Chapter 46
Chapter
Forty-Six
I’m clearing a room at the far end of the warehouse when I hear my brothers yelling for me. My heart rate spikes, and my skin turns to ice. I know they’ve found her.
I spin, pushing Knuckles out of the way and racing to the other side of the building where the voices are coming from. Nitro rounds the other side of the corridor the same time I do. We both race for the door, but he’s a little closer and beats me there by a few seconds. Those few seconds are all it takes for his face to change, from determination to shock to fear. My heart sinks. Nitro pushes through into the room as I freeze, not wanting to follow him through that door for fear of what I’ll find.
I lose focus, my brain playing all different scenarios through my head of what is in there. I can hear my brothers shouting, the men racing to the corridor I’m in. But I can’t make anything out. I close my eyes, remembering the last time I saw her. The look of pain in her eyes when I screamed in her face to leave. When I told her that she was just a fuck, a warm pussy for me to get my dick wet. I remember the tip of her beautiful, skilful pink tongue running along her bottom lip, the bob in her throat as she listened to me spew some shit at her about not wanting her near me. It was a lie, of course. But she didn’t know that.
My heart feels like it’s pounding out of my chest. Fuck. Whatever shit she’s been through, she went through it thinking I hated her. My legs feel like they are about to give out, and I reach my hand out to the wall to steady myself. But I feel hands grab at my shoulders to steady me. Then I’m pulled forward, arms wrap around me, one hand on the back of my neck pulling my head forward. I feel sick, my eyes spring open, and I see brothers standing in the hall outside of the room, some are looking at the floor, others at me. None are looking into the room.
I try to pull back, realising it’s Knuckles, my former Prez. But he holds me tighter. His face leans against my cheek, his mouth right near my ear. “Pull your shit together. Your woman fucking needs you. Get your arse in there right now.” I pull back, pushing at him at the same time. My eyebrows pinch in confusion. “Wait, what? She’s…”
He gives me a nod and guides me toward the room. “She’s alive brother. But barely. Get your arse in there.” I push away from him and race through the door. My eyes do a quick scan of the room. Brothers standing around, all looking pissed. Doc at my woman’s side, checking for fuck knows what. Nitro running his fingers up and down her cheek saying something to her. He glances over his shoulder at me, hearing my growl at him. He turns back to her without even a word to me.
Then I see Tongue by her head, a knife in his hand, sawing movements as he cuts through the rope binding her arms to a hook in the wall. I walk over to her and drop to my knees when I see the state of her. Bruises covering every inch of her face, her lip split in three places, both eyes are closed and covered in bruises that are mixed colours, purple and black but there is yellowing underneath. Her left cheek is swollen, a bruise covering half of her face. My eyes scan down, her neck covered in black bruises, spanning her entire fucking neck, indicating she had some large fucking hands wrapped around it.
Her collarbone is covered in bruises. Trailing my eyes down a little I see bite marks on the tops of her breasts. A wave of sickness washes over me, knowing what that likely means. I hear my brothers all talking around me. I hear Nitro talking to her, though I'm pretty sure she’s out of it.
My brow furrows and my eyebrows pinch as I look down at her, then up at Tongue. He’s not paying any attention to me; he’s focused on his task of freeing her arms. I scan his body and then look back down at my girl. Rage bubbles inside of me, and I reach for the leather kutte covering her body.
Suddenly, Nitro's hand grabs mine. I look up at him and he shakes his head before giving a chin lift to the rest of the brothers. I look at them standing around the room, the men mostly from the London Chapter, standing around watching the Doc work, waiting for him to tell them something. Then I look back down at my girl, and it dawns on me. Tongue has shucked his Kutte to cover my girl. I look at Nitro; he gives me a small nod, then he glances at Tongue, a look of respect passing over his face.
