Chapter Sixteen

Ryder

I wake with a start and glance around. My head still aches bad and it takes me a second to focus. There's an irritating beeping sound and I glance to my left to see a machine.

Griff appears, placing a hand on my chest. "Take it easy, pres."

"Where the hell am I?" I growl, feeling irritated.

"Hospital. We found you at Neve's place passed out on the bed. You've had a bleed on the brain."

I frown, letting his words process. I remember everything up to calling Griff for help. "How long have I been here?"

"Three days. How are you feeling?"

"Like shit. Three days in here when I should have been looking for Neve and Harlee."

I push to sit up but he stops me again. "Relax," he orders. "We're on it. Finn was asking for security a couple of days ago. We've put a man on the inside. He's not wherever Finn is keeping Neve, only his inside circle are there. But there is an event happening tonight and he thinks Neve might be there."

"Can trust this guy? Who is he?" I'm not used to being out of touch or not in control of everything. The fact I've been out of it for three days makes my guilt ten times worse. She needs me and I'm stuck here.

"Yeah, he's an ex-copper, a good guy and a good friend of mine. I wouldn't have put him on it if I wasn't one hundred percent sure I could trust him. Let me call for the doctor."

"Don't bother, I'm going home." I sit up and begin pulling the wires off my chest.

"Pres that's not a good idea. The bleeds stopped but one knock and who knows. You need rest and time to heal."

"I am not lying in bed while my old lady is held up fuck knows where, going through fuck knows what. I want her back and I want that fucker dead."

Griff sighs, "I'll speak to the doctor but he's gonna advise against it."

"I don't give a crap, do whatever it takes to get me out of here."

Neve

Three days, we've been here for three damn days with no sign of the mc and not a single chance to escape this hell. All kinds of scenarios have filled my head these last few days, one being that Ryder hasn't made it. That breaks my heart. And the other being that the mc have found him and think I've done it and gone on the run.

"Mary do you like working here?" I ask, peeling a potato.

"Neve, you know we can't talk about things like that. If Finnegan overheard, he'd be mad." It's another one of Finn's stupid rules. All staff have been warned not to befriend me. He's already guessed that I'd try that first. If the staff feel sorry for me, they might help me leave. Mary gives me a sympathetic smile. "I've worked here a long time. Since Finnegan was a small boy."

"You knew his parents?" I ask, feeling relieved that she hasn't chose to work for Finn but has perhaps done it more out of obligation.

"That's enough chit chat, chop those potatoes."

"I didn't know Finns parents. When we married, they weren't at the wedding."

"They died. A long time ago now."

"Oh, Finn didn't tell me that. Do you have children?"

"Miss Lawrence, please," she mutters uncomfortably.

"Sorry, I'm just lonely." I haven't seen Finn for days, which isn't a bad thing. But it also means that adult conversation is scarce and I'm losing my mind. "Can I do anything else to help?" I'm not supposed to help and Mary took some convincing yesterday when I insisted. Doing everyday things helps me to keep focussed.

The front door opens then slams and Finn is heard yelling in what I assume is his mobile. Mary looks at me in alarm and I rush towards the lounge, throwing myself onto the couch before he spots me. I grab a magazine and pretend I'm concentrating.

"What do you mean it went wrong. Somebody had to have tipped them off because the police don't randomly show up at the fucking docks in the middle of the night. I want a name." He enters the living room just as he's shoving his mobile back into his pocket. "Where's Harlee?"

"Having a nap. She isn't feeling well."

"Stand," he growls. I do so immediately. His eyes have that darkness that means I shouldn't test his patience. He hasn't touched me so far, in fact, it feels like he's avoiding me which has been nice. "Your boyfriend is out of hospital," he says, taking my hand and tugging me towards him. "I've sent him some flowers to wish him a speedy recovery." I hold my breath to hide the relief I feel at hearing that Ryder is alive.

Finn slides his hand around my waist, "It's been too long since I've held you," he whispers and for a split second, I see the old Finn. The one that fooled me into thinking he was a nice guy. I allow him to pull me close and press his nose into my hair and taking a deep inhale. I brush my hand over his jacket, feeling his mobile phone sticking out of the pocket and I carefully slide it free and hold it tightly. As he releases me, I stuff it in my back pocket and smile awkwardly.

"I thought you were avoiding me," I say lightly, even though inside I'm sick with nerves. If he realises it's gone, he'll lose his mind.

"I've been busy with work. Let's have dinner this evening, we can catch up and talk about what happens next."

I give a stiff nod and he turns, marching towards his office. I wait for him to go out of sight before running for the stairs, taking them two at a time. My foot hits the top one and I hear him running up behind me. "You stupid little bitch," he roars.

I run along the landing but he catches me, shoving me into the wall. "Finn," I cry, "I just needed to check Harlee's symptoms. I'm worried about her."

