“She didn’t do anything!” Jax yelled. He staggered forward, his face as white as his father’s button-down shirt.

Perrone pointed toward a chair. “Sit the fuck down.”

Jax did so without hesitation. He was terrified of his father, and I was terrified for Nikki.

My gaze shifted to Alex, whose wide eyes pummeled me. I couldn’t protect either one of them. “Hey!” I shouted. “You want to hurt someone, you fucking bastard? Hurt me!”

Perrone narrowed his brows. “Someone gag him.”

Brock picked up the gag from the floor and stalked toward me, his mouth curving up at the corners. He wrestled my lips open before shoving the rubber ball in.

I was useless, unable to plead for Nikki, and when Jax lowered his head into his hands, I yanked at the chains in a fit of panic. Jax was freaking out—I was fucking freaking out—and I couldn’t do a thing about it.

I couldn’t save Nikki.

Couldn’t save Alex.

How the fuck had we gotten to this place?

“You guys should be ashamed of yourselves,” Perrone said. “I’ve got prisoners waltzing into my office, unauthorized filming going on, and my own fucking son can’t keep his big mouth shut!”

“Please,” Jax begged, lifting his head. “She doesn’t know anything.”

“Bullshit. She went to the cops with too much info—info she wouldn’t have known unless you told her. She’s Mason’s ex-girlfriend, you idiot! Did you think she was going to sit on her hands when that island went up in smoke?”

Lifting her head, Nikki groaned. She squinted at the people surrounding her and began fighting their grasp on her arms. “I h-have a son. Please…please let me go. I don’t belong here.” She hung her head, and a sob escaped her lips.

She had a son, someone who needed her, who depended on her…holy fuck. I wanted to tell her how sorry I was, but I couldn’t even speak.

Perrone lifted her chin. “Honey, if you want to live, prove your worth. My son has an unhealthy aversion to women—”

“Whose fault is that?” Jax jumped to his feet. “Maybe if you hadn’t forced them on me…” He dragged his hands through his hair and took a deep breath. “Let her go. She didn’t do anything wrong. Please…Dad.”

That was the first time I’d heard him refer to his father in such a personal way, and saying that single word had cost him. Nikki was in real trouble.

Perrone pushed Jax back into the chair. “Bring the blonde. I want her on her knees for my boy.”

Nikki pleaded, and Cleft smacked the whine from her as he dragged her across the floor, her heels digging in the whole way. He pushed Jax’s knees wide open and shoved her to her haunches between them.