Chapter 15 Ledger
Fifteen
Ledger
They came for her to get to me. That’s a mistake none of them will live long enough to regret.
The moment my phone vibrates, I know it isn’t good.
Good news doesn’t come in the middle of the night.
Good news doesn’t come from Looney texting instead of calling.
Good news doesn’t punch you in the ribs before you read the words.
But these do.
Looney: We found something. Urgent.
My chest tightens.
Kelly is still in my arms, soft and warm, her breath trembling against my shirt. She’s stunned from remembering me, from the fear, from everything. And as much as I want to stay right here with her until the storm outside and the one inside her both settle, I can’t.
I lift my head and look down at her. She tilts her face up immediately trusting, instinctive.
It hits me like a blow.
“What is it?” she whispers.
I swipe my thumb across her cheek again I can’t seem to stop doing that around her. “I gotta step out for a minute.”
Her fingers fist lightly into my shirt. “Alone?”
My throat works. “Yeah.”
“Why?”
There’s fear in the question, the kind that slices me in half because she doesn’t understand yet that I’m not leaving her, not really, not ever.
Not after what happened.
Not after almost losing her.
Not after feeling her remember pieces of us again.
But I can’t show her the truth of what they found. Not yet.
“Because the Kings found somethin’,” I say quietly. “And I need to see it before I let you hear it.”
She swallows. “Riot.”
I cup her face again, slow, gentle. “I’m comin’ right back. Thirty minutes tops. I’ll be on the property in the clubhouse. We’re not in Freedom Falls, but we have Kings all over the world. Chux runs Bama. You are safe here.”
She nods, even though her eyes betray how much she doesn’t want me to go.
“I’ll leave Grit and Dice right outside the door,” I add. “Locked down. No one gets in.”
Another nod.
I should walk away.
I should be a professional.
I should do my damn job.
But instead, I lean down and press my forehead to hers, breathing her in one more time.
Her breath shivers.
“Don’t be long,” she whispers.
“I won’t.”
Then, because my restraint is hanging by a thread, I brush my thumb across her bottom lip.
Her eyes flutter shut.
And I leave before I do something I can’t un-do.
The walk to the clubhouse is hell.
Thunder cracks somewhere deep in the clouds overhead, and every rumble feels synced with my rage.
They want a war?
Fine.
They’re getting one.
I sneak into the back door just as Looney, Nitro, Chux, and Stunt step out into the common area, all of them wearing the same tight expressions.
Chux folds his arms. “You ready?”
“No,” I say honestly. “Show me anyway.”
Looney hands me a sealed evidence bag.
Inside is a scrap of cardboard, torn, waterlogged, mud-streaked, but the writing on it is unmistakable.
A thick black X slashed over a crudely drawn raven. The numbers etched on the bottom corner are known to me. My old unit when I was in the military.
My chest flames.
“The raven,” I growl. “Bratok’s mark. And my unit number.”
Nitro nods grimly. “Pinned to what was left of the truck’s grill. Hidden under brush. Someone wanted it found eventually.”
My jaw flexes until it aches.
“This ain’t Bratok,” Stunt says quietly, stepping forward. “He’s dead.”
“Yeah,” I snap. “But someone sure as hell wants to finish what he started.”
Chux looks at me, eyes sharp. “This wasn’t about Kelly.”
My blood goes ice cold.
“What?” I bark.
“It was about you,” Chux says, voice low and heavy. “They hit her truck because she’s tied to you. Because she’s familiar. Because they saw you with her.”
A slow, suffocating sickness spreads through my stomach.
“She was targeted,” Nitro confirms. “Because you were near. Because you matter to the club. Because you matter to them.”
“She didn’t do anything,” I snarl.
“They don’t care,” Chux fires back. “This isn’t about her. It’s about who she belongs to.”
“She doesn’t belong,” I choke on the words. She isn’t mine. Even when I wanted her to be. Not now. Not anymore. Not yet.
Chux lifts his chin. “They thought she was.”
Silence slams down.
The wind howls through the trees as if the whole world is bracing for what comes next.
I breathe hard, fists clenching, nails biting into my palms.
“They hurt her to get to me,” I say quietly.
Chux nods. “Yeah.”
“They made her forget,” I add, voice breaking. “They took her from me twice.”
“No,” Stunt says suddenly, his voice surprisingly gentle. “They tried. They didn’t succeed.”
He claps a hand onto my shoulder.
“You’re still breathing,” he says. “So is she. Means the fight ain’t over.”
I grit my teeth so hard the muscle jumps. “I’m gonna kill the son of a bitch who did this.”
Chux meets my gaze evenly. “Good. But you do it smart. Not sloppy.”
Looney steps forward, holding a second bag, this one containing a piece of fabric.
A torn sleeve, dark green, with a symbol printed on the inside cuff.
The same raven mark. But this one has something new.
A smear of red through the beak.
Nitro points to it. “We think it’s a faction symbol. Maybe a group that worked under Bratok before he died. Been quiet for years.”
“They just got loud,” Stunt mutters.
Chux turns to me. “Riot. You need to listen carefully.”
