The front doors of the bar slapped open, and we looked up to see Moira charge into the place.
“Moira, my darling daughter…you’ve arrived just in time. We were going to start celebrating!” Elwood greeted her, and I could see that he was clearly in a good mood.
Unlike Moira, who looked like she had something on her mind. Instead of responding to her father, she weaved through the crowds of the gathered MC, and it appeared like she was heading directly in the direction of Commando and me.
Even before she had spoken, I knew this had to be important. Despite having her whole family connected with the MC, Moira made sure that she stayed as far away from this life and our environment as possible.
When our eyes met, I knew this was about Valentina.
“King, she’s not at my place. Please tell me you know where she is,” Moira came to a stop directly in front of me. There was silence in the bar, everyone’s attention turned to us, and I could hear myself breathing hard.
“What are you talking about? When we left church this morning, she said that she was going to go back to your apartment directly,” I hissed, and my fists were clenched on my sides. I knew I shouldn’t have let her walk home by herself. Moira’s eyes widened, and a sudden fear had entered them. She considered Valentina to be her responsibility, and she was already beginning to blame herself.
“I came home an hour ago. She wasn’t there, and I waited for her, she didn’t show up. You think something’s happened?” she was speaking too fast, but I caught every word of it.
“They’ve got to her,” I growled.
“Who?” Moira asked, her mouth dropping open in horror.
“The Muerte Viviente,” Girth said from over my shoulder and then I felt Commando’s hand on my shoulder.
“We’re with you, brother. Whatever you need to do,” I heard him say.
“We need to go to Hiputi and beat the shit out of some assholes till they tell me where they’ve taken her,” I said, and I looked up at Elwood. He was staring at me, turning the information over in his head. Then he tipped his head once in agreement.
“Commando and Girth, go with him,” Elwood said, and within seconds, the three of us were charging out of the bar and towards our bikes.
“Hey! King! We’re going to get her back,” Commando said, as we revved up our bikes. I couldn’t respond to him. I couldn’t do anything but zoom off. This had quickly turned from the happiest to the worst day of my life. I couldn’t lose Valentina again, not after I’d promised her that I would keep her safe.
I cursed myself under my breath as I rode. I shouldn’t ever have let her go back home on her own. I should have known that it wasn’t safe yet.
Chapter 16
Valentina
I felt like it was a nightmare in my sleep. This couldn’t be happening to me again!
I realized that I had been knocked out cold, and this time when I opened my eyes, I wasn’t in a motel room. Instead, I was in the storage room of the gambling bar that the Muerte Viviente had always hung out in. I recognized the room from my childhood. It was the place that Papi never allowed me to peep into.
I’d heard screams coming from this room, and I knew Papi did bad things here. To people who disrespected him, or went against him. Now, it was me who was tied up to a chair and left here. How had my life come to this? Juan had confirmed it now, Papi was the one who had brought this upon me.
I pulled at my hands, but they didn’t give way. Whoever had tied my hands together behind my back had done a pretty good job. I could feel the rope burning and chaffing my skin the harder I pulled, and I cried out, in agony.
They had left me on a chair, too hard and too uncomfortable, and I had no idea how long I’d been captive here. It could have been a couple of hours, or it could have been a day. I was hungry and tired and my wrists hurt.
I was still wearing the yellow dress; I saw when I look
ed down at my lap. The yellow dress I had bought for church, the one I had selected just because I wanted to see the glimmer in King’s eyes when he saw me in it. When I thought of him, I knew I didn’t want to give up so easily. I still had some fight left in me.
I looked about the room, hoping I could find some way to get out of this place, but it seemed unlikely. Just one low hanging bulb swayed in the room, throwing a pale-yellow light around, while most of the corners were shrouded in shadows.
The walls were disintegrating, and there was a horrid stench of damp wetness. I could hear the trickle of drops of water falling from the ceiling somewhere and collecting in a bucket that someone had thoughtfully placed under it. The dripping contributed to the damp stench in the room, and I gulped. The floor was dirty, the walls looked slimy, and the loud voices of people and a hum of grunge music echoed in the room.
There were people outside. They were probably Members of the Muerte Viviente gang. I knew it was a gambling bar, and I had an idea of what the scene outside this room would look like. Men from the gang, gathered around gambling tables, watching and playing and sloshing drinks down their throats. Juan and his cronies were resting easy in the knowledge that they had me tied now, that I wouldn’t be able to make it out of here.
I tugged at the rope again, and once again, it seared my skin, and I winced. Chances of me getting my hands to slip out of the confines were very little. So, I hurled myself forward instead. If only I could crawl over enough to the door and use the handle on the door to cut through the rope? It was an impossible task to undertake, but I had to try something. I couldn’t just wait around here for Juan to come back and do with me as he pleased.
I fell forward on the dirty, grimy floor, the chair falling with me because my arms were still tied around it. I groaned when my cheek hit the concrete, and I pressed my eyes closed from the pain. The floor was reverberating with the sounds of the thumping music outside. But the only thing I could hear was King’s voice. His reassuring words. Wherever he was, whatever he was doing; I knew that it wouldn’t take him long to get into action and look for me. Eventually, he would find me. Eventually, he would think of looking in Hiputi, and then Juan and his gang would have no chance against the Rogue Rebels.