Fox by Harley Wylde
Chapter Fifteen
Raven
Spider hadn’t wanted me to hear their plans, and I understood why. Didn’t mean I agreed with him, and apparently my dad and Fox didn’t either. Fox had tugged me onto his lap, and Hatchet pulled up the seat next to him. I’d eaten a slice of pizza while I listened to them make a plan for dealing with the guards and my mother. Even though it hurt to hear what she’d done, it made me realize I’d missed all the signs before. She’d never wanted me.
“They aren’t going to come into this house with all the bikes and trucks outside,” I said.
“That’s the point, baby girl,” Fox said, rubbing his hand up and down my thigh.
I frowned. “But… how are you going to catch them? Don’t you need bait or something?”
“No!” Hatchet banged his fist on the table. “You’re not offering yourself up to those men.”
The Raven of the past year would have flinched and tried to make herself small. But I wasn’t that same, scared woman. I’d gotten stronger in the short time I’d been with Fox, and I knew these men wouldn’t hurt me. It was time for me to take a stand. It wasn’t fair to ask these men to protect me if I wasn’t willing to do more than hide.
“No one here will let me get hurt,” I said. “If it lures them out, wouldn’t that be better than sitting around waiting?”
“Raven, you have to think about the baby too.” Fox pressed his hand to my belly. “What if we didn’t reach you fast enough? They could make you miscarry or snatch you and run. I don’t even want to think about what they’d do to you. They blame you for them losing their jobs.”
I leaned back against him. “You’d think whatever my mother paid would more than compensate them.”
“We’re not using her as bait,” Hatchet said, glaring at everyone around the table.
Sighing, I knew they weren’t going to agree. At least, my dad and Fox wouldn’t. I saw the look on a few of the other men’s faces. They didn’t like waiting for something to happen. Or maybe they agreed those men would never make a move as long as I was so heavily protected.
“Spider, you know I’m right,” I said. “Fox and my dad aren’t being objective about this because they’re worried about me. I get it, I really do, but I can’t sit here and do nothing. I can’t fight. Can’t do strategic planning. But I can be bait to lure them in.”
Fox’s hold tightened on me, and he growled. “Raven.”
I patted his arm. “You’ll be there to keep me safe. The entire club will be, as well as Dad and the men who came with him. Besides, if they can’t get to me, they may go after the other women to use them as leverage. You know it’s me they want.”
“She’s right,” Spider said. “I know neither of you wants to hear that, but it’s the truth. Luciana, Violeta, and Vasha aren’t anywhere near as safe as Raven right now. If they can’t get to the woman they want, they may take one of the others. Or worse. One of the kids.”
My stomach knotted at the thought of them getting to the kids. I’d never live with myself if something happened to a child because I’d been hidden away. I had to make Fox and Hatchet see reason.
“I know the two of you love me, and you want to keep me in a bubble, all safe and tucked away. But you both know it would devastate you if a child got hurt because of your actions.” I turned in Fox’s lap so I could see both him and my dad. They shared a glance, and I had a feeling I’d finally gotten through to them. “Please let me do this.”
“There will be conditions,” Hatchet said, addressing the men around the table. “I just found out I have a daughter and got to meet her. I’m not about to lose Raven because something goes wrong.”
“They won’t come for her unless she’s alone,” Surge said. “And I’ve found a bit more info on them.”
He tapped on his keyboard. “Mark Simmons. Divorced, twice. No kids. No military training. A bit of scandal several years back with an underage girl, but it got swept under the rug. Parents were paid off.
“Tom Larson. Married. Father of two boys. No military training. Church deacon. On paper, the guy looks like a fucking saint. Unless you know where to look. He’s done some porn films, dark shit. Even though he wore a mask, it’s definitely him.
“Derek Keates. His father owns Balmoral. Never married. No kids. He joined the Army right out of high school but didn’t make it through boot camp. He washed out. My money is on him being the strategist. He’s smart. If he’s touched Raven, he made sure he was never caught on camera. The other assholes weren’t always so careful, at least not where Raven is concerned. Raven told us they were hurting the other women. I don’t know if her mom offering up money opened the door and they just enjoyed themselves so much they decided to hurt more women, or if they’d already been abusing the patients.”
Surge slid some pages down the table, and I saw all three men’s faces staring up at me. Bile rose in my throat, and I swallowed it down. Larson and Simmons had been the ones who visited me the most. They always worked the same shift and seemed to have more hours than the third man. But I knew Keates, and I’d never forget him. I couldn’t stop the tremor that went through me. Just looking at his picture made me break out in a cold sweat. The nights he’d been on shift were always the worst.
“Raven?” Fox rubbed his hand up and down my arm. “What’s wrong, beautiful?”
