Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 68716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 344(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 344(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Then I say the words I never thought I’d say again.
“I claim Holley. She’s mine.”
The room stills.
Completely.
Grinder’s eyes widen slightly. Miles stops breathing. Raff lifts his chin.
Smoke adds, voice cold and final: “And I claim Tiffany.”
Not romantic.
Not possessive.
But binding.
Like blood.
Like law.
Every patched Hellion has to answer the call for a claimed woman.
Country Boy, the brother who took over from me as President, steps forward. “Then this becomes club business.”
He looks at me carefully. “You’re leading this, Stud.”
“I’m retired. I hold no position to lead anything.”
“You’re still the best,” he says simply. “And this is your woman and daughter.”
I nod once, a sharp jerk of my head.
“Grinder,” I bark. “You take highways. Miles and Raff, check every gas station, back road, diner, and motel within thirty miles. Twitch is on it from the inside to scan and find any traffic cams or dark web news.”
“You got it,” they answer simultaneously.
“Smoke,” I say without looking at him, “you’re with me.”
There’s no argument. No pushback.
He falls in beside me like old times—before we hated each other, before the split, before life dug trenches between us.
We move fast.
Ten minutes later, I’m in the war room—a converted office lined with maps, radios, monitors, and enough firepower to stop a small army.
My heart pounds so hard it hurts.
Twitch bursts in, tablet in hand. “Got something. Traffic cam picked up Tiffany’s Jeep stopped on County Road 17. Blue sedan blocking the lane. Then signal cuts.”
The car looks familiar, but I’m distracted as he pulls up another feed. “Dark web, found a loop hole into a private server feeding this to a mobile phone.”
I see Holley’s face, the fear.
Her soft voice whispering my name in the dark.
Her bruised cheek in the warehouse I didn’t know existed.
I didn’t protect her.
I didn’t protect Tiffany.
Smoke speaks first. “We need to assume they’re being moved. Nothing stationary. Professional, maybe. Or someone with enough desperation.”
Desperation.
That hits something deep.
Holley told me her ex was unstable. Debt-ridden. Dangerous in ways she never spoke aloud.
My stomach drops.
“It’s him,” I whisper after seeing the car on the video.
Smoke turns. “Who?”
“Holley’s ex-husband.”
Smoke swears. “Name?”
“Eric Colson.”
“Description?”
I tell him. Everything.
He scribbles notes, jaw tight. “This isn’t random then.”
“No,” I say darkly. “It’s personal.”
My pulse spikes.
Smoke mutters, “Shit.”
Twitch keeps swiping through footage giving a play by play that only fuels my rage more. “Right after that, two men drag them out of frame. No plate numbers.”
My knees threaten to buckle.
I grip the edge of the table so hard the metal groans.
Smoke steps beside me, voice low. “Hold it together, Tony.”
I grit my teeth. “Don’t tell me to hold it together.”
“Then hold it for them,” he says quietly. “Twitch has an address.”
It hits like a fist.
He’s right.
I slam my hand on the table, drawing every brother’s gaze.
“We ride,” I say, voice deep, lethal, and nothing like the man who living a retired life mere hours ago. “We ride now.”
The Hellions erupt into motion.
Engines roar.
Boots pound.
Guns locked in and loaded.
I stand in the doorway and watch the club I once led prepare for war—and for the first time in years, I feel like the President again. I miss it but Country Boy is the right man to keep it going.
Smoke stops beside me.
“You ready?” he asks.
“No,” I say honestly. “But I’m going in with a fury.”
“Good,” Smoke mutters. “Because I don’t think anyone is more scared of you right now than whatever bastard took your people.”
I stare out at the rows of bikes revving like thunder.
“They should be afraid.” I pause and as much as it kills me, I let the words come out, “She’s yours too. She is the mother of your children and you two have history even if I don’t agree with the ways you’ve hurt her, she loves you.”
“We’re gonna get them back,” he reassures me.
Only I don’t need reassurance. I know they are coming home. Because I’m not stopping.
Not until I have them back.
Not until Holley is safe in my arms.
Not until Tiffany is breathing and cursing me for worrying.
Whoever took them—
I’m coming.
Hell’s coming with me.
Nineteen
Holley
The first thing I notice when I wake again is the taste of metal in my mouth.
The second is Tiffany’s breathing—ragged, fast, but alive—somewhere close by.
The third is pain.
A sharp ache down my jaw where Eric hit me, a deep throb in my shoulder from being dragged, and the hot sting of the zip ties cutting into my wrists.
But none of it matters.
Because when I open my eyes, when the world stops spinning and the shadows sharpen, I see her.
Tiffany.
Still tied to the steel support beam. Still bruised. Still furious.
Still here.
She lifts her head instantly. “Holley. Hey. Babe, look at me. You with me?”
I swallow a broken groan. “Yeah,” I whisper. “I’m okay.”
“Bullshit,” she mutters. “But we’ll work on that later.”
I try to sit up. Pain spikes through my ribs, but I push through it. We don’t have time for fragile.