Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Five

Vault

AT LEAST TWO men stomp down the stairs as they creak and groan under their weight. This is the first time I've heard the steps like this and it makes me nervous for anyone going up and down them. If they collapse before we can get the fuck outta here, Annabell and I are fucked. We'll have no way to get up the stairs and out of this shithole. Annabell steps closer to me and I want to push her behind me, but I know she'll hate that shit. So, I let her remain at my side and keep her close so I can protect her as much as possible. Annabell doesn't say a word or make any moves as we wait to see what's going to happen now that we're loose and ready to fight them. And we will fucking fight them because we have no choice if we want to get the fuck outta here alive. We're already hurt, but they can inflict more damage and I don't want Annabell to suffer any more than what she's already been through. If I can prevent that from happening, I'll be happy as fuck when we leave this place behind.

"What the fuck is going on here?" one of the men hollers when he doesn't see Annabell on the mattress like she has been since we got brought here.

"You need to learn how to properly secure someone you want to hold against their will," Annabell sasses, her voice hard and cold as she looks at the men who touched her without her permission. "And to not drop the key that's needed to unlock the second person you're holding captive. Not like that would've stopped me from getting him free. So, what are you gonna do now that we're up and not at your mercy any longer?"

"You think you're so fucking smart," the second guy speaks, his voice harsh and rough as he looks between Annabell and me. "Neither one of you are walking out of here alive. I'll fucking kill you and make sure your club knows it was Dominic who pulled the trigger."

Annabell laughs her ass off at his words and I wonder why she finds this so funny. I don't have to wait long to find out as she starts talking once again.

"Does this negate your previous plan of telling my family that you found us and are calling in our location? That you're gonna pin all this shit on Dominic so the club takes him out and that leaves the two of you all the money and drugs. If you knew anything about the Phantom Bastards or my family at all, you'd realize that plan will never work. They're not dumb fucks like the two of you and will see through your words the second you start talking. My dad and brother will take their time torturing you until you beg for death. Then, my brother-in-law will get his chance to get his hands on you. If you've never seen a picture of my brother-in-law, I'll tell you right now he's named Tank for a reason. The man is bigger than a fucking house and he's pure muscle. There is hardly any fat on his body and he works out every single day. He'll take his time with you and you'll wish you never started working with Dominic at all. But, they'll make you suffer for days. Maybe even weeks or months until they're ready to end your life," my Angel says, her voice even harder as she looks at the men with pure rage. Her entire body is trembling with everything she's feeling running through her and I know it's taking every ounce of willpower for her to remain at my side instead of attacking these two cock suckers.

"Your family won't do shit to us," the first man says, his voice full of fear as his eyes dart around the room as if the club members are already here waiting for their chance to fuck these assholes up. "They're a bunch of pussies and we all know it. If they weren't we never would've gotten our hands on the two of you and killed another one."

"You outnumbered us because you were too scared to come to the compound with only three men. I took three of you out quick as fuck and left two of them laying at the clubhouse. You couldn't even be bothered to grab more than one of them. That's one of the biggest differences between us and you—the club would never leave a man behind for any reason. We take care of our own and will always bring them home no matter what condition they're in. It wasn't until another three of you jumped me from behind that I was taken out. And then you had to use a pipe to knock me the fuck out. My brother is a member and she's not exaggeratin' when it comes to her family and what they'll do to you for takin' her. When they see her in nothin' more than her bra and panties, you'll lose your fuckin' eyes. I'm already gonna fuckin' gut you for touchin' her when she didn't want you to. But when they find out, you'll truly learn the meanin' of the word suffer," I state, looking between the two men as their skin pales and becomes almost transparent from how white they now are.

"Your club doesn't even know where to look for you. It's been two days already and they're not here to save you. That tells me all I need to know," asshole number two says, his voice wavering as he starts looking around as well.

"Yeah, they do. See one of the biggest mistakes you made was not searchin' me before you locked me up. You have no clue what weapons I have on me or anythin'. Before you even left the fuckin' compound, my club was alerted that I was in trouble. Since bein' here, I've given them my exact location with another tracker. You wouldn't have found that one, but you didn't look for anythin'. Did you not think I don't have weapons on me at all times? Since we moved to Pine View and learned of the drug problem here, I always carry. Anyone smart would.

