"I'd ask if I can buy you a drink, but it's a house party and it's free, so ..." The girl shrugs with a flirtatious smile.

I lazily look at her, taking time to look her up and down, my eyes following her fantastic curves that she has on full display. "I think that should be my phrase." I send her a wink.

The girl smiles. "Everyone knows that Sin doesn't chase girls."

I raise my eyebrows at her in wonder. "I see you've heard about me, but I haven't heard about you." Yet. By the way she's dressed and by the way she's carrying herself, I believe I'll hear about her sooner rather than later from the guys.

Well, she's hot. So, why the fuck not have some fun?

Anything to make the goddamn Frenchie disappear from my head. Just the thought makes me grit my teeth together. Can't I go a few minutes without remembering her?

The girl steps a bit closer to me, losing her fear. A mistake she decided to make. "I'm Melanie." She gives me a shy smile.

It makes me grin. You don't have to pretend that you're a shy girl, you aren't fooling anyone in this room. I lift my hand close to her neck and I see how she holds her breath.

Man, they're all the same.

But I press my fingers on her heart necklace and turn it around so it's turned on the right side. I purposefully touch her skin doing so. "Melanie," I repeat with a low tone, looking at her from under my lashes.

I see how her eyes widen and darken. Seriously, dude. They're all the fucking same.

And when I step even close to the girl, ready to make her go somewhere private, fucking Sam shows up, drunkenly leaning on me.

"Oh, man!" she says and sighs. I look at her in irritation. "Where did you take her, Sin?"

She's not only drunk, but she's also crazy, too, I see. Sam is never the one to interrupt me when I'm with a girl, so I don't know what's her reason for doing it now – especially with that hot, banging thing standing in front of me – but she's going to pay for it.

"Sam, you're drunk and I'm in the middle of something," I tell her through my teeth, glowering down at her.

Sam glances in the girl's direction, but decides she's not worthy of her attention, so she glances back at me. "Gabby. Where the hell is she, Sin? This is not funny."

I furrow my eyebrows at her and laugh, lifting my hands up in defence. "I have no clue, Sam. Why the fuck would I know?"

Sam straightens up and her face goes totally straight. "You haven't seen her? Shit, Sin! I can't find her anywhere."

I roll my eyes at her. "Relax. She's probably somewhere with some guy, drunk out of her mind like every other girl in here."

Sam punches me in the arm and I give her a what the fuck look. "Does she seem like every other girl to you?" she asks me with a growl.

Whoa. Someone's getting a bit defensive here. I turn to Sam now, putting my hands on her shoulders and sigh. "Look, Sam. I don't give a shit where she is and what she's doing. Yeah?"

Sam punches me again.

"Quit doing that! The hell," I grumble, rubbing the spot.

Snake suddenly shows up. "Guys," he starts. "Ryder was here."

Sam's face pales. And I feel my stomach drop at the mention of his name. "Fuck," I let out, staring at Snake with wide eyes. "When?"

Snake shakes his head. "A few people saw him. Said he wasn't here for long."

I forget all about the girl. I put my hands in my hair, looking around the room. "We have to find Gabrielle."

Sam starts trembling. "If he does anything ..." her bottom lip trembles. "I'll personally kill him, I swear to God. I'll rip his dick off and feed it to the dogs and making him watch it."

I glance at Sam. "Nothing's going to happen to her, Sam. Yeah?"

I don't know if she hears the panic in my voice, but she doesn't react to it. And I don't know who I'm trying to convince with my words – Sam or myself.

We each go in a different direction and decide to look in every smallest corner we can find. We make sure we keep our phones with us at all times.

While I'm looking around for Gabrielle, I decide to call her on the phone. There's not answer, but I keep calling her, hoping I could hear her ringtone anywhere outside or, even better, she'd pick up her phone and tell me where the fuck she is.

I keep dialling her number until after 7th or 8th try, the line connects. "Took you long enough."

I stop in the track and I see red. "Ryder," I greet.

•••

"Are you sure you'll be able to handle him?"

I give Sam a look.

She puts her hand on her mouth. "Just bring her back, Alex. In one piece," she pleads.

I shake my head at her while I put my gun at the waist of my jeans and put my jacket over it. "Trust me, Sam. If he put a single finger on her, I'm blowing his head off," I promise. With that, I start my motorcycle and drive as fast as I can.

I don't even care about the police. They've never been a problem for me before.

Sam wanted to come with me, but with her history with Ryder, I didn't want her anyone near him. Fuck, I didn't want anyone near him. And when he starts messing with my people, I show him just how much shit he fell in.

Just thinking about what that bastard be doing to Gabrielle in this time I'm driving to him makes me speed even more.

When I park in front of Ryder's place, my lips curl up in disgust and my body is shaking in anger. The last time I was here was a few years back ... how fucking funny that I was here for the same thing as I am now.

Fucking psycho. I swear if he tried anything, he's not going to live until the morning.

I park the motorcycle and get off it. I don't hesitate; I run to the door and kick it open. I look inside and the air seems clear. It's a bit suspicious how easy it is to get in. And it's suspicious how quiet it is here.

