Page 24 of The Biker's Forbidden Virgin

Nisa

I fucked up. I know I did. I keep pushing Leo away even though he’s doing everything he can to help me. I wish I could, but if I let him help, it just means that he’s that much closer to getting hurt. I can’t allow that. Not for anything.

The thought of going back to Marc makes my blood curdle, but I have no choice in the matter. I can still smell the smoke on my clothes from the fire. He’s not going to stop until I give him what he wants, and that’s access to Chrome Creed.

I hope out of the uber and make my way into the laundromat, it’s a twenty-four-hour place, so it never looks strange no matter what time of night I walk in here. I bypass the people washing their clothes and head straight for the manager’s office. Ms. Lin is there watching her stories on the small color TV as always, and I walk to the hidden door behind her. She doesn’t even ask questions. Anyone is allowed just to walk right through. No one would, though. Those who know Marc know better than to just walk upon him. Something I’m doing right now.

I make my way down the stairs and see table after table of drugs and workers packing them away. The first time I sawthe setup down here, I was shocked that no one had ever been caught. It’s just so much.

The workers know better than to ask any questions. They do their work and keep their head down, making it easier to walk by them and see Marc. Another door separates the office from the cutting area, where he is. I walk in without knocking on the door to see a man sitting in a chair, clearly scared. He has tears trailing down his face, and his hands shake as they grip the side of the chair.

“My love, Nisa, I didn’t expect you so soon. How’s your mother? Well, I hope?” Marc asks as he pushes the man in the chair away from him like he’s no longer important and walks over to me, kissing me on the cheek and pulling me into a hug. It makes me gag, the man just tried to kill my mother, and he thinks I want to be in his arms right now.

When I first met Marc, it was right after Hugh died. He said all the right things, and I was reeling from being rejected by Leo and the rest of Chrome Creed. Marc gave me that sense of home that I’d been desperate for, and when I said I needed help making ends meet, he was right there to help me. He was a gentleman, never once tried to push me into having sex with him. He was like my knight in shining armor until I found out that he was using the personal information I’d been feeding him to figure out a way to bring down Chrome Creed and to get his hooks into the few honest business owners around town. I didn’t figure it out until it was too late, and by then, I was too far under his thumb. Once I tried to break away, he made sure that I knew he would make my life absolute hell.

“Well? Are you crazy? You tried to kill her! What would’ve happened if she were home when you started that fire?” I do my best to stay firm, but my eyes burn with unshed tears.

“Maybe you ought to watch your fucking mouth, Nisa.” Marc’s eyes go hard, “I could’ve done much worse if I wanted toinstead, I only showed you exactly what you needed to see for you to get what I asked done. I want those Creed bastards done for. You’re the closest one to them, and they trust you. Especially that president of theirs.”

My face falls slightly. How does he know so much? “I’m nothing to them. They barely even want me around.”

“Bullshit, Nisa. Take those fucking lies somewhere else because I’m not going to believe them. I know they raced over to your mothers after you found out about the fire. I know you’ve been staying there with them. Now you’re going to do what you have to do to either get that president here to me alone or take out the whole club. If you don’t do it soon, a small fire is going to be the last thing you have to worry about.” He smiles at me and tries to raise his hand to caress my face.

I jerk my head away. “I’m not going to do it. You have nothing left to take from me. I’m not going to hurt them.” I raise my chin and get ready for what I’m sure will be a stand-off. I’ve fucked up too many times already. I can’t do this to them. I know Hugh is gone, but he’d never allow me to go up against his brothers like this no matter what they’ve done.

“Really? You think there’s nothing left for me to take? I beg to differ.” Marc steps back and walks over to his desk.

My breath catches in my throat when I see his hand hover over a gun sitting on the table. He’s going to shoot me. I know it.

When his hand grazes over it without picking it up, I let out a sigh of relief. I should have known he wouldn’t have the...

I gasp in pain as something hard yet malleable smacks against my thigh. In shock, I try to figure out what’s going on. I hear the jingle of moving metal as Marc raises a large coin bag and swings it against me again. I scream out in pain this time as he hits me over and over. No skin breaks, but the blunt trauma feels like my bones are being crushed on impact.

“Stop! Marc, please!” I yell and fall to the ground to try and cover myself up and avoid the blows.

“You think you’re going to come in here and fucking tell me what you’re going to do! I fucking own you, Nisa! You’ll do what the fuck I tell you, and that’s it! I’ll destroy everything you are before I let you stand against me.” He yells at me, bringing the bag down with every word on different parts of my body. He hits my head, and my brain sloshes against the sides of my skull, and multicolor lights flash behind my eyelids. I gag at the sudden and urgent need to throw up. I drop my arm for a second to cover my mouth. As soon as I do, the bag comes down on my face, and the lights go out as I drift into unconsciousness.

I blink a few times as I wake up only to it’s still dark.

Oh my god! I’m blind! He fucking blinded me.

I put my hands out, trying to feel around me, but I feel something like cloth instead of air. I push at it, but it doesn’t break right away. I raise my hand above my head, and my fingers graze a knot. I push at it, desperately clawing and pulling until it loosens. I crawl out what I know now is a bag and make my way out of the mess Marc has tossed me in. The man through me out with the fucking trash. Did he think I was dead?

No, if he thought I was dead, he would have made sure to get rid of my body. He knew I was still alive; he just wanted me to understand how little he actually cared about me. I was nothing but trash to him.

My vision is still very blurry. I raise my hand to rub my face, and instantly I know Marc did a number on me. Large lumps cover my face, my eyebrow is split open, and one eye is swollen. My hair is matted down in some places, and my body feels likeI’ve been hit by a car. I struggle to stand up, and I can feel something stuffed into my pocket when I do. I pull it out and see a new burner phone and a note from Marc.

“I’ll be in touch, one way or another.”

I let my head fall as I fight against the pain radiating through my body. I thought I’d be able to fight this. I thought he’d just take his anger out on me, that he’d just kill me. I should’ve known better.

CHAPTER 15

A SLIP OF THE TONGUE

Leo

"What the hell do you mean she's not in there?" I yell into the in-helmet microphone and watch as Rumble cringes walking back towards me. The only reason I let her come on her own here is because I was sure that I'd be able to watch her and help her if she needed any help. I saw her fucking walk into the laundromat. I know she didn't walk out of the fucking laundromat, so unless Nisa all of a sudden became fucking Houdini, there's no way that she's not in there.

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