Monster A Dark Arranged Marriage Romance - Vanessa Waltz Page 0,92

alive.”

Something wasn’t right.

I called Vinn Costa before we left, locking myself in the bathroom and running the faucets so Cainan couldn’t hear me beg him for help. Vinn’s callous “not my fucking problem” and the abrupt end of our phone call shattered my hope, until Cainan’s black Audi rolled up beside a familiar, chain-linked fence.

The club has Tony.

It was strangely deserted. The few men wearing leather cuts packed their SUVs. People’s expressions seemed drawn and tight. I clawed at my cheeks as I pictured the scene inside the clubhouse, trying like hell not to despair. If anybody could talk the club out of murdering Tony, it’d be me.

Cainan stepped out like a king in the desert, frowning. His guards followed at the rear as we stepped onto the dirt path. Steel chimes jangled from a mobile home. A dampening chill wrapped my limbs as people stepped outside their homes to gawk at me. Eyes fell on Cainan; nothing of his specter-like, immaculate appearance belonged here. A chicken clucked, and Cainan stared at Martha’s birds, their golden feathers ruffled as they preened themselves.

“Charming,” he noted, not sounding charmed at all. “This reminds me of post-Soviet villages in Hungary.”

I ignored him, making a beeline for the clubhouse.

People stared as I headed for the brick building. A door flew open, and a blonde woman stepped out. Jennesy stood on her porch in rubber boots. Her cotton-candy hair streamed as she ran toward me. “Evie! Evie, they have him. He’s inside.”

“I know. Is he okay?”

“Nobody’s allowed in.” Jennesy yanked me into a fierce hug. “And I heard about your dad. I’m so sorry.”

My dad?

I shoved that aside. “I need to get Tony.”

I disengaged from her and left her, concern written all over her features. I joined Cainan, whose hand suddenly sailed up my back. It seemed like a protective, if oddly possessive gesture. When we got to the clubhouse, I shrank from his touch, but Cainan didn’t seem to take the hint. His fingers bit into the back of my neck. He squeezed, hard.

“You will do everything I say,” he seethed. “You’ll obey me without question, or you won’t come out alive.”

I’d never heard a voice darker than my husband’s, until Cainan spoke with that awful gravel.

My flesh crawled. “The only man I obey is my old man, and you sure as shit aren’t him.”

“Well, then. I guess hell is getting two souls tonight.”

Cainan’s fingers bit into my neck as he marched me into the clubhouse. We strode through the bar and into the back, where a prospect peeled back a rubber mat and revealed a trapdoor. Cold sank into my bones as we followed the stairs to a door with a keypad. The air compressed as we stepped through, or perhaps it just seemed that way because this wasn’t the club I’d grown up in. This had to be an entrance to another world. This couldn’t be where I’d celebrated a thousand birthdays.

Rock music pulsed above a dark chamber rich with the scent of blood. Male laughter rebounded off cement whose wall sconces illuminated the space in an eerie glow. A straight-backed man with shoulder-length hair faced a hunched over figure. Chains dangling from the ceiling led to shackles at his wrists. He was shirtless and beautiful, glaring like a vengeful God. He stood dazedly, reeling from a blow. He hissed like an animal. Crazed, he hurled himself at them but missed by several feet. Light bounced off his tanned skin, revealing the ruined flesh, the table of tools they’d used on him.

A lump wedged in my throat.

I knew he would be hurt, but I wasn’t prepared for how it’d make me feel. My legs trembled as Tony transformed into a beast, thrashing at his restraints, throwing himself against the wall, spitting mad like a wildcat. He tore at the bindings with his fingers.

Ghost gleamed from the back of a man’s leather cut. He scratched his head, grinning. “I think we broke his fucking brain.”

Cainan marched me into the thick of the action, disgust layering his voice. “You weren’t supposed to mark his skin.”

“Relax, man. It’s a couple scratches.”

“My buyers expect a blank canvas.”

Ghost pointed at his misaligned nose. “I had to pay him back for what he did to my fucking face.”

I elbowed Cainan, whose grip loosened on my neck.

“Tony!”

He stiffened as I ran to him. I collided with his chest and wrapped my arms around his neck, kissing his battered cheeks, his forehead, his mute lips. A blast of air hit