Sharing Freedom

Prologue

The sound of feet as they hit the pavement was the only thing that could be heard echoing down the dark lonely road. Her car broke down a few miles back, and she was nowhere far enough away from the ones who would come for her. They would kill her if they found her, and she would be damned if she would go down without a fight.

When she'd graduated from college with her degree in accounting, she had been excited. Her father's business had been her first client, one she had been proud to finally take over. Her family's restaurant had been a staple in the community of Riverton, Nevada for fifty years. Growing up she knew her parents had different views on child rearing; her mother was softer, more caring, while her father was demanding and hard.

The small town had once been on the brink of desertion when a company came in and discovered the small town two hours south of Vegas held something that Sin City didn't-actual gold. The unknown owner had helped rebuild the town to what it was now. She had looked up to her father since she was a small child, seeing him as a super-hero almost. Getting his approval had meant everything to her. The sad part was she had never gotten it, he always told her she was just a female. No matter how hard she worked and tried, he never gave her the praise she desired. He was a cold and unfeeling bastard, and she had been living in a dream world.

However, last night, it had all come crashing down around her when she heard her father agree to turn her over to a man he owed money to as collateral. The man lived in a town across the river in Arizona. Where Riverton was situated, the Colorado River was the border of Nevada and Arizona. On one side sat Riverton and on the other, sat Pinessee.

She had walked into her father's restaurant after closing last night ready to finish the books when she heard her father's voice. She wasn't supposed to be there, but she figured he wouldn't mind, he was probably having a card game with the guys again. But she froze as the words her father was speaking finally filtered through her head.

"I just need a little more time. I owe the Diablos too," her father had said.

"I don't give a f**k about who else you owe, I have given you more than a year to work this out. You knew when you borrowed the money it was going to come due," a strange man had said.

Leaning around the corner she was hiding behind, she'd had to stifle the scream working its way up her throat as several huge men surrounded her father. Some wore black leather jackets while a few were in short sleeve black t-shirts that outlined the massive chests underneath and with their arms exposed showed the tattoos donning their skin.

"I only need a few more weeks. My wife's hospital…" her father said, and she frowned. Her father had told her it was okay, her mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer five years ago. She hadn't caught it early enough to save her though. After four years of surgeries and treatments, her mother died just after she had graduated from college.

She'd known the medical bills had been huge, and since they owned their own business, the insurance had eaten up a lot of their profits. But her father had told her he had it under control. The books looked like they had. How had her father hidden that from her?

After looking closer at the jackets, the men were wearing, she had felt a wave of cold flow through her veins. Bikers. She had heard about the clubs that had moved in the area, but only knew to stay away from the dangerous, handsome men. As a teen all girls dream of the rough and sexy boy who was the rebel, but she outgrew that phase and really wanted a more stable man.

"I don't need any more excuses," the man snarled, which had caused her to jump. "I am gonna need some collateral."

Her father had argued and pled for fifteen minutes but the man had been unwavering. That is when she got the shock of her life and found out just how low her father had sunk.

"Your daughter will do."

“My daughter,” her father said with a shocked tone. “The Diablos want her, if I give her to you to hold, will you make sure that nothing happens to her? The others will sell her.”

Wait…what…her collateral? What exactly did that mean? In this day and age taking a human for collateral was unheard of, it was like selling her. There was no way her father would allow that. They could hurt her.

“Do I look like a f*****g hotel? Either the money, or the girl—you pick. But if you give me the girl, she will be ours, and the Devils will own her. Every piece of her,” the man said.

Her father had cried, but finally agreed to let them take her, saying they were the lesser of the two evils. She'd wanted to vomit at his response. She had been heartbroken, what the hell had her father gotten into?

There was only one thing she knew…a biker club was going to be after her, because there was no way she would go willingly. She turned on her heels and left, not even looking over her shoulder once. Time and distance, she needed it and quick.