Wallhalla MC -Reeze-

Prologue

Charlie was just about to lock the door when she heard footsteps in the stairwell.

At first, she didn’t think much of them.

People were always running up and down the stairs, and the old building was full of noise, but these footsteps continued upwards at the same leisurely pace, and somewhere inside her, an unpleasant feeling began to grow.

She knew who it was even before the three hard knocks landed against the door, and she closed her eyes for a brief second, cursing herself for still allowing herself to hope that she was wrong.

When she opened it, Dennis stood there, just as always, clean-shaven and well-dressed, with that appealing appearance that made people smile at him without understanding why they would later regret it.

“You need to stop doing that,” he said with a smile, as if they were discussing the weather instead of him once again violating the restraining order.

Charlie gave him an anxious look. “What?”

“Moving.”

She tried to close the door, but Dennis managed to get his hand against it and stopped her. The smile was still on his lips, but there was no warmth in his eyes. “I don’t want to talk to you.”

“You say that every time, and yet I always get what I want.”

His gaze slid past her and into the flat as if he already had a right to be there, as if her home still somehow belonged to him.

“You have a restraining order,” she reminded him, and Dennis let out a short, mocking laugh.

“A piece of paper doesn’t change much.”

That was probably what hurt so much. Despite all the reports, all the phone calls and all the times she had tried to get help, he was still standing outside her door, still just as convinced that the world worked according to his rules.

“What do you want?”

“I want you to come home.”

Charlie stared at him for a few seconds before she burst out laughing.

Not because there was anything funny about what he had said, but because it was so completely insane.

After all the bruises and the lies, after the nights she had spent at friends’ places just so he wouldn’t find her, he still believed she would come back.

“No.”

The smile disappeared from his face and his gaze hardened. “Charlie.”

“I said no.”

“You don’t know what you’re doing. You’re ruining your life.”

Anger slowly began to replace fear, and Charlie straightened her back a little.

“My life got better when I left you.”

She realised her mistake the moment the words left her mouth. Something changed in his gaze, and Dennis took a step forward. “I’m trying to help you.”

Charlie backed away. “Get out, Dennis. Go.”

“I’m trying to save you.”

“I asked you to leave.”

The blow came so quickly that she never saw it. Pain exploded through her face and she was thrown backwards against the wall, where she fumbled for something to hold on to, her ears ringing.

“Look what you make me do.”

The words cut through her almost worse than the blow itself because she had heard them so many times before, after the shoves, the slaps and all the times he had lost control and then somehow managed to make it her fault.

Dennis took another step towards her but stopped when the sound of an engine reached them from the yard outside. The deep, familiar rumble of a Harley grew louder before falling silent between the buildings, and shortly afterwards she heard footsteps downstairs.

Someone had come home.

Dennis glanced quickly towards the window, and Charlie saw the hesitation on his face. He had always been wary of witnesses and people who could cause him trouble.

“This isn’t over,” he muttered before turning and disappearing.

The front door slammed shut behind him, and Charlie stood in the middle of the floor as silence fell over the flat again. It took a moment before she could bring herself to move, and then she slowly walked over to the window and pulled back the curtain.

Down in the yard, a dark-haired biker got off his Road King and started walking towards the stairwell, completely unaware of what he had just interrupted.

Charlie didn’t know who he was and had never seen him before, but still she stood by the window and followed him with her eyes. He looked like a man no one would ever dare to hunt.