Chapter Twenty-Five
Spike
“What do you mean she’s not here?” My voice is calm, but the fury behind it is barely contained. “I was told she’d be released this morning. So tell me. Why the fuck did you move her? And where the fuck did you take her?”
The officer in front of me swallows hard, his hands twitching at his sides. “Uhm, s-see, here’s the th-thing…”
I step closer, towering over him. “Spit it out.”
“She…she must have escaped,” he stammers.
Silence.
Then, slowly, I repeat, “Escaped?”
Another officer jumps in, clearing his throat. “She wasn’t in her cell this morning. We went in to bring her breakfast, and she was gone. The cage was wide open.”
My blood turns ice cold.
Bullshit.
If Riley somehow escaped, she would have come to the compound.
“How long ago did she escape? ” Bones demands.
The officer hesitates before answering. “When we checked two hours ago, she wasn’t there.”
Bones turns to me, his expression hard. “That’s plenty of time for her to get to the compound. Even if she walked.”
I nod, but every instinct in me is screaming that something is very fucking wrong.
“I want to see your security feed,” I growl.
The officer rubs the back of his neck, looking anywhere but at me. “It’s, uh… well, it was offline until about thirty minutes ago. We had to have someone come in and reboot the whole system.”
Bones lets out a low, dangerous chuckle. “So what you’re saying is your security system conveniently stopped working at the exact same time one of your prisoners escaped ?”
Neither officer answers.
“Take us to her cell. Right. Fucking. Now. ”
After a moment of hesitation, the second officer nods and leads us through several doors. Inside, there are three unoccupied cells.
I take one look at the empty space and feel my pulse hammer in my skull. “Why was she in here?” I demand. “We passed several cages out there packed with women in each one.”
“The Commissioner requested she be isolated,” the officer answers, shifting on his feet. “Said she was violent.”
Rage crawls up my spine. Chuck. That piece of shit had this planned.
“She was in this one,” he continues, pointing to the cell in the corner. “The door was unlocked when I checked this morning.”
“No one checked on her in the middle of the night?” Bones asks, stepping into the cell.
“Just the commissioner,” The officer’s voice lacks confidence now. “He, uh… left right after.”
Bones moves slowly, scanning the room with sharp, calculated precision. I want to storm in, tear the place apart, and look for any sign Riley might have left behind. But I don’t want to get in his way.
Pulling out his phone, he turns on the flashlight and checks under the single cot, running his fingers along the walls. It takes several minutes before he stills, swiping his finger against something in the far corner of the floor.
His jaw clenches. “Blood.”
My whole body goes rigid.
“It’s dry but not old.” Bones straightens, turning to the officer. “Before Riley, how long had it been since you locked someone in here?”
“Months,” the officer croaks, his face paling. “We only use these cells for dangerous criminals before transfer.” He swallows thickly. “Maybe she just had a nosebleed?”
Bones shoves past him, already heading for the exit. “Let’s go, Prez. We need to talk to our lawyer.”
I don’t hesitate. Foster will help us track down Chuck. And when we do – if that motherfucker has laid a single hand on my wife, I’ll skin him alive.
Very. Fucking. Slowly.
***Riley***
I didn’t die. Or I did, and I’m in hell.
I’ve screamed for so long that I don’t know how my throat is still working. My voice is raw, my body a trembling wreck, but the pain doesn’t stop.
“I know it hurts,” Chuck says, his voice sickeningly gentle. “But think of it this way. When that biker finds your body, and I will make sure he does, he’ll know just how much you love him.”
He steps closer, his breath hot against my ear.
“After all, his name is carved into your back.”
I squeeze my eyes shut, willing myself to disappear.
Chuck sighs, almost disappointed. “Although… the E doesn’t seem deep enough. That’s on me, of course. I couldn’t see very well with all the blood.”
He chuckles like this is some kind of joke.
“I would carve my name right across your ass if I had any intention of letting you live,” he says as he walks behind me. “Then that fucking biker would think of me every time he fucked you. It’s tempting, that’s for sure.”
My arms are tied to something from the ceiling, and I’m completely naked. I can touch the floor with the tips of my toes, and it takes some of the pressure off my shoulders, but I keep slipping in something, and I no longer have the traction to hold myself up. So, I let my body hang as I feel his fingers tracing something on my back.
“I’m just not happy with this E. Don’t worry. I’ll fix it.”
I feel another wave of pain, but this time, no sound escapes my mouth as it’s opened wide in a silent scream.