Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Fang
Rage is keeping step with me as we run out the front door. His anger at me on the backburner for now. Thank God. He’s got his Glock in hand, ready for whatever we’re about to walk into. Ghost likes to play sick games. For all I know, Winter could be halfway across the country by now.
The gate to the compound is locked, as it should be. Sinner reaches in his jeans pocket for his keys, fumbling with them once his has them in hand. “Damnit.” Finally steadying his hand, he gets the key in the lock. Wolf and Zero push the heavy iron gates open. They groan with the movement.
I don’t wait for them to get it wide open, as soon as there’s enough room for me to squeeze in, I do. Rage is right behind me. The two of us rush to the clubhouse, guns at the ready.
Lifting my leg, I kick the door in. Could I have tried the doorknob? Yeah, but I don’t want to waste time. Bursting in seems the better way. At least that’s what I’m telling myself. When the door crashes into the wall and I get a look at the scene before me, my heart drops to my toes.
“Holy shit.” Rage’s voice floods with panic.
On one side of the room, Buzzcut is gagged and tied to a chair. Blood trickling down his face from a cut on his temple. Ghost, a man I haven’t seen since I was a kid, holds a knife to Buzzcut’s throat.
That’s not what has my heart skidding to a stop. On the other side of the room, a nearly unconscious Winter is tied to a chair. Sweat dampening her hair and head lolling to the side. Her eyes are unfocused, and she looks almost peaceful.
What the hell did they do to you?
A man I don’t recognize is standing behind Winter, a syringe in hand. I lift my weapon, ready to shoot the bastard that dares to harm my girl. “Uh, uh.” Ghost smiles. “You shoot him, and they both die.”
“Talk,” I say, voice stern and full of rage.
“You see,” Ghost says. “We have your little girlfriend tied to a mechanism. You shoot Rat and I press this button right here.” He shows me the device in his free hand. “Attached to the back of her chair is a spear. With the touch of my finger, it goes through her heart.”
Fear turns my bones ice cold. One wrong move and Ghost will kill not just my brother, but my girl as well. Rat flicks the syringe with a finger to remove the air bubbles. Damn, what’s in that needle and how much has he already given her?
“What do you want?” This man has already taken so much from me. He has ruined my life.
Ghost smirks. “I want to take everything from you, just like your father took everything from me.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Ghost is delusional. “What did my father ever take from you?”
Ghost’s lip curls in a snarl. “Your father stole my wife.”
“Your wife?” My father was loyal to my mother, until his last breath. “I think you’ve hit your head one too many times. My father was in love with my mother. He never once strayed.”
“Ah yes, the ever-loving husband.” He makes a gagging face. “Your mother was my wife first. We were happy and in love.”
What the hell? That can’t be right. Shaking my head, I say, “My mother was never married to you.”
“Oh, but she was.”
“If my father stole your wife, then why did you stick around and play the part of his best friend? Why would you treat me as a nephew?” It doesn’t make sense.
And why didn’t my parents ever tell me? If Ghost was mom’s ex-husband, why would she let him buddy up to my dad, to me?
Oh god, tell me I’m not related to this asshole. Mom didn’t cheat on dad, did she?
“Because I loved your mother.”
The contents of my stomach start to churn. “Please tell me you’re not secretly my father.”
“Absolutely not.” He spits like just the thought of me as his son makes him sick. I feel the same way. “Your mother was loyal to a fault.”
I glance over at Winter. Rat his still behind her holding the syringe, waiting for orders to inject her with that poison. “So, what, you want to kill Winter because my mother chose another man over you?”
He chuckles. “I want to bleed you dry the same way Grimm bled me.” Glancing over at Winter, he smirks. “But I’ll tell you what, I’m willing to let her go if you play a game with me.”
“What game?”
Ghost smiles wide. “You pick who dies.”
“What?” Rage and I yell.
“Yep.” Ghost digs the knife into Buzzcut’s neck until crimson pebbles under the blade. “Buzzcut, Rage, or your girlfriend.”
He’s going to make me choose between two brothers and my girl. I can’t do that. Club law demands that I protect my brothers at all cost. Choosing to have one executed can get me stripped of my patch. Not only that, if the club agrees, that could mean the execution of me.
Dropping my shoulders, I glance back at Winter, feeling utterly defeated. “You know I can’t make that decision.”
Ghost’s smile widens. He knows he has me by the balls. “Then it looks like your girlfriend, and your brother are both dead.”
“Wait.” I drop to one knee. Begging is not in my blood. It’s not in any brother’s blood. Begging is for the weak. “Don’t kill her, she’s innocent.”
“Innocent?” Both Ghost and Rat laugh. “Anyone who is associated with the likes of you is not innocent.” Wiggling a finger like a metronome, he tsks. “Tick tock, Fang. Time is running out. Choose.”
Winter groans. Rat watches her with delight, like he enjoys torturing her with his poisonous needle. He probably does. The Hollow Bones are sick freaks. Her eyes are glassy but they zero in on my face. “F—Fang?”
“Yes, baby, I’m here.”
Rat’s hand inches toward Winter. I can’t let him jab her with that toxin, but I can’t stop him without Ghost retaliating. Ghost rolls his eyes. “How touching.” The tone of his voice mocks. “Who will it be, Fang?”
Winter’s brows furrow. Like a sloth, she turns her head to look at Ghost. She squints, studying his features. With a gasp, her eyes widen. Recognition shining in the depths of those hazel pools. “Oh my god. It’s you.”