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“ L et go of me!” My scream rips through the alley, bouncing off the tall brick walls that stretch at least ten stories high, swallowed by the shadows of the city night.

“Stop struggling, love. We don’t want to hurt you.” The deep timbre of the voice is chilling. Lethal. And unfamiliar.

“No! Stop!” I scream as loud as I can, flailing, trying to wrench myself free as my frantic eyes dart from the man that just spoke, then to the other man on my right.

“We need to get you out of here to safety. Hop in.” The other voice mutters with annoyance as I land a kick to his shin.

The open door of the SUV looms closer as they drag me, dread clawing at my chest like razor-sharp talons.

No.

I can’t let them take me.

I scream “ no” over and over as they get me to the open door, the one on my left shifting his hold to guide me while the one on my right maintains a death grip on my arm.

I don’t know these men. If I were to guess, I’d say they might be cops or something similar. The type that wear suits and drive cars with blacked out windows. Detectives maybe?

I don’t know what they want with me, but there’s no way I’m getting in their car.

Even as I continue to struggle, the men bark at each other to be careful of my stomach, and I can’t help but wonder if they’re more friends of Daniel’s and Donny’s fathers.

Suddenly, I’m yanked back, and the man guiding me on my left disappears from my side before the man on my right stiffens, turning us both to face someone new.

It takes me a moment to process what I’m seeing, the dark shadows of the alleyway playing tricks on my mind.

“Fuck. Come on now, Hush. Let him go.” The man still gripping my arm yanks me closer, and I go without a fight, not because I’m scared of what I’m seeing, but because I’m so confused.

“Dee?” I whisper, certain I’m hallucinating, because there’s no way the small mute girl who moved to Fox Pines last year is standing before us with a knife the size of my forearm pressed to the other tall man’s throat.

Her big dark eyes flick to mine briefly, giving me a nod, before they lock back onto the man holding me, her expression morphing into a deadly sneer that nearly makes me pee my pants.

What is happening right now ?

“You know, Hush, I consider this foreplay.” The tall man pinned under her knife’s blade dares to chuckle, not looking scared at all. “You sure you can handle the Devil?”

Dee just rolls her eyes, like holding a massive knife to some guy’s throat is the most normal thing in the world.

I don’t know why they are calling her Hush, or what she is doing here, but I have to admit, it’s a relief to see a familiar face. The only problem is that because of me, she might get hurt.

“Dee. What are you doing here?” I ask, trying to take a step forward, but the man at my side tightens his grip, refusing to let me move.

“That’s a good question, Dee .” The man next to me hisses her name, his tone like acid. “Why are you here, holding your fucking ninja blade to Devon’s throat? Have you forgotten that you work for me ?”

“She hasn’t forgotten.”

That voice.

I know that voice.

Tears sting my eyes, and my lip immediately starts wobbling as a tall figure steps from the shadows, the glint of a gun aimed right at the man holding me.

“For fuck’s sake.” The other man who referred to himself as the Devil, groans rolling his eyes. “Why the fuck are two of your team here going against you, Griff?”

“Shut the fuck up, Devon. I’m sure it’s nothing but a fucking misunderstanding,” the man holding me snaps, but I can hardly focus on anything but the newcomer.

Jared.

I grew up with Jared, crushing on him for years, and now he’s here, a gun firmly in his grip, looking nothing like the sweet blond-haired, blue-eyed boy who used to shove marbles up his nose just to see how far he could snort them out.

Now, this version of Jared is nothing but pure man, his gaze hard and just as lethal as the two men trying to kidnap me.

“You wanna tell me why the fuck you have a gun pointed at me, Crow?” The one holding me, Griff I think the other man called him, snarls in Jared’s direction.

Crow? Why did he call him Crow?

“I should have it pointed at your cousin, since he tried to flirt with what’s mine,” Jared snaps back, giving Dee a quick wink when their eyes meet. “But since we all know Hush can handle herself, and you have your hands on my friend… well. You’re a smart man. You understand.”

“Lower your gun now, Crow, and I’ll forget this ever happened,” Griffin snarls.