“Keates.” My hand shook as I slid the picture closer. “He’s evil. Far worse than the other two.”
Hatchet took the picture and studied it. The way everyone stared at me, I knew they needed me to clarify why I thought Keates was evil, why the others weren’t so bad in comparison. I didn’t know if wanted to relive those moments. No, I knew I didn’t.
“Keates liked pain and humiliation. Or rather, he liked inflicting it. He didn’t rape me as often as the other two, mostly because he didn’t work the night shift as frequently. And he never got off on that alone. He liked hurting me in other ways. If he had been with me every night, I probably wouldn’t have survived.”
Fox kissed my shoulder. “You don’t have to tell us. I can tell it hurts you to think about it.”
I shook my head. “You need to know what you’re up against. Keates would make me strip. Then he’d take his time hitting me, cutting me, and taunting me with threats to let the men on the next ward have some fun. I never thought about it before, but the nurses never batted an eye at the marks. I think he hurt me when he knew someone would be working who didn’t care.”
“What men?” Hatchet asked, his hands fisting.
“The ones locked up for being criminally insane,” I said softly. “They’ve raped, murdered, and who knows what else, but they were deemed not mentally fit to stand trial. That scared me more than any of the guards touching me. Those men… I saw them once. They were savage, and I knew if Keates made good on his threat, I’d not survive it.”
“He beat you?” Fox asked, his voice low and deep. “Cut you?”
I nodded. “Shallow cuts. He said they’d hurt more.”
“So we need a plan…” Spider leaned forward bracing his arms on the table. “Raven, I have a feeling they’re watching the compound. They may or may not know which house you’re in. I’m going to need you to run from the house, toward the clubhouse. It’s the only way I think they’ll see you for certain. Dart toward the gate but stop far enough from it they couldn’t reach you.”
“What the fuck, Pres?” Surge asked.
Spider held up a hand. “I’m going to have men watching from the clubhouse, and the surrounding homes. We’ll have plenty of brothers in place to keep her out of their clutches.”
“Just run?” I asked. “That will be enough?”
“If they’re as desperate as I think, it should draw them out,” Spider said.
Hatchet leaned forward. “So we’re clear, anything happens to her, I don’t give a shit if you’re the President or not. I will beat the fuck out of you for putting her in danger.”
Spider’s eyebrows lifted but he didn’t say anything. Fox ran his hand up and down my thigh, and I noticed he didn’t leap to Spider’s defense. It seemed he would go along with my dad if things went bad.
“Raven, put on something comfortable,” Spider said. “I’m going to work out the details with this crew and get a message out to the others.”
I stood and paused a moment. “Don’t hurt them. I know my dad shouldn’t have said what he did, and Fox should have stood up for you, but they’re worried about me. Their defiance comes from love.”
Spider smiled faintly. “I know. It’s why I haven’t ripped into them just yet. Before my Luciana, I’d have already been pounding on them. Now that I have a woman of my own, I can understand where they’re coming from. Now get out of here, girl.”
I rushed from the room and ran upstairs. I didn’t see anything wrong with the clothes I’d put on, but I’d need shoes that would allow me to run. After I put on socks and tennis shoes, I went back downstairs and sat in the living room until the club needed me.
A snuffling sound at the door drew my attention. I stared and waited, wondering if someone had gotten locked out. When I heard scratching, I knew it had to be an animal pawing at the door. I peered out the window and saw the cutest puppy on the porch. It must have belonged to one of the men in the sunroom. Or maybe one of the guys they said would patrol the area? I didn’t see anyone, though.
I unlocked the door and opened it, reaching down to pick up the puppy. “Come here, cutie. Let’s find your daddy.”
A hand closed over my arm and yanked me off my feet. I yelped and dropped the puppy. Looking up, my gaze collided with Larson’s. Everything in me went cold, and I knew I’d screwed up. Spider had been wrong. They weren’t outside watching the compound. They were already here, and now they had me. I opened my mouth to scream, but Larson muffled me by placing his hand over my lips.
“Now, now. None of that, Raven. You know we don’t like it when you scream.” He smiled, the sight chilling me.
He dragged me off the porch and I saw Simmons and Keates waiting in the shadows. I didn’t know how they’d gotten past everyone and inside the fence, but I knew this was really bad. No one knew they had me. How long before Fox and my dad realized I’d gone missing? Tears pricked my eyes when I thought about them finding my body. I knew these men wouldn’t keep me alive. They’d hurt me and then leave me for dead.
I scanned the area, hoping to see one of the Hades Abyss members. A few lumps on the ground drew my eye and I had a feeling they were the men who’d been guarding the house. How had these assholes gotten the drop on them?
Keates reached out to stroke my cheek. “Be nice and quiet, otherwise, you won’t be the only one we take with us. You aren’t the only woman here. Understand?”
