Page 23 of Misery (Raiders of Valhalla MC: New Blood #7)

CHAPTER TWELVE

Oskar

The clubhouse is too quiet for the amount of rage contained within its walls.

We've been strategizing for an hour, maps spread across the chapel table, everyone arguing about the best approach to getting Ivar.

We already know the Starlite Motel is a trap.

We know Thiago expects us, but Ivar's been missing for over eight hours now, and every minute we wait is another minute he could be bleeding out.

"We go in hard," Tor insists, stabbing his finger at the motel layout. "Full force. Overwhelm whatever defenses he has."

"That's what he expects," I counter. "Thiago knows how we operate. He'll have contingencies."

"Then what do you suggest?" Magnus asks. "We can't just leave Ivar with that psycho."

Before I can answer, we hear shouting from outside.

A woman's voice, high and desperate.

Then Bodul's voice, trying to calm her down.

"I need to talk to someone! I know about Thiago! Please!"

We all freeze and look at each other.

I'm moving before anyone else, hand on my weapon as I exit kirkja.

In the main bar area, Bodul has a woman cornered near the entrance.

She's maybe twenty-five, beautiful in that carefully maintained way.

Dark hair with expensive highlights.

Designer clothes that are disheveled like she left in a hurry.

But it's her face that catches my attention—mascara streaked from crying, eyes wild with fury and fear, a bruise blooming on her left cheekbone.

"Who are you?" Runes demands, pushing past me.

"Eleyna." Her voice shakes but not from fear. From rage. "I'm... I was Thiago's girlfriend."

The room goes silent.

Everyone is processing this unexpected development.

"Was?" I ask, stepping closer.

She turns those wild eyes on me and I see recognition flash. "You're Oskar. He has your picture. Had. Before he burned it."

"You know where he is?"

"I know everything." She laughs but it's bitter, broken. "Where he is. What he's planning. What he's been doing. I know about the girl. Elfe. The one he's actually in love with."

Magnus and Runes exchange looks.

This could be another trap, another game.

But the fury in her eyes seems real.

The bruise definitely is.

"Why should we trust you?" Runes asks.

She reaches into her purse and everyone tenses, hands moving to weapons.

But she pulls out a phone, starts swiping through photos.

"Because of this."

She turns the screen toward us.

It's a room I don't recognize, but what's in it makes my blood freeze.

The walls are covered with photos of Elfe.

Hundreds of them. Maybe thousands.

Elfe at work. Elfe painting. Elfe sleeping. Elfe in various states of undress, clearly taken without her knowledge.

"This is in our apartment," Eleyna says. "Was. I found it this morning. He had a locked room he said was for work. Los Coyotes business, don't go in there. But I heard him on the phone last night, moaning her name in his sleep again, and I just... I needed to know."

She swipes to another photo.

It's worse. Drawings of Elfe. Plans written out in Thiago's handwriting. Kill schedules with Los Coyotes members' names crossed off.

"How long have you been with him?" I ask.

"Ten months. Met him at a bar in Phoenix. He was charming, dangerous in that exciting way. Said he was in logistics for a shipping company." She laughs again, harsh. "Logistics. He was planning murder and stalking some girl, and I was playing housewife."

"He hit you." It's not a question. The bruise is fresh, maybe three hours old.

"When I confronted him. About the room. About her." She touches the bruise gingerly. "He said I had no right to question him. That I was nothing. A convenience. A prop to seem normal while he waited for his 'real love.'"

"And you came here, why?" Magnus asks, still suspicious.

"Because I want him to suffer." The words come out venomous. "I want him to lose everything like I lost everything. Months of my life. My dignity. My..." She stops, collects herself. "I know where he has the old man. Your friend's father. I'll tell you, but I want something in return."

"What?" Runes asks.

"Protection. And I want to watch when you take him down. I want to see his face when he realizes he's lost."

Vanir's been quiet, but now he speaks up. "Could be a trap. Thiago could have sent her."

Eleyna turns on him with fury that could melt steel.

"You think I'd let him use me again? After finding out I was nothing but camouflage while he obsessed over another woman?

I found notebooks. Notebooks full of her name.

Drawings of their imaginary children. Plans for their life together after he 'removes all obstacles. '"

She pulls out another phone—different from the first. "This is his backup phone. The one he doesn't know I know about. Check the photos. Check the messages. Tell me I'm lying."

I take the phone, start scrolling. It's all there. More photos of Elfe I've never seen. Messages to various numbers about "the little artist." Plans detailed enough to make me sick.

