Page 108 of Throttle

“What they plan on doing to her, but lucky for everyone here, I’m his favorite at the moment.”

I stare horrified, but even with purple marks all over her nearly nude body, she still looks beautiful. Her long copper brown hair hangs down past her shoulders and despite so much pain, her blue eyes shine. Her skin is smooth as porcelain, with only a small butterfly tattoo behind her right ear.

The sight of her chest bruises is making me sick. She doesn’t cover herself, as if this was what she was used to.

I want to cry, tears already threatening to fall, but I force them back, owing her that much. She needs strength surrounding her. Not weakness.

“Is this… are we being trafficked?” The thought is damming.

“Some were sold. I don’t know where to.” She shrugs. “A few others came and went, but I can't remember the exact count. You lose track after a while.”

The pain she must be experiencing. Physically and mentally.

We have to get out of here.

I look around, but there’s nothing. No doors. No windows. No escape from this cage, even if there was a way.

The door opens and my stomach drops. The biker who shot Caleb lingers, scanning the area. He stops on me and grins.

I release Mya's hand to avoid attracting attention to her, then lean against the icy prison bars.

As he gets closer, I recognize his familiar face. It was him that Angel put in an arm lock.

He crouches down in front of me. “Hi, princess.” He licks his lips, staring at my chest. “You’ll earn me some nice cash.”

“You shot Caleb,” I barely say his name. The betrayal sinks in.

“He was going to pussy out and I couldn’t afford that.”

“He was working for you?” My voice quivers. There weren’t any signs.

The memory of his warning attempt in the end still makes my heart ache. It's possible he had a sense of regret. But it doesn’t change anything. And for that, I can’t be sorry about his death.

He smiles. “He was my scout the night at the bar. Our goal was to have you, such a pretty thing. And then I saw your biker friends and thought… what the hell? I was up for a challenge. It was about time we took your club out, anyway.” He sniffs. “We knew if we nabbed you, your boys would come running. We wait, then take them out.”

I swallow. He’s planning on murdering my friends. The guys. The entire club. Throttle.

No.

My vision blurs with tears.

Their attempts to rescue me would only lead them straight into a trap.

“Don’t think I haven’t noticed them snooping around here, though. That stunt they pulled with the tracker really pissed me off.”

“Why go to all this trouble? Why not just kill them if that was your end goal?” I’m so disgusted.

“You’re probably worth a lot of money. It would be foolish to not take this chance.”

“You’re vile,” I spit.

He shrugs like none of this is a big deal. “I’ll be that much closer to being filthy rich and women will flock to my side.”

I almost vomit.

A genuine laugh comes from my left, causing his snarky grin to disappear.

The woman with the copper hair stops laughing, and he gives her a menacing glare with his lifeless, cold eyes.

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