Page 50 of Gio

The second stash house had two bikers standing guard. The first one was smiling at his phone which made it easy to sneak up on him from the backyard and slide my knife across his throat. The second man put up more of a fight, but I had rage on my side, and she was the best backup I could’ve had. He put up a good fight and landed a few blows that slowed me down.

When his gun came out and he smiled, I smiled wider and took a step forward to grab the wrist that held the gun before I stuck my knife under his chin and pushed up. He crumpled like a paper bag, and I kicked him out of my way before I searched the house.

Instead of Harper, I found neatly wrapped drugs stacked up in room after room, hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth, I was sure. The basement and the attic were empty too, so I struck a match but then I froze as Cole’s words hit me in the gut.

A war we’re not ready for.

He was right. This amount had to belong to the Santangelos, and we didn’t want shit with them, so I left it as it was and kept moving.

The next location was an empty bar, and Harper wasn’t being held there either so I smashed up every fucking bottle I could find until my rage only simmered. Location after location came up empty and was left in total fucking carnage.

Still, no Harper.

The fifth location was a brothel that sat as the lone house on a block filled with apartment buildings. It was a three-story Victorian style which meant lots of rooms and my arms started to tingle. This was the perfect place to hide her in plain sight.

It was early enough in the day that the place wasn’t busy but still, I had to be careful because I didn’t know who was inside. My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I knew it was Cole before I even looked at the screen. I ignored the call, and the stubborn fucker called right back.

“What?”

“What the fuck, Gio? Are you trying to get Harper killed?”

I sucked in a sharp breath. “You know that’s not what I’m doing. I’m making sure that the Harper I get back is still the woman I love, okay?” Shit, I hadn’t meant to say that. “I’m not waiting until she’s bloodied and bruised, battered, or fucking traumatized Cole.”

“You left me behind.”

“Yeah, because you’re a fucking Boy Scout and I can take the heat of this myself as long as Harper is safe.”

“No, fuck that. We’re brothers before the MC, we do this shit together.”

He was right. “Not this time Cole. I can’t explain it, but I have to do this. It’s my fault she’s gone, and I have to save her, no matter what it takes.”

“I could have Slate track your phone.”

I nodded, surprised he hadn’t done that already. “You could but you won’t. I’m close Cole, I know it. I’ll call you when I find her.” I ended the call and turned off the ringer. If something happened to me, I needed Slate to track my phone to get Harper to safety.

Now it’s time to save my woman.

Chapter 29

Harper

Iwasn’t sure how long I’d been locked up in the small, dark, windowless room. I didn’t know if it was day or night. Viper and his men had moved me from the original building which dashed my hopes that Gio or anyone would come to save me. They had no clue where I was and neither did I—if I even had a way to reach out to them, which I didn’t.

For the first few hours I couldn’t hear much, but after a while footsteps and muffled conversations sounded all around me. I couldn’t tell if it was right beside me, below, or above me, because the room was pitch black. I could stand up, but two or three steps in any direction had me right up against a wall. It had to be a closet or the world’s tiniest room.

I had nothing to do but think. Would Diesel and Rocky agree to Viper’s terms? I knew what Cole told me about the MC, that it was a democracy but there were times that Diesel and Rocky could override the vote if they decided it was best for the MC. My biggest worry was that they would decide that the mission to rescue me would hurt the MC more than anything and they would choose to let me hang.

I knew, of course, that Cole and Gio wouldn’t go for that which made my eyes fill with tears because I also knew what that meant. If forced to choose, Gio and Cole would make the foolish choice to attempt to save me without regard to their own safety. I couldn’t live with that, so I listened carefully, tested the door handle and tried for any weakness in the room where I was beingheld. I hadn’t found a way out, not yet, but I wasn’t ready to give up. I still had some fight in me, and I would use that until my last breath.

Wherever I was being held was busy. Music played and there were dozens of voices and noises, mostly sex sounds, all around me. I’d tried shouting, but either no one had heard, or no one cared. This was either a party house or some kind of brothel or sex club, I wasn’t sure which and even less sure that I wanted to know. I still didn’t believe that Viper planned to let me go, which had my mind racing with what else he had planned for me.

I couldn’t let myself think about that, I had to think about how I could get the hell out of here. Though with every minute that passed, it became clearer to me there was no way out without help.

This can’t be how it ends, how I end.

I refused to let this be how I ended.

I started kicking on the door, determined to get someone’s attention. I didn’t care who, even if it was one of the Reapers it would mean someone was listening, was paying attention to me. But a loud hush fell all around me, and I wasn’t sure if I should keep kicking the door or stop.

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