Page 5

“Son of a cock sucker,” Brix says as he stares down at his shoes. A few splatters mar his Doc Martens.

“Georgia’s a big fucking state,” Madd says as he pulls his phone from his pocket and taps on the screen a few times, no doubt calling for someone to come clean this shit up.

“Get a list of the strip joints and we’ll send someone down to do some digging,” I say as I wipe the blood from my muzzle onto the back of Lorenzo’s shirt then shove it into the back of my pants.

“You realize there are no restrictions on Georgia’s clubs, right? Meaning there’s a shit load of them,” Madd says with a scowl.

“I don’t give a shit. Pick a couple lower-level guys and send them down.” I turn my attention to Lorenzo and smirk. “Maybe hold off the clean up until after you’ve figured out who to send so they can see firsthand what happens if they fail me again.”

“Us,” Brix grumbles. “What happens if they failus.”

Because yeah, all three of us have a bone to pick with the woman who betrayed us and nearly cost us everything.

Maddox sends out another text as I step away from the body and make my way to the steps.

“And if they find her? You want them to bring her back?” Madd asks from behind as we all ascend the stairs to the main level of the house.

Stopping at the fridge, I pull a beer from inside, twist the top, and take a long pull. My mind immediately starts turning, trying to picture what I’ll say, what I’ll do, how I’ll feel when I finally set eyes on Everest again.

She took everything from us after promising us the fucking world. The three of us still carry the letter E scarred on our chests from the night she told us we would not only be fathers but begged us to run away with her.

And the whole thing had been an act, a way to fuck with our heads.

I have no idea whether she was ever truly pregnant, but her father told us she’d aborted the baby and he’d helped her take off, that she had already been married to someone else.

I might have been able to forgive her if her father had forced her hand, but not if she’d killed our child. And not after begging us to turn our backs on my family, begging us to run away with her.

And fuck yeah, my father had been made aware of that fucking promise. He’d found out everything, and a price had been paid.

Now, it’s that whore’s turn to pay.

“If they find her, make sure they keep eyes on her at all times and wait for our arrival. It’s time to bring the cunt home.”

Chapter 2

Everest

No amount of makeup will ever cover the raised marks on my chest, but at least the concealer helps hide the silvery pink color. Add a little glitter and the assholes out there circling the stage like sharks only focus on my tits.

“You’re up in ten, Amber,” one of the bouncers says from the doorway.

I wave a hand over my shoulder and keep my focus on making sure my eyes are smoky, lips blood red, and those reminders of everything that had been ripped away from me are as hidden as possible.

Scarlett walks in, her tits bare, various denominations of bills hanging from her thong and wadded in her hands. We have the choice of whether or not we go fully nude. And, in my experience, the more we show, the more money we make.

Especially in the VIP rooms. While the public rules are no touching, whether we allow the clients to touch us – or fuck us –behind the closed door is completely up to us. Personally, I use my own discretion.

As in, I don’t fuck or suck anyone who wouldn’t interest me outside the club or gives me a bad vibe.

I haven’t bothered with dating in four years. I’ve been too afraid of the questions that would arise when the makeup is washed away from the various scars littering my body, or why I never speak about my family. As far as the few people I speak to are concerned, I have no family. They’re all dead.

Thing is, theyaredead to me.

Fuck them. Fuck every single one of them. Most of all my father.

A knife slices a path down my chest, directly between my breasts, bisecting the three initials that had only stopped bleeding less than thirty minutes before. This cut is far deeper, far more painful, and I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from screaming.

I will never show him or anyone an ounce of weakness.