Page 34

34

Reagan

Darkness has all my other senses heightened as I’m pulled out of the back of a vehicle. From the uneven ground, I assume I’m walking over dirt. Calloused fingers grip my arm, tugging me to follow faster, and I nearly trip over something.

The creak of rusted hinges fills the silence and then the ground beneath me changes. The warmth of the afternoon sun is replaced by muggy heat. There’s another creak of old hinges, and then I’m led down a set of stairs.

No matter how careful I try to step, the man tugs me harder. He’s more impatient with every step. The hood over my head is musky, stirring up my already sensitive sense of smell.

We couldn’t have driven for more than thirty minutes, so we’re probably on the outskirts of Vegas, but even that is not comforting. There’s no city noise. No traffic. Just silence as wooden stairs groan beneath my feet .

Voices filter through the silence when we reach the bottom of the staircase, and the man guiding me releases my arm to untie the hood, ripping it off.

It’s not much lighter down in this basement than it was under the hood. Outside, it’s still daylight, but the dirt covering the windowpane of the only window barely allows any light through.

My eyes take a moment to adjust. With my hands cuffed behind my back, I can’t rub them or brush the stray hairs from my face.

Slowly, my vision clears, and goose bumps prickle my skin at the sight of three bikers standing directly in front of me. If that wasn’t enough to rake my nerves, the iron cages lining the walls of the basement do the trick.

Some are empty. Some aren’t. Either way, I know I’m joining them, and this is worse than I thought.

“So, this is Legacy’s new bitch?” the man in the center says, drawing my attention back to him.

His tattooed arms are crossed over his chest, and his dark hair is shaved nearly to his scalp, showing off the tattoos that stretch from his temples to the back of his skull.

When no one immediately answers, I think he might be talking to me, but then a figure moves in the shadows, and my heart nearly stops.

Sera twitches as she steps into the light, offering me the same cold glare she gave me at the clubhouse. Her teeth rake over her bottom lip while her vacant eyes watch me. Her blonde hair is in a messy ponytail, and even though her wounds have been healing, the red lines from the barbed wire are still there.

“That’s her.” She scratches the back of her hand like she’s crawling out of her skin. “Is that it? You promised me, Titan—”

His glare cuts her off. She presses her lips together and swallows. And when he turns his attention back on me, my spine tingles.

“Your man took something from me, doll.” Titan steps forward, dragging a rough finger down the center of my throat. “I gave him a chance to give it back, and he refused. So when you pay for his mistakes with your cunt, your mouth… your ass… I want you to remember he’s the one who did this to you.”

Tears burn behind my eyes as I process what he’s saying. As I feel the women in the cages stir at his words. As the severity of this situation sinks in.

But as badly as I want to beg and plea, I keep my mouth shut. I know better than to ask for kindness from a man with such malice in his eyes. It might only spur him on.

Titan steps back, his dark eyes gleaming with evil.

“Want us to bring her to you before we move the girls this week?” the man on his right asks. “Might piss Legacy off even more if he knows you defiled her pretty little cunt.”

Titan shakes his head. “She’ll sell for more if we keep her just like this. She doesn’t have to be a virgin to sell like one. Just needs to look the part.”

Sell .

I’ve gathered that not all Twisted Kings business dealings are legal, but they would never traffic women. Whoever these men are, they don’t have the same moral boundaries.

Now it’s clear why Jesse didn’t so much as flinch when he shot one of them dead. They’re not just bad; they’re cut from the fabric of hell, doing the unthinkable.

“Whatever you say, Prez.” The man on Titan’s right grits his teeth like he’s not thrilled they won’t be doing anything with me before I’m moved —whatever that means.

“Lock her up.” Titan juts his chin to the cell.

He turns to leave, and only then does Sera step forward, panicking.

“You said if I helped, you’d give me what I asked for.”

Titan pauses, looking over his shoulder at her with disgust. His gaze moves from her to the man at his left. “Get her payment and then get her out of my fucking sight.”

Titan disappears up the steps without another word, and his right-hand man looks at Sera. “Wait here.”

She nods, continuing to twitch and avoid my gaze as he starts up the staircase.

There’s only the man who brought me down here now, and he guides me to a cell at the side of the room. Sera doesn’t say anything as she watches. But when the iron bars slam shut, she flinches.

“Turn around,” he orders, and I do as I’m told.

He reaches through and pulls my arms back to the bars, releasing the handcuffs. I rub my wrists as I turn around, noticing the cells are smaller on the inside than they initially looked. There’s barely enough room to sit, much less lie down.

No mattress. Just dirt.

The Iron Sinner doesn’t say another word as he follows the rest of them up the staircase, leaving Sera as the only free woman in a room with those of us who are caged.

She did this.

They said it themselves.

Sera turned me over to Jesse’s enemies.

“How could you do this?” I ask, not expecting her to answer, but I can’t help myself. “Jesse helped you. He took you in. He trusted you.”

Irritation flares in her eyes. “That’s on him.”

“So that’s it? You have no guilt? You used the father of your daughter to get paid, and you don’t care about the consequences? You don’t care what this will do to him?”

Her eyes narrow as she walks toward my cell. “You think losing you will hurt Legacy? You must think awfully high of yourself then, Reagan. He might be interested in you now, but he’ll get bored. He’s a biker. That’s what they do.”

“You don’t know him.” I grit my teeth.

