My eyes widened. Oh, God. I saw the resemblance between us. I, too, looked like my dad. My dad had another child, a son. Why am I not surprised? But that still doesn’t explain why he kidnapped me. “Why do you want to hurt me?”
“It’s nothing personal, Ann.” Then, putting his finger on his chin, pretending to think. “Oh, who are we kidding? But, of course, it’s personal. Our dear old dad didn’t give a shit about my mom or me. He gave everything to you and your bitch of a mother. You know we’re the same age, right? Yeah, daddy got two women pregnant at the same time, he chose one to marry, and we know who that was—throwing my mom aside and giving her money for an abortion. But she never got one. Instead, she married the first asshole who she found that says he didn’t mind the kid wasn’t his.” Tony stopped talking, taking my chin in his fingers and forcing me to look him in the eyes.
“Only he lied,” Tony snarled at me, spittle hitting my face. “That twisted motherfucker beat my mom and me till the day I finally killed him when I was fifteen. Spent the next three years in juvie. Mom never would tell me who my father was. Then a year ago, she got sick and died of cancer. I was going through her stuff when I found out who my father was from old letters.” Tony shoved my head back as he stood.
Fear twisted my gut. Tony hated me. “Why blame me? I never did anything to you.” I tried to reason.
“We’ll just go with ‘sins of the father’ and all that shit. Trust me when I say our daddy will get what’s coming to him. I originally hadn’t planned on doing anything to you, but you have suddenly become useful to me,” he said as he turned away to get something in the corner.
“Useful how?”
Turning, he had a little sand bucket like children played with in the sand. “I have been watching your house waiting for our dear daddy to return. While I waited, I watched you. I noticed you spending some time at the Devil’s House MC clubhouse. Now that interested me, and you wanna know why?” he asked, waiting on me to answer.
“Why?” Knowing I wouldn’t like the answer.
“I was in a bar in Pittsburgh one night a few months ago. A man name Diego started talking to me about the MC Club he belonged to, The Fire Dragons. They were looking for prospects. I was interested, just not sure I wanted to waste years getting a patch. I knew they had a beef with The Devil’s House, so when I saw you going there, I went to Cross, The Fire Dragons president, and put out an offer that would get me patched in without the whole prospecting thing.” He had a smug look, waiting for me to ask what that offer was.
I bit back the words. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of asking when I knew that was what he wanted. On the other hand, the man clearly had issues, and whatever was going to happen to me wasn’t going to change with me asking the question.
Tony laughed as he said, “Stubborn one, aren’t you? Runs in the family. Okay, I’ll just tell you. I get to use you to send a message to The Devil’s House. I almost lucked out and got Shadow’s old lady, that bitch would have gotten me an officer’s patch, but it wasn’t meant to be.” He sighed, being sarcastic.
“Now, we are going to play a game. I love games, don’t you? But, I have to say, I don’t think you’re very good at riddles; I made them as easy as I could, and you still didn’t solve them.” He shook his head in mock disappointment.
Shaking the bucket, he explained, “Now in this bucket are three choices for how this gonna go down. You will draw to seal your fate. The choices are:
Beating, rape, and death.
Beating and rape.
Beating only.”
My blood ran cold at his words. I felt like I was going to pass out. He couldn’t mean what he said. Could he?
“I think I should clarify the rape part. I obviously will not be doing that, us being family and all. My friend Joe will have that honor. I’ll watch, though; nothing sinful about that, right?” Tony said, his lips turned up in a cruel grin. As if on cue, Joe walked in, standing by the door and looking me up and down, licking his lips.
Tony put the bucket in front of me, indicating to draw a paper out. My hands were shaking so much that I almost couldn’t hold onto the slip I pulled out. I unfolded it, my heart pounding in my chest till I thought it might burst.
Beating only.
I handed the slip to Tony, my eyes closing with relief. If the situation weren’t so serious, I would be laughing at being relieved at only being beaten. Tony read the slip, sighing loudly. “Well, shit, this isn’t much fun. Sorry big guy, beating only. Keep those pants zipped,” Tony said, looking over at Joe, who did not look happy.
“Who gives a shit what’s on that paper? I say we have some fun,” Joe growled.
Tony rubbed his chin like he was thinking about it, causing me to panic. “No, she drew fair and square. What would I be if not a man of my word.” Then, the first backhand came without any warning, followed by another knocking me down on the floor. I couldn’t even scream; my mind was stunned, and the pain was so much that all I could do was whimper and curl into a ball. I put my hands up, trying to protect my head as the beating continued, with kicks and punches.
My last coherent thought was I was going to die in this basement. No one could save me, not even Black.
BLACK
ONCE BACKat the clubhouse, Johnny was whisked into the small operating room with Doc Kenny and Summer. Shadow took Mary upstairs to bed, having Jane sit with her while we had Church. Every member was shoved in the room, waiting for Shadow to enter and start. Shadow pushed through the door, his face a mask of rage as he took his seat.
“Banging his fist on the table. “I want those fuckers found and brought back alive. They will pay for what they’ve done.” Shadow hissed, his voice deadly.
“What do we know? I need to find Ann; time is slipping away. They could be doing all sorts of things to her.” My own fury is rearing its head to the surface. Violence is the only option.
“Kickstand and I tried to catch the van; we lost it and spent the rest of the time going up and down streets trying to locate it. No luck. It just disappeared,” Vampire said.
“Who could it be? I don’t even know where to start. I have no way of tracing Ann,” Kickstand said, clearly frustrated and upset.