I stood by a window, watching the road beyond the fence.My old habit -- vigilance -- pulled me there.A dark SUV rolled slowly past the east fence, tinted windows hiding everything.
My gut clenched before my mind caught up.I pressed my hand to the glass.
Footsteps behind me.
Kane stepped up, phone already out.“Tinker,” he barked low.“Pull footage.Plate numbers.We had a drive-by.”He ended the call, wrapped an arm around my shoulders, and gently steered me away.
Cold fear flooded me.“What if that was him?”
Kane turned me to face him.His hands rested on my arms.“Then he’s dumber than I thought,” he said, eyes dark.“Intentionally driving past an MC compound?Bait.”
“What if he’s scouting for a way in or weaknesses?”I couldn’t stop the tremor in my voice.
“Let him look,” Kane said firmly.“We watch back.”
His logic didn’t erase my fear, but it gave me something solid to hold.
He brushed my sleeve.“He wants to see you afraid.Giving in to him gives him power over you.”
“What do we do instead?”My voice cracked.
“We live.”He led me back toward the kitchen -- laughter, a baby squealing, dinner cooking.
He stopped me in the doorway, leaning in until his words felt like they belonged on my skin.
“You’re not that woman alone in an apartment anymore,” he said.“You’re under Savage Raptors’ protection.You’ve got a man at your back who won’t let him take another breath if he tries to take you or hurt you in any way.”
I trembled.“You make big promises.”My voice was small.
“I keep them.”No drama.Just truth.
Something inside me shifted, quiet and permanent.Belief settled in like it had always been waiting.
Outside the fences, danger still lurked.How long would Roth watch me?Would he ever give up?
Inside, surrounded by leather and coffee and women who’d built a home from chaos, fear felt lighter.For the first time in months, I dared to imagine something beyond survival -- a future where nightmares didn’t always win.
Chapter Five
Kane
The first time the SUV rolled across the security footage, every instinct I had snapped tight.
Tinker scrubbed the timeline back and hit play again.Grainy black-and-white washed over the small monitor, the camera fixed on the narrow stretch of road that ran past the compound.Trees crowded the edge of the ditch.Chain-link fencing cut a hard line across the frame.Then the vehicle slid into view, dark and deliberate.
Tinted windows.No front plate.The rear tag wore a thick smear of mud, sloppy enough to hide details but not careful enough to erase them completely.
“Slow it.”
Tinker’s fingers danced over the keyboard.The SUV crawled now, frame by frame, floating through the shot instead of driving.It hesitated at the break in the trees -- the same gap Jade had pointed at earlier -- long enough for whoever sat behind the glass to count cameras and angles.
Not long enough to fire from the road and disappear clean.That mattered.
Mikey leaned in over my shoulder, stale coffee clinging to his breath.His lip curled as he watched the pass play again.“Creepy bastard.”
“Zoom.”
Tinker kept his eyes glued to the screen.He tapped another key and cursed under his breath.The image froze, pixels breaking apart when the system strained beyond capacity.Mud covered the plate in uneven streaks, smeared thicker toward the right side.I made out a curved shape -- possibly a three or an eight -- with several letters half-buried beneath the grime.
