My back is sweating, my heart beating so hard I feel light-headed I keep trying.
“Come on,” I whisper, praying for a miracle. My clammy hands make it harder by the second and I feel the urge to cry and throw the damn screwdriver across the room, scared this is it for me. That this won’t work and I’ll die here.
“Where did you get this book?” Candy’s voice sounds from the bedroom, and my heart skips a beat. My hands stilling and eyes widening.
“Um,” I hesitate, not knowing what to say or do. The springs of the bed rattle, she’s sitting down so I keep trying to get the shackle off my wrist with the tool. Every second counts at this point.
“This is just going to make it harder on you, Piper. Think of yourself as a surrogate, you know?” She keeps talking, every word fueling me to try harder and not give up.
“Trimesters,” she reads a heading. “Ya know, if it’s a girl, I was thinking of naming it Capri,” she informs, toying with my heart. No, my baby will not be named Capri, she will not be Candy’s daughter. She’s mine. The bed rattles, conveying she’s standing up but I don’t stop jabbing the tool into the cuff. I grind and turn, hoping the shackle will give at any second.
Her footsteps sound along the floor, my eyes popping back and forth between the door and the tool.
All of a sudden, relief floods my wrist as the cuff clicks open. My mouth pops open, my body freezing. I inhale, tears filling the brim of my eyes.
It worked.
I did it.
The cuff is off.
Standing up, I sit the chain and broken cuff down on to the floor as silently as I can. Adrenaline swimming through my veins and pumping through my heart as I fist the tool like it’s a dagger.
Order will be restored today and anyone who stands in my way will pay the ultimate price.
Their life.
9
Saint
With the drugs tucked away in the back of our garage at the club, awaiting for the Sin City Outlaws to come and pick it up. We follow Shadow back to Harry’s, cold hard cash in his saddlebags. I want to just shoot this gang banger and be done with him, but Shadow said there’s going to be enough bodies dropping when we find Piper, that we will come back for him later. I couldn’t argue, I just want to get to Piper. When I get my hands on Rad, I’m going to fucking break every one of his bones until the last snap appeases me.
Pulling up to the laundromat, Shadow parks first then the rest of us. Zane takes the stacks of cash out of the saddlebag placing them in a black gym bag that Big Chief holds open.
“What if he doesn’t go for it?” Big Chief asks, his eyes squinting from the sun. Shadow’s eyes shoot him a glare that makes me swallow.
“Then I guess we’ll start dropping bodies now.” Shadow closes the bag, zipping it up. “I’m trying to keep my priorities straight, but I will put a bullet in this fucker’s head if he tries to deviate us from the mission.”
We all nod, agreeing and head inside. The little old lady behind the counter hits the button on the wall as soon as she sees us, not waiting for us to even come up to the counter and annoy her.
The side door opens, and Ripper stands there with a pug look on his face. “Problem?”
“We need to talk to Harry,” I tell him, crossing my arms. He gives us a once-over before jerking his head to follow him inside to the back.
Once we’re past the clothes and remaining buckets of drugs, we come into the room of the desk and poker table, only this time there’re no women bagging drugs.
“I know you didn’t sell all of that, that quick!” Harry laughs, sitting in a chair behind his desk. Men chuckle at a small table, poker chips stacked higher than when we were here earlier.
Zane slides the bag across the concrete, wiping the smirk from Harry’s face.
“This is how this is going to work, we’ll give you half now, and the other half once we’re done doing what we’re doing,” Shadow informs, leaving no room for negotiations. I look to Harry, curious what he’s thinking of Shadow walking in here telling him how it’s going to be.
Harry stares at Shadow, an eerie silence coming across the entire room until he finally nods his head at Ripper who retrieves the bag, handing it to Harry. He drops it on the desk, unzipping it, he shuffles through the money.
“You’re seeking some pregnant girl, right?” he asks calmly. Picking lint off the bag that holds cold hard cash.
“She’s my daughter,” Lip says, his voice on the edge of pulling the trigger of his gun. I roll my lips onto one another to keep from telling this motherfucker she’s my woman, not that it’s any of his business.
“What if I told you I know where you can find her?”
Instinct comes over me and I pull my gun out from my waistband, angry he’s known this whole time.
To my surprise, Lip has his weapon drawn too.
Harry’s brows lift with amusement, his hands steeping.
“If you kill me, you won’t find her,” he informs in a ridiculous tone.
“What do you want?” Shadow grits.
“Another six thousand. Seeing how you have it that way.” He shoves at the bag of cash on the desk, implying that our club is more than wealthy and giving him more money should be of no difference. “It should be no problem for you. That is if you really want to save this girl.” He chuckles, and I start at him… until Big Chief holds me back.
“I’m going to fucking kill you!” I point at Harry, promising to pull the trigger of my weapon.
Shadow looks to the ground, his hand rubbing his chin. Seeing him so calm and collected is scary. I know Shadow has a temper just like me, but if we kill Harry for withholding this information, we will never find Piper.
“How do we know this isn’t a trap, or some kind of bullshit?” Bobby barks, his face red with anger. We’re all about to snap, our patience gone and reputation of loose tempers and bad boy life about to be put to the test.
“My men run this side.” Harry raises his hand, waving it back and forth as if the desk is the east side of L.A. “I know everything that comes through here, and who...”
“Take us to her,” Shadow demands, his tone grim and dark to the point even I have goosebumps.
10
Piper
Outside my room, I bend and grip the chain laying on the floor with one hand, I flip my hair out of my face finding Candy about to take her first step onto the stairs. That instinct I woke up with this morning turns savage, taking over my body like a disease. Coming up behind Candy, my movements silent and with purpose. Just behind her, my body so close I can smell her, I grit my teeth and I quickly wrap the chain around Candy’s neck. She screams, her hands coming up to pull at the chain, and I wrap it around her neck again and again. I don’t hear her garbled pleas, I don’t feel her nails scratching at me. All I think about is that I’m a mother, and this is the first step in my new role.
I jerk the chain tighter, her face turning blue as I squeeze the life out of her.
“Fuck you.” I seethe in the back of her ear before I shove her over the banister. The links clink into each other as they free-fall into a taut snapping sound.