Chapter 18
Taylan
I’ve been pacing the length of her apartment for hours!
After she sped away from me outside the gym, I was left to deal with a million fucking questions from her father. None of which I could answer without implicating myself. I was grilled on everything from my training techniques to being a mooch. That shit ground my fucking nerves, I am no fucking mooch! I have been busting my ass teaching her everything I know so she can win this fucking fight in a few months’ time.
My phone begins to vibrate in my pocket, pulling me from my thoughts. I fish it out of my pocket to see it’s Knox calling. I debate letting it ring out but I decide against that and answer it.
“This better be good!” I clip out.
“Where the fuck are you?” The worry in Knox’s tone has me freezing mid step and turning rigid.
“What’s wrong?” I snap. “Is Lake okay?” I begin to worry something has happened to her or the baby.
“Where are you?”
“At Destiny’s! What the fuck is going on, Knox?” I snarl.
“Where’s the girl?”
My blood turns cold, I dart my eyes around the empty apartment as dread begins to fill my veins.
“She ditched me,” I grit out through clenched teeth. I can feel my stomach knotting as I wait for him to explain why he is panicking.
“Get the fuck out of the apartment now!” I don’t question him, I grab my jacket and gun and snatch my keys off the counter as I make my way to the door. “Find her, do not go back to her apartment, Taylan!”
I freeze in front of the door. “Why?” That one word holds so much weight to it.
“You need to find her now! He has been stalking her and you, watching your every move.”
I jerk in surprise. “How do you know this?”
“Kimber got a call, we haven’t been able to locate him or find the cocksucker because he’s been there with you the whole fucking time watching!”
A cold shiver works its way down my spine, I turn around slowly and scan the empty place. “Knox, where is he?”
“He’s been living in the apartment above her for months. It wasn’t a random snatch and grab that night, he knew where she would be and her movements. We traced the call, Tay, he’s been above you this entire time.”
“Fuck!” I roar. I end the call and race out of there taking the stairs to the next level. I don’t hesitate as I draw my gun and ram my foot against the door, the wood splinters and gives under the pressure of my boot. I dart inside scanning the entire place but it’s empty sans the plethora of photos that are scattered across the counter in the small kitchen.
Disgust, fear, anger and a range of other emotions race through me as I stare down at the still shots from a video feed. My phone keeps ringing but I can’t move to answer it. My gun falls from my limp grip and clatters against the hardwood floors, when my phone starts ringing again I swallow and blindly answer it without checking the caller ID knowing exactly who it is.
“Get our guys onto tracking her phone,” I whisper.
“Taylan, what the fuck did you find?” I open my mouth but no words come out. There are photos of me and her fucking all over her apartment, pictures of her in the shower, me and her sleeping in her bed. There are even pictures of us walking into the gym, her and me at dinner at the restaurant down the road. “Taylan!” Knox’s voice snaps me out of it.
“He’s been stalking her, there’s pictures of us ,” I grit out.
“Fuck! You need to get rid of them.”
“Why?” I clip out.
“Because her father and uncles are on their way now, I texted them when I called you.” Just as I reach for the images to hide them so her father doesn’t find out, they all barge into the room. I look up and inhale what I’m sure is going to be my last breath. Gage, King, Bishop, Knight, Rook, Vincent and Luka all stand there with their guns raised and pointed at me.
“Too late brother, they’re here,” I say before I end the call and shove it in my pocket. I bend down and retrieve my gun. A wise man would keep it in his hand to try to defend himself but there are seven of them so I stash it in my waistband. If I’m going down, then I’m gonna go down like a man, I’m no bitch. The seven of them creep in closer as my phone continues to ring incessantly but I don’t move to answer it even when Gage steps and stands on the other side of the counter staring down at the images before us of his daughter being fucked by me .
He darts his gaze from the images to me then back a couple of times before his face morphs from shock to murderous. He raises his gun and presses it against my forehead, his brother’s don’t move to intervene and neither do the other two. They can see the photos from where they stand and from the looks on each of their faces, they agree with what Gage is about to do. I knew this would happen if I touched her but I ignored his warning the night we went to their house after we escaped.
