Zach’s arms dangled at his sides and his face was an ashen mask of confused fury. “What is this?” he whispered before screaming, “What the fuck is this? Is that fucking Shark?”
Oh God. He knew Shark.
Were they friends?
No one knew. Her parents had been so mortified by her behavior they kicked her out and never spoke of it. Mark would never betray her trust by telling her secrets. The Gray Dragons gang operated in a different county. It had been rare for any of them to be seen in Townsend, so no one from her younger days even knew about her association with Shark.
This was the first time she’d returned home since Mark rescued her from herself. No one was ever supposed to know about this. Did the MC know? Had things changed so much in the years she’d been gone that the MC and Shark’s gang were now connected?
“Fuck,” he spat out, pacing away from the computer then returning and pointing at the screen. “This is the motherfucker who has Maverick. That piece of shit that has his hands all over you? He fucking kidnapped my brother.”
Toni felt her world unraveling. The room started to spin out of control and bile climbed up her esophagus again. She sprang up, turned to the sink, and dry heaved since there was nothing left to lose.
Only there was. There was so much to lose now.
And one of those things was standing three feet away, witnessing her greatest sins.
How would Zach ever be able to look at her with anything but revulsion?
Chapter Twenty-One
Anger was his first reaction. A deep, soul-staining anger. The kind of rage that made men do stupid things. Like commit murder. And if Shark was in the room, that’s exactly what would have happened.
The image of Shark fucking Zach’s woman would be branded onto his brain forever. And he’d thought getting the Hell’s Handlers logo burned into his skin was painful. It was nothing compared to the agony of watching a woman he cared about being fucked by his enemy.
He was so close to the edge, so close to losing it, he missed what was going on behind him. Then, the sound of Toni retching broke through the red haze, and Zach realized something was very wrong. For her sake, he used every bit of self-control he possessed and pushed the fury aside. He needed answers and losing his temper wouldn’t get them. At least, not without scaring the shit out of Toni.
Once he quieted the beast inside him, a few things became clear. First, was that the Toni in the video was a very young Toni. This was filmed years ago. Second, was that she looked drugged out of her mind. Glassy, unfocused eyes stared at nothing and she barely reacted to what was happening to and around her. And third, his Toni had her slender arms wrapped around her drawn up knees and was rocking back and forth on the floor. She was so freaked out by the video that there was no way that what had happened on it was something she’d been okay with.
He looked back over his shoulder. The video must have been on some kind of loop because it launched again. On the screen, Toni was naked and lying on a bed surrounded by three men. Shark was the only one Zach recognized, and he seemed to be running the show, but all three had the Dragons’ signature tattoo on their left hands. And all three had their fucking hands on Toni.
They groped, pinched, fondled, and made lewd laughing comments throughout. Toni’s eyes remained open, but she wasn’t an active participant. And for Christ’s sake, she couldn’t have been older than seventeen.
Fuck.
For some sick reason Zach couldn’t tear his gaze from the screen. Not even to go to Toni. She needed comforting and he needed answers, but it was as though he was trapped, weighed down by lead boots that wouldn’t let him escape the horror show playing out before him.
When it became obvious Shark climaxed, Zach’s fists curled and his nostrils flared. He was going to personally tear the man’s dick off. And he’d revel in every second of Shark’s suffering.
When Shark stepped away from Toni and some other fucker positioned himself between her legs, Zach hit his limit. With a roar, he slammed the laptop lid closed hard enough to crack the screen. Then he spun and froze at the sight of Toni.
His heart clenched as though a man’s fist was squeezing the life out of it. His woman sat in a devastated ball on the floor, eyes closed, with silent tears streaming down her face.
And she was his woman. She may not be ready to hear that now, but she’d get there. He’d make sure of it.
“Baby,” he said in a soft voice so as not to cause her any more upset. “Come on.” Bending down, he scooped her up. She jumped, but settled quickly, tucking her head under his chin. This was where she belonged. Right there in his arms where he could stand between her and the world.