Ride To Vengeance (A Rough Riders MC Novel #3): A Rough Riders MC Novel #3 (The Rough Riders MC Series) (8 page)

Ronan shook his head slowly before he grabbed me by the neck and kissed me ruthlessly, passionately—his tongue forcing its way between my slightly parted lips. “I can’t fuckin’ kill you. You
coulda
told me the whole cartel has had you and that would never happen. You’re not your past but you are my future. How can I just let you go with this . . .
píosa
cac
?
Ba
mhaith
liom
mé
féin
a
ól
chun
báis
ceart
anois
. . . the thought of what he will do to you will drive me insane,
Nomes
.”

My heart didn’t just break—it fucking shattered into a million pieces. Imagining Ronan drunk, volatile and completely uncontrollable while Fernando had his fun with me and used me like his own personal blow-up sex doll come to life.

The tears—those fucking vultures full of pity and helplessness—streamed down my cheeks and I softly kissed his lips again. “It’s just my body. He can do whatever he wants to do with me but he will never be able to reach here.” I grabbed his hand and placed it over my heart. “I belong to you always. Don’t you fucking dare fall apart over me . . . do what you do best.
Tá
bhfeice
mise
. . . a
dhéanamh
iad
a
íoc
.”

Vengeance is yours . . . make them pay.

That was my final message to him before two of Fernando’s men strode back inside of the building and grabbed me roughly, separating us.

Hardy held Ronan back as he fought with anger, hurt and pain. “How long will you keep her? When will she come back?”

Fernando laughed out loud. “Don’t worry about that. You’ll get her back when I’m through with her.”

I turned away—unable to stand the tears and the loneliness that engulfed me like a tomb.

I’d caused all of this. It was my actions that had set this whole plan into motion and now I had to pay for what I’d done. It wasn’t pretty or even something I wanted to do but the choice was no longer mine.

It was time to pay the piper and I would do that lest I wanted to lose the only man I’d ever cared about and the only one besides my father who gave a damn about me.

Chapter Five

Ronan

T
he first few days were the hardest.

With no word from Fernando and the Feds being of no help what-so-ever, Ronan was forced to cope on his own. Of course he had Hardy and Talia for moral support but what good were they when he didn’t
no where
the fuck Naomi was and what was happening to her?

He kept telling himself he’d done what he had to do. They would have murdered Hardy if she hadn’t gone willingly and
still
would have taken her. She was right. He’d have to stew in his own self-loathing for not being able to protect his woman and concentrate on the fact that vengeance would eventually be taken in its own right.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t do any of that sober.

He was fucking useless as far as the club was concerned and no one bothered him—least of all Hardy—because he’d gone through the same experience in the past. His relationship with Talia had been far too difficult for him to handle at times. Now she was more or less his, he’d eased up on the booze and acted like the Prez everyone had grown to respect in the short time they’d run the Vegas chapter.

Ronan sat at the opulent dining room table of their overpriced mansion in Lake Las Vegas and drank straight from a bottle Bushmills. Fuck Jack Daniels—he needed the comforts of something strong and Irish to dull the pain. Talia strode in and took a seat across from him. Her pale green eyes glared at him intensely, and while they were without judgment, her stare never wavered.

“It’s hard, isn’t it? Betrayal, I mean,” she began in that husky voice of hers that could sing songs as beautifully as she could brutally. “Don’t think just because I put Hardy through the ringer I don’t know what’s goin’ on because I do. I dealt with it plenty of times when Jaden and I were together—hell, even before him, I’ve always had ‘boyfriend issues.’ That’s why it was that much more difficult for me to grasp how I could do it to him.”

“No offense but I don’t need any pseudo, Dr. Phil dispensed advice. You don’t know anything about my situation. I’m a fucking Cox for fuck’s sake. We live hard, work hard, play hard and love harder. I should know—I grew up with an old man who was in love with a woman more than he loved my mother. That very bitch is now over the operation that has direct causation for me
losin
’ my woman,” Ronan explained in a whiskey soaked voice before he swigged from the bottle again.

“That’s not why you resent Eve and we both know it.” Talia cocked her head to the side and studied him. “You despise her because she provided your father with a son—someone Dizzy will always love and adore more than all his other children put together. If that cunt had done something like that to my family, I’d fuckin’ hate her too . . . Unfortunately, she’s my aunt so I love her with all my heart.”

“Shit twice and motherfuckin’ die. When the fuck did this family get so motherfuckin’ incestuous? Are you tellin’ me that Trey is your cousin?”

She nodded silently. “Yes, he is. My mother and Eve are sisters. Although she always will be Aunt Antoinette to me . . . and I’m related to the same man you can’t stand though he’s your half-brother. It’s a complicated situation, Ronan—”

“Don’t give me that shit! I know how complicated everything is but none of this shit has a thing to do with Trey. It’s true—I can’t stand the bastard—but he’s my brother. Not just by blood but because of the club. We live and die together. I know he will always have my back ’cause I’ll always have his—no matter what happens. My issue is that sick fuck and what he’s doing to my old lady right now.”

“Are you scared she’s enjoying it? Being back in his arms again?” Talia shook her head. “She hates it, Ronan. I know Naomi and there’s only one man she would ever give herself to and that’s you. Being with him . . . what he’s forcing her to do . . . it’s tearing her apart. She isn’t cheating on you if that’s what you think—unless you consider rape cheating on a partner. She misses you so much and every time he claims her body, a small piece of her dies inside.

