I closed my eyes. Louisville. The expansion we’d been working toward for months. If word got out that the Wolves could rattle us, the whole deal could collapse.
“When’s the meeting?”
“Tomorrow morning. Early.”
I ran the math. Fly out tonight, handle the meeting first thing, fly back tomorrow afternoon. Quick in and out. I could be back before the Wolves’ deadline expired.
But a part of me wondered if this was exactly what someone wanted. Get me out of the area. Distract me so the Wolves could make their move while I was a thousand miles away.
“I’ll do it,” I said. “But I’m flying. Back tomorrow.”
“Whatever gets you there, brother.”
After he hung up, I walked to my office door and called out into the main room. “Colt. Glitch. My office. Now.”
Glitch appeared first, laptop tucked under his arm. He set it on my desk and angled the screen toward himself, eyes flicking between me and whatever he was monitoring. Colt followed a moment later, closing the door behind him.
“I’m going to Louisville,” I said. “Got a meeting tomorrow morning, be back by afternoon. Before the Wolves’ deadline.”
“And Indira?” Colt asked.
“That’s why you’re here.” I looked between them. “I need eyes on her every second I’m gone. The prospects Glitch already put on her—they stay. Round the clock. No one gets near her.”
Glitch glanced up from his laptop. “Already on it. I’ve got the feed pulled up right now. She’s home, lights on, no movement outside her building.”
“Good.” I gripped the edge of my desk. “I don’t like this. Feels too convenient—club business pulling me away right when the Wolves are circling.”
“You think it’s a setup?” Colt’s voice was sharp.
“I think I’d be an idiot not to consider it.”
Colt nodded slowly. “Then we treat it like one. I’ll coordinate with the prospects personally. Glitch monitors remotely. Anyone so much as looks at her wrong, we’ll know.”
“She won’t know we’re there,” Glitch added, “but we’ll be there.”
I looked at both of them. “I’m trusting you with the most important thing in my life,” I said quietly. “Don’t let anything happen to her.”
“Nothing will happen to her on our watch.” Colt’s voice was firm. “You have my word.”
Glitch nodded. “Go handle Louisville. We’ve got her.”
?
The flight to Louisville was two hours of hell.
I’d never been comfortable in the air—preferred the open road, the wind, the control of having my hands on the handlebars. But I’d chosen this deliberately. A plane meant I’d be back faster. It meant I was taking this seriously.
It meant I was desperate.
Every pocket of turbulence made my stomach lurch. I’d white-knuckled the armrest through takeoff, ignored the flight attendant’s offer of drinks, and spent the entire two hours watching the tracker on the seat-back screen like it could speed up time. My throat was dry. My neck ached from tension. And every time I closed my eyes, I saw Indira’s face—the betrayal in her expression when she’d figured out I was lying.
In Louisville, I handled the meeting on autopilot. Smiled when I needed to smile, reassured contacts who were spooked by rumors of Wolves-related trouble, promised that the Venom Riders had everything under control.
I was lying through my teeth, and I suspected they knew it.
I went straight from the airport to the clubhouse when I got back, still in the clothes I’d been wearing for two days. The brothers were already assembled when I walked in, their faces a mixture of concern and impatience.
“Louisville’s handled,” I said without preamble. “Contacts are nervous but staying in the deal. For now.”
