Lani Read online

  Lynn is hysterical, clutching Michaela, and Vinny is on the phone, yelling at someone to hurry.

  I look behind Vinny just as I see another man come in looking like the other guy but older. “Vinny!” I scream and reach for Etta before he can grab her.

  Vinny runs over, grabbing the man by the throat and lifting him off the ground, then he slams him back down. He makes his god-awful sound as the air leaves his lungs.

  “Who the fuck are you?” Vinny roars in his face, and I can’t help but flinch because I haven’t seen this side of him before.

  “I’m here for my wife, get off of me!” he screams and tries to push Vinny off. I take both of the girls and walk farther away.

  People are watching, shocked this is happening. Michaela is crying and scared, and I don’t know what to do.

  The screams of Lynn’s husband stop suddenly. I glance over to see Trey stuffing underwear in his mouth and tying him up with a bra.

  If I wasn’t so freaked out I would laugh at the hilarity of the situation. Lynn dries her eyes and I hug her tighter.

  Trey walks over and pulls me into his arms, along with Lynn and Etta. “Are you okay?” Trey asks me, touching my head where it was pulled.

  “It’s sore,” I admit, and he growls again, glaring down at him.

  “You will never see them again after this day,” Trey informs us, and I know he’s being honest.

  A few minutes later the police walk in with my brother and some other members of the Devil Souls MC.

  Jordan shakes hands with the police, and they walk away before even entering the room. What the fuck?

  Jordan walks in and comes straight to me. I hug him tightly. “I missed you, bro.” I squeeze him tighter and he returns it.

  I look at the other guys who have joined us. A very huge guy bends down and picks up Etta’s husband like it’s nothing. The patch on his cut says Butcher, and the other one who grabs Lynn’s husband is named Torch. Then they leave right out of the back door like nothing happened.

  “Come on, let’s get home.” Vinny picks up our things and throws money on the counter to pay for it all, then we leave.

  They tuck us in between them. I hold both of the girls, who are beyond shaken. Vinny and Trey are furious. I can feel both of them shaking.

  I help the girls get seated and I buckle in myself. I let out a deep breath, relieved that we’re out of there.

  Trey touches my face softly. “Are you okay, baby?”

  “Yeah, I just want to get out of here. What I’m feeling is nothing compared to them,” I point out and look at Etta beside me. She’s as pale as a ghost.

  They didn’t get hurt. I got the brunt of it, but their pasts coming face to face with them had to be terrifying.

  Vinny

  Fucking terrified is something I never felt before until I heard Lani yell for Trey. He took off and I ran to grab Michaela, who was playing happily.

  The sight of Lani being dragged along with my sister was enough to cause me a lot of sleepless nights.

  I am beyond pissed. Tonight we’re going to interrogate my father and the girls’ two husbands to get all of the information we can get.

  The Grim Sinners volunteered to help. We don't know how big of an organization it is, but we are not going to go in unprepared.

  I want to stop this. I hated seeing the scared looks on the girls’ faces after suffering abuse at the hands of this fucking cult.

  Lani and the girls are asleep on the couch. Trey has been glued to Lani’s side since we got home and he made sure I was close too.

  This shook him up.

  We have to leave and go to the club. We have a prospect outside of the gate and one in front of the house.

  Trey and I slip out of the door, locking the house down with our phones. The prospect is sitting on his bike in front.

  “Get your ass over here,” Trey demands, and I walk over. He grips the back of my neck, pulling me to him hard, kissing me.

  I allow him to take what he fucking wants from me. “We are going to settle this shit. We will make it right for your sisters and our Lani,” he informs me, his eyes lit with fire.

  * * *

  Trey

  We pull our bikes next to the others. My brothers are already here and the Grim Sinners MC is here too. I recognize Lane’s bike and his Smiley’s, his dad.

  I open the door for Vinny, and we walk down to the basement. It’s the house of fucking horror down here.