I swear if the bastard took her somewhere else ... My hands clench into fists.

When I start walking right, a slow clapping stops me behind my back. "That was fast. Props to you."

I quickly turn around and put my hand on my gun, but not pulling it out just yet. Ryder is not armed, at least it doesn't look like he is. The only weapon he's wearing is his fucking disgusting smirk that's full of victory. He thinks he has me where he wants me.

"I'm not here to have a chat with you. Where is she?" I'm not beating around the bush. And I swear if he tries to pull any trick on me, I won't hesitate to kill him. In fact, I'd be happy to put a bullet through his head once and for all.

The bastard has the decency to smile. "And here I thought I could offer you something to drink and discuss things with you in peace."

I react fast. I pace to him and push him against the wall, gripping him by the throat. "I'll give you three seconds to tell me where she is," I say to him quietly and threateningly.

Ryder lifts his head up higher, challenging me with his look. "I'm not afraid of you, Sin." He says my name with a venom; grimacing like it leaves a bad taste on his mouth.

And this is the time for me to stop playing nice with him. I already had to deal with him last week, but apparently, he forgot about it already. I press the gun to his throat, making sure he feels the cold steel.

I see how his eyes widen for a second before he remembers to compose himself. Now it's me who has him where I want him. "3 ..." I say, cocking my head on the side. "2 ..."

I hear some noise then somewhere I can't locate. I look around me quickly to see if we're still alone. We are.

That noise averts my attention for a second. A second is enough for Ryder to react, trying to take the gun from me. But I react even faster. "3," I say.

I point my gun down and shoot him in the leg.

"Help me! Somebody, please! Help me!" A piercing cry that makes my body jolt like it's been electrified.

I leave Ryder's body to fall down on the floor, screaming in pain, and run to the first door I see, breaking through it without any force. Ryder should really think about investing in better doors if he wants to play with the people he shouldn't have. It's too easy to get to him.

I don't see her at first. But I hear her cry. And then my eyes search for her until they find her sitting in the corner of the room, beside the bed. She's hugging her knees and has her head down, not looking up even once. She's rocking back and forth as she sobs.

I look around the room quickly. The room is dark and the bed is messy. There's a broken vase laying down beside Gabrielle, the pieces laying in the water that spilt out of it.

Fucking bastard.

Fucking asshole. Stupid fucking psycho.

My hands ball into the fists but I force myself to calm down before going anywhere near Gabrielle. She's already frightened.

I quickly type a text for Snake.

And then, all of my focus is back on Gabrielle.

"Little one," I call out softly.

She jumps up in fear, even though my voice wasn't any higher than a whisper. But she lifts her head, staring at me with a face that's wet with tears. I notice a bruise on her left cheek.

Ryder hit her. He put his hands on her and hurt her.

I want to rip his head off and hang it on the ceiling. As a reminder to everyone who touches what they shouldn't have.

I slowly walk forward while Gabrielle's eyes stay trained on me. It makes me nervous as hell because I don't know how to react. She's scared, I know that. I need to reassure her somehow that I'm not the guy who's going to hurt her – at least not right now and right here. I'm not a psycho like that.

When I stop in front of her, she whimpers. I shake my head quickly when I notice how much she's trembling. "I'm not going to hurt you, Little one. As ironic as it sounds, I'm here to save you."

I kneel down in front of her and put my hands on her, my touch light and slow so she knows I won't hurt her.

"I ... I heard a gun ... a gunshot," she lets out shakily.

I curse Ryder for the hundredth time. "It was nothing. What happened in here?"

I don't think I should ask her this, but I'm desperate to know.

"He didn't ..." she starts, but she can't finish. She starts crying even harder. She puts her head in her hands, grabbing her hair. "This is the second time ... the second time ..."

"The second time?" I question, not knowing where she's going with this and what she's talking about.

Her response is only a loud cry. I sigh and pull her hands out of her hair before she'll pull them all out. "Let's get you out of here."

I pick her up in my arms, even though she protests weakly. I ignore her protests and carry her out of the room. And when I hear her gasp, I know exactly what she sees, even though I didn't want her to.

"You killed him?" Her tone is filled with disbelief and shock.

I frown. The bastard kidnapped her and did God knows what to her and she seems shocked that he'd be dead? Jesus. Please don't tell me she'd actually feel bad for him. I swear, if she's that kind of good ... I shake my head. "I wish," I grunt. "But he'll live. He'll just remember this lesson whenever he'll want to touch something he shouldn't have."

I'm impressed when I see my car already parked out front. I guess Snake was on his way. I don't see him anywhere and I don't see my motorcycle either.

I get Gabrielle in the car and fasten the seatbelt. She's still shaking, but not as much as before. And her cries died down a notch.

I close the door and lean on the car for a few seconds, closing my eyes and just taking a few breaths. "Motherfucker," I say under my breath. It takes a lot of effort not to go back in there and take the life away from him. He doesn't deserve to live.

I force myself to get into the car and drive away. Away from the pain, away from the place the bastard once almost destroyed someone very close to me, too.