Page 67 of Frenemies
I knew for a fact, The Lost Souls ran guns. Mostly because Tanner had a big mouth which I, of course, talked to him about—dumbass shouldn’t be saying anything. I don’t care if it was just in the clubhouse. You never knew who was watching, like the little girl who stumbled in on her daddy’s conversation with a criminal.
“Seriously,” Bailey tipped her head and gave me a concerned frown. “You haven’t said anything since we left.”
“I’m fine,” I choked out while swallowing back the bile rising in my throat.
Honestly, I didn’t know if I’d ever be fine again. What I found in the file I had tucked in my purse haunted me. One line from that manifest was permanently burned in my brain.
Cleo Wainwright, age twelve: $50,000.
Sex traffickers were the scum of the earth, and my father was one of them. There were dozens of names on that list. How many Jimmy Choo’s in my closet were bought and paid for with the souls of innocent girls?
I’m gonna be sick.
I pulled over and hopped out to clutch my stomach and lurch my lunch up on the side of the road. Bailey was behind me in seconds.
“Oh my God, Naomi.” She swept my hair out of the way and stroked my back. “Is there anything I can do?”
“Get me some water.”
Bailey stayed there with me as I rinsed my mouth out and let my stomach settle. Once I was sure I wasn’t going to throw up anymore, we got back on the road. I wanted to put as much distance between Ashen Springs and us as possible.
In fact, I wanted to forget that place existed altogether. The problem with that was Daddy was there, and despite everything he’d done, I still loved him.
Should he pay for what he’d done? Absolutely. That didn’t mean I wanted him to die, which is exactly what would happen if Louis Kessler found out what he was doing. The Order of Ravens and Wolves weren’t innocent by any means, but they did have their limits. Selling little girls was one.
Chase was my only hope of a somewhat amicable outcome, and even then, I wasn’t sure he wouldn’t put a bullet in Daddy’s head. But what choice did I have?
A thought that was ever more prevalent when we drew to an hour outside of Miami, and six bikes roared down the road towards us. I didn’t think much about it at first until I saw the scythe and crossbones patches.
What the hell were Chase’s men doing out here?
They sped past us, then stopped and turned around to come up behind my car. Curious, I stared in my rearview mirror and watched four of the bikes separate to roll up on either side of us. Were these assholes caging us in?
Unimpressed, I smacked my lips when a familiar large framed prick nodded at me before pulling up in front of my car.
Seriously?
I cocked a brow at Beast’s deep red Harley and contemplated ramming into the asshole, especially when Mannix pulled up beside me with a grumpy look on his face.
“What’s going on?” Bailey asked while sitting up to gawk at the leather-clad men with wide eyes.
“I don’t know.”
But I was sure as hell going to find out.
I cleared my throat and glared over at Mannix. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Just following orders,” he yelled back.
Whose orders? Nevermind. I knew whose, and I was gonna kill him.
“Get away from my car,” I snarled at Mannix.
“Sorry, honey. You’re coming with us.”
Did he just call me honey?
Oh, hell no.