  Many evil motherfuckers have died down here and I have had the pleasure of ridding this world of scum.

  Chrystal opened a women’s shelter and we offer the protection. Anyone who poses a threat to them, we take care of it.

  Doesn’t matter if it’s women, men, children. You abuse someone, you pay for it with your skin. But this?

  This is fucking personal. Seeing Lani being dragged by her hair and her hanging on to Lynn so she didn’t get taken off will forever haunt me.

  I saw the pain on her face, the panic but the determination to protect Lynn, and I fucking love her for it.

  But that shit makes me want to fucking beat every single person involved until they’re on the verge of death and then end it.

  I push open the door and Vinny steps inside. The eyes of our brothers and the Grim Sinners turn towards us. Right in the center of the room is Vinny’s father and his sisters’ husbands, hanging from the ceiling in chains.

  Kyle, our President, steps forward. “Are the girls okay?” he asks.

  This is why he’s our President. If he didn’t give a shit and we all took care of each other, then I would have taken Vinny and left.

  “They’re asleep. Lani’s head hurts because this fucker dragged her.” I glare at Lynn’s husband. I want to fucking tear him limb from limb.

  “Did I mention that she’s my sister too, fucker?” Techy comes out of nowhere and hands Torch his laptop, then punches Charles hard in the face.

  “But she fucking protected Vinny’s sister and held on so he couldn’t drag her away.” I smile at that.

  I hate that she got hurt and was scared, but I’m so proud of the way she protected Lynn. She didn’t hesitate and did whatever it took.

  Kyle steps forward, going straight to Charles and gripping his tightly. “I heard you liked to beat my brother here when he was a kid. He’s our family. You know what we do to people who hurt our family?”

  Kyle looks at Jordan, who walks over with pictures of people we have tortured and killed before.

  I take Vinny’s hand and pull him to the side. “Are you sure you want to be here for this?” I look over at Charles, who is glaring at Vinny.

  “He is nothing to me. He’s just another stupid fucker we have to take out.” I study his face for a few minutes to make sure he’s being one hundred percent honest.

  I nod and let him join the others. I just don’t want him hurt any more than he already is. “Are you going to let these ‘devils,’ as they call themselves, hurt me?” Charles spits at Vinny.

  I start to walk over, but Vinny stops me, stalking over to his father. “Yes I am. You allowed these men—MEN—to marry my baby sisters…and let’s not forget my brother. Where is he?”

  Every man in the room shifts at the mention of Vinny’s sisters being forced to marry, pissed instantly.

  The husbands are terrified. Piss is pooling at their feet from the fear of what’s going to happen to them.

  “You’re going to tell us everything you know about this cult. If you don’t, I will force it out of you, but if you tell us, your torture won’t last half as long. That is the only choice you have,” Kyle tells them and takes a step back, allowing them to think.

  Jordan pulls up a chair and sets up his laptop. He’s going to write down everything they tell us, and Jordan will search the web to make sure it’s accurate.

  They’re not going to bullshit us.

  “One of the girls told us that these fuckers changed the age they can marry the young girls at now. Once they start their
period, that means they are women in their eyes,” Trey informs the guys.

  Lynn’s husband’s Chris’s eyes widen because he knows that Lynn was the one who told us this. It still fucking blows my mind she’s sixteen years old with a two-year-old.

  “How old were you and how old was Lynn when you married her?” Kyle asks Chris what we already know, but them admitting it is what we need to fully justify what we’re going to do with him.

  “She is my wife,” he argues.

  “That is not what I fucking asked,” Kyle tells him.

  I move up to stand next to Kyle and take out my knife, running my hand down the sharp end of it. I can’t wait to bury my fucking knife in every part of their bodies.

  As a man you’re meant to protect and care for those you care about. Charles is the worst because he allowed this to happen to his daughters and he hurt Vinny.

  He hurt Vinny.

