Ezra woke up tied up to a chair in a small room. He picked up his head and looked around. He knew what room he was in. He had taken people to this room many times before. There were no windows and the only furniture that was in the room beside the chair that he was sitting on, was a bench behind him.

His head was pounding. He dropped his head and closed his eyes. He knew he'd have a large bump on the back of his head. 

He didn't understand why Jearon hadn't just put a bullet through his head in the middle of the warehouse. He knew that Jearon wanted him dead. But this could be a good thing. It would give him a long time to distract Jearon and let the others get into the warehouse safely. He could figure out if Aubrey was safe before Jearon would decide to kill her. He was counting on Jearon to do this, but he had the thought that he would just kill him on sight. 

Maybe he'll bring her to me, he thought longingly.

He didn't want her to see him this way, but he wanted to see her just once before his life was taken from him.

The door opened slowly. Ezra picked up his head to see Jearon standing in the doorway and smirking at him before walking in. His black shirt was untucked and wrinkled. He looked like a mess. Ezra smirked at himself knowing that he was the cause of Jearon looking unorganized. 

Ezra didn't notice until his fist collided with his cheek that Jearon had put on a brass knuckle. Blood filled Ezra's mouth as his teeth started to feel loose on his left side. He made a point to spit out the blood onto Jearon's nice, leathered shoes. 

Jearon jumped back before the blood could hit his shoes and cussed at him. "Damn it, Ezra! You remember how much these shoes had cost me!" He started to come at him again but thought against it. He rubbed his left-hand knuckles against the brass knuckles on his right hand and smirked at him. "Would you like to know if she's safe?"

Ezra's blood started to boil at him mentioning her. He spits out some more blood onto the floor, close to his shoes again making Jearon step back. "She's not safe if she's here."

Jearon shrugged a shoulder. "You're obviously wrong. She's must safer here than she ever was with you." He smirked at him. "She's with me. I'll be able to offer her so much more than you ever could."

Ezra shook his head. A stronger headache was already starting to form, and he controlled himself not to wince. "You're the one that's wrong, Jearon. You know she's not safe."

"She will be after she accepts what I've offered her."

Ezra narrowed his eyes at him. "What did you offer her?"

Jearon's eyes turned dark as his smirk grew. "To be my bride."

"She'll never agree to be your bride," he hissed at him.

Jearon nodded in agreement. "You're right, Ezra. She hasn't agreed to me yet." He stalked towards him and grabbed a fist of his hair, roughly pulling his head up to look him straight in the eyes. "She won't even think about my offer while you're alive." His teeth clenched together. "Your death is going to be more to me than just revenge, Ezra. Your death is going to be the start of my life with my new bride. After you're gone, she won't have to feel guilty about feeling satisfied by my cock."

Ezra didn't hesitate before spitting more blood into Jearon's face. Jearon reeled back and growled. When he wiped the blood from his face, he looked over at Ezra and punched him in the face again, hard.

Ezra could feel his left eye starting to swell slowly. Jearon bent down and sneered at him. "I'm going to make sure that Aubrey knows how fucking weak you are right now." Ezra fought against the ropes to try to get to him, but he couldn't. Jearon laughed as he turned around and stopped at the door. "Oh, by the way," he turned around and looked over his shoulder. "I think you'll recognize those clothes in the corner." Jearon turned back around quickly and closed the door behind him.

Ezra looked over at the corner that Jearon had pointed toward and his breathing hitched. He knew that the clothes he was looking at were Aubrey's. The hoodie that was on the floor was his. Ezra's blood started to boil again. If Jearon had touched her in any way, Ezra was going to figure out how to get out of these restraints and kill him.

----

Aubrey sat up on the bed at the knock on the door. The door opened quickly revealing Jearon as he walked into the room. Aubrey's heart sank as she saw what looked like dried blood on his face. She started to shrink when she noticed the angry look on his face. He stalked over to her and grabbed her arm roughly. He pulled her off of the bed and out of the room.

"Jearon," Aubrey yelled at him. She worked to control the shakiness in her voice. "You're hurting me!" She tried to pull out of his grip, but he was stronger than her.

"Shut up!" Jearon yelled at her. He pulled her closer and looked at her with a crazy look in his eyes. "I have something to show you. I think you're going to like it."

Aubrey sucked in a quick breath. She didn't like that look he was giving her, and she was sure that she wasn't going to like whatever it was that he needed to show her. She kept her eyes on the ground as he pulled her further into the warehouse. She prayed that she wouldn't find her father or Ezra dead. Her calfs started to burn with having to keep up with him in these heels. She was still wearing the same dress from the day before. He had given her other clothes to wear, but she refused to wear them. 

They suddenly stopped at a familiar door. It was the same door that she was kept in when she first got here. Jearon pushed open the door and pulled her inside. "Aubrey, I need you to look up." Jearon's voice had a hint of iciness to it. Her body wanted to obey him out of fear, but her brain was telling her otherwise. 

