Page 20

Torrent

The roar of bikes cuts through the silence like thunder splitting the sky. Gravel crunches, engines kill, and then there’s nothing but the heavy weight of anticipation in the air.

Our brothers from Helena, Montana, are here.

Moose is the first off his bike, tall as hell, with fists like bricks and a heart as solid. Serpent’s quiet, his eyes always moving, reading the room like a predator sizing up prey. Kai’s fast and lethal with a loyalty that’s never wavered.

They don’t say much. They don’t have to.

We’re all cut from the same cloth. Stitched together by blood, brotherhood, and the brutal truth that in this life, when shit goes down, you show up.

“Glad you’re here,” I say, gripping Moose’s hand tight.

He nods. “You said you needed us. So, we came. What’s the plan?”

We gather inside, around the table where this all began. Drift pulls out a map of the port and lays it flat, markers scattered around to show our potential points of attack. Everyone leans in.

“We got intel,” Drift starts. “It’s thin, but solid. Tessa’s being held at the docks. One of the shipping containers on the far side of the yard, near the southeast access gate.”

“Security?” Serpent asks, already calculating.

“Scorpions got eyes posted on the water and the land side,” Ganges says. “They think they’ve got the upper hand. We’re gonna make sure they don’t.”

“We surround them,” I say. “Divide and cover all exit points. We don’t go loud right away. We wait for the signal. Then we strike when they least expect it. No hesitation.”

“Kill first, confirm second,” Moose mutters, nodding.

“Exactly,” Drift agrees.

The room hums with tension. Controlled rage. Focused chaos. We’re men with nothing left to lose when it comes to the ones we love. And every one of them is ready to die beside me if it means bringing her home.

We head to the stockroom, and Savage Steel doesn’t disappoint. Rifles, handguns, suppressors, knives, whatever we need, it’s there. Steel and fire. We load up like soldiers prepping for war.

Because that’s what this is.

War.

And I’ll burn the fucking world down to get her back.

But while my brothers talk tactics, check ammo, and count rounds, my head’s somewhere else.

With her.

Is she hurt? Is she scared? Is she even still alive?

I can’t fucking breathe when I think about it.

Every time I blink, I see her smile.

The way she used to tilt her head when she was pretending not to laugh at something stupid I said. The way she curled into me at night, small but fierce, like even in sleep, she refused to let go. The sound of her laugh when she was happy, really happy.

And now? Now she’s somewhere dark. Cold. Alone.

And I’m here, arming myself for a war I never wanted but will fucking win.

I close my eyes and exhale slow and steady.

This world, our world, it doesn’t bend for love. It doesn’t give a fuck about good intentions.

But we do.

And I’m going to make them pay for ever thinking they could take her from me.

Drift claps a hand on my shoulder. “You with us?”

I nod, gripping the strap of my rifle. “Yeah. I’m with you.”

And I mean it.

Because the second we hit those docks, every Scorpion bastard that laid a hand on her is going to wish they never crossed the Royal Bastards MC.

Tonight, we paint the port in blood.

We have the port surrounded from every angle. Rooftop, dockside, alleyway, we have eyes. Guns. Brothers.

I crouch low behind a shipping container, my heart pounding in my chest so loud it nearly drowns out the ocean crashing onto the rocks beside me. It isn’t the fight that has me like this.

It’s Tessa.

Is she alive? Is she scared? Does she still believe in me?

I hope to God she knows I’m coming. That she hasn’t given up. That whatever doubts live in her about who she was, where she came from, and who her father is, she still holds on to one truth. I will protect her. I will fight for her.

Always.

She didn’t tell me the truth, no. And yeah, that stings. But it doesn’t change how I feel about her. How I love her. What I will do to get her back.

The first Scorpion makes a move, stepping out from between the containers.

This is our sign.

“Now!” I bark, and everything explodes.

