Chapter 16

I peered out of the window, the heavy feeling deep in the pit of my stomach increasing with every passing moment. Maddox hadn’t come to bed last night, for the first time since he’d taken me into his room. I’d tried to listen at the door for snippets of conversation that might give me a hint why, but no one had come close to the room.

Several bikers arrived on their bikes and commotion broke out in the driveway. I sat up, curious. Everyone’s face was tight with worry. Hope settled in my chest. Maybe Dad had landed a hit. My hand moved to my ear, barely touching the bandage. Then I quickly jerked it away. I hadn’t even seen the wound yet. I wasn’t sure I had the courage to do so anytime soon.

What if something had happened to Maddox and that was why he hadn’t shown up? What if Dad was the reason behind Maddox’s disappearance?

The lock turned and I stood, smiling. The smile died when Gunnar appeared in the doorway.

“No reason to smile, puppet,” he said in his rough voice.

“Where’s Maddox?” I asked sharply, backing away.

Gunnar shook his head. “Stupid boy.” He stalked toward me and grabbed my arm. “Maddox can’t help you now. You better pray your daddy sees reason.”

He dragged me outside despite my struggling. My bare feet scratched over the rough floorboards. “What do you mean? What happened?” I asked over and over again but he ignored me. Nobody was in the common area when we crossed it. Where was everyone? And what was going on?

Gunnar led me down to the kennels and shoved me inside the same cage I had been in before. I whirled around just when he locked the door.

“What’s going on? Please tell me, where’s Maddox?”

“He’ll join you soon,” he said cryptically before he walked away. The dogs paced in their cages, infected by the nervous atmosphere. Satan wasn’t in her cage though, and I couldn’t help but worry about her, too. The familiar stench of dog piss and feces clogged my nose almost instantly. I sank down on the hut, watching as the bikers gathered guns and carried boards into the clubhouse as if to barricade the windows. Some of them walked by the kennels just to insult me and leer at my body. Only in Maddox’s boxers and T I felt even more exposed.

“Get more men to the fence!” someone roared, worry swinging in their voice.

Hope flared in my veins. This could only be Dad. But where was Maddox? What was going on? What if Dad got Maddox in his hands? My mind wouldn’t stop reeling. Fear battled with hope in me. I wanted to be freed but I didn’t want to lose Maddox.

It was a fatal thought, and a fatal attraction.

Hugging my knees to my chest, I watched my surroundings, trying to catch up on what was going on. After the initial insults, nobody paid me any attention, but the fear I saw on many of their faces could only be because of Dad.

Movement drew my gaze back to the clubhouse.

Earl White walked out of the door, dragging an unmoving Maddox after him by the arm. I jumped off the hut and crossed the dirty kennel on my bare feet, my heart beating in my throat. The dogs in the surrounding kennels began to bark and jump against their cages. I barely flinched anymore. I had gotten used to their boisterous nature. They weren’t the most dangerous beasts around.

Maddox looked lifeless, limbs dragging through the dirt, head lolling almost comically back and forth. Earl smiled darkly at me when our eyes met and immediately goose bumps rose on my skin. I tried to mask my worry but I doubted I could fool him. By now, everyone seemed to know about Maddox and me.

“Maybe this will help you clear your head and make you realize your mistake. If you apologize, I’ll grant you a quick death,” Earl said as he dragged Maddox into the cage beside mine. Death? What was he talking about? Maddox’s left side of his face was covered with blood from a cut in his hairline. I finally noticed Maddox’s chest rising and falling. At least, he wasn’t dead—yet. Something was horribly wrong. Earl turned and closed the cage, then he smiled viciously at me. “And for you, I have a special surprise soon.”

I didn’t even want to think about what that could mean.

I eyed the dog worriedly who paced around Maddox as if he was only waiting for the perfect moment to tear into him. The second Earl and Cody were gone, I kneeled at the bars. “Maddox,” I whispered then louder. “Maddox, wake up!”

His eyelids fluttered but didn’t open. The dog sniffed at his wound. What if the beast started gnawing at him? Had they’d been fed today? I hadn’t paid attention to the kennels while looking out of the windows.

“Shoo,” I hissed, trying to scare the dog away, but it only gave me a quick glance before it continued inspecting Maddox. “Go away!” I growled, hitting the bars. When that didn’t have the intended effect, I turned around and grabbed my water bowl. I tossed the water at the dog and it jumped back. Then charged at me and jumped against the bars. I stumbled back.

Maddox let out a groan. Some of the water had hit him in the face as well. His eyes shot open and he rolled over then pushed up on his elbows. He shook his head, very dog-like before he glanced around. His gaze zeroed in on the dog trying to tear down the bars between him and me.

“Wesson, down!” he ordered in a voice as sharp as a whip. “Down!”

