Page 34 of Reaper & the Lioness (Lone Star Mavericks MC #1)
Chapter Twenty-Seven
D arkness enveloped me as I came to with my hands bound behind my back.
The rough rope cut into my wrists as I struggled.
My cell phone remained in my purse at the table, leaving me no way to reach Reaper.
I tried to steady my breathing, fighting against the rising panic.
My body slammed into the cold metal of the car as it jolted to a stop.
Light flooded in as the trunk opened. I squinted as my eyes adjusted.
The man who pulled me out looked familiar. He’d sat at the table closest to the door when we walked into the bakery, hiding behind a newspaper. He’d smiled at me then. My skin crawled at the memory of the innocent gesture.
“Rise and shine, bitch,” he sneered. He yanked me from the trunk, and I cried out as he gripped my arms too tight.
My legs wobbled from the drugs and confinement, but I forced myself to stand tall.
He dragged me into what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse.
My heart pounded, but I kept my face blank, refusing to show fear.
I strained to remember every piece of self-defense advice my dad had drilled into me.
Fight to survive. Don’t make it easy. Make them regret touching you.
I bucked my entire body against the man, attempting to knock the back of my head into his chin. The man picked me up, my legs dangling before he threw me hard against the floor and kicked my side for good measure. I curled in pain before glancing up.
In the center of the room stood two figures I recognized all too well—Hale and Benjamin Abell. The devil himself and his evil spawn. My stomach churned at the sight of them, rage coursing through me.
The man kicked me again before picking me up and shoving me into a chair, securing my already bound hands to the back and tying my ankles to the legs.
I struggled against the restraints cutting into my wrists, but they held firm.
The cold metal of the chair seeped through my clothes, sending a shiver down my spine.
Hale approached first, his face twisted in a mask of red-hot anger. Without warning, his fist connected with my cheek, the force of it snapping my head to the side. Pain radiated through my jaw. Copper exploded in my mouth, and my vision swam.
“You stupid bitch,” he snarled. “Did you really think you could dig up dirt on me and get away with it?”
I spat blood onto the floor and glared up at him. “Fuck you.”
Hale’s face contorted with rage as he punched me again in the stomach. The air rushed out of my lungs, and I gasped for breath. I clenched my teeth and refused to cry. This man got off on the pain of women, and I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
He shook his hand. The Kevlar vest had taken some of the blow, and I hoped his knuckles had broken on impact.
Benjamin stepped forward. His calm demeanor contrasted with Hale’s fury. He brushed his hands over his jacket as if he were about to negotiate an acquisition, not torture a victim of kidnapping.
“Ms. Harland. I’m afraid your investigation will never see the light of day. You should have taken the settlement. Why couldn’t you just let it go?”
I laughed, my tone bitter despite the pain spreading through my body. “Let it go? Do you think I could just forget about all the women you’ve hurt? All the careers you’ve tried to destroy?”
Hale grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked my head back. His fist connected with my face again. My lip split, and blood trickled down my chin as I met his gaze with unwavering defiance.
“That all you got?” I taunted through gritted teeth, my voice raspy. “No wonder you have to force yourself on women. You hit like a girl.”
Hale roared and raised his fist again, but Benjamin stepped forward and grabbed his arm.
“Enough,” Benjamin snapped. “We need her coherent for now. She can’t talk if you knock her out. Please use your head for once.”
“If you’d let me handle her my way, we’d have answers by now,” Hale muttered.
Benjamin narrowed his eyes. “Your way got us here. My way keeps you out of prison and our companies out of the headlines.”
I sagged in the chair as Hale reluctantly stepped back and began pacing like a caged animal. My body ached from the assault and my vision blurred as my left eye began to swell shut.
“She needs to pay,” Hale snarled.
Benjamin’s tone chilled the room. “Son, if you’d learn to control your temper and keep your dick in your pants, we wouldn’t be here. Again.”
Hale clenched his jaw. “If you’d offered her a bigger payout, it wouldn’t have gotten this far.”
Benjamin shook his head and tossed me a bored glance. “He doesn’t get it. No, you’re the kind of woman who only cares about your version of justice. I bet I could’ve offered you double, and we’d still be here.”
“You’re right,” I said. “It’s not about the payoff. It’s about stopping your piece-of-shit son from hurting more women.”
