“No,” he murmurs.“You know half the truth.The dangerous half.”
He steps down from the altar.
“You think your beloved Legend will stay loyal to you when the sins of Paradise Falls come to light?”he asks.“You think he’ll forgive what your father paid to keep that land?”
My throat tightens.“Don’t talk about my father.”
“Oh, child.”His smile splits into something crueler.“Your father made bargains long before you were born.Blood bargains.Land bargains.Debts Mama Montgomery never repaid.She came from the church, you know that.Found her a better position in life.I sold her to your daddy who wanted an obedient wife.”
He’s lying.He has to be.
But my pulse stutters.
“You’ve always been bright,” he says.“But you ain’t ready to know what was buried to buy your life of privilege.”
I stagger back a step.
He watches me with the calm of a man who’s already won.“I will pray for clarity for you,” he says gently.“You dig much deeper you’ll find Hell.It won’t be the Hell you want.The one full of bikers.It will be your downfall.”
I want to spit in his face.
Instead, I turn and walk out, fast, because if I stay, I’ll do something violent.And violence never works in favor of a woman alone in a room with a powerful man.
Not in this world.
Outside, the wind shifts.
The graveyard behind the chapel looms in the dusk… stones crooked, grass overgrown, shadows moving where shadows shouldn’t.
Something flickers between the markers.Tall.Lean.Silhouetted.I blink.
It’s gone.
The nape of my neck prickles.I’m imagining things.Because I’ve heard the whispers from the girls at the bar.Because Becki’s notebook she left is half drawings of symbols, wings, claws and littered with half warnings.
Legend hasn’t slept in days.Speaking of The Demon Leaper.A myth, they say.A man, others say.But some whisper something else.Not a man.Not a spirit.
But now I know.It’s something way worse.Something all too real.A crime tied to my family.My father.A secret so sick, it’ll ruin everything I fought to win.A secret so dark, it’ll push Legend away, just like the Reverend says.
Back at the clubhouse, everything feels wrong.The jukebox plays a Skynyrd track, but it sounds warped, discordant.Laughter is sharp-edged.Eyes follow me too long.
Cherry and Vix fall silent as I approach.
“You two wanna say something?”I ask.
Cherry shrugs, lips pursed.“Just wondering when the preacher’s brat is coming back.”
“She ain’t a threat,” Vix mutters.“She’s a distraction.A bad one.”
“Royal can’t take his eyes off her anymore,” Cherry adds.“Makes a girl wonder where his loyalty is.”
I freeze.
Royal.
Becki.
Together.
