“Let me go, Rusty,” I grind out. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
He snorts. “Not goin’ to happen.”
I’m sorry for this.
I launch my foot backward and hit his shin. He roars with pain and stumbles back, letting me go long enough to lurch forward and through the door. I bolt down the stairs and into the basement of the old warehouse the boys are in. All of them turn when I come rushing in, but it’s the man in the chair that I care about the most.
Danny is sitting, tied to an old rickety chair. His eyes move to me and widen, and then suddenly he’s yelling out for my help. As if there is ever a chance I’d help him.
“Willow! What’s going on? Make them stop. Help me.”
I throw my head back and laugh. Ace snarls a curse, and Angel orders me to leave. I ignore them both. Instead, I calmly walk over and punch Danny so hard in the face that his head jerks backward. It feels good. It is something I have wanted to do for so long. It heals something in my soul.
“That’s for my wasted years with you and your abuse.”
I hit him again, his nose making a cracking sound.
“That’s for all the blood you shed that wasn’t yours.”
I hit him again, and his lip splits.
“And that’s for Jagger.”
He roars a curse, spitting blood all over me, and jerks in the chair. Angel and Ace are staring at me, both of them unsure what to do. I can only imagine how it looks, and I don’t care. Danny deserves everything that’s coming for him.
“You do as they ask, because I swear to god, I will end you, Danny. I’ll put a bullet in you right now and end you. You’re nothing to me. You’re the scum of this earth, and you ruined my life.”
“Fuck you, bitch.”
I move quickly, spinning and pulling the gun from Ace’s hand. He yells out, but I’m too quick. I spin back around and press it to Danny’s temple. I have a fresh new rage inside of me now. A determination I wasn’t sure I’d ever find again.
“Do you think I’m joking? I have lost my heart, my life, and everything I lived for. He was everything to me. I don’t care about you. I hate you. Seeing you swim with the fishes is fine by me.”
“Don’t,” he rasps, eyes wide. “Don’t, please. I’ll help.”
I step backward and run my fingers across the cool metal of the gun. It makes me feel powerful.
“Are you done?” Ace whispers in my ear, jerking the gun from my hand.
“Just needed to get that out of my system,” I whisper back.
Ace doesn’t answer, he just turns back to Danny. “Now that you know we’re not messin’ around, you can tell me where Jagger’s next fight is and how we can get in.”
“You can’t get in,” Danny spits. “You can’t unless you’re a fighter or VIP. It’s too risky to let the public in.”
“You’re a fighter, Danny,” Ace points out.
Danny’s eyes widen. “No, I won’t do it.”
“How much do we have to pay you?” I snap.
I’m tired of the games.
Money talks, especially for men like Danny.
Danny glances at me. “You’ll pay me?”
“I’ll pay you if you help me out. If you don’t, well ... you know how it ends.”
“How much?”
Ace snorts. “Dick.”
Danny glares at him but looks back to me.
“I’ll give you half a million,” I mutter, as though it’s no more than petty cash.
Danny’s eyes widen, but he tries to play it cool. I know that’s a lot of money, and he’d do just about anything for it. “Fine, if you swear you’ll let me go and give me the money, I’ll get you in. But, I can only get you in once.”
“Once is all I need.” I say simply.
“If you try anything on her,” Angel growls, “I swear to god, I’ll hunt you down, and, believe me, you’ll wish to god I never got hold of you.”
“I get it.” Danny mutters.
“Good, I hope you do. If you value your life, you won’t lay a fucking hand on her.”
“Well, you had better get your shit together, his fight is tonight,” Danny says, flashing me a small smirk.
I look over at Angel. “Tonight ...”
“Yeah. Are you ready?”
I nod. “I have to be.”
7
“Stop darting around,” Danny snarls, grabbing my arm and jerking me closer to him, “You’re drawing attention to yourself, which is something you don’t want to do. Now quit it.”
“Everyone is looking at me!” I mutter, eyes connecting with the crowd of people lining up, just staring at me, their eyes narrowed.
“Because you’re a woman, not many women come in.”
Danny tugs my hand again, dragging me to the entrance. I’m decked out in disguise again, and I can see a lot of men lingering around the doors to the fighting club, just waiting to get in, waiting to get their chance to bet on a life. When we reach the bouncer, Danny greets him by name and the huge man grins back, his eyes scanning over me.