Den of Vipers

The next morning, she finds herself alone in the apartment but doesn’t attempt to escape again. When Kenzo comes to the living room without a shirt, he catches her staring at him. He offers to play a game with her: If she wins, she’ll gain her freedom, but if he wins, he gets to have her. He proposes poker, but she asks to play cups, knowing he’s a better card player than she is, but Roxy still loses. Roxy is perplexed that he doesn’t force her to have sex with him, instead demanding that she fulfill her part of their wager. Mid-act, however, Roxy realizes she’s having sex with her kidnapper and tries to get away. Kenzo chases after her, and they have violent sex in the hallway while Diesel watches. Roxy hates that she wanted it and runs to her room.

Diesel obsesses over what he witnessed and goes to find Roxy, as he knows she must be feeling scared and confused. He muses over how Roxy has the power to bring their family together or break them apart. He finds her sleeping and slips in bed with her. He thinks about enacting sadomasochistic fantasies with her and wakes her softly. She claims not to have wanted to have sex with Kenzo, but Diesel asks whether she ever denied her consent to him. Roxy eventually admits she wanted it. She kisses Diesel again and steals his knife. She threatens to kill him, and Diesel encourages her, but she relents, knowing the others would only hunt her down. Roxy speaks of how much her bar meant to her because of her surrogate father, Rich, who died from cancer. Her revelation prompts Diesel to speak of his own mother, who struggled with drug use and was eventually murdered. Diesel watched her die in the fire her murderers set to their home. He failed to save her, but he took his revenge on them later, which is when Ryder and the others found him and brought him into the Viper family. He tells Roxy she is one of them, too, now. While Roxy states she hates them still for being sold to them by her father, she acknowledges a similarity between them.

Ryder mulls over what happened between Kenzo and Roxy, and though he worries over the possible consequences of their engagement, he believes Roxy is now “fair game” since she’s consented to one of them. At breakfast, he discusses the need to find a forger to trace back those who hired the assassins to kill Garrett, and Roxy offers to bring them to a forger she knows on the condition they bring her along. Ryder grudgingly agrees. As Ryder and the others wait for Roxy, Kenzo comments on how Ryder sees her as more than a debt if he’s still taking care of her bar and putting the profits into her account. He denies it, but he feels jealous of how close she seems with Kenzo and Diesel. She directs them to the location, and they meet Tiny, the forger, in his hidden location. Ryder watches as Roxy and Tiny interact, clearly friends. Frustrated, he demands Tiny provide information on the assassins hired to kill them. Tiny demands greater pay but reveals the assassin he made papers for is an external hire from Germany. As they leave, Ryder tells Tiny never to insult Roxy again, as is his usual way of addressing her, or he will die, which infuriates Roxy.

As they leave Tiny’s, they are suddenly attacked by gunmen. They defend themselves while Garrett protects Roxy, who doesn’t have a weapon. A man slips behind his defenses, and Roxy steals Garrett’s gun and shoots them, saving Garrett’s life. With all their assailants down, they leave and go to Rizzo’s, a neutral restaurant that serves all criminals. There, Red, the owner, greets them like family, sets them in a booth, and is happy to see Garrett laughing at Roxy’s antics. They order food and ask Red for information on who was targeting them. As they wait, Roxy offers to make a few calls to find out their assailants’ identities, which Ryder allows. She calls a friend from a brothel, who informs her they were attacked by a gang called the Death Eaters.

When Diesel leaves for the bathroom, Kenzo brackets Roxy with Garrett, and she feels aroused by his sudden proximity. After some coaxing, Roxy allows him to digitally penetrate her in the middle of the restaurant as the others watch. Food eventually arrives, and they eat. Red returns and says that plans are being made for their downfall, and the city will be divvied up once they’re gone. Garrett tries to help Roxy from her seat and notices her flinch when he moves his hand too quickly. They drive back to the apartment and leave Roxy with bodyguards while they go attack the rival gang. Ryder gives strict orders to the guards that Roxy is not to leave, and no one is to touch her.

As they arrive at the warehouse where the gang is, Ryder gives out orders. They attack from all sides, killing all the members. Diesel is left alone with one member and makes an example out of him by disemboweling and hanging him up for all to see. When they find the leader, Ryder tortures him until he reveals the Triad paid for the murder contract. He then kills him, slices off his limbs, and puts them in boxes.

Roxy is playing poker with her bodyguards. She has a soft spot for Sam and Tony, who were formerly in the military and lost before their jobs with the Vipers. She dislikes Dem for his misogyny. When she wins another hand, he angrily grabs her as Ryder and the others arrive. Roxy watches as Ryder smashes Dem’s hand with a hammer, cuts out his tongue, and has the other guards take him away. Roxy is oddly turned on by Ryder’s display of possession and power. When the others remonstrate Roxy for letting another man touch her, she goads Ryder in particular about the sexual partners she’s already had. Ryder orders the others out of the room, but Roxy isn’t cowed by his threats to kill anyone who touches her.

Roxy goes to leave, but Ryder restrains her and forcefully kisses her. He knows he is falling in love with her. He engages in a dominant-submissive scenario, whereby he punishes her to teach her obedience. Roxy seemingly allows it, and though she defies him, eventually, in this context and within these roles, they have sex. He then brings her to his room, where, despite his need to work, he falls asleep next to her.