Her smirk cracked when my forearm pressed to her throat. “You sold her out.” I fumed shaking with fury. “Say it again. Give me a reason to snap your neck right here.”
Her hands clawed at my wrist, but I shoved harder, the red haze in my vision making it hard to see anything but her face. I didn’t care who was watching. Didn’t care about rules, respect, or the patch on my back.
“If Lucy comes back with so much as a scratch,” I growled, low and rough, my voice carrying to every corner of the room, “I’ll carve your name into the dirt myself. Do you understand me?”
Her hands came up, cocky still, but her eyes betrayed her. A flicker of doubt. A slip.
“Relax, Jay,” she rasped, my forearm pressing harder into her throat. “She’ll be fine... probably.”
I leaned in, close enough to smell the sour whiskey on her breath. My rage coiled tighter, dangerous and ready to snap.
“No,” I said. “You don’t get it. Lucy is mine to protect, and if she doesn’t come back whole, if she doesn’t come backbreathing, I won’t care how many brothers are watching, I’ll bury you myself.”
The silence after those words was louder than any gunfire. The whole room felt it. For the first time since I’d known her, Gabby’s bravado cracked. She went still beneath my grip.
I dropped her and shoved her back one last time, leaving her gasping against the wall, clutching her throat. My hand lingered on her shoulder a beat longer than necessary, a promise of what I could’ve done if I’d let go of the last thread of control.
“You stay the hell out of this,” I warned, “or the Reaper will come for you first.”
When I stepped back, the brothers didn’t breathe. Eyes darted between me, Gabby, and the wall. No one spoke. Not Riot. Not Link. Not even the cocky prospects.
In that silence, I knew what Rox had meant.
Lucy wasn’t just Caleb’s sister anymore. Not just an outsider. To the club, to the enemies, to me, she was already marked.
Untouchable.
And that made her the most dangerous piece on the board.
The silence broke when Riot finally moved, slow and deliberate. He stepped forward, hand resting lazy on his belt, shades still hiding his eyes even in the dim light.
“You just made it official, Pres,” Riot said. “Whole room saw it. She’s yours.”
Heat still raced through me, my pulse pounding against my ribs. I turned to him, jaw tight. “I didn’t plan it. I didn’t want it. Hell, I hated her when she first walked in.”
Riot’s mouth twitched, the closest thing he ever came to a smile. He gave a short, rough chuckle. “Fine line between love and hate. From where I’m standing, you crossed it a while back.”
I shook my head, running a hand over my face, trying to scrub away the fury. “You think I don’t know what that means? What target I just painted?”
Riot leaned in closer, his voice dropping so only I could hear. “Yeah. I think you know exactly what it means. Question is, can you carry it? Cos if you can’t, Pres, someone else is gonna pick up the slack, and she won’t survive it.”
His words hit harder than Gabby’s smirk ever could. I stared at him, the truth heavy between us.
Gabby opened her mouth, but Riot’s chair scraped across the floor as he stood, slow and deliberate. He didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t need to. “Club doesn’t keep rats. Not patched. Not women. Not anyone.” His eyes slid over to me. “You gonna deal with this, Pres?”
He didn’t even look at Gabby. His gaze stayed on me, steady and unflinching.
“Yeah, soon as I get Lucy home, but I want a prospect on her at all times. She doesn’t take a piss without us knowing.”
The words weren’t loud, but they landed heavy like a gavel. The whole room understood—Gabby’s fate was sealed. She wasn’t getting mercy, only a delay. I didn’t have time for this. I needed Lucy back, safe.
Chapter 34
Lucy
The cold dragged me back first. Bone deep, biting enough to seep through skin and muscle, bleeding into my spine until it hurt to breathe.
My eyes fought to open, heavy and reluctant. When they did, darkness waited. Thick and suffocating. I was in a small windowless room with one door to the right, one further back.
