Chapter Twenty
D aisy gasped as freezing cold water was thrown over her. It stunk and it was disgusting. Her hands were held above her head with a rope, and the stench of filth, the earth, and just desperation assaulted her senses. She felt sick to her stomach and wanted to throw up.
And when she saw where she was, it was like being transported back in time, only she wasn’t looking at her father, but at Luke Senior. He wore his leather cut, and he now had a beard. He looked a little worse for wear.
Daisy should have known he would attack in broad daylight, when no one else was around. This man was a coward. He was a fucking coward that had brought her back to the house where her father had lived, and where she killed him—a place she had vowed never to return to.
She glared at him, hating him on sight.
“It’s finally time you woke up, princess.” He reached out to touch her, stroking a finger down her cheek, and she stayed perfectly still, even though she was repulsed. “It was good news, wasn’t it, that you made it out of there alive? Unlike some people.”
“Dad, leave her alone,” Luke said.
Hearing his voice, Daisy thought he was a traitor, only Luke Senior stepped out of the way, and that was when she saw him.
Luke hadn’t been tied to a chair. They had put nails through his hands, pinning him down to the chair. Blood pooled on the floor. Also, they had done the same to his feet, keeping him locked to the floor. The sight alone was enough to disturb Daisy. She had seen her fair share of horror, but this was something else. Luke Senior was doing this to his own son.
She looked up and saw Luke’s face. One of his eyes was completely swollen shut. The other was open, but he had a cut above it. His nose looked broken. They had also removed his shirt, and she saw cuts on his chest.
Luke Senior tutted. “Son, you should be happy I am turning my attention to this little slut. It will give you a reprieve until I start on you again.” He walked over to his son, and then punched him in the back of the head.
“Stop it,” Daisy said.
There was nothing she could do. She was tied up, and today she had to go and wear a fucking dress and heels. The heels had come off her feet. Anthony had told her to enjoy this reprieve from the punishment, to get dressed up, and that is what she had done. Admittedly, she had done it to see the gleam in Anthony’s eye when he looked at her. She loved it when he gave her that look, as if he couldn’t quite help himself. It was their little game, and now she was vulnerable. At the mercy of these assholes, the ones that had gotten away.
And in the distance, she heard the cries of the little girls. They had found them, and there was fucking nothing she could do about it. Anger filled her. She wasn’t afraid.
Anthony would find her. They would not get away with this. He would figure it out. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought about this house. This was the only place Whizz didn’t have a lot of cameras, since it was in the middle of nowhere in Fort Wills. Daisy knew, because she had lived here. She knew what it was like to cry and never get answered, unless she got a slap from her mother or father.
This was where she had killed her father, and Anthony covered it up. Even though their relationship had started many years ago, when she entered nursery school, their true relationship started that day, when he didn’t look at her and judge her. He accepted what she had done.
And he didn’t care. He had her back.
Luke Senior came toward her, and she stayed perfectly still. She tensed up as he put a hand on her stomach and began to circle her. “Do you really think you’re in a position to question me?”
His touch repulsed her. Daisy tried to keep her head. It wouldn’t do to lose her cool right now. She had to stay focused and alert.
She had no witty comeback, so she stayed silent. She gritted her teeth as he suddenly grabbed her dress and tore it open, revealing her stomach, along with her bra.
She would not beg for mercy. Ryan had been capable of rape, and she knew this man wouldn’t have any problems with it.
“Look at that.”
“Dad, stop it. Leave her the fuck alone.”
“You don’t get to fucking speak. You’re a traitor to your own club. You turned your back on those that needed you.”
Luke Senior walked over and hit his son a few more times, and Luke just took it. He didn’t wriggle. He didn’t moan. There were a few grunts and Daisy needed to stop it.
“And he killed Daniella,” Daisy said. “He finished what I started all those years ago.”
He turned his attention back to her.
“Daisy, shut the fuck up,” Luke said. “You don’t know what he is capable of.”
“Did you like the scars I put on her face?” Daisy asked. “At least she had the balls to face me without being tied up. I figured you were more of a fighter, but then again, Monster Dogs are full of gutless wonders. It is why your son is more suited to be a Skull. They’re not afraid of women.”
Luke Senior’s nostrils flared.
“Daniella knew she couldn’t take me out, so she did it from behind, like the cowardly little bitch she was. She thought she could best me at the quad, when we were eighteen. I hit her and hit her, and even when she couldn’t take any more, I hit her again.” She licked her lips. “And I liked that. I liked hitting her. Punishing her for what she did.”
