Chapter 25

 

Maggie

 

Is your man ready?

 

I texted Axel on the phone he’d given me and waited a few minutes for the reply. I had already waited to text him in the first place, to make sure Blade was really gone the second time. Thankfully, I hadn’t texted him sooner to let him know I was mostly alone.

 

He’s by the back door downstairs. Behind the kitchen.

 

Heading down now.

 

Good girl. You will be rewarded.

 

Axel had never been an upstanding individual. Sure, at one point he’d painted himself as a charming, caring individual, but that had only lasted long enough to win me over. Still, this new Axel I was seeing, the one who seemed to have it together, was even more despicable than the junkie seller-user I had broken up with. Apparently, that Axel had only existed at home.

 

I took a deep breath to settle my nerves. “All right, you’ve got to work some magic,” I told myself before I opened the door.

 

I slid the chain back and opened the door. Danny, the boy standing guard, stood at attention. I was surprised he didn’t salute me as I exited the room.

 

“At ease, soldier,” I told him as I closed my door.

 

He relaxed, a little. “Where are you headed?” he asked.

 

“Downstairs to the kitchen. I’m going to see if I can scrounge up something to eat, maybe a sandwich. Blade didn’t leave me with any food,” I lied.

 

“All right. Lead the way,” Danny said, gesturing down the hall toward the stairs.

 

“No way, buddy. You’re not following me down there.” I chuckled and held my hands up to hold him off.

 

“But Blade said…” he started to argue.

 

“I don’t care what Blade said. Blade isn’t here. Now, I want you to keep an eye on my room. Make sure nobody goes in there while I’m downstairs. Got it?” I asked him. Poor kid. He didn’t stand a chance around guys like Blade and the rest of his MC.

 

I watched him struggle with obeying Blade’s orders or fighting with me. Defeat washed over him as he accepted his fate. He nodded and stepped back by the door. “All right, yeah. I’ll be here when you get back,” he said curtly.

 

I’d hurt his feelings! “Look, there are enough Marauders in this house to protect me as I walk down to the kitchen and back. I’ll only be a few minutes, anyway. I’m not looking for something I have to cook, unless I can just toss it in the microwave or something,” I assured him. “Make sure no one is waiting on me when I get back to the room, okay?”

 

“Okay. I’ll see you in a few minutes,” he said, some of his ego repaired by my assurances.

 

I turned away and fought back laughter as I walked to the stairs. Where the hell did they find these guys? And how the hell did Blade think Danny, of all people, was going to defend me if one of Axel’s guys decided to come after me? I imagined someone walking up and explaining to him why it was okay for them to go into my room and kidnap me, or worse.

 

No one else seemed to notice me as I came down the stairs and went down to the kitchen. I opened the fridge, just to keep up appearances. I kept an eye on the door to the hallway while I stood with the refrigerator door open, making sure no one was coming to check on me. For a safehouse, security certainly was lax. There was a lot of stuff that seemed to rely on the honor system, which rocked when it was time to do something underhanded, like letting a member of a rival gang in through the backdoor.

 

I checked to see if anyone was standing outside. There was a man in a black coat and black jeans, wearing black gloves and what looked like a black beanie. He was in constant motion, either trying to ward off the cold or psych himself up for whatever Axel had sent him to do.

 

I checked around the door to make sure no alarms were going to go off when I opened it. Then, I unlocked it slowly, quietly. I checked behind me to make sure no one was watching and opened the door.

 

Frigid air rushed in as the man in black quickly entered the room. I knew why he’d been keeping his body in motion. Winter was in full effect. It was definitely Christmastime out there.

 

“What took you so long?” he hissed.

 

“Roadblocks. There are people everywhere, and they’ve even got a prospect watching my door,” I said quickly in a hushed whisper.

 

“Well, don’t worry. I’ve got something for everyone.” He reached back and pulled a gun with a silencer affixed to the front of it from his pants.

 

“You’re going to shoot everybody?”

 

“What did you think I was here to do, play patty-cake?” he almost growled. He tugged on what I thought was a black beanie cap and pulled a ski mask down over his face. He grabbed me and spun me around in front of him, pressing the gun against my back.

 

“What are you doing?” I asked him, dropping the pretense of talking quietly. I didn’t care if anyone heard me. In fact, I almost wanted someone to hear me. I had just fucked up. Royally.

 

“You’re my cover. Now, walk.” He pressed the gun harder against my back.

 

“Okay. What are you going to do?” I asked him, rephrasing my question.

 

“Does it fucking matter? Walk.” He pushed with his hand on my shoulder and his gun in the small of my back. I walked out of the kitchen and up the hallway to the stairs. I took the stairs up to the main floor with him behind me.

