Page 44 of Massacre
“Why not let the Nyght Nymphs just hide her again?” Kytten offered to the room.
“No,” Bane snapped at the cute woman. “That’s what got her into this mess in the first place. Besides, my daughter is tired of hiding. She deserves to live her life.”
“What about what I want?” my woman spoke up and just like that, all eyes turned toward her.
Chapter Sixteen
Amber
“What do you want to do, baby?”
I never wanted this. I was a nobody, just a whore men used for their own gratification. Since moving to Diamond Creek, I’d slowly taken my life back, one day at a time, and now this man I barely knew was asking me the one fucking question no one else bothered to ask.
“I don’t want to live in hiding anymore. I can’t. I refuse to. I’ve been in hiding for most of my life and I hate it.”
“Then you won’t.”
“I just found my family. I want a relationship with them, with my niece.”
“Sypher’s a brother. His home is with the Golden Skulls.”
I could hear the sincerity in his voice, rough as gravel but edged with something softer, almost pleading. The Golden Skulls—his family, his identity—were a world I’d only glimpsed on the periphery, a patchwork of chaos and loyalty stitched with secrets I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. My heart pounded as I stared at him, searching for any sign of deceit, any hidden agenda. There was none, just stark honesty and a strange vulnerability.
“What happens if I go with you?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
“That’s up to you. All I can promise is, I’ll keep you safe, Amber. No one will ever hurt you again. Not while I breathe.”
I bit my lip, uncertainty gnawing at me. Safety was a beautiful word, a fragile hope. But freedom—freedom waseverything. I’d fought too long, clawed my way out of too many shadows to ever surrender to it so easily again. Still, the way he looked at me, as if I was more than the sum of my scars, made me wonder if there could be a different kind of life—a life where I wasn’t just surviving, but living.
“I need time,” I said finally, my voice steadier than I felt.
He nodded, leaning back in his chair, granting me the space I craved. “You’ve got it. As much as you need.”
For the first time in forever, I felt like maybe I could breathe.
“It’s not that easy, Massacre,” Reaper groaned.
“Not gonna force her, boss. Fuck the consequences.”
“You may be willing to roll the dice, but I’m not,” Reaper said, looking fiercely at Massacre.
“Leave it alone, Reaper,” Massacre sneered as he scowled at his president. I was missing something, because when Reaper slowly stood, followed by Massacre, I knew there was something else he hadn’t told me.
Jumping to my feet, I stood before the brooding men and gently placed my hands on Massacre’s chest. Looking up at him, I asked, “Tell me. What am I missing here?”
His jaw clenched, and his muscles shifted beneath my palms as a storm flickered behind his eyes. For a heartbeat, I thought he might shut me out, hide whatever weighed so heavily on his conscience. But when he spoke, his voice was low, raw, his words a confession torn from somewhere deep.
“There’s a price on my head, Amber—that’s why Reaper wants me back in California, under lock and key until the club can find the motherfucker and kill him, but I—” His eyes searched my face, desperate and defiant. “I won’t leave you defenseless. Not now. Not after I’ve found you again.”
“The Brotherhood?” I asked.
“No, from my time in the Bratva.”
A cold shiver ran down my spine at the word. I’d heard stories—whispers of the Bratva’s reach, the unbreakable codes, debts paid in blood. My mind spun; a hundred questions jostled for space, but I only managed, “This man Yuri?”
He gave a humorless laugh, rough and exhausted, and nodded. “Yeah.” He drew a shaky breath and looked away, unable to meet my eyes. “I was young, angry, and I thought I could outplay him. When I walked away, I knew there was a chance. I just never thought it would be this soon.”
My hands lingered on his chest, feeling the hammering of his heart. “But you’re safe in California?”
