Lana was beautiful, but more than once, Breezy had been uneasy in her presence. The woman gave off a deadly, dangerous vibe if you were around her for very long. During her time riding with the Swords, Lana was never far from Ice’s side. They rode together, and Ice made it known that no one touched Lana. Ordinarily, that wouldn’t have been good enough. The other members would have harassed her, touched her as she walked by, groping and stroking, making lewd comments, maybe even pulling at her clothing. No one did. That said it all about Lana.
“I’m sending two brothers. I won’t lose you, Bree.” He framed her face in his hands. “I’m a killer, Breezy. That’s who you have in your bed. I have more blood on these hands than you can possibly conceive of, and I touch you with them. I’m not losing you over this. Just know that. The bullshit you told me about how I would let you go if you wanted to leave is just that—bullshit.”
She knew better but it didn’t matter because she loved him. She loved him as the healer, the doctor who protected everyone and looked out for them. She loved this man, the one with the strength to do whatever was necessary to get their son home safely. No policemen could find him before they killed him or sold him. She knew that.
“When I was fourteen years old, my father gave me to one of his friends. I’d never been with anyone, and Bridges owed them a favor. I was what he wanted, and he gave me to him and walked away. He hurt me, Steele. He hurt me beyond anything I thought was possible. My father laughed when he tossed me on the floor in front of him, broken and bloody. He got up and got beer. They sat around the living room drinking while I lay in front of them.”
“Damn it,” he whispered.
“I tried to go to the cops. It was the biggest mistake of my life. My punishment was Bridges letting that man and his two friends do what they wanted with me short of killing me. I couldn’t get up for a couple of weeks and I was lucky I lived through the punishment. I know the police aren’t going to be able to help us. I know you have to do this to get our son back.”
His eyes never left hers as she told him what her father had let happen to her. Those dark blue eyes went so dark they appeared black, gleaming at her like a vicious cat’s, growing colder and more predatory with every word she said. His hands never wavered though, framing her face gently, his thumb stroking caresses over her skin.
“I’m telling you this so you’ll understand that I know what you’re doing is necessary and I’m ashamed that I can’t do it for us, that I’m leaving that to you. I’ll never blame you for something that you did to get our son back. Not ever.”
“You will give me the names of those men.”
Her heart clenched hard. Her man. He believed in vengeance. “Steele.” She said his name softly to deter him. “This is about Zane, our innocent sweet little boy.”
“This is about disgusting pedophiles who would hurt a fourteen-year-old girl or take a two-year-old boy from his mother by force.”
She’d never thought of her father’s friends as pedophiles, mostly because at fourteen, she was already so old in her mind she didn’t think of herself as a child. “Just get us our son back and we’ll call it good.”
“Give me their fuckin’ names, Breezy. I’m not asking again.”
She knew what his brothers were talking about now. She was coming up against the unbending man. He wouldn’t give her this and she had to yield. She wasn’t protecting them, she just didn’t want Steele to put himself in harm’s way to extract whatever vengeance he felt was necessary on her behalf.
“Donk, Favor and Riddle.”
“Donk is Bridges’s sergeant at arms. Code’s been looking into him. He’s disappeared as well, so the general consensus is that he is with Bridges.” He dropped his hands from her face, but his arm locked her in place, a bar across her back.
“That doesn’t surprise me. You know Donk. He’s a brute and he likes hurting people.”
“You mean women. He likes hurting women and kids. He kicks them around. He does the same with the prospects because they can’t fight back. He’s a