Page 73 of Dangerous Love

“You’re okay. Just open your eyes.”

As soon as I lifted my eyelids, the voice morphed into a young woman in her mid-twenties. She sported a busted lip and blood stains on a white uniform. I lowered my gaze to her name tag.Nicole.

“Where am I?” I murmured, the headache pounding in my skull drowning out everything else.

She grabbed me by the waist and sat me up until my head leaned against her shoulder. “I’m Nic. We’re locked in a room.”

“Why?” I rasped, my throat on fire.

“I don’t know.” She flinched when rattling sounds could be heard on the other side of the door. “A big guy grabbed me at the end of my shift at Logan Hospital this morning. I stitched one of them before they threw me down here.”

“My head hurts,” I whispered, the dizziness in my brain slowly fading every time Nic clicked her fingers in front of my face.

“Stay awake.” She straightened me again. “What’s your name?”

I paused, my mind struggling to even answer the simplest of questions. Every word, every move, and every decision wallowed in a heavy darkness as I tried to make sense of my surroundings. “Sienna.”

“Okay, Sienna. We have to stay awake. You hit your head pretty bad when they tossed you in here.” Her fingers ran over the side of my skull. When she lowered them, blood darkened her skin. “Just stay with me.”

“Is this Cooper’s doing?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know any Cooper. I have no idea who took us, but it’s clear whoever it is wants to lay low.”

When the lock clunked on the other side, both Nic and I recoiled against the wall. Her arms tightened around me. Two shadows stepped closer, and as soon as my eyes zoomed in on them, I recognized Michael, his smirk larger than the Brisbane River.

“How are you,babe?” he asked, as he exchanged a glance with the familiar face next to him. My memories twirled in my head like a washing machine stuck on the spin cycle, until I knew exactly who the other guy was.

“Alexandro,” I spat. “Like the good old days. All we’re missing is Trey between us.” Cooper’s enforcer had tried to show hisfriendlyside a couple of times when I was mingling with Cooper’s gang, but Hal’s oldest son had listed me asout of boundsfor the whole club, so that’s where it’d died. “Let me guess. Now that Trey’s gone rogue, you’re having new ideas?”

The enforcer laughed, his palm caressing the gun in his waistband. “Haven’t you heard? Trey’s back on board. He’s next in line.”

Shit.“I don’t believe you.” If Trey was back in business, Riley was in with him, or as blindsided as I’d been. I pointed to Michael. “Who’s he? Cooper’s new bitch?”

Alexandro pursed his lips, like he pretended to be considering my question. “Be careful, Sienna. You don’t know who you’re talking to.”

Michael crouched until our gazes lined up. “We haven’t met,” he crooned, as he extended a hand. When I ignored the gesture, his jaw tightened. “I’m Rob. My uncle’s the head of the Kingscliff’s Snakes. Makes me almost as important as your Riley, don’t you think?”

“Fuck you,” I growled. “You’re nothing like him,Michael.”

He pressed on his feet, until he towered over me and Nic, and smirked. “You’re right. I don’t even look like a Michael.” Then he turned towards Alexandro and said, “They’ll just have to stay here overnight, while the rest of us cross the border. I’m sure two girls won’t be hard to manage without manpower, right?”

Alexandro chuckled. “Nope. Two little girls. One night. Cooper and I will have a blast bingeing on Netflix until the official merge tomorrow.”

“Perfect,” Michael said, right before he blew me a sadistic kiss and locked the door behind him.

I exhaled, my brain kicking itself into gear. I didn’t know how we’d get out of this mess, but if we didn’t do it while Cooper was alone tonight, by tomorrow, we’d both be dead.

CHAPTER36

Riley

My heart pumped faster when I drove out of the Coles car park. I wasn’t mega thrilled about leaving Sienna with her work guy, but she’d insisted he deserved the courtesy of a face-to-face chat, rather than her ghosting him after he’d taken her in a month ago.

I agreed, for the most part, and yet I would have preferred to be there regardless. There was something triggering my caveman instinct when I pictured her living with another guy, even if they shared different bedrooms.

I inhaled, my breath steady as my resolve grew tougher than twelve-inch glass. Today, I would claim Sienna as mine, and no one would stop me. Not Avery, not Trey, and definitely not Hal fucking Cooper.

I shifted the car into fifth as I got onto the M1 towards the Gold Coast. The clock showed almost four, so I probably had an hour before Hal left the warehouse for the day, and based on Trey’s intel, he’d be alone while his new club wrapped up their business in New South Wales.

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