“We should’ve dug deeper,” I say quietly. “We saw the patterns. Cash disappearing and reappearing in Glory’s and Charlie’s accounts. Same frequency. Same range.”
Torch stops dead. “And? What else? You found Glory guilty. So Charlie’s guilty by association?”
“Torch—” Wolf’s voice is rough, pleading. But it’s cut off by the door slamming open.
Mama storms in, her voice sharp as a slap. “I’ll keep saying it until it gets through your thick skulls. If that Glory says our Charlie’s guilty, you give her the benefit of the doubt. And even if she did steal from the club, you don’t beat her like a dog in a cage. She’s not some fucking criminal. She’s a club princess.”
Her glare cuts into both of us. Wolf doesn’t look up. Still staring down like if he blinks, the whole world will shatter.
“Listen to me, son,” Torch says, softer now, hand heavy on Wolf’s shoulder. “I know you took that gavel earlier than you should have. Your father—if we can even call him that—maybe he was a halfway decent Prez. You learned from him, I get it. But he’s gone now, andI’mstill here. You want to lead this club right? You come to me. You ask. You think. Before jumping to something this goddamn stupid.”
Wolf closes his eyes. For a moment, I see that seventeen-year-old kid again, the one who was handed a sister he didn’t know existed.
“My father,” he sneers. Then he laughs bitterly. Unhinged. “You’re right, Torch. I did learn from my father.”
He shoots up from his chair. “I learned everything from him. Especially when it came to Charlie. You remember, don’t you? You handed a terrified fourteen-year-old girl over to a man like Savage. Fresh off losing our mother. And you told me—me, a kid barely an adult—that she was my sister.‘Surprise, here’s a family you didn’t know about. Now, deal with it.’”
He’s unraveling. “I didn’t know shit about her. Didn’t even know our mother was still alive until she was fucking dead.”
He turns on Torch now. “We dumped her on my father—who ignored her. And I took cues from the bastard. SoIfucking ignored her. And now he’s—” His voice breaks. “Now he’s a drooling invalid who can’t even walk or talk or shit without assistance.”
Wolf laughs again, twisted and bitter. “You know what? That stroke was a blessing. At least he had an excuse for his last three years of ignorance. But what fucking excuse do Ihave?”
The room feels like it’s about to snap in half.
“Wolf, listen.” I step forward, but he jerks away.
Torch tries to calm him. “Son.”
No words come. No words can miraculously change the outcome.
Mama is crying silently in the corner.
Wolf runs a shaky hand through his hair, shoulders hunched like he’s trying to collapse in on himself. “What the fuck have I done to her?” he croaks, voice cracking at the edges. “How the hell can I call myself her brother?”
His lips keep moving—the same words over and over, like they’re some desperate chant meant to bring her back. “I… I’m no brother to her. Christ.”
“Dane,” I murmur, stepping closer. But he jerks away.
“No,” he snaps, eyes wild. “Don’t, Theo. I never treated her like a sister. I treated her like the burden my father thought she was. I—fuck. I-I… what the fuck have I done?”
The air in the room feels too thick, like guilt itself is pressing down on all of us. And the worst part? He’s not wrong. I ignored her too. We all did. The entire fucking club.
The only one who didn’t? Glory.We let that venomous bitch wrap around her, sink her teeth in while we turned the other way. Like it wasn’t our problem. Then we blamed her for the lifestyle our ignorance resulted in.
Fuck. We should’ve protected her from Glory.
“Alright,” Torch says, stepping in, voice low but firm. “Listen, son.”
Wolf doesn’t move. He’s shaking now. From rage, from regret. I’m not even sure he knows which.
“You’re right to feel it,” Torch continues. “You can’t change what’s been done. But you can fucking fix what’s left.”
“Fix it?” Wolf whispers. “How? I… saw her face. Her fucking face. She’s terrified of me.”
Torch sighs, running a hand down his beard. “Then start there. Own it. Make it right. Fucking apologize at least.”
An apology won’t fix this. I think even Wolf realizes that. His gaze is distant, unfocused, like he’s lost in the wreckage of the last two hours.
