By Fate I Conquer Cora Reilly Read Online chapter – 34 “He needs to pay, not his daughter,”
I muttered like a broken record, still hoping against reason that my club brothers would listen. “It’s Earl’s decision, boy,” Gunnar said diplomatically. “Has her pussy clouded your judgment?” Cody asked. I gave him the finger. Then I went in search of Earl. I wasn’t even sure why I was still bothering, maybe to convince myself that he hadn’t lost his conscience completely.
I found him at our meeting table, lost in his thoughts, which was never a good thing. The last time he’d made that face had been when we’d found out about a mole in our rows. Only this time I was the f*cking mole. “Is it true what Cody says that you want to tattoo Marcella?”
Earl snapped out of his thoughts and narrowed his eyes at me. “She gets what she deserves. I thought we agreed on that last night.”
I shook my head. “This is taking things too far. Let’s grab Vitiello and make him pay.”
Earl shot to his feet and got in my face, and I could tell that I was losing him, his trust and what little affection he was capable of. I wanted to save him, save us, whatever bond we had, but I wasn’t sure how to do it without sacrificing Marcella, and whatever conscience I still had. “I’m not sure you’re still on the right side, son.”
For a while I’d loved hearing him call me by that name, but recently it hadn’t sounded like a nice term. I doubted Earl had ever really seen me as his son. He’d appreciated my desire for revenge and that my sad story had created a stronger bond among our men. “Are you going to be a problem?” he snarled.
Cody stormed into the clubhouse. “Gray’s out in the woods. Someone knocked him out.”
Earl followed Cody at once but I turned on my heel and rushed toward my leather jacket thrown over one of the barstools to grab my motorcycle keys then I hurried into the armory. Before I could grab a machine gun, something was smashed against my back and I dropped to my knees with a grunt of pain. My forehead collided with the wall, making stars dance in my vision.
I blinked to catch myself. Blood dripped from a cut in my forehead and ran into my left eye as I looked up. Cody stood beside me with a baseball bat in his hand. “Your uncle was right to be suspicious of you. Told me to keep an eye on you while he had a chat with Gray. If the boy tells his Pa that you knocked him out for the whore, you’re dead.”
I lunged at Cody, trying to rip the baseball bat out of his hand, but Earl appeared in the doorway and pointed his gun at me. “Down or I’ll put a bullet in your skull, Mad.”
I sank back down to my knees, my vision dancing before my eyes.
Earl towered over me with a hard smile. “Gray told me you called Vitiello so he could save his little whore.”
F*ck, Gray. I’d hoped the kid would listen to reason and not blindly follow his old man’s judgment, especially when Earl had lost his f*cking mind.
“You went too far, Earl. I warned you.”
Earl leaned down, spit flying as he snarled, “This was our revenge.”
“We should leave the premises,” Cody suggested, looking around nervously as if he expected Vitiello to jump out from behind a curtain any moment. It was ironic that Vitiello’s appearance was my only hope right now. Who’d ever thought that day would come?
“We won’t run. We have his daughter. He can’t risk too much. Make sure the perimeter is safe and get Gray inside.”
With a nasty smile in my direction, Cody sauntered away.
Earl’s eyes settled on me. For a long time, he’d taken the spot as my father, and he was still the only family I had next to Gray and Mom. I might have lost them with my actions.
Maybe I could win their trust back by helping them in their fight against Vitiello. I still wanted the man dead but not at the cost of risking Marcella’s life. No matter how much I hated her father, my feelings for her were even stronger. I was a doomed f*cker.
Earl shook his head with a harsh laugh. “Stupid boy.” He aimed the barrel of his shotgun at my head and everything turned black.
I peered out of the window, the heavy feeling deep in the pit of my stomach increasing with every passing moment. Maddox hadn’t come to bed last night, for the first time since he’d taken me into his room. I’d tried to listen at the door for snippets of conversation that might give me a hint why, but no one had come close to the room.
Several bikers arrived on their bikes and commotion broke out in the driveway. I sat up, curious. Everyone’s face was tight with worry. Hope settled in my chest. Maybe Dad had landed a hit. My hand moved to my ear, barely touching the bandage.
