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“Yeah, maybe later. I’m going to be social and thank everyone for coming.” Stealing a kiss before he left, Wolfe reluctantly released me.
Watching him immerse himself in the throng of well-wishers made my heart ache. He shouldn’t have to do it alone. Maddox needed to get his head out of his ass and realize how much Wolfe did for this family.
“He’ll be all right, Bright Eyes. Both of them will. They just need some time.” Ace slung an arm around me, dragging me in close against him.
The scent of his citrusy cologne teased my senses, tempting me to bury my face in his neck to get more of it. I leaned into him, savoring his warmth on this rainy day. “I have a really bad feeling about this, Ace.”
That feeling continued to grow as the day went on. Several hours later I left Wolfe in Ace’s hands and headed home. I’d promised Rumer a movie night. She’d flooded my phone with text messages telling me to pick up snacks on my way home. I pulled into the parking lot of a grocery store along the way, grumbling to myself about how much Rumer’s snack list would cost. I’d learned long ago not to expect her to pay me back.
The rain had let up as night had fallen. I hurried inside the store and filled a basket with junk food, choosing the shortest check-out line to speed things along. The moment I stepped out of the store came as a total shock. Four men emerged from the shadows to swarm me.
One of them put a hand over my mouth before I could scream. The barrel of a gun jabbed me in the ribs as the man hissed, “Cause a scene and I’ll empty the entire magazine inside you. Got it?”
At my nod they began to drag me toward a waiting SUV. My bag of goodies hit the ground, forgotten as they manhandled me into the vehicle. The moment I was inside they stripped me of my phone and bound my hands behind my back.
I didn’t need them to tell me they were Archer’s guys or that this was because of Maddox. I knew he’d made a mistake, but I didn’t think I’d be the one to pay for it.
CHAPTER SIX
MAVEN
SEVEN YEARS AGO
With a gun to my head and another pressed to my spine, they forced me out of the SUV when it came to a stop. I was not at all surprised to find myself at one of Archer’s businesses. A strip club, one that based on appearance should have been torn down years ago.
Knowing that if they took me inside I’d probably never come out alive, I made the choice to fight. If they wanted me dead, I’d already be laid out in the grocery store lot, riddled with bullets. They wouldn’t waste an opportunity like that.
As soon as my feet hit the ground, I struggled to break free. Having my wrists tightly tied behind my back didn’t help, but a headbutt to one man’s face loosened his grip on me. I stomped the foot of another man before jamming my elbow into his ribs. The man with the gun held to my head smashed the weapon into my skull, knocking me to the ground. I went down on my face thanks to my hands being unavailable.
Someone grabbed a handful of my hair, dragging me toward the building. I flailed and bucked, unable to free myself. Panic gripped me, driving me to fight harder. All I got for my efforts was a punch in the face that left me dazed, my vision blurry.
“I’d save my energy if I were you,” one man said. He had a huge blocky A tattoo on the side of his neck, marking him as one of Archer’s goons. “The boss wants to make your boy hurt after the shit he pulled today. He probably shouldn’t have killed the boss’s son in law.”
Hearing him confirm that Maddox was the reason for me being here hurt more than the throbbing in my brain. Why did he always have to do the thing he shouldn’t do? Why now?
All four men surrounded me as they dragged me in through the back door and straight down a set of stairs into the basement. Loud music from the strip club above guaranteed that nobody would hear my screams.
The guys and I had a check in system. If I didn’t message one of them by the time I should have made it home, they’d know something had happened. Rumer would be quick to reach out to them as well when I never showed up. But how would they know where to find me? Tracking my phone wouldn’t work now that it had been taken from me, assuming it had been disabled. Archer’s people had several places to take hostages. By the time they thought to check here, I could be dead.
Refusing to walk on my own, I forced them to carry me down the stairs and into the room at the bottom. The unfinished basement storage room was all concrete. A bare mattress in one corner had been stained with blood and other nasty fluids. They threw me unceremoniously on top of it.
The stench that filled my nostrils made me gag as I struggled to sit up. Another fist in my face laid me back down.
“Don’t try anything, bitch. The more trouble you make, the faster you die. Word on the street is that you’re pretty important to the Hales. Maddox and Wolfe Hale’s so-called queen. Think you’re important enough for the new bossman to come take your place?” The goon with the neck tattoo used my phone to take a photo of my bleeding face, tapping around on the screen a few times. “There. We’ll see what he thinks of that photo.”
I knew better than to beg or plead. They had enough power over me without me giving them what I had left. When the door opened and four more men streamed into the room, I knew it was going to get ugly.
My phone pinged with a reply from Maddox. Neck Tattoo smirked and turned the phone so I could see the screen. Maddox’s reply was filled with expletives and threats, promising to castrate every one of them if they touched me again.
“Sounds like a challenge to me,” Neck Tattoo sneered before hitting me again. “Let’s see how much damage we can do before he gets here.” To my surprise, he left the phone on and shoved it into his back pocket. Addressing a man near the door he said, “Round up a full crew. Wait outside for Hale to arrive. Bring him down here. Only him. Kill anyone who comes with him.”
Tears burned behind my eyes at the thought of my guys being gunned down outside a rundown back alley strip club. Terror filled me to overflowing as one creep with a thick mustache and beard knelt down next to me. His grin revealed missing and yellowed teeth.
“Let’s have some fun with her before they get here,” he said, making my blood run cold.
He reached to touch me, and Neck Tattoo slapped his hand away. “Keep your hands off for now. We’ll save that for Hale to watch. Feel free to rough her up though. Hale needs to hurt.”
Like fuck they would. I’d force them to kill me before I’d let that happen. Sucking in a deep lungful of nasty air, I told myself that they’d all be sorry. They wouldn’t get away with this.
