The Devil’s Reward: An Opposites Attract Romance (The Devil’s Soldiers)
The Devil’s Reward: Chapter 53

Please, please let Shadow replace me.

I’m terrified, and my face hurts from where he hit me with his gun. Dagger, who is currently trying to talk his way out of whatever the hell is going on, is sitting across from me on the opposite side of the seat, hands bound, and his own face is already swelling from where the man in the front sitting silently hit him. The driver is also silent, never so much as glancing back at us.

Neither man looks friendly, and I try to make myself as small as possible in the seat. I don’t want to end up dead. My eyes fill with tears as I think about Macy. Thank God she was in the pantry and out of sight. I hope Shadow replaces her because if anything happens to her, I’ll never live with myself.

I try to work at the bindings on my wrists inconspicuously, but they don’t budge, and all I do is rub my skin raw. So, instead of trying to get free, I listen. Maybe I can use the information later. It’s better than panicking and crying. The least amount of attention I can draw, the better.

“Come on, man, you need to understand that I’m doing exactly what Dmitri wanted. I’m bringing the club down, and now they’re going to be in a panic to get this bitch back, and that’s when they make mistakes. Tell Dmitri to go in now and he can wipe them out completely,” Dagger argues.

My heart seizes at the thought. Macy is still there. No, they can’t.

“Shut up,” the man in the front snaps at him, letting his composure slide for the first time. I knew he was a killer, but it’s written all over his face how much he would love just to take care of Dagger now. But I guess he has other ideas, or orders from this Dmitri person, and that means Dagger gets to live for the time being. I don’t know what they plan to do with me.

Dagger goes quiet, but I can see that his mind is already still on how to get out of here. Though I doubt I’m involved. If I want out of here, I’ll probably have to make it happen myself. I pray that Shadow has even noticed I’m gone, and that he’s taking care of Macy.

“What are you going to do with her?” Dagger suddenly asks, nodding to me.

I shrink down further in my seat, hunching my shoulders. The big man in front barely glances back at me. “That’s for the boss to decide,” he says. “You fucked up and didn’t grab the right one.”

“It’s not like I could just grab that bitch and get her out of there on a damn gurney,” Dagger objects, sounding affronted. “I’d be dead.”

“And you think you will live through this?” the other man asks coldly, sending a chill down my spine.

“Dmitri knows I’m valuable. I’m the only one who knows where all the locations are. Without me, he’s fucked.” He sounds far too proud of that fact, and I glance in the side-view mirror and see the big man smirking. It would seem that Dagger is incorrect in his assumption, and that doesn’t bode well for me.

And what did he mean that he grabbed the wrong woman? Was he supposed to grab someone else? The only women in the med bay were Rose and Sage. So which one was he supposed to take? I curse the fact that my hands are tied and I can’t get to my phone without someone realizing.

I look out the window, trying to gauge where we are. Nothing looks familiar, and I berate myself for not exploring the town all that much. I try to replace landmarks, something I can use if someone does try to come for me. Or, if by some miracle, I escape.

Suddenly we make an abrupt turn up an old gravel path, overgrown with trees and weeds. Branches scrape across the SUV as we pass and my mouth goes dry when we finally emerge and I get a good look at the building ahead of us. It’s old and dilapidated, but I see a man standing beside another SUV, looking foreboding.

He’s wearing the same suit as the man in front, but the air about him is different. More in charge, and he knows it. The tattoos on his neck and the leather gloves on his hands make him that much more dangerous. Some might replace him handsome, but me, I see the devil in disguise.

When the SUV pulls to a stop beside the man, he immediately opens my door, pausing when he sees me. “And what do we have here?” he asks in a deep accent, looking me over critically. It makes me shiver, and there’s a sick kind of pleasure that fills his eyes. “Did you pick up this lovely thing along the way, Isidor?” he asks silkily to the man who is climbing out of the passenger seat.

“That one,” he says with a nod at Dagger, who is dragged out by the driver, “grabbed her, and was threatening her. She saw my face, so she came too.”

