Page 40 of Property of Mercy
My body rigid for two reasons: one I want to rip his head off for calling Paisleylittle lamb,and two, they seem to think they have answers.Answers I need because after last night I don’t know that I would be able to do what needs to be done if she’s not who she says she is.
My lungs seize at that thought.There is only one reason I would not be able to do what I have to as the Enforcer for the Kings of Anarchy Georgia Chapter.The thought of applying her five-finger necklace for anything other than pleasure causes my head to spin and the monster in my soul to pull back.Movement to my right finally anchors me enough to get oxygen in.Blender is leaning forward, eyes narrowed on the man at the end of the table.
“Are you going to tell us what you found or are we going to play charades to find out?”he demands.
Pres looks up from the file folder in his hand and the look on his face is too satisfied.“Hermes, TV please.”
Hermes gets the TV turned on and a picture of a woman that looks a lot like Paisley with her head leaning against Jenny’s makes my stomach turn.I look away from the TV, back to Pres and then to Hermes.
“What the hell is this shit?”I bark, all ability to be pleasant gone.
“We all know that the woman with Jenny in this picture is her roommate that was tasked with protecting our sweet Jenny—Ainsley Finch.”Pres stops making eye contact with me and glances at the others around the room.“As we all know, you’ve been searching for her since the day we found Jenny’s body.At this point, we all assumed she was a part of it since she let Jenny go out alone, then up and just vanished after Jenny was dead.”
Standing to lean over the table, I place my hands flat on the surface.“Why in the fucking hell are we recounting shit we all already know?Get to your motherfucking point or shut the fuck up!”
Pres jumps to his feet at the same time as half the other brothers.His face turns red as his anger boils.“Who the hell do you think you are talking to?I’m your Pres, not just another goddamn brother.Show me the fucking respect I deserve, or I’ll give you the bullet it takes for you to leave this club.”
Raider’s voice breaks through the red haze currently covering my vision.“Mercy, sit the fuck down and listen.We need to know what they found.Take a fucking step back.”
Standing to my full height, I back away from the table to lean on the wall, knowing that if I’m any closer to the man in front of me, then I might just fucking kill him over all this cloak and dagger bullshit.
Pres smirks, thinking he has won and tamed the beast.If only he knew what was to become of him.
“Relic, now that we’ve been down memory lane, let’s get today and now,” Pope’s calm unbothered voice carries from his seat.
“With Ainsley gone, we assumed she had either gone back into the fold, or they were done with her and turned her out into the ring.Well, it seems we were only half right.”Pres looks back at the TV as the screen changes to a split screen of Ainsley and Paisley side by side.
As soon as the pictures are there—I see it.Paisley isn’t her name at all.No, the woman in my bed is the last person to have seen my sister and sell her out to the bastards that killed her.With that thought, I fucking lose my shit.Roaring, I throw a fist at the wall before grabbing a chair and breaking it over the table.I’m going to fucking kill her after I ring every fucking answer I can out of her.Before my brothers can get close enough to stop me, I tear out of church in search of the traitorous bitch.
22
AINSLEY
I’m sitting on the couch in the great room with Charlie by my side, completely engrossed in my book, when a roar comes from the direction the men went for church.Looking over at Charlie in question, we don’t say anything.Shit, I think we’re both too afraid to even breathe.The sound of something breaking comes through the door just before it bursts open.Coming through the door is Satan himself, with his avenging angel behind him.
Charlie and I both jump to our feet.I back away from the couches toward what I’m hoping is the door.Mercy's eyes scan the room before they lock on me, his pupils completely blown and for the first time ever, I’m seeing the monster that lives in his soul with one-hundred percent clarity.I tremble as pure terror takes a choke hold.He storms toward me, the men from church closing in around him, seeming to try to talk some sense into him.Mercy hears none of it, just makes a beeline for me.
I continue my slow steps back as he stalks toward me.When my back hits a wall, I know that I’m trapped.There is nothing I can do now to escape the monster baring down on me.As soon as he is within arm’s length of me his hand snaps out, wrapping around my throat.The reminder that just a few short hours ago this hold was for pleasure and ownership, and now it’s going to be what brings my death.
“Tell me it’s a fucking lie,” Mercy hisses low.
Not breaking eye contact, I ask, “What is a lie?”
His grip tightens in warning.“Ainsley Finch.”
At the sound of my name, I gasp in shock, “He said he wouldn’t tell you.”
A bone chilling growl reverberates in his chest.“It doesn’t matter who said fucking what.What matters now is you tell me everything you know about the men that took my sister and killed her.”
I try to shake my head in denial of his words.He grips my throat tighter, stopping my movements.
“Do not fucking continue lying to me.Because if you had nothing at all to do with what happened, then why run like the rat you fucking are?”he screams in my face.
Something about the way he says that causes me to fucking snap and practically beg for death.
“Fuck you, Mercy.I had fucking nothing to do with what happened to Jenny.”Swallowing the growing lump in my throat, I continue even as he flexes his hold.“She was the best person I ever fucking knew.She never met a fucking stranger and loved so big that you couldn’t help but want to protect her with everything you have.Make sure nothing bad or ugly touched her.”
Mercy shakes me as if I’m a rag doll.“Then why didn’t you.It’s the only fucking thing I asked of you.”
