He tore it open and I held my breath.
“No fucking way!” he spat out seconds later, confirming my suspicions. “Trish and her new husband have filed for custody of Zoya.” The room fell silent, adding more gravity to his heavy words. Seconds passed and the room remained silent as if any disturbance might make those words real.
“That’s impossible, right?” I asked. “I mean she’s in prison for years so it’s off the table.” I looked around in search of any hint of agreement, but they all remained shockingly silent.
Rebel scoffed and I prepared myself for his biting refusal. “No,” he growled, shaking his head. “She’s right. This isn’t actually about custody. Even though Crow has no outstanding charges against him, no judge is gonna give him custody.”
“Then what the fuck is it about?” Sledge snapped, his patience and fear for Zoya making him short-tempered.
My heart raced and a memory came back to me. “It’s a trap,” I blurted out, earning me the attention of more than a dozen sets of eyes.
“A trap?” Rebel sounded skeptical but I wasn’t deterred by him.
“Yeah,” I nodded, my gaze focused only on Sledge. “After my brother…” I stammered, swallowed, and started again. “I had to go to court about what I saw that night, and they brought me in through tunnels underneath the courthouse. I was a kid and I thought it was just something cool that everyone did. My parents kept the threats from me, considering everything else. But laterthe detective told me they’d done it because there were gang members in front of the courthouse waiting for me.” I looked away and swiped at a tear, hating the memories but grateful they were useful now.
For Zoya.
“Zoya doesn’t leave the house much, hardly ever. And chances are slim she’ll leave the clubhouse until this trouble is behind us. If someone wanted access to her, a court date would require her presence.” At least I thought so.
“Shit.” The tall, dark-haired man stood and raked his fingers through hist hair.
Another man, impossibly handsome with sparkling brown eyes, also stood, nodding with a slow grin. “It’s a good point,” he began. “If this asshole thinks he can lure Zoya out, we’ll use that. We’ll set our own fucking trap and see who shows up, follow them back to where this Crow fucker is hiding out.” He gave me a wink. “Good job.”
Heat rose to my cheeks. “Thank you.” I appreciated the praise but all I wanted was to get back to Zoya, to make sure she was okay.
I left them to discuss what they were going to do and found Zoya still bent over her sketchbook, pressing the charcoal so hard into the paper I knew it would leave dips in the pages beneath it. My heart ached for this little girl who’d already seen so much, endured so much and now she was in danger. Again.
I would do my part to keep her safe, but I knew without a doubt that Sledge would torch it all to keep her safe.
Chapter Seventeen
Sledge
Rebel was still grinning like the smug, sometimes grumpy asshole he was when Eliana left the office. “She’s feisty,” he said, nudging my arm. “I like her.”
I shot him a glare. “You gave her shit and tried to scare her.”
“Yeah,” he admitted without an ounce of shame, “and she handled it fine.” His grin widened. “What’s with the tunnel story?”
I opened my mouth to answer, but the image of Zoya, older and battling scars of a past that was hers to share hit me like a kick to the nuts. “It’s not my story to tell,” I said instead. “I’ll just say that she’s the best person you all could’ve picked to take care of Zoya.”
Rebel nodded when he finally got my meaning. His expression turned from playful to serious. “Understood.”
The custody letter sat heavy as stone in my hand. I was pissed off but I was also scared. What if there was some fucking way they could take my kid from me?They couldn’t,I reminded myself because I wouldn’t let them. In no world would I be giving Zoya up. Period. There was another issue that wouldn’t leave me alone. “How the fuck was she even allowed to file this shit?”
Rocky leaned back and crossed one leg over his knee, blowing out a heavy breath. “I hate to let that bitch off the hook, but Crow could’ve done this without her knowledge.”
“Possible but un-fucking-likely.” Trish might be a junkie, but she was also a schemer. “I’m not leaving shit to chance,” I muttered, wondering how the fuck to get ahead of this.
Diesel’s deep voice broke through the tension in the room. “Then let’s go pay Trish a visit. I have a guard who’ll let us in off-hours.” He started moving towards the door and I followed without a word.
It was time to get some goddamn answers.
***
The ride to the prison was short but I used the time to play out Crow’s plan. He wanted Zoya—not Eliana and not the MC—but she couldn’t or was too scared to tell me why he wanted her. If Trish didn’t know what this was about, I’d have to find another way. I just hoped that the junkie bitch had enough decency to tell me why her asshole husband was after my kid.
“You ready for this?” Diesel asked as soon as I killed my bike engine. He stood beside me in the parking lot of the prison, one hand on my shoulder as we stared at the building. Concern was etched on his face, something he rarely showed.