Finn holds out his hand and I reluctantly place the mobile in it. He tucks it away. He reaches behind me to turn the handle to another room and I fall back onto my backside and begin to crawl backwards to put some distance between us. He smirks, matching each move back with a step forward, "I thought we'd turned a corner, Neve. You've behaved so well."

"Fuck you," I hiss angrily. "Fuck you and your stupid bullshit rules."

He sniggers, like me retaliating is exactly what he wants. He swoops down, grabbing my arm and slamming his free fist into my face. The blows keep coming. Each one harder than the last. Some on my face and head, others in my stomach. I close my eyes, trying to block out his angry words and heavy fists. I picture a beach and Harlee is splashing in the water, her giggle infectious. An arm is wrapped around me and I turn to look in Ryder's kind eye. Fuck , what I'd give to see them right now for real.

I feel myself being lifted. The smell doesn't belong to Finn, I hate his spicy scent. This one smelt of alcohol and sweat. I prize one eye open, the other refuses and I assume it's swollen shut. The man holding me is large. His head is large and his hands are even larger, and he carries me down the stairs with little effort like I weigh nothing. He goes through the kitchen and towards that door that's always kept locked. I don't have any energy to argue and I spot Mary holding the door open for us to go inside and as we pass, she keeps her head lowered.

We descend the stone steps and as we get lower, the air changes to cold and damp. There are no windows and the only light is from a dim bulb hanging in the centre. I glance around and spot three dirty mattresses on the ground. The man deposits me on the nearest one, and pain radiates through my body. I clutch my ribs, wincing. "Wait," I whisper, my voice cracking. "What about Harlee?" He doesn't bother to look back, instead taking the stairs two at a time and slamming the door closed.

I ease myself into a sitting position and look around the cellar. Apart from the mattresses, there's not much else here. There's a black bucket in the corner with another dim light above it, which I assume will be my toilet for however long I'm here. I wrap my arms around myself, trying to keep warm and the damp surrounds me. I take a blanket that's folded neatly on the end of the mattress and bring it to my nose, and sniff, screwing my nose up in disgust. It smells damp but I pull it around me anyway. I lie back and close my eyes, taking my mind back to the day I met Finn, remembering how charming he was.

"I'm Finnegan, your husband to be," he'd announced confidently. I'd laughed at the corny chat up line, but I let him kiss my hand anyway, it wasn't often a man in London took your hand to kiss the back of it.

"Neve," I'd replied shyly. I wasn't usually so shy, but this man was dressed in an expensive suit, he was handsome, and he was staring directly into my eyes with a piercing, panty melting look.

"Neve, I like it. Let me buy you a drink and then we'll make plans for our wedding."

He'd led me to the bar, purchased a bottle of Champagne and told the bartender that they were celebrating their engagement. I'd blushed, he was so forward and confident and it turned me on. I'd thought it odd that he didn't have friends with him, just big burly looking men that he referred to as security. But Mya had encouraged me to approach the guy, telling me to accept a drink and enjoy being spoilt by an obviously rich man, neither of us suspected anything odd, but then we'd been swept up in the world-wide Christian Grey hype, and were all on the lookout for rich billionaire boyfriends.

Four months later, he was true to his word, we got married. It was a fairy-tale that I hadn't really been expecting. I was still young, and the thought of marriage scared me but everyone around me convinced me I was lucky.

The sex between us was constant, a little too much to be honest but I accepted that Finn had a higher sex drive and he had particular tastes. His violence in the bedroom would be contained there, and afterwards he was like the Finn I'd first met, charming and sweet. It was a shock to me when I fell pregnant, it was unplanned, but I felt happy, after all, most of our relationship had been a whirl wind and this was natural progression. Finn didn't see it like that. He was furious and it was the first time in our short relationship that he brought violence outside of the bedroom. He then disappeared for weeks. When he returned, he had become distant and practically ignored me. I was sure by then he'd met someone else, he'd stopped having sex with me and avoided me like I was diseased. Eventually he told me I had to leave, he didn't want me or the baby. I left that night. That was that, and he seemed fine with it. And honestly, I was relieved, the few weeks we'd spent apart gave me clarity and I saw the relationship for what it was. If he'd hit me once, then he'd do it again and again.

Of course, it wasn't that simple. Finn would turn up unannounced at my house. He'd call all the time and the night time calls became a thing with him flying off the handle if I didn't pick up. I put up with it for a quiet life and I found that if I answered his calls, he didn't pop and see me as much, and so it became a habit, answer his calls, answer his questions and then he'd leave me alone.

The sound of the lock wakes me and I sit up. I don't know how long I've been here and without daylight, I can't even guess.

Footsteps descend and the large man appears again. I can just make out a pair of legs dangling over his arms. I push myself back into the corner and watch him suspiciously as he approaches. He dumps the female on the next mattress without looking in my direction.