“Brother.” He doesn’t hear me. I’m not surprised; it came out barely above a whisper. “Brother.” I try again, but he’s too focused and I see why; his knife could have slid through the ropes like it was air, but he’s taking his time. He’s making slow, deliberate movements to minimise the amount of pressure and movements on her wrist. The rope is bound so tight it’s ripped through her skin. It looks like the rope has been loosed and re-tied at some point as the skin from the base of her hands to below her wrists are raw with friction burns. It looks like she’s been trying to free herself.
My stomach drops, knowing that she was in this alone, that she probably thought nobody was coming for her. I reach forward, gently placing my hand on Tongue's arm, then moving quickly when he stops what he’s doing. “Brother. Thank you.” I need him to know how much I appreciate what he did for her. I know how he feels about anyone touching him, or his kutte. So, the fact that he has chosen to take it off and place it over her, shows how much he respects her. I’ll never be able to thank him enough for that one simple gesture.
He doesn’t look at me, just gives me a small nod then turns back to his task. “Almost free,” he tells us.
“Doc?” Nitro bites out as my eyes continue their assessment of her. Her left leg is covered in a mix of purple, black, green and yellow bruises. The leg is pulled straight, her left ankle is purple and swollen; it looks like it might be broken. Her right leg is wide, and bent at the knee; it’s covered in just as many bruises as the left. Both legs are covered in blood, old and new. The kutte barely covers her pussy, and I see bruising and blood on her thighs. My blood boils at the thought. I failed her. I should have found her sooner. I should have realised sooner that she was missing. I should never have pushed her away. This is on me.
“Wrath,” Nitro yells at me, his hand punching my arm. I look from him to Doc to Tongue, then back again. “What?”
“I’ve called an ambulance…” My head flips to Doc. “Why?”
“I can’t move her brother. You can see the state she’s in. I don’t know what kind of injuries she has that I can’t see. If we move her, we risk doing more damage, I need the proper equipment. You all need to leave.”
“ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?” I bellow out. I hear a tiny moan, and my eyes shoot to Marissa as she tries to open her eyes, and then I see her body tense the moment she realises she's not alone. Nitro moves back, giving me space to get closer to her.
“Shh, I’ve got you baby, you’re safe now, ok? We’re gonna get you out of here.”
A tear falls from her left eye, and I swipe at it with my thumb. “Wr… Wrath?” she croaks out.
“Yeah, baby. I’m here.”
“I…I.” She struggles to breathe as she tries to tell me something. I lean forward, resting my forehead gently on hers. “It’s ok. Please don’t say anything. Let’s get you fixed first, ok?”
She heaves out every word, but she continues. “I… I knew… he… was ly… lying. Thank… you.”
I have no idea what she’s thanking me for, and I can’t find out. I’m being pulled to my feet and dragged away from her. I kick and shove, trying to get back to her.
“Brother, we have to go,” Knuckles tells me as he pulls me out of the room.
“No. I can’t leave her. I need to be there for her. I need to be with her. “
He continues to pull me out of the warehouse, more brothers jumping forward to help him. I know my strength when I'm angry, and they know they need more men to control me.
“STOP.” Everyone stops and turns to Tongue. He barely speaks and never raises his voice, so it shocks the shit out of us when he does.
He shakes his head at me and then nods towards my bike. He doesn’t need words; I know he’s telling me to pull myself together and meet them at the hospital.
We make it out of the grounds of the warehouse and around the corner less than a minute before the ambulance arrives. We wait, my eyes fixed on that building for forty minutes before they finally bring her out and load her into the ambulance. Nitro jumps on his bike as Doc climbs into the back with her. Knuckles gives me a look, letting me know I need to wait it out for a little bit longer, but I'm itching to follow. I need to get there. I try to steady my breathing, giving me something to focus on other than my need to be with her and the need to find whoever did that to her and tear him limb from limb. The rumble of my former Prez’s bike brings me back to the moment; he gives me the nod, and I start my bike pulling out in front. With the strength of my brothers behind me I ride to the hospital, to my woman.