Chapter Six
KAIA
Everything trembles with anxiety as Park stares down at me, a switchblade flicking in and out with the motion of his wrist, his eye twitching as he signals to two of his men. “Go… find her!” he demands, and they rush out of the bathroom on a mission.
“So, little mouse, you thought you could try to take what’s mine?” Park grumbles the words, but they are acute and show hidden meaning.
Swallowing hard, I shake my head. “She’s not yours, though, is she? You’re using her for your own agenda.”
A slow smirk crosses his face. “You came up with that all alone just by spending the last couple of hours dancing with my girl? Who are you, little mouse? I’d like to know who to send small pieces of you to as a warning not to come for me again.”
My eyes widen, and my palms begin to sweat. “No one. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Park steps forward, shaking his head. “Bullshit! Don’t lie to me,” he growls, sweeping his hand out and backhanding me across the face. The force is so brutal my head snaps to the side, and I fall to the cold tiles, my breath catching in my throat with the shock.
The asshole kneels beside me, his blade now at my throat. “Tell me who sent you, or I will slit your throat right here and now.” He grabs my hair, yanking my head back.
I yelp in pain as the cold, sharp tip of the blade feels so sharp against my neck.
But I don’t break.
I will never break.
If I’m going to die here and now, at least Nalani will be far away and free from this shithead’s clutches. I close my eyes, my mind shifting to Hurricane, and I internally smile, thinking about our life together. Then, a single tear rolls down my cheek.
Park chuckles. “Fine, have it your way, little mouse,” he snaps.
The blade presses harder against my neck, the cold sharpness piercing my skin, and the warmth of blood begins rolling down my neck. My body shakes with the adrenaline overload, and I brace for the end when a scream rips through the bathroom. “Stooop!”
The blade pauses.
My eyes fling wide open as Nalani jumps back down through the window she climbed out of, tears streaming down her face. “Park, you don’t have to do this.”
He withdraws the blade from my neck, and I let out a heavy breath when he steps back from me.
He makes his way over to Nalani with a fierceness I have never seen in a man, and believe me, I’ve seen so much with Defiance.
Park flicks the blade shut, shoving it in his pocket.
His hands reach up and grab her so quickly I barely see him move, then the asshole’s fingers latch tight around Nalani’s neck when he shoves her up against the wall between the bathroom stalls.
Nalani’s eyes bug out of her head as she grips his hands.
I look away for a second to watch Park’s guards exit the room.
My first instinct is to go to Nalani to help, but I spot my bag beside me and slowly reach into it because Park’s back is facing me. I pull out my cell and send 9-1-1 to Malia.
Nalani’s eyes shift to me as she kicks, trying to fight back, but her face turns a shade of bright red.
Finally, I stand and move in behind Park.
I have nothing to defend us with.
I should have brought a damn gun.
So I grip my bag and swing it, smacking Park over the head.
He turns to look at me like my feeble attempt amuses him because this man doesn’t even flinch.
I have nothing to lose, so I jump onto his back, trying to force his arms from her throat.
He groans, finally dropping her body. Nalani pants for breath while he grips my arms with so much force he yanks me over his shoulder.
I don’t have time to react before I’m flying through the air and landing on my back on the cold, hard tiles.
I let out a loud moan as he kneels next to my head.
“You have spirit, little mouse. I knew there was a reason I talked to you at the bar. But it still leaves the question of…” He grins, and it’s menacing.
The glint in his eyes is maniacal. “Who. The fuck. Are you? And why are you trying to take my girl away from me?”
Nalani coughs and splutters while my back screams in pain from the hard fall. Moving to sit up, I face him dead on, staring into his eyes. “Maybe if you treated her right in the first place, she wouldn’t be trying to leave your sorry excuse for an ass,” I spit at him.
He chuckles, stands, walks forward, grabs me by my hair again, and yanks me up.
My scalp feels like it’s on fire as he pulls me toward the deep-set, heavy-looking basins.
Nalani tries to stand, but she’s still struggling to catch her breath.
He pushes me hard into the basin, so much so that my stomach slams into it.
I let out a whimper, my mind instantly shifting to my unborn child.
I hit my stomach on the windowsill, and now this, that can’t be good.
What on earth was I thinking?
