We move quietly down to the next door, when a gun is placed at my temple from the opposite side. “Don’t move.” The asshole growls and I slowly breathe in and out.

Cruz doesn’t give him a chance. He steps around the corner putting a bullet right between the man’s eyes and taking out the guy standing behind him. Everything is eerily quiet and there is still no sign of my girl. I breathe in and out, nodding at Cruz.

We creep slowly down a long hallway our backs to the wall. Our boots tap lightly on the linoleum, but it can’t be helped.

We look in each of the rooms that we pass by, lucky that the doors are open but not seeing anything. We move to the last door and my heart picks up. My gut is telling me that Angel is behind this door. I lift my boot and kick the door in, pushing myself through, my brother right on my tail.

My breath catches, two women one being my girl, hanging by chains from the fucking ceiling, clothes stripped away from both their bodies, feet barely touching the floor. Looking at Angel’s face, I see no signs of tears, but her eyes are dead. Void. Almost as if she has drifted to somewhere inside of herself, her safe place.

“Well. Look who showed up to the party.” Paine moves quickly behind my girl clenching his gun that is now pointed directly at her head. “I’m guessing you got through my men or else you wouldn’t be here right now.” He shakes his head ruefully. “It’s astounding that you even found us.”

“You fucker. You’re dead.” I growl pointing my gun his direction. Angel’s eyes stare at me and spark at hearing my voice. Her head rises lightly.

I hear moaning from the side and without moving my eyes away from my girl, I know it’s Shaina. “Oh my God.” Shaina voice gasps the chains clanging from her struggles. “Get me out of here!” She yells but is ignored. I’m too busy looking at Angel, whose arms are a strange color of white from the loss of blood to them.

“You’re not getting out of here Paine, may as well give it up.” My voice comes out strong and authoritative, even if inside the level of hate and fear are wrapping around me like a snake squeezing every bit of life out of me.

“You think I’m gonna roll over and play dead?” He laughs sadistically. “Fuck no. If I’m going out, I’m taking this one with me. You’ll know what it’s like to feel pain the rest of your miserable life.”

I’m unable to get a clear shot because the worthless piece of shit is guarding his body with Angel’s. Paine pulls Casey’s hair back tight, her head snaps backwards. He holds the gun up to her temple with a slight reach and her eyes latch on mine. Inside of them I see a spark of determination. I know something is coming. I clutch my gun ready for it.

Out of nowhere, Casey’s leg swings back kicking Paine hard in the nuts and he stumbles back with a grunt holding himself, falling away from the girls. I aim and shots go off from Cruz, myself and Paine all at once. When Paine hits the ground with a thud, I rush to my girl and grab her around the waist, pulling her up to get the pressure off her arms. “You okay.” She nods carefully, but no words escape her lips. I rip my shirt over my head and cover her body with it holding it in place. Cruz rushes over to Paine checking his pulse. “Dead?” I ask quickly.

“Yep. Fucking dead.” That is for Diamond and my girl. Fucker.

“Call everyone. We need cutters to get them down now. Get over here and hold them up so their arms can get blood back to them.” Cruz dials the phone giving instructions. Becs and Dagger come rushing in, guns raised.

“Fuck. We missed the damn party.” Dagger lowers his gun placing it at his back.

“Dagger, hold Shaina up to get the blood back in her arms.” He does so and Angel starts shaking in my arms. I hold her tighter.

“It’s alright Angel. I’m taking you home.” I repeat soothing words to her over and over again. Her eyes slowly shut and her head falls to my chest. I want her fucking arms cut down now.

“He… Jace…” Her words stumble and are incoherent, but I know exactly what information she just became privy to. Dammit. The fear in her eyes and the sound of her voice guts me like nothing I’ve ever felt before. I would do anything to take that pain on myself and wipe it from my girl. I want that fucker alive again just so I can fucking kill him all over again.

“I know. It’s okay. It’s all over.” She slowly nods, but the fear is still prevalent in her eyes damn near ripping my heart out. “Everything clear on your end?” I ask Becs.

“Yeah. Took out four men.”

“We took out seven.” Cruz says coming back putting his phone in his rag pocket. “On their way, be here in ten.”

It’s been four days since she was taken and I haven’t let her out of my fucking sight. And she hasn’t let me either. Angel’s been up and down with what happened to her. She doesn’t want to talk about it, but at night, she has this tormented scream that rattles my core. I’ve pressed for answers, but she closes up. She swears that she wasn’t raped, but other than that, I can’t get shit out of her. Even Princess has tried, but still nothing. All I know is that I love her and I’ll do whatever she needs. I know the connection between Jace and Paine has really messed with her head. I just hope not too much.

The discussion on how I found her went much better than anticipated. I thought I’d get shit for it, but she didn’t even bitch about the chip inside of her cut. She even told me she was grateful for it. It just made me hold her tighter. I don’t know what the hell I ever did to deserve her, but I’m glad I did.

Princess, on the other hand, when she found out, went on a fucking rampage. She felt around her rag trying to find the chip, but that’s her. I’ll let Cruz handle that shit. My hands are full enough.

With Paine and most of his crew gone, we can now breathe a bit. First it was Rabbit and then Paine after us for all they were worth. I need a fucking break. I’m ready to ride with my girl behind me and relax for a change.

Shaina is one big hot mess that Princess has been dealing with. I can see why Diamond kept her out of the life. She can’t handle it, at all. Even though neither Shaina or Angel are talking, my gut is telling me that Shaina was hurt much worse than Angel. If that’s so, then she has every right to feel that shit.

Today, I’m getting my girl away from this clubhouse and we will ride to wherever the wind takes us. We are both in need of a fucking break. She says she has school work to do today, which she always says, but never does. But it needs to fucking wait. I need her wrapped around my body and the road in front of us. She needs it too.

“I really don’t want to go.” She says pulling on her leathers and pouting.

“You’re going.”

“But… Never mind.” She finishes lacing her boots and pulls her old leather jacket on. I know she doesn’t want to wear it and I can’t blame her and I know what she wants. “Ready.” Her voice is glum and down. I smile reaching into the closet.

I pull out her rag and hold it up with my hands. “You’re missing something.” Her eyes flash to her rag and tears form in her eyes.

She stands and walks over. Her arm reaches out to the leather and she rubs it in between her fingers. She pulls it to the side and notices all the new lacing I had done throughout it. “You fixed it?” She whispers softly.

“Of course I did.” Everywhere that bastard cut, I had lacing woven through the leather connecting it until it was all one piece again.

“I love you.” She says looking into my eyes.

“Love you too, Angel.”

In the last two days, G.T. has been my rock. After our day long ride, I felt a bit more relaxed. But as soon as we got back to the clubhouse, I felt it happening again. The twitchy, jumpy anxiety that creeps into my body that I can’t shake. I know Paine and Jace are dead. G.T. wasn’t supposed to tell me because it is club business. But after talking to Pops he got the green light to tell me about Jace, they both agreed that I should know.