“He confess?” Axel asks without looking up.
I sink into the chair opposite, rubbing a hand over my jaw. “It’s not about Lee, Pres. It’s about Remi.”
His eyes flick up, sharp, his attention on me. “She confessed?”
“She told me . . .” I hesitate. “She told me her stepdad killed her mum. He admitted it to her. That’s why he’s hunting her down.”
Axel leans back slow, measuring me with that look that sees more than I want him to.
“I want to know if it’s true,” I press. “We can get someone to dig into it. Old reports, hospital files, whatever. If she’s right, it explains everything. And if she’s not,” I shrug, frustration biting, “at least I’ll know what kind of story I’m dealing with.”
“What exactly would it explain?” Grizz asks.
I shrug. “That she’s desperate.”
“We’re all desperate, Shadow,” he says, his tone harsh. “But if she thought anything of you, she’d have told you the truth before now.”
“It’s not club business, brother,” Axel adds.
My jaw tightens. “It’s her business, which makes it mine.”
“It doesn’t make it ours,” Axel snaps, his voice final. “We don’t spend money and time digging into some girl’s past. Especially one who’s already stolen from us.”
Heat rises in my chest, my fists clenching on the arms of the chair.
“Pres, maybe he’s blackmailing her.”
Axel cuts me off with a glare that could freeze hell over. “She ain’t our problem. Unless you’re claiming her?” He waits a beat, but when I don’t answer, he leans closer. “Exactly. Who the fuck would claim a thief? Now, you can waste more time questioning the kid in the basement, or you can go right to the source of our problem and cut it out. End of discussion.”
Chapter Eighteen
Remi
I press myself flat against the wall as Shadow storms out of Axel’s office, his expression like thunder, his stride clipped, and I know better than to get caught in his path, so I follow at a distance.
When he heads outside, I slip after him, keeping just far enough back that he won’t hear my steps. He stops at a side door then unlocks the padlock. The heavy door groans as he disappears inside.
I wait. One beat. Two. Then I follow.
The air grows colder as I creep down stone steps one at a time, my hand brushing the damp wall to steady myself. The stench is overwhelming, though I can’t put my finger on it, and the silence is heavy, broken only by the thud of my pulse.
At the bottom, a narrow passage stretches out, ending in a door left ajar.
I pause, straining to listen.
“Just be honest and this will all be over,” Shadow’s voice rumbles, low and dangerous.
“I swear, I didn’t touch her,” comes a panicked reply.Lee.
“Not Remi,” Shadow snaps, his tone sharp enough to cut. “This is about the money I left you to watch.”
There’s a beat of silence, then the sound of a fist meeting flesh, a sickening crack, followed by Lee’s gagging choke.
I flinch, my hand covering my mouth.
“Don’t be a pussy,” Shadow growls. “That wasn’t even hard.”
Lee’s sobs echo off the stone walls. “Please, don’t. I have no idea what you’re talking about. I didn’t touch the money.”
