Chapter Thirty-Two
H is thoughts erotic as memories of the night before tumbled through his head, Trouble listened with half an ear while Odin sat behind his desk, on the phone.
“I don’t give a fuck who you are; don’t fuck this up, or I’ll just put you out of my misery,” Odin growled, then cut the call, tossing his cell on his desk. His expression was thunderous, and if Trouble hadn’t known the man for most of his life, he’d be pissing his pants.
Adjusting his dick in said pants, Trouble sat up, dropping his legs from where they’d been resting on the edge of Odin’s desk.
“How’d he take the news?” Trouble asked, cocking a grin.
Odin snorted. “Like a pompous ass; he can’t believe it, but he’ll change his mind when he sees all the information AFK got, and the images Tracer got over the last month.”
Samuel Tracer was one of the best PIs they had at Savage Protection, and Grimm suggested him when Odin required someone to follow Danil Oblek.
“So what’s he gonna go now that he has all that information?”
Shrugging, Odin sighed. “I don’t know, but he’d better act fast, or we’ll deal with it for him.”
Silence filled the moderately sized office, then Odin said, “I heard about what happened with Amelia…you feelin’ good about the outcome?”
“Sure as fuck am, brother,” Trouble effused, taking a deep breath, then letting it out again—because he could finally breathe again.
When he’d gotten to the clubhouse that morning, he was glad to see that Amelia was gone, and there was a sense of peace about the place. Almost like the club had been purged of something toxic and was quietly recovering.
Curling his lip in annoyance, he realized that dealing with Amelia had left a sour taste in his mouth, but it had to be done. Pulling his cell from his pocket, he clicked on the app he’d had Hawk install last night before he’d headed home. Glancing at the screen, he registered what he was seeing.
The little icon showing the location of Amelia’s cellphone was moving north…toward VIP. He knew that Liz’s VIP clinic was in that part of town, but why would Amelia be going there? Liz hadn’t been back to her clinic since she’d been forced to shut it down after the Russian attack.
Something pricked at the back of his mind, instinct dancing with dread in his guts.
Pulling up his texts, he messaged Slick, requiring a report on Liz. Slick had been tasked with keeping an eye on Liz, which he’d complained about, but the kid was all bluster and no bite. He’d do what he was told to do because he was loyal to the club. His beginnings were rough because he’d been young, dumb, and arrogant, but spending two months mucking horse shit had taught him some humility.
“What’s the look on your face?” Odin asked, making Trouble tear his gaze away from the still moving icon.
“You got anything planned for your birthday?” Trouble asked, not sure what to tell him about what the fuck was going on with Amelia.
Odin, the too knowing asshole, narrowed his eyes at Trouble’s attempt to change the subject, but he replied, “Skathi is determined to have a cake, drinks, finger foods—the whole works, enough to feed the club, and then some.” Odin’s mouth clamped shut, his eyes growing soft. “This is my first birthday as a father, and I….” Odin’s smile was so fucking big, Trouble couldn’t stop staring at it—his own smile nearly tearing his face in half.
His smile turned into a snarl when his cell buzzed with a text, and he read it.
Slick: I lost her, boss. I got clipped by a car, couldn’t catch her.
Sucking in a breath, then another, his hands trembling with fear and rage, he called Slick.
“Tell me what the fuck happened,” he demanded when the other man answered.
His voice pained, Slick reported, “She turned into the Albertson’s parking lot, but it was reckless—she almost hit another car.”
What? That didn’t sound like Liz.
“I was a car behind her, so when that other car swerved to avoid her, it clipped my back wheel. I bit it hard, brother. By the time I was up on my feet, I saw her taillights headed north on River Street. My bike is wrecked, so I couldn’t follow her.”
“You didn’t think to call me before this?” Trouble shouted, jumping to his feet. Behind his desk, Odin was also on his feet, his gaze hard and filled with concern.