The beast actually listened and sank down on his belly, his pink tongue lolling about lazily. Except for Satan, I hadn’t really connected with any of the other dogs.

“Are you all right?” I asked.

Maddox rubbed his head, grimacing, and pushed to his feet. He swayed slightly as he walked over to me. “Only a motherfucker of a headache.”

“Your uncle was really angry at you.”

“He’s pissed. He thinks I chose you over the club.”

I didn’t say anything. “He said something about a special surprise for me today.”

Maddox sighed. “That’s one of the reasons why I wanted to get you out of here.”

“What is it?”

“My uncle wants to tattoo something on your back.”

My blood turned cold. “I don’t suppose it’ll be something I’ll like,” I said, trying to sound blasé but failing. “What is it?”

Maddox shook his head.

“Tell me.”

He gripped the bars tightly, his eyes fierce. “I honestly don’t know. They don’t share things with me anymore.”

I nodded. My fingers touched the Band-Aid over my ruined ear. “I suppose I can count myself lucky they don’t choose my forehead for the tattoo. Maybe next time?”

“I can’t protect you anymore,” Maddox said quietly. “That’s why I contacted your father and told him about our whereabouts.”

My eyes widened and I pressed closer, my fingers closing over his. “You told my father?” Despite his hatred for my father—considering what he’d witnessed as a young child I could understand his reasoning even if I didn’t share it—he contacted him to save me.

“He can save you. He’s got the necessary manpower. He’s probably already on his way. With a little luck, you’ll be back home tonight.”

My heart beat faster. “What about you? After that betrayal, your uncle won’t forgive you.”

“He won’t. He’ll kill me after he’s done with you. He wants me to watch you getting hurt because he knows what it does to me. But I doubt he’ll survive your father’s attack, nor will I.”

Dad would torture and kill them all, as they deserved. Unless I begged Dad to spare Maddox. That had never been the plan. I’d originally sought Maddox’s trust and closeness to save myself in case Dad didn’t find me in time. But things had changed even if I never meant for them to do so. I didn’t want Maddox to die. My chest tightened painfully at the mere thought of his death. He wasn’t innocent, far from it. He was guilty of kidnapping me, of delivering me to the hands of his uncle in the first place. Of course, his uncle would just have sent someone else if Maddox hadn’t agreed but that wasn’t the point. “My father won’t kill you if I ask him to spare you.”

Maddox leaned his forehead against the bars. “Why should you do something like that?”

“Because I want you to live,” I said merely. There was more to it—nothing I wanted to consider or voice at this point.

“But at what cost? What will your father ask of me, if he listens to you at all,” Maddox asked quietly.

“He’ll ask you to burn your cut, to cut any ties to other bikers, and to swear loyalty—at the very least.” And for that to happen, a near-miracle was necessary. Dad’s hatred for bikers was limitless at this point, no doubt, and Maddox would be at the very top of his hate list.

Maddox shook his head slowly, his lips twisting with disgust, as if the mere thought of doing any of those things was impossible to him. “What’s between us is one thing, but my feelings toward your father haven’t changed.”

“Then you have to put them to rest. It’s your only chance if you want my father to spare you.”

“It’s better to die standing up than to live on your knees, Snow White. I’ll die before I fall to my knees before your father and ask for mercy.”

I rolled my eyes. “Things are always black or white for men, especially alphas. But life is full of gray areas. You can still be free and keep your precious pride if you swear loyalty to my father.”

“Snow White, I’ll say it a thousand times until it goes into your pretty head. Your father won’t ever trust me, nor will I trust him. He and I have a past that can’t be ignored. Even your charm and our feelings for you won’t change that.”

I pressed my forehead to his with the bars between us. “What feelings?”

Maddox smiled darkly. “I betrayed my club brothers and my own blood for you. What kind of feelings do you think?”

“Lust,” I joked, but my voice was hushed. None of this had been part of the plan, not for Maddox, not for me.

“So much more.”

Commotion and the snapping of twigs made me and Maddox pull apart to search the area. Cody and Earl were on their way down to us with two bikers whose names I didn’t know. Earl had Satan on the leash and Cody carried some kind of machine.

“How sweet,” Cody called, a nasty smile on his ugly face. Maddox’s uncle, on the other hand, looked furious. “If I’d known how easily you allow pussy to cloud your judgment, I would have made sure you stay away from her.”

Maddox eyed his uncle with contempt and wariness. “It’s time to end this game. Vitiello was our target, Earl.”

His uncle ignored him in favor of hovering in front of my cage and eyeing me with an unsettling glint in his eyes. “Cody has a knack for ink. I hope you’ll appreciate it.”

