“No,” Siege agrees. “It doesn’t.”
I rake a hand through my hair, frustration buzzing under my skin. “She’s my old lady. Every instinct I have says go get her and burn that fuckin’ house to the ground.”
Rigs mutters, “Wouldn’t be the worst plan.”
Zen sighs. “Look, I’m not saying she should go poking around blindly. I’m saying if the opportunity presents itself—”
“They watch her twenty-four-seven,” I cut in.
Zen nods slowly. “Fair.”
Rider straightens. “Any sign they’re onto her?”
“No,” Zen says. “At least not that I’ve found.”
That doesn’t reassure me, if anything, it makes it worse. Predators don’t panic when they think they’re in control.
“What about the bike?” I ask. “Anything on parts, tools, shops? Rick was askin’ questions earlier. I gave him a bunch of bullshit because he doesn’t need to know someone tried to kill him.”
Zen shakes his head. “If the brake line was cut, whoever did it knew what they were doing.”
Tank cracks his knuckles. “So we’re sittin’ on our hands.”
“For now,” Siege says. “Which I hate as much as you do.”
I glance around the room, at the men who’ve bled with me, fought beside me. “If this was any other situation—”
“We’d already be movin’,” Rider finishes.
“Yeah,” I say. “But this one’s different.”
Because Natalie isn’t just collateral. She’s the center of the damn blast radius.
Zen folds his hands. “I’ll keep digging. I always do.”
“You find anything, anything at all,” I tell him, “you call me. Day or night.”
“I know.”
“And if she texts about an opening—”
“I’ll be ready,” he says. “I promise.”
The meeting winds down slowly. No one’s satisfied. No one pretends otherwise. When I finally leave Zen’s office, the clubhouse feels louder than usual. Bikes rumble outside. Laughter drifts up from the bar. Life going on like nothing’s wrong.
I pull my phone out and stare at the screen.
No new messages.
I sigh and start typing the text I really don’t want to. The one that if she’s not already in danger, could put her in the crosshairs.
Me: We still haven’t got anything. Zen thinks they might have evidence on their PCs.
Me: You reckon you could get access?
A few seconds pass.
Then—
