Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
STORM
Pain. It always starts with pain. The first thing I feel is the cold bite of metal digging into my wrists. Chains.
My stomach lurches before my eyes have even opened.
No... please... Not here. I force my eyelids apart and see cracked plaster, mould creeping across the ceiling, and faded wallpaper stained with damp.
Then my gaze drops. The radiator—rusted—bolted beneath the filthy window.
The chain is wrapped around it. Wrapped around me.
My heart stops. No. No, no, no... Not this place.
Not again. The same apartment. Our apartment.
The same radiator he’d chained me to before.
The same room he’d left me in to die, but it’s different. It’s been destroyed.
My chest tightens until I can’t breathe. “No...” I whisper. A slow clap echoes through the apartment, and every muscle in my body locks.
“Welcome home, Tori.”
My blood turns to ice. I slowly lift my head to see Zeke lounging against the bedroom doorway, like he hasn’t got a care in the world.
Crisp white shirt, pressed trousers, expensive watch.
He looks like he’s about to walk into surgery, instead of dragging me back into my worst nightmare.
He smiles. That same smile. The one that I had once loved now haunted every nightmare I’d had since I escaped.
“You’ve lost weight,” he says, looking me up and down. “I prefer you like this.” I stare at him, then I laugh. It’s hollow; humourless.
“You really are fucking delusional.”
His smile twitches, but only for a second. “There she is.” He nods approvingly. “I’ve missed that mouth.”
“Well, I haven’t missed yours.”
His jaw tightens. “You’ve been spending too much time around those bikers.”
“They taught me self-respect.” I grit my teeth.
“They turned you into a whore,” he seethes.
I bark out another laugh. “No.” I shake my head. “They turned me into someone who isn’t scared of you,” I spit. “Not anymore.”
Silence. Heavy, suffocating silence surrounds us. Then his phone rings. He glances at the screen before a slow grin spreads across his face.
“Perfect timing.” He answers it, pressing it onto speaker. “Ghost.”
Dad doesn’t waste a second. “You’re a dead man.”
“So emotional,” Zeke sighs dramatically. “I expected more from the President of the Black Hearts MC.”
I lunge forward against the chains. “Dad!” The links bite into my wrists. “Dad! I’m alive! I’m okay!”
Before I even see him move, something hard crashes into the side of my head. White explodes behind my eyes, the room spins violently, and blood floods my mouth. I cough, tasting copper.
Zeke crouches in front of me, the gun still clenched in his hand. “You speak when I allow it.”
I spit blood onto his polished shoes. “Fuck you.”
His smile returns. “I preferred you quieter.”
Dad’s voice crackles through the speaker. “You touch her again...”
“What?” Zeke interrupts with a laugh. “You’ll kill me?
” He begins pacing. “I don’t want money.
I don’t even want revenge.” He pauses. “Well, maybe a little revenge.” He sighs.
“I just want my life back.” He ends it by throwing his arms around, gesturing wildly around the apartment.
“They ruined everything. My hospital, my career. My reputation.” He runs his hands through his hair.
“Call off your dogs. Tell the police they got it wrong. Tell the hospital those photographs were fabricated. Say they’re AI or some shit, I don’t know. ” He shrugs. “I’ll even forgive Storm.”
Dad laughs, cold and mocking. It’s the kind of laugh that promises death.
“You really are fucking insane.” Silence.
Then Dad speaks again. “I can make a lot of things disappear.” His voice is ice.
“Evidence. Witnesses. Problems.” A pause.
“But your parents’ bodies...” Another pause. “Left to rot in your basement?”
The colour drains from Zeke’s face, but Dad doesn’t stop.
“That’s beyond even me.” Another beat. “So, tell me, why the fuck would I help you?” The call ends, and silence crashes back into the apartment.
Zeke doesn’t move. Doesn’t breathe. Then, he slowly turns towards me. His smile has vanished. “You did this.”
I hold his gaze. “No.”
His voice rises. “You did.”
He fists my hair, wrenching my head backwards. Pain screams through my scalp. “You made them choose you over me.”
Despite everything, I laugh. “They didn’t choose. They finally saw who you really are.”
His grip tightens. “You were supposed to love me.”
“I pitied you,” I spit.
His hand lashes out, and pain bursts across my cheek. I taste blood again, but I don’t cry, I don’t beg, and I don’t lower my eyes, because he isn’t looking at the woman he left bleeding on this floor months ago. He’s looking at Ghost’s daughter, Star’s daughter; a Black Heart MC.
He strikes me again, and I smile through split lips. “That all you’ve got?” I challenge.
His breathing turns ragged. “You’re supposed to be afraid.”
“I was.” I stare straight into his eyes. “But then I remembered who the fuck I am.” His fist freezes. “I survived you once and I’ll fucking survive you again.”
Rage twists his features before he storms out of the bedroom.
Good. Lose your temper. Stop thinking. Because while you’re busy trying to break me, I’m watching. I’m watching where you dropped your keys. Watching where you left your phone. You still think I’m broken. You still think I’m the frightened girl you chained to this radiator. You’re wrong.
Slowly and carefully. I edge closer to the radiator.
The chain scrapes across the floor; too loud.
I freeze. He doesn’t react. Another inch.
The charging cable stretches. Come on...
please. The phone slips from the bedside table, landing with a dull thud.
He keeps pacing, talking to himself. He doesn’t hear it.
I hook it with my foot, dragging it closer.
Every movement sends pain ripping through my shoulder.
I grit my teeth, ignoring it. My fingertips brush cold glass, and the screen lights up.
Locked. Fuck. Think. Emergency. I tap it.
Options appear. One catches my eye. Emergency text.
Location. My thumb trembles. Please, please work.
I press send, and the phone vibrates once.
Location sent.
Relief crashes through me so hard I almost sob. Footsteps move toward me, too close. I shove the phone beneath the shredded armchair just as Zeke walks back into the room. He smiles. Cold, patient and predatory.
“So...” He raises the gun. “Now...” He tilts his head. “Where were we?”