Ella stared at him for only a moment and then lowered her weapon. “Go.”
“C’mon, brother.” Holt pulled open the door. “We have a wedding to crash.”
* * *
“
We are gathered together here in the presence of these witnesses
…”
The Sandy Lake mayor lifted an admonishing eyebrow when Viper’s Black Jack bodyguards, assembled in his large office at city hall, snickered. Naiya pressed her lips together and tried to hear his words above the pounding of blood in her ears. This was not happening. She was not being forced into marriage to Viper like they were living in the Dark Ages. Once she got these damned ropes off her wrists, she would grab his gun and shoot him between the fucking eyes.
“
To join this man and woman in matrimony, which is an honorable estate, and is not to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly, but recently and discreetly
.”
More snickers. A belly laugh. At least the Black Jacks were enjoying themselves. She couldn’t say the same for Shaggy whom Viper had brought along as an afterthought to be an independent witness at the ceremony, unconnected to the Jacks. He wanted to cover all his bases just in case there was an investigation into the legitimacy of the wedding after the trust monies were transferred, and with Shaggy in the wedding video, and his signature on the documents, no one would be able to say it was entirely a Black Jack affair. And, of course, Viper planned to end his life after the ceremony was over. Dead men told no tales.
Naiya looked around the ostentatious office for some route of escape. But aside from the two giant windows flanking an enormous oak desk, and the door they had come through, there was no other way out. She ground her toe into the thick red carpet and threw a beseeching glance at the heavyset mayor who had been happy to accept an envelope stuffed with money in exchange for performing the ceremony on short notice—and without the consent of the bride-to-be.
“
If anyone can show just cause why this man and this woman may not lawfully be joined together, let them speak now or hereafter remain silent.”
Viper dropped a warning hand to Naiya’s shoulder. How ironic that the last time she’d attended a ceremony it had been at her mother’s grave and Viper had stood behind her, his heavy hand a precursor to the horror that lay ahead. Back to the beginning, except this beginning was an end unless she could escape from this nightmare before the mayor pronounced them husband and wife.
Naiya glanced around the room. This was the part in movies where the hero burst through the door and saved the woman from her impending marriage to a psychopathic biker who wanted her twenty million dollar trust fund. She still couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that her grandparents had lived such a simple life when they’d had that much money available to them, but it made sense. They were good, honest people who didn’t need more than the basics to be happy. Too bad Viper hadn’t learned that lesson.
“I’m being forced into this marriage against my will. How’s that for a reason?” She couldn’t stop the words that dropped from her lips. She’d gone timidly with Viper that day in the cemetery, afraid to rock the boat, hopeful he would let her go, accepting of her fate. But no more. She’d protest this marriage until he gagged her or knocked her unconscious.
“Shut it, girl, or I’ll off the old man right now,” Viper growled, nodding at Shaggy who had been tied to a chair in front of the desk.
“Naiya Kelly and uh…?” The mayor looked to Viper for help.
“Marcus Wilder,” Viper offered. “But hurry it along. I don’t have all day. Fractured Skyway is headlining at the rally and I hear they’ve got a damn good warm-up band this year.”
“I’m recording this at your request in case there are questions about the ceremony.” The mayor whispered his words. “It would be best to do the complete ceremony, with the small alterations you requested, and of course I’ll edit out the extraneous conversation.”
At a nod from Viper, the mayor continued. “Naiya Kelly and Marcus Wilder, I require and charge you both that if either of you know any reason why you may not lawfully be joined together in matrimony, you do now confess. If any persons are joined together otherwise than as prescribed by law, their marriage is not lawful.”
“How inconvenient,” Naiya spat out. “We’re going to go through all this for nothing since forcing a person into marriage isn’t lawful.”
“I fucking warned you.” Viper drew his weapon and aimed it at Shaggy. With a gasp, the mayor raised his hands.
“Please. Not in my office. This has been hard enough to orchestrate and it is very likely the marriage will be nullified and there will be an investigation if I have to explain a dead body in my office. No doubt the police will take the tapes.”
