He blinked and turned to where Deacon still stood with a tight hold on Anna. His arm was hooked around her throat and one hand had a tight hold in her hair, forcing her to keep her head up. Forcing her to watch.
Deke had done what he’d asked.
He’d done it and didn’t pussy out.
He gave Deke a slight nod and the club’s treasurer gave him one back.
Even if the man wasn’t comfortable with it, he did it.
For Sig.
For Red.
That right there earned him a fuck-ton of respect. And Sig would never forget it.
He stepped closer to the back of the bench and dug his hand into what was left of Vernon’s gaping blood-soaked jeans. He found the fucker’s dick and balls with his left hand and, with a yank, exposed them, then sawed them the fuck off with the serrated buck knife in his right.
“Let the fucker bleed out if he’s still breathin’,” he said softly.
“We gotta get the fuck out of here, brother. Need to let the rest of the women and children go and Autumn had to go to the hospital. Think she went into labor.”
Sig heard him, and he tried to process the words, but he wasn’t done there yet. “Need to make sure Red and that kid’s safe first.”
“Thinkin’ we made a clear statement.”
“No. We didn’t. Not yet.”
“Fuck, Sig,” his brother muttered, closing his eyes and shaking his head.
Sig handed Trip his knife back and went to where Deacon stood with the wide-eyed, pale Anna.
A strangled sound came from behind the bandana that had been tied over her mouth.
“Give her to me. You can all go. Go to Red.”
“No fuckin’ way, Sig. Not leavin’ you here. Our brothers are lined up with their shields, makin’ sure no other Shirleys approach. But that doesn’t mean those fuckers might not set up and start shootin’ at us, anyway. Not sure how many of them are out there in the woods. Can’t waste any more time.”
“Not done, brother,” Sig said.
“You’re done,” Trip said more firmly. “We gotta go.”
“Need a minute.”
“Fuck,” Trip muttered and blew out a loud breath.
Sig snagged Anna’s throat within his fingers. “Let ‘er go, brother.”
Deke’s mouth got tight. “Sig...”
“Let. Her. Go.”
Deacon reluctantly released her and Sig immediately swung the bitch away from him. His lip curled in a snarl as he stared at the woman who hurt Red. The woman who made her live naked, cold and filthy in that shed for fucking months. The woman who treated Red worse than their livestock.
And if it wasn’t for being a jealous cunt, never would’ve let Red go.
He snorted a thick wad of phlegm into his mouth and spat the hocker right into her face. And as it slid down her cheek, which was wet from crying, Sig began the statement he had went up there to make. He leaned in and tightened his fingers around the front of her throat until he knew it cut off the flow of air. “How you like havin’ your fuckin’ throat squeezed like that, huh? How does a dumb twat like you like bein’ choked hard enough to leave a mark? How the fuck do you like havin’ somethin’ forced down your throat?” He lifted his fistful of Vernon’s severed genitals. “Like your husband’s dick. Would you like that? How you like the feelin’ you might pass the fuck out? You beggin’ for air yet?” He turned his head and put his ear near her gagged mouth. “Can’t hear you if you are.”
He sneered and loosened his fingers just enough so she could suck in a breath through her flaring nostrils and then he tightened them again. He wanted her to stay conscious until he had his say.
“We ever see you off this mountain,” he growled, “those fuckin’ inbred hillbilly kids of yours? Dead. You? Dead. You’ll join that motherfuckin’ uncle-husband of yours in hell. You get me?” he roared. “Nobody... No-fuckin-body’s gonna be lookin’ for some missin’ Shirleys. In fact, the world would be a better goddamn place without any of you. ‘Cause you give us a reason to come back up this mountain? We ain’t stoppin’ with just a few of you. You forget she ever existed. You forget that baby ever existed. To you all, they don’t. Any of you Shirleys see her in town, you go the opposite way. Any of you take one step toward her? You all die. Any of you try talkin’ to her? You stop breathin’ and all your snot monkeys do, too. You get me, you fuckin’ cunt?”
He waited for a sign she heard him. He loosened his fingers again slightly because her face had turned an unhealthy shade of purple, just like the color of Red’s bruises when he found her. “That a nod? Not fuckin’ sure it was. But it don’t matter. Only one correct answer. Incorrect one will cost you. Won’t be a Shirley left breathin’.” He jabbed his finger into her temple hard and her cry was muffled. “Remember that, bitch.”