Devon, or the Devil, or whatever his name is scoffs. “I won’t fucking forget. They aren’t part of my crew.”

Devon stiffens and sucks in a sharp breath when Dee digs her blade a little deeper, a thin line of blood trickling down his neck.

“ Hush, ” Griff warns, squeezing my arm tighter as he does.

She simply arches a single brow at him.

“Fucking hell, kid. We’re doing this for your aunties.”

Dee rolls her eyes again, completely unfazed.

“And we’re doing this for our friend. Let Abbey go now, Griffin,” Jared demands, his voice so cold it almost makes me shiver.

The door I escaped through minutes ago bursts open with a whoosh, and suddenly Griffin releases me, shoving me behind him, a gun already in his hand. Jared, Dee and the other man, Devon, whip around, weapons raised, their eyes locked onto the new threat.

For a long tense moment, nothing but stunned silence fills the alley as the figure in the doorway remains still.

Shifting to the side to see past Griffin, my eyes land on not one, but two forms in the doorway.

Daniel and Donny.

“Is she there?” a voice yells from inside, and my knees nearly give out at the unmistakable voice of Officer Allen. Donny’s uncle.

The moment Donny shouts “Yes!”, Devon fires his gun, the bang like a clap of thunder, echoing off the alley walls. Fragments of brick explode, as Daniel and Donny yelp, diving for cover back inside the passage while Devon chuckles darkly.

“Fucking pussies.”

“Time to go,” Jared snaps, spinning and shoving Griffin aside before he grips my arm, dragging me down the alley.

“Seriously, Crow. You really gonna snatch my mark?” Griffin growls from behind us as Dee falls into step.

“I was, but now I’m helping you keep her safe by taking her, so you two can hold them back.”

My eyes widen at his words, and I glance back over my shoulder as we hurry away, just in time to see Officer Allen step out, his gun raised at Devon.

I squeak and duck as gunfire erupts behind us, and the three of us take off running, the other two men in suits covering our retreat.

“Hurry,” Jared hisses, passing me off to Dee, who grabs my other arm and pulls me forward faster as Jared shifts behind us and starts firing back .

“Oh my God,” I cry out, terrified Jared and Dee are going to get hurt, and dare I say, even a little worried about the men in suits too.

As we near the mouth of the alley, Dee points to the left, and we bolt that way, where she darts forward to yank open the door of a ute parked on the street.

She gestures again, holding it open, and I nod quickly, climbing in before she follows, sliding in next to me on the bench seat.

Gunfire echoes out of the alley as Jared sprints towards us, the driver’s door flying open before he leaps in and fires up the engine.

“Everyone okay?” he rushes out, slamming the ute into gear and gunning it out of the parking space.

“Yes,” I squeak before a thumb pops up in front of me, and I realise it’s Dee’s way of letting Jared know she’s okay while he frantically bounces his gaze between the road and the rearview mirror.

A ragged breath shudders out of me, and I realise I’m trembling.

Reaching around me, Dee grabs the seatbelt and pulls it across me, clicking it into place.

“T-thank you,” I murmur, tears blurring my vision as I try to look at her.

What the hell just happened?

One minute I was doing laundry, and the next I’m being hunted down by too many people to count, nearly kidnapped by suit-clad men in an alley, and then saved by a five-foot-nothing mute girl and a six-foot-something boy I grew up with.

“How? What?” I shake my head, trying to make sense of it all as hot tears track down my cheeks. “I don’t understand. ”

My gaze shifts to Dee.

She’s a small, mysterious girl who never speaks and hardly interacts with anyone, but who once approached me at the school swimming carnival, and used her phone to type out messages to find out if I needed help.

She knew.

All my friends knew I wasn’t in a good situation. They all wanted to help. Lexi tried, but I begged her not to because every time they tried, Daniel made me pay.

I felt so ashamed of what was happening. I couldn’t wrap my head around what my parents were forcing on me, or why having sex with Daniel was such a big deal. All I wanted was to make them happy and for things to go back to the way they were before I ever let Daniel Stone near me.

