Until I met Erica. Before I found her on the street, I didn't think I had it in me to feel the way she made me feel. I should never have gotten in so deep with her.
"You can't leave her to die," I said, shaking my head. "That's not like you. It doesn't matter how I feel. She's innocent in this. We can't let him kill her without doing anything about it."
"What are you gonna do?"
I looked at my new vice president, at a loss. "It doesn't look like I have a choice, does it?"
Chapter Twenty-Two
Erica
I woke up slowly, one bit at a time. First, it was my feet. They were a little numb. I tried to move them, then realized I couldn't. It was the same thing with my hands. My wrists were tied together. Behind me. My arms were so achy and stiff, pulled behind me at an awkward angle. It hurt like hell to move even a little bit.
My head was foggy. Why couldn't I think straight?
Where was I?
I couldn't see. I was blindfolded. My heart raced. I struggled to focus, to avoid a panic attack. I took a deep breath.
"She's awake."
The voice startled me. I jumped away from it, then moaned when the muscles of my arms stretched painfully. I couldn't slow my breathing, couldn't keep from panicking. When footsteps approached, I nearly screamed.
"Relax." It was a man's voice. Then the sound of something being dragged across a floor. A chair? It stopped in front of me. "I already told all my men they weren't allowed to touch you. Not yet anyway." I heard him snicker. "It won't be easy to keep them away, though. You're hotter than Harrison told us."
Harrison? Who the hell was that? Who was this person in front of me? His voice had a warmth to it, like we knew each other. Or he knew me. It was unnerving.
"I figured you'd have to be a hot piece of ass if you were enough to get Baldoni to fall for you." Another snicker. "Sorry. I mean, Vince."
Vince? The sound of his name made me raise my head. Where was he? I took another deep breath to calm myself. God, it stank in there. Where had they taken me? A garbage dump?
I remembered it all. The photo of Onyx. The way he overtook me. It all went black after that, though I seemed to recall coming to at one point. I was on my back in a vehicle-I could feel the engine humming. I heard somebody comment that I was waking up, and that cloth appeared over my face again. It went black again, until I woke up in a stinking room. Tied to a chair. Terrified and in pain.
"Don't you have anything to say?" he asked. He was making fun of me, trying to get into my head. He wanted to take me down. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing me crack. I had to be strong. Somewhere inside, I knew it was what Vince would want me to do. It was what he needed me to do.
"I'm thirsty," I whispered. My throat felt like sandpaper. "Please. Some water."
Footsteps on the other side of the room. How many people were in the room with us? To that point, I'd only been paying attention to the man sitting in front of me. He was close, but not too close. I could just barely smell aftershave or cologne over the stench of garbage. I let my senses expand a bit, trying to get a sense of how many others there were. I kept my ears tuned to movement, breathing, anything that would give me a clue.
My mind was racing. I knew, somehow, that it didn't matter how many men were there. It wasn't as though I could do anything about my situation. They had me tied, trapped. I needed something to focus on, was all. Anything other than panic or hopelessness.
"Why won't you let me see?" I whispered. "Does it really matter?"
"Why do you need to see?" he countered. He thought he was really clever. But I'd figured it out as soon as I got my thoughts to quiet down long enough to think it through.
"I've heard so much about the leader of the Vicious Wolves. I thought I might as well get a look at him for once."
I heard a sharp intake of breath. "How did you know that's where you were?"
I smirked without intending to. "Where else would I be? Last time I checked, I didn't see a member of any other club kill somebody. It was one of your men, wasn't it?"
"Smart girl." The blindfold left my eyes in one quick, rough motion. I blinked hard against the sudden light. It took a moment for me to get my bearings.
When my eyes focused, I got my first look at my surroundings. I almost wished the blindfold was still over my eyes. It was disgusting, run down, dirty. There were a few tables and chairs around, a pool table in one corner, a dart board on the wall. A thousand empty bottles and cans. Cigarette butts on just about every flat surface. It was dimly lit, which was a blessing. I wouldn't want to see it under bright lighting.
Was this their clubhouse? Why would they want to live and work this way? I thought back to the Fury Riders, and how comfortable and clean it was there. I knew the girls had something to do with that. Weren't there any girls around for the Wolves? I couldn't imagine who'd want to be.
Then, I turned my attention to my captor. He was sitting in front of me on a backward chair, arms crossed over the back. He had a magnetism to him, a confidence. I couldn't deny it, even as he made my skin crawl. I could understand why people would follow him. His mane of wavy brown hair and piercing blue eyes created a striking effect. In fact, he would make a perfect subject. All angles and cragginess. And those startlingly blue eyes.
"Like what you see?" he asked with a snide laugh. I ignored him as the sound of a door opening distracted me. It was Onyx, carrying a bottle of water.
I wanted to spit on him, and would have if I had any saliva in my parched mouth. The filthy, stinking traitor. I could have killed him for what he'd done to Vince and me. Especially Vince. I knew this was all about him in the end.
I wondered how they expected me to drink when my hands were behind my back. "Please. Can you untie me?"
"Why would I do that?"
"Where am I going to go? I have no idea where I am. Besides, my feet are still tied. I'm in a lot of pain right now. Please."
He looked at me, thinking. I made it a point to look as pained as possible-it wasn't difficult, as I was in legitimate agony.
"All right," he said, nodding to Onyx. "Untie her wrists."
I met Onyx's eyes, but only for a moment. He averted them quickly. Ashamed of himself? He should have been. He had let Lance die. He had brought me to a stinking pit and tied me up.
He couldn't look at me. That told me something about him. I didn't believe he was heartless. I thought he might have gotten caught up, the way Lance was. Onyx was stronger than Lance. He could stomach betrayal. He just couldn't stand to look me in the eye. Coward.
His hands were on my wrists, working at my restraints. I looked at Alexander, who was looking carefully at me. I held his gaze. It was important to show I wasn't afraid of him. I was, of course. I was terrified. I didn't want him to know it, though.
"Better?" he asked when the rope binding my wrists was released.
I flexed my arms slowly, wincing as the blood flowed through my aching joints and muscles. I could hardly lift my hand to take the water Onyx offered.
I took my time drinking, stalling to think things over. What could I do? What could I say? What was the end game? There had to be one. He hadn't gone through the trouble of smuggling me there to chat. I had to stay strong. Would they try to torture me to give up information? It wasn't as though I had any-frankly, anything I knew, Onyx was bound to know as well. I was useless in that respect.
I had to be bait. It seemed as though that was how Alexander operated. He lured and tricked. He was luring Vince to him, using me. My blood ran cold. I wouldn't let him do it.
If he couldn't use me, he would kill me. Then again, he could just as easily kill me after he did what he wanted to Vince. What did he have to gain by letting me go? He wasn't the type to let witnesses go unscathed-hence, the effort to kidnap me before this.
I hoped Vince was smart enough to see through any offer Alexander made.
"Better?" he asked as I lowered the bottle. I nodded. "Good. Now that you're a little more with it and I gave you time to think over your options, why don't you tell me why I brought you here?"
I told myself not to show him how unnerving it was to have my thoughts read. "I don't know."
He grinned. "Sure you do. You're a smart girl. Graduated from college with honors. Trying to get your own photography business started. I admire a-whaddya call it?-entrepreneurial spirit." He snickered.
How did he know so much about me? Of course. If I'd had the strength, I would have slapped my forehead. He'd found my mom, hadn't he? He'd done his homework.