Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 59413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 238(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 238(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
That is a knife to the heart.
“Did you have anything on when you came here? Like what items of clothes were you wearing?” Mera asks.
“A pair of jeans, they’re the only ones in there. A black tee and a jacket. It could be in anything. My shoes are the converse, old and ratty.”
“I’ll check the seams,” she nods. “Best place to tuck a tracker is in the stitching. Or...” She pauses, looking at the closed window. “Or your phone.”
My stomach drops. Of course, my phone.
“Shit,” I whisper. “Of course. They will have my phone for sure, though.”
“Yeah,” she exhales. “They will. I can get into Wolfe’s office. I’ll do it tonight after lights, when the women are busy logging mileage in the bedrooms and everyone is ten beers deep.”
She stands, offering me a warm smile.
“Thank you,” I say. “I know you’re risking a lot, so I appreciate you helping me.”
She nods. “I don’t like to see anyone accused of something they haven’t done. I hope you’re telling me the truth.”
“I swear it,” I say, holding her eyes.
She nods again, then she’s gone, the door locking behind her.
God, I hope she finds that phone.
Better yet, I hope she finds it bugged so that I can prove to them all just how wrong they are.
IT’S LATE.
The room is dark and the club is quiet, for now at least.
I jerk up from the mattress at the sound of the door unlocking. Nobody has come in since the normal food delivery once a day. Mera hasn’t returned, nor has she reached out, and I can’t help but fear that means she hasn’t been able to find anything. Or, worse, they caught her and now she can’t help.
The door slams open and Kael strides in, tall and silent, Wolfe a shadow at his back. Kael’s storm-blue eyes lock onto mine, unblinking. He holds out his palm—and in it rests a tiny black device. “Found this in your phone. Either you planted it, or you were bein’ bugged. Which is it?”
My veins surge with molten fury. “I didn’t fucking plant it. I had Mera find it, that’s the only way to prove Gage was listening. If I’d hidden it myself, do you think I’d have asked her to go find it? I’m not an idiot.”
Wolfe exhales, voice low. “We believe you.”
Just like that, they believe me—after everything.
That is a fucking bitter slap to the face. They didn’t bother hearing me out before, and now suddenly, they believe me.
Kael’s gaze doesn’t waver. “We had to know who you’re loyal to. The club comes first. Wasn’t personal.”
Oh, but it was.
To me, it was.
My spine snaps straight, knees locking. My throat flames, every heartbeat pounding betrayal through me, but my face stays icy. None of them get to see me crack. “Yeah,” I whisper, voice jagged. “The club is everything.”
Wolfe rubs his jaw, eyes locking with mine. “Sorry. Had to do what we had to do.”
Empty words.
Kael was the one who pushed for this, who let them vote me into this room for days without a second thought. The betrayal cuts deep, a sharp, unrelenting pain that echoes through every part of me. He never asked for my side, never gave me a chance to explain, to defend myself against whatever accusations were thrown my way. It’s as if I’m invisible, my voice silenced before it even had a chance to be heard.
He just watched, his silence a deafening roar that drowns out everything else. Hell, he couldn’t even make fucking eye contact with me when they called me into that room and ordered me to be hauled away. The memory of his averted gaze haunts me, a constant reminder of the trust shattered between us. I feel abandoned, cast aside by the one person I thought might understand, might stand by me when the world turned its back.
I flick my gaze to him, staring him down, sharpening my expression so he can see the hurt in my eyes. He steps forward, knees grazing the mattress, and cups my jaw. His thumb is warm against my cheek. “It wasn’t personal.”
It was the most personal thing I’ve ever felt.
I surge up, close the distance before he can brace himself. His hands catch my elbows, steadying me, his hands so gentle. Fuck, I thought he was it. I truly believed he came into my life to change it for the better. For a second, as I look up at him, I wonder if I can forgive him.
But I just can’t.
I have mere seconds. My hands slip behind his back, and my fingers curl around his gun. In one fluid motion, I yank it free, push back and press it into his chest. The steel is ice on my skin. Silence crashes over us. Kael’s face goes blank. He puts his hands up, letting me know he’s not going to make a move. Wolfe shifts forward, and I shake my head at him, finger trembling on the trigger. “Don’t,” I hiss.