I kick back the chair, and it crashes to the floor with a loud thump. Stepping over him, I press my foot to his throat to stop his struggling, my heel pressing against his soft flesh. He gulps, his hands going out to the side in a gesture of peace, his scared eyes locked on me. He’s finally realising his family is dead. Everything they did to win, every law and rule they broke, and everyone they bribed or killed was for nothing. All because they got greedy and took something that wasn’t theirs.

“Where is he?” I snarl.

The firing stops, but I don’t look away as Diesel rounds the table, crouches next to number two, and looks up at me with blood on his face. “That was fucking beautiful. You are wearing those heels later,” he murmurs, as Ryder steps up next to me and stares down at number two.

“We warned you, where is he?” he growls.

I hear a rustle at the stairs and Diesel, without looking, pulls his gun and fires. I hear a grunt and then the distinctive sound of someone falling down the stairs.

“Sorry about your brother, he was a real prick though.” I smirk, leaning forward like I’m sharing a secret. “He talked like a little bitch at the end of my bat.” Number two sputters, and I laugh. “Don’t ever fuck with a Viper. Just because I have a pussy doesn’t make me weak. You fucked with the wrong family.”

He narrows his eyes, but he sees the truth in my gaze and deflates. “Please don’t kill my wife, she’s innocent in this.”

I don’t speak, but I dig my heel in deeper. “Did you afford us those same niceties?” Ryder snaps.

He closes his eyes for a moment before opening them and looking at me. “He’s being held at our family’s home, 478 Rosewater. The mansion on the hill overlooking the city.”

“Security?” I ask, and I can feel Ryder’s surprised and appreciative gaze.

“Over thirty men, the last of us, my brother will be there too…and her,” he sputters as I jab in deeper.

“Her?”

“Daphne, his ex, she was working with us,” he wheezes. “Came to us wanting revenge. We made a deal to kill you all, but she could do whatever she wanted with him. She’s been supplying us information.”

“Fucking knew it,” Ryder snarls.

“I should have tortured her more.” Diesel grins. “I won’t make that mistake again.”

I look to Ryder then. “Why did she betray him in the first place?”

The man under my heel struggles, so I push harder, and he starts to pant. “Why?”

He looks at me sadly. “For money and power. She was offered both by a rival, she thought they would own the city, but she was wrong. It almost killed him, they paid her to do just that, but he survived. We hunted her down, and Diesel killed her, or so we thought.”

“Now she has him,” I hiss. “She’s going to finish what she started,” I whisper in shock. “Ryder, we have to get him now.”

He nods and is already on the phone, so I glare back down at number two. “Anything else?”

He shakes his head, his eyes wide, so I grab my gun, the one Garrett got me, and I shoot him in the face. It explodes, and I close my eyes as brain and gore hits me and Diesel. Some even gets on Ryder, but he doesn’t blink at it.

Stepping away, I rip off my heels, and with a cry, drive them into his chest before standing and brushing my hair back. “Let’s go get him,” I demand, as I turn and pick my way over the bodies. I feel my men behind me.

What started as a business deal has now become my life. There’s an old quote, ‘Throw me to the wolves, and I will come back leading the pack.’ I was thrown to the Vipers, and now they are mine.

Never underestimate a woman, because those seen as weak have a lot less to lose than those with everything.

I’m used to being the underdog, but no longer. No, I’m a fucking viper queen, their girl, and I’m going to tell the whole city tonight after I get my man back and we kill the Triad for good. No one will ever come for us again, let this be their final warning.

We own this city.

We own them.

Chapter Fifty-Three

GARRETT

I know instantly something is wrong, the bed under me is too soft to be my own. The smell is wrong, not to mention my arms are straining and my legs are in an uncomfortable angle. My head is fucking killing me, like I took one too many hits to it. I don’t let on to anyone who is watching, my breathing remains the same, even as my anger chases away the haziness moving sluggishly through my blood.

The hotel.

The roof…Kenzo.

Fuck, I hope he’s okay. If anyone can survive a stab wound, it’s that slippery bastard, but right now, I’m in trouble too. They came at me, it was a fucking trap, they wanted me, but why?

I twist my hands experimentally and find my wrists are bound, ankles too. I’m spread eagle, the cool air hitting me, then making me shiver. I try to push back the panic at being tied up again, flashes of the past sneaking into my mind. The room smells clean, like mint and bleach, but the bed feels unmade and mussed.

Where the fuck did they take me?

I’m going to fucking kill them all. I had plans, like to remind Roxy that she was mine and not to get her ass kidnapped…then I went and got my ass taken.

I don’t understand why they singled me out. The smarter move would have been to take Ryder or, hell, even Diesel so that he wouldn’t hunt them. No, this feels personal. Just as I think that, I hear a door open nearby. Keeping my eyes closed and my breathing even, I wait as I hear soft footsteps, muffled by carpeting, heading my way.

Her perfume hits me first. Even now, she still wears that same piss stinking Chanel, and I know why me. Her. She wanted me. It was probably her condition for working with them, the stupid cunt. I feel her long nail next, running down my chest, and I realise I’m naked, bound, and helpless to her once again.

Ain’t life a fucking bitch.

I survived this once, I can again, but I refuse to be that same, shocked, betrayed boy. I’m a goddamn Viper.

My eyes open and meet hers as she grins down at me, her face half burnt away. Finally, the rot inside of her shows on the outside. “You look fucking awful,” I sneer.

She frowns and narrows her eyes, digging her long nails into my chest. “And you look better? Poor, little damaged Garrett. I wonder, can you even still get it up for a woman, or does she have to be cutting you up?”

“So you’re working with the Triad? How many cocks did you have to suck to get them to even pay attention to you?” I taunt nastily.

She snarls and digs her hand in deeper, cutting my skin, but I don’t even react, which she hates. “None, they want you gone. We made a deal so I could have you. Right now, your little whore and brothers are being killed.”

“Doubtful,” I scoff. “You can never kill them, especially Rox, that bitch is too stubborn to die.”

At her name, Daphne snarls and drags her nails down my ruined chest, making me grunt in pain as she draws blood. “Yeah? Then she will live long enough to get your broken, bloody body back. You die tonight like you should have back then, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun first.” She flutters her lashes, her half-melted face pulling in what I’m guessing is supposed to be a seductive expression. Jesus, how did I used to fuck this woman?