“Who is Dex?” I ask, confused.
“Sin.” Faye laughs, then says, “I feel the same way when you call Irish Ardan. I didn’t even know that was his name until recently.”
We share a laugh at that, and when Clover joins us outside and starts singing the Justin Bieber song Ardan was humming, I laugh even harder, because now I know how he knows the song.
Clover is the cutest little girl I’ve ever seen.
And she calls me Merida.
FOURTEEN
“THIS has Faye written all over it,” he growls, crossing his arms over his chest. “Do you actually for one fuckin’ second think I’m going to let my woman act as bait? Jesus Christ, Valentina, what kind of man do you take me for?”
“It’s the quickest way to get him out of our lives, and it doesn’t involve murder. So sorry if I decided to choose that option,” I say, pursing my lips together. Ardan is in full-alpha-protection mode and is clearly not seeing that it’s the best option right now. “If we work it out properly, there’s no way I can get hurt. Surround the place with your badass men, put a microphone on me—whatever you want to do, we need to do it before he makes his next move.” I puff out a breath. “Please, babe. I can’t sit back idly, twiddling my thumbs and looking pretty while everyone else fights my war for me. I want this to be over with so we can move on and just focus on us.”
“How is that the quickest option?” he asks, shaking his head. “I can go out tonight and—”
“I get the point,” I say, cutting him off before he talks about killing Darren once more. “I want him in prison. I don’t want you to kill him, or anyone else. I can’t believe we have to keep having this discussion. This isn’t normal—you know that, right? I’m pretty sure we’re fucking crazy, as a matter of fact. At least I am. I should be running, but instead I’m sitting here talking you down from murder and trying to offer myself up as bait.”
I exhale deeply.
“Love makes you crazy,” Ardan says, his eyes and voice gentling. “Come here, beautiful. Sit on my lap, let me hold you for a bit, and once you’ve changed your mind about the whole bait fiasco, I’m going to make love to you, slow and deep, until you come, clawing my back and screaming my name.”
I sit on his lap and wrap my arms around his neck. “You make me crazy.”
“Right back at you.”
“I want a kiss.”
His lip twitches at my demand before his lips touch mine.
“I love you,” I say against his lips. “I want to do this. I know I can do this. I’ll come out unscathed, I promise.”
“You can’t promise that, darlin’,” he says, biting my bottom lip gently. “You can’t promise your safety. And if something happens to you, that’s when the real storm begins. You want me doing life in prison?”
“No, I want Darren doing life in prison,” I say, resting my forehead against his. “I want you right here with me, fucking me every night and loving me every day.”
“Then let me handle this. Tell me the truth; it was Faye’s idea, wasn’t it?”
“No,” I snap, my brow furrowing. “It wasn’t.” I pause, then hesitantly admit, “Although she said she was thinking the same thing.”
“I knew it,” he groans, burying his face in my neck. “This is fucked.”
“Take me to bed,” I whisper. “I want you inside me, right now.”
He stands with me in his arms and takes me to the bedroom, laying me down and sliding off my panties. His mouth is on my pussy with no hesitation, and I forget everything else.
In the midst of the drama, it’s important to remember what I’m fighting for, and this is it.
To be with this man with no one in our way.
To cut ties with the past, and to be free.
A few days later, I get a message from Darren.
Meet me? We need to talk.
I’m at the clubhouse when I receive it, and everyone surrounds me, barking out orders with what to reply.
“Why don’t you just ask him where he wants to meet? Let him think he’s in control and calling all the shots,” Anna suggests.
“Unless he wants to meet at the police station,” Faye adds, smirking. “Because then abort mission.”
I look to Ardan, who takes the phone from me and replies for me.
Where?
“He must be fucked in the head to think you’d meet him by yourself though,” Ardan says. “Either he’s got a plan of his own, or he’s stupid as hell. Maybe he’s back on the meth.”
Faye makes a note in her notepad. “After we give our evidence—and a positive drug test will help—any cops who try to protect him, knowing he’s scum, will be taken down with him.”
“You’re brutal,” Lana says, looking impressed.
“I know,” Faye replies without looking up. “Be glad I’m on your side.”
The phone vibrates, and I look over Ardan’s shoulder to read what it says.
Tonight. I’ll message you the address last minute, at around 7:00 p.m. Don’t bring that asshole biker with you.
“Now what?” I ask the peanut gallery.
Ardan replies with,
Fine. We’ll talk for the last time, then you need to leave me alone.
“Let him think this is why you want to see him, to try to talk him into finally letting you go.”
“Seems legit,” Faye says, nodding her head. “We got this, people. When he replies with the location, we’ll figure out how to infiltrate it. Irish, you need to be aware that Tina will be driving to the location by herself.”
“Motherfucker,” Ardan mutters under his breath. “Can’t I just kill him now instead?”
The women all reply with a resounding no!
Only Arrow replies with a yes.
Faye puts her hand on his shoulder. “You attracted her; she attracted you. You’re both strong. You’re both wolves. No, you’re both dragons. She can do this. I have no doubt in my mind.”