The tone of his voice sends alarm bells through my skull.
“What.”
“You can’t let Kelly out of your sight. Not for a second. Not for a breath.”
“I know,” I snap.
“No,” Chux says, stepping closer. “You don’t. Because once these bastards realized she lived, and we’re onto them, they’re gonna double down. They’re gonna escalate.”
I freeze.
“And if they get their hands on her?” Chux lowers his voice. “They’ll use her to bleed you.”
A chill cuts down my spine.
“I won’t let that happen,” I growl.
“Good,” he says. “Then you need to understand something else.”
“What,” I hiss.
Chux holds my gaze. “You’re compromised.”
My jaw tightens. “The hell I am.”
“You are,” Stunt backs him. “Because you care about her.”
“She’s under my protection,” I snap.
“You care,” Stunt repeats.
“Yeah, I do,” I snarl, finally letting the truth burst out. “And if you think that makes me a liability—”
“It makes you human,” Chux interrupts. “And dangerous.”
He steps closer until he’s inches from me.
“Use it,” he says. “Because they will.”
Silence falls again.
Tension so thick it feels like humidity on the skin.
Finally, Stunt straightens. “Go. Get back to her.”
Chux nods. “Take the evidence. Take Nitro on tail detail. And Riot?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t let anyone near her who doesn’t bleed Kings.”
My throat works. “I won’t.”
I take the evidence bags, shove them under my arm, and storm back toward the safe house..
The lights glow soft through the evening sky. The rain has started soft at first, then thick, pounding sheets that hammer the roof and drown out the fear in my chest.
When I swing the door open, Kelly jumps slightly on the couch where she’s curled under a blanket.
Her eyes widen at my expression. “Ledger?”
I stop.
The whole world stops. She’s in one of my old hoodies, too big, sleeves covering her hands, and her hair is messy from running her fingers through it in worry.
Her eyes are wide. Soft. Terrified. But knowing.
She inhales slowly. “It’s bad, isn’t it?”
I close the door behind me and lock it.
Then I drop the evidence on the table.
Her gaze flicks to it but she doesn’t move.
She watches me. Like she’s memorizing my face. Like she remembers something she hasn’t told me yet.
“Riot?” she whispers. “Talk to me.”
I cross the room in three long strides.
I sit down beside her, closer than I should, until our knees touch.
I take her hands gently, slowly, giving her time to pull away.
She doesn’t. “Kelly,” I state it direct, “they didn’t hit you because of who you are.”
She blinks. “What do you mean?”
“They hit you because of who I am.”
Silence thickens around us.
“What?” she whispers.
“They wanted me,” I tell her the truth. “And they used you to send a message that they could get to me.”
Her breath shakes. “To you?”
I nod once.
“Because of the club?”
Another nod.
“Because you matter?”
That one guts me.
“Yeah,” I rasp. “Because I matter. And because you matter to me.”
Her lips part.
Her voice breaks. “Ledger.”
“I should’ve kept you away from me,” I state. The truth burns my throat. “I tried. But I wasn’t good at it.”
Her eyes fill with tears. “I don’t want you to keep me away.”
“Even now?” I ask quietly. “Even knowin’ what it cost you?”
She reaches out, slow, trembling, and sets her hand over my heart. Right over the place that hasn’t beaten steady since the moment she forgot me.
“Ledger,” she whispers, “I don’t remember our past. But every time you leave, it feels like losing something I never got the chance to keep.”
My breath catches.
Her touch tightens.
“And every time you look at me,” she says, “I feel like I’m on the edge of remembering everything. Even if I don’t get the memories back, being near you feels right in a way I have never experienced, that I know to my core.”
I grab her wrist gently, holding her hand against my chest, too overwhelmed to speak.
“And if someone is coming after me because of you?” she continues, voice stronger now, “then they’re going to have to deal with more than just the Kings.”
I shake my head. “Sunshine—”
“No,” she states, eyes fierce. “No more protecting me from the truth. I want to remember. I need to remember.”
Lightning flashes outside.
Thunder rolls.
Her face is lit for a split second, fierce, brave, heartbreakingly soft.
I lean in before I can stop myself.
Not to kiss her. Not this time.
But I rest my forehead against hers again.
Her breath shivers.
“Kelly,” I whisper, “I swear to you nothing on this earth is gonna take you from me again.”
Her lips brush mine.
Not a kiss.
Just a soft, instinctive push of her body toward mine.
A seeking.
A remembering.
I pull back just enough to breathe.
“We’ll get your memories back,” I murmur. “Piece by piece.”
“And if I don’t?” she whispers.
I cup the back of her head, thumb stroking slow circles.
“Then I’ll give you new ones,” I say. “Better ones.”
She exhales a shaky breath relief, want, fear all tangled together.
I pull her gently into my chest, holding her close, the storm raging outside while the storm inside me goes quiet for the first time in hours.
Because now I know the truth:
They didn’t hit her by accident. They didn’t hit her to scare her.
They hit her to hurt me.
And that?
That means the rules just changed.
Time to hunt the men who forgot one simple truth: She doesn’t need to remember me in order for to kill for her.