Chapter 16
Violet
I don’t want to be ungrateful or whiney, but what the hell is taking everyone so long to find me? I mean, I know I’m not a Tombs or MC, but come on! Moss is a damn police officer and still I’m stuck in this place. I let out a sigh and try to concentrate on what the women around me are saying. It’s not much. Although this one girl, Holly, at least she tries to keep morale boosted. She’s 18 years old and talking to her I’ve managed to pick up that she’s had a rough life so far. A runaway, she was picked up on the streets by a woman who wanted to “help” her. Instead, she brought her here and she’s now onto her third pregnancy. I can’t imagine being raped until I’m pregnant and then having to hand my baby over so they can be sold to some rich douche. Listening to her story makes my blood boil but it’s not like I can fly off the handle and go on a rampage in her name. Not when it seems like she herself hasn’t even grasped the situation. I guess to a kid who survived on the streets a place like this, with a warm bed and catered meals is a great deal better than where she came from .
Holly rubs her belly and tries to engage some of the women in a puzzle in the “recreational” area, but no one is wanting to join her. The women are too preoccupied with their own thoughts to do much more than sit here and stare blankly at each other.
I side eye the guard closest to us as he moves in our direction. There are four of them in the room, so one in each corner, all staring, and then periodically tilting their heads and talking into their walkie talkie things. I have no idea what they could possibly be reporting on, given that all anyone has done was line up, eat, and then sit at the tables, having minimal conversation. And that’s me being nice because I managed to find myself at the most outgoing table. Jeez.
“You need to come with me.” The guard barks down at me.
“I don’t respond to people barking at me.”
“You’re going to get your fat ass up, and come with me,” he says through clenched teeth.
I slowly turn my head to the side, then tilt upwards so I can look him dead in the eye. “I. Don’t. Respond. To. People. Barking. At. Me.”
He grabs me roughly by the arm, pulling me to standing. I’m standing toe to toe with the man and he sneers down at me, his eyes focussing on my boobs. He sucks his teeth, choosing not to say anything else, other than to tell the other women not to expect to see me for a day or two. I glare up at him but don’t say another word. I need to save my venom for later.
He half marches, half drags me out into the hall, heading toward my room. We get to the door and I expect him to shove me through it, however he doesn’t, He walks on further, stopping at a completely different door. He unlocks it with some key card type setup and shoves me through the door, stepping over me and crushing my fingers with his boot when I lose my balance and hit the ground. I grit my teeth, not giving the bastard the satisfaction of hearing me scream. Between their less than gentle treatment and the “discipline” they’ve been handing out, I feel like one big bruise. My face aches and I’m sure my cheek is swollen as my left eye feels a little squinty. It’s tender to the touch so it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s bruised as well.
I brace myself and push up to sitting, glancing around the room. There’s a bed, because of course there fucking is, but it also looks like one whole wall is a window. Standing, I get a better look. It’s looking into another room, this one also has a bed, and Maddy, the little girl from the truck is sitting on it, looking clean and fed, but still fucking terrified. I rush to knock on the glass with my good hand, trying to get her attention to tell her I’m here, and I’ll find a way to help her.
Laughter sounds out from behind me and then a hard body is pressed up against mine, forcing me into the glass. “The only way you can help her is by doing what you’re told.”
“Get. Off. Me.” I growl, my teeth gritted.
He presses further into me, a hard cock pressing into my ass and I can feel the bile rising. Flattening my hands on the window I use all my strength to push off, shoving him off me. I spin to give him a piece of my mind when my head snaps back, ricocheting between his fist and the glass behind me. Stars burst across my vision and I feel my legs buckle, my body sliding until I’m on my knees in front of him.
“Good girl,” he leers, moving to his belt buckle.
I try to shake off the dizziness, “If you put that thing anywhere near me I’ll bite it off.” My voice sounds weak to my ears, but I don’t care. As long as I can speak I will continue to do so.
