Chapter 1
ZINNIA
One Week Ago . . .
Years of hell, pain, and torment are what’s been my life since Davy sold me to save himself. In the end, he didn’t do anything but kill us both. I should have died many times over, but it seems someone hates me enough to keep me alive.
Nine years it’s taken me to escape the hellhole that has been my home.
I wouldn’t even call it a home no matter how luxurious it appears.
I’ve been a slave to Basa De La Rosa, and he made sure I knew what I was every chance he had.
No matter where he went, I was forced to go with him.
He didn’t like for me to be far from him.
I’m his personal toy he torments and enjoys at his leisure.
I guess my only saving grace is he doesn’t share his possessions.
Not even the other women who go to Basa’s bed actually sleep next to him.
He always left their bed and came to the room he shared with me.
Strange how he treated them, and they hated that he never wanted them for more than sex.
Ironically, I would have preferred he want more from them rather than me.
I hate the fact he never slept with them.
It would have given me a break from his touch.
I shudder at the thought and what will happen if I’m caught now that I’ve gotten this far.
Dressed in nothing but a sheer gown, barely covering my butt and panties, I trek through the foliage, staying deep in the woods and keeping cover so no one would dare see me.
I finally took the chance to get away. I needed to do something, get away from the monsters who refused to let me go.
Basa De La Rosa might have been my owner, but he wasn’t the only one who held that title.
His father, Monte Esteban De La Rosa, took his share of fun.
But never in the same way as Basa. Monte made sure that Basa tortured me in front of him.
He took great joy in watching. He also would order me to do things for them all when something needed done.
For instance, I was to sit in on meetings with them to ensure they would have someone to get them drinks or food.
Because of this, they never kept anything secret from me.
I knew if I were to talk, I would be dead.
Maybe I should speak up. Go to the cops, give them all the dirty deeds and let them kill me.
My hell would be over then, and I could be at peace.
But after listening to what Monte and Basa were discussing, the Devil’s Riot MC . . . I knew I couldn’t not do something.
For so many years, the only thing that has kept me from giving into the insanity that wants to take over my entire being is a member of that club. Gunner.
God knows he’s the only person who I wish more than anything in this world I could see again. I know I’ll never have him as mine, but knowing he’s safe and has moved on, hopefully with a beautiful family, keeps me moving.
Glancing behind me, I keep rushing forward and step on something sharp, cutting into my foot, and it’s all I can do to keep from crying out from the excruciating pain. But it’s nothing I’ve not dealt with before.
Being the possession of a De La Rosa is no laughing matter. Being the one who takes the beatings, the torment . . . it’s enough to drive anyone to the brink of insanity.
I check the bottom of my feet quickly and wince at the sight of the blood coating them. It’s nothing I’ve never felt before, but it still hurts all the same.
I block out the pain as I’ve done so many times before.
Pacing myself, I push forward, hoping to have enough of a head start before Basa or his father realize I escaped.
It wasn’t easy, and it took more effort and time on my part to get away.
They had kept me under lock and key to the point I couldn’t even breathe without their say-so. Well, Basa’s at least.
Trekking through the foliage, I keep my eyes open for anything and everything. The danger of not only the men who could be coming after me but also the animals and reptiles that call the forest home.
My mind wanders back to two days ago and what I heard about the De La Rosas and their plans in regard to what they want to do with the Devil’s Riot MC.
Right now, they’re toying with the siblings to one of the ol’ ladies.
I think her name’s Avery. Her siblings are supposedly out to make her life hell.
I just don’t understand why. What is it with brothers and sisters not wanting to be there for one another and preferring to hate and hurt each other?
After listening to them gloat and talk with Basa about what they’d done in the past and then what happened not too long ago with the shipment being set up as an ambush, I knew I had to do something.
I need to warn the club of what’s to come and what the De La Rosa’s have planned.
But I have to be careful about getting there.
Basa and his father both know my past. They know because my brother had warned them.
It’s probably why they’ve taken great joy in taunting me with Gunner.
Basa enjoys toying with me, threatening Gunner constantly.
It’s how he was able to get me to comply with his demands and torture for so many years.
Knowing Gunner was alive and that as long as I listened to Basa .
. . give him what he wants . . . he didn’t kill Gunner.
Now things are changing, and I can only hope that I get there before anything else happens than what’s gone down already.