“You fought them?”
“Of course I did. Did you think I’d meekly hand my baby over to them? I lived through a nightmare childhood with them.” She closed her eyes and forced herself to breathe. She was feeling faint again. “I just want him back. I need to leave. To go get him.”
“How much damage did they do to you?”
She hadn’t expected that question. “Not much. It wasn’t bad.” The moment she lied, something stabbed deep into her head, like a punch to her brain. She cried out.
Absinthe let her go immediately and the pain subsided. Steele made a move toward them, but Czar caught his arm and shook his head.
“Finish this, Absinthe, but gently,” Czar cautioned.
“I’m trying. I wasn’t expecting her to lie. She hasn’t until right then. I wasn’t ready for that,” Absinthe explained.
Breezy didn’t understand what they meant, but when Absinthe reached for her wrist again, he seemed more reluctant than she was.
“You want to tell me the truth, Breezy.” Absinthe repeated what he’d first said to her. “We all know your father and brother and what they’re like. They beat up women. We need to know how much damage they did to you.”
His question actually gave her hope that they might help her get Zane back. Why bother asking otherwise? “Bruises mainly. My ribs hurt when I take a breath. My stomach. I bleed some when I go to the bathroom, and there’s a huge bruise on my thigh. No broken bones.”
“Damn those fuckers,” Steele snapped. “I’m going to kill them both.”
“Not if you let me out of here,” Breezy said. “I’ll do it myself.”
“That’s the truth as well,” Absinthe told the others. “Why didn’t you send the letter to Steele through the mail?”
“I didn’t know if Torpedo Ink was the right club. I had to see for myself. I don’t expect that I’ll succeed in getting him back, so I wanted Steele to know where he is. I had hoped it would matter to him that he had a son, but then I forgot that he believes me to be a whore.”
She ignored Steele’s low growl and kept going. “I also felt it was important for all of you to know they’re after blood. Czar.” She refused to look at Steele, instead deliberately regarding the man wearing the patch declaring he was the president. “I have to go. You can see I’m not a threat to you. I didn’t even bring a gun into the clubhouse. I left the warning. What more do you want from me?”
“Are you setting the club up for retaliation by the Swords?” Absinthe persisted.
“No.”
“Why didn’t the Swords tell you where we were?”
“They don’t know you’re Torpedo Ink. They don’t know much of anything that happened to the members who came here to kill Deveau. They only know they didn’t return, that they’re all dead along with the international president and that all the money is gone along with their ability to set up lines to traffic. They suspect all of you, because you were capable of it, I guess, but they don’t really know anything.”
“So, they wanted you to find us and kill us for them.”
She nodded. “I started in California because this is where the members were all headed. They came from various chapters. I heard a newer club was set up in Caspar, and I checked it out. There were eighteen members. I did check out a few other clubs first, but when I heard there were eighteen of you, I was fairly certain this would be the right club.”
“Once you found us, did you tell them where we’re located?” Absinthe asked.
She wanted to pull her hair out. “Of course I didn’t. What would be the point of warning all of you if I told them where you are?” Exasperation warred with exhaustion. She had tried to sleep throughout the day but hadn’t been successful. What little sleep she’d gotten didn’t make up for the nights of frenzied hunting for the Torpedo Ink members after her baby was taken.
“When was the last time you ate something?” Alena asked.
Breezy pulled back, tugging at her arm to try to get away from Absinthe. She understood the need for them to protect their club. She did. She understood self-preservation, but that was a personal question and one she didn’t want to answer. She pressed her lips together and shrugged.
“Breezy.”
Steele’s voice bit through her. It was cold, the voice he used when he was displeased with something she’d done. Before it had made her curl up into a little ball and withdraw. She hated it when he was upset with her. Now, he could go to hell. Her eyes met his in a storm of defiance. They locked together in some weird combat that tied her stomach in knots and made little tremors move through her body.