His phone beeped, indicating a call coming through, but he saw it was Amelia, cursed, and denied the call, remaining on the line with Slick. Trouble couldn’t deal with Amelia’s drama right now.
“I know I should have called— ” Slick hissed, “—but the ambulance came, and I….”
Fuck. Shit. Right. Slick was hurt.
Shoving his free hand through his hair, Trouble let the panic inside him reshape into anger. But not at Slick, at Liz. What the fuck did she think she was doing, driving recklessly, then leaving her wounded escort behind?
That’s not Liz…she wouldn’t do that.
So what happened?
Something must have happened to make Liz act like that.
Again, his phone beeped. He ignored it.
To Slick, he said, “Get to the hospital, sit tight. I’ll send Saint. We’ll retrieve your bike and take it to Rides.”
Slick heaved a relieved sigh. “Thanks, brother.”
“No thanks needed, brother. We take care of our own.” With that, he cut the call, turning to Odin. “Slick lost Liz when she caused an accident, then took off without him.”
Odin cursed. “What the fuck? You think she’d did it on purpose to get away from him?”
Did she? Fuck, he had no idea. After their heart-to-heart, then pelvis-to-pelvis last night, he was sure Liz was coming around, that she was ready to make a future with him. But…what if her slipping her escort was her way of….
“No,” Trouble barked, shaking his head. “Liz wouldn’t do that. She’s a bitch when angry, but she’d never intentionally hurt someone who didn’t deserve it. I think something else happened, something that made her panic and run off.”
“You think her leaving Slick behind was unintentional, like she had no idea he was hurt and couldn’t follow her?”
Hitting redial, having called Liz that morning to make sure Fae was picking up Erika from school, he listened as her phone rang. And rang. Finally, her voicemail picked up, the sound of her voice making his breath catch.
What if he never heard her voice again? How could he live without her after he’d finally gotten her back in his life? His chest ached, his breath trapped in his lungs. He couldn’t breathe—didn’t want to breathe, if Liz wasn’t okay. If she wasn’t safe.
No, don’t think like that! She’s safe. He had to believe that, because….
“I forgive you….” Last night, everything had changed. For the first time in ten years, he had hope that he could finally be whole again. He had to believe that, too, because the alternative hurt too fucking much to contemplate.
He called Liz again, and again her phone rang to her voicemail.
“Shit,” he spat.
“Doc not answering?” Odin asked, and Trouble shook his head. “I’m sure she’s fine, but I’ll call the girls to see if she’s contacted them.” Before he was even finished speaking, he was already dialing.
Trouble called Liz again. This time, her phone went directly to voicemail. Had she denied the call, or was her phone dead?
“Fuck,” Odin rasped, “the girls aren’t picking up, either.” There was a questioning wariness in his eyes. “Do you think those three are together? Skathi’s at home; she’s got Nielsen, but Tessa and Fae could be wrapped up in whatever Liz is doing.”
Nodding, Trouble swore when his phone rang again.
Amelia.
Why the fuck was she calling three times?
Knowing the woman was persistent, he grit his teeth, and answered, “Now is not the time, Amelia—”
“I think Liz is in trouble,” Amelia blurted, panic in her voice.
Immediately, Trouble was on alert. Suddenly, he remembered Amelia’s location icon moving north, and him thinking that it was the same direction as Liz’s clinic. “What do you mean, Amelia? Are you with Liz?”
“N-no!”
“Then what the fuck do you mean?” he practically bellowed, dread swallowing up reason.
“I was at the grocery store, loading up the car, and I saw her tear into the parking lot. I was angry, Trouble—you treated me like trash, and I just wanted….”
Hitting the button to put the call on speaker, Trouble demanded, “Out with it, Amelia! Tell me what the hell happened. Did you follow her? Do you know where she is?” He knew he was being an asshole, but if Amelia was right, and Liz was in trouble, time was of the essence.
He heard her growl, then she blurted, “I wanted to beat the shit out of her, ya know, so I followed her to the clinic, but I didn’t go behind the building. I drove by the front, and there’s….” She sucked in a breath. “There’s some scary-looking dudes watching the front.”
