Page 39 of Tainted Essence
He darts his gaze from the images to me then back a couple of times before his face morphs from shock to murderous. He raises his gun and presses it against my forehead, his brother’s don’t move to intervene and neither do the other two. They can see the photos from where they stand and from the looks on each of their faces, they agree with what Gage is about to do. I knew this would happen if I touched her but I ignored his warning the night we went to their house after we escaped.
“What did I tell you?” The deathly calm tone of Gage’s voice let’s everyone in this room know he isn’t letting me walk out of here.
“To keep my good for nothing hands off your daughter or we would end up in this very position,” I answer.
“Correct. Now this is where I start a war for killing the underboss of the Re Della Strada.” I nod, I knew I wasn’t destined to live a long life and I came to terms with that years ago when I did what I did and became the Taylan everyone knows today.
“Don’t leave a body for them to find, I don’t want my family at war because I touched the forbidden fruit.”
“Is that all my daughter is to you?” he roars in my face, I take a deep breath and shake my head holding my gaze so he can see the truth in my eyes.
“No. She was never some chick, she was… something more but I… hurt her.” His face contorts in hatred, his finger itching to squeeze that trigger and splatter my brain across this apartment.
“You hurt my little girl?” He pushes the gun against my head to drive his point home.
“With all due respect, either kill me or let me fucking go so I can save your daughter from the man who hurt her worse than I ever could,” I grit out. Before Gage can respond, Bishop steps forward.
“Why weren’t we informed about Koda Novikov before?” Power wafts off Bishop in waves, it’s easy to see why he is still the Don and has gone this long without being challenged.
I keep my gaze on Gage as I answer his brother. “She didn’t want anyone to know. Call me crazy but I respected your daughter's wishes. It wasn’t mine or Knox’s story to tell. Kill me if you want but make your mind up fast because he knows exactly where she is and he knows we are on to him.” I see the hesitation in Gage’s eyes so I push on. “I think I know where she has gone. I hurt her but I do… care about her. Let me help you save her… please,” I plead. Gage and Bishop share a look before turning back to me.
“This isn’t over, you little shit,” Gage vows. I don’t stick around, I rush out of the apartment with all of them hot on my heels.
“Where is she?” Rook shouts as we rush down the stairs.
“At your daughter’s boyfriends club,” I answer as I continue down to the parking garage while they run out the lobby doors to their cars. Unlike them, I won’t be stuck in traffic. I jump on my matte-black Dodge Tomahawk and pull my helmet on. The engine purrs to life and I almost groan at the sound of this. This baby can hit 420 mph at top speed. I kick the bad bitch into gear and burn rubber out of there. It takes me a minute of hitting the main road before I’m flying past the three blacked-out cars that hold the Murdoch family. It’s dark and the road is slick from the rain earlier but none of that registers to me as I head straight for the club, praying that I’m right, if she isn’t there I don’t know what I’ll do. My phone begins to ring and I answer it through the Bluetooth in my helmet.
“Yeah?” I say breathlessly.
“Where are you?” Knox demands.
“Track my location,” I tell him.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m alive so that has to count for something,” I say without missing a beat.
“Don’t joke, Taylan. Wave, Xan, Trey and their crew are on their way. I’m coming, brother.” Warmth rushes through at his words, this is why I chose them. They are my family for this very reason. I never have to ask, Knox and Xander know I need them but would never ask for their help.
“Knox—”
“Shut up, Taylan. You’ll get to your girl. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Thank you.”
“Thank me by not dying.” He ends the call right in the nick of time, I slam to a stop out front of the club, not caring about the bike being parked illegally. I hang my helmet on the handlebars as I rush through the crowd gathered outside and push my way to the front. The bouncer tries to stop me from entering. I throat punch the cunt without missing a step as I jump over him, patrons follow my lead cheering but I ignore them as I rush through the crowded club trying to find my Slayer.
“Fuck!” I snap, I look around but I can’t spot her. I leap onto the bar ignoring the bartenders, needing a birds eye view. The dim lighting makes it fucking hard to see anything but I don’t give up. I can feel it in my bones that he’s here, he cleared out that apartment and left those pictures on purpose. The call to Kimber was staged, he knew we would track it and wanted us to find him.
He’s going to make his move tonight!
I catch a glimpse of red in the center of the dance floor, her blonde hair flies around her as she spins, dancing with her friends. I jump off the bar and run toward her shoving every cunt out of my way, I have tunnel vision for the beautiful blonde and no one is going to stop me from getting to her.
The moment I break through the crowd she spots me and stops moving, her eyes widen for a fraction of a second before she takes in the look on my face and closes the space between us. I’m drunk on the sight of her perfect body in that red dress, her tits look edible.
“Why are you here?” she asks with an edge to her tone. I don’t waste time, I grab her wrist and start dragging her toward the exit. Her friends protest but the second I pull my gun from my waistband they scream. I lift it and fire a shot up at the ceiling. People drop to the ground screaming, I use their second of fear to my advantage and drag Destiny through the throngs of people. We have a mere two seconds before they come to their senses and begin rushing for the exit.
“Taylan!” she screams my name so loud I freeze and face her. She points toward the back of the room and I curse at the sight of Koda and his men. The crowd comes to their senses finally registering their flight instincts and everyone begins rushing for the exits. Destiny is shoved forward, I wrap my arms around her and hold her close so she isn’t dragged away or knocked to the ground in those fucking heels she’s wearing, she won’t stand a chance against a crowd this size. More shots ring out from the back of the club. I wrap my arm around her waist and turn us so she is in front of me and push her toward the exit.