Page 34 of Monk

“I have everything handled,” she said, her voice tight, controlled. “You don’t need to?—”

I smiled.

It wasn’t a friendly smile. It was the kind that made grown men in bars reconsider how badly they wanted trouble. The kind that promised consequences. “I know you do, Carolina,” I said, dragging out her full name and watching the way her breath caught when it landed. “But I’m here now. And I ain’t going anywhere.”

Her face went pale. Her throat worked as she swallowed hard.

I took a step toward her, closed the distance, and watched her eyes widen just enough to satisfy something mean in me. Fear. Recognition. Maybe both. I didn’t care. “Besides,” I said, my voice dropping lower, rougher, “this seems like the perfect time to catch up. It’s been a long—” I let the word hang there between us, heavy as a threat. “—verylongtime.”

The emphasis was deliberate. A warning. A promise. A debt finally come due.

We were going to talk. Whether she wanted to or not.

Lina’s lips parted, but nothing came out. She just stood there staring at me, her chest rising and falling in quick, shallow pulls.

Then, slowly, she nodded. “Okay.”

I held her gaze another beat, long enough to make sure she understood I wasn’t bluffing. Then I stepped back and gave her just enough room to pretend she still had choices.

She turned without another word and walked to the driver’s side of the truck, every movement stiff and overcontrolled. She climbed in, started the engine, and pulled out of the lot without looking back.

I watched the truck disappear down the road, my hands clenching into fists at my sides.

Seven years. Seven fucking years since she’d vanished clean out of my life, and now she was here. Close enough to touch. Close enough to bleed for.

And I wasn’t about to let her slip through my fingers again.

“Monk.”

Blackjack’s voice dragged me back. I turned and found him standing with Shadow a few feet away, both of them wearing those careful, unreadable expressions brothers used when they knew better than to push too hard. Still, I could see the questions in their eyes.

Who is she? Why did you chase her into the hospital? What the hell is going on?

I didn’t answer. Couldn’t. Not with my head full of ghosts and my pulse still kicking like a trapped thing.

“Head back to the clubhouse,” I said, my voice flat, leaving no room for argument. “I’ll check in later.”

Blackjack’s jaw tightened. “Monk.”

“Later,” I repeated, harder this time.

Shadow exchanged a glance with Blackjack, then nodded slowly. “Alright, brother. We’ll see you back at the clubhouse.”

I didn’t wait for them to leave. I turned, walked to my bike, and swung my leg over the seat. The engine roared to life beneath me, all vibration and iron and the one kind of truth I still trusted. Then I rode.

The road to the Wilcox Horse Farm cut straight through open Oklahoma country—flat land, wide skies, the kind of landscape that could make a man feel small and infinite at the same time.

I didn’t feel small. I felt like a live wire pulled too tight, one bad second away from blowing apart.

Seven years. Seven motherfucking years since she’d been gone. I looked for her. Searched every goddamn corner of this town, every lead, every rumor. I called in favors, leaned on contacts, did everything short of burning Lawton to the ground, and still came up empty. Even her father didn’t know where she was.

She vanished like smoke, and I mourned her. Mourned the life we might’ve had. Mourned the future I’d been stupid enough to picture before it got ripped out of my hands. Eventually, I forced myself to believe she was dead. She had to be dead, because the alternative—that she’d left, that she’d run, that she’d chosen to disappear—cut too deep to look at straight.

My hands tightened on the handlebars, knuckles blanching with the pressure.

I wanted answers. Needed them. And I was going to get them, whether she wanted to give them or not.

The farm came into view—sprawling pastures, white fences, the same old red barn that had been standing since before I was born. I pulled up near it and killed the engine. The sudden silence rang in my ears, broken only by the distant shuffle of horses and the wind moving through the grass. I swung off the bike and stood there with my heart pounding, my whole body vibrating with tension. Then I heard it.