Page 73 of Mischief Mayhem
“Look at you,” Julia said, spitting blood at her aunt’s expensive shoes. “Do you realize how weak you look? Chasing after my brother instead of ruling your kingdom?”
“I need him dead,” Gabriella hissed, stalking back to the broken, bleeding woman on the floor. “I need to see it with my own eyes.”
“You’ll never defeat him.” Julia shook her head with a broken smile. “You’ll never defeat me.”
Gabriella furrowed her brows, seemingly confused, before the roar of a truck came from outside. For a moment, my heart leaped and I thought we were saved. The sound of boots boomed up the porch and into the house, but I froze at the sight of two bikers from another club coming into the house. I recognized the one in the back as the guy from the Viper.
Hoss.
He made eye contact with me and grinned in a slimy, sadistic way, like he had big plans that didn’t involve anything good.
“Ah,” Gabriella said, turning to face them. “Just in time.”
The tall gray-haired one at the front wore a Hell’s Knights cut with the name tag, Crank.
“I’d never miss a pickup,” Crank said, rubbing his hands together as he walked through the center of the room, gaze landing on me. “This her?”
“You wanted the president’s daughter, right?” Gabriella pursed her lips and straightened, staring down her nose at the newcomers. “Verona Montgomery?”
“That’s the one,” Crank said, squatting down in front of me, bringing his decrepit-looking face toward mine. “Been watching you for a while, little girl. Ever since your daddy killed my brother.”
I took a deep breath, trying to keep myself calm as Crank eyed me like a prized brood mare. This had to have been the guy that sent me those messages. My stalker. In the flesh. I shifted my attention to Castor, whose wide, panicked eyes confirmed he thought the same. The Hell’s Knights had been following me and here was the proof.
“The information in exchange for the girl,” Gabriella said. “Take her, and thank you for your business.”
Crank chuckled to himself and stood, snapping at Hoss, who grabbed my biceps and yanked me to my feet. It took a moment for my brain to catch up, but as they hauled me toward the door, I realized I was being taken . . . that my family was about to die here and I’d been sold off to another club as repayment for whatever my father had done to this guy’s brother.
I didn’t know who that was. I didn’t know what had happened to cause this. My world narrowed down to the race in my blood and the crazed look in Hollywood’s eyes as I passed him. That set me off, making this real.
Screaming through the gag, I struggled against the two men, shaking my torso and kicking my legs out, but they easily overpowered me. Just when I’d been about to thrash harder, a sharp knock reverberated through the back of my head and the world went dark.
No! Blink against the pain. Wake up.
I forced my eyes open, trying to focus, and I caught a glimpse of the porch outside, the bright sunshine making my eyes water. Unconsciousness gripped me again as I clenched against the agony, but I swallowed it down, shaking my head to regain my focus.
Wake up, V!
Loud gunshots came from inside the shack as the Knights hauled me into the back of their truck, Crank sliding into the seat next to me before slamming the door shut. Hoss got into the driver’s seat, cranking the engine to life, and my attention caught on a third person in the passenger seat before the world went momentarily dark again.
“You recognize my VP up there, don’t ya?” Crank said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders, but I could barely understand what he was saying to me. More shouts and gunshots echoed through the midday air, eventually getting muffled by the truck’s tires as we took off down the driveway.
“She’s got a mean right hook,” Hoss said with a laugh, looking at me in the rearview mirror. “Don’t worry though. I’m gonna take that out on your ass later.”
Shit, shit, shit.
My head ached from where they hit me and my heart pounded at the thought that Gabriella had just massacred my whole family. No one would come for me. No one would even know I was missing, not until the rest of the Roses figured out what was going on. If Gabriella was right, they had their hands full with the Feds.
I was on my own.
Tears blurred my vision and slid down my cheeks as I let myself sink into despair for a moment. Only a moment, I told myself. I’d survived a lot. Sure, this was pretty grim. I was outnumbered three to one by big, ugly men. But I was my father’s daughter. I could get myself out of this . . . right?
“I bet you didn’t even know we were there for you that night,” Crank said, running a finger over my face to gather my tears. “At the Viper? We’ve been watching you for a while, Mistress Mayhem.”
I gulped, the bile rising in the back of my throat, resisting the terror in my chest and the remnants of the memory from that tiny apartment in Manhattan at the back of my mind. I could lose myself in it if I let it take over. My muscles trembled, and I gripped my hands together at the base of my spine, trying to figure out if I could get out of these plastic bindings. I could slip them down behind my legs to get my arms in front of my body, but these fuckers would notice if I did. I wouldn’t be able to do it in time to grab a gun before they knocked me out again.
“Yep, that’s right.” Crank grabbed my chin and leaned forward, dragging his disgusting tongue over my cheek and up the side of my face, licking my tears away. I nearly threw up at the smell of his rancid breath, but the Knights in the front laughed, making me ache to kill them, too. “Your daddy owes me a life for the one he stole from me, and you’re gonna pay up, little girl. We’re gonna fuck you bloody, and then I’m gonna send your head to your daddy in jail. Do you think he’d like that?”
I shook harder at the mental image, now more determined than ever to get out of this.