“What did I tell you?” The deathly calm tone of Gage’s voice let’s everyone in this room know he isn’t letting me walk out of here.
“To keep my good for nothing hands off your daughter or we would end up in this very position,” I answer.
“Correct. Now this is where I start a war for killing the underboss of the Re Della Strada.” I nod, I knew I wasn’t destined to live a long life and I came to terms with that years ago when I did what I did and became the Taylan everyone knows today.
“Don’t leave a body for them to find, I don’t want my family at war because I touched the forbidden fruit.”
“Is that all my daughter is to you?” he roars in my face, I take a deep breath and shake my head holding my gaze so he can see the truth in my eyes.
“No. She was never some chick, she was… something more but I… hurt her.” His face contorts in hatred, his finger itching to squeeze that trigger and splatter my brain across this apartment.
“You hurt my little girl?” He pushes the gun against my head to drive his point home.
“With all due respect, either kill me or let me fucking go so I can save your daughter from the man who hurt her worse than I ever could,” I grit out. Before Gage can respond, Bishop steps forward.
“Why weren’t we informed about Koda Novikov before?” Power wafts off Bishop in waves, it’s easy to see why he is still the Don and has gone this long without being challenged.
I keep my gaze on Gage as I answer his brother. “She didn’t want anyone to know. Call me crazy but I respected your daughter's wishes. It wasn’t mine or Knox’s story to tell. Kill me if you want but make your mind up fast because he knows exactly where she is and he knows we are on to him.” I see the hesitation in Gage’s eyes so I push on. “I think I know where she has gone. I hurt her but I do… care about her. Let me help you save her… please,” I plead. Gage and Bishop share a look before turning back to me.
“This isn’t over, you little shit,” Gage vows. I don’t stick around, I rush out of the apartment with all of them hot on my heels.
“Where is she?” Rook shouts as we rush down the stairs.
“At your daughter’s boyfriends club,” I answer as I continue down to the parking garage while they run out the lobby doors to their cars. Unlike them, I won’t be stuck in traffic. I jump on my matte-black Dodge Tomahawk and pull my helmet on. The engine purrs to life and I almost groan at the sound of this. This baby can hit 420 mph at top speed. I kick the bad bitch into gear and burn rubber out of there. It takes me a minute of hitting the main road before I’m flying past the three blacked-out cars that hold the Murdoch family. It’s dark and the road is slick from the rain earlier but none of that registers to me as I head straight for the club, praying that I’m right, if she isn’t there I don’t know what I’ll do. My phone begins to ring and I answer it through the Bluetooth in my helmet.
“Yeah?” I say breathlessly.
“Where are you?” Knox demands.
“Track my location,” I tell him.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m alive so that has to count for something,” I say without missing a beat.
“Don’t joke, Taylan. Wave, Xan, Trey and their crew are on their way. I’m coming, brother.” Warmth rushes through at his words, this is why I chose them. They are my family for this very reason. I never have to ask, Knox and Xander know I need them but would never ask for their help.
“Knox—”
“Shut up, Taylan. You’ll get to your girl. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Thank you.”
“Thank me by not dying.” He ends the call right in the nick of time, I slam to a stop out front of the club, not caring about the bike being parked illegally. I hang my helmet on the handlebars as I rush through the crowd gathered outside and push my way to the front. The bouncer tries to stop me from entering. I throat punch the cunt without missing a step as I jump over him, patrons follow my lead cheering but I ignore them as I rush through the crowded club trying to find my Slayer.
“Fuck!” I snap, I look around but I can’t spot her. I leap onto the bar ignoring the bartenders, needing a birds eye view. The dim lighting makes it fucking hard to see anything but I don’t give up. I can feel it in my bones that he’s here, he cleared out that apartment and left those pictures on purpose. The call to Kimber was staged, he knew we would track it and wanted us to find him.
