Page 30 of Jade

Of course Diamond has no idea I was close, too, but this was attempted murder, no matter how you look at it.

“Dirty bastards,” Ruby agrees. “If the Crows and Lanzetti want an all-out war, they messed with the wrong bitches. It’s time we fought fire with fire.” “No, it isn’t,” Nash says, and Ruby gives Diamond a look that reads: We’ll talk about this later.

I get Nash is trying to do his job, but this went from bad to worse tonight.

Dustin cups my face. “Are you okay?”

I nod. “This just got serious really freaking fast.”

He bends and kisses me. Nobody makes any jokes or hollers; they’re too busy rushing around trying to salvage what they can.

One thing is for sure: the stakes just rose about a thousand percent.

EPILOGUE

DUSTIN

Two days later

“It’s incredible we can even think about restoration,” Tilly says. “I thought the barn was a complete write-off.”

“Me too. I’m so relieved we heard that explosion, or it could’ve been a completely different turn of events.”

After we cleared out the fire-damaged areas and disposed of hazardous materials, a structural engineer came in to assess whether the barn could be saved. We’re thrilled that it can, but more importantly, all the animals got out safely. That’s what matters the most.

I can do most of the repairs myself because I’ve been building all my life, so it’ll be up to code.

This whole thing not only threw us off course, but it rattled the entire club.

Finding that patch confirms what we already suspected: the Crows are helping Lanzetti, and he’ll stop at nothing to try and bring this club down. Stupid fuck probably shouldn’t have worn his cut to climb over the fence, especially because it was denim, not leather.

Diamond, Sapphire, and Ruby tried to get into the Lanzetti farm. It has a huge fence surrounding his property, and a security gate so nobody can break in. Diamond reportedly yelled at the camera, spewing a string of obscenities before Nash showed up and dragged her away.

“Is there nothing they won’t stoop to so they get what they want?” she asks, though we already both know the answer.

“You guessed it. They’re greedy fucks. Now they’re gettin’ the Crows to do their dirty work because they’re nomads. It could be years before they surface again.”

“Diamond is working on it,” Tilly says, and I know that’s true because she has eyes everywhere.

Nash already questioned Lanzetti and his men, but he maintains he had nothing to do with the attack. Technically, we have nothing to pin on him, though everyone knows he’s a slimeball.

Nash did a thorough investigation, and nothing points to Lanzetti being involved yet, which means he covered his tracks. Needless to say, Diamond is pissed and plotting her revenge.

Drifter started work next door, but so far he hasn’t come up with anything newsworthy to report. After the attack, Lanzetti Farms have been keeping a low profile.

“Harder with Nash watchin’ her to make sure she doesn’t land herself in jail,” I reply. “But she’s got her future to think of now that she’s with him. And there’s Charlotte to consider, too.” Normally, Diamond would hire a fucking army tank to ram that gate until there was nothing left, but that was before she settled down. Now there’s a lot more at stake, and I understand that.

Taking down Lanzetti is only gonna land the Stilettos in jail again—the last time was for trespassing—and Diamond knows that.

“She will find a way,” Tilly says. “I know she will.”

“Not disagreeing, but Nash is in a position where he has to follow the law, which makes it hard when Diamond is gonna break it. Not that that asshole Lanzetti doesn’t deserve it.”

“This is so fucked,” she agrees. “That night was so scary.”

My girl came through again. I don’t know how much she’s expected to endure in this life, but she just keeps getting back up.

“Proud of you,” I say, pulling her into my arms. “You don’t know how much.”