“Oh really?” He grips my hair in his fist, yanking upwards until I have no choice but to follow, getting shakily to my feet. He presses my cheek into the window, the cool glass feeling like heaven on my bruised and battered face. “What would you do to save that poor, innocent little girl your fate, hmmm?”
My gaze drifts to the side. From my periphery I can see that fat guard I bit sitting on the bed next to Maddy, his doughy hand on her thigh.
“No,” I whisper, desperately trying to claw my way out of his grip. “No! Let her go! She’s just a kid!”
His breath is hot on my ear, “That kid has started her period. That means that her little girl body is ready to fuck,” he says with force, “and have babies. If you don’t want to do it, then she will have to take your place.”
Tears pool in my eyes and not from fear, but from pure, unadulterated rage. Fat Guard looks toward the window, probably at the fucker behind me, and smirks, before gripping the back of Maddy’s head and smashing his lips to hers. She beats his chest with her fists but that does nothing to deter him. There is only one person who can help her, and that is me.
I breathe in deeply, I am in charge of my body. Clearing my mind I think back to self defense and what to do when an attacker is behind you. I maneuver myself a little, moving to stand directly in front of him. Due to our height difference I know that I’m about nose/mouth height, so I tilt my head forward and with all the strength I can muster I snap it back, hitting him square in the face with the back of my skull.
He lets out a yell and stumbles back, giving me enough time to spin around and kick him directly in the balls. He hits the ground and I whale on him, punching his face with my good hand over and over. When he falls back I keep going until he stops moving. I stand over him admiring my handiwork before I look through the window, seeing Fat Guard gripping Maddy’s thigh, and tears falling down her plump, freckled cheeks.
I rush out of the door, not caring who is in the hall, on a mission to find the room I need to be in. Stopping at the door directly next to the room I was in I don’t even bother trying the handle knowing the guard used a key card to enter. Instead, I rear back, aim for directly next to the handle and I kick. Hard. The door makes a terrible noise and I see a little bit of give, so I try once more, this time even harder, the door flying open and bouncing off the wall behind it.
I don’t say a word, instead I launch myself toward Fat Guard, his surprise at my entrance momentarily leaving him open. I do everything within my power to get him off Maddy. I punch him, whaling on his face with my fists, when that doesn’t affect him as much as I would like I use my feet and my teeth, using anything and everything at my disposal.
There’s noise coming from behind me but I don’t care. I don’t stop, I can’t stop. I have to get him off Maddy, I have to help Maddy, keep her safe.
“Violet!” Maddy screams and I turn to find her tossed over some guy’s shoulder. She’s kicking and screaming and there’s a roaring sound. A painful sound as if it’s being ripped from the very soul of the person. It’s not until I’m restrained that I realize the noise is coming from me.
The air leaves my lungs as a boot kicks me in the stomach, then a fist follows, hitting the already bruised flesh of my face.
“I’ll kill you,” I gasp out. “I’ll kill you all, dios de muerte motherfuckers!”
Then everything goes black .
Jules
“And you’re sure this is the place?” Tav asks, for the hundredth time.
“ Da .”
“OK, just checking.” Tav rolls his shoulders, the leather seat of the SUV creaking with the movement. “Chewy, you guys in yet?”
There’s dead air on our comms and we all know to just wait my sister out. If she’s busy working on something she’ll talk when she’s damn well ready.
“We’re in. Images being sent to your phones along with building schematics.”
I pull up the live feed from the Computas and watch as the camera flicks to a new angle and shot every 15 seconds, giving us a real time idea of what’s happening where.
“Plan still stands. Easiest and safest way in is through the front door,” Wire’s voice says over comms.
“Sniper, I want you, Dex, Savage, Tank and Judge breaching the back entrance at the same time the Tombs, Fox, Nitro, Rider, and myself breach front. Dima, Moss, Rhodie, Flack and Landrys will breach the building holding the kids,” Marx orders.
“Yes Pres,” voices reply, including mine. Shit, maybe Tav had the right idea prospecting. I would, but I hate being told what to do.
“His path isn’t yours,” Dima murmurs beside me before opening his car door, and slipping out into the darkness.
