He would pay dearly for this. And for everything else he’d ever done to my family and me.

40

Tatum

“Russian Roulette” by Rihanna

Pain radiated down my cheek where Joseph gripped it, his fingers digging into my skin. Hard. If there was one thing this asshole knew, it was how to inflict agony.

“He says he’s on his way, but we shall see,” he said, his crazy eyes boring into me. “We shall find out if he really cares for you or not.”

I wanted to spit in his face and claw out his motherfucking eyes. I also wanted to cut his balls off and shove them down his throat to shut him the hell up. This man never stopped talking. He loved the sound of his own voice.

I didn’t doubt Nitro.

I knew he’d come.

It was just a matter of time, and I was good at getting through shit, so I could handle myself until he arrived. I refused to allow Joseph to scare me. Nitro would come and he would kill him. Just like he’d done to that goddam biker months ago.

He won’t fail me.

“I’ve done my research on you, Tatum. You were a lawyer and a good one from what I can work out. How the fuck did you end up with a biker?”

Go to hell, asshole.

I’m not telling you a thing.

He squeezed my face. “Tell me!”

I struggled under his hold, trying to shake my face from his grip. It worked, but only for a moment. He didn’t squeeze me again, but he did slap me so hard that the force of it knocked me over. Me and the chair I was tied to.

My head hit the cement with a thud and I saw stars. My ears rang and more pain tore through my body. It especially hurt in my shoulder, which had slammed into the concrete.

Joseph’s men moved me back into a sitting position. He had five men in the room with us and I’d heard more outside. I wasn’t sure where he’d brought me. All I knew was that the room I was in was fairly large and seemed like an industrial warehouse with a cement floor and high roof. It was warm, too. No air conditioning.

Joseph crouched in front of me and placed his hands on my legs. They were tied together, as were my hands. I wanted to shove his hands off me, but I couldn’t, so instead I took a deep breath and reminded myself that Nitro was on the way.

“You and Rhys are a perfect match. Both as stubborn as the other. I’m only going to ask you this once more, Tatum, and if you don’t answer me, we’re going to have a problem. How did you meet him?”

I didn’t conceal the hate I had for him. “Why the fuck do you care?”

He jerked up and nodded at someone behind me. Hands landed on my shoulders, pulling me back against the chair. A second later, Joseph’s fist slammed into my face. He punched me so hard I struggled for breath. It was like I was drowning and couldn’t work my way back up for air, all while excruciating pain consumed me.

I counted to twenty before I finally managed to draw a long breath of air into my lungs. It had been short bursts of air up until that point, which hardly felt like life-sustaining oxygen.

As I wheezed and fought for air, the door opened and two men entered. I tried to focus on them to see who they were, but everyone had blurred and I couldn’t make out a damn thing.

And then I heard his voice.

“Vegas.”

His boots thudded on the cement and I knew he was coming my way, but then they stopped.

“Fucking let me go!” His voice ricocheted around the room, and I finally zeroed in on him to see that two of Joseph’s men had restrained him, holding him back from me.

“All in good time, son,” Joseph said. His back was to me and he’d moved towards Nitro.

“I told you not to fucking hurt her,” Nitro snarled.

“When will you ever learn that I don’t listen to you? It’s you who needs to listen to me,” Joseph said. I hated hearing him talk to Nitro like that. Hated knowing the power he still held over him.

My sight returned to full capacity and I stared at Nitro, taking in his eyes. They were dead. Oh, there was life there, but the way he looked at Joseph was as if he wasn’t even looking at another human being. I was certain he’d come to kill and that he’d switched off the human side of himself to do it.

He struggled and fought to escape the men holding him back. When that didn’t work, he kicked out at Joseph, landing a hard kick to his groin.

Joseph grunted loudly and boomed, “You wanna fight, Rhys? Let’s see what happens when you do that.”

He spun around, stalked back to me and grabbed my neck. Yanking me to a standing position, with the chair hanging off me, he snarled, “This face won’t be recognisable if you keep that shit up.”

My breaths turned choppy as I stared at him up close. I believed every word he said. Joseph didn’t seem to make empty threats.

“Stop!” Nitro yelled.

Joseph didn’t loosen his grip on me, but he turned to face Nitro. “Are you coming to your senses?”

Nitro nodded but didn’t say anything.

Joseph let me go and pushed me back to a sitting position. He then strode back to Nitro and punched him hard in the gut. I cringed as Nitro bent forward, winded.

And then the punches kept coming.

Joseph was savage. It was as if he was on auto-pilot. Nitro was his punching bag, and he worked out his anger on him.

I couldn’t watch. It was brutal and bloodthirsty. I couldn’t even imagine doing what he was doing to my worst enemy. As much as I might want to hurt someone, I wouldn’t have the stomach for it.

It lasted longer than I cared to think about. It felt like an eternity.

Joseph was breathless when he finally ordered, “Take him away.”

I didn’t know what he planned, but the two guys holding Nitro up took him out of the room. Joseph faced me and for the first time since I’d arrived in that shithole a few hours prior, fear filled me. I believed Nitro would get us out of there, but I didn’t want to think about what we’d have to go through first.

He came to me and ran his finger slowly down my face. “I’ll be back,” he said.

They were his last words before he left me alone in the room. As the door clicked shut behind him, I exhaled. I attempted to give myself a pep talk, but no matter how hard I tried, it didn’t work. Because this wasn’t just about me. I could pep talk the fuck out of shit if it only involved me. But Nitro’s life was at stake, too, and that drove more fear into me than I knew what to do with.