"The club isn't here yet because they were more than likely waitin' on her family to show up. They'll make sure they're part of rescuin' us because if they don't, her dad and brother will beat the shit out of everyone in the chapter here. My girl is the club princess and we never fuck with women and children. Obviously you can't say the same because you took her. I don't give a fuck what your reasons are, nothin' is ever a good reason to take a woman from her home for any reason. I can guarantee you that they'll be here today and you won't be ready to face them at all. Especially if it's just the two of you here. You're too fuckin' high to hit a target five feet in front of you if it's not movin'," I state, looking around the room showing the men that they mean nothing to me and I'm not scare of them. Annabell doesn't take her eyes from them though.

"You think you're so tough? Let's see these weapons you have and if you can actually use them," the first man taunts us and my girl steps forward with a snarl as she shows the knives in her hand.

Annabell doesn't hesitate to attack the men in front of us with the knives she took from me. She's got the blades moving so fast I can hardly see them as she attacks, dodges, and spins away from the fuckers. They've got slash marks on their body and the clothing that was already ripped is now really only hanging on by a thread as she continues to attack the assholes while I remain behind her. If I make a move now, I could distract her and they'll be able to have an opening to hurt her. That's not gonna happen. So, I watch my angel and get more impressed with every fucking move she makes.

"Fuck!" one of the men screams as she slides the knife in his side and twists the handle before pulling it back out.

She uses the asshole's shirt to wipe the blood off before moving again and attacking the other stupid fuck. Both men are too slow to really do any damage to her as they try to continue dodging her attacks. I knew Annabell was trained in a ton of different ways to fight and defend herself. This is new to me and something she must have been learning since I moved here. I can only think Playboy is the one who taught her to fight like this with knives because he's been known to use them a time or two. Tank has also been known to train with knives so he's got a full arsenal when he's going to war against a rival or someone hurting his family in any way.

"Damn, this bitch is fucking crazy!" the other man says, his voice full of fear and anger as he watches every move Annabell makes.

"You say she's crazy and she's all fuckin' mine. There's no way in hell you'll ever get a taste of her or know anythin' else about her. I'll take this brand of crazy every day of the fuckin' week and love every second of it," I state, completely serious because I know Annabell isn't crazy at all, she's strong and can get us the fuck outta here all on her own because that's who she wants to be.

Slim and Playboy wouldn't have made sure she was trained this way if it's not something she wanted to do. None of us would ever force a woman to do something they don't want to for any reason. She would've been taught the basics of self-defense and that was it. I have a feeling Annabell, my sweet Angel, not only went through the self-defense lessons but also took up every single training that was offered to her. That's the only way she would've known how to get free from the ropes tied around her wrists. Tank teaches everyone who wants to learn that shit. I'm gonna have to sit down with my girl and see what all she can do so I know moving forward. And I want to know if there's something she hasn't done in the past that she wants to do in the future. I'll make sure she has every kind of training available to her. With the Nomads here, we have even more people to teach her than ever before. I know Chrome can teach her some shit that no one else can.

"Do you wanna see what else I can do with these knives, or have you had enough?" Annabell asks, stepping back and not even breathing hard from everything she just did in a few minutes.

"The fuck? You can't possibly do anything else," one of the fuckers says, his voice wavering as Annabell takes him in and turns back to flash me a smile because she isn't afraid of these assholes.

"Oh, I can do plenty more. I'm thinking that I should probably save some of that as a surprise for Dominic though. He doesn't know my secrets and I'm ready to ensure he goes the fuck down when he shows his fucking face again," Annabell says as I hear a door slam above us and the men down with us jumping while looking at one another trying to figure out what to do.

"Where the fuck is everyone?" Dominic's voice calls out, anger filling it as he makes his way closer to the basement.

Annabell steps closer to me once again. I don't make any moves to touch her or anything as Dominic comes down to the basement to find his men bleeding and hardly standing in front of us.

"Dominic, I'd say it's good to see you, but we both know that would be a lie," Annabell deadpans, her face completely locking down to show nothing as she looks at the man she met in college.

