Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 104403 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 522(@200wpm)___ 418(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104403 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 522(@200wpm)___ 418(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
From darkness to bright light to dark again. Beth blinked, trying to get her eyes to adjust faster. The place was mostly empty. Some ancient, dust-covered pieces of equipment were bolted to the floor in various locations around the large warehouse. A fluorescent light flickered overhead with an insistent hum that would drive her crazy any other time. Today, she had bigger problems.
The air still smelled of sawdust and something else, something chemical and sharp that burned her nostrils.
About a dozen men sat at folding tables, weighing and packaging white powder while others supervised. A few looked up when she entered. Their eyes tracked her body with the casual assessment of men who’d done terrible things and would do them again.
Beth’s skin crawled.
“Why am I here?”
Demo towed her over to a chair, shoving her to sit. “My boss wants to talk to your father.”
She laughed out loud. “What? You do know they’ve wanted to meet with him for a while now, right? You could have just answered the text instead of all this drama.”
“We don’t operate on Copper’s terms.”
“Let me guess… you operate on your boss’s terms. Must be nice, being somebody’s errand boy.”
Something flickered in Demo’s expression. Just for a second, there was a tightening around his jaw, a flash in those dead eyes. She’d hit a nerve.
“I’m not anybody’s errand boy, princess.” He leaned down, close enough she could see the thin white scar running along his hairline. “I’m the guy who does the things even the boss doesn’t want to think about. The guy who makes problems disappear. Your daddy’s club has been a problem for a long time.” He straightened. “But I’m patient. Grew up with nothing, learned how to wait. Your old man’s had his kingdom for thirty years. I can wait another thirty to take it.”
Beth snorted. “So… what? This is some kind of dick-measuring contest? Your boss thinks snatching me shows he’s king of the Smoky Mountains? Please. The Handlers have ruled this area for decades. You’re—”
She never saw the slap coming.
The world tilted, and she was on the floor before she registered the blow, the crack of his palm against her cheekbone, the explosion of pain, the way her vision went white, then black, then spotted. Fire bloomed across the left side of her face. Her ear screamed with a high-pitched ring that swallowed every other sound.
Get up. Get up. Don’t let him see you broken.
Her arms wouldn’t cooperate. She lay there, gasping, hip throbbing from where it had slammed against the concrete.
Somewhere in the room, a man chuckled.
Fucker.
Beth cradled her cheek as she stared up at Demo.
The man who’d pulled Melody out of the van came over and whispered something to Demo.
Where the hell had he stashed Melody?
“Why the fuck is he here?” Demo asked with a hard head shake. “He’s a low-level dealer. Tell him to get the fuck out of here if he still wants a job.”
The guy nodded and jogged back outside.
Beth began to stand only to have a boot slam into her chest, driving her flat onto the concrete. Demo loomed over her, all his weight pressing down through that single point of contact.
She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move. Her ribs groaned under the pressure, and she clawed at his boot with fingers that felt like they belonged to someone else. Black spots danced at the edges of her vision.
I’m going to die here. On a filthy warehouse floor. Before I fixed things between Saint and his family.
One more ounce of pressure and her sternum would crack like kindling.
“I don’t give a fuck how much power your daddy thinks he has. We have his princess. He’ll come running when we contact him.”
Beth wheezed. “It’s funny you think that’s how this is gonna go down.” She managed to squeeze the sentence out in one shallow breath.
Demo chuckled, but there was something almost like respect in it. “A bitch ’til the end, huh? You know what I like about you, princess? You remind me of my sister.” His boot pressed harder for one agonizing second. “She had a mouth on her too. Never knew when to shut up.” The pressure eased just enough for her to gasp. “Didn’t end well for her either.”
His boot disappeared off her chest, and she sucked in an enormous greedy breath only to have it whooshed back out when he kicked her in the side with his steel toe.
She curled into a ball, coughing and dry heaving. Demo strode away, but two sets of hands yanked her up and dropped her on the chair. She still gasped for air as her diaphragm spasmed. Someone jerked her arms behind her back, securing them with a zip tie, while another goon tied her legs to the chair.
Then they walked away, leaving her alone, struggling to breathe.
She coughed and spat blood onto the concrete. The red splatter against the gray floor was almost fascinating in a detached, shock-induced way.