“You know, maybe Pops has a point,” Tav says, watching as the Manwitch stops in the beams of our headlights, meeting up with Rhodie and the others.
Backing out of the clearing I head slightly further down the road, flicking off our lights and going dark. We slowly crawl through the outskirts of the building compound, pulling up in a blind spot Wire found. We exit, weapons already strapped to us. A rustling sound has me reaching for my weapon, only stopping when I recognise the scent of Rider’s gum.
“On edge there, brother?” he says in a low voice, grinning.
“You would be too if your woman was in there,” I answer, eyes on the front door, itching to breach.
“Like that huh? Does she know that?”
“No, she fucking doesn’t!” Moss growls over the comms.
“Well, she is. I’m claiming her. Or whatever the fuck the MC says.”
Congratulations sound out over comms and now I’ve got to get my woman back. Then find some way to convince her to forgive me for my shitty behavior. I need her on side before she finds out that I’ve claimed her. Fuck. Maybe I shouldn’t have given Tav so much shit when he claimed Blanche without her knowledge.
“Don’t worry, brother. It’ll work out. Look at me and Blanche.” Tav slaps my shoulder, almost a little too hard. Dick.
“Breach in t minus 45 seconds,” Marx says, circling his finger in the air, then pointing to the door.
We follow in close formation, Marx at the head, the MC brothers flanking him. My brothers and I have our own formation, from years of operations together, so we assume our formation and pull in tight behind the MC. We hold, my eyes on Marx’s fingers as he counts down the last 5 seconds.
There’s a flash of light from the stun grenade Marx tossed into the building lobby, effectively taking out the four guards on this floor.
“Fan out. Find that hall Wire has been watching,” Marx barks, striding over to the nearest guard and cold clocking him with the butt of his gun before moving to the next.
“Hallway is second floor. Elevators are all on Level 1, waiting for you to board,” Remy calls over the comms. It’s actually fucking nice hearing a sweet voice for a change.
I don’t wait for anyone else, I run to the nearest elevator, mashing the button to get the doors open. Vi is somewhere on the next floor up, and I will find her. Stepping into the car I turn, catching sight of the DRMC men zip tying the unconscious fuckers.
“Ready for this brother?” Gus asks, standing shoulder to shoulder with me.
I give him a chin lift, no words needed. The elevator doors begin to close, narrowing my view of Fox and Nitro, before disappearing completely. There’s a thirty second wait and then elevator jolts, the doors dinging and opening to reveal some fucker with a child tossed over his shoulder. She’s screaming Vi’s name at the top of her lungs and fighting with all she has.
A growl erupts from my chest, the fucker spins, eyes locking onto mine. He pulls a gun, keeping it trained on me as he slides the girl from his shoulder. He moves her until she’s standing in front of him, his hand tight around her throat. She’s shaking like a leaf even when he calmly tilts his head and speaks into the comms clipped to his shoulder. He grins at me, his hand moving to aim the gun at the girl.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” I tut at him.
“Yeah? Why’s that?”
“First off, it’s currently three against one,” I tell him, in a bored tone.
His brows pinch as he thinks through my words. “What do you mean by ‘currently’?”
I’m not one for smiling, but right here right now? My lips pull up, the grin getting wider and wider until I’m beaming at this motherfucker.
“What the fuck are you smiling at?” he yells, “Tell me!” He points the gun at the girl in his arms, the one that is turning an alarming shade of red and gasping, clawing at his hand. He presses the muzzle into her dark hair, hard, hard enough to make her moan around the lack of oxygen she’s currently getting. “If you don’t tell me I’ll blow her brains out!”
“How about I tell you?” Rider whispers in his ear, gun to his head. “Please let the little girl go and I’ll let you live.”
The guard or whatever the fuck he is releases his hold on the girl’s throat and she starts to crumple to the floor. I lurch forward, catching her in my arms before she hits the ground. I hook her legs over my forearm, her back leaning on my shoulder and I cradle her, letting her get in gulps of air before asking about Vi.
