Sonny sneered."She's mine.They both are.No amount of money is going to make me walk away."
"They no longer belong to you."Baddy didn't look away."I've paid your club, not you."
Sonny opened his mouth to argue.Baddy drew his gun and pulled the trigger.
One clean shot.
Sonny dropped.
Silence rolled through the two motorcycle clubs.Cusclan members froze.Royalla members armed themselves.Even the wind seemed to stop.
Baddy turned to Rocco, lowering the gun but not apologizing for a damn thing.Nobody fucked with Royalla.
"Now," he said, voice steady, "we're done."
Rocco stared at him for a long moment and then nodded once.Baddy took a step back until he sensed Kodiak at his side.
His president put his hand on Baddy's shoulder."Let's go."
Baddy didn't look back at Sonny's body.Didn't need to.The Cusclan members would take care of themselves.Like Royalla, they wouldn't want to involve law enforcement.
He walked toward Duke, who had Lydia's mom.Unlike Lydia, who had brown hair with a hint of red, high cheekbones, an upturned nose, and full lips, Maureen James had bleached-blonde hair and a face lined with wrinkles.The closer he got to her, he could see her trembling.Tears streaked down her face.
"Are you okay to ride?"he asked.
"Royalla," she whispered, gazing at his vest.
He nodded."You'll be safe."
"My daughter?"She ignored his question."You have her?"
"Yeah."
"She's okay?"Lydia's mom asked.
"She's fine."He motioned to his MC brother."Ride back with Duke, and we'll take you to Lydia.You'll be safe."
"She's not going to last the whole ride."Duke frowned."She can barely stand."
"Then chain her to your bike."He walked to his Harley.
They needed to get out of here before someone showed up, looking for the reason behind the gunshot and finding evidence of a shooting.He climbed onto his bike, the engine rumbling beneath him like a heartbeat.
He'd done what he had to do.For Lydia.For her mom.
He revved the engine once, hard.
Time to go home.
