I held up the flash drive. “You sold out your brothers. Gave the Fangs their drop points. Names. People are dead because of you.”
“I was trying to control the bleed,” he said. “Gave them just enough to keep them off our backs?—”
“Bullshit,” Jay snapped. “You handed them Diesel too.”
Gage’s face drained. “I didn’t know they’d kill him.”
“You didn’t care if they did,” Link shot back. “Same damn thing.”
Jay stepped closer, voice glacial. “Why?”
“I told you Diesel was dirty. They had proof. Guns, side deals. I thought if I fed them what they already knew, I could protect us.”
“Protect us? You fed us to the wolves,” Jay said.
My knuckles whitened around the drive. “What about my brother?”
“I warned him. Told him to back off. He didn’t listen, so the Fangs made him disappear.”
Rage burned through me, I lunged, but Jay caught me around the waist.
“No,” Jay snapped. “He dies when I say.”
“Jay—” I started, but Gage cut me off.
“Shut it, bitch.”
Jay’s control cracked. He let me go and his fist slammed into Gage’s jaw, sending him sprawling. “You threatened her too, didn’t you? Dragged her into this because you couldn’t stand in your own mess.”
Gage spit blood, lips curling into a broken grin. “She’s leverage, Jay. Always was.”
Jay hit him again, knuckles splitting. “You put my name out there. You told them I had the drive. You painted a target on me and on her.”
“Because it’s true,” Gage wheezed. “They’re already coming for you.”
Jay’s chest heaved. For a second, I thought he’d snap Gage’s neck. But he stopped, fists trembling, teeth bared. “You laugh at me again, and I’ll end you before the club ever casts a vote.”
Gage laughed bitterly anyway. “You gonna put me down out here like a stray?”
“If it keeps the club safe, yeah,” Jay said.
I wanted to scream. To end him myself, but I didn’t because Jay said otherwise.
“You pointed the barrel at me,” he said.
“I tried to protect you,” Gage whispered.
“No,” Jay said, stepping closer. “You tried to protect yourself. Don’t dress it up.”
“You could’ve told the truth,” I said.
“I told myself lies instead,” Gage whispered, “and believed every one of them.”
Jay wrenched the Glock from Gage’s hand and shoved it into his waistband. “You don’t get to die easy. Not yet.”
Riot stepped in, zip-ties already in his fist. “Church will want a say.”
Gage spat blood, but he didn’t fight when they bound his wrists. He knew the rules.