Then I quickly jerked it away. I hadn’t even seen the wound yet. I wasn’t sure I had the courage to do so anytime soon.
What if something had happened to Maddox and that was why he hadn’t shown up? What if Dad was the reason behind Maddox’s disappearance?
The lock turned and I stood, smiling. The smile died when Gunnar appeared in the doorway.
“No reason to smile, puppet,” he said in his rough voice.
“Where’s Maddox?” I asked sharply, backing away.
Gunnar shook his head. “Stupid boy.” He stalked toward me and grabbed my arm. “Maddox can’t help you now. You better pray your daddy sees reason.”
He dragged me outside despite my struggling. My bare feet scratched over the rough floorboards. “What do you mean? What happened?” I asked over and over again but he ignored me. Nobody was in the common area when we crossed it. Where was everyone? And what was going on?
Gunnar led me down to the kennels and shoved me inside the same cage I had been in before. I whirled around just when he locked the door.
“What’s going on? Please tell me, where’s Maddox?”
“He’ll join you soon,” he said cryptically before he walked away. The dogs paced in their cages, infected by the nervous atmosphere. Satan wasn’t in her cage though, and I couldn’t help but worry about her, too. The familiar stench of dog piss and feces clogged my nose almost instantly.
I sank down on the hut, watching as the bikers gathered guns and carried boards into the clubhouse as if to barricade the windows. Some of them walked by the kennels just to insult me and leer at my body. Only in Maddox’s boxers and T I felt even more exposed.
“Get more men to the fence!” someone roared, worry swinging in their voice.
Hope flared in my veins. This could only be Dad. But where was Maddox? What was going on? What if Dad got Maddox in his hands? My mind wouldn’t stop reeling. Fear battled with hope in me. I wanted to be freed but I didn’t want to lose Maddox.
It was a fatal thought, and a fatal attraction.
Hugging my knees to my chest, I watched my surroundings, trying to catch up on what was going on. After the initial insults, nobody paid me any attention, but the fear I saw on many of their faces could only be because of Dad.
Movement drew my gaze back to the clubhouse.
Earl White walked out of the door, dragging an unmoving Maddox after him by the arm. I jumped off the hut and crossed the dirty kennel on my bare feet, my heart beating in my throat. The dogs in the surrounding kennels began to bark and jump against their cages. I barely flinched anymore. I had gotten used to their boisterous nature. They weren’t the most dangerous beasts around.
Maddox looked lifeless, limbs dragging through the dirt, head lolling almost comically back and forth. Earl smiled darkly at me when our eyes met and immediately goose bumps rose on my skin. I tried to mask my worry but I doubted I could fool him. By now, everyone seemed to know about Maddox and me.
“Maybe this will help you clear your head and make you realize your mistake. If you apologize, I’ll grant you a quick death,” Earl said as he dragged Maddox into the cage beside mine. Death? What was he talking about? Maddox’s left side of his face was covered with blood from a cut in his hairline.
I finally noticed Maddox’s chest rising and falling. At least, he wasn’t dead—yet. Something was horribly wrong. Earl turned and closed the cage, then he smiled viciously at me. “And for you, I have a special surprise soon.”
I didn’t even want to think about what that could mean.
I eyed the dog worriedly who paced around Maddox as if he was only waiting for the perfect moment to tear into him. The second Earl and Cody were gone, I kneeled at the bars. “Maddox,” I whispered then louder. “Maddox, wake up!”
His eyelids fluttered but didn’t open. The dog sniffed at his wound. What if the beast started gnawing at him? Had they’d been fed today? I hadn’t paid attention to the kennels while looking out of the windows.
“Shoo,” I hissed, trying to scare the dog away, but it only gave me a quick glance before it continued inspecting Maddox. “Go away!” I growled, hitting the bars. When that didn’t have the intended effect, I turned around and grabbed my water bowl. I tossed the water at the dog and it jumped back. Then charged at me and jumped against the bars. I stumbled back.
By Fate I Conquer Cora Reilly Read Online PDF Free Download Bookmark this site “www.NovelKoo.Com” for Daily Updates.