He looks into my eyes and searches them. “Will you change your mind?”
I shake my head.
He nods and looks down at his hands. “Let’s do this, then. Let’s bring the fucker down. . . .” He cringes. “The legal way.”
Faye is the only one who cheers at that.
I just hope we’re making the right decision.
I repeat the address to Ardan, who rattles it off to Lana, who searches for it online.
“It’s pretty much a warehouse,” she says, squinting as she looks at her phone without her glasses. “An empty building in an industrial area.”
“How shady does that sound?” Ardan grumbles, still put out with my going. “You’ve got the microphone all sorted, right? The conversation will be recorded, so be careful with your words.”
Arrow looks at Ardan. “I feel like we work for the fucking FBI.”
“We’re practically doing their job for them,” Sin mutters, standing next to his wife. “Right; we all know where we’re meant to be, then? I have my police contact on call in case we need someone there on our side. Tracker is going to scope out if he’s there alone or has backup with him. I think we’ve got every angle covered, and if something else comes up, we’ll improvise. At the end of the day he’s just a junkie—I’m sure we can take him.”
Everyone disappears to get ready, leaving me and Ardan alone, no doubt on purpose. I appreciate it.
He cradles my face in his hands. “You’ve got this; we’ve got this. Backup plan, I run in, guns a-blazing.”
My mouth twitches. “I love you.”
“I love you too, darlin’.”
We kiss. It’s an almost desperate kiss, frantic and hungry. Soul surging. And longer than appropriate, given what’s going on.
When our lips part, our gaze stays connected.
Time to teach a man a lesson.
FIFTEEN
HE wears his police uniform. To intimidate me? I have no idea, but it’s not working. His clothes are wrinkled, and his hair is disheveled. He doesn’t look put together at all. His eyes are red, and I see his mouth twitching, a sign he’s been using. I walk toward him in the warehouse, glancing around the place. To me, it seems as though Darren is alone, but I know better. Tracker said the Wind Dragons spotted several cops on the other side of the warehouse, waiting for Darren’s signal should anything go wrong.
“You’re late,” he says, scanning me from head to toe.
“I had to find the place,” I say, stopping a few feet from him. “I can’t believe you came here. I left for a reason, Darren—I wanted a fresh start.”
His expression hardens. “You’re mine, Tina. If you think I’m going to let you walk away and start a new life, you have another think coming. I’d kill you before I let you move on. I might kill you just for being with another man; I haven’t decided yet.”
Kill me?
I look in his eyes and know that he means what he says. He’s never left more than bruises on me before, which is terrible enough, but it looks like this time he wants me gone for good. My mind flashes to a memory of us when we first met. How have things ended up this way? How can something that starts with a smile end in such hate?
I look down and say, “You want to pull me away from where I’m happy so you can kill me? Still on the meth, Darren?”
He grunts. “None of your fucking business, Tina. Unless you want your little biker friends to be taken down by the cops here, you’ll come back home with me. You stay, then soon the clubhouse gets raided. Yeah, I heard all about the Wind Dragons. I’ve done my research. The cops know who they are. And we’ll find a reason to put them all behind bars. If we can’t, we’ll just have to make one up.”
He pulls out a bag of a white, crystalline powder. “I’ll just plant a shitload of drugs in their clubhouse. Problem solved.”
I try to remember what Faye wanted me to say, but my mind is suddenly blank. I just know I need to keep him talking. “What do you want, Darren?”
“We go home. This weekend. Tell your biker friends you’re moving back. Make up some excuse; don’t let them follow you. We don’t need that trash in our town.”
My lips tighten. If anyone is trash, it’s him.
“You look good, Tina,” he says, his voice turning a little husky, making me feel sick to my stomach. “I can’t wait to be inside you again. I can’t wait to have you back home, where I can do anything I want with you. You’re going to regret leaving. You’ll be mine, in this life or the fucking next. I will never let you go.”
I swallow hard.
He’s insane.
Goose bumps appear on my skin as I realize the severity of the situation.
“You have until tomorrow to make your decision.” He laughs then, an ugly, almost deranged sound. “And keep your fucking trap shut with those bikers; don’t try any of your shit. They can’t save you. You let the bad in me out, Tina. Test me—I dare you.”
I let the bad in him out? As usual, he can never take responsibility for his own actions. Nothing is ever his fault. I can’t believe the thing in front of me dares to call himself a man. He’s pathetic.
I wasn’t the weak person who inserted a needle in his arm. I didn’t hurt him on purpose. He’s a waste of fucking space. He shouldn’t be breathing the same air as Ardan, or any man in the MC. For a second I wonder if maybe Ardan is right. I’d sleep better at night knowing this filth isn’t walking the streets, maybe ruining the life of some other woman. Or is that position reserved only for me? Why am I so unlucky? Why did I get dealt this hand? A tear rolls down my cheek. I can’t believe I put up with this for so long. I’m so fucking stupid. I’m worth something. I can make a man happy. I can make Ardan happy. I do make him happy.
