Erica

 

I woke up slowly, one bit at a time. First, it was my feet. They were a little numb. I tried to move them, then realized I couldn’t. It was the same thing with my hands. My wrists were tied together. Behind me. My arms were so achy and stiff, pulled behind me at an awkward angle. It hurt like hell to move even a little bit.

 

My head was foggy. Why couldn’t I think straight?

 

Where was I?

 

I couldn’t see. I was blindfolded. My heart raced. I struggled to focus, to avoid a panic attack. I took a deep breath.

 

“She’s awake.”

 

The voice startled me. I jumped away from it, then moaned when the muscles of my arms stretched painfully. I couldn’t slow my breathing, couldn’t keep from panicking. When footsteps approached, I nearly screamed.

 

“Relax.” It was a man’s voice. Then the sound of something being dragged across a floor. A chair? It stopped in front of me. “I already told all my men they weren’t allowed to touch you. Not yet anyway.” I heard him snicker. “It won’t be easy to keep them away, though. You’re hotter than Harrison told us.”

 

Harrison? Who the hell was that? Who was this person in front of me? His voice had a warmth to it, like we knew each other. Or he knew me. It was unnerving.

 

“I figured you’d have to be a hot piece of ass if you were enough to get Baldoni to fall for you.” Another snicker. “Sorry. I mean, Vince.”

 

Vince? The sound of his name made me raise my head. Where was he? I took another deep breath to calm myself. God, it stank in there. Where had they taken me? A garbage dump?

 

I remembered it all. The photo of Onyx. The way he overtook me. It all went black after that, though I seemed to recall coming to at one point. I was on my back in a vehicle—I could feel the engine humming. I heard somebody comment that I was waking up, and that cloth appeared over my face again. It went black again, until I woke up in a stinking room. Tied to a chair. Terrified and in pain.

 

“Don’t you have anything to say?” he asked. He was making fun of me, trying to get into my head. He wanted to take me down. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing me crack. I had to be strong. Somewhere inside, I knew it was what Vince would want me to do. It was what he needed me to do.

 

“I’m thirsty,” I whispered. My throat felt like sandpaper. “Please. Some water.”

 

Footsteps on the other side of the room. How many people were in the room with us? To that point, I’d only been paying attention to the man sitting in front of me. He was close, but not too close. I could just barely smell aftershave or cologne over the stench of garbage. I let my senses expand a bit, trying to get a sense of how many others there were. I kept my ears tuned to movement, breathing, anything that would give me a clue.

 

My mind was racing. I knew, somehow, that it didn’t matter how many men were there. It wasn’t as though I could do anything about my situation. They had me tied, trapped. I needed something to focus on, was all. Anything other than panic or hopelessness.

 

“Why won’t you let me see?” I whispered. “Does it really matter?”

 

“Why do you need to see?” he countered. He thought he was really clever. But I’d figured it out as soon as I got my thoughts to quiet down long enough to think it through.

 

“I’ve heard so much about the leader of the Vicious Wolves. I thought I might as well get a look at him for once.”

 

I heard a sharp intake of breath. “How did you know that’s where you were?”

 

I smirked without intending to. “Where else would I be? Last time I checked, I didn’t see a member of any other club kill somebody. It was one of your men, wasn’t it?”

 

“Smart girl.” The blindfold left my eyes in one quick, rough motion. I blinked hard against the sudden light. It took a moment for me to get my bearings.

 

When my eyes focused, I got my first look at my surroundings. I almost wished the blindfold was still over my eyes. It was disgusting, run down, dirty. There were a few tables and chairs around, a pool table in one corner, a dart board on the wall. A thousand empty bottles and cans. Cigarette butts on just about every flat surface. It was dimly lit, which was a blessing. I wouldn’t want to see it under bright lighting.

 

Was this their clubhouse? Why would they want to live and work this way? I thought back to the Fury Riders, and how comfortable and clean it was there. I knew the girls had something to do with that. Weren’t there any girls around for the Wolves? I couldn’t imagine who’d want to be.

 

Then, I turned my attention to my captor. He was sitting in front of me on a backward chair, arms crossed over the back. He had a magnetism to him, a confidence. I couldn’t deny it, even as he made my skin crawl. I could understand why people would follow him. His mane of wavy brown hair and piercing blue eyes created a striking effect. In fact, he would make a perfect subject. All angles and cragginess. And those startlingly blue eyes.