He’s going to make his move tonight!
I catch a glimpse of red in the center of the dance floor, her blonde hair flies around her as she spins, dancing with her friends. I jump off the bar and run toward her shoving every cunt out of my way, I have tunnel vision for the beautiful blonde and no one is going to stop me from getting to her.
The moment I break through the crowd she spots me and stops moving, her eyes widen for a fraction of a second before she takes in the look on my face and closes the space between us. I’m drunk on the sight of her perfect body in that red dress, her tits look edible.
“Why are you here?” she asks with an edge to her tone. I don’t waste time, I grab her wrist and start dragging her toward the exit. Her friends protest but the second I pull my gun from my waistband they scream. I lift it and fire a shot up at the ceiling. People drop to the ground screaming, I use their second of fear to my advantage and drag Destiny through the throngs of people. We have a mere two seconds before they come to their senses and begin rushing for the exit.
“Taylan!” she screams my name so loud I freeze and face her. She points toward the back of the room and I curse at the sight of Koda and his men. The crowd comes to their senses finally registering their flight instincts and everyone begins rushing for the exits. Destiny is shoved forward, I wrap my arms around her and hold her close so she isn’t dragged away or knocked to the ground in those fucking heels she’s wearing, she won’t stand a chance against a crowd this size. More shots ring out from the back of the club. I wrap my arm around her waist and turn us so she is in front of me and push her toward the exit.
“Keep moving, your dad will be here shortly,” I shout in her ear. We’re knocked from both sides but my hold on her doesn’t lessen. I can see the exit over the heads of the others and grit my teeth as I try to push her faster but she keeps tripping in those fucking stupid shoes. “Unless I’m fucking you in those heels, you are forbidden to ever wear those things again,” I growl in her ear, now isn’t the time for her to shiver with lust but she does and I can’t help but smirk.
The exit is just there, we’re so close!
“Move and she dies.” I don’t move a muscle when I see the gun pressed to her temple. The crowd screams and moves away from us, giving us a wide berth as they run to the exit. I flick my gaze to the side and glare, the bouncer I throat punched smirks back at me. “Try anything and I shoot,” he declares as one of his buddies comes forward to snatch the gun from hand. “Release her.”
“Suck my dick, cunt,” I snarl. I grunt in pain and drop to my knees when I’m pistol whipped across the back of the head. Destiny whirls around and hooks the fucker behind me but stops moving when the bouncer shifts his gun to me. Her eyes fill with fear at the sight of me on my knees with a gun pointed at my temple.
“Both of you move, now!” the cunt barks. I climb to my feet and grip her hand in mine as he keeps the gun pressed to my head and forces us to move toward where Koda is. With the stampede of people rushing out of the club there is no way her family can make it inside against the crowd, we’re on our own.
We walk down a hallway that is dimly lit but is lined with armed men, they form a barricade around us like we’re the fucking president as we are led out a service exit where a van idles. I want to roll my eyes at how fucking cliché this is. The side door is open and we’re shoved inside, I push her behind me against the back doors and use my body as a shield. Six guys climb in with us and keep their guns pointed at us as one of them bangs on the side to signal the driver to move. The windows are spraypainted black, so I can’t see out to try gauge our direction.
“Phones, hand them over now.” The bouncer sneers. I slowly raise my hand and reach into my pocket pulling it out and tossing it to the cunt. He looks over my shoulder at Destiny. “You too.” He flicks his gun in a hurry up motion but she snorts.
“Look at the size of this fucking dress, where the hell would I be able to hide it?” She holds her hands up and motions down her body forcing me to grit my teeth and not rip these cunts eyes out for looking at her like they want a taste.
“Don’t push me girl, the boss will be doing an intimate search to make sure you ain't lying.” She shudders behind me. I reach back and pull her flush against me, she buries her face in my back. I fucking hope her father is smart enough to figure something out, I think when the cunt opens the door and tosses my phone out. Knox would have been tracking it so he would know an estimated circumference of where they would be taking us.