Page 6

Shark nodded and took a deep breath. I closed my eyes as I tried to mentally picture the scene he painted.

“The knives were exactly like Doc said. They were huge, rusty things. And they weren't smooth blades either. They were jagged and had random spikes on them. Definitely homemade. Dante had a massive gash down one of his arms, blood on his neck - though if there was a wound there, it was a surface one at worst. But the thing that concerned me was the amount of blood soaking the back of his shirt. They stabbed him in the back - figuratively and literally. I’d bet my life on it.”

“Bastards,” Hacksaw hissed, spitting on the floor.

“I didn't waste any more time. I went diving in.

But Macbeth saw me. As I went to take out the guy going for Dante's back again, Macbeth came running over, snatched the knife out of one of their hands and stabbed me.

Obviously, he was behind all of this, but the sheer shock of being stabbed by a brother made me stupid.

I stopped focusing on Dante, but he focused on me.

He forgot the men and went for Macbeth. He managed to punch him in the face, but the other two men he had been fighting jumped him.

One of them had a metal pole and smacked him around the back of his head twice.

He fell to his knees, and that's when they bundled him out the window.”

“How?” I asked, not opening my eyes. I didn't want to cry in front of them, and knew if I opened my eyes, the tears would start falling. “Dante is a big guy. How did they get him out of the window on the second floor?”

“I don't know, Rachel. I don't. I saw the three of them drag him to the window. He was still putting up a fight. My guess is he went more or less willingly. Well, not willingly, but he knew at that moment they had got the better of him. It was made more sense for him to have climbed out the window safely rather than be shoved.”

“No,” I snapped. “Dante would fight until the bitter end. He wouldn't have just gone with them.”

“Think about it for a moment, Rachel,” Vienna said softly.

“Who knew how many more men were out there? His daughter was only a couple of doors down. You, his old lady, were downstairs. The club was riddled with children and women - most of whom have never seen a fight. If he knew they wanted him, and he knew he was defeated, he might have thought it the more sensible thing to go with them and figure out his next steps afterwards.”

“I don't buy it.”

“Well, let's put it this way then: had he not gone with them, and continued fighting, there's a good chance they may have killed him.

He's a strong man, but he's not invincible. He already had a stab wound and was attacked with a metal pole. Was it worth dying? Leaving with them gave him a fighting chance. ”

“It's true, Rachel,” Shark said with a gasp as another wave of pain hit him.

“I managed to stumble to the window and saw them bundle him into the boot of a car.

They're taking him somewhere. Dante will have the chance to get his bearings together in the car and think of something.

He tried to save me, so he knew the alarm had been raised.

He knew I'd tell the club what I had seen, which means he also knows we'll be formulating a plan, too. Leaving was the best way to avoid getting himself killed, whilst avoiding a potential ambush on the pub.”

“Did you recognise anyone?” Hacksaw asked.

“No one other than Macbeth. They all had masks on.”

“Any markings?”

“Skulls.”

“The Riders like skulls,” Hacksaw growled.

“Yeah, and I know plenty of dark romance lovers who have tattoos of skulls and skulls on their bookshelves,” I said, rolling my eyes. “That doesn't automatically mean it's the Riders.”

“Who else would it be?” Hacksaw snapped.

“I'm not saying it wasn't them, so watch your fucking tone when you speak to me.”

“You're lucky you're Dante's old lady. Do you know what happened to the last person to speak to me like that?”

I jumped off the bed and walked over to him. “Do you know what happened to the last man who spoke to me like that? Spoiler: his intestines were spilled all over your garage.”

“Well, that’s not much of a threat, considering it took you a decade to do so, and you needed your old man to have him strung up before you faced him.”

I reacted on instinct.

Before I could stop myself, my fist came up and connected with his nose.

“You fucking—”

“Oi!” Vienna snapped, stepping between us and shielding me with his body.

“Enough, the pair of you! Who the fuck is this helping?

You remember who the fuck she is, Hacksaw.

She's the VP's old lady, and in his absence, she's my responsibility.

I won't have a hair on her head harmed, and I won't have her spoken to like a piece of shit. Back the fuck off, or there will be more blood spilled in this room.” His voice sent a shiver down my spine.

He didn't sound like himself. Vienna always had a comical edge to his words, but right now, he sounded borderline feral.

Vienna didn’t yell. His cold, quiet voice was enough to be heard, and it sent shivers down my spine.

“And you,” he hissed, spinning around to face me.

I forced myself not to react as he glared at me.

“I appreciate you've been through a lot, but you do not lay hands on a brother.

Not now, not ever. Appreciate how privileged you are to be here, because every other woman is currently in church, including Jenna.

I'm sure she'd want to be with her old man right now, but she's done as club protocol dictates. Now,” he said, stepping away from me slightly so he could address the both of us. “I'm going to let that one slide, because I appreciate tensions are high. And we all agree, when we get Dante back, and that's when not if , we keep fucking schtum about what just went down. Understood? Understood ?” he snapped when no one answered him.“Dante is not reasonable when it comes to Rachel. Look what happened to Noob. I won’t see a brother killed because you’re both acting childish. Now, I’ll ask once more; is that understood?”

“Understood,” we both mumbled.

“I'm not apologising, though,” I said, and immediately mentally kicked myself. Why the fuck was I so stubborn?

Vienna just sighed.

“I wouldn't accept your apology anyway,” Hacksaw said, his neck twisting to look around Vienna and at me.

“ I wouldn't accept your apology, anyway, ” I mimicked. “Grow the fuck up.”

“You, get over there,” Vienna snapped, shoving me back around the bed to where I had been laying only moments earlier. “You. There,” he pointed at the opposite side of the bed. “The pair of you are acting like fucking idiots. If Dante—”

We were all silenced as a screech from below had us jumping, our heads snapping to the door as two figures came barrelling up the stairs and down the hallway.

“Where the fuck are my sons?!”

Jesus Christ. This was all we needed.

Mama was here.