 

“Like what you see?” he asked with a snide laugh. I ignored him as the sound of a door opening distracted me. It was Onyx, carrying a bottle of water.

 

I wanted to spit on him, and would have if I had any saliva in my parched mouth. The filthy, stinking traitor. I could have killed him for what he’d done to Vince and me. Especially Vince. I knew this was all about him in the end.

 

I wondered how they expected me to drink when my hands were behind my back. “Please. Can you untie me?”

 

“Why would I do that?”

 

“Where am I going to go? I have no idea where I am. Besides, my feet are still tied. I’m in a lot of pain right now. Please.”

 

He looked at me, thinking. I made it a point to look as pained as possible—it wasn’t difficult, as I was in legitimate agony.

 

“All right,” he said, nodding to Onyx. “Untie her wrists.”

 

I met Onyx’s eyes, but only for a moment. He averted them quickly. Ashamed of himself? He should have been. He had let Lance die. He had brought me to a stinking pit and tied me up.

 

He couldn’t look at me. That told me something about him. I didn’t believe he was heartless. I thought he might have gotten caught up, the way Lance was. Onyx was stronger than Lance. He could stomach betrayal. He just couldn’t stand to look me in the eye. Coward.

 

His hands were on my wrists, working at my restraints. I looked at Alexander, who was looking carefully at me. I held his gaze. It was important to show I wasn’t afraid of him. I was, of course. I was terrified. I didn’t want him to know it, though.

 

“Better?” he asked when the rope binding my wrists was released.

 

I flexed my arms slowly, wincing as the blood flowed through my aching joints and muscles. I could hardly lift my hand to take the water Onyx offered.

 

I took my time drinking, stalling to think things over. What could I do? What could I say? What was the end game? There had to be one. He hadn’t gone through the trouble of smuggling me there to chat. I had to stay strong. Would they try to torture me to give up information? It wasn’t as though I had any—frankly, anything I knew, Onyx was bound to know as well. I was useless in that respect.

 

I had to be bait. It seemed as though that was how Alexander operated. He lured and tricked. He was luring Vince to him, using me. My blood ran cold. I wouldn’t let him do it.

 

If he couldn’t use me, he would kill me. Then again, he could just as easily kill me after he did what he wanted to Vince. What did he have to gain by letting me go? He wasn’t the type to let witnesses go unscathed—hence, the effort to kidnap me before this.

 

I hoped Vince was smart enough to see through any offer Alexander made.

 

“Better?” he asked as I lowered the bottle. I nodded. “Good. Now that you’re a little more with it and I gave you time to think over your options, why don’t you tell me why I brought you here?”

 

I told myself not to show him how unnerving it was to have my thoughts read. “I don’t know.”

 

He grinned. “Sure you do. You’re a smart girl. Graduated from college with honors. Trying to get your own photography business started. I admire a—whaddya call it?—entrepreneurial spirit.” He snickered.

 

How did he know so much about me? Of course. If I’d had the strength, I would have slapped my forehead. He’d found my mom, hadn’t he? He’d done his homework.

 

I tilted my head innocently. “What’s that got to do with this? I must have missed the MC 101 course. Sorry.”

 

He sneered. “I heard you had a mouth on you.” He reached for me, and it took tremendous effort to keep from shrinking away as his fingers stroked my lips. My skin crawled, my breath came fast and shallow. If I hadn’t been afraid of whatever he might have been carrying, I would have sunk my teeth into his nasty fingers.

 

“Oh, yeah,” he breathed. “I’d like to see what else this mouth can do. Does Vince already know? He has to. I bet that mouth worked him over real good.”

 

I swallowed against the bile that rose in my throat.

 

He grinned, his blue eyes narrowing. Like he knew how I felt about him and didn’t care. Maybe he even liked it.

 

“Why else would he shoot at my guys to keep them from taking you today?” He shook his head, a look of mock disappointment on his face. “Honestly, and you might not believe this, I was willing to let go of him beating the hell outta one of my guys. I really was. I mean, Harrison took out one of his. And between you and me, he’s never been what you might call ‘right in the head.’ I would have let bygones be bygones. But then Baldoni had to go sticking his nose in where it didn’t belong. Right into my business. If I wanted you, he should have let me have you. We don’t mess with each other’s business. That’s rule number one.”

 

“Do those rules apply when you turned two of a club’s members against their leader?”

 

He raised an eyebrow. “You really are mouthy. I’d hate for you to learn what happens to little girls with big mouths. We find things to stuff those big mouths with until they can’t talk anymore.”

