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CHAPTER FIFTEEN

ZEYNEP WAS HER name, unusual and foreign but beautiful like the woman herself. I followed Spinner and Lucy down the hall into the war room. I’d be keeping my eyes on Lucy, Zeynep seems to trust her, but I wasn’t Zeynep.

Lucy’s ass didn’t even hit the seat before Devil started questioning her. Devil didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t have to—not when he was the one who ran this whole damn machine as President. I was our enforcer when words didn’t cut it. I had earned my place in the bones of this club.

The weight in my gut twisted tighter with every word that came out of Lucy’s mouth as she explained everything. Told us about Zeynep.

Drago’s ol’ lady.

The words alone made my blood boil.

I slammed my hand against the table before I even realized I’d moved. “What the fuck are you talkin’ about?” The thought of her being his made something ugly crawl up my spine.

“Let her finish,” Devil warned, his voice cold enough to slice through the rage burning under my skin.

Lucy’s eyes flicked to me before she kept going, her tone sharp and unwavering. “Not by choice.”

Not by choice.

That part lodged itself deep, settling into my ribs like a blade. I forced myself to breathe, to listen instead of acting on the fury clawing at me.

“She was brought to the U.S. at sixteen,” Lucy continued, looking at Devil but still keeping me in her peripheral vision. “She knew a woman from one of your chapters—Aislynn. That’s how I found her here. She’s been talking about escaping and coming here ever since she overheard Drago talking about Aislynn.”

Aislynn.

The name made the room shift. We all remembered her story. We all knew the hell she endured before she found her way out.

The idea that Zeynep had lived through something similar... that she had been waiting for a way to run, and we had been that hope, I clenched my fists until my nails bit into my palms.

“Is that why Drago beat her?” Devil asked, his tone flat. “Because she escaped?”

Lucy sighed, shaking her head. “That’s just it. I don’t think so. Drago was obsessed with Zeynep. He would never lay a hand on her. He valued her beauty too much.”

The words made my stomach churn.

“He was good to her? Loved her?” I bit out, unable to keep the bitterness from my voice.

Lucy let out a humorless laugh. “Drago thinks he loves her in his own twisted mind. Trust me, he had very strict rules for her, and if she broke them, she was punished.”

Chain narrowed his eyes. “You just said he didn’t hit her.”

“He didn’t,” Lucy admitted, her jaw tightening. “Not physically. He was more sadistic in his methods. He’d punish someone else while she watched. It gutted her every time, so she tried her best to follow his rules.”

I breathed out slowly, feeling something dark coil in my chest. Coward. He didn’t lay hands on her himself, but he broke her anyway.

“But his men did this to her.” My voice was low, dangerous. I slammed my hand on the table again, rattling the wood.

Lucy didn’t flinch. “They had to know Drago would kill them if they returned her like that. I’m guessing they planned to blame it on your club.”

I inhaled deeply, trying to get a handle on myself. Every part of me wanted to burn Dragon Fire to the ground, to find the men responsible and end them slow.

“Drago will want her back?” Devil asked.

“Oh yeah,” Lucy said without hesitation. “Obsessed might not even be strong enough to describe it.”

I didn’t doubt that for a second.

The rage was there, simmering, but underneath it was something else—something worse. Something I didn’t want to name.

Because even as I learned the full weight of what Zeynep had been through, even as I realized the kind of danger keeping her would bring to the club...

I still didn’t want to let her go.

And I didn’t know what the fuck to do with that.