“Willa!” I yell, looking back at the car.
Smoke plumes from the engine, and I panic.
“Stop. We can’t leave her.” I twist and squirm, but it makes the man hold tighter. “A fire could start. We can’t leave!”
He ignores my cries as he drags me to a dark SUV parked at the curb.
“Please—”
I’m shoved inside, the door slamming behind me.
The cool air isn’t comforting, even on this hot day. My sweaty, bloody skin sticks to the leather seat. I peel my face from it, but with my arms bound behind my back, it’s a struggle to sit. When I finally do, I realize I’m not alone. A man in the seat ahead of me grins widely, and it’s not my uncle, like I expect.
“Did you think you could break our deal and get away with it?” Eli angles his head, his cold eyes drifting over me. “Your uncle made me a promise, Emery. You’re going to fulfill it.”
35
Soul
The worst part ofprison is being separated from everyone. From the second the car door closed behind me, I’ve been by myself, in a cell as far away from my brothers as they could put us to ensure we couldn’t communicate. The only contact I’ve had with the club, or Emery, has been through Tanner, and I’m going out of my fucking mind.
How did Chaos handle being locked up as long as he did?
At least back then, he was single. Now, he must be missing Willa as much as I’m missing Emery and Charlie.
I close my eyes, breathing deep through my nose and resting my head against the brick wall behind me.
I hate not knowing how they’re doing. Emery doesn’t eat when she’s stressed, and Charlie takes twice as long to go to sleep when I don’t hum her songs to her before bed. These past few days have been worse than the tenmonths I spent searching for Emery. Now that I know what it’s like to have them in my life, I can’t give them up.
My eyes blink open to my empty cell.
This still doesn’t make sense. The Feds haven’t been sniffing around the Iron Sinners case for months, and the staged footage of us buying explosives was wiped months ago when the case was closed. It shouldn’t exist anymore.
Not to mention, it’s not the Feds who brought us in here. It’s local cops, claiming to have that video we destroyed. Hopefully, Tanner has answers at our bail hearing.
A bail hearing. I almost fucking laugh.
They aren’t planning on setting a bail amount. They’ll do whatever they can to keep us locked up. We’ll be lucky if we ever get out.
A cop walks past my cell, slowing to give me a smug grin as he saunters past.
“What the fuck are you smiling at?” I narrow my eyes, wishing I could slam his face into the bars.
His teeth clench, and he pauses, but another cop plants a hand on his shoulder before he says anything.
“I’ve got this.”
The smug cop huffs, tipping his chin up and walking away.
“Keep it up.” The cop—Rhett, according to his name badge—steps forward. “You’re gonna be here a long time. Might want to learn your place.”
“Not a chance in fucking hell.”
“Have it your way.” Rhett’s grin turns malicious. “The judge is ready. Get your back to the bars.”
I’m tempted to reach through them and punch the smile off his face instead, but that won’t win me any points with the judge, so I do as I’m told. I back up to the bars, positioning my hands at the slot where Rhett can put me in cuffs.
Once he’s done, he shoves me forward. My teeth click as he opens my cell, grinning like he didn’t just push me.
