The tremble from my own fear is invisible, buried deep down underneath my exterior, waiting until the right moment to unleash.

“You’re too calm. It’s messing with my head. Why the hell aren’t you screaming and shouting to be released,” she exclaims.

Has she not listened to a word I have said?

“You’re not gonna make this easier on us,” I whisper as I let go of her arms. “Stay in your corner and don’t say a word if they come down here. Just follow my lead. If one comes down to touch you, don’t scream. Hold your tongue, and think of a happy moment.”

That is all I can say, and I am not going to repeat myself again.

“Sit in the corner and pray,” I order under my breath as I scoot back against the cold cement wall and listen to the trickle of water hit the concrete floor. The chain around my ankle chafes the skin under the metal ring.

***

Chapter Thirteen

Sniper

“What do you mean, she’s fucking gone!” I grit through my teeth and kick the chair nearest to me across the room. This can’t be happening. I can’t have this shit. I won’t. I can’t. Goddamn, what the fuck were they thinking?

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! is on repeat in my head.

“They fuckin’ shot Frank dead and kidnapped Piper and Jinx,” Braxx says in a calm voice.

How the fuck can he be so chill about this? Those motherfuckers have Piper! My chest heaves in and out, and before I can stop myself, my fist flies through the frame of the clubhouse door. Wood splinters in the air all around me. My blood boils beneath my skin, and I let out a roar like an angry lion. They let those motherfuckers take my best friend.

“Why the fuck were Piper and Jinx on gate duty in the first place?” I roar as I whirl around and slam my fist into the wall. Plaster scatters all over the room, and my knuckles bleed.

Words. There are no words to describe the anger raging inside of me.

“They were bored,” Rap says from beside me.

“Son of a bitch! They were bored? They were fucking bored, so you fucktards let them watch over the gate? How could you be so goddamn stupid?” I grit, and by accident, I bite my tongue in anger, and it bleeds inside my mouth. All this blood dripping from my mouth and roaring through my veins should be oozing from these fucking idiots.

Oh god. Nothing better happen to her. I can’t handle anything happening to Piper. I just can’t. It’s not an option.

“Winter isn’t to hear about this,” my brother says in a whisper as he dials a number on his phone.

“Winter better not hear about this?” I question him in shock.

He can’t be fucking serious. Why are they all so goddamn idiotic?

We should not even have to be dealing with this, but no, they let Piper and Jinx watch the fucking gate like the idiots they are. We are on fucking lockdown. As if that word alone doesn’t describe the threat that looms.

“You guys will get her back,” Storm says in a soft, broken voice beside me.

I try not to lash out on her. I do, but fuck, she, of all people, knows the severity of the situation.

“Get her back? Get her back,” I scream an animalistic growl. “What if she’s already fuckin’ dead?”

Piper can’t be dead. She fucking can’t be. I grab at my chest and recall her last words to me.

“I thought we were real, our friendship was real, and it wasn’t.”

What if she is lying somewhere, thinking I don’t care about her? What if she thinks we aren’t going to look for her? I can’t, fuck, I can’t do it. What if she has the same things happening to her as she did all those years before we saved her? All these what ifs are too much for me.

“Storm… tell me she can handle it until we find her. I need you to tell me she’s gonna be alive, and she’s gonna be okay, until I find her,” I plead with a hoarse voice.

Storm reaches for my arm, digs her fingertips into my skin, and answers me. “She’s alive. I feel it, and I know that Piper is one of the strongest people I have ever met. She got through this once before, and she’ll get through it again. You guys need to be fast. Be deadly and fast, you hear me. Feel that blood rage throughout your veins and use that, use that to fuel you!”

I close my eyes. My body shakes at the thought of what Piper is dealing with at this moment.

“Storm, stop. You don’t need to be filling his head with promises you can’t keep,” ZZ chastises.

“It isn’t false hope. If they are going to traffic them, you don’t have much fuckin’ time,” she screeches, her hands dancing in frantic movement in the air around her. “You don’t have fuckin’ time!”

Oh god!

“You don’t know if they will sell them! You’re only fuckin’ makin’ matters worse for him!” ZZ yells.

I run all the accounts with the Mexican Cartel through my head. They took them to make a point because of the threat we issued against them. They mean business. They don’t want us getting the women back because that proves them weak and us strong. They will get rid of them. It is the smart thing to do in their position.

“They’re tryin’ to make a point,” I choke out. “They took them, and they’re gonna make Piper and Jinx disappear to prove it.”

All of this is because Petra was killed, and now his bosses are here to stay. This is fucked up!

“Storm, you keep your cool around Winter. If she gets wind of this, she’ll go into premature labor,” Berry says as she walks up to us. God! Everyone is worried about my pregnant sister-in-law, but not my best friend who means the world to me or some innocent girl that was thrown into this because of a ten-minute association?