Serpent King's Bride: A Dark Mafia Romance Trilogy

“Got it,” I muttered, sliding the key into the lock. The tumblers gave way with an almost inaudible click, and I pushed the door open, ushering Abby in ahead of me.

The air inside was stale, dust motes dancing lazily in the slivers of light that pierced through gaps in the boarded-up windows. Venom Motors had been deserted in haste, that much was clear.

“Jesus,” Abby whispered beside me as we took in the chaos before us.

Cars and motorcycles lay in various states of disassembly, their innards spread across workbenches and the concrete floor like mechanical guts. Tools were scattered without care, and half-filled coffee cups sat abandoned, the liquid within long since evaporated into a bitter residue. It was as though the guys had vanished mid-throttle, leaving behind the ghost of their presence.

“Looks like they didn’t plan to leave…” My words trailed off as I stepped over a grease-stained manual sprawled open on the ground, its pages frozen mid-flip.

Abby moved to examine a motorcycle propped up on a lift, her eyes scanning for something that might have been overlooked in the rush. She was thorough, meticulous—the perfect counterbalance to the chaos that seemed to follow me like a shadow.

“Or they didn’t have time to care,” she added quietly, peering closer at the bike’s exposed engine. “This was fast, Nathan. Too fast.”

I nodded, feeling the weight of the situation settle like lead in my stomach. Whatever went down here, it wasn’t just a simple getaway. Something—or someone—had spooked Neon and Javi good.

“Let’s keep looking,” I said, my voice steady even as my mind raced. “There has to be something here that tells us where they went.”

Abby met my gaze, her eyes steady and resolute. “We’ll find it,” she assured me.

And despite everything, I believed her.

“Let’s split up,” I suggested, my hand instinctively reaching for the keys on my belt loop. “Cover more ground.”

“Agreed,” Abby nodded. “I’ll take the shop floor. You?”

“Back office,” I replied.

As she turned to survey the disarrayed shop with a keen eye, I made my way toward the back where the office lay. The door was closed, its surface marred by scratches and dents—silent witnesses to the rough clientele that frequented Venom Motors.

I fumbled through the heavy ring of keys once again, each metallic clink echoing in the hollow space, but none slid into the lock smoothly. My frustration simmered as I tried key after key, the tension coiling tighter in my chest; we were supposed to have the key to every Serpents operation on this ring, but it seemed Alex had changed the lock to the office. Not exactly a point in his favor.

“Dammit,” I muttered under my breath.

Brute force seemed like the only option left.

I grasped the handle firmly, threw my weight against the door, and with a grunt of effort, broke the lock. The handle gave way with a loud snap, rattling against the silence of the shop.

Stepping over the threshold, I was immediately struck by the clutter—an organized chaos that hinted at the lives of those who had once inhabited this space. Fast-food wrappers littered a corner desk, a myriad of tools lay scattered on workbenches, and oil-stained manuals sprawled open as if just consulted.

My gaze shifted across the room, landing on a photo pinned against the wall amidst a collage of racing posters and pin-up calendars. It was an image that could’ve been ripped straight from a high school yearbook—Alex, Neon, and Javi, arms slung around each other’s shoulders, grinning widely at the camera. They looked happy, carefree, untouched by the life that had already begun to ensnare them.

A pang of envy twisted in my gut as I studied Alex’s face. He’d always thought I was the lucky one, born into the Serpent’s nest with a silver spoon. But he didn’t know the price of that birthright, the weight of expectations that came with being heir apparent.

“Should’ve been you,” I whispered to his frozen smile. “You had the chance to escape.”

I lingered for a moment, lost in the memories of a time when things were simpler, when our choices seemed as wide and open as the horizon. But that horizon had long since closed in, and now we were all trapped in the tightening coil of my father’s making.

Shaking off the ghosts of the past, I turned my attention back to the present. Time was slipping away, and we needed answers.

“Nathan, come here!”

The urgency in Abby’s voice snapped me back to the present, and my heart leaped into my throat. I surged out of the dusty office, images of her being ambushed by someone who’d doubled back flooding my mind.

“Here,” she called again, and the tension bled from my body when I spotted her crouched by the customer service door, inspecting something on the floor.

“Christ, Abby, don’t do that to me,” I rasped as I approached, trying to steady the adrenaline coursing through me.

“Look.”