I’m not usually good at shit like this, letting Gus and Tav take the lead, but this little girl, she was fighting tooth and nail to get back to Vi. If Vi means that much to her then the feeling is probably mutual. Anyone that is Vi’s is now mine.
I clear my throat and try to soften my voice like Gus does when he handles the children and women we sometimes have in our care. “It’s OK sweetheart. We’re here to help.” Her whole body relaxes as she lets out a sob and lets the fear and adrenaline drain from her body.
“Please, you have to help Vi, she was trying to save me!” She starts clawing at me, trying to get out of my arms at the same time she’s trying to burrow deeper, the thought of Vi sending her into a panic.
“Alright, shhhh. It’s okay honey.” Tav kneels down beside us on the floor. He has all those fucking kids, so he’s definitely going to be better at this than me. “Take a deep breath, that’s a good girl,” he croons. “Can you tell us what happened?” There’s some banging coming from down the hall and the girl jumps.
“Hey, sweetheart, look at me,” I say, my gaze boring into her dark brown eyes, puffy from crying. “That noise is our friends, they’re going to help everyone here, get them back to their families.”
She nods up at me, before taking a deep breath, her gaze flicking between me and my brothers. Rider gives me a chin lift as he walks past, the guard that had been choking the little girl thrown over his shoulder.
“I’ll keep him on ice for ya.”
I grin knowing that Dayz won’t be the only one who gets to play tonight.
The little girl takes a deep breath, then lets it out slowly. “There was a man, he put me in a room and said if I did everything they said I would get to see Vi. She tried to save us but she was taken and brought here.” Her lip wobbles, but she clenches her fists and looks up at me. “Anyway they took me to a room and the guard man said I was pretty and then he put his hand on my knee and I was really scared. He grabbed me and started kissing me and I fought back because those were bad touches and I didn’t want them. He was gross and I tried to get him off but he was too big.” She’s breathing erratically and I do the only thing I can think to do. I start to rock her, the way I do with Juno when she won’t settle. “I was really scared and fighting and then the door slammed open and then Vi was there and she’s hitting and biting the man and got him off me and then some other men came in and hit her and then that other guy took me away. Then I saw you.” She looks up at me and then bursts into tears again, her wail making my heart clench.
“We know where the others are being kept?” Gus asks Marx who has just stomped into the hall.
“This section is clear. We are yet to breach the eastern sector. Wanna join?”
“Fuck yes I wanna join!” I look to my brother and Tav knows what I’m asking without saying the words.
Wordlessly we transfer the brave girl in my arms to my brother, who coos nonsense to her, settling her a little as he carries her to the elevator and waiting safety.
“Which way?”
Rhodie
“She is not here,” Dima the Manwitch says, looking confused.
“What the fuck? You said Violet would be here!” I growl, throwing yet another unconscious guard in the back of Chewy’s van. I had to promise all sorts of sexual favors to borrow it, but shit, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for or to that woman.
“No, not Violet. She is here, along with some others who have families waiting for them.”
Dima looks at my handiwork as I hog tie the guard, making sure that when he wakes up he doesn’t get any bright ideas .
“Then who the fuck are you talking about?” The guy talks in riddles and I dont know if its because his English is crap, or if it’s as Pops says and he’s just a creepy fucker.
“Your daughter. I had a vision that she was here but she must have been moved on.”
I whirl around, staring at him in disbelief. “What the hell did you just say? I don’t have a kid!”
What the actual fuck? Please, please don’t tell me I’ve done a Jules.
“You don’t have one yet. But you will.” His eyes go cloudy for a moment, scaring the shit out of me. Dude looks like he has cataracts for a split second before they clear. “She is waiting for your old woman to find her.”
“Ol lady,” I correct him, my voice weak.
“Yes, that’s what I said.” His head snaps to the side, staring up at the building we’ve just left., watching. “Violet has been found.”
He climbs into the back of the van, moving things around, stacking up Chewy’s equipment neatly.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
“We need more room for prisoner transport. It’s going to get messy and I believe the clubhouse is the best place for it.”