  That is eating me up inside because I picture him when he was younger, with Charles just hitting him over and over because he’s bisexual.

  I want to tear him to pieces. I want to fucking destroy him and make him beg for me to stop, but I won’t because he didn’t show his very own child any kind of mercy.

  “I was thirty-three when I married Lynn. She was thirteen,” he confesses and looks at Etta’s husband, whose head is hanging in shame.

  You should be ashamed, motherfucker.

  “How old was she when you started fucking grooming her?” Kyle asks again. Vinny fists his hands, waiting for the answer.

  “Don’t answer him, Chris!” Charles yells and pulls against the chains like it’s going to do something.

  “Shut your fucking mouth.” I walk over and slam Charles’s mouth shut so he can’t say a word. “Speak again without it being your turn and I’ll cut off your dick then feed it to you,” I growl in his face, completely disgusted.

  “She was ten when I started dating her.”

  Puke crawls up my throat. She was fucking ten years old! How in the world can a man see her in this way?

  “When did you start raping her?” Kyle asks, and I stop moving, holding my breath, waiting for his answer.

  He is digging himself a bigger and bigger hole with every single answer. Every person in this room is going to get a part of him and he’s going to face hell before he reaches hell, because that is exactly where he is going.

  “She is my wife.” He starts to argue his point, and I slam my fist in his mouth, enjoying the feel of his teeth breaking off beneath my hand.

  “She is not your wife, she is a child. Tell me, now,” Kyle demands, pushing his knife under his throat, blood pooling down the blade;.

  “She was eleven when we started making love.”

  My stomach drops. Making love?

  “Etta was thirteen, we married at fifteen,” Etta’s husband pitches in like it’s the most normal thing in the world.

  Vinny explodes. He attacks both of them, pounding them with his fists over and over, screaming at the top of his lungs until their faces aren’t even recognizable anymore.

  I walk over to Vinny and put my hand on his back, letting him know I’m here. This shit is so fucked up.

  We’re all hurting at the thought of what these young girls have suffered, but they won’t have to suffer again. I know we’re going to find the others and make sure they have a brand new life.

  I want to pull Vinny away from those fuckers. This is the hardest part of us both being members of the Devils. I want to protect Vinny, but he’s a patched in member. I don’t get that right.

  I want him right in the fucking bed with Lani right now, away from all of this shit so I can protect her.

  I love them both. I didn't think that shit was possible, but Lani completes us. I feel content in my life like I never have before.

  An hour later, after many ass-beatings, Charles admits he saw what happened to the others, so he squeals like a pig and tells us everything. He gives us locations of the churches and the details of underage marriages, and the numbers are fucking appalling.

  “Are you going to let me live?” Charles asks pitifully, and I laugh loudly, making myself known for the first time. I grip his face hard, putting my face in his, grinning. “You think I would let you live after what you did to those girls and Vinny? The only reason I allowed you to live this long is because we wanted to save the others.”

  Charles’s mouth quivers at the realization that we aren’t going to let him live. No, we aren’t going to let them live. None of these pedophiles are.

  The prospects make themselves known and strip the fucking pedophiles. Charles screams at the top of his lungs. “Why are you afraid? Are you afraid we are going to rape you like you allowed those men to do to your babies?”

  “And me.”

  The ground could have fucking opened right then and there, I wouldn’t have noticed it. Vinny comes up to me, his face pale. “Don’t forget where the whole ‘faggot’ shit came from, Dad. You said you were going to fuck it out of me. Don’t you remember?” Vinny tells him.

  Charles pisses his pants at the realization of his fate. I look at Vinny and I can see the pain so fucking deep inside of him.

  This has fucking destroyed me.

  The brothers in the room are silent, all of them fucking hurt for our brother who should have never suffered like this.

  I’m fucking hurt to the core for my man. I want to fucking burn down the world for it. “Vinny,” I say, and then stop because I don’t know what to say, but I’m so fucking proud of him coming out with it.

