I stared hard at him. "I don't think it is. I think the only way you'd bring me here would be if Alexander and the rest of them promised not to hurt me. Otherwise, who knows what they would have done to me by now. Right?" My voice dropped to a whisper. "He's only going to kill me anyway. Right? So what does it matter?"
His eyes met mine again. "No."
"Onyx." I shook my head. "Yes. Think about it. Why would he let me go? I can still testify that I saw one of his guys-and I know now that his name is Harrison-murder somebody. I'm a witness. He can't let me live. He's going to kill Vince and me." The sensation of warm, sticky blood running down my hands and dripping onto the floor was driving me insane. It was a struggle to stay focused. I took a deep breath of the dank, rotten air.
"That wasn't part of the deal," he insisted.
"Do you think a man like him honors deals? Come on, Onyx." My voice wasn't angry or condescending. I was very tired, and very sad. He hadn't even known what he was doing when he stepped into this.
"Why did you have to fuck everything up?" he asked again.
"I don't know. I wish I hadn't. You have no idea how much."
"It was supposed to be easier than this."
I sighed. "I'm sure it was. I know you thought you were doing the right thing."
He looked at me sharply. "I don't need your forgiveness, bitch." The coldness of his tone was like a slap in the face. It bothered me more than the word he used to describe me.
"I'm not trying to give it to you. What I'm trying to give you is a little understanding. It's a hell of a lot more than you'll get from the club now."
He winced. I saw how much that hurt him and went with it.
"What do you think will happen? When the Wolves take over the Fury Riders? What will you do? Your old club won't accept you. They might even want you dead. You have nowhere to go."
"Shut up." He looked away, and I saw his hands flex and straighten spasmodically.
"There was never a good way out of this. Alexander had it planned the whole time. He was going to take over your MC. He didn't tell you the whole plan, did he? And now what are you going to get for your trouble? Nothing. No club, no family, nothing."
"I said shut up! I'll put the goddamned gag in your mouth again!"
I pushed on. I had to get the words out so he would at least think about them. "There's only one way you can make it right. One way. If you let me go. You can come with me. We can get out of this together. I'll vouch for you, I swear to God I will. But we have to go now. Before Vince gets here. We have to stop him from coming. Otherwise, he might die."
I watched Onyx's face work as he processed this. Oh, please. Oh, please. Please. He had to see the sense in what I was saying.
He stood. For one brief, glorious moment I thought he was going to let me go. I could already see myself running away, running to Vince. Catching him, begging him not to get himself into trouble for me. And I would tell him Onyx set me free. I would make sure they went easy on him.
I would have done all those things if Onyx had let me go. Instead, he raised the gag, putting it back in my mouth. I screamed in rage and desperation and anguish. Vince was going to die, and it would be all my fault for stirring things up in the first place.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Vince
We rode to the Wolves clubhouse in darkness. It was three o'clock. There was no traffic on the streets. No witnesses to what we were about to do. Clouds covered the sky, which worked in our favor. I didn't want moonlight giving us away.
We rode in black SUVs, seven men to a car. There were four in all. I'd left two prospects back at the clubhouse to keep an eye on the girls. Frankie, Axel, and Ralph were among the men in my car. We were silent. The tension was heavy in the air.
This was it. I knew I could count on all of them. I was honored and humbled that they wanted to step up with me and go through with something so dangerous. If we managed to pull it off, it would mean the end of the Vicious Wolves. We could sleep a little more soundly at night.
And I would have Erica back.
But would she really be back? I told myself to shut down the thought as soon as it floated to the surface of my brain. It wasn't the time to think about a relationship. I couldn't help it though. A big part of me wanted to know what would happen once she was free and York's MC wasn't a threat anymore. Where would that leave us? I was good for protection. I was good in bed. Was I anything else to her?
Before we left, Brett had asked me to please bring her home. Tyler and Sam had nodded with tears in their eyes. Home. They thought of her as being one of them. I wanted her to feel the same way.
The first thing I had to do was make sure the plan went off according to schedule. Then, I could worry about whether she wanted anything more from me.
We parked the cars on the street outside the lot leading to the warehouse. When I strained my ears, I could hear the faint sound of music coming from there. Some hair band. Of course. They were partying, celebrating, living it up. This was the night they had been waiting for.
"We're still ready to go in there with you, boss, if you need us." Joe and Chip looked at me expectantly, like they were willing to go into battle with me. I knew how lucky I was to have them.
"I know. Let's deal with the first thing first. Getting the place rigged."
Chip nodded, and he and Joe pulled down the ski masks they wore, covering their faces. They went ahead of the rest of us, sliding along the sides of buildings, in the shadows. They were the best shots in the group and would see if the perimeter was clear before we went ahead.
While we waited, I took deep breaths to calm the beating of my heart. I was ready to go, adrenaline pumping through me like crazy. All my senses were clearer, everything focused on getting to Erica in time to escape. She was my priority. I didn't care about myself.
Ralph waited with the bag of C-4, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. He'd been an explosives specialist in the Army before he was wounded. His talents came in handy, just like his network did. He was on edge, ready to go. I wondered if he saw himself on a battlefield again. In a way, he was.
"Chip's giving the signal," Axel whispered.
"All right. Like we talked about. Ralph and the rest with the explosives, you first. Lookouts next, fall out around the outside of the buildings around the warehouse. Stay in the shadows." They went in staggered groups. That left me, Frankie, and Axel.
"You sure you're ready for this?" Frankie asked. He looked skeptical, but I was used to that from him. I knew it was coming from the right place.
"I'm fine," I said. "They won't want you there. It'll only cause trouble. Trust me. It's better this way."
He didn't look convinced. That was all right. I didn't feel convinced. I had no idea what York would pull when I got inside. He might kill me then and there. Axel and Frankie knew that if they heard shots, it was time to go in firing. They both swore they didn't care if they got killed. They'd rather be dead than have York as president.
"What will you do if you see him in there?" Axel murmured. I'd been waiting to see if one of them would ask.
"I don't know," I said. "I'll probably wanna kill him, but I can't do it in front of everybody else."
"Maybe York wants you to. He's a sick fuck like that," Frankie said. He spat on the ground, shaking his head. "I bet that's his whole plan. He'll get off on watching you kill Onyx."
"In that case, I wouldn't do it. I won't give him the satisfaction." I couldn't imagine doing it anyway, but I wasn't about to get into it with Frankie. I knew how much he wanted revenge against Onyx for what he did. I did, too, but I couldn't be as bloodthirsty as the others. They weren't as close with him as I was. They didn't know what it was like having nobody in my life after the court split up my family. When Onyx came in, it was like I had a brother again. He was all the family I had until I felt accepted by the rest of the club.
"This all seems too easy," I muttered. "I don't like it."
"You think they're waiting?"
"Of course they are. They know I'll come. He knows it. He called her my girlfriend, for Christ's sake. I wonder how much Onyx told him." When I thought about it that way, I hated him. I hated that he used her the way he had. I hated that he was so stupid, he'd let York use him. I hated that he actually made me consider killing him.
"You'd think at least one of them would be outside," Axel mused. Just then, we heard the sound of a silenced gunshot. It wasn't completely silent-that was one thing the movies always got wrong-and in the quiet, we heard it clearly. I knew it was too quiet for the guys inside to hear though, with the music as loud as it was.