“You do seem to have a knack for fucking things up,” the man in charge says to Dagger, but there’s a darkness in his voice that makes Dagger pale. “You would think that even now you would be on my good side, but brains are not your strong suit.”

“It’s not like I had time to grab that other bitch,” Dagger defends loudly. “She was under lock and key. You try and get around those protective bastards.”

I hear a loud groan as the man holding him punches him in the gut, and I flinch. The man in charge tsks and pulls me out of the vehicle, though his grip isn’t as hard as the other man’s. Not that I think he’ll be kind to me. “Well, I suppose I should apologize to you for being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he says casually to me. I don’t reply, my throat closing as the words refuse to budge. “I’ll have to decide what to do with you when I’m done with this one. Though I have some ideas.”

My stomach churns at the thinly veiled insinuation. I force myself to be still. Maybe I can get out of this. I wait until he’s looking back at Dagger to look around. There’s nothing around but trees, the crumbling building, and a small shed. This place is in the middle of nowhere.

How the hell is Shadow going to replace me here? It’s not like it’s on the main road and he can just drive on by. Hopelessness fills me and I blink hard to fight back tears.

“Dmitri,” Dagger tries again, having caught his breath.

“Shut up,” Dmitri snaps at him, voice like a whip. “You’ve cost me time and money. Let’s go.” His grip tightens on me and he starts walking towards the building, and I have to quicken my steps to keep up. When I stumble, he rights me with a hard yank that has me crying out, but I quickly clamp my mouth shut when he gives me a cold look.

God, I have to get out of here.

When we go inside, I’m hit with the smell of mold and mildew. The place has obviously been ransacked, whether by this guy and his henchmen, or someone before. Dim yellow lights show the narrow hallway lined with doors. As we pass them, I look in and see beds with restraints, trashed rooms, and even one room full of nothing but boxes. I bite back a whimper when I hear something scurrying amongst the garbage and filth on the floor.

We don’t stop until he drags me down to the end of the hall and then down some steep narrow steps to the lower floor. It’s even darker down here, with only a red light at the end to guide the way. My heart hammers in my chest as we reach the end. I nearly start to cry when we walk in and see the table full of tools and the chains and hooks hanging from the metal bar in the ceiling. The floor is stained red with fresh blood, and there’s a drain in the middle of the floor. Bile churns in my throat and I fight to hold it back.

“String him up,” Dmitri tells Isidor.

“What the fuck?” Dagger screams, fighting as best he can. Dmitri watches dispassionately as Isidor punches Dagger in the temple, knocking him out instantly. Dagger collapses and the big man picks him up like he weighs nothing.

“What to do with you,” Dmitri murmurs, looking at me thoughtfully.

“I-I won’t say anything,” I whisper. “Please. I don’t know anything about this.” I have to fight to hold back the hysteria. I need to keep my head calm.

“And just who do you belong to, hmmm?” Dmitri asks, ignoring my pleas. “All the women there belong to someone. So which one are you playing whore for?”

I stiffen at his words. “I’m not a whore,” I say before I can stop myself. A slow, cruel smile pulls across his lips.

“All women are whores,” he purrs at me. “Though it doesn’t matter, because now you belong to me. I can kill you, fuck you, sell you, the choices are endless. But for now, I have other business to attend to, and I think I’ll leave you to the end.” Then he yanks me forward and flings me into a chair. The driver of the car is behind me, holding me down when I try to climb out. “Tie her up. I think she needs to realize who we are,” Dmitri says coldly to the man. “And we need to get her ready because those MC bastards will be here soon. Just how I want them.”

My blood runs cold as I realize something very quickly. Dmitri fully expects the MC to come, and he’s ready for them. It’s a trap. I struggle hard, because I can’t let this happen. They are the only ones who are protecting Macy, and Shadow is the man who promised me he would protect her for me. I can’t trust anyone else. “Let me go,” I cry, yanking at my bound hands and trying to head-butt the man behind me. I get a backhand from him for my efforts, which makes me cry out.

“Gag her,” Dmitri orders.

