do something for him. I don’t know what—not even after all this time,” she quickly adds on at my questioning look. “But I was to be payment for whatever it was.” She scoffs as she rolls her eyes. “Of course, Justin was all too willing to hand me over to him, he’s never cared aboutanyone other than himself before. That was when Dane drugged me. When I woke up, I was here, along with all my stuff, and apparently already married to Daniel.”
The despair that crosses her face damn near brings me to my knees. Fuck, this is sounding eerily similar to what happened to Mary after she turned eighteen. A thought crosses my mind, that this Daniel fucker could be somehow involved in something similar, but I push that to the back of my mind for now.
“Come with me, Honey Bee. We can protect you and work to find a way to get you free of Daniel.”
She hesitates and I bite my tongue, ready to beg if I need to.
“Are there other women at your club? Women that aren’t, what’d you call them… Bunnies?”
I grin and nod as I pull my phone out of my pocket. “Yeah, there are. My Pres, Reaper, recently settled down with Lark as his Old Lady,” I tell her as I show her a picture of Reaper and Lark. “That’s actually why we’re here and what led me to finding you. Justin and those three assholes were paid to kidnap Lark and deliver her to her stalker. We got her back, but those four are going to pay for what they did. But back to the Old Ladies, Odin, who by the way is here with me, is currently the only other one with an Old Lady. Her name is Astrid but most of us call her Mama Astrid.” I show her a picture of them and she chews on her lower lip in thought. “I’m almost positive two of my brothers will soon be claiming an Old Lady, but time will tell on that.”
She nods and then scowls as her gaze shifts past me. “What will happen to Justin?”
I freeze, wondering how much to tell her. “I honestly don’t know how much I’m allowed to tell you. This is new territory for me, Sara.”
Sara hums. “Club business,” she says quietly, and shock runs through me at hearing her say that. Not once when we were seeing each other had I ever mentioned that phrase around her.She cocks her head slightly as she looks up at me. “Is there any truth to the MC books I’ve read? Earlier you said you and your friends would make Justin and the others pay for kidnapping Lark. I’m never going to see him again, am I?”
I lick my dry lips, suddenly nervous as hell. “Would that bother you?”
She shakes her head. “Fuck no. He’s made my life, as well as Grandma’s, a living hell. And I’m not just talking about the last few months, though this is the worst he’s ever done. If there are nuggets of truth in those books, then I have just one request.”
My nerves worsen, afraid she may ask to be down there with us. “What’s that, Honey Bee?”
She huffs a little before smirking. “Make it fuckinghurtbefore you end him.”
I return her smirk, more than happy to make that request happen, and it’s like a weight has been lifted off her shoulders. Sara shifts as she leans into me and looks around the room. I do the same. A lot of her stuff is still in boxes, which will make things easier if she comes with us. She has a few file cabinets set up next to her desk and scattered around on top of her desk are piles of folders that must be the clients she’s currently working with. On her walls, there are a few pictures which look like they could be some of the work she’s done in the past. A few even look like they are covers for books. There’s a cheap particle board bookcase nearby and it’s overflowing with books.
Sara takes a step back and my fingers itch to reach for her. She turns in a slow circle, looking around the room again before nodding. She squares her shoulders and I damn near cheer when I see that fiery spark light back up in her eyes.
“Okay. I’ll go with you, but I need my things. I don’t want toevercome back here,” she says as she shakes her head. A spark of a challenge lights her eyes as she raises her chin slightly,almost daring me to disagree with her. As if I would. Not on this at least.
Pulling her back in my arms, I breathe a sigh of relief. “Just tell us what to pack, Honey Bee.”
Chapter 76
Reaper
Ikeepmyguntrained on the fucker in front of me. “Who the fuck are you?”
His smirk deepens and fuck do I want to wipe it off his fucking face. “I was sent here with a message,” he says, avoiding my question. “I’m assuming from that tacky vest and patch that you’re Reaper?”
I grind my molars and narrow my gaze on him. “What message? And why the fuck did you lead us on this fucking wild goose chase?”
