Page 17 of Biker's Dark Revenge

"What the fuck are you-"

He stopped dead in his tracks. Then sprang to his feet, grabbing for his jacket on the back of the chair where he had left it. Oh, shit – did he really have to go? I felt like we were just getting started...

"I’ll be there in ten," he replied curtly, and he hung up the phone and turned to me.

"Liana, I’m sorry, I-"

"It’s fine," I replied. I knew whatever it was, he wouldn’t be walking out of here unless he thought it was important. "Go. I’ll be here when you get back."

Before he walked out the door, he dipped his head down again and planted a kiss against my lips. And, with that, he headed for the door.

As soon as it clicked shut behind him, I closed my eyes and laid my head back against the ground. I didn’t know what had just happened, but I knew I sure as hell wanted it to happen again.

Provided, of course, that whatever news he had just gotten in that call wasn’t going to make a mess of all the plans I had made.

Chapter Ten – Lee

As soon as I turned the corner onto the street where the Kennels were, I knew there was something wrong. Something seriously, seriously wrong.

Smoke filled the air, and flames licked at the sky where our usual bar should have been. I kicked the bike to a halt and climbed off, holding back a moment before I went over to see what the fuck was going on.

Because I got the feeling I wasn’t going to like it. Not one little bit.

When I’d heard Chuck on the other end of that call, I had known it was bad. But this? This was worse than I could ever have imagined.

I slowly made my way towards the Kennels – or what was left of it, anyway. In the darkness, I could make out the outline of the remains, the smoldering wreckage of what had been left behind. What had once been the bar we spent our time in was nothing more than a pile of ashes now, the skeleton of a few cement bolsters still standing amongst the chaos.

The worst of the fire seemed to have been dealt with by the time I arrived, with a few Dogs running back and forth with water to get it under control – a few others, I noticed, were scattered along the sidewalk in front of what had been the bar, some of them in seriously bad shape. They must have been in there when the fire started...

"Lee, thank fuck you’re here," Chuck growled as soon as he saw me rounding the corner. He strode towards me, ash smeared across his face, his eyes dark and his jaw set tight. I couldn’t even imagine how furious he was right now. He took the Dogs’ territory very fucking seriously, and for someone to pull something like this...

They must have wanted a war.

"What happened?" I asked, gesturing around at the chaos in front of me.

"Lombardi," he muttered – as though it would have been anyone else. Guilt stabbed me in the gut. Was this payback for what I had done at their compound? For getting Liana and Kara out of there in one piece? I didn’t know. But it was at least a possibility.

"A few of his men were hanging around outside when the fire started," he continued, running a hand through his hair, agitated. "At least, that’s what they told me..."

"You weren’t here when it started?"

He shook his head.

"I was at home with Abbey," he replied. "I got the call when the fire started – Lombardi’s men ran, they didn’t stick around to see how it went, but the whole place went up in a matter of minutes. They knew what they were doing. They wanted us dead."

I closed my eyes for a moment. This – this was the kind of shit we couldn’t overlook. We couldn’t play it cool anymore. If they were willing to make a swing like this, then they were trying to wipe us off the map, and I couldn’t begin to think what their next move would be if this had been their first one.

"Is anyone hurt?" I asked, gesturing to the guys resting on the sidewalk outside what remained of the Kennels.

"Not badly," Chuck replied. "We’ve got the doc on the way down here to check them over. Nothing worse than a few burns and some smoke inhalation, but they’ll need time to rest after this."

" What happens now?" I asked him, as I stared at the blackened ashes of the Kennels. I shuddered when I imagined Liana standing inside there, serving drinks just like she always did. Thank God she hadn’t been there when they struck. She had been taking time off from work recently to take care of Kara, with Chuck’s blessing. Did Lombardi’s men know that? Or had they been hoping to trap her in this, too?

Chuck stared out at the chaos in front of him, the fire finally subdued beneath the efforts of the Dogs.

"We start a war," he replied. "And we win."

He spoke with such certainty that he almost made it sound easy. But I knew it wasn’t going to be, not by a long shot.

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