“Somebody took my wife,” I cut him off, my voice deadly quiet. The room falls silent again, all eyes turning to us. “She called me last night. Left messages. Her car broke down, and someone attacked her while she was waiting for help.”
Atlas’s expression shifts, but not to concern. Annoyance. “Fuck. You know they’re gonna try to pin this on you, right?”
Before I can respond, I hear a prospect at the bar asking, “Didn’t she call here last night looking for Viper?”
My head whips around. The brother behind the bar, Digger, nods carelessly. “Yep. Too dumb to call a tow truck, apparently.”
Something snaps inside me. I’m across the room in three strides, my fist connecting with Digger’s face before he can even register I’m moving. He goes down hard, but I follow, landing on top of him, fists flying.
“You piece of shit!” I roar, landing blow after blow. “She called for help and you fucking ignored her?”
Strong hands grab me from behind, trying to pull me off. I fight against them, blind with rage.
“Enough!” Atlas’s voice cuts through the chaos. “Get him off now!”
It takes him and two others to drag me away from Digger, who’s curled on the floor, blood streaming from his nose.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Atlas demands, shoving me back. “You trying to kill him?”
“She called here!” I yell, struggling against the hands holding me. “My old lady called here for help, and you assholes did nothing!”
“You were on a mission,” Reed, the prospect, reminds me tentatively. “We had to protect Naomi.”
“There were plenty of you around last night. She would still have been protected if one of you fuckers had taken an hour to make sure my old lady got home safe.” I spit, looking around at their faces. What I see there sickens me. Indifference. Mild annoyance. Not one of them gives a shit about Kayla.
Atlas steps into my line of sight, his face hard. “Your priority is finding Demon so the threat against my daughter is gone. Everything else is secondary.”
I lunge at him, but the brothers holding me tighten their grip. “My wife is missing, you heartless son of a bitch! She could be dead because none of you would help her!”
A notification sound from my phone cuts through my rage. Email. I glance down at the screen, still in my hand. No subject, no text. Just an attachment. Video.
My blood runs cold as I tap to open it, the brothers releasing me as they sense the change in my demeanor. The video loads, and there he is. Demon. His face marred by the scar that runs from temple to jaw, courtesy of Naomi’s bullet. And beside him, sitting in a metal folding chair, her face pale with fear but chin lifted defiantly, is Kayla.
“Hello, Viper,” Demon says, his voice pleasant, conversational. “As you can see, I have your wife. We had a little bet going, she and I, about how long it would take you to notice she was gone. Quite a while, it seems.” He smiles, and it’s like watching a shark bare its teeth. “Looks like I win.”
The camera shifts, focusing more on Kayla. Her dress, the one she wore for our date, is torn at the shoulder, and there’s a bruise forming on her cheek. But her eyes… God, her eyes are what gut me. Not just fear there, but despair. Like she already believes I won’t come for her. That I’ll let her down again.
“Did you really think you’d get away with it, Viper?” Demon continues, his face filling the screen once again. “Did you really think I’d let any of you get away with it? But you especially, after what you took from me? No, Viper, my friend. It’s my turn now to take everything from you. Starting with your rather lovely wife. And lest any of you feel neglected…don’t worry. When I’m finished with Viper, I’ll be coming for the rest of you. I’m going to end the Devil’s Rejects.”
The video ends.
The clubhouse has gone completely silent. I look up to find every eye on me.
“He has my wife,” I say, my voice barely recognizable even to my own ears. “Demon has Kayla.”
Atlas steps forward, his face solemn now. “Viper—”
I cut him off with a raised hand. “I’m getting her back. I don’t care what it takes, who I have to kill, or what rules I have tobreak.” I look around at my brothers, my family for most of my life. “Anyone who gets in my way is dead to me. Are we clear?”
For a minute, nobody speaks. Then some unfortunate idiot mutters, “ I don’t see what all the fuss is about. Dumb bitch was never truly one of us—”
It was at that moment that the last control I had over my temper snapped. With a roar I picked up the nearest chair and threw it.
And that’s when all hell really broke loose.
10
Chapter 10