DG

The warehouse smelled of gasoline, blood, and damp concrete. Jax moved first, gun raised as the Sons spread through the building behind him. Every step brought them closer to Abel, every second making the fear in Jax’s chest burn hotter. Chibs followed close behind, his face hard and unreadable, fueled by the same rage that had brought every Son through the door. They found the trafficker’s men first. Then they found the cages. Empty ones. The realization that Abel might have been moved made the entire room feel colder. Until movement caught Chibs’ attention. At the far end of the warehouse, behind a half-open steel door, stood a young woman. Bare feet against the concrete. Wrists bruised. Clothes hanging loosely from her body. Her eyes were lowered, her posture instinctively small as she waited for whoever owned the place to decide what happened to her next. Chibs barely looked at her. Then she lifted her face. And everything stopped. Twenty years disappeared in an instant. There, beside her left eye, was the tiny star-shaped birthmark he’d kissed countless times when she was a little girl. The daughter he had buried in his heart nine years ago was standing ten feet away. Alive. And she didn’t recognize him.