Page 69 of Cruel Biker

The door was ajar as well. Venom waited to see if he could hear anything, but there was no sound. He pulled out his cell phone, brought up the flashlight, and checked the doorway for any potential traps. David was a scientist, but he could have been playing a part to keep his ass alive. There were no wires, nothing waiting to stab them in the back or hurt them.

He took a deep breath and slowly opened the door. The house was quiet. No lights were on, and he reached out to flick the switch, and the house didn’t have any power.

Maverick followed him in, and Venom shined the light and on the floor, he saw the footprint. Not in mud, but in blood, along with a single finger, pointing.

“That’s a finger,” Maverick said.

Venom knew it was, and he had a sneaking suspicion they were going to discover it was David’s finger. They followed the eight fingers, and two thumbs, as it led toward the kitchen, and there was a lot of blood. All of David’s fingers were gone, and in the kitchen, an arm continued the path.

The kitchen was covered in blood, and Venom was shocked by the sight. He didn’t need to see the rest, but he knew the path well, there were different body parts, a kneecap, even a foot. They had taken the man’s eyes and his penis, and used it as a little map to where they had placed David’s body. Maverick gagged, and Venom couldn’t believe what he was seeing. What was left of David was on display as if it was something to be proud of, but that was not all.

From the moment Venom had called him, the Karamazov had found him, and in the dining room was a nightmare, displayed as a family dinner scene. David’s family—the ones he’d been scared for—were all there, but their body parts had been removed and were displayed as if they were about to eat them.

This was Karamazov. They knew their safe house. They had known where David was, and that meant none of them were safe.

Their days were well and truly numbered.

Chapter Sixteen

“Twenty-five years ago, I was the family disappointment,” Gus said. “All of my brothers, three of them, as well as two sisters, were only interested in serving the Kristoff Cartel. I didn’t want to be a crook. I wanted to serve my country, find a wife, settle down. I didn’t participate in anything to do with the Kristoff Cartel, but my father demanded that all his sons be strong. They had to be capable, so I was trained, and when the time came for me to be initiated, and that initiation required me to make my first kill, I refused.”

Morwenna looked toward her father. “Is your name Gus Graves?”

“My real name is Artemis Moseley. Your mother’s name was Kallypso,” Gus said. He pressed his hands together and leaned forward. “You need to understand that I had no real connection to the cartel, and my father wanted to be some kind of leader. He wanted to have his own state, he wanted wealth, he was hungry for power. I was not. So, when I refused to make my first kill, I was cast out, banished, and I joined the army. I served my country, and during that time, I met your mother.”

She looked between her parents as they reached for each other and held hands. Even now, they reached for each other to be strong. She couldn’t help but feel a little envious for the way they were together. They clearly loved one another and no one could take that away from them. They were as tight now as they were all those years ago.

“The way we met,” Willow said. “Everything we have told you about our meeting—I was working behind a bar, and there were a couple of college kids giving me trouble—all of that is true. We didn’t lie to you.”

“What about my name?”

“I was pregnant with you when it all went wrong,” Willow said.

Her father sighed. “Your grandfather earned his place within the cartel. He had proven his loyalty time and again. No one could fault his love, or his dedication to the cause. He was cartel through and through. Once I had finished my tours and done my service, I intended to go back in. My father reached out to me, and he wanted me to reconsider my place, but I wasn’t interested in joining that life. I’d made a good life in the military, and although I will not go into detail of what my role has been, it was the path I took.”

She watched as her mother looked so sad.

“We got married and my family turned up, and I thought they were going to ruin her special day, but they didn’t. It was to congratulate us and send us on a honeymoon.”

“That is all true, our honeymoon, our wedding, all of that,” her mother said, and Morwenna saw how happy her mother was.

“When your mother was seven months pregnant with you, I got a call from my father,” Gus said. “He told me the whole cartel was being hunted. He said the Karamazov were coming and I needed to get out. I needed to get my wife and unborn child to safety. I heard the danger, and I had decided to pay my father a visit.”

Her father stopped.

“They are cruel beyond measure. My father, before they picked him apart, tortured him, my sisters, and my brothers right in front of him, then told me how proud he was. He told me he loved me and I needed to live, because I didn’t deserve what was coming. He warned that I was going to die. I saw what they did and knew what was coming.”

“Your father called just as they had gotten into the house,” Willow said. “They were coming for me, and I was able to take one of them out, but the other two were relentless. I thought I was going to lose you.”

“I got there just in time as they were about to cut her. They had stripped her naked, and she had knife marks all over her body, but they hadn’t cut her just yet.” He sighed. “I nearly lost you both.”

“Nothing else happened. They just hit me and humiliated me,” Willow said.

“My sisters weren’t so lucky,” Gus said. “They were raped, repeatedly. It was brutal. The attack was nonstop.”

“Why are you telling me this now?”

“We’re the only known survivors,” Gus said. “I had a few guys in the military. They know. They’re men I trust. Everyone else believed I died that night, as well as my wife and our unborn child.”