Chapter 26 #2
My stomach plummets. No. I do recognize the voice.
The Raider prez. The man I was supposed to give myself to.
To jump on the block for. The man who expected me to lie back and let him fuck me, hurt me, pass me around.
That was my mandate, what I was directed to endure.
He wanted me, so he gets me. That’s the rule in that club.
I’m property to be freely given away, used and abused and, if he commands it, killed.
I clear my throat. “What do you want?”
He clicks his tongue. “I’ve been waiting for Keegan to bring you back to me. But he’s dead, isn’t he? Your pig boyfriend do that? Or was it your snake of a brother who got that honour?”
“No,” I say quickly. “No that was… that was me.”
Decker said a fight was coming to South Bay. The Sinner blood that runs in my veins makes what I did a war crime. But if it was just me? Just my crime, maybe that means no one else has to get hurt. Maybe I can keep the trouble out of South Bay completely.
“Impressive,” he rasps. “I almost respect it. Taking two of my men. I sure fuckin’ underestimated you. But I guess that’s what happens when you let a snake in the garden, isn’t it? You get bit. Time to come home, Gracie. Time to face what you did. What you owe me.”
Bile rises in my throat. “I-I can get the cash. And the coke, okay? I?—”
He lets out an icy laugh. “We’re well beyond that, little Sinner.
What I’m owed is you. Your sweet cunt, and then your life.
Blood for blood, bitch, and you’ll be bleeding all of it for the lives you fuckin’ took.
” He breathes into the phone, making the line crackle.
“What we were offering you was a fuckin’ honour.
A chance to give yourself to us. To me. Know how many women would fuckin’ die to be in that spot? ”
“None I know,” I say dryly. “Stay away from me, or my brothers will fucking kill you. Understand?”
He hums. “The Grave Man is in lockup, and your prez won’t be doing much killing. Not for long.”
The knot in my stomach twists. “What… what do you mean by that?”
“I’m gonna send you an address. My men will be there to bring you home to me. So we can properly talk about how you’re gonna atone for your sins. You got twenty minutes.”
“I’m not going anywhere with those assholes.”
“Thought you might say that. Check what I just sent you.”
My phone buzzes in my hand. I pull it away from my ear and tap on the messaging app. A video appears in a new text thread, and hand shaking, I click on it.
The image is dark and a little grainy, the sun almost fully set, but the line of cop cars in the frame gives away the location. The South Bay PD parking lot. The person recording advances a little, the camera shaky, but as they approach one of the cruisers, Decker comes into focus.
My stomach flips.
His back is to the camera as he leans into the trunk of the car, oblivious to the threat.
As the camera turns and steadies on a fully masked man, gun in hand, bile creeps up my throat. He raises the weapon. Points it towards Decker. Finger on the trigger.
Panic clutches my chest, and I close out of the video and navigate to the phone icon. I have to hang up. I have to warn him. Tell him to run. To get inside.
The voice coming from my phone stops me cold.
“Shame if something were to happen to your precious little boy toy, wouldn’t you say, Gracie?”
“Don’t you dare fucking hurt him,” I snarl.
“Killin’ cops isn’t exactly my favourite pastime.
Too much heat. But don’t think for a fuckin’ minute that I won’t do it.
Twenty minutes. Every minute you’re late, I’ll add an extra minute to the extremely painful death I got planned for him.
And then we’ll come for you anyway. It’s over, little Sinner. ”
I swallow, tears springing from my eyes. “Okay. Okay, just… only if you keep him out of this.”
He hums. “That’s a good girl. And Gracie? You bring anyone with you or even think about warning those Sinner fucks, they will all be gutted and killed. See you soon, bitch.”
The line goes dead.
I steady a hand on the counter to stop myself from collapsing.
I let myself get too comfortable, let myself feel too safe.
Coming to South Bay put the people I care about, my family, in the same line of fire I was running from.
If I don’t surrender, they’ll all burn with me.
I can’t have that. I can’t let Linc pay for what I did. My brothers. Kat and Triss. No one.
A long, shaky breath huffs from my lungs as I tilt my head back, willing my heart to slow, willing the panic flooding my veins to dissipate.
Cut and run. It’s what my body’s telling me to do.
Leave this town in the dust.
Decker, the Sinners, my family. None of it matters. New town, new life.
But that’s the thing. They’re all that matter.
I steady my focus on the ceiling above me, racking my brain. Time ticks by, getting closer to that deadline, to when my life ends.
That’s when I see it. The vent above me, askew. The screws loose. I hoist myself onto the counter and yank it from the drywall, then reach inside, feeling for?—
“Jackpot,” I say as my hand lands on a brick of cocaine. I fish out the money, and to my luck, I also find a gun. I check the magazine. Loaded.
My chest is heavy as I write a quick note to Linc. Then, with another deep breath, I grab the product and cash, stash the gun at my back, and snag Decker’s keys.
Moments later, I’ve mounted his bike, ready to speed towards what might be the last thing I ever do.
Or the last thing they ever do.
Maybe I die tonight. Or maybe these assholes find out what really happens when you back a snake into a corner.