Chapter Fifteen. #2
Baffled, I squealed as the car hit a huge dip and I hit my head hard.
There was stickiness in my hair, and I knew the gun had opened a wound.
The growing headache was horrible and also making me confused.
No doubt I had a concussion, as my thinking was going in circles, and I struggled to keep my thoughts clear.
The car bounced again, and I thought we’d left the main road.
The car clipped several more potholes, and suddenly we pulled up; the engine switched off.
Boots stomped around, and then silence fell. Unsure whether to call out or not, I listened with bated breath. Minutes later, I heard footsteps.
“Open the trunk,” the man ordered. Someone fumbled at the lock, and then it opened. I blinked furiously into the sunlight that poured into my darkness, shrinking from it.
“Get your fuckin’ fat ass out, now. Make any sudden moves, and this bitch dies,” a man growled.
“Stop going on about my butt, you’d be lucky to grab hold of one like mine,” I muttered. Yup, definitely concussed—who argues about their ass being fat. I shuffled forward and pushed myself upright, but lacking my hands, I couldn’t get out.
“Without my hands, I can’t climb out,” I said, blinking as my eyes adjusted.
“Roll out, you’ve enough padding not to get hurt,” the man replied cruelly. “Make a fuss or scream, and she bites the bullet.”
I squinted and flinched. In front of me stood a teenage girl whom I recognised.
Barely. Her cheeks had sunk in. She was gaunt, and the shine in her beautiful eyes had dulled.
Her chocolate-coloured skin no longer glowed with happiness and health; instead, she seemed faded.
Once bright and shiny, her hair now hung lankly.
Shit, I’d located Julie Rogers, or rather, her kidnapper had found me.
I lifted my gaze from her terrified one and stared at the kidnapper.
“Stone will tear you limb from limb,” I informed Margrave.
“Who the fuck is Stone? Another man you’re fucking? How many do you have slipping between your fat thighs?”
Margrave didn’t wait for an answer. He reached forward and yanked me out of the car. Without my hands, I hit the ground face-first. A cry of pain escaped as my nose crunched and began bleeding. Margrave laughed and kicked me in the ribs.
“Well, you didn’t bounce. I thought with all that blubber you would have,” Margrave chortled.
I refused to comment as Margrave grabbed Julie around the neck and pressed a gun to her temple. “Move,” he hissed.
Julie looked resigned as I struggled to my knees. I wondered how much abuse she’d suffered. I stumbled as Margrave shoved me.
“You’re all man with my hands tied behind my back,” I sneered, and again, Margrave pistol-whipped me. This time, it did more than hurt. Without warning, blackness appeared, and my eyes rolled up, and I collapsed to the ground.
Harlequin
“Stone, have you heard from April?” Clara asked. Concern was rife in her voice.
“No? Is something wrong?”
“April went to Rapid City to pick up a parcel. She should have returned ages ago, but she hasn’t. I don’t want to panic, but April would have called if she were running late,” Clara said.
“Okay, I’ll try calling her.”
“Her phone is switched off,” Clara replied. “April wouldn’t do that to me.”
My gut twisted. I still hadn’t found Margrave; Slaughter was sitting on his house. Now my woman was missing.
“I’ll get feelers out. Someone might have spotted her. April’s probably broken down somewhere like last time,” I said, keeping my voice even. Clara didn’t need to feel my worry.
“Please find my girl, Stone,” Clara whispered and ended the call.
I dialled Slaughter immediately.
“Is Margrave there?”
“No. Gotta admit, my gut’s pinging.”
“My woman is missing. Just had a call from Clara. April’s not arrived home, and she should have been there hours ago,” I said.
“Phone Chance, let him know, he’ll scramble everyone,” Slaughter replied and cut the line.
I got to my feet and grabbed a coat. Marie had already left, and I was the last one in the office. I locked up and hit my bike, speaking to Chance and informing him what had happened. Chance assured me he’d alert our brothers to meet at the clubhouse and ordered me to meet him there.