Finch, Ganges, and Riptide are the first out, charging like men possessed. Crab and Cetus flank from the other side, guns raised, shots already firing. Drift and I burst from our position, Moose, Serpent, and Kai on our tail, shadows with death in their eyes.

Gunfire cracks the silence like lightning.

Men scream. Metal pings. The smell of blood and gunpowder hit like a punch to the throat.

It’s chaos, violent, brutal chaos.

I don’t stop. Don’t flinch. I bulldoze my way toward the container we believe she’s in, my body moving faster than my thoughts can keep up.

Until someone steps out in front of it.

Black leather cut. Patch I recognize instantly. Smirk I’d love to wipe off his smug fucking face.

“Looking for my daughter?” he asks, cocking his head like this is a goddamn game.

The breath leaves my lungs.

This son of a bitch.

I raise my gun without hesitation, but the moment I do, red laser dots dance across my chest. Snipers. Hidden in the shadows, trained on me.

He laughs.

I don’t lower my gun. Don’t move.

“You’ll have to kill me,” I say, steady and firm, “because I’m not leaving without my girl.”

“She’s a Scorpion,” he says with a sneer. “Born and raised. It’s in her blood.”

I take a step forward, not caring about the fucking guns aimed at me.

“No. I’m in her blood. She’s in mine. I don’t give a shit where she came from. I know where she belongs.”

He crosses his arms, acting as if he holds all the cards. “This port belongs to the Rhode Island Scorpions. Your shipments? Ours now. I’m not here to negotiate. You walk away, we let you live. My brothers keep the port. I keep my daughter. That’s the deal.”

This crazy mother fucker.

“See,” I say, lips curling into a grin, “I do things a little different.”

A shot rings out from above. One of ours.

The red dots vanish.

Before that prick even knows what happened, I pull the trigger.

He drops, screaming, as a bullet rips through his leg.

Not dead.

Not yet.

I step up and press my boot hard into his chest, forcing him flat on the concrete. He wheezes, glaring at me.

“Royal Bastards don’t negotiate, asshole,” I growl. “We protect what’s ours. This port. This club. My girl.”

I shoot him again, this time, in the other leg, and he howls like a damn animal. I smirk as his eyes lock with mine. “And I’ll kill anyone who hurts my girl. Even her father.”

I pull the trigger, emptying the rest of my mag into him.

Dead.

I reach down and I dig through his pockets with blood-soaked hands until I find a small key.

My fingers shake as I jam it into the container lock and twist.

The door creaks open with a metallic groan.

And there she is.

My Tessa .

Her eyes are red, face bruised, hair wild, but she’s breathing. Alive.

And then she’s running straight into my arms.

I catch her, wrapping myself around her like a man dying of thirst finally tasting water.

She’s crying, sobbing, shaking in my arms. “I’m sorry,” she keeps saying. “I’m so sorry, Torrent.”

“Shhh,” I whisper, burying my face in her hair. “It’s okay, baby. You’re safe now. I got you.”

She clings to me like she thinks I might disappear.

“I told you I’d never leave,” I say, voice thick with everything I’m too broken to say. “And I’m not.”

Not now. Not ever.

I don’t wait around.

As soon as I have her in my arms, I’m gone.

Drift didn’t argue. Finch gives me a nod. The others know what to do. Clean up the mess, burn the bodies, erase the scene.

I’m grateful because my only focus is her.

I bring her home to my place. Somewhere safe. Somewhere that’s hers now too, whether she realizes it yet or not. She didn’t say much on the ride back. Just held me tighter than ever before, her fingers gripping my cut like if she let go, the nightmare would start all over again.

When I carry her inside, she buries her face in my neck and exhales like she’s been holding her breath since the moment they took her.

I set her down gently on the couch, kneeling in front of her as I pushed her tangled hair back from her face. She looked like hell, beautiful, broken hell.

“Do you need anything?” I ask, even though I already know what she needs most.

She shakes her head, eyes shimmering.

