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His face paled. “Alive?”

I looked up. The question annoyed me. My eyes darted to Viper, who was trying hard not to crack a smile. “Do you think I enjoy wasting time?”

“No,” he croaked.

“Good.”

I tossed the file back down. “I need answers, not a body. Somebody will have to tell me how the package got stolen. And no, I'm not buying that bullshit of him having a drink. He ought to be smarter than that. We don't employ fools.” I paused, letting my eyes drift over the room. “Or do we?”

Viper lost control of his smile then. “I don't mind getting to the bottom of this personally. I need a little fun. Some killing,” he said, looking directly at the already trembling man.

I ended the meeting. The room cleared hurriedly, like they were afraid that if they spent a second more in my presence, I was going to change my mind about letting them go. Viper didn't leave, though. His smiling face annoyed me as I pushed out of my seat.

“You don't want me having some fun?” he asked as we climbed down the stairs to where our men were hard at work. Phones were constantly going off, and packages were being moved.

This was the part people misunderstood about a biker club. It took money to run these organizations. And there was a whole structure and team beyond cruising around town with bikes and getting matching tattoos. Everybody had a part to play.

“You had some fun with the men we caught yesterday. I didn't even bother you about them,” I told Viper when he wouldn't stop nagging.

He grinned. “When have there ever been enough?”

I opened my mouth to respond to him when someone called me.

“Graves.”

I turned. One of the older members was approaching me, expression impassive. He'd always been difficult to read.

“Problem?” I asked.

“Nothing major.”

That usually meant there was a problem. I waited for him to let the cat out of the bag.

He sighed. “Our rivals have been asking questions.”

“About?”

“Your girl.”

My expression didn’t change. But the air around me did. He noticed, taking a tiny step back.

“Derek?” I prompted.

“Maybe.” He shrugged. “It doesn't hurt to check, though.”

I grabbed my jacket. “I’ll handle it.”

He nodded and then disappeared. Viper and I walked out of the warehouse together, mostly in silence. If Phantom were just getting to learn about Wren, then their spies were doing a shitty job. Also, they wouldn't toot their own horn this way. Which meant somebody else was poking around and needed answers.

Someone with enough money, foolish enough to think the money would save them when the time came. Derek was anything if not predictable. It comforted me to know that.

“Do you want me to handle it?” Viper asked as I got on my bike.

“Don't worry,” I told him, nodding. “I got it.”

And then I drove off. By the time I got home, it was already dark. I'd been away from the house all day, and as I hopped down from the bike, it hit me that this was all I'd been looking forward to doing.

My shoulders ached from hours of dealing with people who couldn’t make simple decisions, but with the smile on my face now, no one would be able to tell.