Page 84 of Mystic's Sunrise

I’m not done with her.

She’ll come back.

One way or another… Zeynep was mine.

I fucking saved her from Big John. Gave her a place. Protection. And yeah, I expected loyalty. Respect. Obedience. That’s how this shit works. I gave, she gave back. It was simple. Fair.

But she ran.

I stepped out of the shower, steam still clinging to my skin like the ghosts of every ride I never came back whole from. Towel hung loose around my waist, water dripping down my chest, mixing with the blood from my knuckles. I didn’t bother wiping it away. Let it stain. Let it remind me I was still breathing.

I yanked open the bathroom door and stalked into the bedroom, the woman still sprawled half-naked across the bed, pretending to sleep.

“Get the fuck out,” I said coldly.

She flinched, grabbed her things, and scrambled for the door like a rat in a burning house. She didn’t even look back.

Smart girl.

I yanked on my jeans and cut, blood still dried on my knuckles from the wall I’d punched last night. That rage hadn’t faded. It was coiled behind my ribs, hungry and mean.

The second I walked into the clubhouse, my eyes locked on Torch and Sly. They were mid-laugh over some bullshit at the bar, but when they saw my face, that shit died fast.

“War room,” I barked.

They didn’t ask questions. Never did. My men knew better than to waste time when my jaw was clenched and my fists still bleeding.

Inside the war room, I didn’t sit. I stood at the head of the table, eyes locked on them like crosshairs. The map of South Carolina stretched beneath my hands, towns marked, safehouses circled, intel scribbled in pencil across the surface. I slammed my palm down near Charleston.

“She’s out there. Somewhere close.”

Torch rubbed his beard. “You sure she ain’t long gone by now?”

I stepped forward, slow and deliberate, until we were eye to eye. “You think she’s smart enough to disappear from me?”

He dropped his gaze. “No, Prez.”

I nodded. “She’s scared. And scared people make mistakes. She’s with that bitch—Lucy. And Lucy’s a nosy little shit who doesn’t know how to stay quiet. Sooner or later, they’ll slip. That’s when we move. I’ve got Fang on that bitch’s tail as we speak.”

Sly leaned back in his chair, cocky. “You want her brought back alive?”

I stared at him so long he started to sweat. Then I smiled—a cold, dead thing with no soul behind it.

“She comes back whole. Anyone else with her? I don’t give a fuck if they walk or crawl or burn.”

The room went still.

They turned.

“If anyone lays a finger on her, they lose more than the hand that touched her. She’s not just some runaway bitch.”

I paused.

“She’s the queen to this fucking kingdom. She just forgot who the king is.” I tapped the circle in red.The Devil’s House MC.“I think they may still be keeping her here.”

Torch stood back, arms crossed. “You think they still got her?”

“I think they had her,” I growled. “But it’s possible she’s been moved.”