“Do it.” Shaggy glared at Viper. “I fucking dare you. Fucking pussy has to steal a young girl’s money so he can play with the big boys. You got no balls, Marcus Wilder. You think you can buy power? Think again. You think you can lead a national organization ’cause you paid people off to get your throne? Jax Abrahams rules the Jacks on a national level because he fought his way to the top. Battle after battle. Scar after scar. He has respect because he earned it. Not because he bought it. I knew him when he was junior patch. I watched his rise to power. You don’t have what he has. Even if you manage to get through his security and take him out, you won’t last a week as national Black Jack president. They’ll see your weakness. Tear you down.”
“Shut him up before I put a bullet down his throat,” Viper roared.
Two Jacks grabbed Shaggy and a third stuffed a bandanna in his mouth while the mayor looked on in horror.
Viper huffed his annoyance. “Keep going. I want the shortened version.”
“
Do you, Naiya Kelly, take this man, Marcus Wilder, to be your lawful wedded husband?”
Naiya turned to face Viper and put the full force of her anger in her words. “I, Naiya Kelly, do
not
take Marcus Wilder also know as Viper for my lawful husband and if you force me to marry him, I will bite, kick, scratch, and punch him. I will claw out his eyes, rip out his tongue, and twist off his balls. I will do everything in my power to cause him pain and make his life a living hell. I will try to kill him at every opportunity with whatever weapon is at my disposal. I will shoot, stab, burn, or maim him in health and in sickness, in prosperity and adversity, forsaking all others until he is dead. And then I will spit on his fucking grave.”
“That’s a yes,” Viper said, his eyes cold and hard. “She said yes.”
Naiya opened her mouth to protest once more, but before she could speak, the office door slammed open, and Holt stalked into the room. He had an automatic weapon in each hand, weapons and ammo belted across his chest, and weapons strapped to his legs and arms. Tank walked by his side, heavily armed and ready for battle.
Naiya had barely processed their entrance before Viper had his gun to her head.
“That’s far enough,” Viper warned Holt.
Holt and Tank froze, and Holt’s gaze fell on Naiya. “You okay, darlin’?”
“I’ve been better.” Her heart pounded in her chest, and she tried to remain calm and focused. She needed to be part of the solution here. Not the problem.
“Drop your weapons,” Viper directed.
“Or what?” Holt cocked an eyebrow. “If you kill her, you don’t get your money.”
“It’s not her I’m going to kill.”
A gunshot cracked the silence. Tank cried out in pain, his weapons falling as he crumpled to the floor. Naiya glanced down and saw Viper’s gun aimed where Tank had been standing.
“Tank!” Holt stared at his friend in horror.
“I know everything about you, Holt Savage,” Viper said. “I know you inside and out. I know what scares you, what gives you nightmares, what keeps you up at night. I know how many times I can whip you before you pass out, how much pain you can take. I know how to make you scream and how to make you cry.”
“You bastard,” Naiya choked out. “He never did anything to you.”
Viper looked down at Tank writhing on the ground and sneered. “Did you know he cried for you in my dungeon?” he said to Tank. “It was your name he called over and over and over again. It was you he imagined coming to rescue him. It was you he missed more than seeing the sun or feeling the rain or breathing the fresh air. At the very end, he gave up because he thought you had abandoned him.” He shot a second bullet at Tank, missing only because Tank rolled to the side. “If you die, I’ll destroy T-Rex in a way the dungeon never could. And it has been too long in coming.”
“No.” Shaggy leaped from the chair, the ropes that had held him secure falling to the floor with the wet bandanna. Taking advantage of Viper’s surprise, Naiya spun around and jammed her knee into his crotch. Viper grunted, and Naiya slammed a well-placed fist into his solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him as she mentally congratulated herself on her thorough knowledge of anatomy.
Before Viper could recover, Shaggy tackled the Black Jack president from behind. Naiya jumped to the side and Viper fell the ground, battling a ferocious Shaggy. Naiya grabbed Viper’s gun from the floor and aimed at the two men rolling on the ground as Viper’s bodyguards closed in.
Naiya heard the door slam. And then the sound of boots. She looked up to see Sinners pour into the room, Jagger in the lead. Within minutes, the Black Jack bodyguards were disarmed and on the floor, while the fist fight between Shaggy and Viper raged on.
