Chapter 29
Tessa
It’s been hours, and the silence is worse than the gunfire. I come to my feet in the safe room and begin to pace. Rubbing my belly, I feel anxiety swarming me, making me irritated and scared that something might have happened to Jasper or one of the others.
Around me, the other women cling to each other, whisper fearfully, and breathe in shallow, uneven gasps.
The atmosphere is rife with tension, and the air heavy with the scent of the club girls cloying perfume and sweat.
But there’s also the odor of something else, it seems familiar, but I just can’t place it.
There are subtle sounds down here but practically nothing from above. I can’t help but wonder if the battle is over and if our loved ones survived. I keep pacing, making longer strides between the back and front of the room. I’m full of nervous energy and have to walk it off or go mad.
Queenie stands near the door, her stance is stiff, her fingers flexing.
She hasn’t spoken in a while. I know her well enough to know that she’s worried about Rock and her boys.
She just keeps her eyes on the heavy steel door, probably wishing it would swing open at any second and Rock would be standing there to meet her.
Whoever comes through that door—be they friend or foe—she’ll be the first to meet them.
Silver whines, “Are you sure you don’t have the key to the restroom? I’m seriously about to piss myself.”
“I already told you that I didn’t even know it was locked. You’re going to have to wait, just like everyone else.”
I turn and walk towards the back of the room, wishing Silver would shut the hell up. She’s irritating and a lot to handle, especially in a crisis. I get that she’s scared, but we all are. The shadows are long now, cast by the emergency light overhead. My pulse beats low and steady in my ears.
I keep worrying about Jasper. He said he’d wait to come for me. He’s got to be okay. I close my eyes and press both palms to the round curve of my belly. He has to come back. For me. For the baby. For all of us waiting in the dark.
Suddenly, the bathroom door swings open, and a tall form steps out and grabs me from behind. It happens so fast that my brain can’t process it. I thought we were alone down here and don’t know how we missed him. He’s apparently the one keeping the bathroom door locked from the inside.
The women scream. A panicked shuffle fills the room as they scramble back towards the opposite wall, pressing into one another. I try to move, but he’s already on me. The scent of his expensive cologne filling my nose. I suddenly realize who it is.
“Don’t fight me, Tessa.” A smooth voice whispers into my ear. “I’m sick and tired of you fighting me at every turn.”
“Let me go. What are you doing here? I told you that I voided the contract.”
Mr. Whitmore doesn’t let me go, though. He grips me tightly and snorts a laugh, like this is all some kind of game. This man is going to get himself killed, and he doesn’t even realize it.
The room goes unnaturally quiet. Even Queenie stills. She just stands near the door, glaring at Whitmore.
No matter how I twist or turn, this horrible man won’t let me go. My heart is now beating wildly in my chest. I don’t let him see that I’m afraid. I have to stay strong and prove I can get through tough situations without freaking out.
When I glance back at him, he gives me a polite smile, like we’re best friends.
I can’t believe that it’s him. Whitmore showed up here.
How did he know this was the day to slip in unnoticed?
This is the man I was supposed to carry a child for.
The one whose paperwork I signed before the mix-up at the lab.
The one who’s been quiet until now, ever since Jasper ran him off from my house that day.
And now I’m somehow his hostage. His shield. I must not be the sharpest tool in the shed because I honestly can’t work out why he came here or what he wants.
But I know one thing with perfect, crystalline clarity. Footsteps are coming down the steps. I pray that it’s Jasper, coming to rescue me from this ignorant man.
The safe room door clicks. I freeze as the door handle turns.
For a second, hope surges in my chest, and joy floods my system when Jasper steps through the doorway, looking battle-weary but lethal.
He’s filthy and blood-slicked, his cut torn and hanging off one shoulder.
Rock is close behind him. Both of them stop cold when they see Whitmore.
Jasper’s eyes land on me. On the pistol pressed to my neck and Whitmore’s arm cinched around my ribs.
And something inside him goes still. There is no yelling.
No rush to do something and perhaps accidentally provoke him into shooting me.
His gaze locks with mine, and I feel the rage bubbling up inside him.
The man holding me sees it too.
“Well,” he says, with a smug little sniff, “I thought Marquez was going take you out and set up shop in whatever was left of your little building. But here you are, in the flesh.”