She shook her head and continued to stare at her bare feet.

Jearon roughly grabbed Aubrey's chin and jerked her head up. Her heart sunk when she saw who was tied to a chair in the middle of the room.

Ezra.

Her knees buckled underneath her as she stared at him. His head hung down and off to the side. Jearon pushed her towards another one of his goons and walked towards Ezra.

"Don't you fucking touch him!" Aubrey yelled after him as she fought against the man holding her. Ezra didn't react to her voice making her assume that he was knocked out cold.

Jearon laughed and kept walking toward Ezra. He walked behind him, grabbed his hair, and pulled his head back. A cry came out of Aubrey's mouth. Ezra's face was bruised and bloody. His bottom lip was split, and his eye was swollen and black. His hairline was bloodied. 

"What did you do to him?" Aubrey had to lean against the man holding her so she wouldn't fall. Her eyes were filling with tears as she looked at him. 

"I had to make him an example, Aubrey. I told you that." Jearon looked down at Ezra's face and chuckled. "He's a fucking idiot. He just came waltzing in and encouraged me to take the opportunity." He motioned to a bucket. "Bring the bucket over."

A large man came over carrying a bucket full of water. He threw it on Ezra's face, dousing him in water. Ezra woke up with a start, sputtering and gasping. His eyes were wide open. The cut on his lip reopened sending blood running down his chin. He looked around the warehouse as his body tensed up. His eyes continued to roam over every face in the room until they roamed over Aubrey. His shoulders slumped and he let out a shaky breath.

"Aubrey," he whispered.

Aubrey tried to smile at him but couldn't. She tried to say anything to him, but only a whimper would come out. Her knees started to buckle again as the man holding her gripped her arms harder.

"Ezra," Jearon started with a smirk. "I see you've seen the light of the warehouse." He walked over to Aubrey and took her arm, pulling her towards him. She slammed into his chest as his arm wrapped around her shoulders, keeping her there. "Isn't she a beauty?"

Aubrey looked over at Ezra. He was so close to her, but every time that she tried to get out of Jearon's arms, Jearon would grip her harder. Ezra's eyes snapped down at Jearon's hands and his eyes turned dark.

"Let her go, Jearon," his voice held venom in it.

Jearon smiled at him and shook his head. "I'm not going to let go of my wife, Ezra."

Ezra's stare turned dangerous. "She would never marry you."

Jearon chuckled. "Yes, she will." He grabbed Aubrey's chin and roughly pulled her face over to look at him. "Isn't that right, Aubrey? You're going to be my wife."

"I would never marry you," Aubrey sneered at him.

Jearon rolled his eyes and laughed. He pushed her over to the side and turned around. He curled his fist and punched Ezra in the face. Ezra's head whipped to one side and blood shot out of his mouth. Jearon grabbed Ezra by the collar and raised his fist to punch him again.

"Stop!" Aubrey felt tears threaten to fall out of her eyes. She ran over and pushed Jearon away from Ezra. She stepped in front of him. "Stop hitting him," she said through clenched teeth. She backed up until her legs were against Ezra's.

Jearon glared at her. "Get out of the way, Aubrey."

Aubrey shook her head. She stood her ground against him. She reached down and placed her hands over Ezra's on each arm of the chair. "I'm not going to let you hit him again." She raised her chin.

"Aubrey," Ezra's calculated voice came from behind her, but she wouldn't look at him. If she did, she'd lose sight of Jearon.

"I'll say it one more time," Jearon threatened slowly. "Get out of my way."

"Or what?" Ezra spoke up behind her. "You'll hurt her? You hurt her and I will kill you."

Jearon looked around her and glared at him. "You're tied up, Ezra. Even if I did hurt her, you wouldn't be able to do a damn thing."

"Hit me."

Jearon snapped his attention back at Aubrey. "What?"

"Hit me," she repeated confidently. "If he truly can't hurt you and you won, hit me. Prove him wrong. Hit me."

Jearon huffed and shook his head. "I can't hit my wife-"

"I'm not your wife. Hit me."

"I'm not going to-"

"Fucking hit me, Jearon! Prove that you're the stronger alpha male!" Aubrey took a small step back towards Ezra and braced herself. "Just fucking hit me!"

Aubrey could almost see the wheels turning around in his brain. She continued to provoke him. Finally, he raised his fist and swung it. She closed her eyes waiting for the pain to come, but it never did. She felt a presence extremely close behind her. An arm snaked around her waist, pulling her closer to a chest. She opened her eyes to see Ezra's hand engulfing Jearon's, stopping his punch. 

"You've stepped over another fucking line, Jearon," Ezra growled at him. Aubrey felt goosebumps come up over her skin and she smirked.