Chapter 14

Willa"s deathdestroyed us all.

The guards wouldn"t even come in to pick up her body. We wrapped her in whatever we had, with her unborn child, and laid her to rest in the far corner. It was the best that we could do.

Last night, I woke up to see Gabrielle sitting next to Willa"s body, crying. I didn"t have it in me to bring her back to lay down. There"s nothing more that I can say to her. Nothing that I believe. That small kernel of hope I had before is quickly diminishing. Part of me just wants it all to be over.

This morning, the girls sit against the wall, just staring off into space. All of us are trying to ignore the horrible stench coming from Willa"s body. What"s the point of complaining about it? Nothing is going to be done.

The medication Gabi and the girls put on my back has begun to work. I"m still in pain, but it"s not as severe as it was yesterday. I feel like I"m losing my mind. I want to scream. I want to punch the walls, but I won"t do that to Gabrielle or the other women. Right now, they need me to be solid. Just from the look in their eyes, I can tell that I"m the last bit of strength any of them have.

The guards slid some food in earlier, and as much as I tried, I couldn"t get any of the ladies to eat or drink. They"re giving up. I know the feeling.

Just as my eyes begin to drift closed, I hear the sound of the lock on the door sliding open.

"Not again," I whisper more to myself than anyone else. I feel so defeated.

The guard walks in and instantly puts his hand up to his nose. "What the fuck? No one has come for her yet?" He shakes his head and walks in my direction. It"s only one guard. That"s strange. Usually, it takes, at minimum, three guards to get me out of this cell. Maybe they"ve figured out that I don"t have much fight left in me. Maybe they"ve figured out that I"m on my last legs.

"Come on, Bishop, Liam wants you." The guard gestures for me to get up.

There"s no thought of me fighting back. I know it"ll be useless. Still, it"s strange that only one guard is here. I stand slowly and walk in front of the guard, looking over my shoulder once just to make sure the girls are okay. They look up at me, but no one says anything.

The guard puts a hand on my back, and I flinch away at the pain.

"Shit, my bad." The guard readjusts his hand and lays it on my shoulder.

The walk towards Liam"s torture room isn"t very long, but on my way there, I can see how much everything has changed. A few days ago, the hallway was lined with guards. Now it"s all but barren. There"s trash accumulated in the corners, and somehow it looks as if it"s dirtier than usual. I focus my senses the best I can, but I don"t hear anything. Usually, I"d be able to hear the guards talking among themselves somewhere nearby, but not now.

The guard behind me huffs impatiently as we get to the door of Liam"s room. He pushes open the door without knocking first.

"It"s not my problem. I have other business to attend to," Shade hisses in Liam"s direction.

"That"s bullshit. We had an agreement," Liam barks back.

"That agreement became null the minute Rupert was cut down. I"m not going to put myself and my clients in harm"s way because you want to play crime lord." Shade glares at Liam, getting closer to his face. "Get your shit together, Liam, or you"re going to be next."

The guard behind me clears his throat, and both Shade and Liam turn in our direction.

"You can start with keeping him here; it only paints a bigger target on your back." Shade shakes his head, looking my beaten and weary body over before he walks by me like I"m a pile of shit on the floor.

"Tie him to the chair," Liam orders the guard. "I have to go get the second floor secured."

Rage blooms over Liam"s face. "Did I fucking ask you what you had to do!? I told you to tie him to the fucking chair!"

The guard tenses but doesn"t move. "You might want to be careful how you fucking speak to me."

My head jerks in the direction of the guard. The tide is turning. The guards would have never spoken to Liam or Shade like this before.

This isn"t the time for me to try and make a move, but I"m sure going to take in the dynamic of what"s happening here. If the guards are turning against Liam, maybe that"ll give me the opportunity to get some help.

As soon as I think it, I dismiss it. They may not want to help Liam, but they definitely won"t want to help me. If they are able to brutalize a pregnant woman the way they did Willa, there"ll be no sympathy for me.