A piece of cloth comes around my head and even though I try to keep my mouth closed, the man grabs my jaw and forces it open before shoving it inside and tying it behind my head. I scream around it, struggling, my sense of self preservation kicking in. No, this can’t be happening. No, I need to get out of here. I need to warn Shadow.

“Wake him up,” Dmitri orders, and Isidor grabs a bucket of water and tosses it at the now hanging Dagger. I’m close enough to feel the splashback on my face. It’s freezing. Dagger gasps as he comes awake, but it takes him a moment to realize where he is. His eyes meet mine and I watch him realize what’s going on, that he is strung up with his arms secured above his head, his feet wrapped in another chain hooked to the floor.

“Dmitri,” Dagger rasps. “Wait,” he pleads. “I know you’re pissed, but you know you need me.”

“Do I?” Dmitri asks as he moves to another chair that Isidor has dragged out for him. Slowly, he strips off his suit coat and drapes it over the chair. Next the gloves come off, and I watch in dread as he pulls on each finger slowly before pulling the glove completely off, revealing hands covered in tattoos. He sets the gloves on the chair and then moves to the cuff links of his shirt, rolling up the sleeves to expose more ink on his arms.

The man is one large tattoo, and any other time I might wonder what they all mean. Right now, I just want to get out of here. I look over at Dagger and the fear on his face as he watches Dmitri is even more pronounced than before. He knows Dmitri means business, and starts to fight against the chains in earnest.

Dmitri approaches him, clenches his hand, and drives it full force into Dagger’s stomach, making him gag and try to curl in on himself. “Fuck!” he screams.

Dmitri doesn’t even look like he’s breaking a sweat as he hits him a few more times. “You think you can lie to me?” he asks, his voice rising as his anger makes his eyes glitter dangerously. I know that I do not want that directed at me. I silently plead for Shadow to get here. I don’t want to die. Not like this. Not here. Not for something that has nothing to do with me and is only the result of me being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“I didn’t lie to you,” Dagger gasps. “I’ve done nothing but help you. Why would I lie?”

“You think you are so clever,” Dmitri hisses, grabbing him by the throat and squeezing hard enough that Dagger’s face turns an alarming purple color. “You think you can trick me and go behind my back? Without me knowing? I know everything.”

Dagger’s eyes widen as he stares back at him. “No,” he gasps, though it sounds muffled because of the way Dmitri is gripping his face.

Dmitri lets him go, then hauls back and punches him so hard across the face I hear bones crack under the force of it. Isidor and the driver don’t react at all as blood sprays and lands near their feet. I recoil, tears leaking down my face. I close my eyes because I don’t think I can watch anymore.

“Oh yes,” Dmitri continues, and I hear his shoes as he moves across the floor. “This is my town, my empire, and I have eyes and ears everywhere. Then, you brought the eyes of your own club on me by being careless. You fucking bikers are nothing more than rodents that need to be exterminated.”

Hysterically I think that anyone else might think it was the other way around.

“It wasn’t my fault,” Dagger moans. “It was the whores. They got in the way.”

“Ah, yes, the lovely Sage and Izzy. Both of whom you had orders to dispose of. And now, we have this lovely specimen. Who it seems, from both my men’s accounts and yours, was in the wrong place at the wrong time.” My eyes fly open as a hand clenches in my hair, yanking my head back painfully. I cry out around the gag, though the sound is muffled and I look up into the dark eyes of the devil himself. A sadistic smile pulls at his face when he sees my pain and my fear. “You, my dear, are one very unlucky woman.”

He lets go of my head and it flops forward, my head still stinging. I wouldn’t be surprised if he yanked out a few chunks of hair.

“They were under constant guard,” Dagger rasps, his own head dropping forward, refusing to look at Dmitri. “It was impossible to get them. That’s why I tried to run them off the road.”

So it was Dagger who almost killed them. Anger burns in my belly. How could he do that? To his own brotherhood? His President? Does he really hate them that much?