Now, Lexi’s the one that arranged for me to be taken away from my parents and saved me from my fate of being forced to marry a monster. And Jared… Jared’s the one saving me from the monsters that destroyed me over and over, making sure they can’t do it again.

I don’t deserve my friends. But I love them.

Dee reaches up, offering me a tissue, and I take it, her kindness squeezing a sob from me.

“T-thank you.”

“I don’t think anyone’s following,” Jared mutters, easing his foot off the accelerator as he relaxes back into his seat. “Fuck, Abs. I wasn’t expecting this.”

I turn to him, noticing his gaze fixed on the swell of my stomach.

“I wasn’t expecting you to come and save me. Who were those men? ”

Jared’s blue eyes meet mine briefly before flicking back to the road as he sighs.

“Well, the guy that had hold of you is Griffin Marx. My boss.”

My eyes widen. “Your boss? Where do you work?”

Dee leans forward, catching Jared’s attention, and raises her brows at him.

In fascination, I watch them have a silent conversation with just their eyes as I sit between them before Jared speaks again.

“I’m a part of the Marx crew. Griffin’s men in the Fox Pines district.”

I raise a brow. “And what do you do for him?”

He glances at me warily from the corner of his eye as he drives.

“Whatever he needs me to do.”

I roll my eyes. “Look, I get that I probably have no right to pry, Jared, but I can’t help but worry because you have a gun. They had guns.” I jerk my thumb in Dee’s direction. “She has a huge bloody knife. I can’t help but think your involvement with those men is anything but legal.”

Again, Dee’s thumb pops up in front of my face, and I glance at her.

“Is that confirming that I’m right?”

She nods.

I blanch.

Jared swerves the ute.

“Fuck!”

Gripping my seatbelt, my wide eyes lock onto the hood of a car speeding alongside us, and I realise it just merged onto the road, nearly clipping the side of Jared’s ute.

“Dee, glovebox,” Jared snaps, and I frown, watching her quickly pop it open to reveal another gun.

My eyes widen as she takes it out, and Jared curses, swerving the ute again.

“Fuck off!” he yells, and I flinch.

I’m slow to the party, because while Jared and Dee arm themselves with guns, I’m still sitting here wondering what the hell is going on. But then, the car next to us speeds up, and Daniel’s menacing glare comes into view.

“Pull over, Crowley!” Daniel yells, shouting Jared’s surname out the window of the silver car he’s driving, and Donny’s smug face pops into view from the passenger seat.

Dee answers for her boyfriend by flipping them the bird.

“You mute bitch! I’m gonna have fun showing you what it’s like to have a train run on you!”

“Motherfuckers!” Jared roars before swerving his ute hard into the side of their car.

I scream. Dee raises her gun, and Jared white knuckles the wheel as he tries to run them off the road.

Oh my God, we’re going to die.

I clutch onto my stomach, fear gripping me at the thought that I might not be able to keep my unborn baby safe.

With a sudden jerk, Jared swerves his ute hard in the other direction, tyres squealing as the back fishtails before he guns it up the freeway on-ramp, trying to put distance between us and Daniel.

Glancing over my shoulder, my heart sinks as I see the silver car gaining on us, headlights glaring through the darkness.

“They’re coming!” I screech.

“I see them,” Jared mutters, tossing Dee his phone without taking his eyes off the road. “Call Ayden.”

She nods, tapping the screen, and a moment later, the phone rings through the car speakers as Jared weaves across four lanes of light traffic on the freeway.

“You got her?” Ayden’s voice booms through the cabin, rough and urgent.

“We got her, but we can’t shake Stone and Allen. We’re about to hit the tunnel,” Jared grunts, eyes flicking to the rearview mirror.

“Fuck. Okay. I’ll call for reinforcements,” Ayden replies, but as we shoot into the tunnel with Daniel on our tail, something else catches my attention.

A distant rumble. Like a storm rolling in. Only this rumble doesn’t stop. It just gets louder.

“Uh, who were you going to call?” Jared asks, still focused on the mirror, his voice tight.