She cried out as he suddenly grabbed her hair and pulled her head back. His touch was cruel and she gritted her teeth. There was no way she was going to allow this scum to make her beg.
“Leave her alone,” Luke said.
“You’ve got a pretty little mouth, don’t you?”
“And you’ve got no fucking club,” she said. “Do you like that? Do you like that your club is burned to the ground?”
Luke Senior looked at her with rage, anger, and everything in between.
She waited.
And then, he smiled. “So, you think you can take me, is that it? You think if I let you free, you could fight me?”
She didn’t stand a chance. “Daniella didn’t stand a chance with me.” And she wasn’t going to back down.
This man was going to have to fight to hurt her. She needed to stall, to give Anthony a chance to figure out where they were.
“Boss, I don’t think this is a good idea,” one of his men said.
“Shut your fucking face.” Luke Senior unhooked the rope and then sliced it in two with the knife he stored in his jeans. She hadn’t seen that at first.
Her legs were a little wobbly. The ground she stood on was uneven. The floorboards were covered in moss, broken glass, and dirt. Years of being abandoned had not done wonders for this house. Her feet would be cut to ribbons.
She stared at Luke Senior, and knew this was fucking pointless. She couldn’t run, it wasn’t in her blood. Fighting him wasn’t going to work. She wouldn’t be as strong as him.
She felt a little sick, but there was no way she would back down. Even if he killed her, she was not going without a fight. The Skulls name was at stake.
Daisy didn’t put her hands up. She stayed perfectly still.
“Dad, if you give her back, they will not kill you. If you hurt her, they will kill you. Daisy is loved by the club.”
Another grunt came from Luke and she didn’t look toward him. One of the other goons had hit him, and she didn’t have time to be worried. They had tortured him.
“Loved by the club? I thought this one was not even a true Skull.”
“She is loved. She is one of them, and if you kill her, there is no way you’re getting out of Fort Wills alive. They will hunt you down,” Luke said.
Another grunt.
“I’m not just going to kill her, I’m going to have a whole lot of fun with her, and I’m going to make sure the Skulls see it.” Luke Senior smiled. “I’m going to get one of the boys to film your downfall, girl. It’s just a shame Daniella is not here to see it. But don’t worry, once I am done with you, they are never going to identify your body.”
She looked at him, and in that moment, she felt that calm that always came over her. It didn’t matter if she lived or died. It was time this man realized who he was dealing with.
She smiled. “I look forward to it.”
She knew that threw him off, and what was more, she didn’t charge at him. No one had touched the house, no one had changed anything, and Daisy knew this house better than anyone. When she waited for her father to give him the money, she would spend time wandering the house. When she lived with her parents, they were in a trailer. There were times she would wonder what it would be like to live in a house like this. There was no point, her parents had ruined this place, just like they ruined everything else. But that didn’t stop her, even at sixteen, from learning every nook and cranny of the place.
She took off, zooming to her right, which took her to the dining room, not that anyone ever used it as a dining room. Trash was everywhere. She ran across the room and heard Luke Senior chasing after her.
She checked the downstairs rooms, having the element of surprise. There was no sign of the girls in any of the downstairs rooms. That meant they had to be upstairs, which was only a small space.
Her plan was to get them free. She wasn’t going to make it out alive, but she could distract him long enough to get them free.
She started upstairs, only Luke Senior captured her. He grabbed her ankle, and his strength took her by surprise. She fell down and just attacked, jabbing her other foot into his gut, and it made him grunt, freeing her as it did.
There was no time to get free as he grabbed both her feet and pulled her downstairs. Daisy cried out as he dragged her, and she tried to gain leverage and attempt to become a dead weight. The ground cut her, and her dress fell down. There would be marks from where the glass embedded into her flesh.
He dragged her back to the kitchen and then spun her over, hitting her in the face. It was an open-palm slap. Once, twice, he did this.
She felt a ringing in her ears, but she ignored it. With him focused on hitting her, he had let go of her feet, and she pulled her foot back and jammed it into his crotch.
He cried out and she was able to get to her feet, but then he recovered quickly. He threw her across the room, and she fell into the only fucking glass kitchen cabinet that hadn’t already been broken.
Even as pain shot through her body from the impact as he grabbed her again, she picked up a piece of glass. This time, she lashed out, slashing him across the face. In her desperation, she didn’t wait for him to recover, she kept hitting out at him, but Luke Senior shoved her hard, and she crashed to the floor again, dropping the glass.
