Page 20 of Biker's Dark Revenge

"Don’t waste time," Lombardi snapped at him. "I want you here in ten minutes. You hear me?"

"Fine," the man muttered, and I kept low as I heard his footsteps cutting across the road towards me. A car was offering me cover for now, and I hoped it would be enough for them to give up looking for me and just back off...

But, the footsteps drew closer and closer, and I felt my heart beginning to pound in my chest. If I got caught by this guy, they would know we were stalking them. I stared down at my phone. I didn’t know what to do. Did I call Chuck? Shoot him a message and wait for backup...?

Before I could consider what the best course of action was, the man rounded the car – and, when he saw me crouched there, his eyes widened.

"Who the fuck are-"

I lunged at him before he could get the words out, slamming myself into his knees and sending him crashing to the ground. His head slammed against the pavement, and he let out a grunt as the air was knocked from him, but, after a moment, he spun around to face me again, leaping to his feet.

I ducked back behind the bar, taking cover. Shit. I needed something to fight with. I glanced around, and my eyes landed on the lighter that had dropped to the ground. Shit, if that was all I had...

I grabbed it and flicked the flame up, twisting it this way and that to heat the curve of metal to a dangerous blaze. The man lunged at me again – but I lifted the lighter just in time to jam it against his face.

"Fuck!" he screamed, tumbling back from me – I flicked the flame again, heating the metal of the lighter and diving at him. I knocked him to the ground, lifted the lighter, and this time, brought it down against his right eye.

He let out a howl of agony that filled the air around us. So much for not making a commotion, huh? He thrashed beneath me, trying to tear his face from my grasp, but I held my hand steady against his eye. I could hear the sizzling of his flesh beneath it, and, finally, I pulled back.

His eye had been left with a milky-white c-shaped scar in it – I drew my fist back and slammed it into his jaw, knocking his head upwards. He let out a long groan, and I shook out my knuckles. Damn, I was getting too old for this shit. It hurt to lay into someone like this.

He groaned with agony, crawling away from me as best he could, and I glanced around – more guys would be coming around to see what was going on, and I didn’t have what I needed to take them all on right now. Better for me to get the fuck out of there, report back to Chuck, and recoup.

I sprang to my feet and raced back to where I had parked my bike, grabbing my phone as I went. I fired off a text to Chuck and climbed onto the vehicle, tearing out of there before anyone could get in my way. I knew I couldn’t risk slowing, not even for a second – one wrong move, and I would be locked up in Lombardi’s compound, with them beating the shit out of me for every bit of information they could get their hands on.

I grabbed the handlebars and let out a grunt of pain – my hands were scraped up from dropping to the ground to grab that lighter. I would need to patch myself up...

When I got somewhere safe. I glanced around, making sure there was nobody on my tail, and screeched out of there as fast as I could.

Chapter Thirteen – Liana

"You finished?" I asked Kara, as she pushed around the fries and chicken nuggets on her plate. She had been struggling with eating the last few days, and I figured the most appetizing food in the world to a toddler was the best thing for her.

And yet, she didn’t seem that interested in actually eating anything. I sighed, cocking my head to the side as I looked at her. I didn’t know exactly what I was meant to do with her, but everything I was doing felt like it was wrong.

I hadn’t had my mother around much growing up – she had been flighty, Dad had told me, dropping me off with him and pretty much hitting the road to go tour with a band – he didn’t even know what name she was going by now, and I did my best not to think too hard about that or think too deeply about what it might have meant that she was so willing to just run off and leave me behind like that.

Whatever her reasons, it meant that I hadn’t had anyone around to give me lessons on taking care of a little girl – and now, I was groping around in the dark, trying to figure out how to handle all of this without losing my mind or making a mess of things.

Kara was...struggling. That much was obvious. The first few days she had been here, she had seemed to be handling all of it pretty much okay, but now...now, it seemed to be sinking in that her old life was well and truly behind her, and she didn’t seem to know what to do with that information.

And now she was seeing what was outside the four walls that had held her for so long, it was clear she was starting to realize how much she had missed. How much her mother had failed to provide for her – not that I blamed Hadley, she hadn’t been the one who had chosen to get into that mess, but still. I wished I could just see inside Kara’s head and find a way to soothe whatever was going on.

"You want some dessert?" I asked her, trying to keep my voice bright. She shook her head.

"I’m not hungry," she muttered back. She didn’t speak much, especially not when Lee wasn’t around. She seemed to be more comfortable around him than me, but I knew I couldn’t ask him to just drop everything he had going on to help take care of this little girl. He promised me he was going to bring an end to the reign of terror Lombardi had brought to so many women in this town – and that didn’t exactly leave a lot of time for bedtime stories and playtime.

"How about you get Gerry set up in bed?" I suggested, nodding to the toy that was sitting in the seat at the dining table next to her. She glanced over at her and pulled the stuffed animal into her lap.

"Okay," she replied, with a nod, climbing out of her chair and heading to the small bed that Lee had helped me put together. It was pushed kind of awkwardly up against the wall not far from my bed, but it was something, at least. I just wanted her to have a space of her own, something she could rely on – after so long locked up in that room, she deserved to have something she could call her own, right?

I cleared up the plates as I let her get Gerry into bed. She seemed more willing to take care of her than she did herself most of the time – I guessed she was still struggling with believing that she was worth all of this care and attention, which made my heart ache. I might not have had the most normal upbringing, but at least I never doubted for a moment that my dad cared about me.

I got her tucked up in bed and suggested reading her a story, but she just turned over, pulling the covers up and over herself without a reply. I patted her shoulder, and she jumped beneath my touch, not ready for it, not wanting it. Oh, God, I didn’t know how much of this I could take...how much of this obvious pain and struggle I could live with before I started to blame myself for it.

I stood in the doorway for a moment, wondering if she wanted me to stay – but she had made it pretty clear she just wanted to be alone right now, and I wasn’t going to push for anything more than that. I flicked the light out and pulled the door to, praying she would rest well tonight. The nightmares seemed to have gotten a little better, but she still had dark rings beneath her eyes when she woke up, as though she was still carrying the weight of everything with her just as much as she had ever been.

I let out a long sigh, resting my head against the door for a moment. I hadn’t asked for this. I hadn’t asked to become responsible for a little girl who had already been through so, so much – I hadn’t asked for something like this to drop into my life out of nowhere. I had been alone for so long, and I had been happy like that, I had been okay with it – I hadn’t felt like I needed anything more than what I had.

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