I nodded. I’d do whatever they wanted, as long as they left the others alone. I’d only met Luciana and Violeta the one time, and hadn’t had a chance to meet Vasha, but I couldn’t let these men hurt them. As long as I remained compliant, they’d take me elsewhere before they started in on their fun. At least, that was my hope.
They tugged me away from the house and into the dark. I noticed we weren’t heading for the main gate and started to panic. If we didn’t leave the compound, they could still go after the other women.
“You got me fired, you little bitch,” Larson said, his breath hot against my ear. “My wife got pissed and demanded to know why. That asshole doctor told her I’d been raping the female patients. She kicked me out! If I didn’t worry that freak would pay someone to take me out, I’d have made sure to take him down with me.”
Surge hadn’t discovered that. My heart slammed against my ribs as they dragged me farther from the house and toward the tree line. I could see the house getting smaller the farther we walked, and with no lights out here, I knew no one would be able to see us. We had to be nearing the back end of the property, but I’d look like a speck to the men in the sunroom.
“To make it look good, the doc fired me too. Asshole has too much on me or I’d retaliate,” Keates said. “My dad is mad as hell. Says I must have fucked up big. The old bastard cut me from his will and severed all ties with me. I think you owe me, Raven.”
As we got closer to the trees, I saw four stakes in the ground with rope, and a camera on a tripod. Fear slithered through me as I began to realize what they intended. I owed them. Whatever they had planned, they were going to find a way to use it for financial gain. If they took a video of them hurting me, Fox and my dad would lose their minds. The only payment these men would get would be a sound beating, and possibly death.
We stopped next to the area they’d prepped, and my legs started to shake. Keates noticed and grinned.
“Your man thought he was so smart, him and his club. We’ve been under their noses all this time. Simmons stayed in sight around town, and Larson and I made an appearance when you were eating out. The rest of the time we’ve been here, watching and waiting.”
Simmons stepped closer and ran his hands over me. He licked his lips and leaned in closer. “Can’t wait to get a taste of you again, Raven. You were always my favorite.”
“People pay a lot of money for snuff films,” Keates said. “Of course, everyone argues none of the ones out there are real. I know different. Congratulations, Raven. You get to be the next girl to die, but not until after the three of us have a bit of fun.”
I couldn’t hold back the tears anymore. “You’d kill your own baby?”
He froze, as did Larson and Simmons. The three looked at one another, and Simmons shrugged. “Ain’t mine. I’m sterile.”
“I got snipped after my wife popped out the last brat eight months ago,” Larson said.
Oh, God. That meant the baby belonged to Keates. He’d mostly beaten on me, but he’d raped me too. I’d hoped it didn’t belong to him. Out of the three, Keates was the least likely to have a soul.
Keates moved in closer, his breath fanning my face. “You saying my brat is in your belly?”
I nodded slowly. “If you’ve been watching me, you know I went to the clinic. I found out then.”
His gaze skimmed down my body, and he pulled out a knife. I tensed and braced myself. Would he stab me? Try to cut his child from my body? He sliced through my clothes. Keates roughly shoved his hand against my belly, and I flinched.
“Doesn’t feel like there’s a brat in there,” he said.
“Believe what you want,” I said. “But there’s a baby. If Simmons and Larson can’t have children, it means the baby is yours.”
He sneered and stalked away from me, pacing along the tree line. He muttered under his breath, and I couldn’t hear what he said. Larson held me tighter and Simmons finished cutting my clothes off me. Once they had me naked, Simmons and Larson wrestled me to the ground and tied my hands and feet to the stakes, leaving me spread-eagle.
Keates hunkered down next to me. “Guess I can’t kill you just yet. Maybe a kid is what I need to get back in my father’s good graces. Doesn’t mean we have to completely abandon our little film.”
“Do we still get to fuck the bitch again?” Larson asked.
Keates smiled and I whimpered, wishing I could get away. “Oh, yes. The two of you can have her once I’m done. If it’s my spawn in her belly, I get to take her first. After that, I don’t care who gets her. We’ll go until we can’t film anymore. Then I’ll take her home and tie her to the bed, where she’ll stay until she gives my kid to me.”
I cried openly, wishing I could have kissed Fox one more time, or hugged my dad. Were they looking for me? If they found me, after the men had started their film, would Fox still want me? He’d heard what I’d been through before, but he hadn’t witnessed it.
Keates winked as he stood. “Get ready for some fun, Raven. We have all night. No way those fuckers would think to look for you on their own property. They’ll be scouring the city, and we’ll be right here under their noses.”
Sobs wracked my body as he turned on the camera. I heard the clink of belts and started screaming, thrashing as I tried to break free. I couldn’t go through it again. I wouldn’t. I knew I wouldn’t survive.