Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 40524 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 203(@200wpm)___ 162(@250wpm)___ 135(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40524 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 203(@200wpm)___ 162(@250wpm)___ 135(@300wpm)
“Not until she’s ready, Claw.”
“She’s my daughter!”
“Shoulda thought about that before you threw yourself so far into your work you put her in the hands of a monster.”
“I didn’t do anything! Why won’t you believe me!”
That was all I could take. With a battle yell, I snagged the baton Rocket had dropped and swung it at Hammer. Over and over. And over. No one had secured his hands so he blocked as many hits as I landed, but it felt good to finally be able to fight back.
“How does it feel, huh?” I screamed at him, raining blows down on him again and again. “How does it feel, you motherfucker!”
I kept hitting him. The more I hit him, the more I wanted to hit him. I wanted him to feel as hopeless and desperate as I had all those months. I was to the point I was about to wear myself out when Hammer finally broke.
With a roar, he lunged at me, snagging the baton before I could hit him with it again. He struck out, trying to backhand me. When I was pulled out of the way by someone, he yelled again, this time trying to swing at me with the baton.
“Fuckin’ cunt! I’ll fuckin’ kill you!”
There was a deafening gunshot. I screamed and threw my hands over my ears. I thought Hammer would topple over or something and was surprised at the surge of disappointment I felt that he was dead already. Instead, he screamed before he fell to his side. Like someone had swept his leg from underneath him. When I finally got a closer look at Hammer, I saw his right leg from the knee down was lying beside him.
“Gag that motherfucker,” Rocket ordered. “I’m tired of hearing his fuckin’ whinin’.” He didn’t even acknowledge someone had shot Hammer’s leg off. I didn’t see a gun.
Hammer fought now. He lashed out as best he could from the sawdust floor of the barn. Even as hurt as he was, he was still a serious threat. His arms were seriously muscled. I remembered well how they could deliver his punishment with those arms and huge hands.
I looked around to see who had shot and was surprised to see it was Claw. My father. His face was a mask of rage and anguish. He found me in the chaos that was happening. OK, so chaos wasn’t really the word. There were two members of Grim Road -- Dom and Ringo -- along with three members of Iron Tzars gagging and restraining Hammer. I thought they might chain him upright. Like hang him from the rafters or something. Instead, they tied him down to a steel table. It looked to have been made for restraining someone. It reminded me of images I’d seen on TV of a lethal injection table. Only there were clamps at the ankle and thigh instead of just the ankles. There were also clamps at the wrists and upper arms. Like they expected someone to be missing body parts. When Hammer continued to thrash, they slid a metal clamp around his neck.
The men from Grim Road stepped back until the Iron Tzars started cutting Hammer’s clothes from his body. Then Grim helped until Hammer was naked and laid out on the table. The stump that was his leg bled, but not as much as I thought it would. Probably because the limb was completely severed. Roman still tied a tourniquet just over the stump until the bleeding completely stopped.
“Don’t let him bleed out,” Sting said. He looked for all the world like he could really give two shits about his leg, but was looking forward to whatever was about to happen next. “Mars. Wylde. Get the women out of here.”
“Like hell,” Lemon muttered.
“I’m not leaving, Mars.” My voice was surprisingly steady and the moment I uttered the words, I knew they were true. It wasn’t so much for myself, though I resented everything he’d put me through. I was the daughter of the vice president of Grim Road. I might be angry at my dad, I might not understand how he could not protect me, but I admired him for how he did his job for the club. I could honor him even if I wasn’t certain I could ever trust him again.
“Honey, please.” Mars gripped my shoulder. I knew he wanted to pull me into his arms, and I wanted that too. But there was another club of questionable integrity in very close proximity and I knew he needed his hands free. I might not know much about fighting, but I knew about safety and that these clubs might be loose allies, but given this situation they didn’t trust each other. “I think it’s best if we go.”
“Not happening. Do I want to see this? Not really. But I owe it to my sisters to make sure it’s done.”