My world went red at the edges. “When did this come in?” My voice didn’t sound like my own.
“A few minutes ago. I verified the photos were real before calling you.”
“Montana.” I forced myself to focus past the rage. Montana was our newest gun supplier—a connection we’d only just locked down, and one the Wolves had been circling for months. “They want us to give up Montana.”
“Looks like Crystal gave them just enough to know she matters to you.” Glitch’s voice was grim. “They don’t know our routes or our operations. But they know your weakness.”
If someone gets to her, they get to you.Handful’s words from church echoed in my skull.
“Where is she now?” I demanded.
“Home. Safe. I’ve got eyes on her building—two prospects, keeping their distance. She doesn’t know.”
I stared at the photos again, bile rising in my throat. My jaw ached from clenching. Indira’s face, captured without her knowledge. Her life, reduced to leverage in a game she didn’t even know she was playing.
This was my fault. All of it. The weight of it pressed down on my chest until I could barely breathe. I’d brought this to her doorstep—every photo, every threat, every second she’d been watched without knowing.
“Call church,” I said. “Emergency session. Everyone.”
Thirty minutes later, every officer and patched member was packed into the meeting room, the air thick with tension. I stood at the head of the table, the tablet propped up so everyone could see the photos.
“Crystal made a call to the Wolves after Indira confronted her today,” I said, keeping my voice steady. “She gave them something—not our operations, not our routes. Just one piece of information.”
I let the silence stretch. “She told them about Indira. Told them she matters to me.”
The room erupted. Questions, curses, brothers talking over each other. I let it go for thirty seconds, then slammed my palm on the table.
“Enough.”
Silence fell.
“The Wolves are demanding we hand over Montana in exchange for leaving Indira alone. Forty-eight hours.”
“What the fuck does Indira have to do with Montana?” Blackjack demanded.
“Nothing. That’s the point. They’re using her as leverage because they can’t get to us any other way.” I looked around the table, meeting each pair of eyes. “They know our operations are too tight to crack. So they found another way in.”
Handful stood up slowly, his expression hard to read. “She makes you vulnerable, Dutch. The Wolves don’t share our values about women—theywillhurt her to get to you.” His voice wasn’t angry—it was almost sad. “I see two options. Either we bring her under full club protection—which means pulling her deeper into our world, maybe deeper than she wants to go. Or we create distance. Make it clear she’s not connected to you, at least not publicly.”
“Distance.” The word tasted like ash.
“For her own safety.” Handful shrugged. “If the Wolves think she doesn’t matter, she stops being a target.”
“She practically claimed me in front of half the town,” I said flatly. “Today, in that parking lot. Word’s out.”
“Then protection it is.” Colt spoke up for the first time, his voice measured. “But that’s a conversation she needs to be part of, Dutch. You can’t just put a security detail on her without explaining why.”
Every instinct in my body screamed against it. The old Dutch—the man I’d been before I lost her—would have handled this quietly. Put guards on her without her knowledge. Made the decisions, controlled the situation, kept her safe through ignorance.
But that man had destroyed everything once already.
“If I tell her the truth, I’m violating club code.” I looked at Glitch, then Colt. “Real truth. Not hints and half-measures. She’ll ask questions, and she’ll know if I’m lying.”
“You can’t tell a civilian about club business,” Snake said from the back. “It’s rule one.”
“She’s not just any civilian. She’s my old lady.”
“She’s not wearing a cut yet,” Handful pointed out.
