“You’re resilient. You know that?” He shows the first smile I’ve seen him get since he took me. It wasn’t a good smile either. It showed a perfect set of teeth. Strange, though, considering how he’s dressed. “Maybe I should mark you myself? Would you talk then?”
My throat threatens to close on me. Nausea coils in my stomach. If he so much as tries, I’ll bite his ear off if I have to, to keep him from touching me.
“Gotta admit, brought you in here thinking you’d break easy. Many times, I’ve brought someone in here and they’ve broken. Just from sitting in theelectric chair. You, though, you haven’t even spoken since I took you from your car.” Without touching me, he stands from his squat and leans in a bit. “I admire this about you, Ember. You refuse to allow yourself to break. Tell me, does anyone else know about your scars?”
I don’t answer, but that doesn’t mean I don’t jerk my head to the side, breaking eye contact with him.
Samir chuckles and steps away. “Interesting.” Moving around me, I feel his hand glide along the wood of the chair, but he doesn’t touch me. “I’ll explain why you’re here, Ember, then I’m going to do something I’ve never done before,” he says from behind me, his head lowering to speak at my ear. “I’m going to let you go, and you’ll deliver a message to your club for me. I thought to use your dead body as that message, but I like you.” His fingers then move behind me to run along my upper arms. “You have spirit in a way that I find intriguing. So, you’ll live to deliver this message.”
Stepping away, he comes back around the chair, squats back down, and holds my gaze while he unstraps the restraints at my wrists.
“Tell your uncles and his brothers, this is the only leniency I will show. I want what is owed to me. The debt owed is never forgotten, and the next time, I won’t let you go. I might not kill you, that would be ashame, but if the debt is not taken care of in full, then I’ll take something else I wouldn’t mind having in its place.”
Samir steps back when he finishes his message for me to deliver, allowing me to get to my feet.
“Give them the message. They do not pay, Ember, I’ll be coming for you again. And when I do, you’ll pay the price for them.”
I want to tell him to go to hell, but I don’t. I clamp my jaw shut. I don’t need to do anything to keep him from letting me go. I’ll deliver the message for him, but I know my uncles, they’ll come after him and make him pay. Reaper alone will make sure to deliver a message of his own. And while he does this, he’ll make sure that nothing else happens to me.
“Come on, I’ll show you the way out,” Samir says, ushering me toward the door. “Feel free to tell them where you were, by the time they get here, we won’t be. We’re called the ‘Nameless Militia’ for a reason, we’re invisible.”
I swallow down the bile wanting to choke me when he touches me, but I don’t pull away. I don’t tense. I show no emotion whatsoever to what he’s saying. I don’t even ask for my shirt back. I just want out, and this is the only way for me to do it, then so be it.
“You can also deliver one other message for me,” Samir says, stopping at a door.
I turn to look at him, watching him close, waiting.
“Tell them, the Scarlet Needles group, they’ve moved on. They have me to thank for that, so they’ll be wanting to see that debt of Diablo’s taken care of. The sooner, the better, but I’ll give them seven days to see it taken care of.”With that said, Samir opens the door and pushes me into the bright sunlight. He doesn’t follow, but he calls out while closing the door. “I’m sure I’ll be seeing you again real soon, Ember. Think of my leniency when I do.”
His leniency? Was he serious?
I shake my head, glance around me, and start heading in the direction I figured would be best to go. I needed to get to the clubhouse, and I needed to get there soon.
CHAPTER 2
CERBERUS
“Where the fuck is she?” I growl to myself, scanning the area while heading back toward the clubhouse.
Since finding Ember missing, we’d all been looking for her, not finding a trace of her.
I turn down the road leading to the clubhouse from the warehouse district. I start to speed up, only to slow my ass back down, spotting a woman on the side of the road, walking. The ash-blonde hair falling down her back is what catches my attention most of all. When the woman twists to glance behind her, I know without a doubt it’s her.
“Fuck me,” I curse, come to a stop beside her and scan over her, looking for injuries. I don’t see any, but I also don’t miss the scars marking her arms and theones on her chest where her shirt is ripped open. I clear my throat and nod to her without bringing it up. “Hop on, we’ll get you to the clubhouse.”
Ember nods and sucks in a breath. She places a hand on my shoulder, hops on the back of my bike without saying a word. Her arms go around me, and she holds on tight.
In the years since Ember broke up with me, no one has ridden behind me. Having Ember there now feels like old times, yet different in a lot of ways.
Taking her to the clubhouse, it wasn’t a difficult ride, but my mind kept going back to the sight of the scars marring her body. What happened to her? Where did they come from? I knew something was up with all the long-sleeved shirts she wore when she was around.
By the time we pull up at the clubhouse, it’s on the tip of my tongue to ask her about them, but I don’t.
Ember waits for me to park my bike and jumps off.
“Thanks,” she murmurs and starts to step away, only for me to stop her.
“Hold up,” I tell her, holding her wrist to keep her from going anywhere.