Tears flood my eyes at what this could mean as Park reaches down to the hem of my dress and begins to rip the material. My eyes widen as I let out a guttural scream, but his other hand slides out to cover my mouth. “Oh no, little mouse. My guards have made sure no one is coming for you.”
Every inch of me shakes as he rips my dress, then he steps in behind me, tearing an entire section off the bottom.
Fear ripples through me. I have no idea what he’s doing as he leans in from behind me to the sink in front of me, pushing the fabric into the plug hole.
My eyes widen in horror as he turns on the water, flooding the deep sink.
“Now, I will ask you again, little mouse. Who. Sent. You?”
“Park… please… stop. I will go back with you. Just don’t hurt her, I beg you,” Nalani manages to whimper out as she sits on the floor, tears sliding down her beautiful young face.
This inhumane asshole turns back, glaring at her. “You have no idea what I have in store for you later. And there was never any question of whether you were returning with me, Nalani. You belong to me. You always will. Now sit back and watch what happens when you try to leave me.”
My eyes meet Nalani’s in the mirror. Hers are so full of panic that she’s not blinking. She is so completely terrified of this man that she’s frozen to the spot.
I can’t blame her.
The imbecile has made her this way.
No wonder Malia and Mauka wanted her away from him.
As Park rubs his erect cock into my ass, he looks at me in the mirror with a bright smile on his face. “You don’t want to tell me who sent you? Last chance.”
A slow grin forms on my face. “Just know that when they find you, they will kill you.”
He chuckles, nodding matter-of-factly. “That was all I needed to hear.” He sneers, then he forces my head forward, shoving my face into the cold water, submerging me completely. His fist keeps me under as I hold my breath while trying to fight him to free myself.
The faint noise of Nalani yelling at him is drowned out by the bubbles rising through the water and the sheer panic of being held under.
A new level of fear surges, my heart races so fast it feels like it is beating out of my body.
My chest starts to hurt from lack of oxygen, and my limbs begin to feel weak as dizziness sets in.
Then, just when I feel like I can’t fight anymore, he yanks my head back out of the water.
He releases a bellowing laugh from deep within his chest as he rests my dripping wet head against him, his hand around my waist holding my limp body up.
“Had enough yet, little mouse?” he whispers against my ear.
I cough and try to catch my breath, but I also can’t help the sass that leaves my mouth.
“Not even… one… little… bit!” I grit the words out through my teeth, spin in his grip, my hand sliding into his pocket, reaching for his switchblade.
I find it easily, pull it out, and flip it open as he jumps back from me, even though I’m only just able to stand.
He chuckles, shaking his head, and tuts his tongue on the roof of his mouth. “You’re a fighter. I like women who can handle themselves. You’d make a great asset to my team, and I would make you my own. If only you would tell me who you are.”
Finding some inner strength, I stand a little taller, glancing down at Nalani and weakly smiling at her. Then I turn back to Park. “I’m Kaia fucking Ladet, and I’m from Defiance MC. We protect our own, and Nalani, she is our people, not yours.”
She bursts into tears when she stands, moving quickly to my side as the sound of gunfire blasts out in the club. The screams that follow somehow make my anxiety disappear.
Because I know they’re here.
The club has arrived.
And will be in this room at any moment to back us up.
I just have to keep this going a little longer.
Park snarls at me, edging forward, so I raise the blade toward him. My hair drips onto the tiled floor, making it slippery, so I make a mental note to be careful.
“Defiance scum, I should have known.”
“You treat Nalani like trash. Using her to gather intel on the club. You have abused her and lowered her self-worth in the process.” A smirk appears on my face, and I can’t help it as I blurt out, “You have nothing but small dick syndrome, Park.”
He goes to lunge forward, and I shove Nalani out of the way. At the same time, my hand holding the blade thrusts, stabbing him in the gut.
But that doesn’t stop him.
Park pushes me back so fast I fall to the tiled floor as he laces his fingers around my neck, but I thrust the blade deeper into him as he sits on top of me.
“Help! Help!” Nalani screams out as Park continues to choke me on the floor.
It doesn’t seem to matter how much I stab him, the fucker won’t go down.
Then I hear it! The thunderous footsteps alert me to men rushing into the bathroom, and the roar of gunfire blasts through the small room.