 

“There are people up here,” I whispered as I got closer to the desk in the front room. Lights stood at the desk, joking with Lydia.

 

“Just act natural,” the man behind me whispered. Then his hand and the gun disappeared from my back, leaving me to walk past them on my own. I held my breath and pretended nothing was wrong as I tried to pass by unnoticed.

 

“Hey, is everything okay, Maggie?” Lights asked, turning from the desk to address me as I passed by him.

 

I turned around to answer, to force myself to tell him everything was okay. I inhaled sharply as I turned, trying to muster up the nerve to lie to him. Before I could say anything, though, there was a pop, and blood spewed from his head. I flinched and backed away, trying to avoid getting any blood on myself.

 

Lydia didn’t even scream. She stared in horror as the large biker was dropped right in front of her by the man in the ski mask. He turned and pointed his gun at her, putting one mostly-silent bullet right between her eyes. With the silencer, the gunshots weren’t loud enough to draw any attention.

 

So was what Axel had sent his man to do. He’d sent him to kill everyone at the safehouse. What message was that supposed to send? The Marauders weren’t behind the sex slave auctions. They weren’t even officially involved. Their only involvement was Blade working as security, which wasn’t even official. He tried to keep that quiet. I was sure Danny – oh, God, poor unsuspecting Danny – didn’t even know that was where Blade had to go. And Danny was just sitting up there by my door, thinking he was doing something for the MC, when really, he was just waiting for this man behind me to come up there and execute him.

 

“Is there anyone upstairs?” the ski-masked man asked me.

 

It was my opportunity to tell him there wasn’t, to save the young prospect, but there was gun in my face. If I lied and he found out, I was sure he wouldn’t have had a problem having an “accident” and letting the gun go off, eliminating me as well.

 

“Yeah, there’s a guy in front of my door. Maybe someone else,” I said, defeated.

 

He grabbed me again, spun me back around, and planted his gun in my back with his hand on my shoulder. “Lead me up there,” he said, “and no funny business.”

 

I didn’t understand. Was Axel just trying to eliminate the Marauders? Did he understand they weren’t competition for whatever he was trying to do? Or did he feel like they were going to try to stop him?

 

I grabbed the railing leading up the wall along the staircase and held on as I walked up in front of the assailant. With each step, I tried to think of a way to stop him, but there was nothing I could think of that wouldn’t end with me being shot and everyone else still dying. I kept walking, knowing each step closer brought someone else a moment closer to death. By the time we reached the top of the stairs, tears were streaming down my face.

 

“What? What’s wrong?” Danny said as I came up in front of him. He took a step towards me, but he stopped as soon as he saw the man behind me, the man with the ski mask over his face and the gun in his hand.

 

Another muffled shot popped in the hallway, and Danny crumbled to the floor in front of me. Blade had called him a prospect, meaning he had been hoping to prove himself to the MC. Instead, he just lay there, dead.

 

“Get out your phone,” the man behind me said unceremoniously. “Text Axel and tell him it’s done. He’ll meet us outside.”

 

I fumbled with my phone, nervously trying to pull it out of my pocket. I pulled up my text screen and started trying to text him.

 

It is done, I typed.

 

“Is that it?” I asked the guy as he pulled his ski mask up from his face.

 

“Is there anything you need from your room?” he asked, nodding toward the closed door.

 

“No, I don’t think so.” I turned around to look at the room, instinctively checking where he was looking behind me.

 

“Okay, let me use your bathroom real quick, and we’ll be on our way. Don’t do anything stupid.” He stepped past me, leaving me in the hallway.

 

I could have run in that moment. I could have darted down the stairs and out the front door. I considered it, except I knew Axel was going to be waiting on me when I came through the door and hit the sidewalk. I stood there, frozen between potential and fear, for what felt like an eternity.

 

I’m here. Where are you? Axel texted me.

 

Waiting on your man in the bathroom, I texted back.

 

Tell him to hurry up. I need you now.

 

With Axel still having control over me, I knocked lightly on the door to my room and pushed it open.

 

“Hello? Axel said you need to hurry up,” I called into the room.

 

I could see the light spilling from the cracked bathroom door. There was a shadow moving around in the room. I figured it was the guy, but I couldn’t see what he was doing.

 

“I’m almost done,” he said. I heard him turn on the sink. A moment later, the water stopped running.

 

He backed out of the bathroom and carefully closed the door. He turned around and started walking towards me. He was holding something in his right hand, but I couldn’t tell what it was. He’d put his gun up, so his left hand was free.

 

“All right, let’s go,” he said. “You lead the way, to the front door.” He turned me around at the door to the room and put his left arm around my shoulders, holding me against him.