Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
TORCH
M y blood boiled. I had to get to her. I had to protect her. I had to hunt, hurt, and kill all who touched her. All who thought they could look at her. All who wanted her harmed in any type of way.
Kill.
Kill.
Kill.
Even with a gun pressed to my head, I wanted to fight to get to her.
But then I heard her screamed word.
It broke through the fog, and I slumped to the ground. Stilling.
She was scared for me.
I didn’t want to worry her. I didn’t want her to live with the sight of me getting my brains splattered over the floor.
I would stay still and pretend to be calm until I could get the upper hand.
Until I could get free and burn them all.
“Plank, you didn’t get my text?” Chester asked. He looked a little twitchy with fear by the cop and his friends arriving.
They’re not your problem, Chester.
I would be.
When he’d arrived, he didn’t tell his son to let my Wrenley go. He didn’t stop anyone. He was going to comply with whatever they’d planned.
Plank snorted. “Looks like your son has bigger balls than you, Chester. You ran to me to fix your problem, and he took matters into his own hands. Too bad he’s a damn idiot for bringing his trouble here and keeping this one alive.” He threw an arm my way.
“Who is this guy?” Bentley demanded.
Plank sneered before he bit out, “Who are you first?”
“I hired him to grab them from the house.” The stupid fucker Tony sounded proud. “And I’m not an idiot for planning all this in a warehouse that belongs to the family. Besides, Dad was shitting himself when he found out where she was and who she was hanging with. Like she couldn’t be touched.” Tony laughed. “Obviously she can.”
He shouldn’t be so cocky. He should be scared.
I’d make him fear for his life before I tortured him for touching her.
“I organized all this,” Tony shouted.
Plank took a step closer. “Yeah? You want a medal or something? You don’t even know you’ve gone and fucked up.” He faced Bentley. “Were there more at the house? Did you get them as well?”
“We couldn’t in the time we had to get these two away.”
Plank shook his head, jaw grinding. “Fucking hell, they could already be here or on the way.”
Chester took a step toward Plank. “Fix this, Plank. Get my son and his friends out of here and make sure no one knows.”
Plank grinned. “Sign over your warehouses to me, and I’ll see what I can do.”
Chester looked like a gaping fish out of water. “No. I can’t. I….”
Plank sighed, shaking his head. He turned back to the door and started walking. “Then you’re on your own.” He stopped and gave Bentley his attention. “My advice, kill that one quickly. He’s a feral fucker with a hard-on for that girl. If he gets loose, you’ll all die.”
“No, please, leave him alone. Please,” my Wrenley cried out.
“Plank, wait. You can’t walk away from this. It’s your business in the back. Your trade will suffer. I own all the warehouses you deal out of. If you don’t help, I’ll close them all down, and you’ll have nowhere to go.”
Chester was a weak man trying to protect his ungrateful idiot son. He trembled from his threat to Plank.
The cop stopped. His men watched him, waiting for a command.
He faced Chester. “I can get rid of you and your family myself and make sure you’ve signed over all properties to me before your last breath. But I doubt we have fucking time to hash this out. Your moron of a son kidnapped a man from the Diamond MC. They’re a thorn in my goddamn side but smart motherfuckers. Means they’ll probably be here any moment. We need to get the fuck out, and then we’ll work out what type of threat you want to give me, Chester.”
“The Diamond MC?” Bentley spluttered. He swung the gun at Tony. “You little fucking shit. You should have told me who he was.”
Mitch took a step back while Tony forced Wrenley in front of him.
“I didn’t know?—”
“Bullshit,” Plank said. “He would have known. His father would have told him.”
“I didn’t,” Chester yelled, moving toward Tony.
“Stop,” Bentley barked.
Plank hoped they killed one another, along with Wrenley and me. His smug smile was enough of a sign.
“We all need to get out,” Plank said and then waved a hand my way. “Kill him first. The girl we can use to get the others off our?—”
Fire licked at my skin from the inside.
It spun me into action.
A roar left my lips as I pushed up again. Muscles straining, body aching.
I would get to her. I would save her.
Something hit me in the side of the head. I shook it off.
Guns fired before pain slammed into my arm.
Screams.
Wrenley’s.
I had to help her. I had to get to her.
Yelling.
There were too many voices.
I got to my knees. Felt wetness on my hand but ignored it.
Eyes trained on Wrenley, I focused on her moving lips. Terror was clear in her gaze.
For me.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
She’d gotten my heart beating again. For her. Only her.
She would be safe.
I’d kill them all for her.
Kill.
Kill.
Kill.
I grinned, dragging one man around and snapping his neck.
Another shot and more pain swept over my shoulder.
Laughing, I palmed another face and squeezed while I wrapped my other hand around his neck, taking his life from him.
All of them would die.
She would be safe.
And even if she didn’t love me in the end, with all their blood on my hands, it didn’t matter.
All that did was that she was safe.
“Torch, please. Torch.” Her high-pitched voice drew my attention to her. She struggled against Tony, who said something to her, but she ignored it. Gaze fixed on me, she said pleadingly, “You’re hurting. Please stop. I’ll be okay.”
Hurting?
Me?
I cocked my head but then felt something pressed to my temple.
Slowly, I twisted my head to Bentley and grinned.