“Yeah,” Ash says. “We are.”
“Even though we don’t know whose it is?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Ghost says quietly. “It’s ours.”
Titan kisses my shoulder. “All of ours.”
I close my eyes and let myself believe it. Let myself hope that maybe, just maybe, we can actually pull this off.
Three men, one woman, and a baby that might belong to any of them.
Or might belong to the enemy.
But right now, wrapped in their arms, I don’t care about the complications or the unknowns.
Right now, I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.
“I love you,” I say again. Testing the words. Seeing how they feel.
They feel right.
“We love you too,” Ash says, pressing a kiss to my forehead.
20
ASH
Iron’s desk still smells like his cigars.
I’ve been working from this office for weeks now, and the scent won’t fade. Cuban tobacco mixed with leather and old wood, soaked into every surface like a ghost that refuses to leave.
The desk has seen forty years of club business. Contracts signed. Alliances forged. Enemies marked for death. Iron ran the Ruthless Devils from this chair, built an empire from nothing, and held it together through sheer force of will.
Now it’s mine.
The weight of that settles on my shoulders every time I walk through this door.
I lean back in the chair and stare at the stack of papers in front of me.
Running an MC is ninety percent paperwork and ten percent violence. Nobody tells you that when you’re a prospect dreaming of earning your patch.
My phone buzzes. Ghost’s name lights up the screen.
“Talk to me,” I answer.
“Rodriguez just called in. Savage Legion hit the garage on Fifth Street last night. Broke windows, spray-painted threats, and roughed up the owner.”
“Injuries?”
“Broken nose, couple cracked ribs. Nothing life-threatening, but he’s pissed.”
I rub my temples. That’s the fourth business this week. Marcus is trying to draw us into a full-scale war.
“Send Titan and a crew to clean it up. Ensure the owner is aware that we’re covering the damages. And double the patrols on that side of town.”
“Already done. Titan left an hour ago.”
Ghost and Titan have been running interference on everything, handling problems before they even reach my desk. They’re both doing VP-level work without the official patch.
