I turn back, heading for the stairs, traipsing up them to tell my brother’s we’re going to get my damn woman back.
PRINIE
Sitting in the pews, hands bound, surrounded by men covered head to toe in black gear makes me feel like I’m in some fucking James Bond spy movie. I don’t know who these men are, but this is obviously some kind of ransom attempt.
Why else would they take the princess of the club, right?
They knew who I was and even called me princess.
Two main men are standing at the altar. They seem to be in charge of whatever this is. Then their assassin men surround me, stopping me from going anywhere. It feels like they’re waiting for Wraith and my brothers from the club to show up. Or something. I’m not really sure what they’re waiting for, but I’m sick of waiting.
“Hey!” I call out to the younger of the two men standing at the altar.
He turns with a huff, then walks down the stairs and moves over sitting next to me. “Yes, Kharlie, what do you want?”
I scowl. “First of all, only incredibly special people get to call me Kharlie. You can call me Prinie, you got that?”
He chuckles. “Sure… Prinie.”
“And secondly, why the fuck am I here? What do you want with me?”
He rolls his shoulders looking at the older man. He nods obviously giving the go-ahead to tell me. “Name’s Sava.” He places his hand out for me to shake.
I don’t.
He smirks but continues, “We’ve taken you on demand from our Underboss, Damir. Vlatko over there is our Godfather—”
“What does that make you?”
“I’m the lieutenant. Third in charge.”
“So, what do I have to do with you guys?”
His lips form a thin line. “This really has nothing to do with you, Prinie. This is all about Wraith, and how he’s a wanted man by the Triglav Clan.”
“You want Wraith? And I’m the ticket to him? Why didn’t you just take him when you came to the clubhouse?”
“This way is more fun. Builds the suspense. It scares him… we scare him.”
I stifle a laugh. “If you’re so ‘scary’…” I use air quotes, “… then why haven’t I heard of the Triglav Clan?”
A sinister smirk creeps over Sava’s lips, then suddenly his hand comes out backhanding me across my face. The sting is so powerful it knocks me to my knees beside the pew.
“Silly little girl, you haven’t heard of us because we don’t want you to.”
Bringing my tied hands up to soothe the side of my face, I stare at him. “You think he cares about me? You think he’ll come for me? He uses me, then spits me out for breakfast.”
“And that’s why we know he loves you because he keeps coming back… that, and you’re not dead like his mother.”
“What do you care?”
His eyes widen. “We don’t kill women. Sure, we may hurt them but kill…. no. Wraith took it a step too far.”
“He strangled his mother because she was a prostitute who abused him, who let the men in her life sexually molest him. He had every right to kill her to stop the pain,” I blurt out protecting him but probably saying way too much.
Sava rolls his shoulders. “He didn’t just strangle her, Prinie, he sent her into a coma. With the drugs she had in her system, it made her coma worse. She didn’t die at his hands, sure, but a year later, we had the task of deciding whether or not to turn off her ventilator. She wasn’t the best mother on this earth, but she was a mother… to more than Wraith knows.”
I widen my eyes. “Wraith has siblings?”
Sava clicks his tongue to the roof of his mouth like I have stumbled on a huge secret. “Two brothers, different father to Wraith.”
“Why didn’t she make time for them?”
“She did. Why do you think Wraith was alone so much? She spent time with her real family.”
So many emotions roll through me. “How do you know this?”
His eyes narrow on me. “Because I’m one of her sons.”
I let out an audible gasp. “And the other?”
“Damir.”
It all makes sense now, why Damir picked on Wraith back in juvie. He knew, but Wraith was oblivious. “You’ve had this lifelong vendetta against him. Why are you enacting your revenge on Wraith now?”
Sava eyes me up and down. “Because now he has something he cares enough about to die for.”
“But how did you even know about me?”
Sava grins wickedly. “Our men overheard Wraith talking about you when he dropped by to see your brother in jail… Wraith is quite fond of you apparently… he will come for you—”
Suddenly, the doors of the church burst open with a thud making us all turn to the entrance. Wraith storms in carrying some huge type of gun. Texas and Neon flank his sides, but no one else is with them.
Instantly, I know the others are surrounding the building.
It’s the Defiance MO.
“You have something that belongs to me,” Wraith calls out aiming his huge machine gun at Sava as if on cue.
I stand holding out my tied hands in front of me. “Wait, Wraith, you can’t kill him.”
Wraith’s face scrunches as he starts walking down the aisle toward me. “They came into our club, took you from us… give me one good fucking reason why not, princess.”
Sava chuckles coming in behind me, using me as a shield. “Because, we’re family, Talon.”
Wraith stops still on the spot as I slowly nod at him.
“I have no family.”
“Wrong. You thought you killed your mother, but before you, she had two other sons.”
Wraith hesitates, curling up his lip. “And I’m meant
