The leader nods, and my stomach clenches. The thug next to Wyatt moves forward. Anticipating his move, Wyatt ducks in under the butt of his gun and slams his shoulder into the guy’s midsection. The goon growls, an angry red spreading over his cheeks. They wrestle to the ground, each punching the other. Stone and Lucas move to help their friend, but the other guy with the gun pushes the barrel to my forehead. “Move and she dies.”
The metal is warm, and I close my eyes, my heart in my throat. The guys freeze right where they are. My heart gallops in my chest as the two guys wrestling on the desert floor beat each other to a pulp. Wyatt moves with a barbaric intensity that curls my toes. He’s like a monster, giving as good as he gets. The leader watches on in approval, not jumping in to stop the flying fists and kicks or trying to end it sooner than it should.
It isn’t until Wyatt’s opponent pulls out a knife that I freak out. “No!”
It’s too late. He stabs Wyatt in the side. When Wyatt slumps forward, he throws his body off him and gets to his feet, dusting the dirt off his clothes. Wyatt moans like a wounded animal, holding his hand over his fresh wound. Blood seeps through his fingers, soaking his shirt. The circle grows and grows.
Panic sets in. I run over to Wyatt. “Shit. Shit. Are you okay?”
He grins, showing off blood-stained teeth. “Don’t tell them where it is,” he says through clenched teeth. “Don’t do it.”
The same guy he wrestled with yanks me back by the hair. Pain flares over my scalp. He wipes at his nose, blood smearing across his knuckles as I struggle against his hold.
“Hey, hey,” the leader says, throwing the guy’s hands off me. I stumble back, and he catches me. He roams his gaze over my head before running his hands down my curls. “I read somewhere that curls were a sign of an angelic nature.”
“The Wilder girl is a savage,” Lance barks from behind us.
The leader’s face melts. A cruel smile tilts his lips before he turns, punching Lance in the face with a sickening crunch. “Where I come from, we treat women with respect.”
My burning scalp would disagree.
Lance lifts his hand to hold over his mouth. Instead of glaring at the guy who hit him, he glares at me, spitting blood out onto the floor between us.
The leader runs his hands over his buzzcut, cracking his neck as he turns back to me. “Before this gets too far, baby girl, you’re going to have to give me the location of whatever you have hidden.”
Since I don’t have a better plan yet, everything in me tells me to deny, deny, deny. “I don’t have anything hidden.”
The same dark eyes that just turned on Lance freeze me in place. My heart pumps wildly, but I move my chin into the air in defiance. The information in that safe is all my family has. It’s our legacy. I can’t just give it to anyone.
“My interest in you only goes so far. You should remember that. But since you want to play this game, I’ll play.” He nods toward one of his friends who wastes no time kicking Lucas in the shin, dropping him to his knees. He reaches over and grabs Lucas’s brown hair, shoving his face into the sand before holding the gun to his head. A shot goes off, and I scream. Blood-curdling fear rips through me. I step toward Lucas, but the leader grabs me by the waist, hauling me back into his arms. “That was a warning shot,” he growls. “Don’t play me, Dakota. Not many live to tell about it.”
My heart jumpstarts back to life when Lucas moves, grabbing his ear and hissing in a breath. I close my eyes, my breath coming in shallow gasps. Tears prick my eyes.
“Tell my friends where to dig.”
My mind races. Am I willing to let us all die to keep my family’s secrets? My father was. He told me he didn’t care if we died, at least the information was only left for a Wilder.
Fuck.
“I get it,” the guy purrs in my ear, still caging me to him. The vein in Stone’s forehead looks like it’s going to burst as he stands there, watching the guy manhandle me. “You’re wondering if we’re serious.” He releases one arm around my middle, using it to reach behind him. He’s so close I can feel his lips tug up, but I just stare at Stone. “I think you know someone named Dickie.”
He thrusts his hand in front of me. I peer down at what’s in his grasp. I gasp when a photo of a bloodied Dickie stares back at me. “What did you do to him?” I cry, sobs racking me now.
I reach for it, but he removes the picture before I can even trace over the outline of Dickie’s bloodied body. I can’t tell if he’s dead or if he’s just beat to shit.
“Apparently, your father told him he had something more. Something he never shared with him. I hoped he had so we wouldn’t have to make this about you, but you can thank Lance Jacobs that you got pulled into this.” He moves even closer, his hot breath hitting my ear as he whispers. “He’s a piece of scum, but he’s good for some things.”
“He’s vile,” I growl.
“And unfortunately, I don’t even think you know the half of it, baby girl.”
Goosebumps spread over my arms at his nickname. It makes me feel cheap, but even then, it’s not as worse as Stone’s betrayal. To think I’d begun to trust him.
“Get your hands off her,” Stone demands, gritting the words through his teeth while he just stands there.
The leader smirks again, the movement plastered against my cheek. I can feel the prick of his earrings pressing into my skin and the