When I arrived, most of the brothers had too.
“What do you know?” Bear demanded as I entered. I repeated the conversation with Clara, and everyone exchanged glances.
“That’s not a fuckin’ lot to go on,” Chatter stated, and I inclined my head.
“Have Sunny access the cameras for the route that April would have taken. I’m sure that she’d have taken the quickest journey, which is down I-90.
Meanwhile, Diesel, contact all allies and give them April’s picture and her car details.
Tell them we’ve got a missing old lady. It’s possible she’s broken down somewhere and is stranded.
Her phone may have run out of power, or April’s in a dead zone,” Chance said.
“Aren’t we overreacting?” Tiny asked.
“No. Not with Harlequin riling up that asshole the other day and Salisbury kidnapping her. Salisbury might have taken her again. Rooster, call Washington and get him to contact Salisbury. If he has her, this means more than reparations this time,” Chance stated.
Rooster nodded and stepped aside as he pulled his cell out.
My phone pinged, and I glanced down and frowned when I saw a picture message. I opened it and roared in anger.
April lay in the trunk of a car, gagged and bound. There was blood in her hair, and her eyes were closed.
“Fuck!” I shouted and went to throw my cell in reaction.
Chance snatched it from the air and checked the message. “This ain’t Salisbury,” he said.
“No. Salisbury wouldn’t cause a war by taking April and treating her roughly,” Bear agreed.
“This is Margrave,” I spat as my fists clenched. Margrave had April, and he’d injured her. My girl lay in her own blood, and I didn’t know if she was alive or not. Nothing in that image told me anything.
“Is he back?... No?... Stay there, asshole has Harlequin’s woman,” Chance said. I guessed he was talking to Slaughter.
The clubhouse doors flew open, and Jinx entered, looking whiter than a ghost. “This is my responsibility. I lost him at the mall.”
“Not your fault, brother,” I murmured.
“Send Margrave’s vehicle details to Diesel; he’ll pass them on to everyone. This is now a kidnapping,” Chance ordered Slaughter. “Yeah, Margrave has her.”
“We’ve got no leads. The man is silent,” I muttered.
“Nobody is completely off the grid,” Big Al said.
“I’ve done the background checks. He owns one house. All his money is in one account. On paper, Margrave is a typical, boring, single momma’s boy,” I replied.
“Sunny’s running searches again,” Shee announced.
“He’ll not find anything; there’s nothing to be found,” I responded. But an insidious voice demanded, what if I’d missed something?
◆◆◆
“We’ve located his car,” Onyx, the President of the Riders of Vengeance, stated two hours later. April had been missing for over five hours now. Margrave could have done anything in that time.
“Where?”
“On exit of the I-90 heading into Spearfish. Left open and abandoned. He’s not coming back for it. Next to it is a shredded tyre. From the looks of it, somebody was changing a wheel, and he stopped,” Onyx stated.
Someone spoke in the background. “Are you sure?” Onyx asked them. We heard an affirmative. “The tyre was stabbed, which caused the shredding.”
“Shit. Margrave stabs April’s wheel, and it slowly deflates. He follows her and nabs April when she pulls over,” Chance surmised.
“We’ll scout around the area,” Onyx said and cut the call.
“Shit. He could have headed back to the I-90 for all we know,” I muttered. I turned to the window. Time was ticking by, and I was no closer to finding her.
◆◆◆
“Sunny called with an update,” Chance stated.
Turns out I had missed something.
Margrave was the name of his adopted mother. His adoption had all been hush-hush. I was cursing that I’d failed to catch it. Margrave’s birth mother had owned a cabin, and it had been transferred to him. But Margrave had left everything in her surname to hide the fact that it belonged to him.
“I’ve got the address,” Chance said as Sunny texted it to him. “Let’s go get your woman.”
Without hesitation, I headed out of the clubhouse and for my Harley. April was waiting, injured, with no one to save her. She was no doubt scared and alone. But she wasn’t, an entire MC was riding for her, April just had to hold on.