“Never seen him fight like that before,” Jagger mused. “It’s like he’s possessed. If I’d known he had it in him I woulda sent him out on some of the more dangerous missions.”
“He’d better not fucking kill him.” Holt, still fully armed, stood on Naiya’s other side.
Shaggy rose up over Viper and smashed his fist into Viper’s blood-streaked face. Viper slumped back on the ground, eyes closed, his body struggling for breath.
“Everyone out of my way,” Shaggy gritted out as he drew his weapon.
“He’s mine.” Holt stepped forward. “He owes me a debt.”
“He owes me a bigger debt.” Shaggy’s body shook, whether from adrenaline or emotion, Naiya didn’t know, nor could she tell whether his cheeks were wet with sweat or tears. “He destroyed the woman I loved. He raped my daughter. I won’t rest until I pull that fucking trigger. My family needs to be avenged.”
“As do I,” Holt said.
Naiya caught movement out of the corner of her eye, and barely had time to shout a warning before Viper surged to his knees. “He’s got a gun.”
Two shots rang out through the mayor’s office. Two bullets pierced Viper’s heart. His mouth opened and closed again, and he dropped his weapon before his massive body sank to the floor.
Naiya looked over at the mayor, huddled in the corner. “You can take that as a no,” she said. “And you can officially declare Viper dead.”
Holt parked his bike outside the Sinner’s Tribe clubhouse for the very last time. After the dust had settled, and the Black Jacks retreated to deal with the loss of their president, he had a long talk with Jagger, and they agreed it was time for him to leave.
Naiya slid off the bike behind him, her new riding leathers creaking as she followed him to the crowd of Sinners waiting by the clubhouse to say good-bye.
“They’re giving you quite the send-off,” she said. “After two days of partying I thought most of them would be comatose this morning.”
“The party was the send-off. This is the good-bye.” Holt threw an arm around her shoulders. He had no plans about what he wanted to do or where he wanted to go. Only that he wanted to be with Naiya, and since she had interviews at forensic labs all over the country, he would take the opportunity to explore his country before making a decision about where to put down roots—if he was putting down roots at all.
With her trust fund vesting in a few short months, Naiya was in no hurry to get back to work. She wanted a chance to be free, to live life without fear of Viper or the Jacks, to travel, see the sights, and think about whether she wanted to pursue a career in forensic science. She’d given up her apartment, sold her stuff, and paid a last visit to Maurice to say good-bye. Holt hadn’t been happy to let her go to that bastard’s apartment alone. He’d sat on his bike outside Maurice’s building, counting off the minutes as he imagined all the things that could go wrong. But, of course, nothing happened. Naiya returned in one piece with a look of satisfaction on her face that was as close to a smirk as he’d ever seen. She seemed at peace with herself about that situation, which was all good with Holt, at least until she told him later that she’d punched Maurice in the face for being a two-timing bastard, and then it was even better.
“I was surprised you kept up with us.”
Naiya snorted a laugh. “I didn’t have a choice. You have some very pretty women at the club. I didn’t want to leave you drunk and alone with them.”
“After watching you beat on Viper, I’d be afraid to even look at another woman, darlin’.”
“Good thing I still don’t have a gun.” She looked up at him and grinned. “Shaggy’s a good teacher. After two weeks of shooting with him, I could really give you something to worry about.”
Holt had his suspicions about Shaggy, but he hadn’t shared them with Naiya. And if Shaggy had chosen to reveal his secrets to her, she hadn’t confided in Holt. Except for the fact Shaggy had shaved his beard after the Sandy Lake shootout, nothing had changed. He was as ornery and grouchy as usual, except around Naiya, and everyone kept a safe distance from him.
“Holt.” Jagger stepped forward and shook Holt’s hand, and in that moment all his years with the Sinner’s Tribe MC hit him in a rush. From the day he first saw the Sinners in a bar and knew he’d found a new home, to the night Jagger accepted him as a prospect, and from meeting Tank to the thrill of receiving his cut that marked him as a brother in the club. He had laughed and partied with these men. They had ridden together and fought together so they could live life on their own terms. Freedom. Loyalty. Honor. Brotherhood. Those were the principles that had governed his life.