One message stands out, sent yesterday:

After tomorrow night, she'll have no one left but me. Father gone. Oskar gone. She'll have to choose me.

"Where is he?" I ask.

"There's an old meat packing plant. Closed down five years ago.

He had Los Coyotes buy it through shell companies—I found the paperwork in his things.

" She gives us the address. It's on the outskirts of town, isolated.

Perfect for what he's doing. "He has at least six Los Coyotes soldiers with him.

Maybe more. And the old man... he's in bad shape. "

"How bad?" Magnus asks.

"I saw him yesterday when Thiago brought me there. Didn't know who he was then. Just some old biker Thiago was 'interrogating for information.'" Her voice breaks slightly. "He was conscious but barely. Lots of blood. Thiago's been... creative."

"Why were you there?" I ask.

"He wanted me to see. Said it was important I understood what he was capable of. What he'd do to anyone who got in his way." She meets my eyes. "He talked about you. A lot. Said you were brothers once. Said you betrayed him by touching what was his."

"She's not his."

"Tell that to the wall of photos. Tell that to the recordings."

"Recordings?"

She nods. "Audio. Video. He has cameras in her apartment. Had. In her parents' house. At the bar where she works. He knows everything. Every conversation. Every breakdown. Every moment."

The violation of it hits fresh. Not just watching but recording. Keeping it. Studying it.

"We need to move," Tor says. "If she's telling the truth—"

"I am."

"Then we need to hit him now. Before he expects it."

"He's planning something for tomorrow night," Eleyna adds. "Kept talking about midnight. About choices. About her finally understanding who really loves her."

"The church," I say. "He demanded Elfe meet him at the old church tomorrow at midnight."

"He won't be there," Eleyna says. "That's a distraction. He'll be watching from somewhere else. Probably the plant. He has monitors set up, can watch multiple locations at once."

Runes makes a decision. "We go now. Full force. Eleyna, you stay here—"

"No." Her voice is steel. "I'm coming. I need to see this through."

"It's dangerous—"

"I don't care. He took months of my life. Made me feel worthless. Compared me to her every day without me knowing." She pulls something else from her purse—a small .380. "I know how to use this. Dad made sure of that before I left home."

"This isn't a movie," Magnus warns. "People will die."

"Good. As long as one of them is Thiago." She looks at me. "Or are you going to protect him? Your 'brother'?"

"He stopped being my brother when he touched my ol’ lady."

"Then we understand each other."

Runes starts barking orders. "Magnus, Tor, Dag—you're with me. Fenrir, coordinate backup. Vanir, eyes on the plant. I want to know what we're walking into."

Vanir's already on his laptop. "Pulling up satellite images now. Building's been off the grid for years, but... there. Heat signatures. At least eight people inside. Maybe more."

"Armed?"

"Assume yes."

I check my weapons. Two Glocks, spare magazines, knife in my boot, another at my belt.

The weight of them familiar, comforting.

This is what I know.

How to be violent. Protection through bloodshed.

"What's the layout?" I ask Eleyna.

She grabs a napkin, starts sketching. "Main entrance here. Loading dock here. The actual killing floor is in the center—that's where he probably has your friend's father. Cold storage rooms along the back. Office space up top with good sight lines."

"You paid attention."

"I was trying to understand him. Before I knew what he really was." Her hand shakes slightly as she draws. "There's a drainage tunnel here. Leads to the old sewer system. He showed it to me, said it was important to always have an exit strategy."

"He would," I mutter. Thiago always did plan for failure, even when he expected success.

"There's something else," Eleyna says. "He has explosives. Saw them in a storage room. C4, detonators. Enough to level the building."

"Why would he—" Magnus starts.

"Because if he can't have her, no one can," I finished. "If this goes wrong, he'll blow it all. Take everyone with him."

"Including himself?"

"Death before defeat. It's how he thinks."

Eleyna nods. "He said something yesterday. 'The little artist will understand that love requires sacrifice. Even if that sacrifice is everything.'"

"Fucking psycho," Tor spits.

"We need a different approach," I say. "Can't just storm in if he's wired the place."

"What do you suggest?" Runes asks.

I look at Eleyna. "He knows you found the room. Knows you left. He'll be suspicious if you show up."

"Maybe. But he's also arrogant. He'll think I came crawling back. That I couldn't stay away." She touches her bruised cheek. "He's used to women forgiving him. Coming back for more."

"It's still dangerous."

"Or I could play it differently. Come in angry. Demanding answers. Either way, it's a distraction."