“I’m not doing this,” Absinthe said and let go of her wrist. “It’s clear she hasn’t eaten in a while. She’s pale, shaky and close to fainting.”
“Some very bad people have taken my son,” she snapped and rubbed at her wrist as if she could remove Absinthe’s touch. “I need to go. Now that you’ve got what you wanted, and you know you’re all safe, I have to get out of here.” She poured venom into her scathing comment hoping to shame him. Shame all of them. Zane was a toddler. They were adults.
“You’re not leaving,” Steele said. “Don’t waste time arguing. I’m not about to let you anywhere near your father and brother and the rest of those assholes. We’ll get our son back, but we’ll be going, not you, Breezy.”
“Like hell I won’t be going. He’s my child, Steele. I took care of him. I raised him. You weren’t there, and you made it clear you didn’t want to be there.”
“I gave you money . . .”
She surged to her feet as adrenaline coursed through her. Adrenaline, anger and pure hurt. “As if I’d spend your money. I’m not a whore. I wasn’t a whore when we were together, and I refuse to let you make me into one by clearing your conscience and giving me money. I told you that. Every penny I used to get us started I replaced and will send back to you the minute I have him and can get home.”
“Damn it, Breezy. I gave you that money so you would be safe.”
She took a step toward the door. The man they had always called Savage stood in front of it, and he scared the crap out of her. She wasn’t about to fight him to get out. She appealed to the president of the club.
“I have to go get my baby, Czar. I would appreciate it if you would ask everyone to let me leave.”
Czar studied her face for what seemed an eternity. Finally, he shook his head, and her heart sank.
“Honey, you know you aren’t going to get out of there alive with him. You know you’d just be throwing your life away. This is what we do, and for one of our own, there’s no question we’ll go. We have a better chance of getting him back than you do. The moment you tell your father we’re dead, he would kill that boy and then you. If he didn’t kill you, he’d sell you.”
She hated that everything he said was true. She didn’t want to feel helpless again. Or without hope. She had left all that behind and become so much more. Tears burned behind her eyes, but she wasn’t about to shed them in front of these people. All she could do was listen to the pounding of her heart and feel terror overwhelming her. Zane was with them. Her beautiful little boy with her mop of tawny hair and Steele’s unusual midnight-colored eyes. Dark blue would have been rare enough, but Steele’s eyes were so dark they often looked like a midnight sky. That was how she thought of them, and her son had those same eyes.
“He’ll be so afraid.” It escaped before she could hold it back.
“I’ve got soup made,” Alena said. “Let me get that for you.”
Breezy glanced at her. Alena had always ridden with Czar as his old lady. He’d been so protective of her. None of the Swords dared look at her for fear of his retaliation. She’d kept to herself unless Lana was around. Lana was always on the back of Ice’s bike. She didn’t remember either woman saying much to her. In fact, it was possible it was the first nice thing Alena had ever s
aid to her.
She tried not to allow hurt to rule her. She’d promised herself she would be a better person. She wouldn’t be judgmental or nasty to other women if she could help it. That had been done to her almost from the day she was born, others snubbing her both inside the club and outside it.
Breezy nodded. “Thank you.” She practically choked on the words, so she couldn’t get anything else out. Alena didn’t seem to mind that she was brief because she left the room through the door on the far side, away from the entrance. Breezy had noted that door. If it led to all the bedrooms, it was possible there was another exit.
“Baby, stop looking for an escape route. Your ride is gone.”
That jerked her head up. Her gaze clashed with Steele’s and then she ran to the window to look out. Her truck wasn’t there. She whirled around to find him close. He was so silent he could walk like a cat across a room, not making a sound. That had always freaked her out a little.
“Get it back, Steele.”
“Not happening, Breezy. You’re not running out on me in the middle of the night. You have every right to be angry. And hurt. But you also have to admit, you should have told me you were pregnant . . .”
“You didn’t give me the chance when you were throwing my ass out. You couldn’t get rid of me fast enough. You made it very clear I was nothing to you . . .”