I sit beside her, resting my hand on my knees, staring at the floor for a beat before I speak. “You should’ve told me.”

“I know,” she whispers. “I wanted to. So many times. But I didn’t know how. I didn’t want you to look at me the way you did today.”

My chest aches. “Tessa, I didn’t look at you like that because of who you are. I looked at you like that because I was so damn scared of losing you.”

She turns to me slowly, her fingers twisting in her lap.

“You have no idea what it was like growing up in that world. Being taught to hate everything you stand for. Being treated like shit. Beaten because I was hungry or upset. It was a cruel, unforgiving world. A world I feared. I ran the second I was old enough. I’ve been running ever since. ”

Listening to her makes it difficult to breathe. The pain she’s suffered. The fear she’s endured. It’s fucking horrific and it breaks my heart.

I reach for her hand, lacing our fingers together. “Then stop running.”

Her chin trembles. “I didn’t think I could stay. Once I heard they were around, I knew they’d cause trouble for you because of me. I didn’t want that to happen.”

“I should be pissed at you,” I admit. “For lying. For keeping something that big from me. For wanting to run instead of talking to me. And I was. Until I saw that empty apartment and realized you weren’t leaving because you didn’t love me. You were leaving because you thought you had to.”

Tears well in her eyes, spilling over.

“I should’ve protected you from the start,” I said. “Not just physically, but from that fear. From ever thinking you weren’t mine.”

She lets out a quiet sob, and I lean in, pressing my forehead to hers.

“I love you, Tessa. You’re not your father. You’re not the Scorpions. You’re you. And you’re mine.”

She nods, breaking apart in my arms, her hands fisting in my shirt as she cries.

“I love you, too,” she whispers against my chest. “I didn’t want to go. That night with you it was everything. I needed you to know how much I loved you. I was trying to give you something good to remember me by.”

“Don’t say that.” I hold her tighter. “You’re not a memory. You’re not some goodbye. You’re here. You’re staying.”

She looks up at me, her lip quivering. “But I’m the daughter of the enemy.”

“No,” I cut her off. “You’re the woman who has survived more than most. Who’s brave enough to stand against everything she came from. You’re mine, Tessa. And I’m yours.”

She leans into me, and we sit like that for a while, tangled up in each other, letting everything finally fall into place.

We are still like that when there’s a knock at the door.

A beat later, Drift walks in without waiting for an answer, followed by Finch, Riptide, and Ganges. They all look like hell. Sweaty, bloody, pissed, but solid.

Drift looks between us and gives a slow nod. “Just checking.”

“We’re good,” I say, squeezing her hand.

“Tessa?” Finch asks gently.

She sits up straighter, wiping her face, nodding. “Thank you, all of you. Thank you for not giving up, even after you found out who I was.”

“Wasn’t even an option,” Riptide says. “You’re one of us now.”

That is the damn truth.

“So, now that Tessa’s safe and everything is settling down.” Finch looks around at everyone and runs his hand through his hair. “Did you guys see Moose?”

“Yeah, he helped us clean up,” Drift says, lifting a brow, confused.

“Yeah, I know. I mean, during the fight. Moose just grew claws and tore into that guy,” Finch says, with wide eyes.

We all laugh, telling him he’s crazy.

“Might be time to lay off the booze,” I say, laughing, appreciating the comic relief he’s brought.

They don’t stay long. Just enough to be sure we’re okay. To offer backup, food, and a few jokes to cut the tension.

And as they leave, I look at her again.

“You’re safe,” I whisper.

Her eyes meet mine. “Are you?”

“Yes, baby, I am. The threat is gone.”

She climbs onto my lap, and I hold her tightly against me.

We stay like that for a long time, wrapped in a silence that feels like healing. There will be more to face, more battles, more ghosts, but we’ll face them together.

And for the first time, I feel whole again. Because I’m not alone.

I have her.

And nothing, not bloodlines or bullets, is ever taking her from me again.