He unlocked the cage door. I resisted the urge to back away even if every fiber of my body screamed to flee. I was a Vitiello. I couldn’t appear weak even if I was terrified of what lay ahead. I’d felt the same terror when I’d first been kidnapped, ready to break under the force of my fear, but I hadn’t broken down, and I wouldn’t now either.

Cody carried the tattoo machine, I realized now, into the cage before he grabbed my upper arm in a crushing grip as two more bikers crowded into the narrow cage. They sat a generator down beside me and attached the tattoo machine to it.

“Let her go,” Maddox seethed, his eyes brimming with fury as he gripped the bars, looking ready to tear them down.

“Your word means dick, asshole,” Cody said. Would they torture and kill us before my father arrived?

I believed in a higher power but I’d never been much of a prayer. Still, I begged whoever was listening to let my father arrive in time. In time to spare me more pain and whatever Cody was going to ink into my skin. To save Maddox too.

Cody shoved me against the dog hut and I fell forward, bracing myself on the dirty surface. Another man gripped my neck and held me down. A rip sounded and air touched my skin as my back was exposed. I struggled but I didn’t stand a chance against the three men in the cage with me.

“Earl, be reasonable, for fuck’s sake. Vitiello will be here any moment. Don’t waste your time on this,” Maddox tried to reason with his uncle but his voice didn’t sound like someone who wanted to negotiate. It sounded like murder.

“Vitiello wants to screw us over? His daughter pays the price.”

I rolled my eyes so far to the side until I caught Maddox’s gaze. The buzz of a tattoo needle sounded. I dug my teeth into my lower lip. The moment the needle touched my back, pain radiated down my spine. I squeezed my eyes shut, against Maddox’s desperate expression and the world as a whole. Cody was probably making sure it was particularly painful but except for a few sharp intakes of breath, I didn’t give any of them the satisfaction of a scream or my begging. They would all pay tenfold. Even if it took my last breath, I’d make sure of it.

Eventually the pain turned into a fiery burn and throbbing that I eventually got used to. I wasn’t sure how long the ordeal took but when I was finally released, I felt too weak to straighten. I pretended I had passed out. My eyes burned with tears ready to fall and so I forced my lids shut.

“Not as tough as her father now?” Earl said.

I didn’t react. I should have given a comeback but right this moment, I couldn’t do it. I needed my energy for the fight that lay ahead. I needed my strength for the reunion with my family so they didn’t have to worry more than they already had. I wouldn’t waste any of it on Earl or Cody or any other ugly biker.

“You’re dead,” Maddox growled.

I wasn’t sure whom he was talking to. Probably Cody. His bond to his uncle was still too strong.

A warm breath ghosted over my ear, raising goose bumps all over my body and sending a shiver down my spine, which sent a new wave of pain down my back. “This is what you get for messing with us. And soon I’ll fuck your ass right before your father’s eyes. Maybe I’ll force him to fuck you as well to save you,” Earl rasped.

I wanted nothing more than to kick him in the balls but I remained motionless. I still wasn’t sure if my legs would have carried me if I’d tried. I felt shaky and my back was throbbing. Worse than the pain, though, was the uncertainty about the tattoo. It had to be something nasty. Earl seemed way too smug.

“Now to you, Mad. I was thinking what to do to you, if I should have you watch the whore getting fucked by each of us before killing you, but I realized keeping you alive at this point is a risk I just can’t take.”

I turned my head to the side until I could see everything. Earl unlocked the cage door and Cody removed the other dog from the cage. Earl unleashed Satan. “I think we both know it has to end like this.” Earl’s smile was cruel. He locked Satan in the cage with Maddox, who slowly turned around so his back was pressed against the bars.

My blood turned cold, realizing what Earl was about to do. But Maddox knew the dogs… Satan wouldn’t attack him… right?

“Satan, kill,” Earl shouted.

I pushed up despite the pain in my back. Satan hesitated a moment before she charged at Maddox and lunged at him. Maddox brought up his arms to protect his face and throat. Satan barked and bared her teeth but didn’t bite Maddox yet.

“Kill him!” Earl growled.

I stumbled to my feet and toward the bars, clutching them. “No, Satan, stop!”

“Release!” Maddox screamed. “No!”

Satan dropped back on her paws and turned around herself, obviously confused by the myriad of orders. Earl might have been her owner but he’d never treated her how a dog was supposed to be treated. Maybe that would bite him in the ass now.

“Stupid bitch,” Cody hissed. Earl stalked toward another cage with a big male Rottweiler and grabbed him by the neck, dragging him toward Maddox’s cage.

“No,” I whispered. Blood rushed in my ears. I was starting to feel nauseous from fear and the inking, but I clung to the bars despite my wobbly legs.

Earl unlocked the door again and thrust the other dog inside. Satan whirled around, baring her teeth. These dogs were trained to fight against each other.

