Sequel: Fate Misunderstood

Seize Control

026

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It was beginning to get dark again, which she knew meant she was entering her third night locked inside the cold room. With the exception of the two prospects, everyone had left the warehouse for a few hours and the two men had miraculously left her alone in that time.

Three nights and her family still hadn't found her. She wondered what was taking them so long. Juice should have been able to find her location within five minutes. She had overheard her captors talking and discovered that she was in a building that they owned, in Elk Grove, where there charter was located. How hard could that be to find?

The familiar rumble of motorcycles outside told her that they had all returned, much to her dismay. Within thirty seconds the faded blue door was thrown open, but the prospect's usual smirk had been wiped off his face and replaced with a worried, somewhat angry look. "Get up," he commanded her.

She didn't even have time to react before he was stalking across the room and grabbing her arm, snatching her up off the floor. She hissed at the pain in her ribs as he pushed her back across the room and through the door into a long hallway. She was having a bit of trouble working her legs because she hadn't stood or walked since she'd been locked in the room. He pulled her down the hall and into a large room with a table in the middle, ten men sitting around it.

Church. Maybe the building was their clubhouse after all.

The prospect shut the doors behind her and moved to sit down in the chair next to the other prospect in the corner of the room, away from the table. The man at the head of the table, a bright yellow President patch sewn onto the chest of his cut, stared over at her, carefully taking in her appearance before turning his attention to the men around his table. "Who did that to her face?" he asked in a gravelly voice.

The two prospects exchanged looks but didn't say anything. They weren't going to tattle on their sergeant-at-arms for being the one to cause the bruises and cuts.

"You weren't supposed to touch her face," he reminded them.

The most frequent of her visitors sat up straighter in his chair, propping his elbows on the table. "Blue, man, we couldn't help it. Bitch kept tryin' to fight us."

The President, Blue, quirked an eyebrow at the man to his right. "Lee, she probably weighs 120 soaking wet and you're telling me you couldn't keep her under control?"

"We did after that," he muttered. "Doesn't matter. What's she in here for?"

Most of the men at the table turned their heads to look at her then. She had her arms folded close to her body and her head down, refusing to meet anyone's eyes. Silas's blood still covered the whole front of the dress she was wearing, but was now joined by some drops of her own from where her lip had been split open by the gold ring on the sergeant-at-arms's finger.

"Men, it's time for us to take the next step. I honestly thought takin' the girl would bring the Sons out to play, but they're just not biting." Juliette's head snapped up at the President's words and he caught the movement out of the corner of his eye. "That's right, princess. Nobody's comin' for you."

She swallowed hard and readjusted her gaze to her bare, blood spattered feet. Her sandals were long gone, though it was impossible to know where. He couldn't be right. There was no way that her family would let her be taken and not come after her. They wouldn't just leave her there to be tortured. They weren't just going to sit back and do nothing. Right?

The sergeant-at-arms, or Lee as he had been called, slowly stood up from his chair and walked over to where Juliette was standing against the wall. He grabbed her arm and pulled her in front of him, wrapping his thick arm tightly around her throat. She wasn't able to tell what he was doing but a half a second later, she felt the cold metal pressing into her temple. "Why don't we just kill her then?"

He looked down at her, waiting for a reaction but she didn't give him one. Even as he ran the muzzle of the gun across her cheek, she stayed completely still, looking him directly in the eye. "Come on, baby girl. Aren't you scared?" he mocked.

"Let her go, Lee."

He loosened his hold on her at the President's command and walked back to the table but he didn't sit down and he didn't put his gun away. "Blue-"

"You know you can't kill her. You have too much fun with her."

Juliette cringed at the memories and folded her arms tightly across her chest, but Lee just chuckled. "I do have fun." He glanced back at her for a moment before turning back to his President. "What else are we gonna do with her, man? Just let her go? Sons ain't lookin' for her so we got no leverage. We only got one option."

Blue was still processing what was said as Lee turned back to her and raised his gun. Her eyes widened and she backed up against the wall, nowhere else for her to go. One of the other men lunged at Lee at the same second he pulled the trigger and tackled him to the floor. "What the fuck are you thinking?!" Blue yelled at him.

Juliette slid down the wall to the floor, grasping her left shoulder as the warm red liquid began to seep through her fingers. She had so much adrenaline pumping that she didn't feel it right away, but now the searing pain ripped through her and she bit down on her bottom lip to keep from crying.

The old President stared at her for a moment, his own face bearing the look of shock that the rest of the men at the table had. He grabbed Lee by his denim cut and yanked him off of the floor before pushing him out the chapel doors. "Go the fuck away for a few hours," he barked, slamming the doors.

He turned back to the two prospects, sitting in the corner watching everything as it happened. "You two idiots take her back down the hall. Let's just hope she doesn't bleed out," he sighed, falling back down into his chair at the head of the table.

Each of the prospects grabbed an arm and pulled her to her feet. She gasped at the sharp pain in her shoulder when she moved but they wasted no time in dragging her back down the hall to that cold room. She stumbled as they shoved her inside the room and slammed the door behind them.

Finally alone, she sat down in the corner of the room, leaning her back against the wall and letting the tears fall from her eyes, stinging the gash on her cheek. It was dark now so she wasn't able to see how much blood she was actually losing, but her hand and entire shoulder felt wet and sticky. She pulled her knees up to her chest and held her shoulder tightly as her eyelids became heavier and heavier.

This was it. Her family wasn't looking for her, and even if they were, they wouldn't find her before she'd lost too much blood. She was going to die here. In this cold, dark room, alone and bleeding.

With one last heavy sigh, she leaned her head back against the wall and her eyes fluttered shut as she drifted off into unconsciousness.