The engine shut off, and car doors slammed. Muffled voices reached my ears through the trunk, and more cars arrived. More voices, and the distinctive clicks of guns being loaded with fresh ammunition. There was no doubt in my mind this was going to end in bloodshed.
I just hoped it would be Zane’s and the Reapers’, not mine.
When the trunk finally opened, I needed to blink a thousand times to make my eyes refocus. It didn't help that it was dark outside and several cars parked nearby had their high beams on to illuminate the parking lot.
"Oh good, you're awake," Zane commented with a cruel snicker. "I hate shooting people when they're unconscious. Half the fun is seeing that look of blind terror in their eyes a second before they die." He wasn't looking for a reply from me. He just reached into the trunk and grabbed a tight handful of my ponytail, using it to all but drag me out of the trunk.
Without the use of my hands, I tumbled onto the gravel as soon as he let go of my hair. My cheek stung with a graze, but it was nothing compared to the heavy kick Zane delivered to my ribs.
I couldn't even curse him out, because my mouth was gagged so securely. It didn't seem to deter him, though, and he kicked me again just for fun. Pain lanced through me, and I moaned in desperation.
Fucker was gonna pay for this when I got free. Because I would get free. Somehow.
Zane hauled me up to my knees by my hair and crouched down to sneer at me. "I warned you I was a businessman, Madison Kate. And I smelled money to be gained in keeping you alive. Turns out I was right, huh?"
His smile was wide, and his pupils were unevenly dilated. He was high as fuck.
"You wanna know how much the hit on you was increased to after yesterday's wedding bullshit?" He let out a peel of hysterical laughter. "Your family really wants you dead, little girl. Far be it from me to stand in the way of that, huh?" He backhanded me then, making me lose my balance and eat gravel once more.
One of the other Reapers yelled something out at Zane, but my ears were ringing too hard to make out the words. All I knew was that Zane's drug-jittering intensified, and he slammed a fist into my face so hard I felt my teeth rattle.
My boys were going to murder him for this, even if I didn't make it out myself. Especially if I didn't.
"You know," Zane confessed, yanking me back up to sitting. His face was so close to mine that I could feel his breath on my aching cheek. "Kruger paid extra to have you delivered alive, but he didn't say unharmed. Guess that means he doesn't plan on keeping you breathing for long, huh?" He patted my face, sending spikes of pain through my skull, but I could do nothing but glare.
The sound of more cars arriving pulled Zane's attention, and I decided to throw caution to the wind. How much worse could my situation really get, right?
I dropped to the ground, letting my body crush my bound hands into the gravel as I kicked out my legs.
Boom. Nailed it.
Zane howled, clutching at his junk and spitting curses at me. I tried to roll to my feet, but was stopped by a scruffy, bearded Reaper. He swung a fist at me as I staggered up from the gravel, knocking me straight back down again. This time I wasn't getting up so easily. A high-pitched whine had started ringing in my ears, and my vision was getting spotty.
How hard had that motherfucker just hit me?
Zane gave me no time to pull myself together either. His hand went around my throat, and he climbed on top of me for better leverage. The sheer hatred twisting his face was what scared me the most. His eyes were so similar to Archer's, but the fury and disgust spoke to years of instability.
"...fucking whore," he was snarling at me, but my ringing ears were only picking up fragments. "...like Deb... baby..."
If I wasn't being choked to death, I'd have had something to say about that. He clearly thought my mom had been cheating on him when she got pregnant, when in reality she'd been raped. Then again, Zane wasn't proving himself any more of a man than Samuel, so maybe it wouldn't have made a difference to him either.
A loud bang sounded somewhere close by, and Zane startled enough that his grip loosened. I greedily sucked gulps of air, refilling my aching lungs as I blinked the tears out of my eyes, but Zane just seemed more pissed off by whoever had interrupted.
"...something of mine?" Someone was asking him, and the Reaper leader scowled deeply.
"I'm just doing you a favor," Zane snarled at the newcomer. "You wanted her dead, right? Consider this a freebie."
Apparently my distant relative didn't like Zane's offer, because a moment later a gun was pressed to the older D'Ath's forehead.
"If you want to be paid, Zane, I suggest you hand over my property immediately," the man said in a cool, accented voice.
Zane scowled down at me again but slowly raised his hands up and climbed off me to back away.
I wasn't about to be shot lying down, though, so I rolled over and wriggled up to my knees to face my would-be killer head on. I wanted to look into the eyes of the man who’d murdered my mother and grandmother. The man who'd probably pushed his own wife down the stairs to paralyze her and take control of her estate.
"That's quite far enough, Madison Kate," the man told me in a bland tone before I could stand up fully. "You're one tough girl to catch, you know that?"
All the punches and choking on the ground had loosened my gag enough that I could spit it from my mouth and wet my lips.
"Maybe you just weren't trying hard enough," I retorted, my voice husky and edged with pain. My whole damn body hurt, and a sharp agony when I breathed hinted at a broken rib.
Karl Kruger just tossed his head back and laughed. His gun didn't waiver, though. A quick glance around the parking lot told me just how outmatched I was too. Zane had six guys with him, all decked out in the full gangster costume with bandanas and tattoos on display. Kruger had brought twice that with him.
Where were Kody and Steele? Had they found him, or was the whole thing just one big setup? Or, worse yet... had they walked into a trap and been killed?
No. No way. I refused to even consider that possibility. They were alive, they were all alive. There was no other option.
"I have to confess," Kruger told me with a smile, "I haven't had this much fun since I tracked your mother down."
My stomach rolled with disgust, and he just clicked his tongue.
"Silly me, I was so worked up from the excitement of it all, I never dug too deep. Maybe if I'd stuck around, I would have worked out what she did to cover you up. You... the one and only blood heir to Wittenberg."
"What about Selena?" I asked, glaring up at him and trying my very best to ignore the gun pointed at my head. "Your wife is a blood heir. Isn't that what this is all about?"
Kruger parted his lips to reply, then grinned and shook his head. "Nice try, girl. You won't trap me into confessing all my deep dark secrets here for one of these criminals to use later." He jerked his head toward the Reapers. They'd backed off a small way, but they hadn't left. Probably hanging around to get paid once I was dead.
"Anyway, that's enough banter," Kruger continued, giving me a banal smile. Fuck me, he looked like a mild-mannered accountant, not the man who'd murdered our family's entire household staff, then beaten my mother to death. Then again, what better way to disguise a monster than make them look normal. Boring. Unremarkable and totally forgettable.