Chapter 16

Dani

The taste of blood coated my tongue, the dull metallic flavor making me gag as I came to. My mouth hurt around the edges from the gag wrapped around my face, and my shoulders throbbed painfully.

I tugged at my hands, finding them tied behind my back. I laid on my side with a solid steel table below me.

"No," I mumbled around the rope and jerked up. The room spun, and I dropped back down, hitting my face on the table below. "Help?" My voice was nothing more than a whisper. I couldn't get my eyes to focus, but someone was standing just a few feet from the table watching me. Or so I assumed.

A sob rose up in my chest as realization dawned on me. I'd been run off the road and my car sunk down into the creek just outside of Johnny's neighborhood. Where was I now?

"Nothing to get upset about." Tanner's voice rang out like a bell. "Now that you're up, we'll have a quick conversation and let you go on your way."

Tears burned my eyes as I gagged on the cloth. My tongue was swollen and ached on the side. From the taste of blood, I reckoned that I bit it during impact.

"Your hands are bound, and yes, you have a gag, but you're not tied down. If you want to try and sit up, I'll help you, Danielle."

"No," I groaned around the gag and tried to sit up again. My stomach lurched and I gagged again.

"She's going to hurl, boss. She had a pretty nasty gash on her head." An unknown voice rose up.

"Take the gag off." Tanner moved closer and reached for me as I started to fall back toward the table. "There. It's alright. You got in a pretty nasty accident. We were only trying to scare you a little, but you're not very talented behind the wheel of a car, are you?"

"Don't," I screamed as loudly as I could, but the sound was nothing more than a mumble.

"Take the gag off?" The guy behind me gripped my shoulders.

I thrashed a little, but ran out of steam quickly.

"Yeah. Take it off." Tanner reached out and cupped my face as someone worked on the gag from behind me. He glanced at whoever the guy was. "Get her some water. Room temperature."

"Don't. Touch. Me." I ground my teeth as tears dripped down my face.

"Hey. I'm not the enemy here." He bent down a little and got in my face. "I'm going to make things better, but I'll need your help with that."

"I'm not doing anything for you."

"Yeah. You are." He smiled and brushed his thumbs over my cheeks as his eyes got a little glossy. "I'm not the kind of guy that asks for anything, Danielle. I get what I want, when I want it."

"Not from me. I'd rather die."

"Die?" He laughed and kissed the tip of my nose before releasing me. "I remember that kiss we shared a few weeks back. There's not much you wouldn't have done to take me down, is there?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." I licked at the side of my lips and coughed. My mouth was so fucking dry. "Can I have some water?"

"Yeah." He motioned for the guy to bring it over. I'd never seen him before, but it didn't matter. If I survived the hell I was stuck in, I'd take them all to federal prison for life sentences. It would be my life's mission.

I took a sip of the water with the guy’s help and thought about spitting it back in his face, but I was too thirsty to waste a drop of it. "Where are we?"

"At one of my warehouses." Tanner walked over and smiled. "I have a few things for you. Gifts that might help inspire you to help me out a little."

"Fuck you," I spat my words at him as fury raced through me.

"No, not yet." He winked and squeezed my knee. "Though the thought of taking you like a whore against the wall in a storage room does sound pretty appetizing."

Horror raced through me. Had Ryder said something to Tanner? Were they still working together? No. I couldn't let myself believe something so vile.

"Tell me what you want and let me go, or kill me. No one deserves to be toyed with or have to listen to the sound of your voice for more than a few minutes." I glanced down and let my chin drop as exhaustion tugged at me.

"You know what I imagined happening when we dragged you out of the river?" He paused.

I kept silent.

"I thought maybe Ryder would be on his way to find you, to stop you from leaving his place, but he didn't come." He moved closer. "Why is that, Dani? Did you guys have your fill of each other? Was he done with you like he is everyone he fucks a couple of times?"

I jerked my head up and paid dearly for the quick movement. "Does he work for you, Tanner? Is this what you're getting at?"

"Ryder? Johnny Moretti?" He laughed and knelt in front of me. "He's my best friend. He has been for all of my life."