“Think you’re some kind of heroine?” Benjamin crouched in front of me, his expression almost pitying as he spoke in a smooth, controlled voice.
“You’re going to tell us everything we need to know—who else you’ve talked to, what they’ve said, and what information has been shared about these sources with any media outlets. ”
I straightened as much as I could in the chair despite the pain radiating through me. “I’m not telling you shit.”
Benjamin sighed as if disappointed by my response. “Matt says you had more women you’ve been coordinating with on this little story. But you refused to give him their names.” He tilted his head, examining my response.
I froze at his words. Matt? He was behind this? For a moment, the world seemed to tilt. My mouth went dry and I tried to swallow, but it was like choking on sand.
Benjamin’s lips curled into a smug grin as realization dawned on my face. “Your friend Matt was easily persuaded to help us find you.” He chuckled before continuing in a mocking tone, “It’s amazing how easily you can blackmail someone who has a severe gambling addiction and a mountain of debt.”
The betrayal hit me like a physical blow.
Matt had been one of my best friends since college.
The friend who’d held my hair back after too many shots of tequila.
The one who sent me DoorDash when he knew I’d worked a twelve-hour day during a crisis.
The weight of his treachery settled in my chest, making it hard to breathe.
And now, because of him, I was about to die for something I thought we both believed in.
Hot tears pressed behind my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.
Not when Benjamin and Hale sought to find a weakness in my armor.
I’d die before I gave them the names of the women who’d spoken to me.
I’d always known trusting others was dangerous.
I just never thought it would be Matt holding the knife embedded in my back.
A flicker of movement near one of the broken windows caught my attention.
At first, I thought it was a shadow. Relief flooded through me as Reaper appeared on the other side of the grungy glass, his face a mask of focused intensity.
A sob escaped involuntarily from deep within my chest before I could stop myself.
The triumph on Hale’s face told me he mistook the sound as me breaking down.
My eyes locked with Reaper’s for a split second, rage and determination etched into every line of his face.
I raised three fingers, hoping to signal how many men he’d face inside.
Not that it mattered. These three men in suits would be no match for a handful of hardened bikers and veterans. Reaper nodded at me in understanding.
Then chaos erupted.
Glass shattered into the open space as Reaper burst through the window. Merrick, Hatchet, Jay, Archer, and Bones poured in from different entry points. The men moved in a coordinated, lethal manner that left me knowing this wasn’t the first time they’d worked together like this.
The man from the bakery barely had time to reach for his gun before Bones tackled him to the ground. Fists flew as they rolled across the concrete floor.
Hatchet went straight for Benjamin. The businessman was no match for the biker. He tried to run but found himself cornered and knocked to the ground. Hatchet crushed his face into the concrete with a satisfying thud.
Merrick’s fist connected with Hale’s jaw with a sickening crunch.
He dropped like a rock and scrambled backward on all fours before pulling a hidden knife from his boot.
He lunged at Merrick, who easily dodged.
The blade whistled past his ear. Merrick grinned at Hale as if he liked the promise of a fight.
They circled each other, Hale lunging and slashing while Merrick weaved and blocked.
Through it all, Reaper homed in on me. His knife flashed as he cut through my restraints, and I fell into his arms. My limbs shook with relief.
“I’ve got you, my Lioness,” he murmured into my hair. His arms tightened around me. “You’re safe now.”
I clung to him and buried my face in his chest as tears streamed down my face. The adrenaline keeping me defiant faded, leaving me weak and shaky.
Nearly as quickly as it’d begun, the fight was over.
My heart hammered against my ribs as I took in the groaning bodies sprawled across the dirty concrete floor, guns held against the back of their skulls.
Their bravado was gone, replaced by well-deserved fear and pain.
They’d been no match against the Mavericks.
A savage satisfaction twisted inside me.
The men who’d terrorized me now sat at the feet of my rescuers, and they wouldn’t be merciful.
“Zip-tie these fuckers and take them to the junkyard,” Reaper ordered. His voice sounded colder than it had been moments before. “I’ll meet you there.”
He pulled back, his hands cupping my face as he assessed my injuries. I tasted the blood on my split lip, and my sight was clouded with tears as my eyes swelled.