Suddenly, Park’s hands around my throat loosen, and his weight on me becomes increasingly heavy.
“Kaia!” Hurricane bellows, sliding in beside me, yanking Park’s dead body off me.
Nalani runs for Mauka, and she crashes into her father’s arms.
Hurricane takes one look at the blood covering me, and a terrified expression appears on his face while his hands rush all over me.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck! Where are you hurt?” he urges, lifting my dress, not caring about everyone in the room and what they might see as he checks my stomach.
Once he has finished his detective work, he slumps his shoulders, realizing the blood is not coming from me.
I catch my breath and squeeze his bicep as he helps lift me. “Not my blood, baby. I kept stabbing the asshole, and it gushed all over me.”
Hurricane leans in, pressing his lips to me so forcefully that it knocks the breath from me again. My hand caresses his face, and I pull back, looking into his eyes. “I’m okay… we’re okay,” I tell him, placing my hand on my stomach.
The concern on his face is immeasurable as he clings to me so fucking tight. “You disobedient, deceitful, fearless damn woman. You coulda gotten yourself and the baby killed. What would I do without ya? Did you even think about that when you left without tellin’ me?”
A slow smile crosses my face as I hold him tighter. “You would never have let me do this.”
“You’re fuckin’ right. You’re carryin’ my child, Kaia.”
“You’re pregnant?” Nalani’s eyes bug out of her head as she steps up to us, still in her father’s arms.
I weakly nod. “I am. And I am sorry I deceived you tonight, Nalani, by not telling you I am from Defiance. But we needed to get you away from Park. I thought the only way was to make you see how disgusting and reprehensible that man truly is.”
Nalani wipes the tears from her face. “I knew… deep down, I knew. I just couldn’t see a way out.
I was so scared to leave. But there was something so freeing in how you made me feel like I could, so I finally took the opportunity.
We were almost out too. But in a way, I think this might be better because with him gone, I don’t have to worry about that man coming to find me. ”
Mauka dips his chin. “Thank you, Kaia and Hurricane. We couldn’t have done this without you. Jun and Cheng were at the nightclub, and we were able to take them out on our way to you girls. The Ministry will flounder without its leaders.”
“You’re welcome. But right now, I gotta get Kaia to the hospital and have her checked out,” Hurricane states.
I wave him off. “I’m fin—”
“No arguin’, woman. You have a cut on your neck, you’re wet from God knows what, and when I came in, that motherfucker was chokin’ you. So you’re goin’, Kaia. I need to know you and our little peanut are safe.”
My stomach feels tight, and I hit it twice in the fight. Plus, we haven’t seen anyone since I confirmed our pregnancy, so it would be nice to get an all-clear. “Okay, let’s go.”
“We’ll all come. I want Nalani checked out too,” Mauka states.
She holds onto her father as Pono, Wipeout, and Chopsticks walk into the bathroom. “We’re all clear out there. Security footage has been wiped, and all the people paid off that are needed. Cleanup is on the way. We should be good to go,” Wipeout relays.
“All right. Let’s head to the hospital. Someone call Aunty and tell her to meet us there,” Hurricane states.
“Already on it,” Mauka replies, then places a kiss on Nalani’s head. “It’s good to have you back, Nani.”
“I’m so sorry, Dad. I should never have fallen so deep. I knew better. But once he had his hooks in, it was too hard to get out, and I didn’t know how to. I was so stupid,” Nalani whimpers to her father.
Mauka holds her tight, shaking his head. “None of that matters now. Park is gone, and you’re back with your ohana. That is all that matters.”
“I love you, Dad.”
“I love you too, princess.”
“Don’t mean to break this up, but I gotta get my woman to the hospital. Fuckin’ now!” Hurricane states, lifting me into his arms.
I snort out a laugh. “I can walk.”
He shakes his head. “After what you’ve just been through? Baby, you’re spending the rest of this honeymoon with me, waitin’ on ya hand and foot.”
Raising my brows, I slide my arms around his neck. I have to say, as far as honeymoons go, this is not how I thought ours was going to turn out.
A pregnancy.
An international club war.
A club princess and me almost killed.
Yeah, so not how I thought it was going to turn out. At all.
But I do know that no matter what—wars, blood, even in death—we can make it through anything thrown our way.
And that’s what makes all of this worthwhile.