"Maybe once a long time ago, but not now." I closed my eyes and tried to focus. I had to get the fuck out of there. "He's with my sister, Candace. She's carrying his child, Dani. You didn't know all of this?"

"Stop it." I glanced up as he laughed.

"Paul. Grab the phone recording from our last visit with Johnny. Danielle doesn't believe the impossible to be possible. Let's help her a little, shall we?" He motioned for someone to come in. "Bring in the video. The TV. She's up. I think she should know the truth. It'll help her with the little extra push she needs to assist us."

"Fuck you, Tanner. I'm not doing anything for you."

He reached out and grabbed my throat. Pressing his finger under my chin, I had no choice but to lift my chin and stare him in the face. "This can be a pleasant visit where I really open your eyes to the world you're playing in, cop, or it can be real fucking painful. Don't fuck with me. Period."

I jerked back from him as another guy rolled in a TV and video equipment. "Which one, boss?"

"Let's start with her and Johnny." Tanner clasped his hands behind his back as the video started to play.

I recognized the dark store room the minute my vision cleared. My voice filled the room along with Ryder’s.

"No." I turned to Tanner. "I'm not watching this."

"Oh yeah. You are." He walked over and gripped my face again, forcing me to turn toward it. "He fucks you real good up against the wall. I just wanna know one thing."

"Stop." I closed my eyes as tears dripped down my face.

"No, seriously. Tell me. Was he in your pussy or your ass? I love the sound of your moans. I want to get it right should we end up having a night together."

I jerked from him. "Let me go. Tell me what you want and let me go."

"One more video?" He released me and walked to the TV, kneeling down and changing something. The black screen cleared and it was the same room, but this time, it was Johnny and another woman fucking against the wall. Her dark hair and beautiful body made me look like a young girl with no experience and very few curves.

I turned away as another sob rose in my chest.

"Hate him?" Tanner moved over and sat down on the table next to me. "That's my little sister he's fucking. That wasn't but a day before he met you. He got her pregnant that night, Dani. How would you feel if someone did that to Tani?"

I screamed and turned, jerking toward him and trying to bite him. They had me on my back and Tanner was on top of me, straddling my chest before I could figure out what the fuck was happening.

"I didn't take her, bitch. She came to me." He pressed his hand to my chest as I cried. "You think you know every fucking thing, well you don't."

"Get off of me. You're a monster than steals little girls." I jerked beneath him, wishing for death if it meant relief from the nightmare. "Get off!"

He moved off of me and jerked me back up. "You're going to deliver Johnny Moretti to me when I tell you to do it."

"Not happening." I sat up and rolled my head, trying to stretch out my neck a little.

"No? Ask him about your sister, Dani. Ask him who brought her in. Who seduced her?" He tilted his head to the side and laughed as I leaned over and vomited everything in my stomach. My body clenched as pain and sorrow raged through me.

There was no way Johnny was involved with Tani, and yet it made sense. Why else wouldn't he explain himself or his past? How had he taken such a quick liking to me? Because I looked just like my sister.

"I thought he was your best friend." I glanced to the side as I spit acid from my mouth.

"He was, until he fucked Candace over. Family comes first, no?" He reached out and brushed my hair over my shoulder as I jerked from him. "I'm going to let you go. You say a word to anyone or don't do as I ask, and I'll kill him, Jason, your father and you'll be my pet until you're so worn out from being fucked by a million men that you will wish yourself dead."

"Fuck you."

"That'll be the greatest pleasure you get, little girl. Do what I tell you to do." He glanced up as he moved back. "Tracker."

"What?" I moved around the table as two of Tanner's guys moved toward me. "No. I don't want a tracker."

"If I trusted you at all, you wouldn't get one, but I don't." He laughed as he walked toward the door. "Hold her down. Make it painful."

"No." I kicked as they pressed me to the table and shoved a pill down my throat. I gagged as the taste of iron filled my mouth and burned my throat.

A black bag was wrapped around my head as I thrashed about. The hit to the side of my head was more than enough to knock me out, and crazy enough, I was grateful for it. Darkness was better than the hell I'd woken up in.