“Kill,” Earl ordered, pointing at Maddox, and the male dog didn’t hesitate. He charged at Maddox but Satan obviously wanted to defend her territory and collided with him.

Earl shrugged. “He’s got twenty-five pounds on her. When he’s killed her, he can chew off your face, Mad. Enjoy the show, whore.”

Cody and Earl turned around and left.

The bigger dog was on top of Satan, but it was difficult to follow their vicious fight as they snarled and bit and struggled.

Satan screamed in pain.

“Maddox!”

“Fuck,” Maddox muttered. He removed his belt and wrapped it around his hand so the buckle covered his knuckles then he stalked toward the fighting dogs, grabbed the bigger male by the collar and jerked him back. The animal was heavy so it didn’t fly very far and quickly turned back on Maddox who aimed a punch with the buckle at the dog’s snout. With a loud whine, the dog jumped away, shaking its head. Maddox towered over it. “Down, now!” The dog lay down, panting heavily, its muzzle covered in blood. Probably Satan’s. She lay on her side, breathing heavily.

I sank down on my knees, feeling shaky. My back throbbed and I was terrified. For myself, for Maddox, even for Satan. It was too much to stomach. Everything caught up with me in that moment and part of me wanted to curl up in the corner.

“Snow White?” Maddox murmured, his voice laced with concern. “Marcella?”

I lifted my head too quickly and regretted it almost instantly as a sharp pain shot through my back. My skin felt as if it was too small for my body and might tear at any moment. Ignoring this, I straightened fully again then perched on the edge of the hut. When my vertigo had disappeared, I locked gazes with Maddox.

“Is Satan injured badly?”

He shook his head. “Don’t think about it now. We have to get you out of here alive.”

His gaze darted to my exposed back. Guilt and fury created a potent combination in his eyes.

“What does the tattoo say?” I asked, surprised at how raw and dry my voice sounded.

“Don’t think about it now. There are more important things to worry about.”

“Don’t tell me what to worry about, Maddox. I want to know.” I needed to know. Everything was better than this soul-crushing uncertainty. My mind would conjure the worst scenarios.

“Marcella,” he rasped, his eyes urging me to let it drop.

“Tell me,” I growled. “I’m not breakable, so don’t treat me like that!”

“Vitiello whore.”

I nodded, then shoved to my feet and briefly turned my back on Maddox to hide my expression from him. I was so mad at him. This was his fault.

“I’m fucking sorry. This was never supposed to happen. I swear. If I’d known—”

“Then what?” I asked harshly, whirling on him. “You wouldn’t have kidnapped me?”

Maddox dropped his forehead against the bars. “Yes. And I would have done everything in my power to stop Earl from letting anyone else kidnap you either.”

I gave him a disbelieving look. “You hate my father more than anything in the world. You said it yourself. You would have done anything to get revenge on him. What do you care about a lost earlobe and an insulting tattoo for the daughter of your worst enemy?”

“Sometimes priorities shift. You don’t have to believe me but it is the goddamn truth.”

I walked closer to him. The wind picked up, touching my aching back. “And what are your priorities now, Maddox?”

Maddox stretched out a tattooed arm, his palm upward, waiting for me to take it.

I didn’t budge.

“I betrayed my brothers for you. Maybe I’ll die for you once your father gets his hands on me.”

“You brought this upon yourself, not me.”

“If someone had killed your father right before your eyes, wouldn’t your brother have wanted revenge?”

“Not just my brother,” I admitted.

Maddox nodded grimly.

I put my hand in his and his fingers closed around mine. “You want to kill my father. As long as that’s the case, we’re lost.”

“I’ve lived for revenge for so long, it’s difficult to let go of something like that. But if there’s anyone I’d do it for, then it’s you, Snow White. I’d do anything for you.”

I wanted to believe him. But after everything that had happened, I wasn’t willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

“Attack!” someone screamed.

Maddox’s hand around mine tightened. “Your father is here to save you and kill me, Snow White.”

“Unless one of your biker brothers kills me first,” I said.

He tugged me toward him, his eyes burning with emotion. “I’m going to make sure you’ll get to your father safely. Now give a dying man his last kiss.”

I allowed him to pull me even closer until my lips touched his through the bars. He deepened the kiss, filling it with longing and desire. I sunk into him even as more screams rang out, as the world around us exploded into war. Shots cut through the screams. The quick-fire of machine guns. Like a drowning man coming up for air, Maddox ripped away from me and released me. “Press against the wall until I tell you to move or you see your father. Now!”

I did what he asked and stumbled toward the back of the kennel.

Maddox and I looked at each other again, and this felt like a goodbye. One of us would likely die, maybe even the both of us. My heart clenched thinking this was the end for us, for a love that was never meant to be, a love without a chance at a happy end.