I didn’t care what the favor was. Didn’t care if it was harmless or strategic or something my father thought would “protect” her. The specifics didn’t matter, not when the fundamental truth remained unchanged: Donovan didn’t do anything for free, not even for his own sons. And now Kaylor,my girl, was tangled in his bullshit.
My stomach knotted, twisting itself into tight, painful coils.
I was already planning how to sever whatever tie he thought he had over her, mentally mapping out the conversations, the threats I’d need to make, how I could convince him to transfer the debt to me when Raine said, “We got a problem.” He was holding his phone.
“What now?” Mason grumbled.
“Evan says we have company. Alotof company,” Raine informed.
Fuck me.
My head snapped to Jesse. He stood near Rusty’s body, hands hanging at his sides, fingers still stained dark with blood. He didn’t flinch under my glare, didn’t look away, didn’t make excuses. He just stared back at me, chin lifted, defiant.
“What did you fucking do?” I demanded, my voice dropping dangerously.
Jesse brushed the blood off his hands, smearing it across his jeans and leaving dark streaks. “I’m not the only one with trust issues, Corvo.”
“You called backup,” Mason snarled.
“Damn right I did,” Jesse replied flatly. “You think I wasn’t going to protect myself? Or her?” His chin tipped toward Kaylor, still tucked against my side. “You all have someone to lose. So did I.”
Engines rumbled in the distance, growing louder with each passing second. Four blacked-out cars rolled up the dirt path, their headlights slicing through the trees as dust kicked up in their wake, swirling in the light.
They came to a stop, one after the other, doors swinging open in near unison.Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
Vipers stepped out, tattooed, hard-faced, and packing. Kaylor’s father’s crew.
Her legacy.
My fucking headache.
Guns whipped up instantly, barrels gleaming under the thin spill of moonlight. Static tension sizzled between the two crews, familiar and old, born from years of uneasy coexistence.
“Easy,” my father barked as he turned his gun, not in surrender but in placation. “We didn’t come here for this. Not tonight.”
One of the older Vipers with steel woven through his beard stepped forward. “It looks like you got what you came for.” When his gaze slid to Rusty’s cooling corpse, his mouth flattened.
“He deserved what he got, Lucian,” my father replied.
“The decision should have fallen to us. Not you, Donovan,” Lucian retorted, speaking for the crew. I guess he was stepping into the role of boss.
“He threatened my family,” Dad stated.
Lucian’s gaze paused on Kaylor. And softened. The hard lines around his eyes eased fractionally, and something almost paternal fluttered across his weathered features.
Kaylor’s fingers pressed deeper into my arm.
“She isn’t yours. You took her,” Lucian accused, and he wasn’t half wrong, but that was then, and right now, she was mine, and she wasn’t leaving with anyone but me.
Dad’s hands fell to his side. “If that’s what this is about, she is free to leave. I won’t stop her.”
He was bluffing. I knew it. He knew it, but Lucian didn’t. Even if he let Kaylor go with them, I sure as hell wouldn’t. As if Mason, Maddox, and Raine anticipated what my response would be, they adjusted their stances. “She’s not going anywhere,” I growled.
Lucian held up a hand as a dozen weapons shifted an inch in my direction. I’m guessing the Vipers didn’t like my tone. “Jesse?” heprompted, but I didn’t know what Lucian was conveying or asking of him. I had an idea. If a fight was what they wanted, I’d be more than accommodating.
Jesse swiped at his face before he started coming our way. His feet seemed heavy, dragging slightly on the ground. He paused in front of me, glaring with too many fresh and raw emotions. “You hurt her, and you’ll have every Viper hunting your ass.”
“If I hurt her,” I said, leveling my gaze with his, “I’ll letyoukick my ass.”