"Look, I don"t have time to get into a pissing match with you. Just strap him to the chair and go about your business. I"ll take him to the cell myself when I"m done."

Another shocker. Liam never does the dirty work. This tells me one thing: not only are the guards turning against him, but there are not many here. These small tidbits of information fan the flame inside of me until it"s roaring. I can do this. I can make this happen for me and the girls. All I need to do is make it through today.

The guard grumbles his approval behind me before shoving me toward the chair in front of Liam and tying my hands to the back of it. There"s no more equipment around the room. Not like it was a few days ago. It seems like the place was cleaned out. Now that Rupert is dead, it seems like the Faceless are all jumping ship. There"s no loyalty. That"s the difference between a gang and my club. I know my boys will fight until the very last member to get the job done.

The guard leaves the room. Now it"s only Liam and me. I move my hands from side to side and notice the guard didn"t tie my hands as tightly as usual. I could get out if I tried hard enough. The only problem with that is I"m not sure how many guards are actually around. I don"t want to risk freeing myself and not being with the girls already. I can"t let anything else happen to them. They don"t deserve it.

"This wasn"t supposed to happen. I planned it out so perfectly."

"I don"t really care what your plan is, but I"m sure you"re going to tell me anyway." The sly comment is out of my mouth before I can stop myself.

Liam pulls his hand back and slaps me hard across the face.

"I don"t have to tell you shit. It"s useless anyway. The Wings of Diablo, that fucking bastard Archer. He ruined it all. Him and the rest of those goody two shoes biker gangs."

My eyebrows push up to my hairline. It"s been a long time since I"d consider the boys of Djinn or anyone we associate with as goody two shoes.

"I don"t understand what these faceless bastards don"t understand. Even without Rupert, we still have the upper hand. Wyatt and my brothers can"t do anything to stop us."

"Seems to me like they"re doing a good job anyway." I shrug, and once again, Liam hauls off and hits me.

"Fuck them! I"m not going to let you win. Not going to give this up. I"m where I"m supposed to be! I"m winning."

The blood drips from my busted lip as I look up at Liam and smirk. "Winning? In what universe? You"re so far up shit"s creek right now you can"t even see the shore. You"ve already lost; you just haven"t figured it out yet."

Liam"s face goes beet red. "I"ll show you who"s losing. Just wait."

After that, the blows come hard and fast. Thankfully, this time he"s only using his hands. He"s strong, but I"ve become mostly desensitized. All the previous beatings have prepared me for this one. Now, what he does to hurt me barely registers in my mind. After a few minutes, I"m bleeding from over my eye, my cheek, and my mouth, but I"m still conscious. I still have all my faculties while Liam is huffing and puffing. He tried to take out his anger on me, but his anger doesn"t compare to the hope I"m feeling inside.

"Fuck this." Liam mutters as he walks around to my backside and releases my binds. I guess he"s had enough.

I stand from the chair without his help, and something shiny captures my attention a few feet away.

Quickly, I stumble over my own feet and collide into the small tray causing everything that"s on it to scatter on the floor.

"You dumb fuck!" Liam roars from over me and kicks me in my side.

I grunt and curl in on myself the best I can to protect myself from the blows. After a few kicks Liam is through. He"s still out of breath from trying to beat my face in.

"Get the hell up!" He orders and I slowly make my way to my feet. Of course he doesn"t check me. He"s so sure I"m beaten down that he thinks I"ll just be complacent.

The weight of the small metal object in my hand is heavy as Liam pushes me out of his chambers and toward my cell.

The door opens and the girls are still sitting in the exact spot as before. Gabrielle looks up at me but there"s no smile. Nothing that would indicate that she"s happy I"m back alive. I"m losing her.

The second Liam walks out and closes the door behind me, I look at what I managed to swipe from the floor.

A small pairing knife. It won"t be much use against the guards but maybe I can use it to get out of the cell.

It"s not much but it"ll have to do.