I. Am. ENOUGH.
“I hate you,” I say, my voice lifeless. “I read somewhere once that darkness can be a gift. You gave me darkness. You gave me regret, you gave me fear, and you gave me self-doubt. But I took all that pain, and I turned it into strength. You’re weak, Darren, and you can never destroy me.”
And then . . . something inside me breaks.
Suddenly, I don’t care about the plan. I just want to reclaim my power. “I’d rather die than be anywhere near you ever again, Darren!” I yell. “Do whatever you want. Try your best. The truth is, you’re the one who can’t let go. The strong move on, they adapt. The weak hang on, place blame, and try to make others feel like shit because they know that they themselves are worthless. You, Darren, are worthless. If you have to use your power as a man to make a woman feel like she’s nothing just so you can feel better about yourself, you’re nothing but a coward!”
His face contorts in anger, and he lunges at me.
In this moment, I know that I’ve fucked up. What have I done? Why didn’t I just stick to the plan?
Fuck.
His hand grips my throat, and he squeezes. I look into his eyes, and they’re wild, crazy.
I know by the strength in his hold that this is no warning. No, this time, he wants to kill me. And he will.
Maybe he’ll blame my own death on me too.
Spots start appearing before my eyes. I need to breathe, but I can’t.
I’m trying. I hear a commotion, yelling, and the sounds of shoes on concrete. Then I hear a pained growl, and somehow, the sound makes me feel not so alone.
Then everything goes black.
I wake up in a hospital room.
“You’re awake,” Ardan says, kissing my hand.
“What happened?” I ask, my voice coming out croaky. “Besides my getting strangled by Darren.”
I touch my neck and wince. “What does it look like?”
“It’s going to bruise,” he says, frowning. “It’s really red and swollen.”
“What happened, Ardan?” I whisper.
“You passed out, fell to the ground, and banged your head,” he says, rubbing his thumb against mine. “Sin got his cop buddy to take Darren into custody. We gave him the recording. Darren’s going away, Valentina, and it’s all because of you and how brave you were.”
“Really?” I ask, exhaling in relief. “I thought I fucked everything up after I lost my temper.”
“That redhead temper really surfaced at the wrong time, darlin’,” he says, smiling gently. “But everything worked out. You won’t see him again. Faye will follow the story in court and keep us updated.”
I close my eyes and breathe in and out. “We did it? We made it out unscathed?”
“We did it,” he says to me. “You did it. When I ran into the warehouse and saw you there on the floor, I’ve never been so scared in my life. I picked you up and took you straight to the hospital, sped the whole way.”
He stands and leans over the bed to kiss my forehead. “Rest, beautiful. Everything is fine; it’s all over, all right? But for the record, you’re never putting yourself at risk again, you hear me? I’ll lock you up if I have to.”
“Okay,” I whisper, closing my eyes. “Don’t leave me.”
“Never,” he replies. “I’m just going to step out and tell everyone you’re okay. They’re all here for you, outside your door.”
I smile. “Okay.”
Another kiss to my forehead.
We made it.
I sleep peacefully.
EPILOGUE
Irish
“YOU ever going to tell her what really happened?” Sin asks me quietly.
I shake my head. “No. Never. Take it to my grave, and so will everyone else.”
“I handled the cops,” he says, looking away.
“How?”
“They’re all dirty. I told them the shit we have on Darren, and if they want to go down with him, they’re more than welcome to.�
�
“Sure they’re not gonna talk?” I ask, trusting Sin’s decision on the matter but still curious. The last place I want to be in is prison, especially now that I have Valentina.
“They won’t talk,” he says, flashing me an evil grin, all teeth. He then clears his throat and says, “You sure you don’t want Tina to know? These things have a way of coming back, Irish.”
“No,” I say in a firm, strong tone.
No.
She never needs to know.
She’s been through enough as it is.
It’s only sunshine and fuckin’ butterflies for her from here on out.
He nods, looking like he wants to say more, but wisely, he doesn’t. I want Valentina to think that’s what went down—she’ll sleep better at night that way. She doesn’t need to know that when I walked into that warehouse and saw her passed out on the floor, I did what I’d wanted to do from the very beginning.
I shot Darren in cold blood, and I looked him in the eye while I did it.
And fuck the bastard, I’d do it again.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First of all, I’d like to thank all my readers for wanting more from the WDMC, and for Gallery books and Abby Zidle for making it a reality.
To my agent, Kimberly Brower, I’m so lucky to have you! Thank you for everything you do, as always. I know I can always count on you, and I’m so grateful.
A big thank you to all my beta readers, the women who are always there for me on a daily basis.
Mallory Green, Kara Brown, Stephanie Knowles, Rachel Brookes, Rose Tawil, Eileen Robinson, and Melanie Williams—I don’t know what I’d do without you!
Arijana Karcic—thank you for all you do for me. You’re seriously the best and deserve the world.
Thank you to my parents for helping out whenever I need more writing time—I appreciate everything you do for me—and to my three sons for being patient when they know their mama has to work. I love you all so much.
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