  He is so fucking strong.

  “I’m going to sit back here and I want to watch revenge being carried out.” Vinny’s voice fills the room and he sits down in a chair by Techy.

  Butcher hands me a castration device meant to cut off bulls’ balls.

  Charles screams at the top of his lungs and I fucking laugh. I bask in this shit. “Scream some more, little piggy.” I bend down and put the device around his balls.

  “Don't beg for mercy, that won’t help you any now,” I whisper in his ear and bend his head back, taking my knife and slitting his throat, ending his life.

  Blood pours out onto the ground and down the drain.

  I throw the device down onto the ground and Vinny makes himself known. He moves to his sisters’ abusers and does the same exact thing, ending their lives but making sure they suffer.

  Usually the others would get a piece of the action, but right now it’s too fucking personal and we had the rights. But that doesn’t mean when we find the others they won’t get a piece then.

  It’s going to be fucking war and bloodshed.

  6

  Lani

  I wake up on the couch. I roll over and see the girls are waking up also. My phone buzzes, letting me know I have a text message from Trey.

  Trey: Vinny is going to need you once we’re home.

  Lani: I will be waiting.

  Worry gnaws at me. “Are you girls hungry?” I ask and scoot to the edge of the couch, preparing to get up.

  Lynn shakes her head. “I think I just want to go home and sleep, if that’s okay?” she tells me and snuggles Michaela closer.

  “I’d like to do the same,” Etta says and pushes the blanket off of her lap.

  I walk to the front door. “The girls are wanting to go to their house, can you walk them over?” I ask the prospect who’s standing guard outside, and he nods.

  I hug both of the girls goodnight and watch them walk to their house, making sure they get inside safely.

  I shut the door and walk upstairs to our bedroom. I change into one of the guys’ shirts and lie in bed waiting for them to get home.

  Around an hour later, I hear the front door open. I sit up in bed and wait for them to walk into the room.

  At my first look at Vinny, I can tell something major happened. Trey looks just as bad.

  I run out of bed to them. “Hey, what’s the matter?” I take Vinny’s hand and he turns his face from me, which breaks
my heart.

  “Come join me in bed,” I whisper softly, taking their hands and pulling them to me. Trey smiles softly at me before looking at Vinny, who is so far inside of his head.

  “Help me?” I ask Trey, and tug on Vinny’s cut, trying to take it off.

  He helps me take off Vinny’s clothes, leaving him in his boxers, and Trey strips down too. “Come on, baby, let’s lie down.” My voice is soft, and I look at Vinny, hoping he will see me.

  He doesn’t.

  I’m so terrified. What has happened?

  Trey helps me pull Vinny into bed. I lie down and pull Vinny into me, wrapping my arms and legs around him.

  He lays his head on my chest, his whole body weight on top of me. I run my fingers down his back. “What’s the matter, baby?” I push his hair back and kiss his forehead.

  Trey scoots up next to us and wraps his arm around Vinny. I can feel him shaking under me and I hold on tighter, like I can just hold the pain out of him.

  “When I was growing up, the reason my father accused me of being gay was because he started raping me. He said it was to fuck it out of me, then he would beat me and it continued until I was old enough to fight back. I never told anyone until today.” Vinny’s voice cracks as he finishes speaking.

  I die inside. I look at Vinny and my heart breaks. To know he has suffered so much…he was just a baby.

  How can someone be so cruel?

  “He can’t hurt you ever again, baby.” Trey puts his hand on the back of Vinny’s head and rubs gently.

  There are so many layers to Trey. He truly is one of the best people I have ever met, and watching him with Vinny right now? I am so gone for him. “I know that. I’m feeling so much shit that I have kept buried,” Vinny admits, and we just hug him tighter.

  “Please just love me. I need to feel you both,” Vinny whispers, pulling his face out from my neck, and I kiss him softly, trying to pour every single ounce of emotion I have into it.