Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 52851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 264(@200wpm)___ 211(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 264(@200wpm)___ 211(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
But the real kicker? The authorities were covering it up. The Senator was pushing for harsher penalties and demanding more power to fight trafficking. If the public knew just how out of control the situation really was, they’d panic, and the government would look weak. They knew this, so, they swept it under the rug.
We were still stewing over it when Hunter’s phone rang. It was his dad. And the news was the kind that made the blood in my veins go ice-cold. His woman—Piper—had been taken and a photo had already been sent, just like with Mace’s woman and sister.
A single message beneath it.
"Tick tock."
Hunter lost his shit, and it took everything we had to bring him back.
Now, we were holed up in a run-down motel, the walls thin, the air thick with tension.
Mace, Hunter, and Preacher were in the middle of a heated discussion—or maybe a better word was explosion. They were shouting, strategizing, barely keeping it together.
I’d seen a lot in my life. I’d watched men die in front of me, their last breaths rattling in their lungs. I’d seen women brutalized, kids beaten, soldiers crack under pressure. But this? Seeing them lose control? Seeing Preacher—the man who had always been our rock—looking like he had no answers? What I was feeling right now was a different kind of fear and anger.
One I didn’t ever want to feel again.
Mace’s voice rose again, another yell, another flare of rage, then Kyle stepped forward.
And just like that—she took control.
“Data,” she spoke into her cell, voice sharp, no room for argument. “Look into the feeds. Search specifically for any signals near the compound and the Valiant compound. Find us the link.”
She turned to Hunter, her gaze firm, steady.
“I’ve made contact with Bo,” she said. “I’m waiting for her to return the request.”
And just like that, the room shifted, because now we had a lead. And if there was one thing we were good at—it was hunting down our enemies.
Coleman, one of Mace’s old friends, stepped into the center of the room, his expression unreadable but his presence commanding. Former military, now running a high-end security company, the man was a walking weapon—calm, lethal, efficient. If he was involved, it meant we had resources on our side that could turn the tide.
“I’ve got my people searching for Mace’s sister and his woman,” he updated us, his voice steady but edged with urgency.
A ripple of tension passed through the room, everyone processing what that meant.
But Preacher wasn’t done. He folded his arms, his eyes cold and calculating as he addressed the real issue gnawing at the rest of us. “We need to find the rat too.”
That hit differently. We all knew it. We all felt it.
Someone in my MC had betrayed us. A mole working with these fuckers, feeding them intel, and putting our people in danger. That truth burned beneath my skin, raw and festering. It wasn’t just a breach of trust, it was a death sentence. Whoever they were, I wanted them found. I wanted them to understand exactly how rats were rewarded by the Knights MC.
Hunter finally snapped.
“You’ll fucking excuse me,” he snarled, stepping right into Preacher’s space, “if I don’t make that one of my priorities. My woman is who knows fucking where. Mace’s woman and sister are missing too. We don’t know what the fucking plans are for them.”
His voice was a roar, his fury unchecked. Not many men got away with speaking to Preacher like that and lived to tell the tale. I saw my President’s jaw tick, his fingers curling into fists at his sides as he visibly restrained himself.
Hunter wasn’t done.
“Your rat,” he spat, “is your problem.” Then he turned on his heel and stormed out.
The silence left in his wake was suffocating.
I flicked a glance toward Kyle. She sat there, watching it all unfold, her face blank, completely unreadable, but I was starting to pick up on her tells. I’d seen her calm Mace down before by stripping all emotion from her expression. It was a tactic I knew well—removing feeling to stay sharp.
But she was too good at it, too closed off. And it bugged the shit out of me. I understood shutting things down in moments like this, but the way she did it? It was as if she was denying her own emotions completely, not just suppressing them. And that was dangerous.
I hadn’t had the chance to tell Preacher what she’d confided in me last night. I knew I needed to, but the thought of it made me feel like shit. Kyle didn’t open up to people. I’d broken through that wall, and now, I was about to break her trust. Even if it was for her own good.
I exhaled and walked up to her, saying nothing, just holding out my hand. She hesitated, then, after a beat, she slipped her fingers into mine.