“What?” Trouble barked, his gaze flicking to Odin, who was already texting the brothers to mount a war party. Each brother, riding into battle on their steel and chrome war horse, a terrifying sight to behold. “Did you recognize them?”
“Well…I used to hang with Tammi, and she told me about these tattoos, ya know—”
“Russians,” Trouble filled in the blanks, his heart in his throat. Tammi knew a certain type of tattoo. Bratva. “You saw Russians.”
“Y-yeah. I know Liz was hiding from them, so I don’t know why she came to the clinic crawling with them,” Amelia rambled.
Hurrying through the door, down the stairs, and into the common room, Trouble looked onto the faces of the men who’d assembled there already. They were ready and willing to die for their club, for their brothers, and for their women. Liz was one of them—but what the fuck was she doing at the clinic? And what did her causing the accident, then leaving Slick behind have to do with it?
Things weren’t adding up. He could only hope that the wheels they’d already sent spinning would steer the circumstances into their favor.
God, Liz, what the fuck are you doing? If you get hurt, I’m going to spank your ass!
“Amelia, I need you to leave there, keep driving. If they see you, they might do something.” He didn’t want her as his ol’ lady, but despite his threats from earlier, he didn’t wish any ill upon her. She was a bitch, yeah, but she’d been faithful to the club for four years; him having Hawk put the tracking device in her purse, was just a means of protecting club interests…for just in case. The ol’ ladies with their MC romance novel advice warned him that scorned clubwhores could turn ugly, and he should keep track of Amelia.
“Trouble…” Amelia breathed, her voice trembling. “I hope she’s okay.”
Amelia hung up, and Trouble turned his attention to his brothers. His ride and die brothers, in battle and blood.
“Mount up, brothers!” Odin shouted, and the brothers shouted in response, filling the room with the club battle cry.
“ Til hallerne I Valhalla, men forst rider vi! ” To the halls of Valhalla, but first, we ride!
The thunder of dozens of shit kickers pounding out of the building, then the roar of half a dozen bikes filled his head, then his chest.
His heart burning with appreciation of their loyalty, Trouble turned to Saint, filling him in, and sending him to the hospital to watch over Slick.
A massive hand slapped his shoulder, and Trouble looked over to see his best friend, president, and soul brother, grinning down at him—with smile more ferocity than mirth.
“We’ll get her back, brother, and we’re going to fuck shit up while we do it,” Odin rumbled. His face hardened, fierceness and admiration flashing in his strikingly light blue eyes. “She’s a fighter, Trouble. She’ll be alright.”
Unable to form words, Trouble nodded as fear stole his breath.
Fuck, please, Liz….
Thrust into her own desk chair, Liz glared at the man standing beside her as he crossed his arms and leaned his ass up against her $2,000 mahogany executive desk. The fucker was going to leave his nasty Russian ass print on her expense desk.
Annnnnd, now she was losing it!
Stop worrying about ass prints on your desk, and worry about getting out of here alive!
Readjusting his expensive suit coat, Liz could see a gun strapped to his side, and fear like no other tunneled into her guts. He could shoot her, and she’d never see Erika again, she’d never see Trouble again.
Focus, stop panicking! Think!
Swallowing her terror, she dragged in a breath, then put some strength into her voice.
“Danil Oblek…what is it you want to talk about? I don’t have time for chit chat in my own office, people are expecting me,” she lied, hoping he didn’t hear the crack in her voice. No one was expecting her, and like a fucking idiot, she’d left her club escort behind. Wait! “Where’s Lyle? What about the money he—”
Danil Oblek chuckled, the sound like if evil had a sound. “You really are gullible, aren’t you, moya yad …my poison?” At her furrowed brow, he smirked, the darkness of his brown eyes growing black. “It wasn’t Dr. Lyle Pace on the phone with you, moya yad . Matter of fact, Dr. Lyle Pace is scattered, in pieces, over the Mojave. He’d come crawling out of his hole a few weeks ago, having lost all my money, and he didn’t last long under my blade.”