"Where's Finn, I want to speak with Finn?" I demand. He doesn't respond, simply leaves without a word. I wait for the lock to click in place before scrambling over to the woman. She's naked and covered in bruises, so I slip out of my shirt and place it over her head, wrestling it down her slim frame. I pull her onto her side, listening carefully to her shallow breaths as I put her into the recovery position.

Ryder

I sit back in my chair and wait for the brother's to take a seat around the large table. I'd called church the second I got back to the club. We need to all be on the same page when it comes to taking down Finn fucking Lawerence.

I bang the gavel on the table to get everyone's attention. The sound sends a radiating pain through my skull but I ignore it, whatever pain I'm in, is probably a lot less that Neve's right now.

I throw the dead bunch of flowers onto the table and then men stare at them. "A get well present from the bastard himself," I snap, "We staked out a few of Finn's known businesses last night. Cal, fill us in."

"We spent the night watching the docks where Finn brings his drugs in. All quiet, his lock up wasn't manned and so we knocked on, couldn't hear anything and we eventually managed to break in, but it was empty. We think he's moved bases because we'd hit it the boat last week. He also runs with the Irish and so we checked their spot out but again nothing untoward."

"Okay, Knox?" I ask, moving on.

"Same boss, nothing. We watched his house in central London. He had a party there which he attended with a blond female. By the end of the night it had turned to a swinger's party, sex everywhere, including the garden. He left before that started but he was alone. We followed him to his bar on Canal Street," Knox looked down at his notes, "Cantrell's. An hour after he went inside some Italian looking guys went in, but we couldn't get in without being obvious. They left two hours later, and we followed him back to his house where the party had finished. He's acting normal boss, with no sign of Neve or the kid."

I slam my hands on the table in frustration, the pain getting worse in my head. "I need to meet with him."

"It's not a good idea, Pres," Griff advises, "It's what he wants and you're in no fit state to get into a fight with him. Besides, I have some news. I heard from my guy on the inside. He's been put on security for a few of Finn's sex parties, they're always underground, with only certain members allowed. Mainly rich men. Anyway, he's at another warehouse tonight. It's all hush hush but he thinks that girls are being sold there. He'd heard from a few of Finn's men that Finn used his boat to bring in foreign girls. He's apparently promising them a good life and once they're here, he has them trained to be submissive. If my man confirms all this tonight, he can pass it on to the force as intelligence."

I sit straighter, "The cops won't do shit. He's untouchable and always has been. Half those rich bastards will be judges or cops themselves," I spit angrily. "I'm screwed either way. I can't kill the fucker in case he's the only one that knows where Neve is." I rub my hands over my tired face. "What if he's sold Neve?" And for the first time, I feel completely useless.

"I doubt it. He's choosing foreign girls that can't talk to ask for help, and even if they could, why would they when they're here illegally? They're more scared of our authorities than they are of criminals like Finn, he will have told them horror stories of what will happen to them if they run," says Griff.

I take a deep breath and nod in agreement. It makes sense. And I can't imagine Neve keeping quite or complying without too much of a fuss. "I'm gonna contact the Italians and see if we can do a better deal that Finn. They'll be asking questions about his ability to provide the guns and drugs after us hitting his boat twice. Let's strike now." The guys nod in agreement and I bang the gavel down, signalling the end of our meeting.

I head for the office and call Benedetto Ricci's mobile. He answers straight away, his tone guarded, after all, I've already turned down two deals previously from the Italians. "Ethan Ryder Fenton," he drawls in his Italian accent, "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Benedetto, how are you?"

"All good, is there a problem?"

"No, no problem. I wanted to arrange a meet with you."

There's a long pause. "About?" he eventually asks.

"Business. I hear that Finnegan Lawrence isn't as reliable as he once promised."

"Where did you hear that, Ryder? Your source is wrong." Trust the Italians to not want to lose face and admit they've made a bad choice.

"I don't think so Ben, to have his boat hit once is concerning, but twice, well…" I trail off.

"Twice?" Ben repeats. Clearly this is the first he's heard about it. Finn must have made up some bullshit to delay his delivery.

"Yes, his boats are unguarded and he's spending more time dealing in sex slaves than guns. We all know that slavery is a mugs game, you'd think our hot shot lawyer friend would also know this. You have younger sisters, Ben, you're a smart man, you know women are worth their weight in gold. They shouldn't be treated in such a bad way."

"Where have you heard all of this?" Benedetto's voice is angry, and I smile to myself.

"Meet me and we'll talk properly. Maybe I can offer you a better deal?"

"Fine, come to Nico's this evening at ten thirty."

I disconnect as Griff enters the office. "We're meeting the Italian's at Nico's tonight. Let's come up with a deal he won't refuse."