“How the fuck did they find us?” We’d been careful. Clearly not careful enough. Fuck Terrance and his deep pockets.
I slam my fist against the dashboard, leaving a smear of lake water and blood. “Doesn't matter how. If they've hurt her?—”
“Don't go there,” Ratchet cuts me off. “V's smart. He'd have gotten her somewhere safe.”
But the silence from V's phone tells a different story. My chest feels like it's caving in, crushing everything inside. Three days. I've known her for three fucking days, and the thought of losing her tears me apart like nothing I've ever felt.
The van's engine whines in protest as Ratchet pushes it harder, the needle climbing past ninety.
“Pick up the fucking phone, V,” I growl, dialing again and getting nothing.
It hits me. Marcus. He might have intel on what's happening. If Ace is behind this, our inside man could be our only shot.
The phone rings once, twice. My leg bounces with nervous energy, every muscle in my body coiled tight enough to snap.
“Well, well, well,” a voice drawls through the speaker. Not Marcus. My blood freezes. “If it isn't the little bitch of a road captain of the mother chapter gracing me with a call.”
“Ace.” His name tastes like poison on my tongue.
“In the flesh.” He chuckles, the sound oily and wrong. “Though I can't say the same for your little prospect. Marcus isn't feeling too talkative these days. You should really do the legwork to make sure the person you’re trying to turn him against isn’t fucking his little slut of a girlfriend.”
I press the phone closer to my ear. “What did you do to him?”
“What happens to all rats,” Ace replies casually. “Extermination. Had to make an example, you understand. Club business and all that.”
“You should have stayed out of our business like I told you to. Now your little bitch will pay the price for you.”
I can barely breathe through the fury clogging my throat. “If you touch her, I swear to God?—”
“You'll what?” Ace laughs, the sound echoing through the speaker. “Ride in with your dick in one hand and your gun in the other? Playing hero for a piece of ass? I should havetried unseating Raze sooner. Our mother chapter is filled with pussies. Not men.”
Ratchet glances at me, concern etched across his face as he pushes the van even faster. The entire chassis is shaking like it’s about to come apart underneath our feet.
“But hey, I'm a businessman first,” Ace continues. “And business is booming. You wouldn't believe how much your little bitch just made me.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Terrance. Big man with deep pockets. Been working with us for months now, ever since the bitch tried to clean him out in the divorce. We've been padding his accounts, laundering his dirty money. Mutually beneficial arrangement.”
The van swerves as Ratchet takes a corner too fast, but I barely notice. My mind is racing, piecing together the ugly truth.
“The money he gave us to take her? Let's just say I'm retiring early. Very early. And very wealthy.” Ace's laughter crackles through the speaker. “You know, I almost respect you more now. She's a pretty little thing. Shame what he did to her face.”
Red floods my vision. “If he touches her?—”
“Too late for that, brother. Way too late. She’ll be long gone soon enough. Back where she belongs. Collared and heeled.”
“Put him on the phone.”
“Who? Terrance?” Ace laughs. “He's a bit preoccupied with his wife at the moment.”
“When I find you—all of you—there won't be enough left to identify.”
“Big talk from a dead man walking. You're outnumbered, outgunned, and out of time. Your mole is dead. Your tech guy is bleeding out on a kitchen floor. And your little girlfriend? She's screaming for you, Thor. Calling your name while Terrance reminds her who she belongs to.”
The line goes dead.
My hand tightens around the phone until the cheap plastic gives beneath my grip. I hurl it against the dash, watching it explode into shards across the console.
