Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 78329 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78329 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
When we pull in, I see familiar cuts.
Country Boy. Grinder. Dove. Stud. Raff. Four more Hellions standing in line behind them.
My chest tightens. They came.
Inside, the place is dim and buzzing with low conversation. Pool table in the corner. Bar along one wall. Patches and history and violence hanging from every surface.
At the center of it stands Wrath.
President of the Saint’s Outlaws Bella Vista chapter. We have done business back and forth for years. We don’t deal with many chapters of the Saint’s but we don’t have a beef with any of them and that’s what matters most.
Wrath is a calculating man. Broad shoulders. Gray at his temples. Eyes that miss nothing.
He steps forward as I approach. “Miles,” he greets.
“Yeah.”
He grips my forearm once. “Sorry our planned meet for this trip wasn’t sooner.”
“Tell me you found her.”
His jaw tightens. “We found her car.”
My stomach drops. “Where?”
“Back road off the highway. About twelve miles or a little more from the hospital.”
The room goes quiet around us. “What about it?” I demand.
Wrath gestures to a table where photos are spread out. I step closer.
Danae’s car. Driver’s side door closed. Windows up. Sitting alone on a shoulder like it just gave up.
“She pull over?” I ask.
“That’s what it looked like,” Wrath explains. “At first.”
He points to a photo of the dashboard. “They popped the hood.” Next photo—wires.
“Electrical system was tampered with,” he continues. “Clean work. Professional.”
I swallow hard. “What does that mean?”
“It means the car didn’t just die.”
The words slam into me. “It was shut down,” Grinder says from behind me. “Remotely.”
“How the hell—?”
“Modern cars are computers,” he cuts in. “If someone knows what they’re doing, they can access the system. Kill ignition. Disable functions.”
My vision narrows. “So they planned it,” I state the obvious.
Wrath nods once. “She pulled over. They were waiting.”
The room tilts.
“We think she was taken,” Country Boy adds quietly. “Just can’t figure out why.”
Taken.
The word echoes in my skull.
I grip the edge of the table so hard my knuckles go white.
“She wasn’t random,” Wrath states. “This was targeted.”
Of course it was. I didn’t even have to ask. I already knew.
I start pacing. The clubhouse suddenly feels too small. Too tight. Too suffocating.
“Witnesses?” I demand.
“None yet,” Wrath replies. “We’re canvassing.”
“Cameras?”
“Nothing on that stretch of road.”
Of course not. I drag a hand through my hair. “She wouldn’t go quietly,” I mutter.
Country Boy looks at me carefully. “You don’t know that.”
“I do.” Danae is strong. Stubborn. But she’s also smart. My chest caves inward. “She’d go,” I say hoarsely. “If they used him, she’d go. For her grandfather, she would go quietly, willingly.”
Silence settles heavy over the room.
Wrath watches me like he’s assessing a storm. “We’re not treating this like a missing person,” he says finally. “We’re treating it like an abduction.”
The word slices clean.
Abduction.
“She’s alive,” I say immediately. Not because I know. Because I have to believe.
Wrath nods slowly. “Then we move fast.”
I start pacing again, energy coiling inside me like a live wire. Smoke leans against the wall, arms crossed, eyes dark. “You look like you’re about to tear something apart,” he observes.
“I am,” I snap.
Fear is eating me from the inside out. It’s not loud anymore. It’s sharp.
Focused.
A caged animal clawing at my ribs. I picture her blindfolded. Bound. Scared. The thought makes my hands shake. “Grinder,” I bark. “You got anything else?”
“Working traffic cams,” he says. “Pulling feeds from intersections within a ten-mile radius.”
“Van?” I ask knowing they had to grab her in a van or SUV.
“Too many possibilities right now.”
I slam my fist onto the table hard enough to rattle the photos. “Then narrow it down.”
Wrath steps closer, not aggressive. Grounded. “Listen to me,” he says firmly. “Losing your head won’t get her back.”
I glare at him. “You don’t know that.”
“I do.” His eyes hold mine. “We find her smart. Not loud.”
My chest rises and falls like I’ve been running. “I can’t just stand here,” I grind out.
“You’re not,” Country Boy says. “You’re breathing. That’s step one.”
I hate that he’s right. I step away from the table and move toward the bar, bracing my hands on the wood.
The image of her car sitting alone on that road won’t leave me.
She would’ve been tired. Coming off shift. Not paying attention. Trusting the world to be what it’s always been. And someone used that.
Used her goodness. Used her love for her grandfather. My jaw tightens so hard it aches. “She’s out there,” I say quietly.
Wrath nods once. “Then we hunt.”
The room hums with agreement. Engines rumble outside as more bikes roll in.
The cavalry.
And I stand there in the middle of it all, feeling like I’m trapped in my own skin.
Because I’ve faced fights before. I’ve bled. I’ve watched men fall.
But I’ve never felt this kind of fear. This kind that claws at you and won’t let go.
I’m not scared for me. I’m terrified for her.