Page 53 of Ryder
“Victoria?”
“What did you think Tori might be short for, fuckwad?”Jeez. I held my hands up, mouthing my apology to Ice.
“From what I can find, it looks like when she refused him, she was taken by him, and subjected to days of sexual assaults. He kept her drugged, and tied up, and put her through hell.”
Jesus. My legs shook, and Stitch nudged me into a seat, just as they gave out. Suddenly things were making a hell of a lot of sense.
“He raped her,”I whispered. That’s why she does what she does. Ultimate control. No risk. And yet, she’s mirroring her own horror, by making others suffer through it.
Ice looked sad when he nodded.
“She was a mess by the time they got her back. In and out of rehab, suicide attempts, you name it. And then years ago, she just disappeared. The suspicion was that she’d succeeded at last.”
I rubbed my hands over my face. So much was falling into place. Her fragility, when I started to push her. Her uncertainty, when she wasn’t in control. Her need to stage things, to suit her need to be in charge.
“You with us, brother?” Stitch squeezed my shoulder, and I nodded.
“Yeah.” My voice was a little raspy, but they let it slide.
“So do her family have her now?” Reacher was asking Ice, who clenched his fists again.
“I don’t think so. The van was registered to a shell company, and I’m unpicking it, but my fear is that it’s Casetti who has her, not her family. And if he’s got her…”
Everyone focused on me, as he finished, “… then he’s likely looking to pick up where he left off.”
In other words, the sick bastard planned to keep her drugged, so he could rape her any time he wanted.Over. My. Dead. Fucking. Body.
There was a low growling sound coming from somewhere, and when I realised it was coming from me, I was already standing, and throwing my chair across the room. It crashed against the door, and Ice cursed me.
“Get me an address, Ice. I’m going in, and I’ll fucking get her out of there. We can’t let him hurt her again.”
He glared at me. “And what the fuck do you think I’ve been working on this whole damn time, asshole?”
I lunged across the room at him, grabbing his throat as we both crashed to the floor. He threw a punch, and I took it right on the fucking chin. It snapped my head back, but I came right back at him, one hand still on his throat as the other hit him right in the eye.
“Bastard!” He cursed, slamming a knee up into my gut, and rolling me away from him, just as Reacher and Stitch caught hold of us.
“For fuck’s sake! We have enough shit going on without you two having a barney. Get it together!” Reacher threw Ice back in his chair. “Now get us a fucking address.”
Then he pointed at me. “You get the fuck out of here until we call for you and by that, I mean, go to your damn room. You even think of leaving the compound, and I’ll kick the living shit out of you.”
Fuck. I left the room like a spanked puppy, because I’d finally pushed my Club President to the fucking limit. I knew when I’d gone too far, and it was right the hell now.
Another precious hour passed, and another, and then a fist slammed against my door, before it crashed open.
“We found the bastard,” Torch said, gesturing at me to hurry up. Were we going to save her? Were we going to find her at all? Would she be alive? Injured? Raped? I had no idea. I was terrified of what we’d find, but I knew I’d go there, and I’d fight to the death to get her out of there.
And isn’t that what a biker does for his old lady? Jesus fucking Christ. Am I claiming her?
We followed the vanout of the compound, with six of us on the club’s backup bikes, and four prospects in the van.
The address Ice had found was of a place probably as well protected as ours, so we’d armed up. We didn’t generally use guns, but we all had one strapped to us for this. We mostly used knives, fists, feet, and any other objects that happen to be around.Blowtorches, if your road name is Torch, that kind of thing.
But we were hitting a mafia house, and for all I knew, we were hitting a fucking stronghold, full of armed bastards. And we were rushing in there to save a serial rapist.Myrapist. The woman who’d drugged me, and forced me into sex, like I wouldn’t have done her anyway.
We had a pre-arranged spot down the road from the address to pull up, and make our way on foot. The van would move closer, because it was less obvious, and we’d probably need it to get her out of there. We couldn’t, however, head right to the front door on our bikes. They’d hear us a mile off, and then we’d be sitting ducks.
Twenty
