Page 16 of Taken By Her Two Savage Bikers
“Enough talk.” Talon deleted the face-to-face option and brought the phone to his ear. “Now, tell your boss that the clock is ticking on how well she is. I would suggest he give up the fucker who needs to be dealt with and he had better do it sooner rather than later for Gabriella’s sake.”
“You don’t want to go to war with us, Talon.” There was a warning in the other man’s voice that sent a chill of fear through me.
“Clock’s ticking. Would be a shame if something were to happen to such a beautiful woman. Like she have an accident that would damage that pretty face of hers.” Talon disconnected the call and stuffed the phone into the inner pocket of his vest.
Talon was staring at me intently. It was slightly unnerving, making me squirm in my seat and look the other way. When he finally did speak I found myself relieved. “So the guys were saying you’ve been insisting you’re not Gabriella. Well, I do hope that charade has come to an end, considering Earl just confirmed it for us.”
My gaze went to Talon. “I’m not that woman.”
Leaning forward, he reached out and caught my chin in his hand. “You had better be, because if you weren’t then we’d have to figure out a way to deal with you, and you wouldn’t like how we deal with problems around here.”
Anger boiled within me as I jerked away and out of his grip, my hands balling into fists on my lap. “You’re all obviously blind because I’m not this person. I’m not sure what type of game you are playing with me but whatever it is I want it over with. I want to get home and I want my car.”
Before he could respond, the door opened and a girl bearing a striking resemblance to Talon stepped inside. “Sorry Daddy, I missed the turn-off to the road to the cabin. This place is hard to find.”
He chuckled; all hostility evaporating from his expression as he looked up at his daughter, who crossed the room to stand at her father’s side. “That’s the point, honey.”
I eyed her a moment. She looked to be perhaps twenty. Beautiful girl with vibrant blue eyes and golden hair that fell all the way down her back to nearly her bottom.
“Hello Ash.” She nodded to Ash and then to Phoenix. A little blush colored her cheeks as she looked at Phoenix. “Phoenix.” Phoenix didn’t seem to notice her blushing as she looked at him.
Chewing at my lower lip I gave them a critical look. She had a crush on Phoenix. No doubt about it, though it appeared that the feeling wasn’t mutual. I tucked that information away for later. Wasn’t too sure if I would ever be able to use that information to my advantage, but just in case…
Talon gave me one last look before standing and nodding to Ash. “Ash, would you mind taking a walk with me for a moment. Phoenix, stay with the ladies.” The men walked off and out of the cabin, closing the door behind them.
The silence was deafening as the three of us waited for the other two to return.
Looking at Lily, my curiosity got the better of me. “I’m Lola,” I said, looking at the younger woman. She looked down at me, but it wasn’t with female allegiance, instead it was with hostility that made me frown. What in the hell did I do to deserve that?
“You’re seriously going to talk to me? After what you guys did to me?”
Frowning, I looked over at Phoenix, then back at Lily, “What do you mean?”
She glared at me with so much hatred in her gaze that it momentarily left me shook. “You and your piece-of-shit husband framed me. I spent time in prison because of you and can’t even have a normal life. I was going to go to college but now I can’t even go out to get my nails done. You’re a disgusting person, Gabriella! I hope you die a horrible death and rot!”
“Just…” Phoenix stepped forward, placing his body between me and Lily. “Calm down.” Placing his hands on her upper arms, he looked down at her. “It’s almost over. She’s going to make things right.”
“She should go to prison like I had been,” she yelled, attempting to move past him to me, but he blocked her again.
“Why don’t you go outside with your father. There’s no point in getting worked up. We’re getting too close to this being all over and life going back to normal for you.”
What in the hell was I supposed to say? I had no idea. None of this made any sense. There was a part of me that wanted to stand up to this young woman firing accusations at me, but I had to remain calm, at least until I discovered what was going on.
The young woman turned and stormed to the door, casting a final dirty look in my direction before opening the door and disappearing through it.
From what I was gathering thus far, the group they thought I was a part of did something to get Talon’s daughter arrested. I was their leverage. They were going to trade me for Lily’s innocence. My mind was whirling so quickly that I hadn’t even noticed Phoenix had moved until I heard the whoomph sound of him sitting in the chair that Talon had vacated next to me.
“What did Gabriella do?”
Phoenix rolled his eyes, but didn’t attempt to correct me. “You and your husband’s club framed Lily. She spent close to a year in prison until we managed to break her out. She’s been in hiding ever since. But that’s all about to change thanks to you when Raven gives up someone to take her place. Problem is that she’s only twenty-two and has already spent a hellish year in prison and now is on the run. So you had better believe that she wants payback for what you’ve taken from her.”
The frustration within me was overwhelming. If what he said was true then I’d deserve what was going on – given I, or the person I was supposed to be, was involved. But I wasn’t the person they were after and they refused to see that. I was as much of a victim of circumstance as Lily was. Albeit I hadn’t had to endure the horrors of what she’d had to endure whilst locked up.
“I imagine she would,” I mumbled more to myself than to Phoenix.