“An act that brought the law’s attention,” Dmitri says coldly as he walks towards the table of instruments. I close my eyes, because I know I won’t be able to watch whatever happens. I won’t be able to stand it. I’m not that strong. “And led your so-called brothers right back to you. And you also led them right to one of our areas. Two of your brothers, a Shadow, and a Viper showed up and saw what we stored in that old barn. All because you didn’t give me the proper information. If they had called the cops, well, I would have had to do something terrible, and you would already be in little pieces for your brothers to replace you. A fact that I will be remedying tonight.”

Daggers’s screams echo around the room as Dmitri does something to him. I curl myself inward as much as I can, squeezing my eyes tightly shut and silently praying for it to be over soon. To just let it be over. And then I pray again for Shadow to get here. Or at least for Dmitri to make my death quick. I’d rather death than the hells that I know he could subject me to.

“No, please!” Dagger begs as he screams and cries, his body jerking and making the chains rattle.

Dmitri’s laugh is cold, cutting. “Isidor, isn’t it nice to hear them beg?” he says to the silent man. I let my eyes open a little and see that the man in question is only a few feet away from me, watching the scene dispassionately. Probably because he does this kind of thing all the damn time. “Maybe I’ll leave him to you now, and have a look at our other guest.”

My eyes fly open and I see Dmitri watching me, gauging my reaction. I try not to show my fear, but from the triumphant look in his eyes, I don’t do a good enough job. I bite back the pleading I want to do, because he won’t hear me anyway with this gag in my mouth, and I have a feeling that will only feed the fire.

“Dagger, who does this delectable little creature belong to?” Dmitri asks him, still staring at me.

“Shadow,” Dagger whispers, already sound defeated.

Dmitri chuckles. “Well, well, well, isn’t this a nice surprise. The man who was snooping around my operation. Unfortunately for you, my dear, you are going to be the one to pay the price. You see, your man’s club has been nothing short of a pain in my ass. Always sticking their noses in where they don’t belong. I’m going to destroy them and take over this town for myself. And to do it, all I needed was one of their own to turn against them. It pays to do your homework, don’t you agree?” I don’t answer. “I know they’re going to come for you, and I’ll take out as many as I can when they do. What do you think, my dear, are you ready to watch your man die? You’ll be powerless to stop it. And when he’s dead, then I’ll decide what to do with you.”

I struggle against the bindings, instinct urging me to get away. To try to run and warn Shadow. But the bindings are too tight and fresh tears fill my eyes. Pain from the ropes and agony from defeat all roll into one.

Suddenly, there’s a noise in the hallway and Dmitri freezes, turning towards it with narrowed eyes. He looks at the driver. “Go see what’s going on,” he orders.

The driver nods and heads for the hallway. Moments later he comes back and shakes his head. “Nothing there, boss,” he says quietly. “Was just a rat knocking over something.”

Dmitri narrows his eyes at him. “It will be your head if you’re wrong,” he warns. The driver nods and stays by the door. “Now, where were we?” Dmitri says with a fake pleasantness as he looks back at Dagger’s bruised and bloody body.

A movement out of the corner of my eye has me turning my head, but I don’t see anything. I squint at the darkness, but nothing is there, and the disappointment is crushing. I want Shadow. I want to get out of here. I want to go home to Macy. And now I have to face the idea that it might not happen.

Dagger screams and my eyes go towards the sound instinctively, and I have to look away quickly as Dmitri has grabbed a large knife and sliced deep into Dagger’s belly, but not enough to kill him. Blood pours from the long gash and I feel queasy. “You are going to die,” Dmitri tells Dagger calmly. “You’ve served your purpose for me, and now I’m going to build the biggest empire this country has ever seen. All because you were fucking greedy.”

“I don’t think so,” a voice in the dark says. A voice that I’ve been waiting for, and this time I cry with relief. Shadow’s here. And now I know why they call him Shadow. You don’t see him coming. But he’s here for me. Just like he promised.

Dmitri doesn’t have time to react before Shadow is on him, hands twisting around his neck. There’s a sickening crack, and then Dmitri drops lifeless to the floor, eyes staring unseeing at me as two more men come rushing into the room.