"Annabell, why are you standing so close to that asshole? You don't belong with him. You're mine and that's not gonna change. I told you in college you were mine and I meant it," Dominic states, his face twisting in anger.

"And I'll never be with a pussy who thinks it's okay to put his hands on me in anger. You hit me so many times, I fell to the floor and crashed through the table on my way down. A fucking glass table. I was laying in a pool of my own blood when you left me alone to go find someone else to fuck. Newsflash, you're a horrible fuck and I get my pleasure from my own fingers and I've never even touched myself like that before," she growls out, giving me more details about what happened to her at the hands of this asshole.

"Is that right, Angel? That's the night Hunter came and brought you back home from college?" I question my girl as she looks up at me as if she forgot I was here with her and her eyes immediately drop to the floor while her cheeks blush a deep red. "Don't you dare be embarrassed about this shit. He's the one who put his hands on you and there's never a good reason for that shit. If anyone should be embarrassed, it's him. But we both know he's egotistical enough not to feel anythin', Angel. Dominic, you fucked up more than I thought you did. Now, I'm gonna make sure you pay for hurtin' my girl the way you did. It's a good thing she got lucky enough not to have any scars or you'd be long dead because her family would have demanded her to tell them what happened before they hunted you down and gut you like a fish."

Dominic has the balls to laugh at my words, not believing me. Rage fills me even more as I look at the suit wearing asshole up and down with a glare that would kill him if my eyes were able to do that shit. Instead, he returns the glare before facing Annabell and letting his eyes run up and down her body as if she's a piece of meat and nothing more.

"I see you let this man take care of business for you, Annabell. I'm surprised he didn't do more damage to these two," Dominic states even though I have no blood on my body that's not my own and Annabell is covered in fresh splatters of it the entire length of her.

"I didn't take care of shit, Dominic. That's Annabell's handiwork. As you can see, she's still got the bloody knives in her hands. Annabell can take you out without blinkin' and you'd never see her attack comin' at you," I state, pride filling my voice as I look at her and pretend Dominic and the other two aren't here with us.

"You stupid fucks let a woman get the best of you?" Dominic questions them, his voice echoing around us as he turns to face them while pulling a gun from his back.

Immediately I pull Annabell behind me because I have no clue how this is gonna play out right now. Dominic could shoot the men standing at his side or turn the gun on Annabell and me. I'm not about to let her get shot by this crazy fucker. I keep my eyes locked on him and wait to see what he'll do as the other two men pull their own guns and let their arms hang down as they wait to see what their ‘boss' is gonna do. I feel Annabell's hand on my gun and I know she'll be ready to pull it quick and hand it over to me while she continues using the knives in her hand. She must be holding them both in the same hand as she moves as fast as she can without anyone realizing what she's doing.

Suddenly, the guns are pointed at us and I watch as Dominic pulls the trigger. I feel the bullet hit me in the left side of my body toward my abdomen. Pain rips through me as I drop to the ground in what feels like slow motion. Annabell's screams fill the room and echo off the walls as I feel my gun slip from the holster. Turning to face Dominic and the men with him, I watch as they all fall to the ground in rapid succession. Each man has a bullet wound to the head. Annabell drops to her knees beside me and I can't help but look up at my angel who's always saved me in one way or another. This is one time she won't be able to save me and I can only hope she knows how much I truly love her.

"I love you so much, Angel," I tell her, my voice weak and hoarse as the pain intensifies and I start to become so tired.

"I love you, Alex. You're not gonna leave me today. I need you to stay with me. Please," she pleads with me, leaning over and pressing her lips to mine as my eyes slide closed.

The last thing I hear besides Annabell's crying and pleading with me to stay with her are the sounds of boots racing across the floor above us. My vision is filled with Annabell as I open my eyes again, even though it's the hardest thing I've ever done. Every move I make is harder than the last and each breath slices through me. It feels as if I'm drowning alive and I feel so damn cold. Annabell pulls my head into her lap and cries over me, her tears landing on my face and neck. I want to reach out and reassure her that I'm not gonna leave her, but I can't. All I can do is let my eyes slide closed once again and this time they don't open as I hear a violent roar of pain and I know it's Valor. My brother has found us and this isn't going to end well for anyone if he has any say in the matter.