 

My blood ran cold. I got the message.

 

“This was only business. All of it. Baldoni has to take everything personally. That’s why he’ll never be a leader, why his club deserves better than him.” So that was it. He wanted the club. Harrison wasn’t the only person not right in the head if he thought Vince would ever go for that.

 

He didn’t expect him to, I realized. He was going to kill Vince.

 

“Do you think the other club members would want you as their president? I mean, no offense or anything, but don’t they have a say in it?”

 

He sneered nastily. “No, they don’t. They’ll follow whoever they’re told to follow. Otherwise, they’d be the ones sitting at the head of the table. Lance and Onyx were the only two I could find with any vision.”

 

I wondered what Alexander promised them when he convinced them to take sides with him. What would be worth turning your back on your club?

 

I thought back to the game of cards I’d just played with them. They were a family—laughing, busting balls. It was the same way with everything they did. They had fun together. They had one another’s backs. What would be worth sacrificing that? Money? From the looks of the Wolves’ clubhouse, they weren’t swimming in it.

 

Alexander cut into my thoughts when he pulled out his phone. “It’s time to give your boyfriend a phone call.” I watched as he dialed, wondering if I could get a message to Vince. Just then, Onyx pressed a knife to my throat, making me gasp.

 

“Don’t say a word,” he muttered, taking a handful of my hair to pull my head back.

 

I whimpered. How could he do this to me, after pretending to at least tolerate me? What was wrong with him?

 

In my terror, I almost couldn’t make out Alexander’s words. He was taunting Vince—I could tell that much from his tone of voice.

 

“I’ve already touched her. I’ll do any damn thing I please,” he said. I closed my eyes, grimacing. I still felt his fingerprints on my mouth.

 

The pressure disappeared from my throat. “Say hi,” Onyx demanded, pointing to the phone in Alexander’s hand.

 

What should I say? It had to count for something. I couldn’t waste my chance. Onyx pulled my hair to get me to do as he said. I whimpered.

 

“Vince! Stay away!” I screamed. Then, Onyx’s hand was over my mouth, his fingers pressing into my cheek. I wondered dimly if I’d have a bruise there. I struggled against him, clawing at his arm with my free hands. I wanted to hurt him. I dug my nails into his hand, making him wince and loosen his grip. When he did, I bit him as hard as I could.

 

“You bitch!” he screamed. Alexander was already off the phone. It was too late. I couldn’t get another message to Vince. I’d hurt Onyx, at least. He was gripping his wounded hand with a look of cold, hard hatred on his face.

 

“Tie her arms back up,” Alexander ordered. “I’m done trying to be nice to her if this is the way she repays me for it.”

 

I laughed. He sounded like this was a hotel I was staying in, not the hellhole he treated as a clubhouse. He was pathetic. I knew why he had to rely on deception to get what he wanted—he wouldn’t be any good at it any other way.

 

“Don’t be gentle,” he added, spitting on the floor in my general direction. “And close her mouth.”

 

I couldn’t help but cry out when Onyx tied the rope excruciatingly tight around my wrists. It was even worse than before. That was where my mouth got me. My arms screamed in pain, and a single tear trickled down my cheek.

 

I looked up at Onyx when he walked in front of me. He held up the strip of fabric that had been tied over my eyes earlier.

 

“Why?” I asked. “Please, I just want to know. Why did you do it?”

 

He looked taken aback. I wasn't snide or confrontational. I genuinely wanted to know. He would never get the chance to tell Vince why, that was for sure. I had the feeling Vince would kill him as soon as he looked at him by the time he found out what happened—if he didn’t already know. I remembered the holes he punched into the office walls after seeing the photos of Lance. What would he do when he found out Onyx was even worse?

 

“I needed the money.” He shrugged. “That was all. It wasn’t personal.”

 

“Alexander paid you for this?”

 

He shook his scarred head. “The drugs. Vince wanted out of drugs, but that means cutting off our revenue. A huge chunk of it. Lance and me, we were pissed about that. He wouldn’t listen when I told him it wasn’t a good idea to pull out. York wants the club, wants the business.”

 

“So you agreed to hand over the club in exchange for money.”

 

He nodded, then tied the cloth tight around my mouth, knotting it at the back of my head. He turned and left the room, throwing one more look my way before closing the door.

 

Another tear trickled down my cheek, then another. I would be dead by morning.