“She’s under the mistaken impression you’ll hate her when you do get her back. You won’t want her and you’ll think she’s damaged goods. A cold, harsh look in those gorgeous eyes of yours is more terrifying than anything Fernando could ever do to her. She blocks him out—numbs herself to the situation and her only solace is when everything is said and done, and when all of this is over, you’ll still love her the way you did before . . .”

“There is no fuckin’
before
, Talia. Of course I’ll love her. I still fucking do. So much that my heart aches right now. I’m drunk as fuck but I won’t sleep until I fuckin’ pass out and when I wake up, it’s rinse and repeat. I can’t go a day without her sober . . . it hurts too much and for a man like me to admit that is crazy. I sound like a fuckin’
cryin
’ ass, weak little bitch but there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for her—absolutely nothin’.”

“I know.” She grabbed his free hand with both of hers and squeezed softly. “When she comes back, just be there for her, all right? Don’t get angry at the situation, don’t ever allow her to see how much pain you’re in. She feels guilty enough—like all of this is her fault. Don’t make her healing process worse than it will already be, all right?”

Ronan nodded as Hardy burst into the kitchen.

“We gotta go, brother. Chapel is in less than an hour and we gotta make it across this Valley.”

Ronan stood, grabbed his cut and nodded slightly at Talia before he left with Hardy.

“I
don’t know what the
fook
is goin’ on in Vegas but I just wanna make it clear to all of youse there’s to be no retaliation in regards to the whole ‘Naomi situation.’ You said it yourself—she went with him out of her own free will.”

Ronan lit a cigarette and tried not to reach across the table and throw the speakerphone against the wall, smashing it to bits.

Here was Dizzy, his own fucking father, telling him he had no rights to go after Fernando at all. All because some fuckin’ gash in a suit he happened to be in love with said so.

Fuck Eve Kerrigan and fuck the motherfuckin’ FBI.

He didn’t give a shit about their RICO case. When had Fernando become Mr. Untouchable?

“Dad, the only reason why Naomi went with him was because Fernando had ordered his men to murder Hardy if she didn’t,” Ronan bit out as he exhaled. “They would have taken her regardless. Would you be so fuckin’ blasé about the situation if your brother was
layin
’ on a slab?”

“Listen, you mouthy little shit—Naomi knows Fernando, it’s not like he’s a stranger. He’s not doin’ nothin’ to her she hasn’t done with him before—
willingly
, I might add. That doesn’t make her a whore or a cheater . . . she’s just doin’ what she needs to do to get out of a bad situation.

“You need to stow that fookin’ temper of
yers
,” Dizzy continued. “You don’t like it your old lady is gettin’ plugged by another guy against her will? Tough fookin’ luck. It’s life! The life we chose when we decided to do business with animals, sick fookin twists and men with no fookin’ honor or code.”

Ronan closed his eyes and tried not
too
think too much about what his father was saying though he knew he was telling the truth.

Naomi had known it too.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t interested in the
shoulda
,
coulda
,
wouldas
—he wanted answers right now and his father was being either too stubborn or too dense to comprehend the gravity of the tone in his voice. He wasn’t exactly
asking
for permission to go after
Aztecas Infierno
—he would do it, come hell or high water.

With or
without
his father’s fucking approval.

“You’re not listenin’ to me at all, old man.” Ronan dragged from his cigarette as his brothers around the table glared at him as if his ass had spontaneously combusted. “I don’t give a fuck about RICO or all that other shit. I am goin’ to get Naomi and Fernando is as good as dead. Full. Fucking. Stop. You get that loud and clear?
Can you fuckin’ hear me now?
”

A few brothers laughed at the obvious joke in tribute to the Verizon commercial but Hardy glared at him with cold, crystal blue eyes and the speakerphone went conspicuously silent.

“Brothers, if everyone can clear the room except Hardy and Ronan, it would greatly be appreciated. Either that happens or I make a special trip to Vegas just so I can put a bullet in one of
me
son’s heads,” Dizzy explained as if he were discussing the weather.

The room cleared quickly and efficiently while his father waited a beat.

“Are you fookin’ insane? Have you added coke along with all the booze and pharmaceuticals you’re
consumin
’? What part of you
cannot
go after Fernando is unclear?” his father replied in a calm and even voice laced with ice and anger.

“I’m not doin’ any drugs, Pops—that madman has
my
woman! My old lady and I’m supposed to just
take
it? What planet are you livin’ on? How long have I been your son? What part of me makes you think I would take anythin’ like this and not do a fuckin’ thing to try to stop it? I have to fight, Pops—without
Nomes
, I’m
nothin’
!”

Dizzy breathed deeply on the other end of the phone. “Son, what you’re goin’ through is tragic. I know ’cause I’ve been through it myself.”

“What are you talkin’ about?”

“Your mother was raped while she was pregnant with youse and
yer
brother. Hell, we weren’t even sure whether you and Quinn were me sons or not until we finally did DNA tests to prove it. This was years later of course ’cause I couldn’t stand the thought you two didn’t belong to me and weren’t gotten from my seed but the possibility was there. Twins run on your mother’s side of the family—not mine—at least, as far as I know.

“Back then, it was the IRA,” his father continued. “I was gone and they wanted to know what I’d told her but I’d disclosed nothing to your mother. She was black and blue for fuckin’ weeks. It’s amazing you and
yer
brother survived at all. In her case, she was gang-raped and yet, she held strong. I would never leave your mother for that one reason alone.”