All too soon, he picked her up, and she couldn’t believe it as he shoved her across the table. The same table her father sat at all those years ago, counting the money, when she walked in carrying that shovel. She had killed him, and had felt nothing.
The skirt of her dress was pulled up.
“Dad, fucking stop it. Let her go.”
Luke Senior pushed her head to one side, and she looked toward his son, who was bolted to the chair and floor. This was not good. He tore at her panties. She felt like she was going to vomit.
She had failed. Those girls were still upstairs, locked up, and she was about to be raped, then killed. Daisy didn’t know what to do. The panic started to rise within her.
“Dad, fucking leave her alone!”
Luke didn’t let up as she watched him while also coming to terms with what was happening. It appeared as if he was trying to pull his hands off the nails that had been thrust into him. Even using his feet.
She wanted Anthony. With each passing second, she remembered all the time she spent with him. The love she felt. Even, at times, the annoyance. She hated when the girls at school would flirt with him, because she knew exactly what they were after. She fucking hated them all. At the time, she didn’t realize she had been jealous. Just like she had been jealous of Tabitha, thinking he was in love with her best friend. The fear of not belonging, of him suddenly realizing she wasn’t good enough for him. She was terrified of losing him.
And then, it was like her thoughts conjured him up. She heard the unmistakable sound of Luke Senior’s zipper, which made her nearly throw up. Then, the door to her father’s old home swung open. She didn’t have time to see who arrived. Daisy heard him.
The growl that emitted, like an enraged monster, echoed through the room. One moment Luke Senior was preparing to rape her, in the next, he was across the room as Anthony appeared.
She didn’t move, just stayed in that position as she watched the love of her life. The quiet one. The one people feared and yet teased. He unleashed the beast he kept at bay. She watched him pound Luke Senior. The older man didn’t get a single punch in. He was now at the mercy of what he had created. Taking Daisy was the biggest mistake he ever made.
Anthony was calm, didn’t overreact, didn’t punish, unless they hurt Daisy.
****
A nthony knew his father and the guys had already started to find the girls, and they took care of the other goons that had stuck by this disgusting motherfucker.
He’d heard Daisy’s screams. They had been making their way through the thick overgrowth when he heard her screams. They hadn’t been soft or subtle. This scream had been one filled with fear, one that sent chills down his spine as he knew his woman was in danger. All he could do was run and get to her as fast as he could.
Kicking open that door, he would never forget the scene of this piece of shit reaching into his pants as he was about to rape his woman. Killing him was the only option.
Luke Senior stopped responding, and as he pulled back, he felt someone grip his arm and turned to see Lash, his father.
There was nothing left of Luke Senior.
“You’ve done good, son,” he said. “It’s over. It’s over.”
Anthony took a deep breath, then another, and he glanced down to see the mess he had made on the floor. His hands were covered in blood. His clothing was covered in blood.
Stepping back from his father, he glanced across the room, and there she was, wrapped in the Skulls leather cut. Her face cut and bleeding. He saw the bruises already starting to appear.
Her gaze was on him. Anthony stepped over the body and advanced toward her. No one stopped him.
Daisy didn’t flinch as he reached out and cupped her face, staring into her brown eyes. They were the same eyes he’d fallen in love with all those years ago. His feelings had not changed. They had only gotten stronger.
She put her hands on his and looked him in the eyes.
“Mine,” he said. “Always ... mine.”
“Always.”
And then he kissed her.
Daisy let out a soft sigh as she sank against him, and then he held her close as he turned to look at Luke.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t protect her,” Luke said.
“Dude, you’re one of us now, you know this. One of us.” He looked at the nails that had been pushed into his hands.
“You did what you could,” Daisy said. She let out a sob, and Anthony kissed the top of her head.
“This is going to hurt like a son of a bitch,” Anthony said.
The guys had already come back with the necessary tools to pull the nails out. “You want us to wait for the ambulance to come?” he asked.
“Fuck, no, just get me out of this fucking thing, and do it fast.”
Anthony watched as Luke clenched his jaw. He was trying to play the part of a big man, and he could appreciate that. Even still, it was hard to watch him suffer.
“Oh, remind me to never mess with Daisy. Fuck me, man, you were a machine.”
Anthony didn’t remember much. All he saw was blood. The need to kill. He had no choice but to protect his woman, and he would do it all over again in a heartbeat. He kissed Daisy’s head.
Luke screamed each time they pulled the nails out of his body. Anthony felt a respect for him building as he did so.
He didn’t want to go to the hospital. All he wanted to do was go home to the Skulls’ clubhouse, and that was exactly where he belonged.