Whitmore’s voice is flat and stone-cold. Like everything is beneath him. Like this is just a boardroom or a negotiation that’s gone slightly off-script.
Jasper’s eyes shift from him to me and back again. I get the strong feeling, he’s thinking of a way to get at Whitmore before Whitmore can use the gun he’s holding against my neck.
“I thought you gave up your claim when the contract was voided,” Jasper says coldly. “But I guess consent’s just a technicality to guys like you.”
“Tessa doesn’t get to sign a contract and then void it,” he sneers. “There was no clause that allowed such a thing.” shifting the muzzle towards my belly. “I just want her to fulfill the contract she signed by carrying my child.”
“That’s not gonna happen,” Jasper shoots back.
“Of course it is. It’s unfortunate you ended up contaminating the process with your seed, because now I’m forced to clean up the mess. Reset the timeline. Start over. You understand that, right?”
Jasper takes another step into the room. “No bro, I don’t understand. You’re talking about killing a very wanted child so you can reuse a woman’s body to carry your own child. That’s all kinds of fucked up. You’re a smart man, so you’ve gotta know that.”
“She agreed to carry my child.” Whitmore repeats, his fingers tighten on me, painfully. “She signed the papers. She belonged to me first. You can do whatever you want with her after I’m finished with her.”
“You fuckin’ think you own her, asshole? That she’s yours to force, to use and then give away to another man once you’re finished?” Jasper’s voice is dangerously soft. “She told you no. Why can’t you get that through your thick skull? You’re supposed to be a smart man, in your fancy suit and all.”
The man scoffs. “You’re barely civilized. Your whole operation smells like crime gone wild.”
“I’m about done talking about this. I’m starting to think maybe I need to talk to your wife about how obsessed you are with my old lady.”
“You’ll not do anything of the sort. She doesn’t need to know.” His mouth snaps shut when he realizes that he just admitted to being obsessed with me. When he speaks again, his voice is smooth and controlled again. If you were smart, you’d walk away from me right now.”
“Funny. I was about to say the same to you.” Jasper’s hands curl into fists at his sides. “The only difference is, I’m not askin’.”
The man lowers the barrel to my stomach. The shift is small, but it’s enough. Jasper sees it.
“You wouldn’t dare,” Jasper growls.
“I would,” he answers, calm as ice. “Because this is the child that never should have been. It’s a mistake, an error that I can easily fix.”
Something in Jasper’s eyes changes. A flicker of something deadly. His voice drops to a whisper.
“You put a mark on her, and you are a dead man. You’ll rot in the fucking earth and no one will ever know what happened to you.”
Whitmore laughs because he doesn’t understand the danger he’s in. “Is that supposed to scare me?”
“No,” Jasper says, deadpan. “The fact that you gave money to the Hyenas to spy on me, broke into my clubhouse, and have a weapon trained on my old lady should scare the ever-loving fuck outta you.” Pausing for a second, Jasper adds, “You’re just some lame riche dude who thought his fucking money could buy people.
While I just tore the Hyenas apart. I’m literally wearing the club president’s blood on my clothes right now.
The ones that aren’t dead ran away. They fucking left you here, knowing that touching my old lady means death. ”
“Everyone is for sale at the right price,” he sneers.
I barely notice Queenie shift. Just one step. Barely perceptible. But Jasper does.
The man holding me is too focused on his monologue to notice. “You act like this is personal, but I’m just correcting a system error. You’re overthinking this situation. I’m more fit to be a parent than a damn outlaw biker.”
Jasper tilts his head. “Is that how you explain your whole life? Every woman who’s ever worked for you is technically yours to use as long and hard as you like? What happens if they move on to greener pastures?”
“No one really leaves me,” he says with a touch of pride. “They’re all still there. On my terms. One way or another.”
“Not this one,” Jasper says, his voice is low, cold, and final.
And then, in an instant, Whitmore falls to the floor with a resounding thud.
When he drops, and I press my back to the wall, my hands still trembling. Jasper steps forward and slips his arms around me. He whisks me away to the other side of the room and holds me close. It takes me a minute to realize what happened.
Whitmore is lying on his side with his gun in his hand, but he also has a gigantic knife sticking out of his chest.
I look up at Jasper, shocked. “What happened? How did you take him down without him shooting me?”
He jerks his chin at Queenie, who is now practically preening.