Oh, shit. Oh Lyle. He’d been an asshole boyfriend and a shitty business partner, but he’d been a great doctor. He didn’t deserve to go out like that.
Sucking in a breath to combat the rising nausea, she asked, “So how did he call me?”
“You see, there’s this wonderful AI technology that allows you to sample someone’s voice…like, say, from their voicemail recording, and use it to trick anyone into believing they’re talking to that person on the phone.”
She gasped, her eyes wide. Fuck, she’d fallen for a phone call from goddamn Skynet! She’d wondered why Lyle’s voice sounded so…flat. It was because it wasn’t Lyle at all!
Oblek was too close, his body giving off heat, his scent heavy and acrid, like the world’s cheapest vodka. Before she could move away, putting space between them, Oblek reached out, gripping her chin in his hand. She tired jerking from his hold, but he tightened his grip hard enough to leave bruises in her skin.
She growled, and he chuckled again, like he was humoring a toddler, the asshole!
“I knew that the only one who could pull you from your biker protection was the asshole who’d brought you into my web in the first place. And the promise of having a way to get rid of the scary Russians….” Shaking his head and clicking his tongue, Oblek smiled crookedly, the humor missing from his eyes. “I knew I’d have you, I just needed to lure you in. And here you are, moya yad . Alone. And there’s nothing your bastard biker dog and his filthy friends can do about it.”
Her nails curling into the arms of her chair, she pushed down the desire to panic, the desperation. She refused to become like Lyle, she refused to leave Erika motherless…she refused to break Trouble’s heart, not after they’d finally reconnected—and, goddammit, she loved him, she didn’t want to lose the chance to tell him that, to create a future, a family with him. She had to keep Danil talking; the longer he talked, the greater the chance of rescue.
But who was going to rescue her? No one knew where she was; she hadn’t told anyone where she was going.
That doesn’t mean help isn’t on the way….
Meeting Oblek’s dark yet brilliant eyes, Liz inquired, “What are you planning to do with me?” Perhaps she could negotiate something, though what she could offer him that he’d take in place of five million dollars, she had no idea.
Danil’s eyes grew heavy, his eyes burning with something Liz knew to the depths of her soul was far more deadly than she’d ever imagined. Lust. Desire. Desperation.
Oh, God. She needed to get out of there!
He must have seen the panic in her eyes, because he jerked her chin toward him, forcing her gaze to his. “Don’t even think about trying to get out of here; I have men at every door, and they’ve been ordered to grab you, restrain you, then bring you right back to me. And I wouldn’t just put you back in your desk chair, I’d force you to live through acts so painful and traumatizing, you’d scream for death before I was done.”
She shuddered, her body trembling at the demon she swore she saw in his eyes.
The man was pure evil. And she’d walked right into his trap.
“Now,” he purred, dropping his hand from her aching chin to wrap it around her neck, “here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to call your baby daddy, and you’re going to tell him to meet you at The Den at 6PM. Tell him to bring his president along, but no one else. If my men see more than two bikes, you get two to the head, and that daughter of yours will get the royal treatment—I’ll make her my princess, and I’ll just love—”
“No!” she screamed, trying to shoot to her feet, but Danil’s hand around her throat held her captive in her seat. She croaked, “Please, don’t hurt her; she’s just a little girl.”
His thin lips and slimy expression made her stomach twist in fear and disgust.
“She won’t be a little girl forever, moya yad . I’ll take good care of her, until she’s old enough….”
Tears fell freely from her eyes; she knew what he was insinuating; he was going to sell Erika, her precious daughter.
Erik won’t let that happen. He’ll protect her. She had to believe that.
“But you don’t have to worry about that, Liz , not if you make the phone call.” Grabbing his cell from his pocket, Danil held it out to her. “Now, dial.”