Ruthless (Dark MC Romance) Read Online Free Page A

perfect, green lawn, I stabbed the keys inside the lock to turn, but the door pushed open without resistance. My mind sluggish on the Xanax, I stepped over the threshold, the groceries jostling a bit.
    “Bryan?”
    My voice echoed in the too large house, bouncing off the cream-colored porcelain tiles only to be swallowed by the equally neutral walls.
    He’s in the backyard, probably.
    Somehow, the house seemed too quiet. Usually, I kept something on all the time just to hear noise. I didn’t feel so alone with the radio or TV on, feeding me a constant barrage of human voices and sounds, so that I wouldn’t have to think about anything.
    My mind sensed that there were more than a few male bodies sharing the kitchen. The air felt shared, somehow, but the pills numbed all instinctual thought and I blundered inside.
    Three men in familiar leather cuts surrounded my husband, who was duct-taped to a kitchen chair, his eyes begging me for—what?
    They found me.
    The milk shattered on the floor as I turned around into a stiff, male body whose angry fingers grabbed my arms and squeezed. I kicked and screamed, feeling no panic, but knowing that I needed to make as much noise as possible. His hand over my mouth smothered my screams, so I bit and spat his palm. Pain. I needed to cause pain.
    He released me with a grunt of pain and his fist crunched against the side of my face. I fell like a stone as pain exploded over my jaw.
    “Crazy fucking bitch.”
    A series of low laughs followed his comment and despite the calm in my brain, my heart hammered like mad—it knew that I was about to die.
    From the floor I saw Bryan’s trembling legs. The milk spilled around my body like blood and for a wild moment I thought I was injured. He grabbed a fistful of my blonde hair and wrenched me upright, my brain pounding.
    The bald man who stood beside Bryan gnashed his yellowed teeth in a frightening grimace. He held a gun against Bryan’s head.
    “So where the fuck is it?” The man who held me up yanked on my hair.
    I knew what they were talking about. They tracked me down to recover the thousands of dollars I stole. My mind was blank, the strange calm provided by the Xanax giving me no ideas.
    “I didn’t—I don’t have it anymore. Please don’t hurt him.”
    They laughed at the calm in my voice and Bryan flinched against the noise.
    “You don’t sound very convincing.”
    I couldn’t see the man behind me, but there was frustration in his voice. “Do we look like we’re fucking around? Where’s the fucking money?”
    Bryan’s eyes stared back at me hopelessly and a sob shook my throat. He had no idea what was happening. He looked like a dog that was about to be put down. They’re going to kill him. And me.
    “Maybe she’ll start talking if we start fucking her tight little pussy. Maybe that will open her up.”
    I jerked against the man holding me. “No, Cain wants her to himself. You know how he is.”
    The milk pooled around my hands, and I imagined my blood flowing into it, pinking the milk.
    “Cruel” Cain—the rising star of the Dragons, wants me? I knew about him, and just the mere mention of his name was enough to make me retch onto the floor.
    If I hadn’t taken Xanax, I would be screaming. There were awful stories about him, stories that reached all the way to LA. Some of them were downright stupid—like the ones about him beheading people with a long sword, or a pet bird that picked at the remains of his victims. I knew one thing about these kinds of stories; there was always some truth in the rumors. I heard of severed heads displayed on his victims’ cars, with notes written in blood on the windshield of the car to rival MC gangs that encroached on Dragon territory. The myth that surrounded him made me doubt in his existence, but one of the bikers just mentioned his name.
    “Cain?”
    The grin was in his voice. “Yeah, and he’s going to make you pay for fucking us over.”
    A shudder ran up my spine as