“I know how men in his world operate. No matter what whims they chase.” She steps closer, seemingly amused by my naivety. “Don’t look at me like I’m the bad guy here. You’re the one who put yourself in the line of fire by getting involved with him and his club. You’re no better than me. You’re just newer to his life. Eventually, being around bikers will ruin you too. ”

My stomach spins as she leans even closer.

“The best you can do now is make the most of the options you’ll be given. That’s what I did. I tried to get out, but you never really can. So don’t judge me for handing you over or blame me for hurting Legacy. I showed him mercy by giving them you. He’ll survive losing you, but he wouldn’t have survived losing the kid.”

“You mean your daughter .” My fists clench.

“Yeah, sure.” Sera’s gaze hardens. “We all do what we need to do, Reagan. Even if it hurts a little sometimes.”

Her fingers graze over the still-healing wounds on her arms.

“You let them do that to you?”

“How else do you think I’d get Legacy to trust me again? Can’t just walk back in and pretend to give a shit about Beatrice. He’s always been so damn protective over her. I had to give him a story he’d be willing to believe. Something that would make him feel guilty enough to let me stay, no questions asked. At least, until Titan got what he wanted.”

My heart hurts.

For Jesse.

For Bea.

I can’t imagine how Sera could do something that terrible to herself in the name of survival.

It’s proof she doesn’t know Legacy at all. Because if she really did know him, she’d know she could have come to him for safety. He’d do it out of love for his daughter, no matter how he feels about her.

Instead, she cut a deal with his enemies .

“You don’t deserve them,” I whisper.

Sera’s eyes slide down, taking in my position in the cage. Assessing me for a moment. When her gaze snaps back to mine, any warmth is gone.

“Maybe you’re right. And maybe you did. But I’m the one who is still standing on this side of the bars, so I guess it doesn’t matter.”

Movement comes from the staircase, and Sera spins, scratching her arms as she walks over to a man with a baggie of pills.

That’s all it took. A handful of drugs, and she turned me over. She was willing to ruin Jesse’s life and betray her daughter for a fix. They both deserve so much better.

With a final glance, Sera disappears up the stairs, leaving me with nothing but rage toward that woman.

But the biker who paid her doesn’t follow her like I expect. He stands at the base of the stairs, scanning the room until his gaze lands on me.

I back up to the bars as he approaches, trying to get as far away from him as I can.

“I can see why Legacy liked you.” He reaches between the bars, but I shift away.

“Don’t.”

“Why not? No one has to know.”

He dives for me again, and the girl in the cell beside mine reaches through the bars of her own to intercept him. She grabs his hand, slamming his wrist into the bars and bending his finger back, threatening to break it as he groans from the pain .

“Your boss gave you an order.” She bends his finger back farther.

His face twists in pain until he manages to slip her grip. She’s limited with how she can attack from her cell, and now that he’s free, he aims for her instead.

The biker reaches into the girl’s cell and grabs her by the throat. Her nails dig into his arms as he pulls her face to the front of the cell so hard her face slams against the bars. Blood spills from her split lip, but she doesn’t so much as flinch as her fiery brown eyes stare into his.

Her shoulder-length brown hair is messy and matted at the back like she’s been here for at least a few days. Dirt is caked under her nails and covers her arms.

“Careful, Aimee, or Titan will make good on those threats before your daddy has a chance to do his job.” The biker shoves Aimee, and she collapses against the back of the cell.

She stares at him with the kind of rage that’s palpable as he turns to go. Blood drips down her lip and chin, but she doesn’t lift her hand to wipe it away until he slams the basement door behind him.

“Asshole,” she mutters.

I turn to face her. “Are you okay?”

Her gaze meets mine, and she pauses, stepping closer in the limited space of our connected cells.

“I’m fine.” Her tone is clipped and angry. “You?”

“I’m all right, thanks to you.”

“Don’t mention it. ”

There’s nothing friendly in her tone, and I get the sense that whatever in life hardened her happened long before she was locked up down here.

“I’m Reagan,” I say, introducing myself.

She spits blood on the ground. “Aimee.”

Through the dirt caked on her clothes and cheeks, she’s pretty. But she’s not soft or sweet. Everything about Aimee is pure fire and rage. There’s a war waging in her eyes, and her presence is cold and harsh.

“Is your father the reason you’re here?” I ask her, remembering what the biker said.

The other girls in the room are silent, so maybe I’m not supposed to talk. But this girl saved me, so the least I can do is get to know her.

She nods once. No emotion. Just a cold glaze over her eyes.

“Yeah.” She skims me over. “Let me guess, you’re with a Twisted King?”

I nod.

“Figures.” She huffs.

“Why do you say that?”

A dark chuckle leaves her lips as she rests her head against the back of her cell. “Because this is what happens when you fall for one of them.”

“You say that like you know something about it.”

Her jaw ticks. “Yeah, at one point, I did.”

I swallow hard, wanting to know more of that story but knowing better than to ask. So instead, I say, “Thank you for stopping him. ”

“No worries. Wish I could save you from what’s next, but I think we’re both a little fucked where that’s concerned.”

“Seems like it.” I press my palm to my stomach, wishing it would settle.

Aimee notices, her eyes falling to my hands. When her stare snaps back up, I hear the question without her even having to ask it.

“I just found out.” Tears burn behind my eyes, thinking about how excited I was to tell Jesse I retook the pregnancy test. “It’s early.”

“Don’t let them know.”

“Why not?”

She swallows hard, and for the first time, I see emotion swim in her stare. “Because they’ll take care of the problem.”