“You know who,” Ayden barks, and Jared snickers.

“No need. They’re already here. Gotta go.”

Dee ends the call, glancing over her shoulder, and for a long moment, as we race through the tunnel, I just sit there frozen as my heart flips over in my chest.

It can’t be? Right? I’m imagining something that isn’t real.

There’s no way there is an entire pack of motorcycles entering the tunnel behind us… right?

I don’t realise my left leg is jittering up and down until Dee’s hand comes to rest on my knee, giving it a squeeze.

My eyes flick from her hand to her face, and she offers me a small smile before mouthing. ‘You’ll be okay.’

I don’t know how true that statement is, but as the thunderous roar of engines gets louder and closer, something inside of me settles. Like just knowing who might be in that pack makes me feel a little safer.

“Fuck, hold on!” Jared yells right before the ute lurches forward from being hit from behind.

In an instant, Jared’s and Dee’s arms shoot out protectively, one from each side, holding me back against the seat. It’s such a simple, instinctive act, but it ignites a storm of emotions inside me. Like maybe, just maybe, there are still people besides Lexi who care about me despite everything I did wrong. Despite how I pushed them all away.

“Pricks.” Jared sneers, slamming his foot on the accelerator harder and swerving into the middle lane as we descend under the Yarra River. “Are you both okay?”

Once again, Dee gives a thumbs-up, and I manage a squeaky “Yes” before they both relax their hold on me.

When I glance up at Jared, he’s wearing a wicked grin, eyes fixed on the rearview mirror, which is when I notice how loud the roar of motorcycles has become—deafening, like a tidal wave crashing down behind us.

When Jared rolls his window down, I stiffen, the noise roaring through the cabin like a freight train before a motorcycle rumbles up beside his window, and I see a familiar face.

“Hey there, Charity. Good to see you’re still in one piece.”

A laugh bubbles up my throat at Smitty calling me “Charity”, and I slap a hand over my mouth to stifle it before he shoots me a wink and turns his focus to Jared.

I have no idea how Smitty’s not crashing his bike right now. It can’t be easy riding at this speed through a tunnel while casually chatting through a car window.

“You look like you could use some help,” Smitty’s voice is clear despite racing through a tunnel. “And since you’re carrying some very fucking precious cargo, I’m gonna cut through the shit and just tell you, straight up. We’re helping whether you want it or not.”

Jared nods, his grip on the wheel steady. “Fine with me, man.”

“Good fucking answer.” Smitty nods again, raising his hand and giving some sort of signal to his club brothers riding behind.

Glancing over my shoulder, I watch each of them mimic the gesture in unison, like it’s some kind of code. Or maybe it’s just a thing they like to do. Who knows.

Jared rolls up his window, keeping his ute in the middle lane as the tunnel starts to ascend, and he chuckles to himself, shaking his head.

“Wanna see Daniel Stone look like he’s about to piss his pants?” Jared asks, his tone smug. “Take a look behind us.”

Brows shooting up, I shuffle in the seat, craning my neck to peer out the back window. The silver car is falling back, and just like Jared said, Daniel looks panicked.

His eyes are wide, lips moving frantically while Donny looks to be barking into his phone from the passenger seat.

A wicked smirk tugs at my lips.

I like seeing fear in Daniel’s eyes. I like that, right now, the tables are turned and he’s realising that maybe, this time, he’s the victim .

My gaze shifts from the silver car to the horde of motorbikes surrounding both vehicles. Even with their helmets on, I spot JD, Murf, and Spud riding alongside Daniel’s car, with many more riders flanking us on either side and behind.

My heart flips as I scan each rider, hoping to spot one person in particular.

Desperation claws at me as I search for him, needing to know if he’s here, wanting to help too. But unless he’s way in the back, I can’t see him, and my heart stops flipping and starts sinking.

A gentle tap on my shoulder pulls my attention back to find Dee’s soft eyes, understanding etched across her expression before she points out her window, giving me a knowing look.

Following her direction, I glance up, my heart stopping entirely.

Ringo.

He’s right there.

And his dark gaze is locked on mine.