Page 35 of Deviant Bastards

He had taken Harley on a date, and about halfway through, my phone pinged with a blank message. I tried calling them both, but their phones just rang out. Bishop and Gadge had to contain me because I wanted to go off half-cocked and slaughter the lot of them in their fucking sleep, which is when the guys pointed out that if I did, then we would never find Harley or Gryffin.

I look across the room and see that it appears as though my guys were winning. The grin that stretches across my face is award winning. I’m willing to bet that I look like a combination of the Joker and the Cheshire cat right about now.

“You wanted me out in the open, well here I am mother-fucker,” I say as I stride towards them. As I get closer, I begin to inspect my girl. She has a bruise blooming under her eye and across her left cheek.

Some fucker is dying today. She nods her head at me as she makes eye contact. “Who laid hands on my girl, then?” I ask, but no one answers me. Deacon, however, glances between his boss and me.Ah, so the rumours that daddy likes to hit women are true after all.I file it away for later. That shit-head will pay the price for it.

“You’re not in a position to ask questions, you jumped up, little punk,” Grayson growls at me as he steps closer to Harley’s chair. “You remember our conversation?” He threatens his daughter.

Tears bloom in her eyes. “Yes, daddy, I remember,” her voice is so small and meek, no fire in it at all, which tells me that this arsehole has most likely threatened her with the most important thing to her. He threatened to hurt Ellie. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s a man who threatens women and children.

Gryffin fights against his restraints and is yelling something, but it’s muffled behind the gag. “Shut him up,” Grayson barks at Deacon. Deacon pistol whips Gryffin, which only serves to piss him off, and Gryffin kicks his legs out, trying to hit the fucker. Deacon full on laughs at him. These arse-wipes are going to die today.

“Baby girl, look at me,” I plead with her, but Harley’s eyes remain on the floor. “What the fuck did you say to my girl!” I roar at her arsehole father. The smug fuck has the audacity to smirk at me. I struggle to keep cool, but right now, he knows he holds all the fucking power.

* * *

HARLEY

My date with Gryffin was going so well. He had taken me to a cute little pizza place not that far from the house. He had been telling me all about how his father had thrown him out when he was young and that he then moved in with Dayton, Ric, and his family. That they treated him like one of their own.

We had made sure we weren’t followed, or at least we thought that we hadn’t, that was until Deacon stepped into the restaurant. I immediately felt all the colour drain from my face. Gryffin pulled out his gun, but he wasn’t fast enough. Deacon slid a needle into his arm, knocking him out cold.

That’s how we found ourselves in a warehouse facing off against Ric’s guys. Gryffin still hangs from the hook, his arms above his head which is now lolling to the side because Deacon hit him with the butt of the gun. My father paces back and forth, and I can’t bring myself to make eye contact with Kendric again. If I do, then I know I’ll break, and right now, I have to stay strong for Ellie.

My mind flashes back to the conversation I had earlier with my father.

I get pulled into my dad’s office. Barnett’s grip on my arm hasn’t let up since he hauled me out of the car. “Where are you taking him?” I demand. As soon as the car stops, Deacon yanks a still unconscious Gryffin out and over his shoulder, carting him off to who the fuck knows where.

“Sit,” Barnett growls as he all but throws me down into the chair opposite my father’s desk. He proceeds to take up guard at my back. My father strides into the room and takes a seat. “I’m so glad to have you home, daughter,” he smirks at me. I glare at him, and he leans across the desk, grabbing hold of the front of my top. “Did you seriously think that I was going to let you play happy fucking families with those bastards!” he growls at me, spit flying from his mouth.

His hand comes up so fast, the resounding whack echoes across the room as my cheek throbs in pain, but I don’t respond to him.“I know you were planning to come back for your daughter, and then those bastards were going to hide you from me again, so I had Barnett meet with one of their men in order to gain intel on where you were. Now, here’s what we are going to do,” my father says as he pulls my necklace from his pocket.

Shit! I hadn’t even noticed it was missing, but what he plans to do with it, I don’t know. He turns it over in his hand and presses a little button on the stone.

How the fuck did I miss that?“This will activate the tracking device that your little boyfriend had installed, and then they will come find you. But you won’t be leaving with them, not if you want to ensure that your daughter doesn’t get sold off to the highest bidder,” he finishes as he hands my necklace to Barnett. “You’re a fucking monster.”

“Oh, my sweet, sweet daughter. You have no idea what I’m capable of. Now, be a good girl, and put the damn necklace on.”

I’m pulled back into reality when my father backhands me again. Kendric growls at him as he steps closer, I raise my eyes slightly and shake my head, silently telling him to stay where he is.

“You will pay for that,” Kendric threatens my father.

“Just like you will pay for taking my daughter from me in the first place and turning her into your little whore. Tell me, Kendric, was that your plan all along? To get her to turn on her family by making her fall in love with you?”

Ric’s pleading gaze meets mine. “No!” he shouts. “I’ve been in love with her since the first time I met her. I knew, even then, that one day she would be mine,” he states firmly. My father laughs at him.

“Ah, you see, that’s where you’re very much mistaken. She was never yours, to begin with. She was then and still is now, Lee’s to have.”

What the actual fuck!This bastard promised me to Lee. “Why?” I ask my father.

“Quite simple really; expansion,” he says as if it’s really that simple.

That’s it?He did all of this so the assassins would let him take them over, meaning that he would hold more power and more real estate than any of the other gangs in London.

“I couldn’t exactly marry off your brother now, could I? Nope, I needed my second in command.”

His words ramble around in my head, although they don’t make sense because Deacon is his second, but then as I turn to look at the man in question, he nods his head.

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