Page 47 of The Riders’ Reign

I let go of her hand and stand abruptly. She gasps and sobs again, but I need to move, so I can think.

How did the cartel find her? Why her? Out of all the members of this club? I look at her, and my gaze lands on the chain around her neck. It’s thick, silver, and at the end of it is a large flat pendant with VF Riders, then underneath, Bear, in an engraved heart.

“Shelley, did you treat anyone at the hospital who could have been from the cartel over the past few days?”

She stops crying as my words sink in and thinks. “I don’t know. How would I tell?”

I can’t help but think they monitored the comings and goings of people, maybe followed a few of the women, saw Shelley and, for some reason, maybe her soft, kind face, picked her as a possible target. How else did they know about her? Unless… there’s another betrayer in our midst?

If they’d been given her name, then investigated her past and her family, and found out she had only one sister left, who’s had, let’s face it, a truly tragic time of it, they’d have seen she was the perfect mark.

“Shelley, we have to get Ghost back. I need to know everything you can tell me about the men who spoke to you, okay? Every minor detail, no matter how small, could help us. We’re going to try to make a trade for Ghost. You could provide us with the puzzle piece that helps us more than anything.”

“How can you make a trade when we don’t have Ledger?” She frowns.

“Leave that to us.” I wink.

“You’re freaking me out,” she says softly.

“I am? Why?”

“You’re not acting like you hate me. In fact, you’re acting the same as you always do.”

I sigh and scrub my hand over my face. “I don’t hate you, Shelley. You fucked up, but God, you were in a difficult position.” Then I pick up my phone and swipe the screen.

“Are you going to call Jack?” she asks in a whisper.

“No. I’m messaging Zoo to tell him and Camile to get back here. I also need someone to go over to your house and bring Bear here. We have to tell him what’s happened, and I’m scared of how he’ll react if you’re alone with him. We should tell him together.”

“You think he’ll hit me?” she asks, shocked.

“No, sweetheart, I think he might lose it and try to do something crazy to save you. The man worships you.”

“No one can save me.” She sits straighter and sniffles, as if she’s finally accepting the fate she thinks she faces.

“Don’t be so sure of that, and I can promise you one thing. I will try.”

“Why?”

“Because, Shelley, I don’t truly see what choice you had. Yes, you should have come to us and told us because we could have prepared for the hit, but you wouldn’t have been thinking straight. They had your sister—your remaining family—and you just went straight into panic mode. They said they wanted a swap, and I do believe that’s true, but things got out of hand. I don’t believe they meant to shoot the prez.”

“How bad is it?” She nibbles on a nail. “If I had known he was in the hospital, I’d have gone to see him and confessed while I was at work, but I had no idea until I got home because of assisting in surgery all day.”

“It’s a good job you didn’t,” I tell her. “Jack’s fucked up and in pain, and I doubt he’s thinking too clearly right now. He might have lost his temper with you. It’s better coming from one of us.”

“What do we do now?”

“You have to stay with me, I’m afraid. I can’t really let you out of my sight. You understand that, right?”

She nods once.

“Then when some of the guys get back, we bring Bear in here and break the news to him. In the meantime, you start to talk.”

I take up my phone again and swipe to the notes app. “Tell me every single thing you can recall.”

20

CAMILE