Ties That Bind (Ruthless Sinners MC 1)

“Nothing. I got us into this mess, and I’ll get us out.”

“But how are you—”

“You’re just gonna have to trust me, Dee.”

“I want to, Danny, but look at you. You’re practically hanging by a thread here,” I fussed. “And they have me locked in this room and won’t tell me anything.”

“I know, and I’m sorry about that. I hate that you got pulled into this.” An anguished look crossed his face. “You gotta know I never meant for that to happen.”

“I do, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m here. Please ... just tell me what’s going on.”

“I’m sorry, but it’s better if you don’t know.”

“How can it be better? Don’t you know I’m going crazy here?” I argued. “I don’t see how it can get any worse, Danny.”

“You’re wrong. It could be a hell of a lot worse. They could have you in this room, torturing you like they’ve done me! Don’t you get that?”

“Yes, I get it, but they have nothing to gain from doing that to me. I had nothing to do with whatever is going on here.”

“Maybe not, but if they think you know something, then—”

“Danny, stop. I know what you’re going to say, and I understand why you’re concerned, but regardless of what might happen, I deserve to know the truth.”

“Damn. You’ve always been stubborn as hell.”

“No more stubborn than you are.” I softened my tone as I pleaded, “Just tell me.”

With a regretful sigh, he lowered his head in shame. “I got word yesterday that the take I’d delivered to these guys wasn’t the real deal. It was counterfeit, and they think I had something to do with it.”

“You were dealing drugs?”

He nodded, and just like that, my worst fears had been confirmed. “Dammit, Danny. You know better than to get involved in something like this.”

“I don’t need a fucking lecture, Delilah.”

“I just don’t understand why you would do something so stupid. You—”

“I fucked up. I know that. You bitching about it isn’t going to make me feel any worse.”

“Fine.” I sighed. While I didn’t like it, I knew he was right. The damage had already been done, so instead of berating him any further, I had to help him find a way out of this mess. “You said the drugs were counterfeit. What does that even mean?”

“It wasn’t pure coke. They had probably cut it with something to make it look like the real deal. Hell, I don’t even know what they did. The hit I took was legit, just like all the times before, but apparently, the rest of it was trash.”

“So, how is any of this your fault if you didn’t even know about it?”

“’Cause I’m the one who sold them the goods. Who else are they gonna blame?”

“You really didn’t know that the drugs were counterfeit?”

“Hell, no,” he answered without hesitation. “I’d have to be all kinds of stupid to try to pull one over on these guys. They don’t fuck around.”

“Obviously.” I lifted my hand to his face, and once again, I had to resist the urge to break out into tears. “What’s going to happen to you? To us?”

“I honestly don’t know, Delilah. It’s bad, really bad, and I had to go and make things even worse by shooting one of them.” I could hear the misery in his voice. “I gotta tell ya. I don’t think I’ll get out of here alive.”

“What?”

“It doesn’t look good, sis, but there’s still hope for you. Just keep your head down, do whatever they tell you to do, and maybe they’ll cut you a break.”

“No, there has to be something we can do. Some way we can convince them that you were innocent in all this.” I stood and started scanning the room. “Maybe there’s a way we can get out of here.”

“What are you not getting here?” Danny fussed. “You’ll just make things worse if you try to pull something. We have no choice but to ride this out.”

“We’re supposed to just sit here and wait for them to kill you?” I gasped. “I can’t do that, Danny.”

Showing little emotion, he replied, “You don’t have a choice. They’re gonna do what they’re gonna do.”

“I don’t want to lose you.”

Before he could respond, the door opened and Hawk stepped inside. Shotgun was standing there next to him, and I knew my conversation with my brother was over. I wanted to resist and stay there with him, but I could tell from their fierce expressions it wasn’t a good idea. I stood up and then bent down in front of Danny to lightly kiss him on the forehead and whispered, “I love you. Please don’t give up hope.”

He didn’t respond as he watched me walk over to the men who’d tortured him for hours on end. I couldn’t even look at Hawk as I followed them out of the room. I was too angry, too frightened for my brother’s life to even speak. We all walked in silence as we made our way down the hall to the room where they’d been keeping me prisoner. I walked in and kept my back to both men as they closed the door and locked me inside. Unable to hold on to my emotions a moment longer, I dropped down on the bed and started to cry. Actually, crying wasn’t the word for it. I was a broken, sobbing mess, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop the tears from falling.